Personality Psychology, Lecture 9 Threat and Defense Riders on the Storm Hallelujah Lyrics Memorial

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Personality Psychology, Lecture 9Threat and
Defense Riders on the StormHallelujah
LyricsMemorial

• Professor Ian McGregor

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Existential Threat and Despair

• Durkheim Suicide horizons need limits
• James skull will grin in at banquet (running
  boy)
• Gilgamesh Tolstoy and Death of Ivan Ilych
• Kierkegaard Existential guilt
• Sartre Existence precedes essence, radical
  freedom, nausea bad faith, hell is others,
  existential masochism and sadism
• Fromm, Adorno Authoritarian Escape from
  Freedom
• Becker Denial of Death, Prophets of
  Unrepression Worldview Defense

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Angst (Munch,1893 Picasso, 1937)
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Despair (Bacon, 1944)
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Terror Management Theory
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But Also Relatedness-Goal ThreatsExample
Cyberball Exclusion(Kip Williams)
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Exclusion
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Inclusion
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And Competence Goal Threats
Uh-Oh! Oh No!

• Where n (eta) is an m by 1 vector of latent
  endogenous variables ? (xi) is an n by 1 vector
  of latent exogenous variables B (beta) is an m
  by m matrix of coefficients of the effects of
  endogenous on endogenous variables r (gamma) is
  an m by n matrix of coefficients of the effects
  of exogenous variables (?s) on endogenous
  variables (ns) ? (zeta) is an m by 1 vector of
  residuals, or errors in equations. It is assumed
  that the means of all the variables are equal to
  zero that is, that the variables are expressed
  in deviation scores. Also, it is assumed that ?
  and ? are uncorrelated, and that B is
  nonsingular. The measurement model specifies the
  relations between unobserved and observed, or
  latent and manifest, variables. Two equations
  describe this model
• y ?yn ?
• x ?r? d

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• Control Condition
• To minimize uncertainty and maximize the
  availability of relevant information, scientists
  collect data (measurements from observations that
  are usually recorded using numbers). Whether in
  the context of formal research activity (Is this
  advertising campaign working?) or our personal
  lives (Where should I go to college?) the goal
  is to make as informed a decision as possible,
  backed up with as much relevant data as we can
  collect.
• In a formal research setting, data are carefully
  collected under controlled conditions so that
  they will hold the promise of containing needed
  information. As sound and potentially valuable
  as data may be, however, they will not yield
  their information without a struggle.
  Information is coy. It likes to disguise itself
  and stay hidden in a jumble of numbers. We have
  to flush it out into the open using special
  tools the tools that comprise statistical
  analysis. By subjecting the data to formal
  computational procedures, we can distill the
  information that is in the data into forms that
  can be understood, communicated, and used for
  practical purposes. Without the organizing and
  summarizing of information that is accomplished
  by statistical analysis, we would tend to be
  overwhelmed and confusedaimlessly adrift in a
  sea of numbers.
• To understand the role of statistical analysis as
  an information-gathering tool, it helps to regard
  the numerical representation of data as a code.
  If numbers are the coded representations of our
  observations, we need to crack the code to make
  available all the information the numbers hold.
  The techniques of descriptive statistics are, in
  a sense, decoding devices that pull the
  information from the data and allow us to see
  properties and relationships that could otherwise
  go unnoticed.

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Goal Threats and Vigilant Despair

• Attachment Am I loved?
• Social exclusion
• Rejection nobody wanted to work with you
• Relationship dissolution
• Isolation alone more and more in life
• Self-Worth Am I good enough?
• LISREL statistics
• False feedback on Intelligence Test
• Uncertain Dilemmas and Identities
• Mortality Salience (Terror Management Theory)
• Own physical death, decay, and feelings
  associated
• All of the above goals affected
• Must be experiential threats to goals not
  abstract or hypothetical threats, e.g., not
  dental pain

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Thought Suppression Ironic Processes and Rebound

• Try to not think about a white bear
• Distraction, time course
• White bear Rebound
• Same for threats
• Threat rebound and BIS self-consciousness
• Threats are contagious

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Goal Threat and Despair
value
possible-self
role
goal
attitude
defining-memory
role
attitude
group
relationship
value
goal
culture
trait
defining-memory
trait
possible-self
culture
group
relationship
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Narrative Integrity, Meaning, and Resilience
traits
groups
values
goals
roles
relationships
defining
possible
memories
selves
Know thyself! . But defenses easier in the short
term e.g.,
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Grandiose Ideals Defensive Pride

• Become boastful, independent, arrogant, unlikable
• Which relieve personal distress for the moment
• Positive illusions? Self-delusion?
• Narcissism as an addiction to self-esteem
• Becomes unconscious form of repression
• No awareness because Operant Conditioning (recall
  video Motivation Reward Learning)
• Dangerous when one is unaware of illusions

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Other Forms of Compensatory Idealism

• Opinion Convictions
• Idealistic Opinions capital punishment, Iraq,
  terrorism
• Values and Worldview
• E.g., moral outrage,
• Attachment Relationships
• Idealized love
• Goup-Identification and Consensus
• My group is better than your group and we all
  agree
• Political Conservatism and Authoritarianism
• Stability and power (simple structureNeed for
  Closure)
• All of the above are psychologically conservative

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Eager Displacement Goals
Eager Displacement Ideals?
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Ideals As Abstract Goals (Carver Scheier
Powers Higgins Vallacher Wegner)
Ideals, Meanings, Values, Worldviews, Self-Guides
Concrete Goals
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Goal RegulationApproach
Uh-Oh! Oh No! Approach /Avoid Anxious
vigilance Scans for viable alternatives Resume
eager absorption in approach
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Motivational For Extremes
Possible Threat
Ideal Extremes
Eager Approach
Approach
Avoid
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Threat and Exaggerated Goal-Approach

• List 10 personal projects and rate them on
• Determination Are you firmly determined to
  complete it, even if it requires sacrifices?
• Outcome Will you succeed at it?
• Value-Congruence Does it reflect your important
  life values?
• Self-Identity Does it reflect who you truly are?
• Promote ideals Does it promote your ideals?
• Prevent fears (reversed) Does it prevent your
  fears?

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StudyRelationship Threat after Goal Prime
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Study Mortality Threat after Goal Primes
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Study 5b Relationship and Academic Threats
after Goal Primes
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Who is Defensive?

• Highly Approach-Motivated People
• High Self-Esteem, Narcissism, Dismissive Attach,
  Aggression, Promotion-Focus, BAS, Extraversion
• Highly Avoidance-Motivated Vulnerable People
• Low implicit self-esteem, uncertainty aversion,
  Need for Closure/Structure, Preference for
  Consistency, Depressed, Anxious, Low
  Self-Control, Anxious Attach, Prevention-Focused,
  BIS, Neuroticism
• Low Self-Compassion
• Self-Kindness, Common-Humanity, Mindfulness

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Threat on Goal Approach
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Implicit Self-Esteem
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Implicit Self-Esteem
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Fascist Consensus (at low implicit)(McGregor,
Nail, Marigold, Kang, 2005, JPSP)
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Fascist Consensus (at high implicit)(McGregor,
Nail, Marigold, Kang, 2005, JPSP)
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Rigid Conviction (at low implicit)(McGregor
Marigold, 2003, JPSP)
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Rigid Conviction (at high implicit)