Final Part 2

Question 1

self-enhancement motive

Answer 1

• people are motivated to experience positive emotional states and to avoid experiencing negative emotional states
• people are motivated to feel good about themselves, to maximize their feelings of self-worth

Question 2

better than average effect

Answer 2

• overly-inflate our abilities

- rate ourselves better than average on most things, especially things important to us

Question 3

cultural differences in self-enhancement….what is the self-serving bias and is it universal ? *

Answer 3

-taking credit for success (internal/ personal attribution = is on us), but distancing self from failure (external/ situational attribution= on others)

Question 4

self-verification theory

Answer 4

-contends that once people develop ideas about what they are like, they strive to verify these self-views

Question 5

what 2 considerations are thought to drive the search for self-verifying feedback?

Answer 5

• we feel more comfortable and secure when we believe that other people see us as we see ourselves
• our social interactions proceed more smoothly and profitably when other people view us as we view ourselves

Question 6

What did Swann conclude about the types of feedback people crave?

Answer 6

• desire for favorable feedback

- desire for self-verifying (congruent) feedback

Question 7

social comparison

Answer 7

people compare their attributes with others and draw inferences about what they are like

Question 8

upward comparison

Answer 8

-comparing with people who are better than us on a particular trait or ability

• Shows us what we can strive towards
• But can make us feel bad about ourselves
• Could also be future self

Question 9

downward comparison

Answer 9

• comparing with people who are worse on a particular trait or ability
• Shows us what we’ve already achieved
• Helps us feel better about ourselves
• Could also be past self

Question 10

reflected appraisals

Answer 10

• Our self-perceptions are shaped by how we think others see and evaluate us
• Significant others have biggest impact, but also generalized other
• Often highly inaccurate!

Question 11

reflected appraisals … 3 steps process

Answer 11

• actual appraisals: what other people actually think of us
• perceived appraisals: our perception of these appraisals
• self appraisals: our own ideas about what we are like

Question 12

introspection

Answer 12

-looking inward and directly consulting our attitudes, feelings, and motives

Question 13

limits of introspection

Answer 13

• Diary studies: we do not always know what affects our moods
  ex. , poor night’s sleep
• Consumer studies: we do not always know why we buy or do certain products
  ex. , pantyhose placed on the left or the right

Question 14

self-perception theory

Answer 14

• concerned with how people explain their behavior
• when our attitudes/emotions /states are ambiguous, they can be inferred by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

-Useful when unsure of feelings
3

Question 15

over justification effect

Answer 15

• When there are strong & obvious external rewards or pressure for a behavior, we assume they motivate us, as opposed to intrinsic motivation
  e. g., paying students for grades

Question 16

positivity bias

Answer 16

when individuals think of themselves in positive terms.
like their favorable attributes/socially valued qualities/abilities (ex: being smart, intelligent, attractive)

• Typically strong for attributes that refer to important interpersonal qualities
• Most people regard themselves in highly favorable terms (highly positive)

Question 17

how does positivity bias typically appear

Answer 17

we often overly-inflate our abilities and make it seem like we are better than we actually are

-ex: smart, intelligent, attractive

Question 18

positivity bias…implications

Answer 18

people regard themselves in more favorable terms than they regard most other people

-don’t describe themselves accurately

Question 19

relationship between trait desirability and the strength of self-other agreement

Answer 19

-the more desirable the trait, the less correspondence there is between people’s self-ratios and the way they are rated by others

Question 20

how do people construe traits strategically to maintain positive self-views

Answer 20

• direct self-assessment
• social comparison
• reflected appraisals
• introspection
• self perception
• attribution process

Question 21

self-serving behavioral biases

Answer 21

-approaching positive self-relevant information more vigorously than negative self-relevant information

• How do we approach positive versus negative feedback?
• 1. Is this preference always conscious/deliberate?
• When will we seek out negative feedback?

Question 22

self-serving social interactions

Answer 22

• people chooses to associate with others like them
• choosing to interact with people who like and admire us ensures that most of the interpersonal feedback we receive is positive

Question 23

self-evaluation maintenance model

Answer 23

Assumes people want to maintain a positive self-view, and acknowledges that our self-view is often highly social
We compare ourselves to people who are close to us

Question 24

what is the key variable in the self-evaluation maintenance model…what does it predict

Answer 24

• key: personal relevance of the comparison domain
• predicts friendship patterns: It predicts that people will choose to be friends with those who perform worse than they do in domains of high personal relevance, but better than they in domains of low personal relevance

Question 25

what are people motivated to maintain in the self-affirmation model)

Answer 25

People are motivated to maintain the integrity of the self Integrity: the sense that, on the whole, one is a good and appropriate person People are vigilant to events and information that call their self-integrity into question People will try to restore or reassert the integrity of the self

Question 26

consequences of self-affirmation, with respect to threats

Answer 26

- Person is able to view the threat within the larger context of the self - Threat no longer seems threatening - Can focus on threat’s informational value

Question 27

meta accuracy...how high or low is it typically

Answer 27

- capacity to know how others see us - reflects the correspondence between people’s beliefs about the impressions that they make and others’ actual impressions. - moderate and highest in contexts that include well-acquainted others, such as family or friends, than for contexts that include new acquaintances

Question 28

personal factors that promote positive self-views

Answer 28

- Uncritically accept positive self-relevant feedback but carefully scrutinize and refute negative feedback - Show better memory for positive self-relevant information than for negative - Recall their past in ways that allow them to lay claim to possessing desired attributes - Introspect about themselves in ways that enable them to confirm the possession of p

Question 29

are people's self-views accurate? when are they more or less accurate?

Answer 29

- self-views can be relatively accurate, enough to predict behavior - Inaccurate when people’s views of themselves highly positive - Depressed individuals may be linked to being more in touch with their self views

Question 30

self-handicapping

Answer 30

refer to situations in which people erect barriers to their own success

Question 31

when are we most likely to used self-handicapping?

Answer 31

-when doing so ensures that failure does not implicate valued aspects of the self

Question 32

self-serving bias universal?

Answer 32

no, mainly associated with Americans

Question 33

Generally, what do the authors think we should conclude about self-knowledge?

Answer 33

- People’s perceptions of their own personality are more accurate than random guesses would be, but they aren’t perfect - We do not seem to know our personalities better than do our closest friends and family