[Social Psychology Course Note] Ch 5

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The Self: Understanding Ourselves in a Social Context

What is the self-concept, and how does it develop ?

Self-concept

The overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

Origins of the self

Rudimentary self-concept 初步的自我概念

  • Some primates
  • Humans at 18 ~ 24 months

Child’s self-concept 小孩的自我概念

  • Concrete
  • References to characteristics like age, sex, neighborhood, hobbies

Maturing self-concept

  • Less emphasis on physical characteristics

Cultural influences on the self-concept

  • Independent view of the self-concept 獨立自我觀
    • 西方國家
  • Interdependent view of the self 相依自我觀
    • 亞洲、非西方國家

Functions of the self

  • 4 main functions
    • Self-knowledge
    • Self control
    • Impression management
    • Self-esteem

To what extent do people know themselves through introspection, and what are the consequences of introspection ?

The way of introspection

  • Introspection
    • People do not rely on introspection very often
      • Not alaways pleasant to think about ourselves
      • Reasons for feelings and behavior can be outside conscious awareness

Focusing on the self: self-awareness theory 自我察覺論

  • Sometimes people go far in their attempt to escape the self 逃離自我
    • Focusing on the self can be very aversive
    • Ways to turn off internal spotlight on oneself 內在聚光燈
      • 酗酒
      • 狂吃
      • SM
  • Not all means of escaping the self are damaging
    • 信仰
  • Self-focus is not always damaging or aversive
    • Example: if you have experienced a major success
    • Can also remind you of your sense of right and wrong

Judging why we feel the way we do: telling more than we can know

  • It can be difficult to know why we feel the way we do
    • 為什麼喜歡你的另一伴
    • 你現在心情如何
  • Causal theories 因果論
    • Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture
  • Problem
    • Schemas and theories are not always correct

The consequences of introspecting about reasons

  • Reasons-generated attitude change 原因導致的態度改變
  • Problem
    • Focus on things that are easy to put in words
    • Ignore feelings harder to explain
    • Hard-to-explain feelings are the ones that often matter in the long run

In what ways do people come to know themselves by observing their behavior ?

Self-percpetion theory 自我知覺論

The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

  • Infer inner feelings from behavior
    • Only when not sure how we feel
  • Judge whether behavior
    • Really reflects how we feel
    • Or the situation that made us act that way

Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation 內在動機與外在動機

  • Intrinsic motivation
  • Extrinsic motivation
  • Overjustification effect 過度辯護效應
    • The tendency of people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons

Preserving intrinsic interest

  • Task-contingent rewards 以任務為條件的獎賞
  • Performance-contingent rewards 以表現為條件的獎賞
  • Avoiding over-justification when using rewards
    • Rewards will undermine interest only if interest was initially high
    • The type of rewards makes a difference

Mindsets and motivation 心態與動機

  • Fixed mindset 固定心態
  • Growth mindset 成長心態
  • Mindset affects motivation
    • Fixed mindset more likely to give up and do poorly on subsequent tasks after failure

Understanding our emotions: the two-factor theory of emotion 情緒二因論

  • Infer our emotions by observing our behavior

  • We experience emotions in a two-step self-perception process

    • Experience physiological arousal (生理激發)
    • Seek an appropriate explanation for it

  • Cover story: injection of “suproxin” test of vision

    • IV 1: Physiological arousal
      • Epinephrine informed
        • (shake, heart pound, face flush)
      • Epinephrine ignorant
        • (mild, harmless, no side effects)
      • Placebo
        • (saline, mild, harmless, no side effects)
    • IV 2: Environment cues (mood of “stooge”)
      • Euphoric / happy (playing games)
      • Angry (insulting questionnaire)
    • DV: participant’s mood

  • Results

    • Epinephrine informed group
      • Did not become angry when exposed to angry stooge
        • Had alterante explanation for their arousal (the drug)
    • Epinephrine ignorant group
      • Became euphoric
        • Joined stooge in playing games

          Implications of the two-factor theory of emotion

  • Implications

    • Emotions are somewhat arbitrary 主觀獨斷
    • Emotions depend on our explanations for arousal

Finding the wrong cause: misattribution of arousal

  • To what extent do the results found by Schachter and Singer generalize to everyday life ?
    • Do people form mistaken emotions in the same way as participants in that study did ?
    • In everyday life, one might argue, people usually know why they are aroused
  • Misattribution of arousal
  • Arousal from on source (e.g., caffeine, exercise, a fright) can enhance the intensity of how the person interprets other feelings

In what ways do people use others to know themselves ?

Self-concept is shaped by people around us

Knowing ourselves by comparing ourselves to others

  • How do we use others to define ourselves ?
    • Measure our own abilities and attitudes by comparing to other people
  • Social comparison theory 社會比較論
    • When do you engage in social comparison ?
    • With whom do you choose to compare yourself ?
  • Goal: know the furthest level to which we can aspire
    • Upward social comparison 向上社會比較
  • Goal: feel better about yourself
    • Downward social comparison 向下社會比較

Knowing ourselves by adopting other people’s views

  • We adopt other people’s views in some circumstances
    • 鏡中自我
  • Adopt other’s views when want to get along with them
  • Social tuning 社會調節
    • The process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes

Knowing our future feelings by consulting other people

  • Affective forecasts
    • People’s predictions about how they will fell in response to a future emotional event

When are people likely to succeed at self-control, and when are they likely to fail ?

How do people portray themselves so that others will see them as they want to be seen ?

  • Impression management 印象整飾

Ingratiation and self-handicapping

  • Ingratiation 討好 / 巴結
  • Self-handicapping 自我設障
    • Creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves
      • If we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves
    • Behavioral self-handicapping 行為自我設障
    • Reported self-handicapping 口頭自我設障

What are the pros and cons of having high self-esteem ?

How we feel about ourselves

  • Self-esteem
    • Overall evaluation that people have of themselves
  • Benefits of high self-esteem
    • Buffers against thoughts of own mortality
      • Terror management theory 驚恐管理論
    • Motivates us to persevere when going gets rough
  • Narcissism 自戀
    • Combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others