The Self

Question 1

The self has two aspects. The first part is the known aspect of the self, such as thoughts or beliefs. The second part is the awareness of the self. This is also known as _____________.

Answer 1

consciousness

Explanation:

The second part of the self is the active processor of information. This part of the self is the knower aspect. It is also referred to as awareness or consciousness.

Question 2

____________ refers to a person’s definition of self. This includes the person’s perception of his or her thoughts, beliefs, and personality traits.

Answer 2

Self-concept

Question 3

When people define themselves using their own thoughts and feelings, they have an ___________ view of the self.

Answer 3

Independent

Explanation:

This contrasts with an interdependent view of self, which is where people define themselves depending on other people’s thoughts and feelings.

Question 4

When a person examines their internal thoughts, feelings, and motives, they are using ________.

Answer 4

introspection

Explanation:

Introspection is one way in which people construct a self-concept.

Question 5

People examine internal information and focus on evaluating and comparing their behavior to standards which they have developed internally. This is known as the ______________ theory.

Answer 5

self-awareness

Question 6

In order to explain a person’s behavior and feelings, a person often relies on causal theories. These are often influenced by _______.

Answer 6

culture

Question 7

______ theories are theories which people think up to explain why they behaved a certain way, felt a certain way, or thought a particular thought. A common example is being in a poor mood on Mondays because it is the start of the week.

Answer 7

Causal

Question 8

When a person thinks about reasons for their attitude, they begin to change their attitude towards a particular thing. This is known as ____________ attitude change.

Answer 8

reasons-generated

Explanation:

This occurs as people begin thinking of the most plausible and easy to verbalize reasons, which they then believe must match their attitude. An example is asking a person to list the reasons they love their partner. If the person cannot verbalize their reasons, they may change their attitude about their partner. This can occur in spite of emotional reasons that are not easy to verbalize.

Question 9

Sometimes people observe their behavior and use these observations to explain their feelings and thoughts. This process is described by the _______________ theory.

Answer 9

self-perception

Explanation:

The basis of the theory is that people determine their feelings based on an assessment of their actions.

Question 10

Sometimes when people are determining the causes of their behavior, they underestimate one factor in favor of a more conspicuous factor. This is referred to as _________.

Answer 10

discounting

Question 11

_________ motivation refers to when a person engages in a task because they are interested in the task, rather than because they are required to complete the task.

Answer 11

Intrinsic

Question 12

When a person engages in a task because of ________ factors, such as rewards or pressure, rather than out of interest, they are influenced by extrinsic motivation.

Answer 12

External

Explanation:

This is different from intrinsic motivation, in which a person is motivated by their personal interest in the task.

Question 13

Sometimes people underestimate the influence of their interest or passion in a task and believe their behavior to be caused by extrinsic reasons. This is known as the __________ effect.

Answer 13

overjustification

Question 14

Different types of rewards can be given to reward completion of a task. ___________-contingent rewards are given when the reward for completion of a task is dependant on how well the task is carried out.

Answer 14

performance

Explanation:

This contrasts with a task- contingent reward, which is where a person is rewarded for completing a task without regard for how well the task was performed.

Question 15

The __________ theory of emotion states that people must experience physiological arousal, which they then need to label, or explain appropriately, in order to determine their emotional state.

Answer 15

two-factor

Explanation:

In this way, people attribute certain emotions to their arousal. Note that this usage of arousal is defined as a state of heightened physiological activity.

Question 16

In some cases, when trying to determine the reason for _____________ arousal, people are incorrect. When this occurs, it is referred to as misattribution of arousal.

Answer 16

Physiological

Explanation:

For example, a person seeing a horror movie with a date may attribute their arousal to interest in their date, while underestimating the influence of the horror film. This can result in the person experiencing either a mistaken or an exaggerated emotion.

Question 17

The idea that a person develops their ________ depending on how they interpret and explain a certain event is a central theme of the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion.

Answer 17

emotions

Explanation:

This theory states that instead of experiencing a physiological arousal which they then use to determine their emotions, a person examines an event and develops their emotions depending on how they view the event.

Question 18

__________ are organized knowledge structures which are based on information about the self that has been collected from past experiences. People use these to determine present and future behavior.

Answer 18

Self-schemas

Explanation:

Just like schemas which are based on social observations and used to understand the social world, self- schemas are based on self observations and used to understand one’s own behavior and feelings.

Question 19

________________ memories are based on a person’s own past thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. What people remember is often influenced by their self-schemas.

Answer 19

Autobiographical

Explanation:

As it is impossible to remember everything which occurs in a person’s life, people tend to form memories which relate most to their self. That is, if a person is more independent rather than competitive, they will remember times when they acted independently rather than competitively.

Question 20

_________ memories are memories which have been forgotten and brought back to the surface as a recollection. These memories are often of traumatic events such as sexual abuse. However, the accuracy of these memories is often controversial.

Answer 20

Recovered

Question 21

Some people remember experiences which are ___________ incorrect yet they believe them to be true. These memories are usually of a traumatic experience and are believed to be part of the false memory syndrome.

Answer 21

objectively

Explanation:

This is especially influenced when another person suggests that it took place.

Question 22

The social comparison theory states that people examine their abilities and attitudes and compare them with the abilities and attitudes of other people in order to evaluate __________.

Answer 22

themselves

Explanation:

When possible, people tend to use objective methods to critique themselves such as measuring their running speed using a stopwatch. However, some things, such as their physical attractiveness, cannot be objectively measured and so people compare themselves with others to evaluate these aspects.

Question 23

Sometimes people perform ________ social comparison, during which they compare themselves to people who are worse in a particular trait. This acts to increase a person’s happiness about themselves.

Answer 23

downward

Explanation:

While upward social comparison helps a person determine a standard of excellence by comparing with people who are better on a particular trait, downward social comparison makes the person feel better as they compare themselves with people worse off.

Question 24

In some situations, a person will want to create a certain impression of their self which they present to others in society. This is done to fit the person’s goals or needs of the social interaction. To create this impression, people undertake impression __________.

Answer 24

management

Explanation:

This can be either a conscious or unconscious effort to present oneself in a particular way. The goal is to create a particular impression which influences the social interaction in the person’s favor.

Question 25

In order to increase the impression they make on another person, people tend to use a strategy known as ____________. This involves flattering and praising the other person in an effort to make themselves more likeable.

Answer 25

Ingratiation Explanation: This is one way of managing impressions in order to suit a certain situation. It is often used in interactions with people of a higher status.

Question 26

In order to make themselves feel better if they fail at a task, people perform a strategy known as ___________. This involves creating excuses for a poor performance, or creating obstacles which affect the ability to complete the task. This ensures a person has a ready-made excuse in the event of failure.

Answer 26

self-handicapping

Question 27

Cognitive __________ is experienced when a person feels discomfort because of information that contradicts their perception of themselves as a reasonable and sensible person.

Answer 27

dissonance Explanation: For example, let's say a person believes that it is good to exercise and has jogged every day for the past several years. If the person is then informed that jogging is bad for them, this information will contradict with their past behavior and beliefs and make them feel like they have acted unreasonably.

Question 28

When people experience __________, they try to rationalize their behavior by giving excuses, or finding fault with the information which contradicts their cognitive thinking.

Answer 28

dissonance Explanation: In an effort to maintain their self- esteem when they find out information which disagrees with their actions or thinking, people rationalize their behavior. This can involve making up excuses for their behavior in light of the new information, or even disregarding the new information as false or misleading.

Question 29

After making a decision, a person often feels unsure of whether they have made the right decision, and whether their decision was rational. The discomfort they experience is known as _________ dissonance.

Answer 29

post-decision Explanation: To deal with this discomfort, many people attempt to enhance the attractiveness of their decision while devaluing other choices. This tends to make their decision seem like the right choice.

Question 30

People are more motivated to reduce dissonance when a decision is important and when it's _________, rather than revocable.

Answer 30

permanent Explanation: The first is how important the decision is. The second is how permanent the decision is. The more important and more permanent the decision, the more a person will be motivated to reduce dissonance.

Question 31

When selling cars, salespeople may use a technique known as _______. This involves the salesperson convincing a customer to purchase a car at one price, but then raising the price after claiming the original as an error. The customer tends to continue with the purchase despite the increase in price.

Answer 31

lowballing Explanation: This technique has a profound effect on the customer. Firstly, the customer feels committed to the sale, and thus is reluctant to back out after the price change. Secondly, they were anticipating an exciting event, that is, owning a new car, and thus backing out would produce dissonance and disappointment. Lastly, the customer rationalizes the event so that they reduce the dissonance involved in making the decision. Rationalization may include thinking to themselves that they may as well continue as it will be more trouble to cancel the sale.

Question 32

When a person works hard for something particular, they tend to increase their liking of the thing. This is known as _____________ of effort.

Answer 32

justification Explanation: In order to prevent feeling disappointed with something they have worked hard towards, a person tends to look for the positives in order to increase how much they like the thing. This is a method that allows people to reduce dissonance. In effect, people are often more likely to convince themselves of the good in what they wanted rather than accept that they made a poor decision when they experience disappointment.

Question 33

When someone tells a lie to _______ insulting or hurting another person, they are using external justification to excuse their dissonant behavior.

Answer 33

prevent

Question 34

________ justification occurs when a person changes their own attitudes, behaviors, or beliefs in order to excuse dissonant behavior.

Answer 34

Internal Explanation: Sometimes there may not be any external reason for dissonant behavior. When this occurs, a person tends to change their internal attitude slightly to better suit their behavior. For example, a person telling a lie may accept that the lie is truth to reduce dissonance.

Question 35

_____________ advocacy refers to when a person publicly states an opinion which is in opposition to their own opinion.

Answer 35

Counterattitudinal Explanation: If a person performs counterattidinal advocacy with minimum external justification, they tend to change their attitude to match the opinion they are publicly stating.

Question 36

When a person is required to resist undertaking a desired activity or having a desired object but do not have much ________ justification for the resistance, they experience insufficient punishment. This often results in a person's desire for the thing lessening.

Answer 36

external Explanation: When a person is unable to use external justification to justify resisting a desired thing, they tend to reduce their desire, as a way of internal justification, in order to reduce their dissonance.

Question 37

When a person undergoes ____-justification, they tend to form different attitudes as they justify their changes in behavior. This can lead to long-lasting attitude changes referred to as self-persuasion.

Answer 37

self

Question 38

The ________________ theory states that people tend to become distressed when their beliefs and perceptions about themselves differ from their personal standards.

Answer 38

self-discrepancy Explanation: This theory states that people generally want to maintain consistency between their beliefs and their perceptions of themselves.

Question 39

One theory centers around the idea that when a person's identity is threatened, the person tries to seek out social recognition of that identity in order to restore it. This theory is known as the ____________ theory.

Answer 39

self-completion Explanation: A person generally becomes highly motivated to restore their identity when it is threatened. The person then tends to seek out recognition of their identity from society.

Question 40

The behavior of other people is potentially threatening to another person's self- concept. Furthermore, the level of the threat is influenced by the closeness between the two people, as well how relevant the behavior is to the person's definition of their self. The theory based on this finding is the self- evaluation ___________. theory.

Answer 40

maintenance Explanation: For example, a person is not likely to be threatened by a famous actor achieving success if the actor is not known to them and if the person has no interest in acting. However, a person is likely to be threatened if a friend achieves success in acting and if the person desires to be a successful actor.

Question 41

Sometimes, when trying to reduce dissonance, a person begins a series of self- justification actions. This can lead to a chain of stupid or immoral actions. This is known as the ____________ trap.

Answer 41

rationalization Explanation: This eventually builds up into a trap, in which the person is incapable of seeing things as they really are.