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 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
Effect of dissonance on attitude change
Other explanations Impression management –No - not real change Self-perception unlikely