Cognitive Biases of the Self Chapter 5

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Cognitive Biases of the Self (Chapter 5)
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Announcements!

• Keep up with the reading! We have covered
  chapters 3 and 4. This week chapter 5.
• EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT 2!
• Due Thurs. Oct. 11th by the end of class
• 2-3 pages typed, double spaced
• Choose ONE of the two exercises on the handout

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HOW Do We Maintain Positive Beliefs About the
Self?

• Self-serving attribution bias people take credit
  for success (make internal attributions) and
  blame failures on external causes.
• SAT scores study
• Group performance study

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HOW Do We Maintain Positive Beliefs About the
Self?

• Self-handicapping protecting ones self-image
  with behaviors that create a handy excuse
  (external attribution) for later failure

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Self-handicapping Studies

• Drugs and intellectual performance (Berglas
  Jones, 1978)
• Study 1 Students told did very well on difficult
  aptitude test
• Take enhancing or disrupting drug before next
  test?
• Chose the disrupting drug!

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Self-handicapping Studies

• Study 2 ½ got impossible puzzles ½ easy puzzles
• All told did great now want water or beer to
  drink?
• Easy puzzles chose water
• Impossible puzzles chose beer

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HOW Do We Maintain Positive Beliefs About the
Self?

• Social Comparisons evaluating ourselves by
  comparing ourselves to others

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Types of Social Comparisons

• Downward Social Comparison the process of
  comparing ourselves with those who are less
  fortunate.
• Used to boost self-esteem
• Example Cancer patients

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Types of Social Comparisons

• Temporal Comparisons The process of comparing
  our present self to our past self
• We tend to see improvement even if it doesnt
  exist
• Study Skills Program Study
• Recalling Marital Satisfaction Study

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WHY are we biased in so many ways?

• Cognitive explanation Our goal is to be
  accurate, but heuristics/shortcuts are sometimes
  wrong.
• E.g., salience, fundamental attribution error

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WHY are we biased in so many ways?

• Motivational explanation we process information
  in manner that satisfies our goal of feeling good
  about ourselves
• E.g, social comparisons, self-serving
  attributions, better-than-average, optimistic
  bias, etc

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What are we motivated to do?

• Justify the self people like to feel that they
  do things for logical reasons
• Chain saw study
• Mood Study

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What are we motivated to do?

• Enhance the self people like to maintain a
  positive sense of self
• People are happier when others view them more
  positively than they view themselves!

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What are we motivated to do?

• Verify the self people like to confirm their
  self-views to feel they know themselves
• People are happier when others view them as they
  see themselves (even is this view is negative)!