Social Psych - Ch. 5

The concept of the self; that is, our knowledge about who we are.

The act of thinking about ourselves.

A way of defining oneself in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people.

A way of defining oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people; recognizing that one's behavior is often determines by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others.

The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives.

The idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values.

Theories about the causes of one's own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g. "absence makes the heart grow fonder").

Attitude change resulting from thinking about the reasons for one's attitudes; people assume their attitudes match the reasons that are plausible and easy to verbalize.

The theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs.

The desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures.

The desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting.

The tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons.

Rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done.

Rewards that are based on how well we perform a task.

The idea that emotional experience is the result of a two-step perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it.

The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do.

Theories holding that emotions result from people's interpretations and explanations of events, even in the absence of physiological arousal.

The idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change.

The idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow.

The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people.

Comparing ourselves to peopel who are worse than we are on a particular trait or ability.

Comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are on a particular trait or ability.

The process whereby people adopt another person's attitudes.

The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen.

The process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status.

The strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves.