Social Psychology

Is the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. Social psychologists focus on the situation. They study the social influences that explains why the same person will act differently in different situations

Fundamental Attribution Error

Is tendency, when analyzing others' behavior, to overestimate the influence of personal traits and underestimate the effects of the situation
David Napolitan and George Goethals (1979) demonstrated the fundamental attribution error in an experiment with Williams College students. They had students talk, one at a time, with a young woman who acted either cold and critical or warm and friendly. Before the conversations, the researchers told half the students that the woman's behavior would be spontaneous. They told the other half the truth—that they had instructed her to act friendly (or unfriendly). Did hearing the truth affect students' impressions of the woman? Not at all! If the woman acted friendly, both groups decided she really was a warm person. If she acted unfriendly, both decided she really was a cold person. They attributed her behavior to her personal disposition even when told that her behavior was situational—that she was merely acting that way for the purposes of the experiment.

The effect of culture

The fundamental attribution error appears more often in some cultures than in others. Individualist Westerners more often attribute behavior to people's personal traits. People in East Asian cultures are somewhat more sensitive to the power of the situation (Heine & Ruby, 2010; Kitayama et al., 2009). This difference has appeared in experiments that asked people to view scenes, such as a big fish swimming. Americans focused more on the individual fish, and Japanese people more on the whole scene
Britain, India, Australia & United States-- political conservatives tend to place the blame on the personal dispositions of the poor and unemployed:
Political liberals, and those not primed to consider the power of choice, are more likely to blame past and present situations: "If you or I had to live with the same poor education, lack of opportunity, and discrimination, would we be any better off?"

Foot in the door phenonemon

attitudes affect behavior when external pressures are minimum
people stand up for what they believe and believe more strongly in what they have stood for. attitudes follow behavior
attitudes affect behavior when external pressures are minimum
people stand up for what they believe and believe more strongly in what they have stood for. attitudes follow behavior
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon involves compliance with a large request after having agreed to a small request
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon involves compliance with a large request after having agreed to a small request
In dozens of experiments, researchers have coaxed people into acting against their attitudes or violating their moral standards, with the same result: Doing becomes believing. After giving in to a request to harm an innocent victim—by making nasty comments or delivering electric shocks—people begin to disparage their victim.
After speaking or writing on behalf of a position they have qualms about, they begin to believe their own words

The foot-in-the-door tactic has helped boost charitable contributions and blood donations, as well as product sales.
In one classic experiment, researchers posing as safe-driving volunteers asked Californians to permit the installation of a large, poorly lettered "Drive Carefully" sign in their front yards. Only 17% consented.
They approached other home owners with a small request first: Would they display a 3-inch-high "Be a Safe Driver" sign? Nearly all readily agreed.
When re-approached two weeks later to allow the large, ugly sign in their front yards, 76%.
To secure a big commitment, it often pays to put your foot in the door: Start small and build
found that once a person agrees to a small request, they are more likely to agree to a larger request than they would be if you didn't already have your 'foot in the door' with the small request.

cognitive dissonance theory

the notion that we experience discomfort, or dissonance, when our thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors are inconsistent with each other
for example, if Bruno was generally considered a peaceful person but finds himself suddenly finds himself punching at his friend over a bender-fender, he's likely experiencing some level of cognitive dissonance, so bruno might relieve this tension by actually modifying his beliefs in order to match the actions he's already commited, like telling himself, " turns out im not such a nice guy after all, maybe I'm actually a bully." On the other hand he might resolve his internal tension by changing how he thinks about the situation. He might still think of himself as a peaceful person but realize that an unseal situation led to an unusual action, for example he had a bad day. We tend to want to resolve that tension

central route persuasion

atiitudes being modified.
when a person is persuaded to act based on the arguments or the content of the message
ex. Jessica buying shoes because ad provided laboratory evidence that shoes will help her in her sports

peripheral route persuasion

let's say Jessica had no interest in sports or jumping higher. how could she be persuaded to buy the shoes? according to petty and cacioppo, jessica would be persuaded using peripheral route to persuasion. The peripheral route to persuasion is when a person is persuaded by something other than the argument or content of the message. For example, if Jessica was persuaded to buy the shoes because she was attracted to the athlete in the commercial, or if Jessica was persuaded because she saw one of her favorite celebrities wearing the exact same shoes

social facilitation

In social facilitation (Triplett), presence of others arouses people, improving performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing it on difficult ones.
Performance can also be hindered because the most likely but not necessarily the correct response occurs.
Home town advantage
Crowding effect
Home team advantage
When others observe us, we perform well-learned tasks more quickly and accurately.
But on new and difficult tasks, performance is less quick and accurate.

social loafing

Social loafing
Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
Causes
Acting as part of group and feeling less accountable
Feeling individual contribution does not matter
Taking advantage when there is lack of identification with group

social norms

Normative social influence: To gain approval
Informational social influence: To accept others' opinions as new information

chameleon effect

Demonstrated chameleon effect with college students
Automatic mimicry helps people to empathize and feel what others feel.
The more we mimic, the greater our empathy, and the more people tend to like us.
This is a form of conformity
had students work in a room alongside another person, who was actually a confederate working for the experimenters. Sometimes the confederates rubbed their own face. Sometimes they shook their foot. Sure enough, the students tended to rub their face when with the face-rubbing person and shake their foot when with the foot-shaking person.

mood contagion

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mood linkage

Automatic mimicry helps us to empathize—to feel what others are feeling. This helps explain why we feel happier around happy people than around depressed people. It also helps explain why studies of groups of British workers have revealed mood linkage, or the sharing of moods

milgrim's study

Stanley Milgram's experiments
People obeyed orders even when they thought they were harming another person.
Strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or exhibit cruel behavior.
In any society, great evil acts often grow out of people's compliance with lesser evils.

In a repeat of the earlier experiment, 65 percent of the adult male "teachers" fully obeyed the experimenter's commands to continue. They did so despite the "learner's" earlier mention of a heart condition and despite hearing cries of protest after they administered what they thought were 150 volts and agonized protests after 330 volts.

Obedience in the Milgram experiments was highest when
Person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as a legitimate authority figure
Research was supported by a prestigious institution
Victim was depersonalized or at a distance
There were no role models for defiance

solomon Asch's study

Suggestibility and mimicry are subtle types of conformity—adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard. To study conformity, Solomon Asch (1955) devised a simple test.
Imagine yourself as a participant in what you believe is a study of visual perception. You arrive in time to take a seat at a table with five other people. The experimenter asks the group to state, one by one, which of three comparison lines is identical to a standard line. You see clearly that the answer is Line 2, and you await your turn to say so. Your boredom begins to show when the next set of lines proves equally easy. you change your answer however to conform to whatever others are answering . Solomon Asch and others have found that people are most likely to adjust their behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard when they feel incompetent or insecure
Their group has at least three people
Everyone else agrees
They admire the group's status and attractiveness
They have not already committed to another response
They know they are being observed
Their culture encourages respect for social standards

group polarization

Group discussions with like-minded others strengthen members' prevailing beliefs and attitudes.
Internet communication magnifies this effect, for better and for worse.
If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions.
Talking over racial issues increased prejudice in a high-prejudice group of high school students and decreased it in a low-prejudice group

deindividualization

Deindividuation
Involves loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
Thrives in many different settings
During England's 2011 riots and looting, rioters were disinhibited by social arousal and by the anonymity provided by darkness and their hoods and masks. Later, some of those arrested expressed bewilderment over their own behavior.

group think

People are driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives.

in group

Through our social identities we associate ourselves with certain groups and contrast ourselves with others.

Evolution prepared us, when encountering strangers, to make instant judgments: friend or foe? Those from our group, those who look and sound like us—with accents like our own—we instantly tend to like, from childhood onward . Mentally drawing a circle defines "us," the in-group.

In-group bias explains the cognitive power of political partisanship
In the United States in the late 1980s, most Democrats believed inflation had risen under Republican president Ronald Reagan (it had dropped).
In 2010, most Republicans believed that taxes had increased under Democratic president Barack Obama (for most, they had decreased).

out group

But the social definition of who you are also states who you are not. People outside that circle are "them," the out-group.

implicit prejudice

implicit—below the radar, leaving us unaware of how our attitudes are influencing our behavior.
Modern studies indicate that prejudice is often implicit, an automatic attitude—an unthinking knee-jerk response.
A slew of recent experiments illustrates that prejudice can be not only subtle but also automatic and unconscious.subtle prejudice lingers. Despite increased verbal support for interracial marriage, many people admit that in socially intimate settings (dating, dancing, marrying) they, personally, would feel uncomfortable with someone of another race

Implicit Association Tests results: Even people who deny racial prejudice may carry negative associations

explicit prejudice

explicit—on the radar screen of our awareness. overt prejudice wanes.Explicit prejudice in North America has decreased over time.Increased support for all forms of racial contact, including interracial dating

agression

Genetic influences
Evidence from animal studies and twin studies; genetic Y chromosome genetic marker; MAOA gene
Alcohol associated with aggressive responses to frustration
Neural influences
Neural systems facilitate or inhibit aggression when provoked
Aggression more likely to occur with frontal lobe damage
Biochemical influences
Testosterone linked with irritability, assertiveness, impulsiveness, and low tolerance for frustration; alcohol effect
Frustration-aggression principle: Frustration creates anger, which can spark aggression
Hot temperatures, physical pain, personal insults, foul odors, cigarette smoke, crowding, and a host of others
Previous reinforcement for aggressive behavior, observing an aggressive role model, and poor self-control
Viewing sexual violence contributes to greater aggression toward women.
Playing violent video games increases aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

the relationship between testosterone and agression

Testosterone linked with irritability, assertiveness, impulsiveness, and low tolerance for frustration; alcohol effect

scape goat theory

Proposes that when things go wrong, finding someone to blame can provide an outlet for anger
To boost our own sense of status, it helps to denigrate others. That explains why a rival's misfortune sometimes provides a twinge of pleasure. (The German language has a word—Schadenfreude—for this secret joy that we sometimes take in another's failure.)
Research evidence (Zimbardo)
Prejudice levels tend to be high among economically frustrated people
In experiments, a temporary frustration increases prejudice

the relationship between diminished frontal lobe activity and behavior

Aggression more likely to occur with frontal lobe damage

the mere exposure effect

Proximity breeds liking partly because of the mere exposure effect.
Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking for them. This applies to nonsense syllables, musical selections, geometric figures, Chinese characters, human faces, and the letters of our own name.
We are even somewhat more likely to marry someone whose first or last name resembles our own.
For our ancestors, the mere exposure effect had survival value. What was familiar was generally safe and approachable. What was unfamiliar was more often dangerous and threatening.

the benefits of being physically attractive

what most affects our first impressions? The person's sincerity? Intelligence? Personality?
Hundreds of experiments reveal that it is something far more superficial: physical appearance. This finding is unnerving for those of us taught that "beauty is only skin deep" and "appearances can be deceiving
During the blind date, the couples danced and talked for more than 2 hours and then took a brief intermission to rate their dates. What determined whether they liked each other?
Only one thing seemed to matter: appearance. Both the men and the women liked good-looking dates best. Women are more likely than men to say that another's looks don't affect them
But studies show that a man's looks do affect women's behavior. Speed-dating experiments confirm that attractiveness influences first impressions for both sexes
We don't assume that attractive people are more compassionate, but research participants perceive them as healthier, happier, more sensitive, more successful, and more socially skilled
Attractive, well-dressed people have been more likely to make a favorable impression on potential employers, and they have tended to be more successful in their job.
Income analyses show a penalty for plainness or obesity and a premium for beauty

altruism

Altruism is an unselfish concern for the welfare of others.
People are most likely to help when they notice an incident, interpret it as an emergency, and assume responsibility for helping (Darley and colleagues).
Odds for being helped are also increased if the person appears to deserve help or is a women.
Similarity to self, unhurried or in a good mood, feeling guilty, focused on others and not preoccupied also raises likelihood of being helped

Altruism became a major concern of social psychologists after an especially vile act. On 3/13/1964, a stalker repeatedly stabbed Kitty Genovese, then raped her as she lay dying outside her Queens, New York, apartment

the bystander effect

Tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Occurs when there is a diffusion of responsibility
time—show that the best odds of our helping someone occur when
the person appears to need and deserve help.
is in some way similar to us.
is a woman.
we have just observed someone else being helpful.
are not in a hurry.
are in a small town or rural area.
are feeling guilty.
are focused on others and not preoccupied.
are in a good mood.

conflict

Perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas in which people become enmeshed in potentially destructive processes that often produce unwanted results
Among these processes are social traps and distorted perceptions
People in conflict form negative, distorted images of one another (mirror-image perceptions)
"Us" versus "Them" develops
Vicious cycle of hostility emerges at individual or national level
Perceptions can become self-fulfilling prophecies
Contact
Most effective when contact is free of competition and equal status exists
Across a quarter-million people studied in 38 nations, friendly contact with ethnic minorities, older people, and people with disabilities has usually led to less prejudice.
Contact is not always enough.
Having used isolation and competition to make strangers into enemies, Sherif used shared predicaments and goals to turn enemies into friends. What reduced conflict was not mere contact, but cooperative contact

GRIT

Social psychologist Charles Osgood (1962, 1980) advocated a strategy of Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction, nicknamed GRIT. In applying GRIT, one side first announces its recognition of mutual interests and its intent to reduce tensions. It then initiates one or more small, conciliatory acts. Without weakening one's retaliatory capability, this modest beginning opens the door for reciprocity by the other party. Should the enemy respond with hostility, one reciprocates in kind. But so, too, with any conciliatory response

reciprocity norm

Expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefit (cost-benefit analysis; utilitarianism; social exchange theory)

companionate love

Deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.
Passionate love seldom endures
Passion-fed hormones (testosterone) give way to oxytocin that supports feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding
Attraction and sexual desire endure, without obsession of early-stage marriage
Equity is important key to satisfying and enduring relationship
Self-disclosure deepens intimacy

oxytocin

Passion-fed hormones (testosterone) give way to oxytocin that supports feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding

the two factor theory/excitement and passionate love

Passionate love
Aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.
Arousal is key ingredient
Two-factor theory of emotion
Emotions have two ingredients—physical arousal and cognitive appraisal.
Arousal from any source can enhance an emotion, depending on how we interpret and label the arousal.
Sexual desire + a growing attachment = the passion of romantic love

personality

is individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality.
The humanistic approach focused on our inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment.

psychodynamic theory

Posit that behavior is dynamic interaction between conscious and unconscious mind

Ego/Id/Superego

iceberg illustration
id is totally unconscious, but ego and superego operate both consciously and unconsciously.

defense mechanism

Anxiety, said Freud, is the price we pay for civilization. As members of social groups, we must control our sexual and aggressive impulses, not act them out.
But sometimes the ego fears losing control of this inner id-superego war. The presumed result is a dark cloud of unfocused anxiety that leaves us feeling unsettled but unsure why.
Freud proposed that the ego protects itself with defense mechanisms—tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality.

denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

Gender identity

Children eventually cope with the threatening feelings by repressing them and by identifying with (trying to become like) the rival parent.
It's as though something inside the child decides, "If you can't beat 'em [the same-sex parent], join 'em."
Through this identification process, children's superegos gain strength as they incorporate many of their parents' values. Freud believed that identification with the same-sex parent provided what psychologists now call our gender identity—our sense of being male, female, or a combination of the two.
Freud presumed that our early childhood relations—especially with our parents and caregivers—influence our developing identity, personality, and frailties.

Alfred Adler-inferiority complex

He believed that much of our behavior is driven by efforts to conquer childhood inferiority feelings that trigger our strivings for superiority and power.
The individual feels at home in life and feels his existence to be worthwhile just so far as he is useful to others and is overcoming feelings of inferiority" (

Carl Jung- Collective Unconscious

Placed less emphasis on social factors and agreed with idea of influence of unconscious
Proposed collective unconscious (archetypes) derived from species' universal experiences
For Jung, the unconscious contains more than our repressed thoughts and feelings.
He believed we also have a collective unconscious, a common reservoir of images, or archetypes, derived from our species' universal experiences.
The collective unconscious explains why spiritual concerns are deeply rooted and why people in different cultures share certain myths and images.
Most of today's psychologists discount the idea of inherited experiences, but do believe that our shared evolutionary history shaped some universal dispositions. They are also aware that experience can leave epigenetic marks.

Projective tests

Personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics and reveal unconscious motives
Objective assessment tools, such as agree-disagree or true-false questionnaires, would be inadequate because they would merely tap the conscious surface

test-takers to describe an ambiguous stimulus or tell a story about it.
The clinician may presume that any hopes, desires, and fears that people see in the ambiguous image are projections of their own inner feelings or conflicts
Few of the many Rorschach-derived scores, such as ones for hostility and anxiety, have demonstrated validity
Moreover, they say, these tests are not reliable. Inkblot assessments diagnose many normal adults as pathological

Thematic apperception test

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)—a test in which people view ambiguous pictures and then make up stories about them. One use of such storytelling has been to assess achievement motivation.
Shown a daydreaming boy, those who imagine he is fantasizing about an achievement are presumed to be projecting their own goals. "As a rule," said Murray, "the subject leaves the test happily unaware that he has presented the psychologist with what amounts to an x-ray of his inner self"

rorschhach inkblot test

Most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach
Seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots; attempts to address low reliability and validity in most areas addressed with research-based, computer-aided tool

the big five personality inventory

The Big Five personality factors currently offer the most widely accepted picture of personality
Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion (CANOE)
By adulthood, our traits have become fairly stable, though conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and extraversion continue to increase into middle age, and neuroticism (emotional instability) decreases

according to research, what is the heritability of the big five trait dimension

Heritability (the extent to which individual differences are attributable to genes) varies with the diversity of people studied
generally runs ~50 % for each dimension
genetic influences are similar in different nations
Many genes, each having small effects, combine to influence traits

what is factor analysis

factor analysis, a statistical procedure used to identify clusters (factors) of test items that tap basic components of intelligence (such as spatial ability or verbal skill).
Imagine that people who describe themselves as outgoing tend to say that they like excitement and practical jokes & dislike quiet reading.
Such a statistically correlated cluster of behaviors reflects a basic factor, or trait—in this case, extraversion

carl rogers- unconditional positive regard, genuiness, etc

Roger posited that growth-promoting environment characteristics are genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.
Unconditional positive regard and self-concept are key components of theory
Rogers' person-centered perspective held that people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendencies.
Unless thwarted by an environment that inhibits growth, each of us is like an acorn, primed for growth and fulfillment. Rogers (1980) believed that a growth-promoting climate required three conditions.
When people are genuine, they are open with their own feelings, drop their facades, and are transparent and self-disclosing.
When people are accepting, they offer unconditional positive regard, an attitude of grace that values us even knowing our failings. It is a profound relief to drop our pretenses, confess our worst feelings, and discover that we are still accepted. In a good marriage, a close family, or an intimate friendship, we are free to be spontaneous without fearing the loss of others' esteem.
When people are empathic, they share and mirror other's feelings and reflect their meanings.
"Rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy," said Rogers. "Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know."

MMPI

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What did the eysencks believe about genetic influences on the traits of extroversion and emotionality

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maslow-actualization

Maslow focused on potential for healthy personal growth and people's striving for self-determination and self-realization.
People motivated by hierarchy of needs and strive toward self-actualization and self-transcendence
If our physiological needs are met, we become concerned with personal safety;
if we achieve a sense of security, we then seek to love, to be loved, and to love ourselves;
with our love needs satisfied, we seek self-esteem.
Having achieved self-esteem, we ultimately seek self-actualization (the process of fulfilling our potential) and self-transcendence (meaning, purpose, and communion beyond the self
speculate that those likely to become self-actualizing adults were likable, caring, "privately affectionate to those of their elders who deserve it," and "secretly uneasy about the cruelty, meanness, and mob spirit so often found in young people

social cognitive perspective

Social-cognitive theorists believe we learn many of our behaviors through conditioning or by observing and imitating others.
They also emphasize the importance of mental processes: What we think about a situation affects our resulting behavior. Instead of focusing solely on how our environment controls us (behaviorism), social-cognitive theorists focus on how we and our environment interact
Social-cognitive theorists believe we learn many of our behaviors through conditioning or by observing and imitating others.
They also emphasize the importance of mental processes: What we think about a situation affects our resulting behavior. Instead of focusing solely on how our environment controls us (behaviorism), social-cognitive theorists focus on how we and our environment interact

reciprocal determinism

Bandura views the person-environment interaction as reciprocal determinism.
"Behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental influences," he said, "all operate as interlocking determinants of each other"
Interaction of individuals and environments: Internal personal factors
Different people choose different environments.
Personalities shape how people interpret and react to events.
Personalities help create situations to which people react
The schools we attend, the reading we do, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the friends we associate with—all are part of an environment we have chosen, based partly on our disposition
We choose our environment and it then shapes us.

gene environmental interactions

Our genetically influenced traits evoke certain responses from others, nudging us in one direction or another.
In one classic study, those with the interacting factors of (1) having a specific gene associated with aggression and (2) being raised in a difficult environment were most likely to demonstrate adult antisocial behavior
We are both the products and the architects of our environments
At every moment, our behavior is influenced by our biology, our social and cultural experiences, and our cognition and dispositions

spot light effect

Our self-focused perspective may motivate us, but it can also lead us to presume too readily that others are noticing and evaluating us.
Gilovich (1996) demonstrated this spotlight effect by having Cornell University students don Barry Manilow T-shirts before entering a room with other students.
Feeling self-conscious, the T-shirt wearers guessed that nearly ½ of their peers would take note of the shirt as they walked in. In reality, only 23% did.
This absence of attention applies not only to our dorky clothes and bad hair but also to our nervousness, irritation, or attraction: Fewer people notice than we presume
use two strategies.
#1 is simply knowing about the spotlight effect. Public speakers who understand that their natural nervousness is not obvious perform better.
#2 is to take the audience's perspective. When we imagine audience members empathizing with our situation, we tend to expect we will not be judged as harshly

self esteem

Self-esteem is our feeling of self-worth
High self-esteem correlates with less pressure to conform, with persistence
at difficult tasks, and with happiness. But the direction of the correlation is not clear.
ppl with high self esteem If feeling bad, they think they deserve better and thus make more effort to repair their mood
Those who are negative about themselves have also tended to be oversensitive and judgmental.
In experiments, people made to feel insecure have often become excessively critical, as if to impress others with their own brilliance

People are most overconfident when most incompetent; it takes competence to recognize competence
Most students scoring at the low end of grammar and logic tests believed they had scored in the top half.
If you do not know what good grammar is, you may be unaware that your grammar is poor.
To judge one's competence and predict one's future performance, it pays to invite others' assessments
intensity for any duration.
After criticism, those with inflated high self-esteem were "exceptionally aggressive." They delivered 3 x the auditory torture of those with normal self-esteem. Threatened egotism, more than low self-esteem, it seems, predisposes aggression. "
Defensive self-esteem is fragile, threatened by failure and criticism, and more vulnerable to perceived threats which feed anger and feelings of vulnerability.
Secure self-esteem is less fragile, less contingent on external evaluations, and more likely to achieve a greater quality of life.

self serving bias

Involves a readiness to perceive self favorably
Suggests people accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for successes than for failure
Athletes often privately credit their victories to their own prowess, and their losses to bad breaks, lousy officiating, or the other team's exceptional performance.
Most students who receive poor grades on an exam criticize the exam, not themselves.
Often creates a better-than-average effect
Compared with most other people, how nice are you? How easy to get along with? How appealing are you as a friend or romantic partner? Where would you rank yourself from the 1st to the 99th percentile?
Most people put themselves well above the 50th percentile. This better-than-average effect appears for nearly any subjectively assessed and socially desirable behavior:
The phenomenon, which reflects overestimating the self as well as the desire to maintain a positive self-view is less striking in Asia, where people value modesty.

unrealistic optimism

Excessive optimism
May lead to complacency
May prevent recognition of real risks
May be self-defeating when dealing with temptations
May be directed toward group (illusionary optimism)
Example: Study of sports fans--Fans of all teams correctly guessed that other teams would win about 50% of their games. But they incorrectly guessed, on average that their own team stood about a 2 in 3 chance of winning
People even see themselves as more immune than others to self-serving bias.
That's right, people believe they are above average at not believing they are above average.

self efficacy

Self-efficacy is our sense of competence on a task
Children's academic self-efficacy—their confidence that they can do well in a subject—predicts school achievement. But general self-image does not
giving praise in the absence of good performance may actually harm people.
After receiving weekly self-esteem-boosting messages, struggling students earned lower-than-expected grades .
Other research showed that giving people random rewards hurt their productivity.
Seligman reported that "when good things occurred that weren't earned, it did not increase people's well-being. It produced helplessness. People gave up and became passive
A self-disparaging "How could I have been so stupid!" also helps us learn from our mistakes.
People are much more critical of their distant past selves than of their current selves—even when they have not changed .
"At 18, I was a jerk; today I'm more sensitive." In their own eyes, chumps yesterday, champs today.