Self Affirmation Theory In Psychology

1. Social Cognition is the study of how individuals perceive something or someone based on constructs in the mind in the social reality. As individuals develop, they create self-fulfilling prophecies. They are the most important schemas a person has about the self and others. The self-schemas consist of interconnected knowledge structures of many different sorts based on a wide range of experiences in the course of development. They are different types of constructs such as nouns, adjectives and proper nouns that are usually extremely linked to the self. Moreover, there are several models to explain the interaction of the self-schemas. Symbolic interactionism by Mead and Cooley argue the looking glass self and discusses the idea that other …show more content…
That is to say, individuals have a limited cognitive and attention resource, and they have to quickly judge and come up with stereotypes leading to the Fundamental Attribution Error. Usually there is a spread of activation meaning that a concept will always trigger a memory and will therefore connect many concepts. Lastly, they are some theories that explain such behaviors. Self affirmation theory of Claude Steele mentioning that any threatened aspect of the self will automatically activate your excellence in some other domain to make you feel better ex. Fail at school; focus on how much you are loved by everyone. The self-verification theory by Bill Swan suggesting the particular ideas of the self is central for our behaviors. And lastly, self-competition theory by Gollwitzer stating that individuals are likely to achieve the goals the self …show more content…
Susan Andersen Transference states than representations of significant others are activated when a person is newly encountered. The individual makes inferences about the qualities of a newly encountered person triggered by and applied to the new person. Transference therefore is compatible with Freud’s claim on the mental representations of individuals. Nonetheless, transference does not inference any psychosexual drives. The social cognitive process of transference is relevant and influences how people see others and the self. Individuals tend to have behaviors that are subjective continuity of one self. That is to say, that people tend to reduce cognitive inconsistencies. That is why, perceived consistency is important for the intra-individual stability, and people tend to be with others that have consistent perceptions of the self. Individuals tend to modify their lives in order to contract an “alternative future selves.” Individuals also activate the possible self in order to satisfy their perception. Hazel Markus said that the beliefs and values of one 's culture and group profoundly influence how individuals construe themselves and their future possibilities, and even the conception and definition of the self varies greatly across