In everyday life, people observe other people’s actions and behaviors and make inferences about others’ attitudes based on what they observe. When people see how another person acts in a particular situation, they often attribute the behavior to the person’s traits and attitudes. For example, if you view someone in a park recycling a plastic water bottle rather than throwing it in the garbage, you might infer that the individual is concerned about the environment. Similarly, if you witness a school child scowling at her teacher, you might infer that she is upset or angry with the teacher. Interestingly, sometimes people also observe their own behavior, much as an outsider might do, and make similar inferences about their own attitudes based on their behavior. According to self-perception theory, when people are unsure of their own attitudes, one way to infer them is by looking at their behaviors. Daryl Bem proposed self-perception theory in 1967 when he argued that people sometimes analyze their own behavior in the same fashion as they would analyze someone else’s behavior.
当时,BEM提出了与人们的态度和行为的看法背道而驰的东西。例如,大多数人都会同意,一个人认为自己对公路自行车感兴趣的人可能会因为这种兴趣而购买自行车设备并进行长时间的骑自行车。也就是说,该人的态度和自我感知会影响他或她的行为。但是,BEM通过暗示人们也可能了解自己的态度和兴趣,从而扭转了这种关系,因为他们根据自己的行为做出了推断。因此,这个人可以推断出他或她对频繁的骑自行车旅行和在一辆漂亮的公路自行车上的豪华支出中对公路骑自行车感兴趣。
自我感知理论通过暗示人们通过观察自己的身体和行为来推断自己的情绪,从而为情感提供了类似的解释。换句话说,人们的情绪和其他感受来自诸如面部表情,姿势,唤醒和行为水平等动作。这样,感觉就是行为的后果,而不是相反。人们很生气,因为他们皱着眉头,因为他们微笑而感到高兴,这是自我感知的效果。
每个人都经历了自我感知效果。想象一下,您度过了糟糕的一天 - 几个问题出了问题,您感到非常烦躁和脾气暴躁。但是,您以前已经计划与一些朋友见面,参加那天晚上的一次小型社交聚会。当您到达时,您会微笑并引起温暖,礼貌的行为。当聚会上的其他人向您打招呼:“嗨,怎么样?”您回答“很好,你好吗?”皱眉并保持与朋友聚会的烦恼是一项挑战。因此,您取而代之的是微笑,并有效地要幸福。对于我们大多数人来说,我们最初的易怒感在微笑并表现出“快乐”行为后会减少。我们的行为改变了我们的态度。
Even the way people walk can affect the way they feel. Test this with yourself. When you get up, walk back and forth across the room, shuffling with your shoulders hunched and your eyes looking down at the floor. What do you feel? Similarly, imagine sitting slouched over all day, sighing when people speak to you and talking in a really low voice. You probably feel a bit down or depressed. Now try walking across the room taking long strides, swinging your arms high, and smiling. These different behaviors can elicit a different emotional experience.
对自我感知理论的研究支持
Several studies have been done since the proposal of self-perception theory that support Bem’s hypothesis. As self-perception theory predicts, research has demonstrated that people who are induced to act as if they feel something, such as happiness, report actually feeling it, even when they are unaware of how their feelings arose. This effect has been demonstrated for a wide variety of feelings and with an even wider variety of behaviors.
例如,在一项简单的研究中,旨在证明面部表达是否影响情感反应(这种现象与自我感知密切相关) - 心理学家研究了面部表情是否影响个人对动画片的情绪反应。为了操纵面部表情或面部活动,要求受试者以两种方式将笔握在嘴里:(1)牙齿之间的嘴唇张开,以促进通常与微笑或(2)嘴唇之间的肌肉相关的肌肉因为它抑制了微笑期间使用的肌肉。(请尝试一下,看看您是否可以了解您的面部表情,如果您在实验中。)参与者的任务是阅读一系列动画片,将笔在他们的嘴里进行评分,然后对他们进行评分。因为他们的趣味程度。正如自我感知理论所预测的那样,心理学家发现,那些在牙齿之间握着笔的人(促进微笑)报告了基于动画片的幽默水平要高,而不是在嘴唇之间握着笔的参与者。研究人员得出的结论是,漫画的趣味性取决于产生涉及微笑的肌肉动作。
自我感知效应也可能延续到以后的行为。例如,想象一下,通常您在聚会上很害羞,但最近决定要结交新朋友。您已经决定,在下一场聚会上,您将努力特别健谈以结识新朋友,而且情况顺利。这种行为会影响您对社会行为的态度,并使您感知自己的外向。下次您参加聚会时,您会表现出传出的社会行为,而几乎没有努力。好像您正在外向,您可能会变得更加如此。
在一项证明这种结转效果的研究中,研究人员研究了社区服务经验对青少年志愿者的同理心,社会责任和对他人关注的影响。这项研究的发现表明,社区服务对他人的同情和同情,对整个社会的关注感以及愿意采取行动来帮助他人和社区。这表明,这种行为 - 参与志愿者的帮助经验 - 可能会朝着更多的关怀和帮助态度和持续的服务中的转变。
马克·莱珀(Mark Lepper)及其同事在另一项有趣的调查中,对行为如何影响态度,发现人们已经享受的行为降低了他们的内在动机,这一现象被称为过度争执效应。例如,在一项研究这一效果的研究中,最初对绘画活动感兴趣的儿童在获得外部奖励的两周后,对绘画的内在兴趣显着降低,而因参与活动而没有获得外部奖励的儿童没有报告两周后的兴趣减少。根据自我感知理论,当人们不再将其行为归因于他们的内在动机时,而是由于预期外在的奖励而受到过度约束作用。In the previous example, the principles of self-perception theory would argue that the children’s initial interest in the activity was undermined by creating a situation in which activity was an explicit means to an extrinsic goal—in other words, the extrinsic rewards turned “play” (i.e., an activity engaged in for it’s own sake) into “work” (i.e., an activity engaged in only when extrinsic incentives are present).
In the decades following Bem’s original article, a great deal of research was aimed at trying to distinguish self-perception theory from the widely accepted cognitive dissonance theory, which argues that the inconsistency presented by believing one thing and doing another generates emotional discomfort that directs behavior toward the goal of reducing the inconsistency or dissonance. However, dissonance arises when there is inconsistency or hypocrisy between attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. Thus, attitudes or beliefs in these situations are known. Years of research in this area have led to the conclusion that cognitive dissonance and self-perception theories have different applications: Self-perception theory is more applicable in situations in which people’s attitudes are initially vague, ambiguous, or weak.
自我感知理论的重要性和含义
因为自我感知理论表明,当人们对自己的态度或情感的内部意识是薄弱或模棱两可的时,他们可以与外界观察者几乎相同的方式看待自己时,就可以依靠外部提示或行为来推断人们的内在状态。您可能能够与以下经验联系在一起:“这是我的第二个三明治;我想我比我想象的要饥饿,”或者,“我整天都在咬指甲;一定要困扰我。”在这两种情况下,态度或情感都是从行为中推断出来的。因此,即使人们通常是自我意识的,他们也不能总是对自己为什么会这样做的方式准确。自我感知效果使人们能够从外部环境中收集重要的线索,并应用它们以了解他们内部经历的态度或情感。
The self-perception effect also may have an important application when attitudes and behaviors are incongruent or when behavior change is desired. For example, therapists working with individuals with alcohol addiction have reported that the principles of self-perception theory assist in creating change. Individuals who begin to consciously observe the amount they are drinking might infer from their behavior that they are tense or anxious and then do something about it other than drinking. Similarly, behavior change might inform individuals of their internal attitudes about drinking. For example, individuals who communicate their intentions about drinking out loud may infer their attitudes about drinking from hearing themselves speak. In other words, the behavior of telling others, “I am going to cut down on my drinking” may allow individuals to infer the attitude or internal awareness that their drinking has created problems for themselves or others. In sum, researchers in psychology have applied the self-perception theory to a wide variety of attitudes and behaviors with very interesting and important implications.
References:
- Bem, D. J. (1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychology Review, 74, 183-200.
- Bem, D. J. (1972). Self-perception theory. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 1-62). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129-137.