Psychology Session 3 - University of Torontojhewitt/pepper/UploadedFiles/900... · Psychology Session 3 The Self Date: ... •Social loafing is less likely when individual evaluation

Psychology

Session 3The Self

Date: September 23th, 2016

Course instructor: Cherry Chan

Mothercraft College

Agenda

1. The Self

2. Attitudes

3. Social Facilitation

4. Decision Making

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The Self

• Self-concept: knowledge and beliefs about yourself

– General characteristics that describes “me”

– Examples of past behaviors

• Self-esteem: attitudes towards yourself

– Whether your self-esteem is high, low, stable, or change according to social situations affects how you think, feel, and act

(Kenrick, Neuberg, & Cialdini, 2015)


How Do We Get to Know Ourselves?

• Social comparison: people get to know themselves by comparing their attitudes, beliefs, and abilities with others

• Self-perception process: the process in which people observe their own behavior and make judgments about their own characteristics

(Kenrick et al., 2015)


Emotions and The Self

• Self-discrepancy theory: people will experience negative emotions when they perceive differences amongst “the selves”

– Ideal self (who you would like to be)

• Dreams and aspirations

– Actual self (your self-concept)

• Your behaviors and characteristics

– Ought self (who you should be)

• Your responsibilities

(Higgins, 1987)


Thinking Exercise 1: Think of a situation that is important to you, where you were misunderstood.

Describe the situation from 2 perspectives:

• Your own perspective

• An observer’s perspective

Finish the following sentences:

• I wished the observers know that I was (name situational factor that affected the way you acted). (situational attribution)

• I tend to seem (name personal quality) because… (your actual self)

• I wished the observers see me as (name personal quality) during (name situation). I can achieve that by… (your ideal self)


Attitudes

• Attitude: “A relatively stable evaluation of a person, object, situation, or issue that varies along a continuum from negative to positive”

• 3 components of attitude

– Cognitive: our thoughts and beliefs

– Emotional: feelings

– Behavioral: how we act

(Wood et al., 2017)


Formation of Attitudes

How are attitudes formed?

• Past experiences

• Influences from others

• Media

How else are attitudes formed?

Attitudes are strengthened when we share them.

(Wood et al., 2017)


Cognitive Dissonance

• When the components of attitudes (cognitive, emotional, behavioral) are in conflict, we experience psychological discomfort.

• Whether the issue is important for you will affect the level of discomfort

– The more important the issue, the more discomfort.

• We try to reduce these negative emotions by changing how we think or act.

(Kenrick et al., 2015; Wood et al., 2017)


Social Facilitation

• Social facilitation: “any effect on performance, positive or negative, that can be attributed to the presence of others”

• Audience effects: “the impact of passive spectators on performance”

• Co-action effect: “the impact on performance caused by the presence of other people engaged in the same task”

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 286)


Social Loafing

• Social loafing: “The tendency of people to exert less effort when they are working alone on the same task”

• Social loafing occurs when individual contribution cannot be identified, thus no one can be blamed for poor performance or praised for good performance.

• Social loafing is less likely when individual evaluation is present, when the individual is personally involved in the task, or when the individual feel that the task is challenging.

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 287)


Decision Making

• Group polarization: “when group decisions become more extreme” (p.287)

• “Group discussion often causes members of the group to shift to a more extreme position in whatever direction the group was leaning initially” (p.288)

(Wood et al., 2017)


Decision Making • Group cohesiveness: “the degree to which group

members are attracted to the group and experience a feeling of oneness”

• Groupthink: When group members are very close, they strive to preserve solidarity and fail to make decisions objectively. Within the group, members are reluctant to express their concerns despite they disagree with the decision or know that alternatives exist.

How can groupthink be prevented?

(Wood et al., 2017, p. 288)


Thinking Exercise 2: Describe your attitude towards working in the field of Early

Childhood Education

• Why do you want to enter this profession?

• What do you think and how do you feel about this profession?

• What does your “ideal job” look like and how would you act in your “ideal job?”

Describe a situation where you contributed to a decision in a group

• What was the situation and what was the decision to be made?

• Was your initial decision close to the final group decision? Why?

• Connecting your decision making process with your “ideal job,” what are your strengths and challenges with decision making? What can you do or think about to overcome the challenges?


References Higgins, E.T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect.

Psychological Review, 94, 319-340.

Kenrick, D.T., Neuberg, S.L., & Cialdini, R.B. (2015). Social psychology (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.

Wood, S.E., Wood, E.G., Boyd, D., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2017). The world of psychology (8th Canadian ed). Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada

Psychology Session 3 - University of Torontojhewitt/pepper/UploadedFiles/900... · Psychology Session 3 The Self Date: ... •Social loafing is less likely when individual evaluation

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