PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 18: Social Comparison Theory, 18 Months, Information Processing

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Define self-concept and how schemata guide our interpretation of people"s behaviour including our own. Self-concept: an individual"s perception of self, including knowledge, feelings, and ideas about oneself. It is used as a basis for how we describe ourselves. Self-schema: beliefs people hold about themselves that guide how they process self-relevant information and how they categorize and store information about themselves. Two people; both medium height and thin; one agonizes about the size numbers on clothing, carefully considers calories, and thinks long and hard about menu options. The second person shops for yummy foods, and orders based on looks. They both believe they are thin, one does not worry about gaining weight while the other is concerned about maintaining their weight. Schematicity: the importance of particular self-schemas to a person"s self-concept; influences how we behave in a given situation. People tend to reconstruct their memories for past events or behaviours to fit their schema-consistent manner.