Self concept Flashcards
(133 cards)
1
Q
What is the focus of Developmental Psychology?
A
The self
2
Q
What are the three motivational forces behind self-perception?
A
Self-assessment
Self-enhancement
Self-verification
3
Q
Who looked at development trajectory of self concept?
A
Lewis 1986
4
Q
At what age does the concept of self in humans begin to develop according to Lewis (1986)?
A
Around age 2
5
Q
What characteristics does the self start with in early development?
A
Age
Gender
6
Q
Who looked at the self and brain activity?
A
Saxe et al (2006)
7
Q
What did Saxe et al (2006) find?
A
Experiences of the self emerges from brain activity across the medial prefrontal and medial precuneus cortex
8
Q
How does the self start as?
A
Concrete references= age, gender etc
9
Q
What additional aspects does the self include as it develops?
A
Traits
What others think of us
Social identities
10
Q
Which species are known to have a self as humans understand it?
A
Only humans and certain non-human primates
11
Q
Who looked at 9 year olds vs 16 year olds?
A
Montemayor & Eisen 1977
12
Q
How does a 9-year-old typically describe themselves in response to ‘Who am I?’
A
Using concrete references such as physical traits
13
Q
How does a 16-year-old typically describe themselves in response to ‘Who am I?’
A
Using abstract traits and social identities
14
Q
Who made the self-perception theory?
A
Bem (1967)
15
Q
What is the self-perception theory?
A
We make attributions not only for others’ behaviour but also for our own
We form an impression of someone else’s personality by making internal dispositional attributions for their behaviour
We form a concept of who we are by attributing our behaviour internally
16
Q
Who looked at the self-perception theory?
A
Anderson & Godfrey (1987)
17
Q
What did Anderson & Godfrey (1987) say?
A
How we perceive ourselves can also be based on imagining ourselves behaving in a particular way
18
Q
Who looked at I+C?
A
Triandis et al 1991
19
Q
What is a key feature of individualistic cultures according to Triandis et al. (1991)?
A
Stress on the individual self: self-interest, many group memberships, individual identity, and heterogeneity
20
Q
What do collectivistic cultures emphasize according to Triandis et al. (1991)?
A
Relational and collective selves: a small number of group memberships, social identity, homogeneity, group needs.
21
Q
Who did research on cultural differences?
A
Trafimow et al 1991
Bond & Cheung 1983
22
Q
What did Trafimow et al. (1991) find regarding individualistic statements between US and Chinese college students?
A
US students used more individualistic statements
23
Q
What did Bond & Cheung 1983 find?
A
Japanese, Hong Kong Chinese and US participants and found Americans used more trait labels to describe the self
24
Q
Who looked at the cultural differences in emotion and motivation?
A
Markus & Kitayama
25
What are the cultural differences in emotion?
Interdependent= shame, guilt more prevalent due to expectation of others and maintain social relationships
Interdependent= pride, anger and S-E important for individual success
26
What are the cultural differences in motivation?
Independent= personal goals, express uniqueness
Interdependent= fulfil social roles, expectations of group
27
Who looked at independent vs interdependent values?
Markus & Kitayama (1991)
28
What are independent values?
Common in Western cultures (e.g., USA, Canada, Western Europe).
The self is seen as autonomous and unique.
Focus is on personal goals, individual rights, and self-expression.
29
What are interdependent values?
Common in East Asian, African, and Latin American cultures.
The self is seen as connected with others, especially family and community.
Emphasis is on group harmony, social roles, and relationships
30
What is the concept of 'self-schemas?
Mental structures that help understand, explain, and predict behaviour
Influence information processing and behaviour
31
Who spoke about self schemas?
Kihlstrom & Cantor 1984
32
What did Kihlstrom & Cantor say about self schemas?
We tend to reject information that is inconsistent with self-schemas
33
Who looked at self-schematic information and what it's associated with?
Lieberman et al 2004
34
What did Lieberman et al 2004 find?
Self-schematic information processing is associated with regions of the brain linked to affective, motivational and automatic processing
35
What is the difference between self-schematic and aschematic traits?
Self-schematic traits are central to one's self-concept, while aschematic traits are not
36
Who looked at self-discrepancy theory?
Higgins (1987)
37
What is self-discrepancy theory?
We have 3 self-schemas (actual self, ideal and ought self), discrepancy with the actual and ideal motivates change to reduce the discrepancy so we engage in self-regulation
38
Who looked at the 3 forms of the self?
Brewer & Gardner
39
What are the 3 forms of the self?
Individual self
Relational self
Collective self
40
Who looked at the 4 types of identity?
Brewer (2001)
41
What are the 4 types of identity?
Person based social
Relational social
Group based social
Collective
42
What is person-based social identity?
Internalisation of group properties
43
What is relational social identity?
Defines self in specific to other people
44
What is collective identities?
Processs of when group members share attributes and engage in social action
45
Who critiqued Brewer (2001)?
Yuki (2003)
46
What did Yuki (2003) find?
Relational self can be considered a type of collective self (EA culture defining groups in terms of networks and relationships),
47
What do social constructionist suggest for the self?
The self is entirely situation-dependent
48
What occurs with experimental procedures that focus on group membership for the self?
Leads people to act very differently from procedures that focus on individuality and interpersonal relationships.
49
Who looked at self-complexity?
Linville 1985
50
What is complexity?
Both number of self-aspects and how independent they are
51
How does self-complexity affect individuals, according to Linville (1985)?
A varied self protects against threats and emotional impacts of failure or success
52
Who looked at failure + self-complexity?
Dixon & Baumeister 1991
53
What did Dixon & Baumeister 1991 find?
Failure affects those with less complex selves more severely
54
What did Showers find with self-complexity?
There are some dangers of a highly compartmentalised self concept (mood swings e.g)
55
Who supported Showers?
McConnell et al 2006
56
What did McConnell et al 2006 find with self-complexity?
Too many roles can lead to us feeling overwhelmed and confused
57
Who proposed the regulatory focus theory?
Higgins
58
What is the self-regulatory theory?
We have 2 separate self-regulatory systems
59
What is the promotion system?
Attainment of hopes and aspirations
Generates sensitivity to the presence or absence of pos events
Usage of strategic means for goals
60
What is the prevention system?
Fulfilment of duties and obligations
Generate sensitivity to the presence or absence of negative events
Usage of avoidance means to attain goals
61
Who looked at childhood and the self-regulatory theory?
Higgins & Silverman (1998)=
62
What did Higgins & Silverman (1988) find from childhood and the self-regulatory theory?
Some people are habitually more promotion or prevention, IDs from childhood
63
Who looked at promotion focus?
Higgins & Tykocinski (1992)=
64
What did Higgins & Tykocinski find with promotion focus?
People who are more promotion focused are likely to recall info relating to the pursuit of success by others
65
What is self-esteem?
An evaluation of ourselves
66
Who found the self-enhancing triad?
Sedikides & Gregg (2007)
67
What is the self-enhancing triad?
People normally overestimate good points, control over events and are unrealistically optimist
68
Who looked at when people don't follow the biases of the self-enhancing triad?
Tennen & Affleck, 1993
69
What did Tennen & Affleck (1993) find with biases of the self-enhancing triad?
People who fail to exhibit these biases can tend towards depression and some other forms of mental illness
70
Who looked at race and social identity relating to SE?
Cross (1979)
71
What did Cross (1979) find?
Members of ethnic minority report perceptions of lower S-E when making inter-ethnic/interracial comparisons
72
Who looked at cultural differences for SE?
Kitayama et al (1997)
73
What did Kitayama et al (1997) find with cultural differences in Japan?
Lower S-E in Japanese students studying in Japan or US
74
What are high SE people prone to?
Narcissism and destructive behaviours from N
75
Who looked at high SE and aggression?
Baumeister et al (1996)
76
What did Baumeister et al (1996) find?
High S-E prone to aggression when ego is threatened
77
What are the 2 differences with trait SE?
Self- concept confusion
Motivational orientation
78
What is self-concept confusion?
High self-esteem people have a more thorough, consistent and stable stock of self-knowledge than do low self-esteem people
79
What is motivation orientation?
High self-esteem people have a self-enhancing orientation in which they capitalise on their positive features and pursue success
Low self-esteem people have a self-protective orientation in which they try to remedy their shortcomings and avoid failures and setbacks.
80
What is S-E a defence against?
Terror management theory
81
What is terror management theory?
Human motivation to reduce the terror of death
82
Who looked at fear of death?
Bushman & Baumeister, 1998
83
What did Baumeister & Bushman (1998) find?
People with high self-esteem may respond to the thought of death by acting defensively or even aggressively
84
What is the self-evaluation maintenance theory by Tesser (1988)?
Individuals are motivated to maintain or enhance their self-esteem.
People tend to compare themselves to others, and this comparison can lead to emotional discomfort if others perform better in domains that are important to the individual’s self-concept
85
What is the friendship paradox?
Refers to the surprising finding that most people’s friends have more friends than they do.
86
Who looked at how the friendship paradox is rooted in how individuals evaluate relationships and networks?
Zuckerman & Jost (2001)
87
What are the key points from Zuckerman & Jost (2001)
People are more likely to feel popular when they compare themselves to others who are less popular or have fewer connections, reinforcing their sense of self-worth.
When individuals’ close friends or social peers outperform them in areas that matter to their self-concept (e.g., social status), it can lead to social tension and dissatisfaction.
Downplaying friends' successes and distancing from successful friends are common
Perceptions of popularity are shaped by position in social networks and the successes and failures of friends
Social comparison= important in assessing identity and worth
88
Who did research of self-evaluation maintenance theory?
Pleban & Tesser 1981
89
What did Pleban & Tesser 1981 find?
Effect of success and failure in relation to self-definition – rigged knowledge test
Dissonance reduction is likely – adjust self- concept or try to improve our skill
90
What is BIRGing?
Basking in Reflected Glory
91
Who looked at BIRGing?
Cialdini et al 1976
92
What did Cialdini et al 1976 find?
A university football team won a game, students were more likely to:
Wear school apparel (e.g. team jerseys)
Use the word “we” to describe the team’s success (“We won!”), even though they weren’t directly involved
93
What does CORFing stand for?
Cutting Off Reflected Failure
94
Who looked at CORFing?
Hirt et al 1992
95
What did Hirt et al 1992 find?
People are less likely to wear team apparel or publicly identify with a group after a failure or loss.
96
Explain Hirt et al (1992) findings?
This reflects a self-protective mechanism tied to social identity theory — we manage our public and private identities based on group successes and failures.
97
What is the 'better than average' bias?
The tendency to believe we are above average in various traits
98
Who looked at the better than average bias?
Wylie 1979
Robins & Beet 2001
99
What did Wylie 1979 find?
Most Americans think they are more intelligent and more attractive than the average person
100
What did Robins & Beer 2001 find?
Defensive pessimism is associated with effective coping, but somewhat unusual
101
What do self-enhancement biases refer to?
The preference for positive traits in self-description
102
What is self-handicapping?
Creating obstacles to success to protect self-esteem
103
Who looked at social media and self perception?
Ablow (2013)
104
What effect does social media have on self-perception according to Ablow (2013)?
It may contribute to narcissistic tendencies
105
What is the 'curated self'?
A concept where individuals selectively present themselves online, showcasing only flattering, sexy, or funny photographs and connecting with celebrities.
106
What trend has been observed among US college students regarding self-worth?
Increasing ratings of self-worth and capability, with better than average attitudes.
107
Who proposed the concept of 'positive illusions'?
Taylor & Brown (1988)
108
What did Joiner et al. (2006) and Moore et al. (2007) find in their meta-analysis?
They disputed the helpfulness of self-enhancement biases for mental health.
109
What are some benefits of positivity according to Sedikides et al?
* Creativity
* Optimism
* Psychological health
* Increased appeal as a mate choice
* Perceived confidence leading to greater success in group hierarchy
110
What does self-verification theory (Swann, 1984) state?
Self-verification needs can sometimes override self-enhancement needs.
111
What did Swann & Pelham (1990; 2002) find regarding self-verification?
Students and their roommates showed preferences for positive views in dating, while married couples preferred partners to see them as they do.
112
What did Sedikides (1993) find about self-enhancement motives?
Self-enhancement was the strongest motive, followed by self-verification and then self-assessment.
113
What cultural differences exist in self-enhancement bias?
East Asians are less prone to self-enhancement bias, which may be met through social groups.
114
Who looked at self-enhancement and EA culture?
Zell et al (2020)
115
According to Zell et al. (2020), how does self-enhancement manifest in East Asian cultures?
It occurs primarily on collectivistic traits rather than individualistic traits.
116
Who looked at when self-evaluation is accomplished?
Sedikides (1993)
117
How is self-evaluation accomplished?
Accurate gathering and appraisal of self-relevant info
Positive colouring of self-relevant info
Affirmation of preexisting self-conceptions
118
Who looked assessment, enhancement and vertification?
Sedikides (1993)
119
What are the key points for accurate self assessment?
People are motivated to reduce uncertainty about their abilities or personality characteristics
Uncertainty is reduced by obtaining an objective and accurate picture of the self in self-evaluative settings
120
What are the key points for biased self-enhancement?
Individuals involved in self-evaluation desire to enhance the positivity of their self-conceptions or protect the self from negative information
121
What are the key points for conservative self-verification?
People are motivated to verify their preexisting self-conceptions
People will verify their positive self-conceptions by seeking out favourable feedback, and they will also verify their negative self-conceptions by soliciting unfavourable feedback about their abilities or personalities
122
Who looked at impression management?
Goffman (1959)
123
What is impression management?
People use various strategies to get other people to view them in a positive light
124
What is self-monitoring?
High SM have strategic self-presentation that shape behaviour for the audience
125
Who looked at the 5 strategic motives?
Jones & Pittman (1982)
126
What are the 5 strategic motives?
Self-promotion
Ingratiation
Intimidation
Exemplication
Supplication
127
Who looked at the most common goals for social interaction?
Leary (1995)
128
What did Leary (1995) say?
Ingratiation and self-promotion service two of the most common goals of social interaction: to get people to like you and to get people to think you are competent
129
Who looked at the effect of ingratiation?
Gordon (1996)
130
What effect does ingratiation have?
Ingratiation has little effect on an observer’s liking for you but a big effect on the target
131
What is expressive-self presentation?
Demonstrating and validating our self-concept through actions
132
Who looked at expressive self-presentation?
Emler & Reicher (1995)
133
What did Emler & Reicher (1995) find?
Delinquent behaviour among boys is almost always performed publicly or in forms that can be publicly verified, because its primary function is identity validation
