Social Psychology

1. Social Psychology David Myers 11e The Self in a Social World

2. Spotlights and Illusions • Spotlights • Spotlight effect (Lawson, ‘2010) • Belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they really are • Illusions • Illusion of transparency (Stavitsky & Gilovich, 2003) • Illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others

3. Research Close-Up: On Being Nervous about Looking Nervous • Examples of interplay between our sense of self and our social world • Social surroundings affect our self-awareness • Self-interest colors our social judgment • Self-serving bias • we attribute favorable outcomes to internal causes (self) • We attribute unfavorable outcomes to external causes • Self-concern motivates our social behavior • We monitor our own and others’ behavior (Snyder) • Social relationships help define our self • Could mindful meditation help?

4. Self-Concept: Who Am I? • A person’s answers to the question, “Who am I?” • Take time to answer this question… • Are your answers more relational (collectivist) or about self (individualist)? • Which brain hemisphere helps you to recognize yourself? (Decety & Sommerville, 2003) Right? • Left?

5. At the Center of Our Worlds: Our Sense of Self • Schema • Mental templates by which we organize our worlds) • We bolster our self-schema by remembering things better that are consistent with it. (Kilstrom & Cantor, ’84) • Self-schema • Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information

6. Possible Selves • Images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future • Spend more time in the present!

7. Development of the Social Self • What Determines Our Self-Concept? • Roles we play • Social identities we form • Comparisons we make with others • How other people judge us • Surrounding culture

8. Development of the Social Self • The Roles We Play • New roles begin as playacting then become reality • As we play them we begin to believe them (self perception theory, (D. Bem) • Social Comparisons • We compare ourselves with others and consider how we differ …Via Social Comparison theory (Festinger, ‘54) • We tend to compare upward • Who is your referent group? • Can diminish satisfaction

9. Development of the Social Self • Success and Failure • Our daily experiences cause us to have empowerment or low self-esteem • Remember Self-esteem <-> Competence? • Other People’s Judgments • Looking-glass self (Cooley, 1902 –sociologist) • How we think others perceive us is a mirror for perceiving ourselves

10. Self and Culture • Individualism • Concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications • Independent self • Western cultures – tend towards self-inflation (cf to Japanese) • - Is Pride a deadly sin?

11. Self and Culture • Collectivism • Giving priority to the goals of one’s group and defining one’s identity accordingly • Interdependent self • Asian, African, and Central and South American cultures • Thought ? Can you think of groupings other than just national cultures?

12. Self and Culture • Culture and Cognition • Richard Nisbett’s The Geography of Thought (2003) • Contends that collectivism results in different ways of thinking • Asians tend to think more in relationships than Americans • Americans see choices as expressions of themselves. • Which focus more on the focal object/background? • Japanese / Americans? • What does this tell us?

13. Self and Culture • Culture and Self-Esteem • In collectivist cultures • Self-concept is context-specific rather than stable • Conflict takes place between groups • Persist more when failing • In individualistic cultures • Self-esteem is more personal and less relational • Persist more when winning • Conflict takes place between individuals • Crime • Divorce • In your opinion, which culture is ‘better’?

14. Self-Knowledge • Explaining Our Behavior • Do we know what affects our mood? • Predicting Our Behavior • Can your roommate predict the longevity of your romantic relationship better than you? (McDonald & Ross, ‘97) • Planning fallacy • Tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task • What are the implications for goal setting • In job or in school?

15. Self-Knowledge • Predicting Our Feelings (Gilbert & Wilson) • Studies of “affective forecasting” reveal people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and the duration of their future emotions • We underestimate the effects of situational cues • Impact bias • We overestimate the enduring impact of emotion-causing events • How much time would you like on a island holiday? • How long would it take to get over a job loss? • Immune neglect • Tendency to neglect the speed and strength of the “psychological immune system” which enables emotional recovery and resilience after bad things happen

16. Self-Knowledge • The Wisdom and Illusions of Self-Analysis • We often aren’t aware of how thinking brought an “aha” experience. • Dual attitude (T. Wilson, “85) • Mental processes that control or behavior are distinct from those we use to explain our behavior • Automatic implicit attitudes regarding someone or something often differ from our consciously controlled, explicit attitudes • What’s the difference in the two? • How are we strangers to ourselves? • Implicit ones change more slowly • Self-reports are untrustworthy – no guarantee of their validity

17. Self-Esteem (motivation power?) • Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth • What are your “domains” of SE? (Crocker & Wolfe) • Attractive/smart/athletic/rich/loved? +++ • Or is it “bottom up”? (Brown & Dutton?) • What is the baby example? • Feedback is best when it is true and specific • Leads to high “self-efficacy” • General praise…”you can do anything you want” • -Can lead to unrealistic optimism What were you told in school? Competence feedback -> High Self-efficacy • Which do better? Those failing were told “feel great about yourself-hold your head high” or “taking control will help” • (Forsyth et al., 2007)

18. Self-Esteem Motivation • Self-esteem maintenance • What level is best to have? Hi/med/lo? • Self-esteem threats occur among friends whose successes can be more threatening than that of strangers (remember social comparison theory?) • Referent others • Terror Management Theory states humans must find ways to manage their fear of death.

19. The “Dark Side” of Self-Esteem • Narcissism • Delroy and Williams (2002) • “The Dark Triad” of negative traits • Narcissism • Machiavellianism (manipulativeness) • Over time: college students’ (Twenge, ‘06) • Narcissism • Empathy • Hi Narcissims > more “hooking up”, gambling, cheating • Me generation • Need for autonomy/ competence/relationships (E. Deci)

20. Perceived Self-Control • Effortful self-control depletes our limited willpower reserves… controlling emotions during upsetting film resulted in • Showing more aggression and fighting with their partner • Became less restrained in sexual thoughts and behaviors • DeWall et al., ‘07 Finkel & Campbell, ‘01) • Our brain’s “central executive” consumes available blood sugar when engaged in self-control

21. Self-Efficacy (Albert Bandura) • What’s the difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy? • How competent we feel on a task • Leads us to set challenging goals and to persist • Competency + persistence = accomplishment / self confidence • …if you have control over the outcome!

22. Locus of Control (Julien rotter) • Who would you rather dance with? • Extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces

23. Learned Helplessness versus Self-Determination • Learned Helplessness • Hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events • Martin Seligman • Self-Determination • Development of self-discipline in one area of your life may cause self-control in other areas as well • Edward Deci

24. The Costs of Excess Choice • Excess Freedom • Too many choices can lead to dissatisfaction with our final choice • People tend to be generally happier with decisions when they can’t undo them • So does love cause marriage or does marriage cause love?

25. Self-Serving Bias • Tendency to perceive oneself favorably • Explaining positive and negative events • Self-serving attributions • Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors • Contribute to marital discord, worker dissatisfaction, and bargaining impasses How so? • I got an “A” in social ψ • Dr. Mitchell gave me a “C” in social ψ • “only others fall prey to the self-serving bias!”

26. Self-Serving Bias • Can We All Be Better than Average? • Lake Wobegon effect • “all the children are above average” • Most people see themselves as better than the average person on the following dimensions • Subjective, (e.g. “disciplined”) vs. Observable (“punctual) • Socially desirable, • Common dimensions • Are we more self-serving on subjective or observable? Why?

27. Self-Serving Bias Areas in which we believe we are above average …but sometimes you’re right….but how will you know when? • Ethics • Professional competence • Virtues • Intelligence • Parental support • Health • Attractiveness • Driving

28. Self-Serving Bias • Unrealistic Optimism • Is on the rise • Illusory optimism increases our vulnerability • Remember the tendency to underestimate the strength of situational cues on our ability to self-control? • How does this explain the 2008 housing bubble? • Defensive Pessimism (Julie Norem, ‘2000) • Adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action

29. Self-Serving Bias • False Consensus Effect • Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors • Why do you think integrity tests for employment work? • False Uniqueness Effect • Tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors

30. Self-Serving Bias • Explaining Self-Serving Bias • Self-serving bias is a by-product of how we process and remember information about ourselves • Self-Serving Bias may be • Adaptive • Protects people from depression • Depressed people may be more in tune with reality! • Maladaptive • Why didn’t I get the big merit raise? • Group-serving bias

31. Self-Presentation (Barry Schlenker) • Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and to an internal audience (ourselves) • It’s a good thing in employment interviews! • Self-Handicapping (fear of failure) • Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure • Self-Monitoring • Tendency to act like social chameleons • Twin truths: self-efficacy and self-serving bias • Find the middle ground through careful self-reflection!