Social Cognition and the Self

Question 1

Define social cognition

Answer 1

How we organise our thoughts to navigate the social world; How we perceive others and ourselves

Question 2

What are automatic processes?

Answer 2

Uncontrollable or unconscious processes (ex. gut reactions, knee jerk processes)

Question 3

How are automatic and controlled processes captured?

Answer 3

Automatic via implicit measures; Controlled via explicit measures

Question 4

What influences automatic processes?

Answer 4

Priming

Question 5

What are controlled processes?

Answer 5

Deliberate and intentional behaviours that are dependent on motivation

(Potentially limited, Goal-dependent, Requires awareness of behaviours)

Question 6

Name two important social cues that we have discussed in this class

Answer 6

Faces and environment

Question 7

Describe the social cues that come with faces

Answer 7

• Gaze and eye contact
• Facial features (gender, race, age)
• Inferred personality traits (ex. dominance, maturity, trustworthiness, aggression)

Question 8

Explain the research done on name stereotypes and facial appearance

Answer 8

• A research was done to observe a face-name matching effect
• See whether a social perceiver and a computer are able to accurately match a person’s face to their name
• The study suggests that facial appearance represents social expectations of how a person with a specific name should look
• A social tag may influence one’s facial appearance

Question 9

Describe the social cues that come with environment

Answer 9

• Can dictate appropriate behaviour (ex. classroom, pub, home)
• Can alter other perceptions (ex. Dangerous situations, ambiguous cues)

Question 10

Explain the shooter bias task

Answer 10

• Assesses automatic processes
• Participants are presented with a scene
• The environment includes people (either of black or white race AND holding either a gun or other object)
• Participants have to choose whether to “shoot” the person
• Results: They always shoot the black person

Question 11

What is the evidence from dangerous-context videogame task that shows environment has important social cues?

Answer 11

The target is almost always shot when the environment presented is dangerous (ex. dilapidated buildings, dumpsters, subway terminals with graffiti, etc.)

Question 12

Describe the study done with exposure to alcohol priming

Answer 12

• Participants were asked to do a lexical decision task, but the researchers sneakily included words that are alcohol-related
• The participants were then asked to interpret several statements that were either of ambiguous, unambiguous or controlled nature

Question 13

What is the evidence from the study with exposure to alcohol priming that context has important social cues?

Answer 13

• In the interpretation of ambiguous statements, the alcohol-primed participants had higher aggression levels (larger difference to neutral prime)
• In interpreting the unambiguous statements, the alcohol-primed participants also had higher aggression levels (smaller difference to neutral prime)
• In interpreting the control statements, the neutral-primed participants showed similar results to the alcohol-primed ones with not significant differences

Question 14

Define social memory

Answer 14

• How we store information relevant to ourselves and others
  (Function: helps us to understand ourselves, remember things about others, inform opinions of new people and navigate novel situations)
• Information stored in associative networks
  (Semantic network model, spreading activation)

Question 15

Define self-schema

Answer 15

• Cognitive representation of oneself that one uses to organise and process self-relevant information
• Consists of the behaviours and attributes important to them

Question 16

What does the social-cognitive approach suggest?

Answer 16

People behave differently due to individual differences in self-schemas

Question 17

What kind of framework does the social-cognitive approach provide?

Answer 17

A framework for organising and storing information about our personality

Question 18

Describe the self-reference effect

Answer 18

Easy remembering of self-referent words as they are processed through self-schemas

Question 19

What does the self-perception theory propose?

Answer 19

• Our own behavior as a basis for inference
• Different motivations guide our behavior (intrinsic, extrinsic)

Question 20

Self-determination Theory: Describe the extrinsic motivations

Answer 20

• Behavior driven by rewards
• Rewards unrelated to behavior -> approval from others, monetary gain
• Externally motivated behaviors not reflective of the self
• Too much of these may actually reduce motivation to repeat behaviour in the future

Question 21

Self-determination Theory: Describe the intrinsic motivations

Answer 21

• Behavior driven by self-interest
• No explicit reward for behavior (Behavior is rewarding in itself)
• Internally motivated behaviors more reflective of the self
• Associated with increased motivations to repeat behavior

Question 22

What are the sources of the self?

Answer 22

1. Personal thoughts and emotions (Rewarding -> Approach motivation; Avoid anxiety -> Avoidance motivation)
2. Other people’s expectations (Self-fulfilling prophecy; Other’s expectations shapes your behavior)
3. Social Comparison Theory (Use others to evaluate our own abilities and characteristics)

Question 23

Define upward social comparison

Answer 23

When we compare ourselves to someone who is better than us, often to improve on a particular skill

Question 24

Define downward social comparison

Answer 24

When we compare ourselves to someone who is worse than us, often to feel better

Question 25

Explain the cultural differences in the self-concept for independent (Western) cultures

Answer 25

- Coherence through seeing self as independent, separate from others, expressed in inner thoughts and feelings - Describe self with general attributes: smart, shy, outgoing

Question 26

Describe the cultural difference in the self-concept in interdependent (Eastern) cultures

Answer 26

- Coherence through web of social connections with others - Describe self using roles and/or relationships: daughter, religion

Question 27

Name the three types of self (in Self-discrepancy theory)

Answer 27

1. Actual self 2. Ideal self 3. Ought self

Question 28

What is meant by the actual self?

Answer 28

The person we think we are right now (includes the good & bad qualities, group memberships, etc.)

Question 29

What is meant by the ideal self?

Answer 29

The person we hope to become. The best version of our potential, with positive or enhanced qualities and realised dreams

Question 30

What is meant by ought self?

Answer 30

What other people want us to be (includes cultural, parental, romantic partner expectations, etc.

Question 31

What is the self-presentation theory?

Answer 31

- People adapt to fit into situations - People present themselves to make an impression on others - Impression management and self-monitoring

Question 32

What is self-control?

Answer 32

- The ability to override thoughts, emotions and behaviors - Implementing behaviors which are appropriate for a certain situation

Question 33

What is the importance in self-control?

Answer 33

It is used to balance between: 1. Self-expression (Actions consistent with self-concept/actual self) 2. Self-presentation (Actions shape others' impressions of us in positive ways/ought or ideal self)

Question 34

What are the threats to self-control?

Answer 34

- Resisting temptations can be difficult - Self-control may be limited, so capacity to shift from "ought" to "ideal" selves can be difficult

Question 35

Define self-monitoring

Answer 35

The ability to monitor and modify your behaviour in response to environmental, situational or social variables

Question 36

Define impression management

Answer 36

- The ways in which people attempt to control how they are perceived by other people - Could be goal-directed or unconscious - Regulates the information and/or behaviour conveyed in their social interactions

Question 37

Impact on self-esteem

Answer 37

- Distorted perceptions of self-esteem - Failure to achieve goals set by ideal self (self-discrepancy; lowers self-esteem)

Question 38

Self-control failure/ego depletion

Question 39

Strength model (Roy Baumeister)

Answer 39

- Self-control is dependent on limited resources (e.g. glucose) and STRESS depletes these resources - Self-regulation as a muscle *Prolonged use of self-control causes "fatigue" *Resources need replenishment before further use

Question 40

Process model (Michael Inzlicht & Brandon Schmeichef)

Answer 40

- Stress shifts away from control and further coping - Motivation temporarily shifted towards rewarding behaviour - Resources not depleted after stress, just redirected

Question 41

Define self-esteem

Answer 41

- Confidence in one's own abilities; Self-worth or respect - Indicates how you are doing in terms of successes and social acceptance vs failures and social rejection

Question 41

Explain self-enhancing biases

Answer 41

- People tend to inflate their abilities and accomplishments to boost their self-esteem - Protective mechanism - Usually we choose situations where we can succeed, AND we recall successes more than failures - We tend to produce a largely positive impression of ourselves based on our experiences

Question 41

What are the effects of reduction in self-control?

Answer 41

- Increased motivations to engage in rewarding behaviour - Exaggerated emotional response to rewarding stimuli - Lack of attention to engage in any effortful behaviour - Can reduce efforts to change to you ideal self (and lead to conflict between your three senses of self)

Question 42

Why do we compare ourselves to other people?

Answer 42

- To evaluate ourselves - We do it more with people clos eto us - We do it more if the domain is central to our self-concept

Question 43

What are the effects of positive illusions (social comparison) in protecting self-esteem?

Answer 43

- Slight distortions can improve psychological wellbeing - Unrealistic optimism - Exaggerating traits - Biased explanations of success (due to natural ability) - Biased view about negative feedback (blame circumstances)

Question 44

Explain the internal locus of control

Answer 44

- People can affect what happens to them - Good and bad experiences are of people's own making - Better coping, less anxiety

Question 45

Explain the external locus of control

Answer 45

- People who believe that what happens to them is outside of their control - Higher rates of psychological disorders - Poorer self-esteem

Question 46

What are the negative effects of boosting self-esteem?

Answer 46

Inflating self-esteem can lead to: - Narcissism - False confidence - Lack of empathy - Academic problems

Question 47

How does self-esteem differ in different cultures?

Answer 47

- Self-enhancement is absent in some Asian and interdependent cultures, as compared to Western cultures