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The self. Developing a sense of self over time By interactions with others With whom? Similar or dissimilar Sense of being different, deviant. Social comparison. How you compare to others Where you stand. False consensus exaggerate similarity. Support our opinions Reinforce our behavior
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The self • Developing a sense of self over time • By interactions with others • With whom? Similar or dissimilar • Sense of being different, deviant
Social comparison • How you compare to others • Where you stand
False consensusexaggerate similarity • Support our opinions • Reinforce our behavior • Protect self-esteem • Avoid feeling deviant • But….
Negative effects • Avoid changing when appropriate • Maintains false beliefs • Maintains harmful behavior
Self-awareness • Makes values more prominent • Highlights deviations from ideals • Makes behave closer to ideals • Makes self-conscious
Attribution of success and failure • Take credit for success • Give credit for failure • Protect and enhance self-esteem
Overjustification • Reward for doing what you like • May reduce liking • Why?
explanations • Self-perception • Competition • Inferences
Self-perception theory • Daryl Bem • Base knowledge of self on how we act • Probably very limited
Self-perception theory • Daryl Bem • Look at what we do and situation • Decide what we feel • Probably not very useful but • For overjustification…. • I was paid so I probably don’t like it much
Competition • I just loved playing the game • Or painting or playing the violin • Now they pay me if I do well • Not so much fun any more • So non-contingent awards may be OK
Inference • We infer other’s beliefs • if there is high security, must be valuable • If left out, probably not valuable • If they bribe me to eat it, probably awful • If they pay be to do it. Probably not so good
Emotions: two-factor theory • Schachter • Ambiguous feelings plus context
Learned helplessness • Non-contingent failure • Why bother? • Generalizes to other situation!
Locus of control • Internal – strong, confident, high self-esteem • External – weak, not confident, low self-esteem But…
Limitations • Do not always want control • Some prefer not to have control • Choice not always preferable
Behavior affects attitudes • Cognitive dissonance theory • Leon Festinger
The theory • Two cognitions that are inconsistent with each other • produces dissonance
Dissonance is uncomfortable • people try to reduce it
dissonance • Not just any inconsistency • not whenever expectations are wrong • not whenever hopes aren’t satisfied
When? • Refers to the self • behavior and attitudes • act inconsistent with beliefs
justification • Sufficient reduces dissonance • insufficient produces dissonance
Reduce dissonance by • distorting behavior • distorting justification • but the easiest is usually • Changing attitude
Other explanations • Impression management • No - not real change Self-perception unlikely