Lecture 18: Self II

Question 1

How do we know who we are: other people

Answer 1

• see ourselves through how people see us (Cooley)– their reactions can tell us who we are
• social comparison theory:
  
  • learn about our own abilities by comparing ourselves to
    other people
  • theory revolves around 2 q’s:
    
    • when do you engage in social comparison?
    • who do you choose to compare yourself with?

Question 2

when do we engage in social comparison?

Answer 2

• when theres no objective standard to measure yourself against– ex how much money should you donate to charity?
• when you experience uncertainty about yourself in specific area– ex you got 15/20 on test= is this good?

Question 3

automaticity of social comparisons (who?)

Answer 3

gilbert, giesler, morris)

• making social comparison might be: spontaneous, automatic process
• means that we sometimes make social comparisons even if its inappropriate to do so= but we can undo them, if we have sufficient cog resources to do so

Question 4

who do we choose to compare ourselves to?

Answer 4

festinger
- we compare ourselves to people who are similar to ourselves
- because we’re motivated to see ourselves accurately
meta analysis of 55 studies
- ps preferred comparison targets who were better than they were on a particular dimension (average)= we try to understand the best we can be

Question 5

if you wanna know top level to which you can aspire, you engage in…
(if you wanna challenge yourself)

Answer 5

upward social comparison

= compare yourself to people who are BETTER than you are on a specific ability

Question 6

if you wanna feel better about yourself, you engage in…

Answer 6

downward social comparison

= compare yourself to people who are WORSE than you on specific ability

Question 7

what is a self-motive?

Answer 7

tendency that is aimed towards establishing specific state of self-awareness, self-representation, or self-evaluation

Question 8

what are the types of self motives?

Answer 8

• accuracy perception
• self verification
• self-enhancement

Question 9

• accuracy perception

Answer 9

motivated to have accurate info about yourself

Question 10

• self verification

Answer 10

motivated to confirm what we already know about yourself

Question 11

• self-enhancement

Answer 11

motivated to maintain positivity of self, desire to protect, enhance your self-image

Question 12

demonstration of self-enhancement (5)

Answer 12

• we’re better than average
• we’re better toady than we were in past
• we make biased attributions
• engage in self-handicapping
• sometimes sabotage other people

Question 13

self-enhancing social comparisons: better than average effect

Answer 13

• we think we’re “better than average”
• we think we’re above average on: getting along with others, happiness
• people exaggerate their skills to think well of themselves

Question 14

self-enhancing comparisons: temporal self-comparisons

Answer 14

• temporal self-appraised theory
• past selves–> provide opportunity for downward comparison
• ps–> randomly assigned to rate self or acquaintance:
• • or - traits (ex. socially skilled, self-confident vs. immature, narrow-minded)
• now, and in past
• results:
• ratings of self and acquaintances in present and past:
• past: Self= 5.8 Acq: 5.9
• present: Self= 6.25 Acq: 5.91
• show derogation of past for self, not acquaintances= self-enhancement
• in your mind: everyone doesn’t get better, only me

Question 15

biased attributions (who?)

Answer 15

Lau + Russell
- newspaper quotes from winners + losers
- coded player’s and manager’s explanations for outcome
results:
- % making internal attributions
- 80% of winners
- 53% of losers

Question 16

self-serving category definitions + trait definitions (who?)

Answer 16

Dunning
- self-enhancement motive can influence…how we define concepts
- we define categories + traits in self-serving ways
- if you’re always on time (your trait)= you tend to say: being dependable means being on time
- whatever we are: dependable, dutiful, obedient vs. thoughtful, loving, caring
= can fit to what YOU are= “what does it mean to be good son”

Question 17

self-handicapping

Answer 17

• creating obstacles to success to protect self
• avoid negative internal stuff
• simply don’t try
• don’t sleep / drink alcohol
• ex. drink a lot before day of exam
• in case you fail= you won’t feel bad about it, because you can blame it on the fact that you drank a lot
• even if you did well on test= increases glory of success
• win win situation

Question 18

experiment on proving automaticity of social comparison

Answer 18

Gilbert et al
- ps watched vid of model doing test
- model either performed poorly or well
- ps were told that model’s performance was staged= so not meaningful
- ps were made cognitively busy or not
- all ps did test= were given ambiguous feedback: 10/18
- ps rated their own competence at task
- when you’re cognitively busy= context of model’s performance not considered= so you tend to make automatic comparisons
- when you’re not busy= context taken into account= self-ratings are not sig influenced by model
= social comparison is automatic, but only when you’re under cognitive load– TAKES EFFORT to undo them– you can undo it when you’re not busy

Question 19

what decides when we are comparing ourselves to other people?

Answer 19

motive– depends on our motive

Question 20

self-handicapping experiment

Answer 20

Berglas + Jones