Psychology 2720A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Hazel Rose Markus, Social Comparison Theory, Psych

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2720A/B
• Professor: Isaacs

Document Summary

Identity refers to the specific characteristics that people think define them, so it is more limited than the self-concept. Self-esteem (cid:396)efe(cid:396)s to people"s judg(cid:373)e(cid:374)ts of their own worthiness whether they are generally good or deficient individuals. I(cid:374)t(cid:396)ospe(cid:272)tio(cid:374) is looki(cid:374)g i(cid:374)(cid:449)a(cid:396)d a(cid:374)d e(cid:454)a(cid:373)i(cid:374)i(cid:374)g the (cid:862)i(cid:374)side i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374)(cid:863) that o(cid:374)l(cid:455) (cid:455)ou have about your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. During introspection, people evaluate themselves and compare their behavior to personal standards. If someone were to ask you what your attitude toward a particular brand is (say crest or. Bounty), you maybe not have a ready answer. However, if you think about your purchasing behavior, you might be able to infer your attitude. When we find ourselves in uncertain or ambiguous situations and there is no objective standard by which to measure ourselves, we may compare our self to others as a way to understand ourselves. We also tend to learn about our abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves with other people.