The Self Flashcards
(80 cards)
Who was “The Great Imposter?”
Fred Demara-very good at adapting himself around others (ex: became a Dean, law student, surgeon). Was actually a high school dropout- but was really nice so the people he duped wanted him back (6 months of jail time)
What was the movie “catch me if you can” based off of?
A man who became an airline pilot with no training. After he went to jail, he was hired by the FBI to look for frauds.
What is necessary for understanding our inner self?
Self-reflection
What is the self also influenced by? (other than self reflection)
Social factors (public, outer self)
What are some other species that have a sense of self?
Chimps, orangutans, dolphins, elephants.
How do we test for a sense of self?
Put a mark on the forehead of an animal or child. See how they react (reach towards the dot etc)
At what age can people recognize themselves?
From 15-24 months
What is the most basic level of self recognition?
“Am I a thing?”
How would a child’s sense of self differ from an adults?
Self is more concrete as a child-describes self in terms of clear-cut, easily observable characteristics. (age, gender etc)
How does our sense of self change as we mature?
We place less emphasis on physical characteristics and more on psychological states (our thoughts, feelings, and how others judge us).
What are the ABC’s of self?
Affect, behaviour, and cognition
What is affect (ABC’s of self)
How we evaluate ourselves, enhance self images, defend self esteem
What is behaviour (ABC’s of self)
How we regulate our actions and present ourselves according to interpersonal demands
What is cognition (ABC’s of self)
How do we come to know ourselves, develop a self-concept, and maintain a sense of identity.
What is the basis for the Cocktail Party Effect?
That the self is an important object our attention, we pay attention to things of interest to us and things that may harm us.
What is the self-concept?
Sum of total beliefs that people have about themselves-made up of self schemas.
How do we develop our self-concept?
Self recognition as a first step, then move onto social factors.
What is the looking-glass self?
The idea that we can get lots of information about ourselves based on our family and friends.
What are schemas?
Mental representations of objects or categories of objects. Aids in the categorization of events and predictability of events. Encompass knowledge about many things.
What are self-schemas?
Mental structures that people use to organize their knowledge about themselves that influence what the notice, think about, and remember about themselves.
What is introspection?
Method to understand one’s own thoughts and feelings. Self-knowledge through looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings.
What is affective forecasting (hindrance to introspection idea)
We have difficult predicting responses to future emotional events. We tend to overestimate the strength and duration of our emotional reactions
What is another reason (aside from affective forecasting) that we tend to overestimate our own emotional reactions?
We do not fully appreciate our psychological coping mechanisms. We focus only on the emotional impact of a single event, overlooking the effects of other life experiences.
What is Daryl Bem’s Self-perception theory?
When internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain insight by observing their own behaviour-only in the absence of compelling situational pressures.
