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Human & Society Final Exam prep notes
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Problem 1: the social self Chapter 3.What is the self?
1. How is it formed?
The self-concept: the sum total individual beliefs about their personal attributes, the self-concept is made up of self-
schemas
Self schema = beliefs people hold of themselves that guide processing of self-relevant info (e.g what books in the
library)
Any specific attribute that have relevance to self concept for some people but not others
o E.g self schema of body weight (men/ woman that believe theyre overweight/ think body image is
NB aspect in self-concept are considered SCHEMATIC with respect to weight)
Body weight schematics, normal trips to supermarket,new clothing trigger thoughts about the self
HOWEVER those who don't think own weight is NB part of their lives = are ASCHEMATIC on that attribute
→ the self is frame of reference that influences our thoughts, feelings & behaviours
What makes the self a social concept:
Ability to see yourself as distinct person in the world → first step in development of a self-concept
Second step involves social factors → COOLEY looking-glass self: other people serve as a mirror in which we
see ourselves. → MEAD added we come to know ourselves by imagining what sig others think of us and
include these perceptions into our self-concepts (self is ‘relational’ draw sense of self from past/current
relationships)
o Our self-concept matches our perceptions of what others think of us
1. How we gain self knowledge:
1. Introspection:
→ How do we gain insight into own beliefs, attitudes, emotions & motivations?
Self-knowledge derived from introspection → looking inward at ones own thoughts & feelings
However Wilson found ppl cant explain cause behind their behaviour
Disagrees that introspection provides direct line to self-knowledge
o Found attitudes people reported having to diff objects corresponded closely to their behaviour
towards those objects → more they said they enjoyed the tasks the more time they spent on it (e.g
more attractive found the landscape more pleasure showed on their expressions, happier they said
with partner, the longer the relationship
After told to analyze reasons for HOW they felt= the attitudes they reported no longer corresponded to
behaviour
2 PROBLEMS:
1st problem in self assessment - Wilson= people are mentally processing info which causes them to fail to
understand own thoughts, feelings & behaviours (think too much, too analytical = get confused)
2nd type of problem in self-assessment: people overestimate the positives (people think they're better than
average) → relate to self-enhancement (people overrate own skills,success, accuracy of opinions)
Also have difficulty predicting how would feel in response to future emotional events→ AFFECTIVE
FORECASTING (e.g how happy would u feel month after biden won? How unhappy if were to loose)
(asked ppl how would feel to pos/neg life events compared to people that experienced it)People
overestimate strength & duration of their emotional reactions → IMPACT BIAS
2 REASONS FOR IMPACT BIAS(overestimates) in affective forecasting:
o 1. In neg life events = Ppl underestimate psychological resilience/coping mechanisms, also overlook
others coping mech
o 2. When we introspect about emotional impact on us from future event = become focused on that
single event & don't take other effects/life experiences into account
To become more accurate in predictions - need to think more broadly about all events that impact us
2. Self-perception:
Opposite introspection- ppl learn about themselves same way observers do = watching own behaviour
,Bem’s self-perception theory:
Internal cues difficult to interpret → people gain insight what they think/feel by observing own behav &
situation that behav takes place (eat food quick -realise how hungry must have been→ make inferences by
watching own actions)
Limits to self-perception:
People learn about themselves through self-perception only when situation alone seems insufficient to have
caused their behaviour
o People dont infer own internal states from behav that happened in presence of situational pressures
(such as reward/punishment (e.g payed to fast eat sandwich -wouldnt assume you're hungry)
Infer something about yourself by observing behavior of someone else that you identify with(genetic
similarity/relationship closeness = VICARIOUS SELF-PERCEPTION
Self Perception of emotion: (within framework of self-perception theory)
FACIAL FEEDBACK HYPOTHESIS: facial expressions trigger corresponding changes in emotion
Facial feedback: facial expressions affect emotion through process of self-percep “smiling because happy”
Also other expressive behaviours (body posture)
Self perception of motivation:
Intrinsic motivation: originates in factors within a person (own interest,enjoyment)
Extrinsically motivated: originates in factors outside of person (engage in act for means to
end/grades,money)
*What happens to int motivation once reward not there anymore? (Standpoint of self-percep theory)→
when rewarded for (playing game,eating good food) the behaviour becomes overjustified/over rewarded =
OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECT: int motivation diminish for act that have become ass with reward/ext factors
2. Influences of others on our self concept:
Social comparison theory
“Who are you?” ppl tend to describe themselves in ways that that set them apart from others in immediate vicinity
(define ourselves by family members, friends and others as a benchmark)
Festinger: Social comparison theory= when uncertain of abilities/opinions (objective info not readily available) they
evaluate themselves thru comparisons with similar others (evaluate own abilities/opinions by comparing themselves
to others)
→ when do we do it? = in states of uncertainty & when more objective means of self evaluation aren't available
→ with whom do we choose to compare? = we look to others who are similar to us in relevant ways (if want to see
how good you write compare writing with college students) → EXCEPTIONS TO THIS!!(link to people cope with
personal inadequacies by comparing to those less able/fortunate to them)
Two factor theory of emotion: (experience of emotion based on 2 fact: physiological arousal & cog int of that
arousal)
Stanley schach: people turn to others to determine their emotions → (experiment of affiliation scared & wanted to
affiliate with others getting electric shocks)
→ when people uncertain about how they feel → emotional state determined by reactions of those around them
2 FACTORS NECESSARY TO FEEL SPECIFIC EMOTION:
1. Person must experience symptoms of psychological arousal (racing heart, sweat)
2. Person must make cognitive interpretation that explains source of the arousal (this is where others come in-
their reactions help interpret our own arousal)
3. E.g drug uniformed drugged men reported happy/angry based on confederates performance, drug informed
group didn't need to search for explanation, placebo group had no symptoms to explain)
→ when people uncertain of own emotional states - they interpret how they feel by watching others
Autobiographical memories
Without autobiographical memories (recollection of events that NB in ur life/parents/success & failures) = would
have NO coherent self-concept
Our autobiographical mem so interconnected with our sense of who we were that our self-concept changes
(REBIRTH!) → so does our visual perspective of past (once a kid now in college) → current self-concept
, colours how we see our past selves (people used third person pronouns to describe past self/more
detached)
Culture & the self-concept:
Self concept heavily influenced by cultural factors = individualism /collect so deeply ingrained in culture that
they mold our self-conceptions & identities
West:
(values INDIVIDUALISM)Americans try raise kids as independent,self-reliant/assertive
o Hold Independent view of the self
o Ones personal goal to take priority over group
o Strive for personal achievement
o Overestimate own contributions to group effort/seize credit for succ/blame others for failure
o Believes they're more unique in comparison to whole world
East:
(values COLLECTIVISM)Japanese children raises to fit into their groups & community
o Hold interdependent view of the self → self is part of larger network (inc family,workers etc)
o Person is first & foremost loyal group member, motivated to be part of group (not different, better
or worse)
o Strive for satisfaction of a valued group
o Underestimate own role & present themselves in more modest terms in relation to other members
o dialecticism= eastern thought that accepts the coexistence of contradictory characteristics within a
single person
1. Elements of social perception (aspects of persons, situations & behaviour) that guide initial observations → 2. How
people make attributions (explanations) for behav of others & HOW they form integrated impressions based on
these attributions → 3. Look at conformation biases: how people distort impressions that lead to self-fufilling
prophecy
Problem 2:you be the judgeChapter 4. (30 pages)
1. What are first impressions
a. how are they formed and how accurate are they?
2. What are the attributions of behaviour?
3. What are the differences in attributing our behaviour versus others’ behaviour?
4. What biases do we have when attributing behaviour?
What are first impressions & HOW are they formed:
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