1. The Power of Positive Thinking (and Delusion)
PSY102 – Week 3 – Lecture 4

2. Self-Esteem Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self- worth
Does self-esteem flow from our attributes?
What are your “domains” of self-esteem? Attractive/smart/athletic/rich/loved?
Or, does self-esteem a result of our self acceptance”? (Brown & Dutton?)
People who value themselves in a general way—those with high self-esteem—are more likely to value their looks and abilities
My view: if you want self-esteem, do esteem-able acts

3. Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem: Our overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth
Feedback is best when it is true and specific
Leads to high “self-efficacy”
General praise…”you can do anything you want”
-Can lead to unrealistic optimism What were you told in school? Competence feedback -> High Self-efficacy
Which do better? Those failing were told “feel great about yourself-hold your head high” or “taking control will help”

4. Self-Esteem Motivation
Self-esteem maintenance
What level is best to have? High/medium/low?
Self-esteem threats occur among friends whose successes can be more threatening than that of strangers (remember social comparison theory?)
In fact, the biggest threat to our self-esteem is from those closest to us – particularly younger siblings

5. Self-Esteem Motivation – other theories
Terror Management Theory states humans must find ways to manage their fear of death.
To feel our lives are not in vain, we must continually pursue self-esteem by meeting the standards of our societies

6. The “Dark Side” of Self-Esteem
People with low self-esteem often have problems in life – less money, are more likely to be depressed, abuse drugs, etc.
As you learned in last week, correlation between two variables is sometimes caused by a third factor
High self-esteem does have some benefits—
it fosters initiative, resilience, and pleasant feelings
Who else has high self-esteem?
teen gang leaders, terrorists, and violent prisoners

7. The “Dark Side” of Self-Esteem
“The Dark Triad” of negative traits related to self-esteem: narcissism, Machiavellianism (manipulativeness), and antisocial psychopathy
Narcissists usually have high self-esteem, but they are missing the piece about caring for others
Unfortunately, their self-esteem is real: deep down inside they think they’re awesome

8. Perceived Self-Control
Effortful self-control depletes our limited willpower, like a muscle
Our brain consumes available blood sugar when engaged in self-control
Controlling emotions during an upsetting film resulted in participants:
Showing more aggression and fighting with their partner
Became less restrained in sexual thoughts and behaviors

9. Self-Efficacy (Albert Bandura)
How competent we feel on a task
Leads us to set challenging goals and to persist…if you have control over the outcome!
Competency + persistence = accomplishment / self confidence
Children and adults with strong self- efficacy are
More persistent, less anxious, and less depressed.
They also live healthier lives and are more academically successful

10. Locus of Control (Julien rotter)
Extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces
Unfortunately, people’s worth passes unrecognized no matter how hard they try.
Sometimes I feel that I don’t have
enough control over the direction
my life is taking.
This world is run by the few people
in power, and there is not much
the little guy can do about it.
In the long run, people get the
respect they deserve in this world.
What happens to me is my own doing.
The average person can have an influence in government decisions. or

11. Learned Helplessness versus Self-Determination
Learned Helplessness - Martin Seligman
Hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events
Persists even when control is given back!
Self-Determination - Edward Deci
Development of self-discipline in one area of your life may cause self-control in other areas as well
Virtuous circle

12. The Costs of Excess Choice
Excess Freedom
Too many choices can lead to dissatisfaction with our final choice
People tend to be generally happier with decisions when they can’t undo them
E.g. You’ve won a trip to Hawaii!
vs.
You’ve won a trip of your choice to Hawaii or San Francisco!

13. Self-Serving Bias Tendency to perceive oneself favorably
Explaining positive and negative events
Self-serving attributions
Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors
Contributes to marital discord, worker dissatisfaction, and bargaining impasses How so?
I got an “A” in social ψ
Dr. Harvey gave me a “C” in social ψ
“only others fall prey to the self-serving bias!”

14. Self-Serving Bias Can We All Be Better than Average?
Lake Wobegon effect
“all the children are above average”
Most people see themselves as better than the average person on the following dimensions
Subjective
Socially desirable
Common dimensions
On which of the above is the phenomenon more pronounced ? Why?

15. Self-Serving Bias
Areas in which we believe we are above average …but sometimes you’re right….but how will you know when?
Ethics
Professional competence
Virtues
Intelligence
Parental support
Health
Attractiveness
Driving

16. Self-Serving Bias Unrealistic Optimism - on the rise
Illusory optimism increases our vulnerability
Remember the tendency to underestimate the strength of situational cues on our ability to self-control?
How does this explain the 2008 housing bubble?
Defensive Pessimism
Adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action

17. Self-Serving Bias False Consensus Effect False Uniqueness Effect
Tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors
Why do you think integrity tests for employment work?
False Uniqueness Effect
Tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors

18. Self-Serving Bias Explaining Self-Serving Bias
Self-serving bias is a by-product of how we process and remember information about ourselves
Self-Serving Bias may be
Adaptive – it protects people from depression
Depressed people may be more in tune with reality!
Maladaptive – it makes people unhappy and blame others
Why didn’t I get the big merit raise?
Group-serving bias

19. Self-Presentation
Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and to an internal audience (ourselves)
It’s a good thing in employment interviews!
Self-Handicapping (fear of failure)
Protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure
Self-Monitoring
Tendency to act like social chameleons

20. The Twin Truths of This Lecture
Self-efficacy encourages us not to resign
ourselves to bad situations.
Persist despite initial failures and to exert effort without being overly distracted by self- doubts
Secure self-esteem leads us to believe in our positive possibilities
We are less vulnerable to depression and we feel less insecure
Find the middle ground through careful self-reflection!

21. Critical Thinking Question #4
Think about how you present yourself to the world – your friends, your family, your classmates, and complete strangers.
Choose two from the above list. What do you think they see, and what do you want them to see?