Social Psych: Final Exam (mc review)

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people about, influence, and relate to one another

Focus of social psychology

psychology of the individual

Social psychology compared to related fields

Social psychology manipulates various kinds of contact between individuals and different groups and examine the effect of the manipulation on the degree of topic exhibited

Psychological theories vs. common sense

Theories are always put to the test

Who was credited with the creation of social psychology as a distinct fiend

McDougall, Ross, and Allport

[Class lecture] Had the most dramatic impact on social psychology.

Adolf Hiltet

When social psychology was established as a distinct field

nineteenth century to early twentieth century

“I knew it all along” phenomenon

Phenomenon that makes people question how social psychology is different from common sense

Basic research

attempt to increase understanding human behavior

Applied Research

attempt to understand naturally occurring events

Random Sampling

Selecting participants to be in study so that everyone from the population has an equal chance of being a participant in the study

Advantage if cross-cultural or multicultural research methods is that they allow better tests of

External validity

Dogmatism

Pitfalls of theories: do not allow for questions, doubts, and new information. Stuck to what worked in the past, and tend to make circular arguments

Neologisms

“New Words”; when theory is developed, may have concepts that have not had names before, and find words that name them

Nature vs. Nurture

What degree is what we are due to genetics/ upbringing, or experience

Self= me and I

William James’s theory on self; me is what is known, I is specific to your self

Looking Glass self

American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley made this concept to argue that people in our close environment serve as “mirror” that reflect ourselves

Self-concept

Sum total of beliefs that people have about themselves

Self-schemas

Make up our self-concept; is the belief about oneself that guide processing of self-relevent information

Information Processing Model

Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

Salience

1 of 2 things that captures our attention; unusual and out of context

Vividness

1 of 2 things that captures our attention; emotionally interesting, imagery provoking, proximate

ABCs of self

Affect, Behavior, and Cognition

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to the various conditions of the experiment so that each participant has an equal chance of being in any of the conditions

Individualistic culture

Oriented around the self, independent instead of identifying with a group mentality. They see each other as only loosely linked, and value personal goals above that of the group. 

Collectivist cultures

Usually focus on community, society, or nation.  They emphasize family and work group goals above individual needs or desires.

Self-esteem

This is the affective component of self, consisting of a person’s positive and negative self-evaluations.

Self-verification

Desire to have others perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves

Mechanisms to raise self-esteem

Self-serving bias, self-handicapping, downward social-comparison

Availability heuristic

a cognitive rule that judges likelihood of things in terms of availability in memory

Peripheral route

People are persuaded on the basis of superficial, peripheral cues. Influences by attitude-irrelevant factors and simple-minded heuristics

Base-rate fallacy

People tend to be relatively insensitive to numerical base rates ir probabilities. Influenced by media and the portrayal of graphic and dramatic events.

Stereotypes

Beliefs about personal attributes of a group of people; cognition/ thoughts or beliefs. Think representative heuristics

Confirmation bias

Seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs

Selective exposure

tendency to seek information and media that agree with one’s views and to avoid disharmonious information

Representative heuristic

Tendency to presume someone/somethings belongs to a particular group; they resemble a typical member

Central Route

Assumption that recipients are attentive, active, critical, and thoughtful; a thoughtful process

Out-group homogeneity effect

Tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgrips than among members in the in-groups

LaPiere (1934)

This researcher went on cross-country trip with a Chinese couple.  Although prejudice against Chinese was high at this time, only one out of 251 establishments refused service. Afterwards, a letter was written to each establishment after the trip asking if they would serve a Chinese visitor and over 90% said they would not.

Aronson and Mills (1959)

These researchers proved a person who goes through much pain to get something value it more than someone who obtains the same thing with minimum effort.

Impression formation

The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression.

Discrimination

Unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members

Cognitive dissonance

Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions

Trait Negativity Bias

Negative information weighs more heavily on our impressions than positive information.

Illusory correlation

The tendency for people to overestimate the link between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated.  The variables are already expected to go together. 

Just-world phenomenon

The tendency of people to believe that the world is just, and people get what they deserve.

Categorization

Process of thinking of a person as a member of a group on the basis of physical characteristics or other types of categories.     

 

Social identity theory

The “we” aspect of our self-concept. The part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships 

Ingroup

Groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity

Outgroup

Group that doesn’t feel sense of belonging, membership, or identity

Social perception

The process by which people come to understand one another. The three major elements are persons, situations, and behavior.

Scripts

We often have preset notions about certain types of situations.  They help us understand other people’s verbal and nonverbal behavior.

Nonverbal behavior

Facial expressions, body language, eye contact, and touch

Attitude

Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond favorably or unfavorably to objects, people, and events.    

Attitude can be strengthen by

An attack against it from a persuasive message

Subtyping

Accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s stereotype by thinking of them as “exceptions to the rule”

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Perceiver’s expectancy about a target influences the perceiver’s behavior toward that target.

Fundamental Attribution Error

When explaining other people’s behavior, we tend to overestimate the role of personal factors, and overlook the impact of situations.

Priming

The tendency for recently used words or ideas to come to mind easily and influence the interpretation of new information

Continuum of Social Influence

Conformity, compliance, and obedience

Studies on conformity

Sherif, Asch, and Milgram

Sherif (1936)

Used autokinetic effects on “movement” of light. Separated into two experiments with same groups of men. First experiment, the men gave their own answers. Second experiment, participant heard others’ answers. Results, they would change responses based on what others have said.

Asch (1950s)

Line test for which one matches the model. Group of confederates would say their answer (often incorrect) out loud. One participant is actually a participant. When confederates gave the same responses even when the line didn’t match the model, the participant would also say the same thing, even if they thought differently.

Milgram (1961)

Participant would be given responsibility to text a confederate on a memory test. If the confederate got it wrong, the participant would “shock” them, increasing the voltage for each incorrect answer. If the participant wanted out or stopped, the “researcher” would encourage participant to keep going: “the experiment must go on”.

Three features of the Milgram experiment

(1) framing of shock-giving as a social norm. (2) Opportunity to deny responsibility. (3) Limited time to reflect on decision

Reasons to go along with a group

(1) fit in with group and (2) normative influence

Request strategies

(1) low balling, (2) foot-in-the-door, (3) door-in-the-face

Assertive: say no

(1) be diligent, (2) not feel indebted by norm of reciprocity

Social impact theory

3 factors: (1) strength of source, (2) immediacy of the source to the target in time and space, (3) number of sources

Aggression

verbal or physical behavior intended to cause harm

Hostile aggression

Springs from anger; spur of the moment

Instrumental aggression

is means to some other ends; planned and pre-medicated

Positive reinforcement

aggression produced desired outcomes; Directed to boys that engage in aggression

Negative reinforcement

Aggression prevents or stops undesirable outcomes; directed to girls who engage in aggression

Altruism

motive to increase another’s welfare without conscious regard for one’s own self-interests

Reciprocity norm

expectation people will help those who helped them

Social responsibility

Expectation people will help those who need it

Evolutionary theory on “Selfish gene”

Help to protect their own kin selection to help genetic relatives; biological stakes are high

Empathy

Understand a vicariously experiencing another’s individuals perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual

Egoistic

Motivated by desire to increase own’s welfare

Social-exchange theory

theory that human interactions are transition that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimze one’s costs

Bystander effect

the finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders

Decision Tree

Only one path up the tree leads to helping. At each fork of the path, the
presence of other bystanders may divert a person down a branch toward not
helping.