OCT 7

11: OCT 7

Assigned

• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C9, “Looking Outward to Know ourselves” (20)
• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C10, “Observing and Changing our Behavior” (18)

In-Class

• SW1 update

• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C9, “Looking Outward to Know ourselves” (20)
• Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves, C10, “Observing and Changing our Behavior” (18)

Wilson, Chapter 9, "Looking Outward to Know Ourselves"

• Using 3rd person information to gain self-knowledge.

• Research as one type of 3rd person information. (Important caveat about averages.)

• Research on ineffectiveness of subliminal ads could correct our mistaken choice for regular ads. Priming effects occur in the lab, but hard to measure in real life. (Other examples: we routinely talk about being “triggered”. Muting ads.)
• Implicit Bias test 188 92-3: really gets into the question of how to explain results. what's the construct? Real life implications: white police reacting from their constructs of African-Americans. Point: We have a model for changing our introspective reports. Not sufficient to base them on conscious awareness alone.

• Using information from others to modify our "self-theory:

• Mike's shyness. (Catching lag times in updating our “self-theory”.)
• Cooley: "reflected appraisal" and "looking glass self" p. 195

• How well do we see what others think about us? (Research looking for discrepancies between our view of how others see us and how others see us.)

• Airforce recruits study: .2 correlation.

• Should we try to see what other think about us? Sometimes…

• positive illusions
• Einstein example: inauspicious beginnings. (Sometimes a discrepant view of ourselves can be motivating.)
• Catherine Dirks, student with too low a view of her abilities. 201

• For discussion: How do you balance external appraisal with the need to be committed to a self-theory that might usefully include positive illusions?

Wilson, Timothy, Chapter 10, "Observing and Changing Our Behavior"

• 205: People can sometimes infer their internal states just as an outside observer would"

• Note how we "bifurcate" our consciousness at will. "There you go again..."
• Bem's self-perception theory: If you practice inferring your own internal states from your behavior you might get the sort of insight that you have into other people's internal states.

• Tension between self-revelation and self-fabrication (Example of Sarah accepting a date with Peter, whom she didn’t like at first meeting.)

• Fundamental attribution error, we tend to think of our own behaviors as driven by situational factors whereas we attribute other's behaviors to their character and motivations. (Also an example of using psych research to know ourselves.)
• But, under strong situational influence (if you are paid a lot to do something you love, you might eventually lose you sense of internal motivation -- passions become "just a job"). Point: situational influences can lead us to missattribute our internal motivations. (Lower faculty salaries and you will find out who really “loves” their work.)
• Ultimately, observing yourself as a third party might be difficult if your "adaptive unconscious" is already "cooking the books" (makes judgements and attributions of behavior).
• General problem: misattribution of internal states (motivations and beliefs) due to situational cues or influences. Schaffer and Wheeler study on movie goers, some get adrenaline, some don’t, first group misattributes their movie experience.

• How do we work on our non-conscious biases and attributes. Normally, we think of change starting with reflection. But there’s another strategy: Doing good in order to be good. (211). Aristotle: you become just by doing justice.
• James quote 212: point: Keeping your best self-description in mind and acting on it.
• Related slogans: Fake it till you make it. [Sometimes you have to treat yourself like a dog! (explain)]. Self-improvement is sometimes about changing both conscious narratives and unconscious states. Example of extroversion / introversion at parties. 213. Feedback loop between behavior and self-concept.
• Example (more developed in new book, Redirect of two strategies for addressing teen pregnancy. A teen volunteer program that works indirectly on teens by involving them in meaningful volunteering. Turns out to promote wise behaviors better than other interventions that involved getting at risk teens together to talk about their feelings.

• Ends with discussion of the role of “truth” in narrative approaches to the self.