Unit 1

• Self-Concept


  A knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us
• Self-Schema


  Refers to the beliefs you hold about yourself that guide your thinking and behavior
• Self-Complexity


  The extent to which individuals have many ways of thinking about themselves
• Operationalizations/Operational Definitions

  • Specify concrete procedures to measure a conceptual variable
  • Usually produces a number( measurement, count, yes/no)
• Empirical


  based on the collection and systematic analysis of observations

  ("That's an empirical question." = We could answer that question with data)
• Theoretical


  conceptual explanations, stories told about concepts, idea-based

  (Theory: having more self-complexity would lead to higher self-esteem)
• Self-awareness


  The extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self-concept
• Self-consciousness

  • Publicly induced self-awareness
  • when our self-concept becomes highly accessible because of our concerns about being observed and potentially judged by others
• Theory


  conceptual explanation, story told about how variables work
• Hypothesis


  theory-based prediction that is testable through empirical observation
• Self-report measures


  the individual tells you where they stand on a variable

  Strengths:

  • Access to internal feelings, beliefs, perceptions
  • Easy to administer

  Weaknesses:

  • Honesty of respondents
  • Self-awareness of participants
  • Requires language
  • Wording and order of items
• Behavioral Measures


  the researcher observes and directly assesses what people do to determine where they stand on a variable
• Goals of Research

  • Describe
  • Predict
  • Explain/determine causality
• Descriptive Research

  • Variables described one at a time
  • "What % of people.."
  • Various collection methods
• Individualism


  independent self-concept, self-enhancement & individual goals
• Collectivism


  interdependent self-concept, connection with in-group & goals of being good group member and fulfilling one's role in the group
• Correlational Research

  • Statistically describes relationships between variables
  • Correlation coefficient
• Self-Presentation

  • The self-image that we display to other people
  • Long-term: Reputation management
  • Often honest but selective
• Self-Monitoring

  • Regulate self-presentation to fit the social situation
• Self-handicapping: create external reason for expected failure to protect our self-image
• Proxy Model

  • By comparing ourselves with a proxy who has attempted X, we can determine our likelihood of success
• Social Identity

  • Based on our membership in social groups
• Internal/dispositional attributions

  • Choice by desires and beliefs
  • "I want to wear because it makes me feel good"
• External/situational attributions

  • Something from the environment affect the choice
  • "I want to wear this because people will like it"
• Consensus Infomation

  • What most people do
  • High: Everyone does it
  • Low: Only a specific person responds that way
• Discounting principle

  • If there is a good explanation for an effect, people disregard other possible factors as irrelevant
• Augmentation principle

  • If there is a good explanation for a failure, then to explain success, people require an especially strong explanatory factor to compensate for said failure
• Distinctiveness

  • What the person does in response to other stimuli
  • Is it distinct to this person?
• Consistency: What the person does in other instances of this stimulus
• Some Explanatory Style Dimensions

  • Internal/external: person vs. situation
  • Stable/unstable: across time
  • Global/specific: across situations
• Person Perception

  • The process of learning about other people
• Cues that influence social perception

  • Nonverbal behavior(anything but the words)
  • Physical Appearance
  • Voice
  • Group membership cues
  • This can activate stereotypes
  • Behaviors
• Self-fulfilling prophecies

  • Bob treats George based on how Bab expects George to act
• Labeling Bias

  • When people are given labels, those labels affect others' views and expectations
• Self-Labeling

  • A person adopts others' labels into their self-concept
• Recency effect

  • Information that comes last is given more weight
• Self-severing bias

  • Biases in attributions for your behavior
  • Success/positive
  • Failing/negative
• Fundamental attribution error

  • An individual's tendency to attribute another's actions to their character or personality, while attributing their behavior to external situational factors outside of their control