Scribd
Upload
265 views28 pages

Lecture 2 Self Presentation and Social Perception

Uploaded by

Halima
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
265 views28 pages

Lecture 2 Self Presentation and Social Perception

Uploaded by

Halima
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 28

SELF- PRESENTATION

Social Psychology AND SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Halima S. Qureshi
Lecturer
Clinical Psychologist
1
WHO YOU ARE?

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist


Self Presentation

• Each of us has unique answers to this question


• Answers that reflect our self-schema or self-concept, the organized
structure of cognitions or thoughts we have about ourselves.
• The self-schema comprises our perceptions of our social identities and
personal qualities and our generalizations about the self based on
experience.
• Social Comparison Evaluating one’s abilities and
opinions by comparing oneself with others.

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 3


Self-Differentiation

• To take the self as the object of


action, we must—at a minimum—be
able to recognize ourselves.
• That is, we must distinguish our own
faces and bodies from those of
others.
• Children must learn not only to
discriminate
their physical selves from others, but
also to discriminate themselves as
social objects.

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 4


Self Esteem & Self Presentation

• self-esteem, the evaluative component of self-concept


• When we shout or whisper, dress up or dress down, smile or
frown, we actively influence the impressions others form of us.
• In fact, presenting some image of ourselves to
others is an inherent aspect of all social interaction.
• The term self-presentation refers to the processes
by which individuals attempt to control the impressions that
others form of them in social interaction

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 5


Self Presentation

• Authentic self-presentation
• Ideal self-presentation
• Tactical self-presentation

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 6


Self Presentation

• Authentic self-presentation
• our goal is to create an image of ourselves in the eyes of
others that is consistent with the way we view ourselves
(our real self ).
• Ideal self-presentation
• Tactical self-presentation

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 7


Self Presentation

• Authentic self-presentation
• Ideal self-presentation
• our goal is to establish a public image of ourselves that is
consistent with what we wish we were (our ideal self )
• Tactical self-presentation

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 8


Self Presentation

• Authentic self-presentation
• Ideal self-presentation
• Tactical self-presentation
• our concern is to establish a public image of ourselves that
is consistent with what others want or expect us to be.

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 9


Tactical self-presentation
• Persons engaging in tactical self-presentation usually have some
ulterior motive(s) in mind.
• When a person uses self-presentation tactics calculated to manipulate the
impressions formed of him or her by others, we say that he or she is
engaging in tactical impression management

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 10


Attribution Theory

• Attributions - are the


reasons we give for
our own and others'
behaviors.
• People are motivated to
understand the causes of
behavior.
• Attribution theory seeks to
explain how and why
people make these causal
attributions.
• Fritz Heider argued that there are two general types of attributions
that people make:

• Personal attributions
• Situational attributions
Personal attributions

• Why is this baby smiling?


• Explanations in terms of personal
characteristics. For example:
• “The baby must be a happy baby.”
• Other examples:
• “He scored well on the exam because
he is smart.”
Situational attributions

• Explanations in terms of situational factors. For


example:
• “Someone must have just played with the baby .”
• Other examples:
• “He scored well because it was an easy test.”
Class activity

• Write events of your life explaining personal and


situational attributions.

• Talk to 2 people about their one good memory and


one bad memory and figure out which attribution
they make?
The Fundamental Attribution Error

• Is that we overestimate the power


of the person and underestimate
the power of the situation.
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/
glossary/fundamental-attribution-err
or
Why do people make the fundamental attribution
error?

• The situation is not prominent when people make attributions for the
behavior of others, but the situation is prominent when making
attributions for one’s own behavior.
• Thus, people are more inclined to take the situation into account when
explaining their own behavior.
Self-serving bias

• People do not make objective


situational / personal attributions
for their own behavior.
• They tend to attribute their
successes to dispositional factors,
and their failures to situational
factors.
• For example: “I did well on the
test because I am smart,” or “I did
poor on the test because I didn’t
get enough sleep.
Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63gAXaXBCM4

Halima S. Qureshi | Lecturer | Clinical Psychologist 20


How do people make attributions?
• Kelley argued that people take three factors into account when
making a personal vs. situational attribution:
• Consistency: Is the baby always smiling?
• Distinctiveness: Are there occasions on which the baby doesn’t smile?
• Consensus: Do all babies smile?
Attribution Theory

• When individuals observe behaviour, they attempt to determine whether it is


internally or externally caused.
• Distinctiveness
• Does the individual act the same way in other situations?
• Consensus
• Does the individual act the same as others in same situation?
• Consistency
• Does the individual act the same way over time?
Attribution Theories
• If consistency is high, and distinctiveness / consensus are low, then
personal attribution is more likely:
• “The baby is always smiling, never displays other emotions (like crying),
and this is not typical of babies in general. Therefore, this baby must have
a happy disposition.”
• If consistency is high, and distinctiveness / consensus are also high, then a
situational attribution is more likely.
• “The baby is always smiling when tickled but displays different emotions
in other circumstances. Smiling when tickled is typical of all babies.
Therefore, this baby is smiling because it was pleased”
The Fundamental Attribution Error
• Why do we make this error? We find causes where we look for them.
• Perspective and Situational- awareness- Are you generally quiet, talkative?
• Cultural differences
Attributions and Reactions

Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.


Emotional Effects of Attribution

Problematic behavior:
someone cuts in front of
us.

How we explain someone’s


behavior affects how we react to
it.
Class Activity

• Take a minute or two to think of something you succeeded at and


something that you failed at and to write them on a piece of paper. 
• a reason for why the outcome occurred. 

• Combating:  make a list of five positive qualities the person also


exhibits.

28

You might also like