What are the three perspectives in the social construction of personality?
- The actor – Characteristics residing in the individual, studied in personality psychology.
- The observer – How a person is perceived/judged by others, studied in social psychology.
- The self-observer – A person’s beliefs about their own characteristics, studied in social and clinical psychology.
What does self-perception theory propose?
People infer their attitudes, emotions, and internal states by observing their behavior and the circumstances in which it occurs (Bem, 1972).
When are self-perception effects strongest?
- When behavior is interpreted as freely chosen.
- When prior self-concept is weak or uncertain.
- When behavior is observed by an audience.
- When one expects to meet the audience again.
What is embodied social cognition?
The idea that self-perception can be subtle, automatic, and implicit, influenced by physical expressions and behaviors.
Give examples of embodied social cognition.
- Changing facial expressions can alter emotions (Laird, 1974; Lewis, 2012).
- Making a fist increases feelings of assertiveness in men (Schubert & Koole, 2009).
- Open posture boosts feelings of power (Carney, Cuddy, & Yap, 2010).
How accurate are people in evaluating themselves?
Moderately accurate; self-evaluations of ability correlate with performance outcomes (mean r = .29, Zell & Krizan, 2014).
What is mnemic neglect?
Selectively worse memory for negative self-relevant feedback, linked to experimental avoidance and shallower processing of threatening feedback.
What is the self-serving bias?
The tendency to attribute successes internally and failures externally, with larger effects in situations of self-threat (Heider, 1958; Campbell & Sedikides, 1999).
What does “basking in reflected glory” refer to?
Associating oneself with successful others, such as wearing school apparel after a football win or saying “we won” but “they lost.”
What is social comparison theory?
People evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparing themselves with others, often preferring downward comparisons after ego threats (Festinger, 1954; Wills, 1981).
What is the better-than-average effect?
The tendency for people to rate themselves above average on various traits, with large effect sizes across studies (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Zell et al., 2020).
What are self-enhancement strategies?
Self-promotion: Highlighting strengths, common in high self-esteem individuals.
Self-protection: Defending self-image, especially under self-threat.
What is self-verification theory?
People work to confirm existing self-conceptions through attention, memory, interactions, and identity cues (Swann, 2005).
How do entity and incremental theories differ?
Entity theories: Believe personality, intelligence, etc., are fixed traits.
Incremental theories: Believe these traits can significantly change with effort.
How do entity and incremental theorists approach goals?
Entity theorists prefer performance goals to validate ability.
Incremental theorists prefer learning goals to improve and grow.
How can stereotype threat impact performance?
Stereotype threat increases self-consciousness, lowers working memory, and reduces engagement, leading to decreased performance in affected groups.
What are the effects of praising intelligence?
Leads to endorsement of entity theories, preference for performance goals, poorer coping with failure, and reduced task persistence (Mueller & Dweck, 1998).
What is the sociocultural context of identity?
Identity construction is influenced by societal discourse, stereotypes, interpersonal experiences, and available identity categories.
What is “identity negotiation”?
The process of balancing self-verification and behavioral confirmation to maintain or adapt self-concepts, often influenced by societal contexts.
What are the implications of self-theories for education?
- Success does not always foster mastery-oriented qualities.
- Praising intelligence can undermine resilience and learning.
- Self-enhancement, self-consistency, and self-improvement vary by context.
