Self-Perception Theory

Self-perception theory was presented by social psychologist Daryl Bem in 1967.

This theory states that people derive inferences about their attitudes and emotions by observing their own behaviours.

For instance, a person plays football daily, he slowly and gradually realizes that he likes playing football and develops a positive attitude towards playing football.

This theory opposes the common notion held by some psychologists that attitude leads to behaviour. For instance, an individual has a positive attitude towards meat consumption: he likes meat (attitude), therefore, he eats meat daily (behaviour). It shows that the attitude (liking meat) leads to behaviour (eating meat). However, self-perception theory states that our behavior leads to the development of attitude towards something. Let’s take the same example to explain this. The person, who includes meat in his daily diet, may not initially know that he likes meat, but slowly and gradually, he realizes that he likes meat and this way he develops a positive attitude towards meat consumption.

Bem believed that the way, we form attitude by observing our own behaviour, is exactly the same as we judge the attitude of others by observing their behaviour. For instance, we see a person who keeps his home clean, we say that this person has a positive attitude towards cleanliness. In the same way, people derive inferences about their own attitude by observing their own behaviour. This means that the individual acts as an external observer to determine his attitude by observing his own behaviour.

It is called self-perception theory because the realization of one’s own attitude is based on his self-knowledge. The individual comes to know about his own self by observing his behaviour and realizes what kind of attitude he has towards a specific object. For instance, an individual watches movie daily, he comes to know about his self at some point that he has a liking for watching movies – a positive attitude towards watching movies. 

This theory also claims the same mechanism for the development of emotions and beliefs. People develop certain emotions by observing their own behaviour. For instance, a person is walking in a street at night and sees a fearful creature, his heartbeat increases, and his body starts to tremble. When he observes his fast heartbeat and trembling body, he realizes that he is feeling afraid and develops emotions of fear. In relation to emotional expression, a similar explanation is given by the psychologist William James.

   Application of self-perception theory

   Therapeutic application

The principle of self-perception theory is applied in therapies where the client’s behavior is intended to be changed. For instance, a smoker smokes because he thinks that it relieves his stress. What he thinks (that it relieves his stress) is simply an attitude he has developed by observing his smoking behaviour for a long time. Therefore, the smoker is helped to quit smoking for some time so that he can get a chance to observe his non-smoking behaviour and develop a positive attitude towards non-smoking behaviour. During the non-smoking period, the individual observes his non-smoking behaviour along with its health benefits and form a positive attitude towards non-smoking behaviour. This helps him in coming out of the psychological dependence on smoking and quitting smoking easily.

Similarly, if a person has social anxiety and thus, avoids meeting others or going into gatherings and parties. It is believed that the individual has developed this psychological tendency by observing his own behaviour (of avoiding meeting others) for a long time. In such case, the person is advised to meet his friends and relatives for some time so that he can get a chance to observe his behaviour and realize that it gives an enjoyable and healthy experience to meet others and that there is no problem with this healthy tendency to meet others. This resolves his issue of social anxiety.

   Persuasion

Persuasion is a psychological process to persuade others to bring an intended change. One of the techniques used for persuasion is based on the principle of self-perception where the person is provided with an opportunity to engage in some behavior so that the person can develop a positive attitude towards it. For example, some companies may distribute their products (free of cost) among people so that they can test them. These companies know that when people will use these products, many of these people will form a positive attitude towards the product simply because of observing their behaviour using these products, and they will be likely to buy this product in future.

Another technique of persuasion, a foot in the door technique, also uses the principle of self-perception theory. According to this technique, when people initially agree to a small request, later on they are also likely to agree to a bigger request. For instance, shopkeepers use this technique to persuade customers: they tell the customer to check the new items even if the customers don’t want to buy because once the customer starts checking the items, they may get inclined to buy something.