S0cial psychology

KENNETH CHARLES D.
BERMEJO, RPm, LPT
Self in a Social World
Spotlights and illusions:
What do they teach us
about ourselves?
Spotlights and illusions: What do
they teach us about ourselves?
Spotlights and illusions: What do
they teach us about ourselves?
• Spotlight effect = The belief that others are
paying more attention to our appearance than
they really are

• Illusion of transparency = The illusion that

our concealed emotions leak out and can be
easily read by others
Interplays between the sense of
self and the social world:
• Social surroundings affect our self-awareness
• Self-interest colors our social judgement
• Self-concern motivates our social behavior
• Social relationships help define the self
Social surroundings affect our self-
awareness Parang ako lang
‘yung “bobo” dito
ah.

those in the minority

feel an
uncomfortable
amount of attention
directed their way
Self-interest colors our social
judgement

When problems arise in a

close relationship, we
usually blame our partners
instead of ourselves. When
things go well at home or
work or play, we see
ourselves as more
responsible.
Self-concern motivates our social
behavior

In hopes of making a
positive impression, we
agonize about our
appearance. We also
monitor others’ behavior
and expectations and
adjust our behavior
accordingly.
Social relationships help define the
self

We may be one self

with Mom, another with
friends, and another with
teachers. How we think of
ourselves is linked to the
person we’re with at the
moment. And when
relationships
change, our self-concepts
can change as well.
Self-concept
Who am I?
At the Center of Our Worlds: Our
Sense of Self
At the Center of Our Worlds: Our
Sense of Self
• Self-concept = How a person answers the
question “Who am I?” provides a glimpse of their
self-concept

• Self-schemas = Beliefs about self that organize

and guide the processing of self-relevant
information

• Social comparison = Evaluating your abilities

and opinions by comparing yourself to others
Self-schemas
• Schemas are mental templates by which we organize our
worlds.
• Our self-schemas — our perceiving ourselves as athletic,
overweight, smart, or anything else — powerfully affect how we
perceive, remember, and evaluate other people and ourselves.
• If being an athlete is one of your self-schemas, then you will tend to
notice others’ bodies and skills, will quickly recall sports-related
experiences, and will welcome information that is consistent with your
self-schema as an athlete (Kihlstrom & Cantor, 1984).
• Because birthdays are within self-schemas, if your friend’s birthday is
close to yours, you’ll be more likely to remember it (Kesebir & Oishi,
2010). The self-schemas that make up our self-concepts help us
organize and retrieve our experiences.
Social comparison
• we judge not just how much fun we’re having but how
it measures up to the fun everyone else is having.
SELF AND CULTURE
Self and culture
• Individualism = The • Collectivism = Giving
concept of giving priority priority to the goals of
to one’s own goals over one’s groups (often, one’s
group goals and defining extended family or work
one’s identity in terms of group) and defining one’s
personal attributes rather identity accordingly
than group identifications • interdependent
• Independent self self = Construing one’s
= Construing one’s identity in relation
identity as an autonomous to others
self
 CULTURE AND
COGNITION

Individualism
Collectivism

Independent
Interdependent
 CULTURE AND
COGNITION

Individualism
Collectivism

Independent
Interdependent
 CULTURE AND
COGNITION

Individualism
Collectivism

Independent
Interdependent
 CULTURE AND
SELF-ESTEEM

DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL
Individualism
Collectivism

Independent
Interdependent

SELF
 Growing Culture and Culture and
individualism cognition self-esteem
within cultures
Self-knowledge
Predicting our behavior
• Predicting our behavior
• Predicting our feelings
• The wisdom and illusion of self-analysis
Predicting our behavior
Planning fallacy = The tendency to underestimate
how long it will take to complete a task
 SELF-KNOWLEDGE
planning fallacy

The tendency to
underestimate
how long it will
take to complete
a task.
Predicting our behavior
• how can you improve your self-predictions? The best
way is to be more realistic about how long tasks took in
the past. Many people underestimate how long
something will take because they misremember
previous tasks as taking less time than they actually
did (Roy et al., 2005). Another useful strategy: Estimate
how long each step in the project will take. Engaged
couples who described their wedding-planning steps in
more detail more accurately predicted how long the
process would take (Min & Arkes, 2012).
Predicting our feelings
Impact bias = Overestimating the
enduring impact of emotion-causing events
 SELF-KNOWLEDGE
impact bias

Overestimating the
enduring impact
of emotion-
causing events.
Predicting our feelings
• Predicting one’s hunger
• Predicting one’s sadness
• Predicting one’s happiness
 immune neglect

The human tendency to

underestimate the speed

SELF-KNOWLEDGE
and the strength of the
“psychological immune
system,” which enables
emotional recovery and
resilience after bad things
happen.
Predicting our feelings
• people neglect the speed and the power of their coping
mechanisms, which include rationalizing, discounting,
forgiving, and limiting emotional trauma. Because we are
unaware of the speed and strength of our coping, we
adapt to disabilities, romantic breakups, exam failures,
layoffs, and personal and team defeats more readily than
we would expect.
Wisdom and illusions of self-analysis
Wisdom and illusions of self-analysis
• We are unaware of much that goes on in our minds.
Perception and memory studies show that we are more
aware of the results of our thinking than of its process.
Creative scientists and artists often cannot report the
thought processes that produced their insights,
although they have superb knowledge of the results.
Wisdom and illusions of self-analysis
• Analyzing why we feel the way we do can actually make our judgments
less accurate. In nine experiments, Wilson and colleagues (1989, 2008)
found that the attitudes people consciously expressed toward things or
people usually predicted their subsequent behavior reasonably well.
Their attitude reports became useless, however, if participants were first
asked to analyze their feelings.
• For example, dating couples’ level of happiness with their relationship accurately
predicted whether they would still be dating several months later. But participants
who first listed all the reasons why their relationship was good or bad before
rating their happiness were misled: Their happiness ratings were useless in
predicting the future of the relationship!
• Apparently, the process of dissecting the relationship drew attention to
easily verbalized factors that were not as important as harder-to-
verbalize happiness. We are often “strangers to ourselves,” Wilson
concluded (2002).
Wisdom and illusions of self-
analysis
• Such findings illustrate that we have a dual attitude system,
said Wilson and colleagues (2000). Our automatic implicit,
unconscious attitudes regarding someone or something
often differ from our consciously controlled, explicit
attitudes (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006; Nosek, 2007).
• When someone says they make decisions by “trusting my
gut,” they’re referring to their implicit attitudes (Kendrick &
Olson, 2012). Although explicit attitudes may change with
relative ease, notes Wilson, “implicit attitudes, like old
habits, change more slowly.” With repeated practice,
however, new habitual attitudes can replace old ones.
What is nature and
motivating power of self-
esteem?
 Self-esteem Self-esteem
maintenance
A person’s overall
self-evaluation or
sense of self-
worth.

SELF-ESTEEM
low-self-esteem
people are less
satisfied with their
relationships

Low versus Secure Self-

esteem
People expressing low self-esteem are more
vulnerable to assorted clinical problems, including
anxiety, loneliness, and eating disorders.
Self-esteem motivation
• high self-esteem people react to self-esteem threat by
compensating for it (blaming someone or trying harder)
• low self-esteem people react to self-esteem threat by
blaming themselves or giving up
• Self-compassion = higher self-esteem
Trade-off of low vs high self-
esteem
Low self-esteem High self-esteem
Vulnerable to anxiety, Are more likely to savor
loneliness, and eating and sustain positive
disorders feelings when good things
happen
Less satisfied in Self-serving perceptions
relationship are beneficial and
motivating
Experience more Fosters initiative,
 High
Narcissism
Self-esteem

SELF-ESTEEM
HOW DARE
AGGRESSI YOU!
VENESS

Narcissism: Self-esteems Conceited

Sister
High self-esteem becomes especially problematic if
it crosses over into narcissism, or having an
inflated sense of self. Most people with high self-
esteem value both individual achievement and
relationships with others. Narcissists usually
have high self-esteem, but they are missing the
piece about caring for others (Campbell &
others, 2002)
Self-esteem Self-efficacy

liking yourself believing you can do

entirely something
What does it mean to have
perceived self-control?
Self-efficacy
• Self-efficacy = A sense
that one is competent
and effective,
distinguished from self-
esteem, which is one’s
sense of self-worth.
• Leads us to set
challenging goals and to
persist
 self-efficacy

A sense that one is

competent and
effective,
distinguished from
self-esteem, which
is one’s sense of
self-worth.

Locus of control
The extent to which
people perceive
outcomes as
Self-efficacy, like internally
self-esteem, grows controllable by their
with hard-won own efforts or as
achievements. externally controlled
by chance or outside
forces.
 individualistic modern self
cultures indeed have “an determination
excess of freedom,”
is bolstered by
causing decreased life
experiences of
satisfaction..
successfully
exercising control
and improving
one’s situation.

learned
helplessness
learned helplessness
The sense of
hopelessness and
Uncontroll Perceived Learned resignation learned
able bad lack of helplessne when a human or
events control ss animal perceives no
control over
repeated bad
events.
What is self-serving bias?
self-serving bias
• The tendency to take personal credit for our successes
and to blame external factors for our failures
• Most people rate themselves as better than average on
subjective, desirable traits and abilities
Self Serving Bias
• Explaining Negative and Positive Events
• Comparing Ourselves To Others
• Unrealistic Optimism
• False Consensus and Uniqueness
Self serving bias

The tendency to
perceive oneself
favorably.
I GOT A LOW SCORE ON MY Self serving
QUIZ BCOZ THAT STUPID attributions
PROFESSOR DIDN’T GAVE A form of self-serving
ME ENOUGH TIME TO bias; the tendency
ANSWER to attribute positive
outcomes to oneself
and negative
outcomes to other
factors.

WHAT
HAPPENED?

EXPLAINING
NEGATIVE AND
POSITIVE EVENTS
I DO MOST OF THE EFFORT
ON MY GROUP, THEY
BARELY DO ANYTHING

WHAT
HAPPENED?

COMPARING
OURSELVES TO
OTHERS
 I KNOW I CAN STILL ACED defensive
THE EXAM EVEN THOUGH I pessimism
HAVEN’T REALLY REVIEW MY
LESSON, I’M AN ABOVE The adaptive value of
AVERAGE STUDENT anticipating
problems and
harnessing one’s
anxiety to motivate
effective action.

WHAT
HAPPENED?

UNREALISTIC
OPTIMISM
 false consensus
I CHEATED ON MY EXAM, SO effect
WHAT? EVERYONE DOes IT. The tendency to
IT’S NOT JUST ME overestimate the
commonality of
one’s opinions and
one’s undesirable or
unsuccessful
behaviors.

WHAT
HAPPENED?

FALSE CONSENSUS
AND UNIQUENESS
Self Serving Bias as Adaptive
• As research on depression and anxiety suggests,
there is practical wisdom in self-serving perceptions.
It may be strategic to believe we are smarter,
stronger, and more socially successful than we are.
Cheaters may give a more convincing display of
honesty if they believe themselves honorable. Belief
in our superiority can also motivate us to achieve—
creating a self-fulfilling prophecy—and can sustain
our hope through difficult times (Willard & Gramzow,
2009).
Self Serving Bias as Maladaptive
• Although self-serving pride may help protect us from
depression, it can also be maladaptive. People who
blame others for their social difficulties are often
unhappier than people who can acknowledge their
mistakes (C. A. Anderson & others, 1983; Newman &
Langer, 1981; Peterson & others, 1981).group-serving
bias
Explaining away outgroup
members’ positive
behaviors; also
attributing negative
behaviors to their
dispositions (while
excusing such behavior
by one’s own group).
How do people manage
their self-presentation?
 self-handicapping

Protecting one’s self-

image with
behaviors that
create a handy
excuse for later
failure

self-presentation
The act of expressing
oneself and behaving in
ways designed to
create a favorable
impression or an
impression that
corresponds to one’s
ideals.
 self-monitoring
Being attuned to the
way one presents
oneself in social
sensitiv insensiti situations and
e ve adjusting one’s
performance to
create the desired
impression
facebook is like
impression
management on
steroids
- Professor Joseph
Walther