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David Myers 11e ©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies Chapter Two The Self in a Social World Spotlights and Illusions Spotlights Spotlight effect Belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they really are Illusions Illusion of transparency Illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others Research Close-Up: On Being Nervous about Looking Nervous Examples of interplay between our sense of self and our social world Social surroundings affect our self-awareness Self-interest colors our social judgment Self-concern motivates our social behavior Social relationships help define our self Self-Concept: Who Am I? A person’s answers to the question, “Who am I?” Take time to answer this question… Are your answers more relational (collectivist) or about self (individualist)? At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self Schema Mental templates by which we organize our worlds Self-schema Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information Possible Selves Images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future Development of the Social Self What Determines Our Self-Concept? Roles we play Social identities we form Comparisons we make with others How other people judge us Surrounding culture Development of the Social Self The Roles We Play New roles begin as playacting then become reality Social Comparisons We compare ourselves with others and consider how we differ We tend to compare upward Can diminish satisfaction Development of the Social Self Success and Failure Our daily experiences cause us to have empowerment or low self-esteem Other People’s Judgments Looking-glass self How we think others perceive us as a mirror for perceiving ourselves Self and Culture Individualism Concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications Independent self Western cultures Self and Culture Collectivism Giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity accordingly Interdependent self Asian, African, and Central and South American cultures Self and Culture Culture and Cognition Richard Nisbett’s The Geography of Thought (2003) Contends that collectivism results in different ways of thinking Asians tend to think more in relationships than Americans Americans see choices as expressions of themselves. Self and Culture Culture and Self-Esteem In collectivist cultures Self-concept is context-specific rather than stable Conflict takes place between groups In individualistic cultures Self-esteem is more personal and less relational Conflict takes place between individuals Crime Divorce Self-Knowledge Explaining Our Behavior Predicting Our Behavior Planning fallacy Tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task Self-Knowledge Predicting Our Feelings Studies of “affective forecasting” reveal people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and the duration of their future emotions Impact bias Overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events Immune neglect Tendency to neglect the speed and strength of the “psychological immune system” which enables emotional recovery and resilience after bad things happen Self-Knowledge The Wisdom and Illusions of Self-Analysis Dual attitude Automatic implicit attitudes regarding someone or something often differ from our consciously controlled, explicit attitudes Self-Esteem Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth Specific self-perceptions have some influence Feedback is best when it is true and specific Self-Esteem Motivation Self-esteem maintenance Self-esteem threats occur among friends whose successes can be more threatening than that of strangers Terror Management Theory states humans must find ways to manage their fear of death. The “Dark Side” of Self-Esteem Narcissism Delroy and Williams (2002) “The Dark Triad” of negative traits Narcissism Machiavellianism (manipulativeness) Antisocial psychopathology Perceived Self-Control Effortful self-control depletes our limited willpower reserves Our brain’s “central executive” consumes available blood sugar when engaged in self-control Self-Efficacy How competent we feel on a task Leads us to set challenging goals and to persist Locus of Control Extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces Learned Helplessness versus SelfDetermination Learned Helplessness Hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events Martin Seligman Self-Determination Development of self-discipline in one area of your life may cause self-control in other areas as well The Costs of Excess Choice Excess Freedom Too many choices can lead to dissatisfaction with our final choice People tend to be generally happier with decisions when they can’t undo them Self-Serving Bias Tendency to perceive oneself favorably Explaining positive and negative events Self-serving attributions Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors Contribute to marital discord, worker dissatisfaction, and bargaining impasses Self-Serving Bias Can We All Be Better than Average? Most people see themselves as better than the average person on the following dimensions Subjective Socially desirable Common dimensions Self-Serving Bias Areas in which we believe we are above average Ethics Parental support Professional competence Health Virtues Attractiveness Intelligence Driving Self-Serving Bias Unrealistic Optimism Is on the rise Illusory optimism increases our vulnerability Defensive Pessimism Adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action Self-Serving Bias False Consensus Effect Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors False Uniqueness Effect Tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors Self-Serving Bias Explaining Self-Serving Bias Self-serving bias is a by-product of how we process and remember information about ourselves Self-Serving Bias may be Adaptive Protects people from depression Maladaptive Group-serving bias Self-Presentation Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and to an internal audience (ourselves) Self-Handicapping Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure Self-Monitoring Tendency to act like social chameleons