Exam 1 Review

They use mechanisms

The stimulus-response process

The stimulus is anything in a person's environment that causes them to respond

The mind undergoes the process of manipulating symbols to imagine experiences, rehearse actions, or inhibit our impulses

A symbol is an abstract representation of something that may or may not exist. Nothing has meaning, but we give it meaning through symbols.

symbols are fluid and they change meaning depending on the context and what a group agrees upon

Who, when, and in what context?

People behave based on what they think, these thoughts come from society, and that symbols are dynamic

Minded behavior is a stimulus response in which a meaning is assigned, you interact with something based off the meaning you assign it

Naming - To name something is to know what it is and how we are able to respond to it

Categorization: We use names to create categories to group things together

Joint Attention/Shared Focus: If meaning is created in interaction, then all people involved must agree on the same thing

Minded behaviors are socially and subjectively derived

Meaning is created and transferred in interaction with others

Minded Behavior: SR in which a meaning is assigned and you interact with something based off that meaning

Social Construction - a thing that has a socially created meaning that we all agree upon through naming and categorization

Symbols - Modified, discarded, and affirmed

My self concept is how I percieve myself, my behavior, and my unique qualities.

We learn this through interaction with others

The looking glass self is when the reactions of others serves as a basis in which we can judge and evaluate ourselves

Reflected appraisals - How do I think others think about me? This is the most common one if there are no objective markers

Actual Appraisals - What people truly think.

Closer connection beetween reflected and self appraisals than self and actual appraisals

Stable, but slowly changing

Good cuz fluid personalities are frustrating

It changes through new relationships/interactions/life course events

Through role taking and imagining ourselves in other people's positions

Prepatory stage: No sense of self, but a small development of symbol usage

Play Stage: Children begin experimenting with taking the role of real or imagined others through play. This lets you know which roles are available to you

Game Stage: Able to imagine the roles of several different people reacting to the self and others at the same time; development of the generalized other

Generalized other is what you imagine a community thinks of oyu

Self reflexivity is the ability of me to control the I

I: Impulsive self
Me: Socialized self

Self Knowledge - The way we understand who we are and how we form and organize this information

Self Control - The way we make plans and make decisions

Self-esteem - The way we try to maintain a positive self-view

Impression Management - The way we present ourselves to others to get them to see us a way we want to be seen

Are we meeting expectations of our statuses?

Is our identity STATUS CONTINUITY

Are we perceived the way we want to be perceived?

Self-evaluation - Actively seeking information to confirm who we think we are. I have an idea of who I am, but do people agree with that?

Self-appraisal - Actively seeking information to assess where we are through comparisons. What is our relative standing related to others?

Self-enhancement - Actively seeking information to create a positive view of the self

Selective Association - Seeking audiences that will not offer conflicting reflections

Self Efficacy - Sense of accomplishesment that comes from objective achievement

Upward comparison - comparing myself to others I deem more acceptable/accomplished

Downward comparison - comparing myself to others i deem less than me

Realistic Comparison - comparing onself to real others

Constructive social comparisons - Imagined comparison to an other

INdependent self sees itself as independent and self-constrained with unique traits

Interdependent self sees itself as part of ongong relationships

Thin-slicing - Drawing conclusions from brief snippets of information

Primacy effect - what we learn about another person carries on how we percieve additional information

Belief Perseverance - Standing by initial conclusions even when we learn contrary information suggesting otherwise?

We use carefully calculated tactics intentionally.

We use impression management

The world is a stage

Ingratiation tactics: Use of flattery or praise to be seen as likeable

Self Handicapping- creating obstacles so you have excuses to blame things on
-Behavioral SH: Acting in ways that reduce the likelihood of success
-Reported SH: ready-made excuses in case you fail

Impression given: The impression we believe we are giving

Impression given off: THe way we are actually percieved

Apperance: Clothing, grooming, age, body size, race

Setting: Place of interaction: Front Stage/Back stage

Demeanor: Temperament you carry to be seen a certain way

Losing face - faiing to give off an impression
Saving face - attempting to correct a loss by performer or audience

Defensive practice - apologies or excuses
Protective practices - Ignore, forgive, or use tact to smooth over the loss

Ascribed - Roles given at birth
Achieved - Roles that once worked to occupy
Counter roles - I am a dad, not a mom

Identity salience - the likelihood that a given identity will be chosen in a social interaction

Identity salience hierarchy - Identity's ranking in a ladder that dictates how likely it will be selected given its importance, how often you select it, and its value

Our status set is tied to the social structure and the meaning of our identities is written by the social structure

How we understand something through a schema

Our behavior/selected identity can change for each situation we are presenting in

The social psychological study of differentially positioned groups whose interactions are propelled by cognitive and emotional processes

Intergroup behavior is the how people in groups perceive, think about, feel about, act towards, and relate to people in other groups

Sifting - Categorization of people into groups through visible/situational factors or statuses

Prejudice - An attitude or feeling, positive or negative, toward people belonging to a particular group

Stereotype - Beliefs about the features, opinions, and expected behaviors of a group that are generalized to individuals belonging to the group

SIT argues that group membership impacts perceived status differences among groups

It assumes that individuals are motivated to achieve a positive self-concept through emphasizing positive qualities

It reduces individual uncertainty by identifying with a group, which reduces uncertainties about situations and their roles in them

Strength of social identificatoin with a group

Situational cues for a group identity that is relevant to you (You walk into a classroom and this triggers student)

Competition for resources and relative structural positions of the groups within a situation

Boundary permability is the social mobility between groups

Stable social hierarchy - largely unchanging, and if accepted, it is considered legitimate

general-abstract; concrete

concrete; general-abstract

Intergroup confict emerges when two or more groups want to acchieve prosperity, but resources only allow one group to achieve its goal (Zero-sum situations)

They develop antagonistic attitudes towards outgroup members while they increase identification within their own group, enhancing solidarity

self-control, which is social control

First componenet : assessment or evaluation tool of an object, a person, an event, or situation

Second component - They result in physiological or bodily sensations

Third component - Expressive gestures go with felt emotions

Fourth : The attachment of a cultural label to combinations of the first three components

Moods are an affective state without a clear source.

Moods - lower intensity feelings and longer duration feelings
Emotions - high intensity, low duration

Sentiments are enduring evaluations typically pertaining to social relationships or identities

These feelings transcend situational context and are socially constructed

Valence of emotion - positive/negative, pleasant or unpleasant binaries
Degree of arousal - level of engagement animation or liveliness that accompanies an emotion
Level of potency - degree to which a agiven emotion indicates powerfulness in stimulation or directing attention

Emotionl cultures are cultural context that dictates who is allowed to experience what, and in what way they are allowed to experience the intensity/duration of the emotions

This depends on your social group

Emotion management is the cognitive and behavioral way that people bring their felt/expressed emotions into line with cultural feeling/display rules

Surface acting - we try to change our emotions by changing our outward expressions of feelings, we try to sell an act to ourselves

Deep acting- we actually work on changing the feeling itself


Cognitive techniques - Changing our ideas or htoughts to alter the feelings around them

Bodily techniques - Using our physical behavior or presentation to change our feelings

Expressive Techniques - Activating expressive gestures to change inner feelings

Jobs requie this

Reciprocal emotional management - "I hate my boyfriend" "yeah he's such a dumbass"

Cultures write the content of our feelings and display rules - it is the creator of the script

Structure is what actually determines our access t o the opportunity to invoke display and feeling rules

Differences between individuals in terms of perceived worthiness, prestige, and social value within a particular context

Ex: less likely to be angry with people of higher status