PSY 330 – Chapter 3 – Flashcards

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Sally lives in a middle class neighborhood. It really isn't anything special, but most of Sally's friends live in smaller homes in lower class neighborhoods, so Sally thinks of herself as well-off. When Sally compares her home to the homes of her friends, she is making a(n)
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downward social comparison.
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When Jason starts college, he comes from a very conservative religious background. He strongly feels that homosexuality is "wrong" and "immoral", although he has never actually met anyone who is a homosexual. At college, he meets lots of new friends, a few of whom are homosexual. He really enjoys them, and as he spends more time with them he decides, "I must not really think homosexuality is wrong. After all, several of my best friends are gay and I don't think they are immoral." Which theory can BEST explain Jason's change in attitude about homosexuality?
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self-perception theory
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Research suggests that pursuing self-esteem as an end in itself tends to
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lead to a variety of negative consequences.
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Compared to other people, narcissists
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are not as loyal to their relationship partners.
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Compared to people with high self-esteem, people with low self-esteem have
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similar life goals, but less confidence in themselves.
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Ted tends to think of himself as a workaholic and perfectionist. When he thinks back on college years, he remembers studying hard for exams and getting good grades (and tends to forget about the time he nearly failed a class, and disregard the many nights he spent partying). The way that Ted thinks about his college years illustrates the fact that people
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revise or distort their memories to fit their current self-concepts.
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The gender gap in self-esteem (the tendency for males to have higher self-esteem than females) is currently MOST pronounced among
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adolescents (10-15 year-olds).
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Even though she has taken Spanish courses for years and is almost fluent, Ann just enrolled in Spanish I. Why? She loves the feeling of being the smartest person in the room, and loves to get scores of 100%. Ann is apparently driven by a rather strong
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self-enhancement motive.
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The overjustification effect occurs when
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people are extrinsically rewarded for something they intrinsically enjoy doing.
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Considering white Americans, African-Americans, and other ethnic minority groups in the U.S., __________ tend to have the highest levels of self-esteem, followed by __________ and then __________.
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African-Americans, white Americans, other minority groups
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Yael tends to think of herself as a unique person, with individual personality traits, interests, and opinions. She tends to make decisions on her own, to look after her own needs, and to think of herself as a "self-made woman." It would be safe to say that Yael has a(n) __________ selfconstrual.
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independent
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Social psychologists have found that there is usually a very good match between
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people's self-concepts and people's perceptions of what others think of them.
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The sociometer theory of self-esteem suggests that personal self-esteem
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functions as an indicator of how socially acceptable or unacceptable we are.
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Research suggests that people named Taylor are
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more likely than people without "T-names" to like the letter "T" and more likely than other people to become tailors.
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The term "looking-glass self" was coined to refer to the idea that
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we learn about ourselves from other people.
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Mental tricks that people use to help themselves believe things that are false are called
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self-deception strategies.
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People who are clinically depressed tend to
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have an accurate view of who likes them and who doesn't.
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The phenomenal self, or the working self-concept, refers to
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the image of the self that is currently active in a person's mind.
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Suppose that you are a terrible athlete, you were born with asthma, and you are a fantastic poker player. Research suggests that, if you have the same tendencies as most people, you would probably
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think that your gift for poker is rarer than it really is.
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In addition to gaining social acceptance, a second goal of self-presentation is
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claiming identity.
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When people engage in self-handicapping, their behavior is MOSTLY driven by
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the self-enhancement motive.
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When is a narcissist MOST likely to be aggressive?
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After they find out they didn't get a job they really wanted.
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Suppose that you are trying to quit smoking, but that you are having trouble doing so. When you stop to think about why you might be having so much trouble (i.e., when you try to analyze what your resistance might be to quitting), you are relying on
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self-knowledge.
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Suppose that you are a research participant in a study, and a researcher asks you to work on a puzzle while sitting in front of a mirror. He also mentions that your performance will be videotaped. Given these two pieces of information, you would be wise to suspect that the researcher is trying to increase
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self-awareness.
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Automatic egotism refers to
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the tendency for the automatic system (in most people) to favor self-enhancing thoughts and actions.
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Doing an activity for its own sake refers to
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intrinsic motivation.
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Drinking alcohol and using drugs are common means people use to escape __________.
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self-awareness
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In Nisbett and Wilson's (1977) studies on people's awareness of how they make purchasing decisions,
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people made choices based on whether they saw the product last, but thought they made the choice based on product color or softness.
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Kevin is taking a course on Women's Literature, and is the only male student in the class (all of the other students are female). Research suggests that, as a result, he will be
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especially aware of his maleness, and somewhat more likely to perform worse in the class than he otherwise would.
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When social psychologists use the term "narcissism", they are referring to
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excessive self-love and a selfish orientation.
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The tendencies for people to overestimate their positive qualities, to see themselves as having more control over external events than they really do, and to have an unrealistically optimistic outlook on life are known as
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positive illusions.
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Research has shown that children are less likely to steal Halloween candy if there is a big mirror in front of them than if there is no mirror. This finding illustrates the fact that
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high self-awareness tends to increase moral behavior.
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Drug rehabilitation programs often require their patients discontinue contact with old "using" friends, and maintain friendships with new "clean" friends only. One reason this makes sense from a social psychological standpoint is by changing their social networks in this way,
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patients will have a better shot at creating new, more positive self-concepts.
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When comparing themselves to others, most people choose to compare themselves to people who are
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slightly worse than they are.
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The tendency for people to take credit for their successes but blame failures on other people or on outside circumstances is known as
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the self-serving bias.
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Is introspection a source of self-knowledge?
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Yes, it is one source of self-knowledge, but there are also other sources of self-knowledge.
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Frances has just scheduled an appointment with a personal trainer. She knows she is not in perfect shape, and wants to get a thorough assessment of her strengths and weaknesses. Frances is apparently driven by a strong
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appraisal motive.
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Increasing self-awareness tends to make people
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behave in ways that are more consistent with their attitudes.
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With regard to roles, human beings tend to
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adopt and drop roles as the situation calls for it.
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The endowment effect refers to the tendency for people
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to regard items that they own as more valuable and desirable than they really are.
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Suppose that Ted and Ed are both very high in public self-awareness. This means that they tend to
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pay a lot of attention to how they are perceived by others, and what others might think of them.
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According to the text's analysis of revising self-knowledge, changing the way you think about yourself is difficult because
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people around us as having stable traits and that exerts pressure to not change.
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People try to make impressions on others by explicitly telling other people things about themselves ("I have a lot of experience with this"), by wearing certain brands (e.g., Nike, Prada), and by using certain body language (e.g., strutting or crossing one's legs). These are all examples of
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self-presentation.
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Jetta wonders how she is doing in her class. At first, she thinks she is doing well because she is getting a "B". Then she finds out that nearly every other person in the class is getting an "A" and she feels less happy. The theory of explains why Jetta feels less happy once she finds out how others are doing in the class, too.
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social comparison
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According to the textbook, the three main parts of the self are
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self-knowledge, agent self, and interpersonal self.
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Research suggests that __________ tend to have more interdependent self-construals, whereas __________ tend to have more independent self-construals.
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Asians, Westerners
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Is self-esteem related to academic grades?
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Yes, they are positively correlated; and it appears that good grades lead to high self-esteem.
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Which part of the self is most concerned with gaining social acceptance and fitting in?
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The interpersonal self
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Ximena loves her job as a stockbroker. She also loves how well it pays. Social psychologists would say that Ximena's job is
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both intrinsically rewarding and extrinsically rewarding.
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The notion of private self-awareness is conceptually similar to the idea(s) of
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self-knowledge and introspection.
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Since self-handicapping allows people to easily engage in _________, it helps them to maintain and enhance positive self-concepts.
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the self-serving bias
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The process by which the self monitors, controls, and modifies the self is known as
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self-regulation.
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When people make self-enhancing claims about themselves, they will
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present themselves in the best light that they think will reasonably be believed.
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Research suggests that if you really want to change your self-concept, you should
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either change your social environment or enlist support for your self-concept change from those in your existing social network.
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Compared to other information, information bearing on the self is processed more thoroughly and more deeply, and is hence remembered better. This pattern is known as
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the self-reference effect.
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Research suggests that the most effective way to change the self-concept is by
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changing the social environment.
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Most social psychologists today view self-presentation as
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a basic and important aspect of human social life, used to gain social acceptance.
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Self-presentation is best defined as any behavior that is __________ intended to make ___________ impression on others.
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consciously or unconsciously, some sort of
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Vanessa has an important presentation coming up at work, but she fears she will do a poor job. The week before the presentation, she claims she is feeling under the weather; she leaves work early almost every day and barely practices her presentation at all. Even though she may not realize what she is doing, Vanessa is setting herself up so she will have an "excuse" in case the presentation does not go well. Social psychologists refer to this pattern of behavior as
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self-handicapping.
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Since about the 1970s, it appears that self-esteem in the U.S.
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has been increasing (for everyone).
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Research on self-esteem and sexuality suggests that, for young women, high self-esteem is related to
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underestimating the dangers of risky sexual behaviors.
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Which of the following involves decision making?
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Agent self
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People with low self-esteem are MORE likely to focus on than
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self-protection, self-enhancement
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