PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Terror Management Theory, Social Comparison Theory, The Peripheral
12 Jun 2018
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Week 18: Social Psychology I
Topic 01: The Self
• “oial Psholog: The sietifi stud of ho a pesos thoughts, feeligs ad ehaiou ae
influenced by the real, imagined or implied presence of others
• Self- Schema: Beliefs people hold about themselves that guide how they process self-relevant
information-how they categorize and store information about themselves
• Self- Coept: A idiiduals peeptio of self, iludig koledge, feeligs ad ideas aout
oneself. It is used as a basis for how we describe ourselves.
• Schematicity: The importance of particular self-sheas to a pesos self-concept
o Ex. If you believe yourself to be honest and fair and these qualities are important to
your self-concept, you are likely to harshly evaluate a stranger whom you see hop on
the bus without paying his fare
o People tend to reconstruct their memories for past events or behaviours in a schema-
consistent manner
• Ashematic: Not having a schema for a particular categorization or situation
• Self-Awareness: The ability to recognize oneself as a distinct entity
o Pshologists use eogizig oes o efletio i a io to test the eistee of
self-awareness
• Itospetio: Lookig iad to oes o thoughts ad feeligs
o Studies have shown that when participants are asked to analyze the reasons they feel a
etai a, thei attitudes ad ehaious dot alig
o People are not very accurate at describing why they do the things they do
• Affective Forecasting: Predicting how one would feel about a future emotional event
o People tend to believe that they would be much more devastated and much more
elated than they are at that future time
o People generally overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions
• Self-Perception Theory: When internal cues are difficult to interpret, people sometimes
determine their attitudes and feelings by observing their own behaviour
• Comparisons:
o Looking-Glass Self: The notion that other people serve as mirrors in which we see
ourselves
o Social Comparison Theory: The theory that people evaluate their own abilities and
opinions by comparing themselves to others
• Cultural Factors:
o In individualistic cultures, people describe themselves in terms of their inner
psychological characteristics such as attitudes, personality traits ad ailities e I a
itelliget
o Independent self-concept in which they view the self as distinct, autonomous, self-
contained and unique
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o In collectivist cultures, people describe themselves in terms of their relational roles and
goup eeships e. I a a othe
o Interdependent self-concept-they view the self as part of a larger social network in
which harmonious relationships with others are more important than self-expression
• Self Esteem: Overall feelings of approval and acceptance of self
o Note that self-concept is a cognitive evaluation while self-esteem is emotional
o Self-concept is how we think about ourselves, self-esteem is how we feel about
ourselves
• Sociometer Theory: States that self-esteem evolved as a way to measure interpersonal
relationships
o Research has shown that:
o There is a strong correlation between self-esteem and experiencing
acceptance/rejection from others
o Things that increase your self-estee ould also ipoe othes opiios of ou
o Puli feedak affets a pesos leel of self-esteem, but private feedback does not
• Terror Management Theory: States that all human behaviour is motivated by the fear of our
own mortality
o They argue that the inevitability of death is terrifying, and people are motivated to
pursue positive self-evaluations because higher self-esteem provides a bugger against
this potential fear and anxiety
• Different ways people manage to build (or hinder) their self-esteem:
o Self-Hadiappig: Egagig i ehaious desiged to saotage oes o
performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure
o Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRG): Associating with others who are successful to increase
oes self-esteem
o Downward Social Comparisons: Defensive tendencies to compare oneself with others
who are worse off than oneself
• Self-Serving Cognition: General beliefs about the self that serve to enhance self-esteem
o Better-than-average effect: Most people rate themselves on most dimensions as better
than the average person- a statistical impossibility
o Unrealistic Optimism: Most people are unrealistically optimistic about their future
outlook
o Self-Serving Attributions: This self-enhancing belief is characterized by the tendency to
take personal credit for successes and provide external excuses for failure
• Self-Discrepancy Theory: Our self-esteem and emotional states are determined by the match or
mismatch between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves
o The atual self efes to peoples eliefs egadig thei atual attiutes e. “elf-
concept)
o The ought self efes to peoples eliefs egadig hat the ad ipotat othes
think they should or ought to be (ex. Nice, generous)
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Document Summary
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