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Social Cognition
The study of how people perceive, remember, and interpret information about themselves in contrast with others Ex: eliminating the middleman would result in lower costs, increased sales, and greater consumer satisfaction; on the other hand, we are the middle man
Self-Concept
The sum total of an individual's beliefs about his or her own personal attributes Ex: I am nice, I am funny, I am a brunette, I am intelligent, etc.
Self-Schemas
A belief people hold about themselves that guides the processing of self-relevant information Ex: things we hope to be someday, are afraid of being someday; knowledge that influences what you notice, think, and remember about yourself
Schematic
Schemas that are important to us and our self-concept Ex: grades are important to students, overweight person knows they are overweight and they try to eat healthier/work out, etc.
Aschematic
Schemas that we identify with but are NOT important to us Ex: overweight person knows they are overweight but it is not an attribute that is important or is the basis for action and behavior (like knowingly going on a diet)
Social Identity
The schemas that define the roles we occupy Ex: a person knowing they belong to a certain group (religious, political, social, etc.); us vs. them
Possible Selves
Things we use to identify ourselves with but tend to be things that we have little to no experience with and/or are not that important to us right now (what we want to become/be later) Ex: schema of students (important now as it applies) that someday will want to be a pediatric neural …
Responses to Self-Discrepancy
Lower expectation (ideality) from setting the bar too high, raise behavior (reality) by working harder and escaping (GPA isn't as high as you want it to be but you can choose to get drunk instead)
Self-Complexity
The complicated schemas and networks that we believe we belong in Ex: I am a daughter but also a sister and a mother and a wife etc.
Working Self-Concept
Whatever schema is most dominant at a given moment - it can change from situation to situation Ex: Right now I am a student, this weekend I am an athlete; creates an "I" moment
Autobiographical Memories
Things that have happened to you that shape you to be who you are (without these, you would have no coherent self-concept) Ex: Person escapes 911 death, they think of themselves as survivors and it shapes their life accordingly
Physical Reality
A function of nature (physical reality, facts) and nurture Ex: Height, weight, things we have learned over time
Social Comparison
The evaluations of a person's own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others Ex: Student in class asked if he is tall, student says yes because he is 6'4": he is tall because he compared himself to others
Self-Perception
When a person observes their own behavior in a situation Ex: Person had a heated argument over email and a couple days later looked back at it and realized with amazement how angry they were during it
Self-Reference Effect
Our tendency to remember information better if it's about us - if we can relate to it (has to do with autobiographical memories) Ex: Professor talks about the definition of abuse and a student understands easily and can relate to it because they were abused as well
Egocentric Bias
The tendency to overestimate our contributions and our significance in past events Ex: 911 fireman says he saved more people than he actually did
Revisionism
When a person is trying to revise history Ex: Student complains about bus breaking down and having to walk 5 blocks to school and grandparents say that when they were students they had to walk 5 miles daily
Self-Esteem
Overall self-evaluation; a generalized feeling of self-worth, self-acceptance, goodness and self-respect Ex: Person is intelligent, funny, loving, caring (all positive = high self-esteem)
Self-Discrepancy
The difference between how you see yourself and how you want to be seen (reality vs. ideality) Ex: Person is anorexic but looks in the mirror and thinks they are fat
Self-Awareness
Knowing your characteristics and how your actions affect other people; certain situations causes a person to be more self-aware - it is a transitory (temporary) response Raises Self-Focus by paying more attention to yourself Ex: Person knows she is a brunette with brown eyes and whe…
Self-Focus
Directing conscious attention, thoughts, desires and emotions to yourself Ex: Willingly and consciously looking at yourself in the mirror and analyzing yourself
Private Self-Consciousness
The degree to which a person focuses on their own attitudes, opinions, and values Ex: High-scoring private self-conscious people fill in incomplete sentences with first-person pronouns, and recognize self-relevant words more
Public Self-Consciousness
Spending time thinking about what other people are thinking about and their perceptions Ex: People were asked to draw an E on their foreheads and public self-conscious people oriented the E so it was backwards from their own standpoint, but correct for an outsider perspective
Self-Consciousness
A personality characteristic that makes people spend a lot of time thinking about themselves (opposite of self-awareness) Ex: Cocky and selfish people think about themselves a lot
Self-Enhancement Strategies
Strategies that enhance our self-esteem to help us overcome our faults, imperfections and failures 1. Self-Serving Cognitions 2. Self-Handicapping 3. Downward Social Comparison 4. False Consensus Effect 5. False Uniqueness Effect 6. Basking in Reflected Glory
Self-Serving Cognitions
Tendency to blame our failures on external causes and our successes on internal causes Ex: You failed the test because it was too hard/professor didn't prepare you enough; you Aced the test because you spent hours studying
Self-Handicapping
Tendency to create potential excuses for some possible future failure Ex: Person decides to go to Kilroys as an excuse before an exam because they are unsure ahead of time how they will do on the exam
Downward Social Comparison
Comparing yourself to someone of lesser ability than us Ex: If you get a C- on an exam, you can protect yourself by telling yourself someone did worse than you on it
False-Consensus Effect
Tendency to overestimate the commonality of our failures Ex: You get a D on the exam but you protect your self-esteem by thinking a whole bunch of other people also did terribly
False-Uniqueness Effect
Tendency to underestimate the commonality of our success to increase self-esteem Ex: If you got an A on the exam you can boost your self-esteem by telling yourself that no one else got an A
Basking in Reflected Glory
Tendency of associating yourself with people who have achieved success to enhance your self-esteem Ex: IU wins basketball game, the next day people are wearing IU clothing to represent and say, "WE won!" although they had no hand in the winning
Self-Presentation
A behavior taken under the intention to create modified or maintained impressions of ourselves in them mind of others Ex: The clothes you wear, hairstyles, cosmetics, cologne/perfume, tattoos, drugs, plastic surgery (extreme), piercings, tanning beds, etc.
Motives for Engaging in Self-Presentation
1. To facilitate social interactions (professor takes on role of professors, student takes on role of student) 2. To gain material & social rewards (put in extra time and effort at work because they want a promotion/raise) 3. Self-Construction (engaging in behaviors for the purpose we s…
Self-Monitoring
A personality characteristic that shows the degree to which people maintain and control their behavior to meet the demands of a social situation
High Self-Monitoring
HSM people are flexible and rational individuals - they adjust their behavior to the current situation Ex: Politicians and salespeople as they create superficial friendships - they strive to be the "right" person
Low Self-Monitoring
LSM people are consistent between who they are and what they do Ex: Person is more introverted and sees no wrong in being completely themselves instead of adapting like HSM people
Attribution Theory
The process by which people generate explanations for other people's behavior
Logic of Attribution Theory
1. B=f(S*P) ; behavior is the function of interaction of Personal disposition and the Situation that they are in 2. B=f(S) ; behavior is the function of behavior of person's Situation 3. B=f(P) ; behavior is entirely the function of the Personal disposition
Covariation Principle of Attribution Theory
To be the cause of a particular behavior, it must be consistently present when the behavior occurs and consistently absent when the behavior does not occur 1. Consistency - do it all the time 2. Distinctiveness - unique 3. Consensus - what others do
CPAT Consistency
Is the observed behavior of the individual the same that is presented with the same stimulus at other times? "No" = Low consistency - circumstantial attribution "Yes" = High consistency - personal/situational attribution
CPAT Distinctiveness
Does the person behave in the same way when presented with other stimuli? "No" = High distinctiveness - situational "Yes" = Low distinctiveness - Personal
CPAT Consensus
Do other people behave the same way in response to the same stimulus? "No" = Low consensus - personal attribute "Yes" = High consensus (most people would respond the same to a stimulus) - situational attribute
CPAT Attributions
High consistency, High distinctiveness, High consensus = Situational High consistency, Low distinctiveness, Low consensus = Personal High consistency, Low distinctiveness, High consensus = Social norm
Personal (Dispositional) Attributions
You are attributing a person's behavior for something internal - something relatively stable about the person Ex: Sarah wakes up every morning to do drugs
Situational Attributes
Focusing on the external causes for person's behavior Ex: Sarah wakes up one morning, randomly decides to try drugs for the first time but never does it again
Correspondent Inference Theory
The degree to which a person's behavior corresponds to or is indicative of the person's disposition (relatively stable characteristics); single observation of behavior Ex: Alex is nice to Jane, Jane makes single observation that he's nice/passionate; Waiter spills hot coffee, waiter is…
Discounting Principle
People will ignore the extent to which a person's behavior is a function of their disposition when there is an obvious situational factor present Ex: An athlete that loves playing basketball goes pro and ends up making millions and having lots of fans - he ends up playing the sport for…
Augmenting Principle
If a person performs an action where there are known constraints, their motive has to be stronger than any of the inhibitory motives Ex: If someone gets a perfect grade on the MCAT, they will be thought of as clever. If it is a professor, it is not surprising however if it is a 16 year…
Freedom of Choice
The degree of choice of the behavior Ex: Did the person make a choice to behave that way or was that person forced to behave that way? Ex: Essay for/against war and it's the person's choice to to write about either - dispositional. Essay for/against war and it's NOT the person's choice…
Social Desirability
The bias shown by the people to present themselves in a positive way to the community Ex: If student sits and takes notes quietly it is desirable - if student gets on the desk and signs, it is undesirable
Analysis of Noncommon Effects
We are more likely to make a dispositional attribution when there are relatively few other causes present that could produce the same behavior
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to overestimate dispositional (internal) factors in explaining someone's behavior and underestimating the situational factors Ex: This man kicked the cat because he doesn't like the cat and not because he didn't see it and happened to be walking
Automaticity
When we try to generate attributions... 1) Categorize behavior - walking down the hall past a guy who punches a hole in the wall 2) Personal attribution - Samantha said he is mad because he failed an exam and earlier caught her hooking up with someone else 3) Correct for situations -…
Perceptual Salience
The seeming importance of information that is the focus of people's attention Ex: Watching a person (voice, posture) and not the situation
Cultural Influences
Common occurrence that certain cultures tend to apply dispositional attributes whereas others cultures tend to apply relational attributes Ex: American - dispositional attribute on behalf of alleged murder (extremely violent and volatile person) where Chinese - relational attribute on …
Actor-Observer Effect
Tendency to make dispositional attributions for other people but we make situational attributions for ourselves when we try to explain similar behaviors Ex: Random guy decides to be rude to you, you think "what a jerk" and not "he's having a bad day" but if it's you that is rude you th…

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