socialpsych 2

False consensus effect:

Overestimate the number of people who share

one’s opinions

False uniqueness effect

– Underestimate the number of people who share
one’s prized characteristics or abilities
– People tend to overestimate their qualities or
underestimate their qualities in whichever
direction is best for self-esteem.

The theory perseverance effect

– Once a conclusion is drawn, it is only changed by

overwhelming evidence

– Losing the evidence for the conclusion is not

sufficient to prompt this change.

Statistical regression (or regression toward the mean)

Statistical tendency for extremes to be followed by less extremes

Illusion of control

A false belief that one can influence events

– How can the illusion of control be dangerous for gamblers?

First instinct fallacy

the false belief that it is better not to change one’s first answer on a test even if one starts to think a different answer is correct.

Upward counterfactuals

involve imagining

alternatives that are better than actuality.

Downward counterfactuals

involve imagining alternatives that are worse than actuality.

Emotion

conscious evaluative reaction to some event

– A feeling state characterized by physiological

arousal, expressive behaviors, and a

cognitive interpretation

Mood

feeling state that is not clearly linked to some event

Affect

automatic response that something is good or bad

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

Emotion arises from physiological arousal

 Happiness comes from smiling

 Sadness comes from crying

Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion

Emotion originates in the thalamus

 “Body” (physiological systems) and “Mind”

(emotional experience) are independently activated at the same time

What is happiness?

– Measured by

Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

 Physiological arousal

 Sweaty palms

 Increased heart rate

 Rapid breathing

 Cognitive Label

 Attribute source of arousal

to a cause.

 To have an emotion, both

factors are required.

Emotions mark the most significant positive or

negative events

• Caused by appraisal

what is appraisal ?

(interpretation) of self- relevant object or event

– Appraisal. An individual’s interpretation of a self-

relevant event or situation that directs emotional

responses and behavior.

Hedonic treadmill theory

proposes that people stay at about the same level of

happiness regardless of what happens to them.

• explains the happiness state of lottery winners a year after winning,

as opposed to someone who has been paralyzed after an accident

The American Paradox

Our society embodies progress on many

different levels: technology, wealth, and

freedom

• Yet, we are not necessarily more happy;

progress comes with a new set of problems

often conceptualized as a moral decline

• Possible solutions: altruism, fidelity, family, community, spirituality

The catharsis theory

the proposition that expressing

negative emotions produces a healthy release of

those emotions and is therefore good for the psyche.

Emotions

Comprise powerful and important feedback

system

– Promote belongingness

– Rarely cause behavior directly

• The emotion does not cause the behavior, but

makes people look for behaviors that can change it.

– Guide thinking and learning

• Despite stereotypes to the contrary, it seems

that emotions help us make decisions.

• People may behave in a way that will gain a

desirable (or avoid an undesirable) expected

emotion.

Affective forecasting

the ability to predict

one’s emotional reactions to future events.

– People are accurate in predicting their feelings,

but overestimate the intensity of those feelings

Status quo bias

may be an example of people

behaving in a way that keeps their current

state because of fear of what emotions change

will bring.

Risk-as-feelings hypothesis

the idea that people rely on emotional processes to evaluate risk, with the result that their

judgments may be biased by emotional factors.

• People rely on their gut feeling about risk and avoid it if they can.

Affect-as-information hypothesis

Affect provides compelling information about the

personal value of whatever is in mind at the time.

• Affect and evaluative judgments. When making

evaluative judgments, people often ask

themselves ‘how do I feel about it?’ In such cases,

positive affect signals that the object of judgment

is valuable, leading to a positive evaluation, and

negative affect signals that it lacks value, leading

to a negative evaluation.

A default strategy in many situations is for

people to engage in _______________________

(relating incoming information to what is already

known or believed).

relational processing

Broaden-and-build theory

the proposition that positive emotions expand an individual’s attention and mind-set.

Ekman identified 6 basic emotions that are found across cultures

anger, surprise, disgust, happiness, fear, and sadness.

• In general Asian Americans put more emphasis on emotional moderation than European Americans.

Are Women More Emotional Than Men?

Despite the stereotype researchers have found

no differences in emotions between men and

women.

• Lab studies and studies of children have found

that men may actually be slightly more

emotional than women.

Yerkes-Dodson law

the proposition that

some arousal is better than none, but too

much can hurt performance.

• Easterbrook proposed that arousal focuses

attention, first pulling people away from

irrelevant information, but with too much

important and helpful information is lost.

Emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive,

access and generate, understand, and

reflectively regulate emotions

– Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test

(MSCEIT)

• Perceiving Emotion

• Facilitating Thought

• Understanding Emotion

• Managing Emotions

Emotion-focused coping

Try to deal with emotional response to threat, not with the threat itself

– Perhaps because threat is beyond your control

• Escape from threatening situation

– Physical avoidance, distraction (watch TV),

drink alcohol

• Downplay threat by affirming positives

– Reaffirm positive characteristics

– Reaffirm cultural values

Pennebaker and Beall (1986)

• Undergraduates wrote about a topic for 4

consecutive days for 15 minutes each day

• Confidential and no feedback about what

they wrote

Problem-Focused Coping

• Change the event or reinterpret it as non-threatening

• Make excuses

– I just forgot your birthday, it’s not that I don’t care about

you

Planning Fallacy

the belief that your project will finish on time, even though you know most similar projects don’t

• Individuals are more realistic in providing estimates for others.

• Unrealistic optimism is more likely when the goal is far into the future.

Self-Regulation

• The self’s capacity to alter its own responses

• Effective self-regulation relies on:

• Standards: ideas of how things could be 

• Monitoring: keeping track of behaviors

• Capacity to Change: aligning behavior with standards 

TOTE (Test, Operate, Test, Exit) model

TOTE (Test, Operate, Test, Exit) model

self regulation: Willpower

Willpower is like muscle:

• Task 1: The experimental group is required to exercise a great deal of self-control in the first task, whereas the control group is simply asked to do the task. For example, both groups may be asked to watch a funny film, but the experimental group is required to suppress their emotional expression while the control group is given no specific instruction 

• Task 2: Once this first task is completed, both groups are then asked to complete a second task that involves self-regulation. Both groups need to self-regulate their behavior to achieve success, and the key outcome measure is how persistent each group is. For example, typical second tasks include things like: complex figure tracing, solving complex anagrams, drinking an unpleasant (but not harmful) “sports drink”, and resisting drinking free beer (even though a driving test is expected to follow).

• If you don’t achieve your goal, you may feel uncomfortable. Discomfort may motivate you to set better goals. 

• Marshmallow – Temptation Experiment

Taking Account of other People’s Standards

• Besides our own ought and ideal standards, other people have expectations for us (pervasive social influence)

• Can be brought to mind by thinking about or encountering those people

The Jam Experiment

• Tasting booth for unusual jams in an upscale grocery store.

• Participants were… 

1. Offered 6 jams (less choices)

2. Offered 24 jams (more choices)

• What percentage of tasters later purchased one of the jams?

• “Of the 242 customers who passed the extensive-selection display of jams, 60% (145 people) actually stopped at the booth)

• In contrast, of the 260 customers who passed the limited-selection display of jams, only 40% (104 people) stopped by to taste it.

• Thus, consumers who encountered the extensive-choice condition were more attracted to the booth that had more choices.

• Outcome: “Nearly 30% (31) of the customers int he limited-choice condition subsequently purchased a jar.”

• In contrast, only 3% (4) of the consumers in extensive-choice condition did so.

• Thus, consumers initially exposed to limited choices proved considerably more likely to purchase the product than consumers who had initially encountered a much larger set of options.