Teaching Social Psychology

Self-esteem

"Death" warnings increase smoking? - According to this study, for those whose self-esteem is tied to smoking, encountering threatening messages about smoking increases the tendency to smoke. [added 2/13/10]

"U.S. teens brimming with self-esteem" - What a shock! [added 5/2/09]

The role of self-esteem in Obama's victory - Blog entry review of some research on the relationship between perception of self-esteem in 2008 presidential candidates and likelihood of voting for them [added 5/2/09]

"Admiring celebrities can help improve self-esteem" - What? Yes, this study found that engaging in these "fake" relationships with celebrities (called parasocial relationships) can benefit those with low self-esteem. [added 8/09/08]

"The Christmastime self-esteem paradox" - interesting essay about some social psych research [added 3/23/08]

"Exploding the self-esteem myth" - a featured article in the January 2005 issue of Scientific American by Roy Baumeister et al. [added 3/20/05]

New report on self-esteem - A new report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest from APS challenges certain supposed benefits of high self-esteem. [added 7/21/03]

Race and self-esteem - article (2000) in Salon magazine

Happiness

Happiness = $60,000/yr - that's according to Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman [added 7/20/10]

Does fun fly when you're having time? - Okay, that doesn't make sense. But this set of studies wondered if the saying "time flies when you're having fun" could be turned on its head. If you perceive time is flying does that positively affect your judgment of something? [added 1/19/10]

Happy? Depends on your state - Your U.S. state that is -- "People really are happier in those US states identified as having better 'quality of life.'" [added 1/19/10]

"Hourly employees happier than salaried" - I knew it! Of course, if I divided my salary by the number of hours I work I think it would be a bit depressing. [added 1/19/10]

Does money buy happiness? - "The study worked by asking people what their own income and happiness levels were and then asking them to estimate the happiness of people on lower or higher incomes than themselves. The participants' estimates of the happiness of people on high incomes was largely accurate, but they massively underestimated the happiness of people on lower incomes. The picture was the same in a second study that asked people to estimate how happy they'd be if they earned more or less than they really did." I wonder if salaried people perceive hourly employees as less happy? [added 1/19/10]

Effects of exposure to luxury goods - And in a related story..."Luxury does not necessarily induce people to be 'nasty' toward others but rather causes them to be less concerned about or considerate toward others. Experiment 1 showed that when primed with luxury, people are more likely to endorse self-interested business decisions (profit maximization), even at the expense of others. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that exposure to luxury is likely to activate self-interest but not the tendency to harm others." [added 1/19/10]

Day Reconstruction Method example (Are you enjoying yourself? How do we know?) - One method of measuring your level of happiness or enjoyment is through Kahneman's Day Reconstruction Method in which participants "divide the last day up into discrete episodes and rate their feelings during each one." However, as this blog entry describes, that method led to some "bizarre" results such as "people seem to spend an inordinate amount of time doing things they claim not to enjoy, like spending time with their children, and commuting." (I just realized, I've been commuting to work with my children the last couple years. Yikes!) A new approach suggests asking people not only how they feel during these activities but also how worthwhile or meaningful (i.e., rewarding) they are. Adding such questions to the method changes what people report as enjoyable. Spending time with children is still a common activity, but now it is described as more pleasurable. Commuting .... not so much. [added 1/19/10]

"Live Happy" with your iPhone - Want to be happy? Simple. 1) Buy an iPhone. (Congratulations!) 2) Get the Live Happy application for your new iPhone. 3) Follow the activities recommended in the application, inspired by research from positive psychology. I told you it was easy. [added 7/16/09]

"Can anything in life ever surpass winning 14 gold medals?" - interesting blog on Michael Phelps "peak experience" and whether everything after will be less satisfying [added 12/21/08]

The sad and self-focused spend more - [added 5/24/08]

How to be happy - This blog entry visits research supporting three strategies for increasing one's happiness. [added 3/23/08]

Short-term vs. long-term happiness - interesting blog entry describing research that examines the sources of our happiness [added 12/21/07]

Dan Gilbert's work - A good report from the 2007 APS convention on how poor we are at forecasting our happiness [added 10/25/07]

Happier if you were richer? - Here's an interesting article, "Would you be happier if you were richer?: A focusing illusion," from Daniel Kahneman and others. "When people consider the impact of any single factor on their well-being -- not only income -- they are prone to exaggerate its importance; we refer to this tendency as the focusing illusion." The authors conclude that although we generally are not happier with more income we convince ourselves we will be by focusing on the perceived benefits of greater income such as more free time. However, they find that this focus is an illusion because greater income does not usually lead to more free time or other imagined benefits. [added 12/27/06]

"The Happiness Formula" - A BBC program has an extensive accompanying website with lots of video and other good resources on happiness. Even take a happiness test. [added 7/6/06]

Happiness - Time magazine recently ran a cover story on happiness with a lot of related stories [added 3/20/05]

Social influence on the illusion of control - "The illusion of control is the tendency to believe that we have influence over uncontrollable events. It has been well demonstrated in gamblers who may often put down wins and losses to their skills and abilities, even on games like roulette where the outcomes are entirely random. This new study found that roulette players who learnt that someone else had recently 'won big' had an increased illusion of control, expected to win more and made more risky gambles while playing. However, this effect virtually disappeared simply by adding that the 'big winner' had put down his bonanza to sheer luck." [added 7/20/10]

Self-delusion and lying - Read another interesting blog entry from Sam Sommers concerning recent examples in the news of forged transcripts and inflated resumes. [added 7/20/10]

"How to reject belief-challenging research" - The blog entry describes a study which looks at how our usual strategies for handling disconfirming evidence tend to be inadequate when faced with peer-reviewed evidence. Instead, we turn to a different strategy -- "scientific impotence." [added 7/20/10]

Problems with self-construal - "Those who had more psychological distance from themselves had a much more realistic sense of how others saw them. They were able to see the 'big picture' rather than focusing on trivial flaws and defects that only a microscope can detect. In short, they were better mind readers." [added 7/20/10]

Do the mobile form group identities? - Some in society move quite frequently. Does that prevent or lessen the likelihood they establish identities around groups they belong to? [added 7/20/10]

Indirect bragging can be harmful - You may be better off saying "I could be the next prime minister" than saying "My son could be the next prime minister." [added 7/20/10]

Willfulness vs. willingness - Blog entry describes interesting research which asks if it is better to tell ourselves "I will do this" or to ask ourselves "Will I do this?" before starting a task. Studies find that the less goal-directed wondering was more successful, and actually led to more goal-directed intentions. [added 7/20/10]

"Census figures challenge views of race and ethnicity" - [added 2/13/10]

Evaluating your own competence is hard - very interesting article reviewing research about the difficult of judging one's own competence [added 1/19/10]

"Thinking that you're blushing makes you blush even more" - a number of interesting findings in this study [added 7/16/09]

Loss aversion and dieting - Interesting story of a new Web site that requires you to pledge some money connected to certain weight loss goals. If you don't meet them, the money is donated to a charity or a person you designate. Connected to loss aversion. And what if the wife's (or husband's) demerits cost her money? (See above.) [added 7/16/09]

The illusion of control by proxy - Summary of an interesting study which finds "we are prepared to hand over control to others if we believe they are likely to be luckier than we are. Wohl and Enzle call this 'illusion of control by proxy.'" [added 5/2/09]

Sense of power increases illusion of control? - Those primed for power rather than powerlessness exhibited a greater illusion of control. [added 5/2/09]

Stickk to your resolutions/goals? - Interesting new website subscriber Michael Britt passed along in which you select a goal, set a deadline, and identify a punishment if you don't make it. Can you feel public embarrassment online? [added 5/2/09]

Self-regulation/ego-depletion research - This blog entry provides a nice review of the methodology and results commonly found in this topic of study. I always loved the chocolate chip cookie and radish study [added 5/2/09]

Self-handicapping - New York Times article on some research - [added 5/2/09]

"Individual differences in susceptibility to mindlessness" - If someone tried to jump in line at the copier within an inane excuse would you still give in? What if you were high in need for cognition? High in self-monitoring? [added 5/2/09]

Name-dropping ... maybe not such a good idea - "Indeed, according to Carmen Lebherz and colleagues, name-dropping will probably make you appear less likeable and less competent - unless, that is, you make your association with the famous name sound suitably distant and casual. Even then, it's only likely to do you any good as a kind of sympathy vote, after your audience have witnessed you fail." [added 5/2/09]

How mirrors affect self-perception - Interesting article from the New York Times -- did you know the image of your face in the mirror is exactly half the size of your real face, no matter how far you are away from the mirror? [added 12/21/08]

"How do you make a reputation for yourself?" - a good blog entry reviewing some recent research on the topic [added 8/09/08]

When is confidence/optimism good in world leaders? - [added 6/23/08]

The imposter phenomenon - Is expressing self-doubt a personality trait or self-presentation? [added 5/24/08]

Culture influences perspective - "Once again, we see the same pattern: in social situations, Asian Americans are more likely than Euro-Americans to take the perspective of a friend (by using "come" instead of "go" when someone is approaching them), while in non-social situations the pattern is almost reversed." [added 4/27/08]

"Personality plagiarism rife on internet dating sites" - interesting discussion of how people are "constructing the self" on the internet by stealing attractive or creative profiles [added 4/14/08]

In denial - New York Times article reviewing some interesting research on what motivates denial, how it is viewed by others (sometimes more favorably than being honest), and what forms it takes [added 12/21/07]

How are optimists, pessimists, and realists perceived? - a story about some recent research -- optimists and realists more favorably perceived than pessimists, but people will still stop and help pessimists [added 11/21/07]

Carol Dweck's work - A good report from the 2007 APS convention on how our beliefs shape our motivation [added 10/25/07]

"Conversational partners coordinate eye movements" - interesting study looking at how even separated conversants coordinate eye gaze -- here is the research article [added 10/25/07]

"I'll agree to do the right thing...next week" - "When making decisions a person often thinks that she should make certain choices (e.g., increasing savings, reduce gas consumption) but does not want to make them. This intrasubjective tension between 'multiple selves' has been referred to as a 'want/should' conflict. In four experiments we show that people are more likely to choose what they believe they should choose when the choice will be implemented in the future rather than implemented immediately, a tendency we refer to as 'future lock-in.'" [added 7/06/07]

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know" - "Yale School of Management study finds people actively avoid medical diagnoses for illnesses perceived as severe, untreatable" [added 7/6/06]

Search for self in the brain - Is the right hemisphere responsible for creating a sense of self? Is sense of self an illusion? An interesting article from ScienceNews. [added 7/6/06]

Flawed self-assessment - latest installment from Psychological Science in the Public Interest - a series of good articles on "Flawed self-assessment: Implications for health, education, and the workplace" [added 1/8/06]

The forgotten origins of the self-serving bias - Probably like most of you, I assumed that the self-serving bias had been part of human nature for as long as, well, we've been humans. But, with a little digging, I discovered it's a relatively new phenomenon! [added 12/1/04]

Manipulations and measures of self-awareness - Paul Silvia provides some descriptions and examples of manipulations and measures of self-awareness that he and others have used in their research. Also included are links to some articles in which these items were used. [added 6/15/04]

The Spotlight Effect - a popular press article on research regarding the spotlight effect [added 11/11/03]

"Tutorials" on several topics - David Kenny provides some clearly written explanations of a variety of methodological and interpersonal perception topics. [added 7/16/03]

Self-determination theory - a site from Edward Deci et al. on their motivational theory -- it includes an overview, bibliography, discussion of the reward controversy (overjustification effect), related scales that can be downloaded and more [added 6/6/02]

Self-efficacy resources - a great place to start on self-efficacy - a "pastime" of Frank Pajares, this sites contains articles about and by Albert Bandura on social cognitive theory and self-efficacy, video clips and photos, related measures, ongoing research and more [added 3/21/02]

International Society for Self and Identity

Subjective well-being - Ed Diener's home page - includes articles

"Why some women advocate while others do not: The role of social identification" - presentation given by C.V. Harquail - slide presentation and audio are available

"The Self in Scientific Psychology" - classic article from Mary Whiton Calkins (1915)

"The Social Self" - classic article by George Herbert Mead (1913)

 

 

 

Resources for the Teaching of Social Psychology is a part of the CROW Project, Course Resources on the Web. CROW was initially sponsored by the Associated Colleges of Illinois and generously supported by UPS. This site was created by Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology at North Central College, Naperville, IL. Send comments to Jon.