Social Perception
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Chapter 3: Social Perception
- Social Thinking Processes
- The Social Self
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Presentation
- Social Perception and Cognition
Image summary: An illustration shows a group of four diverse people standing together, depicting various social interactions and expressions, which visually supports the theme of social perception.
Image summary: An illustration shows a nervous-looking man standing alone in a bright yellow spotlight on a dark stage. He is surrounded by a crowd of greyed-out people watching him, and a thought bubble above his head contains a single wide-open eye, symbolizing the feeling of being watched or scrutinized.
Spotlights & Illusions
Image summary: An illustration showing a group of three people standing together, with abstract speech bubbles above them, suggesting a social interaction.
- Interplay between sense of self and the social world.
- The Spotlight effect is the belief that others are paying more attention to one's appearance and behavior than they really are.
- The Illusion of Transparency is the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others.
Spotlights & Illusions
Social surroundings affect our self-awareness.
- Cebuanos feel more self-aware of their heritage when in Luzon or with Tagalog-speaking peers.
Self-interest colors social judgment.
- We blame others.
- The 1923 Nobel prize for discovering Insulin serves as an example.
Self-concern motivates our social behavior.
- We manage our image.
Social relationships help define our self.
- We have different roles.
Image summary: An illustration shows a profile of a human head with three colored emoji faces inside it—one yellow happy face, one red sad face, and one green neutral face—symbolizing internal emotional states or self-perception.
Self-concept & Self-schemas
Image summary: A conceptual diagram illustrating self-concept, featuring a stylized human figure centered beneath various labels that define identity. Labeled boxes radiating from the figure include 'A daughter', 'An artist', 'A good friend', 'A teacher', and 'A life-long learner', all pointing toward a fill-in-the-blank sentence at the bottom that reads 'I am'.
Self-CONCEPT: Who Am I?
Our sense of self.
- Self-concept is a person's answer to the question, "Who am I?"
- Self-schemas are beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information. They include the perception of one's self, such as being smart, fat, or ugly.
- The self-reference effect is the tendency to process efficiently and remember well information related to oneself.
- Possible selves are images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future.
Image summary: A silhouette of a human head in profile, where the brain area is replaced by a large question mark, symbolizing the inquiry into self-identity.
Image summary: An illustration showing three stylized human silhouettes representing the concept of 'Possible Selves'. On the left, a green silhouette is labeled 'Dream Selves', in the middle is a yellow silhouette, and on the right, a dark grey silhouette is labeled 'Feared Selves'. All three figures are adorned with identical blue and purple floral patterns and have their hands pressed together in a prayer-like gesture.
Possible Selves
Possible Selves
Not just who we currently are, but who we might become.
- Dream Selves, for example, being rich, thin, loved, successful, or respected.
- Feared Selves, such as being unemployed, unloved, failed, or rejected.
- Motivational Function, which provides vision for the life we long for, motivates behavior to avoid dreaded outcomes, and acts as a bridge between self-concept and goal-directed behavior.
- Developmental considerations, noting that these are influenced by social feedback and life experiences, and can become more realistic or unrealistic over time.
Image summary: An illustration of a woman pointing towards the text, with a sticky note in the upper left corner that reads, "note to self: DO NOT QUIT."
Development of the Social Self
- The roles we play: role playing becomes reality.
- Social identity involves ethnicity and nationality.
- Social comparisons involve evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself to others.
- Success and failure: achievements contribute to high self-esteem.
- Other people's judgments: The looking-glass self.
- This involves what we perceive them as thinking.
Image summary: An illustration shows a person looking into a mirror, reflecting the concept of self-perception and social identity.
Social Comparisons and Self-concept
Image summary: This image depicts the Big Fish Little Pond Effect. It shows a laptop screen with two fishbowls: one small bowl containing a larger fish, and one large bowl containing a smaller fish, illustrating how perceived status changes based on the size of the surrounding environment.
The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect, or B.F.L.P.E, is a psychological phenomenon where a high-achieving student, the big fish, in a low-achieving school environment, the small pond, develops a more positive academic self-concept and greater confidence than an equally capable student in a high-achieving school, which is the big pond. This occurs because individuals use their peers as a reference group to judge their own abilities, leading to higher self-esteem when surrounded by less capable peers. The concept highlights how social comparison influences self-perception and can impact overall performance, aspirations, and attitudes.
Social Comparison Theory
Social Comparison Theory, as defined by Festinger in 1954, suggests that we define ourselves relative to others around us, and that our comparison standards affect our self-evaluation.
There are three types of social comparisons:
- Upward comparisons involve comparing ourselves to those doing better, which can either motivate or demoralize us.
- Downward comparisons involve comparing ourselves to those doing worse, which can boost self-esteem.
- Lateral comparisons involve comparing ourselves to similar others for self-evaluation.
Image summary: A diagram illustrates these three concepts around a central figure. Yellow labels with arrows point upward, downward, and laterally from the person to represent upward, downward, and lateral comparisons.
The Looking-Glass Self and Others' Judgments
Cooley's Looking-Glass Self:
- We use how we think others perceive us as a mirror for self-perception.
- The key insight is that it is our imagination of others' views, not their actual views, that matters.
Impact of Social Feedback:
- Children labeled as gifted or hardworking incorporate these labels into their self-concept.
- Negative stereotypes can lead to disidentification with academic domains.
- Patterns of praise versus criticism affect self-concept development.
Cultural Differences:
- Americans receive praise every one day on average, contributing to self-inflation among Americans.
- Japanese people receive praise every four days on average.
- There are different cultural emphases on pride versus shame.
Evolutionary Perspective:
- Self-esteem serves as a psychological gauge of social acceptance.
- Group belonging had historical survival value.
- This manifests in modern times as sensitivity to social exclusion.
Who Am I? The Self
Image summary: A diagram showing the components of 'The Self', centered around a silhouette of a person. Four boxes surround the silhouette, each representing a different aspect of identity: self-concept, self-esteem, self-knowledge, and social self.
- Self-concept is the question of who am I?
- Self-esteem is my sense of self-worth.
- Self-knowledge is how I can explain and predict myself.
- Social self consists of my roles as a student, family member, and friend, as well as my group identity.
Self and Culture
Image summary: An illustration depicting the intersection of individual and group identity, showing puzzle pieces being fitted together by multiple hands around a group of three people standing together.
- Individualism is the concept of giving priority to one's own goal over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.
- Collectivism is giving priority to the goals of one's groups, often one's extended family or work group, and defining one's identity accordingly.
- Interdependent Self.
Image summary: A simple black figure of a person with arrows pointing inward from all directions, symbolizing external influences on the self.
Individualism and Collectivism: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Self-Ingroup Relationships
By Harry C. Triandis, Robert Bontempo, and Marcelo J. Villareal from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Collaborators include Masaaki Asai from Nihon University in Tokyo, Japan, and Nydia Lucca from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
The individualism and collectivism constructs are theoretically analyzed and linked to certain hypothesized consequences, such as social behaviors and health indices. Study one explores the meaning of these constructs within culture in the United States, identifying the individual-differences variable, idiocentrism versus allocentrism, that corresponds to the constructs. Factor analyses of responses to items related to the constructs suggest that U.S. individualism is reflected in self-reliance with competition, low concern for ingroups, and distance from ingroups.
A higher order factor analysis suggests that subordination of ingroup goals to personal goals may be the most important aspect of U.S. individualism. Study two probes the limits of the constructs with data from two collectivist samples in Japan and Puerto Rico and one individualist sample from Illinois. It is shown that responses depend on who the other is, specifically the ingroup, the context, and the kind of social behavior, such as feeling similar to others or being attentive to the views of others. Study three replicates previous work in Puerto Rico, indicating that individuals who are more allocentric receive more and a better quality of social support than do idiocentric persons, while the latter report being more lonely than the former. Several themes, such as self-reliance, achievement, and competition, have different meanings in the two kinds of societies, and detailed examinations of the factor patterns show how such themes vary across cultures.
This article contains two parts. Part one provides a theoretical analysis of the constructs of individualism, citing de Tocqueville 1946, and collectivism, including a discussion of the probable antecedents and consequents of the emphases on these values in different cultures. Part two presents three studies. Based on U.S. data, provides attitude items that can be used to measure the individual-differences dimension allocentrism.
Theoretical Analysis. Culture is a fuzzy construct. If we are to understand the way culture relates to social psychological phenomena, we must analyze it by determining dimensions of cultural variation. One of the most promising such dimensions is individualism-collectivism.
Self-Concept
Self-concept can be viewed as either independent or interdependent.
Image summary: A table compares independent and interdependent self-concepts across five categories. For identity, the independent view is personal and defined by individual traits and goals, while the interdependent view is social and defined by connections with others. Regarding what matters, the independent view focuses on me-personal achievement and fulfillment, rights, and liberties, whereas the interdependent view emphasizes we-group goals, solidarity, social responsibilities, and relationships. Independents disapprove of conformity, while interdependents disapprove of egotism. The illustrative motto for an independent concept is "To thine own self be true," and for an interdependent concept, it is "No one is an island." Finally, independent concepts are supported by individualistic Western cultures, and interdependent concepts are supported by collectivistic Asian and Third World cultures.
Self-concept : Who Am I?
Image summary: A comparison diagram showing two different views of self-concept. On the left, the independent view of self shows the 'Self' as a separate entity from others such as Mother, Father, Sibling, Friend, and Coworker. On the right, the interdependent view of self shows the 'Self' overlapping with those same social circles, illustrating a more integrated identity.
Self-concept: Who am I?
Self-knowledge.
- Explaining our behavior, such as electric shocks and pills.
- Predicting our behavior.
- It is difficult to predict our own behavior.
- Positive behaviors are often predicted wrong, and negative behaviors are often predicted rightly.
- Consider your past.
Image summary: An illustration of a woman looking thoughtful with several large question marks floating above her head, symbolizing the internal process of questioning one's self-concept.
Dual Attitude System:
Image summary: A stylized illustration of a person's torso and head, split by two overlapping colored banners. On the left, a blue banner labels explicit attitudes as consciously controlled and verbalized. On the right, a magenta banner labels implicit attitudes as automatic and potentially contradicting explicit attitudes.
Exposing the fault in our self-knowledge.
We often don't actually know why we feel or act the way we do.
Self-CONCEPT: Who Am I?
Image summary: An illustration of a young woman gesturing toward herself with both thumbs, with three large question marks floating above her head, representing the concept of questioning one's own identity.
Self-knowledge
- Predicting our feelings.
- There is difficulty in predicting the intensity and duration of future emotions.
- People are less happy after a favorable event and more sad after an unfavorable event than they predicted.
Self-CONCEPT: Who Am I?
The wisdom and illusions of self-analysis.
- The thought process cannot be explained by artists and scientists.
The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion.
- Physiological arousal.
- Cognitive interpretation.
Image summary: An illustration showing a woman pointing to herself with a confused expression, with three large question marks floating above her head, representing the theme of self-concept and questioning one's identity.
Image summary: A colorful, artistic illustration of a human head profile, filled with vibrant, multi-colored paint splatters. In the center of the head is a white, stylized symbol resembling a trident or a simplified brain structure.
When a feeling was there, they felt as if it would never go; when it was gone, they felt as it had never been; when it returned, they felt as if it had never gone.
Locus of Control
Image summary: An illustration shows several women running a race. One runner on the left has a thought bubble stating that no matter what she does, things don't go her way and another runner will get ahead of her. Another runner on the right has a thought bubble stating that she controls her own destiny and with enough effort, she could win the race. This depicts the difference between an external and an internal locus of control.
Perceived Self-CONTROL
Image summary: An illustration showing a person trapped behind bars, with the bars contained within the silhouette of a larger head, symbolizing the feeling of being mentally imprisoned or lacking control.
- Self-efficacy is a sense that one is competent and effective.
- Locus of control is the extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance or forces.
- Learned helplessness versus self-determination refers to the hopelessness and resignation learned when humans or animals perceive no control over repeated bad events.
Learned Helplessness
Image summary: A flow chart illustrates the progression of learned helplessness. It shows that uncontrollable bad events lead to a perceived lack of control, which ultimately results in learned helplessness.
Self-ESTEEM
Self-esteem is the overall self-evaluation of self-worth.
Self-esteem motivation can include friction among siblings and friction among friends, also known as Schadenfreude.
The dark side of self-esteem involves the consequences of both low and high self-esteem.
Image summary: An illustration of a smiling woman with her arms crossed and eyes closed, conveying a sense of confidence and positivity.
The Dark Side of Self-Esteem
Problems with High Self-Esteem:
- High self-esteem can lead to aggression, obnoxiousness, and exploitation of others.
- It is associated with risky sexual behavior, gang leadership, and criminal behavior.
- For example, Hitler had very high self-esteem, showing that it is not always adaptive.
Narcissism versus High Self-Esteem:
- Narcissists lack empathy and care for others.
- They are more aggressive when criticized or insulted.
- Narcissism is part of the Dark Triad, along with Machiavellianism and psychopathy.
Rising Narcissism Trends:
- The Generation Me phenomenon shows increasing narcissistic traits.
- This is correlated with materialism, fame-seeking, and cheating.
- There is decreased empathy among college students.
- Ironically, these trends are associated with worse long-term outcomes.
Image summary: An illustration showing the silhouette of a person in grey with a bright yellow silhouette overlaid in front of it, symbolizing the concept of a public persona or a different side of the self.
Self-SERVING Bias
- Self-serving bias is the tendency to perceive oneself favorably, explaining both positive and negative events.
- Success is attributed to inner abilities.
- Failure is attributed to external forces.
Can we all be better than average?
- Everyone overestimates himself.
- Unrealistic optimism suggests the future will be better.
- The false consensus effect is compared to the false uniqueness effect.
Image summary: An illustration on the left shows a person's face reflected in a screen and a smartphone, with hands holding the devices, symbolizing self-perception and bias.
Self-Serving Bias
Reflections on self-efficacy and self-serving Bias
- Self-serving bias as adaptive
- Self-serving bias as maladaptive
- Group-serving bias
Image summary: An illustration shows two groups of people. The top group features three men with their arms around each other, while the bottom group shows three people sitting together in a relaxed setting.
Self-PRESENTATION
Image summary: An illustration shows a person looking into a mirror. The reflection depicts a confident version of the person with three gold stars above their head, suggesting a gap between how they are perceived or wish to be perceived and their actual self.
- False modesty is when people rate themselves low but do not actually feel that way.
- Self-handicapping involves protecting one's self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure.
- Impression management includes self-presentation and self-monitoring.
Self-Presentation Strategies
Common Self-Presentation Strategies.
Image summary: A table outlines various self-presentation strategies and their associated outcomes. It lists strategies including self-promotion, exemplification, modesty, intimidation, supplication, and ingratiation, mapping each to the attributions they seek, the negative attributions they risk, the emotions they aim to arouse in others, and typical actions used to achieve these goals.