Basking in the reflected glory When we use and advertise our ingroups’ positive achievements to boost our self-esteem

Cognitive dissonance The discomfort that occurs when we respond in ways that we see as inconsistent

Deindividuation The loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups

Downward social comparison When we attempt to create a positive image of ourselves through favorable comparisons with others who are worse off than we are

Internalized prejudice When individuals turn prejudice directed toward them by others onto themselves

Labeling bias When we are labeled, and others’ views and expectations of us are affected by that labeling

Looking-glass self When part of how we see ourselves comes from our perception of how others see us

Narcissism A personality trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness

Personality traits The specific and stable personality characteristics that describe an individual

Private self-consciousness The tendency to introspect about our inner thoughts and feelings

Public self-consciousness The tendency to focus on our outer public image and to be particularly aware of the extent to which we are meeting the standards set by others

Reputation management A form of long-term self-presentation, where individuals seek to build and sustain specific reputations with important audiences

Research hypothesis A specific prediction about the relationship between the variables of interest and about the specific direction of that relationship

Self Our sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals

Self-affirmation theory When people try to reduce the threat to their self-concept posed by feelings of self-discrepancy by focusing on and affirming their worth in another domain, unrelated to the issue at hand

Self-awareness The extent to which we are currently fixing our attention on our own self-concept

Self-awareness theory When we focus our attention on ourselves, the tendency for us to compare our current behavior against our internal standards

Self-complexity The extent to which individuals have many different and relatively independent ways of thinking about themselves

Self concept A knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us, including our beliefs about our personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals

Self-concept clarity The extent to which one’s self-concept is clearly and consistently defined

Self-consciousness When our self-concept becomes highly accessible because of our concerns about being observed and potentially judged by others

Self-discrepancy theory The tendency to experience distress when we perceive a discrepancy between our actual and ideal selves

Self-esteem The positive (high self-esteem) or negative (low self-esteem) feelings that we have about ourselves

Self-evaluation maintenance theory When our self-esteem can be threatened when someone else outperforms us, particularly if that person is close to us and the performance domain is central to our self-concept

Self-labeling When we adopt others’ labels explicitly into our self-concept

Self-monitoring The tendency to be both motivated and capable of regulating our behavior to meet the demands of social situations

Self-presentation The tendency to present a positive self-image to others, with the goal of increasing our social status

Self-reference effect When information that is processed in relationship to the self is particularly well remembered

Self-schema A variety of different cognitive aspects of the self

Self-verification theory The tendency for people to often seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether it is positive or negative

Social comparison When we learn about our abilities and skills, about the appropriateness and validity of our opinions, and about our relative social status by comparing our own attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those of others

Social identity The sense of our self that involves our memberships in social groups

Social identity theory The tendency to draw part of our sense of identity and self-esteem from the social groups that we belong to

Upward social comparison When we compare ourselves with others who are better off than we are