Self and the Social World

-       spotlight effect

o  overestimate others’ attention

-       illusion of transparency

o  others’ read our emotions

Self-Concept

-       personal attributes

-       self-schemas

o  elements of self-concept

o  help process social info

-       self-reference effect

o  remember info related to self

-       possible selves

o  dream or dread becoming

-       development of self

o  social identity

§    groups identified with

o  social comparisons

o  others’ judgments

§    perception vs. reality

Self and Culture

-       individualism

o  Western cultures

o  personal attributes

o  priority to own goals

o  independence

-       collectivism

o  Eastern cultures

o  interdependence

o  focus on relationships

o  greater sense of belonging

-       effects on self-esteem

-       effect on happiness

-       political party differences

Self-Knowledge

-       explaining our behavior

o  often wrong

§    Nesbitt and Schachter research

-       predicting behavior

o  obedience

o  future of relationship

o  consider past behavior

-       self-analysis

o  aware of result, not process

o  analysis vs. intuition

§    dual-attitude system

·    implicit attitudes

o  automatic

·    explicit attitudes

o  consciously controlled

-       practical applications

o  self-report is untrustworthy

o  sincerity isn’t always correct

Self-Esteem – on own

Perceived Self-Control

-       self-efficacy

o  evaluation of ability, competence

o  characteristics

o  depends on situation

o  increased?

§    moderately challenging tasks

-       locus of control

o  internal vs. external

o  origins

§    how we explain setbacks

o  increase internal

§    believe in effort

-       learned helplessness

o  no control over events

§    Langer and Rodin research

·    choices = 93% improvement

-       too much freedom?

Self-Serving Bias (SSB)

-       perceive self favorably

-       examples

o  explaining events

§    success = ability, effort

§    failure = external factors

o  all better than average?

§    subjective, socially desirable

§    what we’re good at = important

o  unrealistic optimism

§    future events

§    negatives

·    increases vulnerability

§    positives

·    promotes well-being

§    remedy

·    “defensive pessimism”

o  anticipate problems, develop coping skills

o  false consensus

§    overestimate agreement

§    opinion

o  false uniqueness

§    underestimate commonality

§    ability

-       SSB as adaptive

-       SSB as maladaptive

Self-Presentation

-       desired image to self, others

-       self-handicapping

o  create excuses for failure

§    Berglas and Jones research

o  protects self-image

-       impression management

o  conscious

o  self-monitoring

§    adjust behavior to situation

§    high vs. low