COMM 1000 1nd Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I. The Scientific Method ContinuedII. Major Research DesignsA.Content AnalysisB.SurveyC.ExperimentIII. Issues to Consider for Each Research DesignIV. Examples of Each Research DesignV. Limitations of Each Research DesignVI. PerceptionA. InterpretationOutline of Current Lecture VII. Theories on Self ConceptVIII. Social ComparisonIX. Self EsteemX. AttributionA. Why Biases?B. Kinds of BiasesXI. Impression FormationXII. Implicit Personality TheoryCurrent LectureTheories on Self Concept:- Looking glass selfo Pocket-people-mirrors- Self-expansion modelo Expand self through relations with otherso Change attitude on the environment Highly contextual-different people now differ “us-is”-self-concept related to how we think others perceive usSocial Comparison- We compare ourselves to others to form our self-concept-“comparative dimension”o Alex is smarter than his cousinso Nicole is pretties than her friendsThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Tend to choose similar others- Gendero Important aspect of self-concept (broader than biological sex)o Instead refers to masculinity and femininity - Men and womeno Differ on a continuum Self Esteem - One chief measure of self-concept- Our feeling of self-worth- Affected by our social comparisons and our self-perception- Affected by feedbacko If someone is not responding nicely than we will - Only somewhat related to performanceo Not a good measure or predictor of successo You can feel confident on a test, but still do poorlyo When you do well you boost your self esteem- Self-fulfilling Prophecieso A bridge between self-perception and other perception Perceiving the Social World- How do we understand humans and their behavior?- We try to simplify the complex info we perceive o Making attributionso Forming impressions- Often biases lead to errors in our conclusionsAttribution- Definition- the process of assigning meaning to others’ behavior- We do this continuouslyo Why did my boss pass me up for that promotion?o Why did the professor give us a quiz?- A behavior happens and we have to give a reason whyWhy Biases?- Self-attribution differs from other attributionso We tend to see our own behavior as governed by the demands of a give situation but to view the same behaviors in others as governed by their disposition - Attributions differ because we focus on different informationo Information available to “actor” and “observer” is different o As a result… Sometimes we focus on the person (personality) Sometimes we focus on the context or circumstancesKind of Biases- Dispositional othero Overuse of personality “reasons” or dispositions with others- Self-serving biaso Tendency to overuse situational attributions with yourselfo Preserves self-esteem- Exampleo You and your roommate both flunk a test Self-serving- “I flunked because the test was too hard and the questions were unfair.” Dispositional other- “My roommate flunked because he’s lazy and doesn’t try hard enough.”o These attributions can hurt relationships because you will always think this way about someone and not get to know them for who they areImpression Formation- The way we combine information to get a general “sense” of a person- When flooded with new information:o Attend to some things and not otherso Need to organize all that information- Form an overall impression through weighted average of different characteristicsForming Impressions of Others- Make impressions easily: hastily?o Impressions in cyberspaceWhat Gets the Greatest Weight?- Information about stable traits- Information from a credible source- Primacy effecto Information we receive first is remembered besto First impressions are very important- Information about extreme or unusual behavior o You remember these things more easily- Information about negative traitso We may neglect other things based on a negative traito There are always biasesImplicit Personality Theory- Solomon Asch- “we select and organize information about others on the basis of what behaviors we think go together”- Principle of Unity:o We make traits organize wello We explain away or avoid inconsistent information If a animal lover kids a dog we organize our ideas and explain away the reason they did this is because the dog probably bit someone- Central traits: Halo effect?? Horned effect?o Asch also found that certain traits are more “central” More influential than others when forming impressions of personality Helps explain out lighting judgments-quick judgmentsFloO- The primacy effecto We do adapt out impressionso First few weeks or days are influential o We are confident in our initial judgments After this time we don’t really change this judgment mucho Priming can help avoid this effect It is not inevitable- The role of physical attractivenesso Attractice=THE EDGE – universal? Symmetry Feminine featureso Baby attention, marriage, occupation success, court defendants, teacher evaluations, power and status, increased self-esteem by proxyo Problems for women Media standards- pg. 48 Bias for attractive women in the workplace- Expressiveness “nonverbal communication influences first impressions: animations, dynamism, expansiveness, intensity”o Female faces: arched eyebrows, dilated pupils, wide mouths and full lipso Male faces: large