Self-perception theory

Bern, D. J. (1972) Self-perception theory , in L. Berkowitz (ed.). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 6, New York Academic Press. 

We have considered the effects of attitudes on behaviour, but what of the effects of behaviour on attitudes It may appear surprising to consider the effects of behaviour on attitudes, as it is normally assumed that the relationship is the other way around. There is, however, considerable evidence to show that, under certain circumstances, behaviour can have a considerable influence on attitudes. There are two main theories that explain this effect, those of cognitive dissonance and self-perception theory. For some time it was thought that these theories were in conflict, but recent research has shown that they explain different effects. 

The theories on individual decision making from other scientific disciplines tend to stress factors such as status, social peer pressure, time availability, mood, cultural aspects, self-affirmation, altruism, and self-perception, as explanatory variables to decision making [12, 13]. These latter factors are far less favourable for economic valuation since the value would be unpredictable and varying dependent on situation. They may, however, provide an equally or even better description of decision making. 

Wasson s theory is that at some preliterate stage in man s early history, the mushrooms with extraordinary powers were discovered and "served as an agent for the very fission of his soul, releasing his faculty for self-perception, as a stimulant for the imagination of the seer, the poet, the mystic.. .. May not the hallucinatory mushrooms have been the most... 

In their influential self-determination theory, Deci and Ryan developed the basic psychological needs concept, an organismic theory to explain why certain kinds of activities are motivating (Deci Ryan, 1985, 2000 Krapp Prenzel, 2011). They identified three basic needs as highly important for motivation the perception of autonomy, of competence, and of social embeddedness. For school education, Prenzel (1997) extended these needs by three additional factors the perception of relevance, the interest of the educator, and the quaUty of instruction. 

The MoLE-Questionnaire was designed for a systematic analysis of the students perceptions of the actual classroom learning environment and also the preferred one. The questionnaire is based on the pedagogical interest theory, on the self-determination-theory, on theories of achievement motivation (see above), and on reflections from the field of classroom and learning environment research (Fraser, 1989). These various concepts of motivation and interest and the results of research on learning environment served as a basis for the development and validation MoLE-Model discussed above. 

One theory of the cause of emotion is that it is triggered by discrepancy. Thus, people may have an emotional reaction when confronted wito feedback or evidence that contradicts their self-image. A step in the process of personal development is to recognize this emotion and accept it. Doing so can have quite transforming effects on your perception of who you are. 

The basic approach to the knowledge requires the self-consciousness which determines the comprehension of the empirical data. Since pre-Socratics the phenomenon is interpreted as the entanglement of the perception of data and the self-consciousness of the observer, according to his own specific ordering rational principles. Science exists because this process is undefined. Thus theories can be formulated as resulting from the interpretation of phenomenology through an... 

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