WOP: Perceiving ourselves and others summary Flashcards
(35 cards)
What is meant by the self concept? How can this be defined?
Self-concept is an individual’s self-belief and self-evaluations. Our self-concept is defined at an individual, relational and collective level.
What three characteristics can an individual self concept be described?
complexity (number of distinct and important roles), consistency (amount of self-views that require similar personality traits) and clarity (clear, defined and stable)
How is clarity affected by age?
Clarity increases with age because personality and values become relatively stable by adulthood and people develop better self-awareness through life experiences.
What is the relationship between clarity and consistency?
Clarity is higher when the consistency is high.
What is the relationship between each of these factors and wellbeing?
The higher the complexity, consistency and clarity, the better well-being people tend to have. Too much variation causes internal tension and conflict, but consistency can help with this.
How does certain self concepts affect task performance?
Employees with complex self-concept tend to be better at adaptive performance and self-concept clarity improves general performance
Describe in relative detail the four processes that shape the self concept and motivate a persons decisions and behaviour
Self enhancement- The extent to which a person is motivated to see themselves in a good light. People tend to believe they are better than average at things they care about.
Self-verification- The extent to which a person will seek information that is in line with their self concept. People will remember this information better than other info and are more motivated to work with people who verify this information.
Self evaluation- This includes self efficacy, self esteem and locus of control
Social-self- the social identity theory states we define ourselves as groups to establish emotional connections. We place these group identities in a hierarchal list. We strive to be part of a group but also unique.
Describe the process of perception leading to attitudes and behaviour
Perception begins when we receive environmental stimuli through our senses. Through selective attention and emotional marker response we make a perceptual organisation and interpretation which leads to attitudes and behaviour.
Describe two selective attention biases
One selective attention bias is the effect of our assumptions and expectations about future events. Our assumptions and expectations determine what we see (or what is more salient). Another selective attention bias is confirmation bias.
What is meant by categorical thinking?
Categorical thinking refers to organizing perceptions into preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term memory.
Name two other forms of perceptual grouping
Filling in the missing information and the tendency to look for patterns is also a form of perceptual grouping, the grouping of perceptions in trends.
What is meant by the term mental models? What do they rely on?
Mental models are knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain and predict the world around us. Mental models partly rely on the process of perceptual grouping.
Name two ways of changing our mental models
Questioning our assumptions and working with people from more diverse backgrounds
What is meant by stereotyping?
Stereotyping is the process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social category.
How are stereotypes formed?
Personal experience, cultural prototypes and media images (movie characters)
What is the function of stereotyping?
It is a form of categorical thinking which simplifies our view of the world and helps us predict behaviour
What motivates stereotyping?
The observers need for social identity and self enhancement
Describe the three processes that follow self enhancement
Categorisation (eg selective attention and stereotyping), homogenisation (people within groups are very similar) and differentiation (more favourable characteristics to in-group members
Why does stereotype threat occur?
Because people try to avoid confirming the stereotype and try to push the negative image from their mind. These use cognitive energy.
What are the dangers of stereotyping?
Stereotypes also cause us to generalize without evidence and lay the foundation for discrimination. Stereotypes can lead to systematic discrimination or intentional discrimination.
Is it effective to consciously try to stop stereotyping?
It is possible to consciously minimize the extent to which we rely on stereotypic information.
What is meant by the attribution process?
The attribution process is the perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behaviour or event is caused largely by internal or external factors.
What are the three attribution rules people rely on?
Consistency, distinctiveness and consensus
Name 8 errors associated with the attribution process
Self serving bias (attribute our own to situation), fundamental attribution error (personal bias), Self fulfilling prophecy, False-consensus bias (believing people have more in common in us than they do), Halo effect (our general impression, usually based on one prominent characteristic, colours our perception of other characteristics of that person (a friendly person is more likely to be seen as smart)), Primacy effect (relying on old information) and recency effect (relying only on new information)
