PSYC 315 1st EditionExam # 2 Study Guide Lectures: 6 - 11The self: - Cultural differences: Self description in context vs. self-description independent of context Self-Esteem – goal in interdependent cultures is to achieve harmony within a social network. There is no strong push from interdependent cultures to stand out or to have unique characteristics. Less pressure to be the best. Less push to feel that one is special or that one is unusually talented. There is pressure to fit in and live in harmony with others.  Self-criticism is a strong part interdependent cultures. Criticism is usually directed toward being better at fulfilling social responsibilities with the ultimate goal of social harmony. This is not a pathological form of self-criticism. Feelings about in-groups and out-groups (helping; discrimination) – Eastern view promotes racism  Collective Action (working together) and Social Harmony is a major goal of social life. Prefer jobs in which no one is singled out for personal honor, but in which everyone works together. Prefer to retain organizational identity. Prefer to stay with same company.  More focused on others’ emotions and better at reading emotion. Experience more empathy for others Rules and laws seen as differing in different contexts. Eastern civil law is about finding compromise and maintaining harmony.  No concept of “lively discussion of differences.” Causal Attributions Dialectical Thinking and reasoning about contradiction – Asians seek a middle ground between contradictions, European Americans seek to determine the single best answer to situations involving contradiction. - Telling more than you can know (pg 112). : Many of our basic mental processes occur outside of awareness. Often we are unaware of the cognitive processing that led to the results. Peoples’ explanations of their feelings and behaviors often go beyond what they can reasonably know.o Wilson, Laser and stone study: students kept track of their daily activites and then estimated their mood related to the variables. Data showed that many people were wrong about what predicted their mood. The participants had introspected and found or generated some logical- sounding theories that weren’t always right - Self-perception theory: when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs. We infer our inner feelings from our behavior only when we aren’t sure how we feel. People judgewhether their behavior really relects how they feel or whether it was the situation that made them act that way. - Intrinsic Motivation: the desire to engage in an activity because they enjoy it or find it interesint, not because of external rewards or pressures. This is generally a better approach. Rewards can hurt intrinsic motivation. - Extrinsic of motivation: which people’s desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because they enjoy the task or find it interesting. - Social comparison theory: theory holds that people learn about their own abilities by comparing themselves to others. - Self- handicapping: Jose Quintero as an example: when he was in NY, he was directing little playsthat weren’t being reviews. Started to direct with O’neil and got more attention and become more successful. The key idea is that he was unsuccessful for most of his life and now suddenly he is famous. If he is unsuccessful at his next play, people will think he isn’t a genius anymore. Hehad a lot to lose. This is the situation where self- handicapping comes in. He became an alcoholic so that he wouldn’t have to direct another play and he wouldn’t fail at a play.  Essential ingredient: having success that you don’t think you can repeat A way we protect ourselves from feeling bad. A valedictorian comes to Texas A&M from a small school. So the valedictorian feels that he can’t complete in a school like this, so he would get a 40hr week job, join lots of clubs to self- handicap himself. Therefore, he can blame his job on his lower grades, not himself. o A study of handicapping: o Participants experienced success a problem solution test. In one condition the problems were written to be confusing and to encourage guessing. In the other condition the problems were clear and did not require guessing. Both groups had on average equal success. They were then told they would do a harder round of problems next after taking one of two drugs, a performance enhancing or a performance interfering drug. o Primary Finding: When participants experienced success on confusing problems on which they had to guess, they chose to take a performance inhibiting drug rather than a performance enhancing drug before a going through another trail of problem solving. Everyone else chose the performance enhancing drugo Interpretation: Participants have reason to suspect failure in the next trial of problem solving because their success would not seem to be due to their own efforts and abilities. To protect the self-esteem gained from their prior success, participants take an inhibiting drug that will ensure failure that cannot be attributed to their lack of ability. In essence, they quit while they are ahead.o What are some real world conditions that might produce the sense of non-contingent success, or success that you can’t repeat?o How could self-esteem relate to self-handicapping? People with lower self- esteem tend to self- handicap. self- esteem: Forming an Identity during adolescence and Young adult hood: Identity development is defined by these terms:1. Identity diffusion: at a point in life where you haven’t thought about who you are as a person. You are too young and immature to look into themselves. 2. Identity moratorium: stage where one begins to ask who you are as a person3. Identity Foreclosure: Accepted an identity based on what others tell you when you should be like. This is the opposite of attainment. You did not work out your identity yourself. This is an unhealthy development, you want to avoid this.4. Identity Attainment: You know your identity. You worked it out yourself. This is a healthy stage of psychological development.  Some people may enter identity foreclosure rather than attainment because one may not have a sense of security, they want to please others, or they have family pressure to go into a certain job or