Summary summer test
Chapter 3- 11 (&Online lecture summaries of the book)
Social psychology, 11th edition
Saul Kassin, Steven Fein, Hazel Rose Markus
1
, Online lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction and the Social Self (part 1, 2)
Perceiving yourself: your ‘social self’ – chapter 2 and 3
Self-concept
Self-concept: how do you think about yourself, which traits do you have?
self concept is something that develops. Self-recognition is the first step. They use mirrors for self
recognition. (monkey with the dot on their face, reaching for his own face instead of the mirror)
Individualistic, independent self-concept. Often Western culture. People describe
themselves in unique terms of characteristics
Collectivistic, interdependent self-concept. Often Eastern culture. Describe more often
relationships in their self concept. Often, woman use more interdependent self concepts.
Self concept may change over time and is also related to situations.
How do we come to know ourselves?
1. Introspection,
2. Observation of our own behaviour
3. Influences of other people
4. Your (autobiographic) memory
5. Cultural influences
2: Observing your own behavior
Self-perception-theory of Daryl Bem (1972): We get knowledge about ourselves by observing our
behaviour, IF we are convinced that the behavior is voluntary
Facial Feedback Hypothesis: The position of our facial muscles affects our experience of emotion
Over justification effect: When people are being rewarded for doing a task that they already liked,
they will come to like the task less when the reward stops.
3. We come to know ourselves by comparing ourselves with others
Festinger’s social comparison theory (1954): People get knowledge about themselves by comparing
themselves (their opinions, achievements) with those of others.
- When do we compare ourselves with others? when objective standards are missing (when you
want to know how funny/popular you are
- With whom do we compare ourselves? with people who are comparable (classmates)
Upward social comparison: mostly we compare ourselves who are slightly better than us. This is
because it gives information of what is possible or
Downward social comparison: In some cases we compare ourselves with people who are doing
worse than us,
Schachter & Singers experiment
Ephedrine increases physical arousal: makes your heart pound and sweat
Researchers were interested is the reactions come from the ephedrine and
as expected, this was the case, but only in the group that were informed.
- Self-esteem: how do you feel about yourself? positively or negatively?
- Self-presentation: how do you present yourself to others?
Self-concept = How we see ourselves, our beliefs about our personal
attributes
Self-concept develops from about 18 months can differ between groups (culture, gender)
can differ across situations
We come to our self-concept in various ways
Self-concept influences how we attend to and perceive information
Lecture 1: Introduction and Self-esteem and Self- presentation (part 3)
2
,Self-esteem: how we feel about ourself. A high self- esteem is good for your well- being.
The psychologist Carl Rogers is well-known
for his concepts related to the "actual self"
and the "ideal self" in the context of self-
esteem
What determines our self-esteem?
1. The amount of discrepancy between your actual and ideal self
2. The importance of this self-discrepancy
3. The amount on which you focus on this self-discrepancy
Self-discrepancy: refers to the gap between different aspects of the self, such as the actual self (how
one sees oneself), the ideal self (how one wishes to be), and the ought self (how one believes they
should be). These discrepancies can influence emotions and self-esteem, with larger gaps potentially
leading to feelings of dissatisfaction or distress.
Self- awareness: Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings,
motives, and desires. It involves recognizing and understanding one's own behaviors and how they
affect oneself and others.
The role of Self- awareness in self-esteem
- In general we are not so self-aware
- In some situations our self-awareness increases
- If we are talking about ourselves
- If we are in front of an audience
- Is we see ourselves on video
- If we see ourselves in a mirror
- Individual differences: some people are more self-focused than others
Solutions:
1. Try to reduce the discrepancy (shape up)
Self-regulation the process by which people control their
thoughts, feelings, or behaviour in order to achieve a
personal or social goal.
Self-control is a limited inner resource that can
temporarily be depleted by usage. It is claimed that all
self-control efforts draw energy from a single common
reservoir.
2. Try to escape the state of self-awareness (ship out)
by avoiding certain situations
by using drugs
by using alcohol
by committing suicide
3. Other strategies to inflate your self- esteem
Self-serving bias in information processing
- Successes are attributed to the self, failures to external factors
3
, - People remember positive information better than negative
BIRG-ing’ en ‘CORF-ing’
- Basking In Reflected Glory: to identify with people or groups who are successful
- Cut Off Reflected Failure: to distantiate yourself from people or groups who fail
Downward social comparison
- to compare yourself with others who have done even worse, or even had more bad luck
Self-handicapping
- to make things extra difficult so that, in case of failure, you do not have to blame yourself
Self-serving bias is the tendency for individuals to process information in a way that enhances their
self-esteem. This means attributing successes to internal factors (like one's own abilities or efforts) and
failures to external factors (like luck or other people's actions).
Self-handicapping
Men and women use different strategies
- Men ‘handicap’ themselves more often by...:
taking drugs or alcohol
not practicing or studying for certain tasks
giving their rivals a head start
- Women ‘handicap’ themselves more often by :
reporting stress
by reporting physical symptoms like headache, cough
- Individual differences: some people use the tactic of self-handicapping more often than others
4
Chapter 3- 11 (&Online lecture summaries of the book)
Social psychology, 11th edition
Saul Kassin, Steven Fein, Hazel Rose Markus
1
, Online lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction and the Social Self (part 1, 2)
Perceiving yourself: your ‘social self’ – chapter 2 and 3
Self-concept
Self-concept: how do you think about yourself, which traits do you have?
self concept is something that develops. Self-recognition is the first step. They use mirrors for self
recognition. (monkey with the dot on their face, reaching for his own face instead of the mirror)
Individualistic, independent self-concept. Often Western culture. People describe
themselves in unique terms of characteristics
Collectivistic, interdependent self-concept. Often Eastern culture. Describe more often
relationships in their self concept. Often, woman use more interdependent self concepts.
Self concept may change over time and is also related to situations.
How do we come to know ourselves?
1. Introspection,
2. Observation of our own behaviour
3. Influences of other people
4. Your (autobiographic) memory
5. Cultural influences
2: Observing your own behavior
Self-perception-theory of Daryl Bem (1972): We get knowledge about ourselves by observing our
behaviour, IF we are convinced that the behavior is voluntary
Facial Feedback Hypothesis: The position of our facial muscles affects our experience of emotion
Over justification effect: When people are being rewarded for doing a task that they already liked,
they will come to like the task less when the reward stops.
3. We come to know ourselves by comparing ourselves with others
Festinger’s social comparison theory (1954): People get knowledge about themselves by comparing
themselves (their opinions, achievements) with those of others.
- When do we compare ourselves with others? when objective standards are missing (when you
want to know how funny/popular you are
- With whom do we compare ourselves? with people who are comparable (classmates)
Upward social comparison: mostly we compare ourselves who are slightly better than us. This is
because it gives information of what is possible or
Downward social comparison: In some cases we compare ourselves with people who are doing
worse than us,
Schachter & Singers experiment
Ephedrine increases physical arousal: makes your heart pound and sweat
Researchers were interested is the reactions come from the ephedrine and
as expected, this was the case, but only in the group that were informed.
- Self-esteem: how do you feel about yourself? positively or negatively?
- Self-presentation: how do you present yourself to others?
Self-concept = How we see ourselves, our beliefs about our personal
attributes
Self-concept develops from about 18 months can differ between groups (culture, gender)
can differ across situations
We come to our self-concept in various ways
Self-concept influences how we attend to and perceive information
Lecture 1: Introduction and Self-esteem and Self- presentation (part 3)
2
,Self-esteem: how we feel about ourself. A high self- esteem is good for your well- being.
The psychologist Carl Rogers is well-known
for his concepts related to the "actual self"
and the "ideal self" in the context of self-
esteem
What determines our self-esteem?
1. The amount of discrepancy between your actual and ideal self
2. The importance of this self-discrepancy
3. The amount on which you focus on this self-discrepancy
Self-discrepancy: refers to the gap between different aspects of the self, such as the actual self (how
one sees oneself), the ideal self (how one wishes to be), and the ought self (how one believes they
should be). These discrepancies can influence emotions and self-esteem, with larger gaps potentially
leading to feelings of dissatisfaction or distress.
Self- awareness: Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings,
motives, and desires. It involves recognizing and understanding one's own behaviors and how they
affect oneself and others.
The role of Self- awareness in self-esteem
- In general we are not so self-aware
- In some situations our self-awareness increases
- If we are talking about ourselves
- If we are in front of an audience
- Is we see ourselves on video
- If we see ourselves in a mirror
- Individual differences: some people are more self-focused than others
Solutions:
1. Try to reduce the discrepancy (shape up)
Self-regulation the process by which people control their
thoughts, feelings, or behaviour in order to achieve a
personal or social goal.
Self-control is a limited inner resource that can
temporarily be depleted by usage. It is claimed that all
self-control efforts draw energy from a single common
reservoir.
2. Try to escape the state of self-awareness (ship out)
by avoiding certain situations
by using drugs
by using alcohol
by committing suicide
3. Other strategies to inflate your self- esteem
Self-serving bias in information processing
- Successes are attributed to the self, failures to external factors
3
, - People remember positive information better than negative
BIRG-ing’ en ‘CORF-ing’
- Basking In Reflected Glory: to identify with people or groups who are successful
- Cut Off Reflected Failure: to distantiate yourself from people or groups who fail
Downward social comparison
- to compare yourself with others who have done even worse, or even had more bad luck
Self-handicapping
- to make things extra difficult so that, in case of failure, you do not have to blame yourself
Self-serving bias is the tendency for individuals to process information in a way that enhances their
self-esteem. This means attributing successes to internal factors (like one's own abilities or efforts) and
failures to external factors (like luck or other people's actions).
Self-handicapping
Men and women use different strategies
- Men ‘handicap’ themselves more often by...:
taking drugs or alcohol
not practicing or studying for certain tasks
giving their rivals a head start
- Women ‘handicap’ themselves more often by :
reporting stress
by reporting physical symptoms like headache, cough
- Individual differences: some people use the tactic of self-handicapping more often than others
4
