"There is...one thing and only one in the whole universe which we know more about than we could learn from external observation," wrote author C. S. Lewis. "That one thing is ourselves. We have, so to speak, inside information; we are in the know." The purpose of this tutorial is to consider Lewis's truism from the perspective of empirical research in social psychology-to explore current and classic research on egocentrism and social judgment to better understand how beliefs and knowledge about the self influence emotion, cognition, and behavior. Among the topics to be considered are introspection and self-insight (are people as "in the know" about themselves as they think?), self-prediction of emotion and behavior, self-appraisal, self-deception, the self in memory, and the (sometimes surprising) lengths to which people will go to maintain positive self-esteem. A goal of the course is to develop an overall view of "the self" as a cognitive system that facilitates information processing and assists in everyday functioning, but which is subject to a variety of biases and shortcomings. Format: tutorial. Evaluation will be based on position papers, class participation, and the empirical project presentation and final report. Prerequisites: Psychology 101, 201, and 242. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10).
Empirical Project