Social Psych #3

What was Dr. Payne's first experience with the awareness of inequality?

• He had a new lunch lady in the line at school. When she got to the cashier, she asked for $1.25. He had always had free lunch though he didn't know it. Made him realize some kids have paid for lunch and some haven't. Free lunch= poor kids, it never occurred to him before.

• Increased awareness of inequality in the classroom and implications on what it meant to be one of the poor kids, saw peers and friends differently.

• Nothing objectively had changed, subjectively everything was different

Dr. Payne describes a study in which researchers looked at data from millions of flights to look at what predicted incidents of "air rage". What did the study find?

• Psychological study that shows the psychological and behavioral consequences of experiencing that kind of hierarchy embedded in the airplane. Researchers looked at data from millions of flights to look at what predicted incidents of air rage

-Air rage: cases where passengers were unruly or disruptive or violent in some way

• Found that in planes that had a first-class cabin, incidents of air-rage were several times more likely to happen than in flights that didn't have a first class cabin, which suggests that to witness inequality seems to have some sort of psychological effect on people that ramps up disruptive behavior

The interviewer acknowledges that planes with first class cabins may also be more likely to be larger with more passengers and may have longer flights - all factors that could also explain the correlation found between air rage and planes with first class cabins. What is another indication then that seeing inequality between first class and coach does, in fact, seem to affect passengers?

• Some planes don't start boarding with their first class passengers; they board from the rear of the aircraft.

• The difference: if you don't walk past the first-class cabin

• If there's no connection to the people on first class, don't care

• Feeling that not only do i not have something other people have, but i deserve that thing that other people have

• Pronounced tendency we have to make upward comparisons in all areas of life. Though not always the case. Sometimes, we compare downward or to other people who are similar to us.

We seem to have a "pronounced tendency" to make upward comparisons. Even though the reasons for this are not fully understood, what is one of the potential reasons offered by Dr. Payne? What might be an adaptive function to making upward comparisons?

• Seems to have something to do with the fact that upward comparisons feel painful because you're comparing to somebody who has something you don't.

• On other hand, they're also potentially inspiring and motivating

• Can sort of get you moving to work harder in some cases

• There's something adaptive about it but also something painful

What is Dr. Payne referring to when he uses the term "broken ladder"?

• One of the images Payne uses throughput his book captures the relative differences between people of a status ladder.

• We think of ourselves in terms of being on a certain rung, with some people above us and some lower

• Where we think we stand on that ladder tells us a lot about a person's life and their life outcomes

• When the scale of inequality gets out of proportion to what we can psychologically handle, the ladder is essentially broken

What are the effects of experiencing inequality on our minds and bodies?

• Makes us focus on the short term

• Makes us impulsive, focused on here and now

• Makes us more willing to seek out risk, high risk, high reward behavior

• Affects our bodies that are similar to physical threats

• We react with stress responses as if we were about to face a physical challenge

• Total of those affects adds up to feeling that we're constantly in crisis

What is the best predictor of crime and other health and social outcomes in the poorer countries? What is the stronger predictor of these things in wealthy countries?

• One of the strong predictors of homicide rates, as well as other kinds of violent crimes, is the level of income inequality

• In poor countries best predictor of crime and bad health and social outcomes is poverty

• Wealthy countries, poverty ceases to be the strong predictor and inequality becomes the stronger predictor bc once people's basic physical needs are met, it becomes the relative comparisons to other people that becomes one of the major stressors

What is the correlation between the level of income inequality and level of political polarization? What happens as income inequality increases?

• Strong correlation between level of income inequality and the level of political polarization

• So it's not that inequality makes people more conservative or more liberal per se. People who are already in those- on those sides go further into their corners when inequality is high

20:00 The researchers Michael Norton and Dan Ariely once asked volunteers what kind of a country they would like to live in. The first option was shown as a pie chart showing a country where the top 20% own a third of the wealth and the bottom 20% own 10% of the wealth. The second option showed a pie chart in which the top 20% own 84% of the wealth and the bottom 20% own 0.1% of the wealth. The first pie chart represented actual data from which country? The second "very unequal" pie chart represented actual data from which country?

• Most people chose the more equal option.

• First one, describes Sweden

• The second one, describes the U.S.

In 2005, when the study described above was done, what percentage of Republicans and what percentage of Democrats preferred option one over option two?

90% republican and 94% who voted democrat

What, according to Dr. Payne, would have happened if those pie charts would have been labeled with their respective countries?

The charts were not labeled, if they were, people would sort themselves out based on their beliefs.

• Ones on right, lens of meritocracy, work for what you get, deserve whatever that outcome is

• Left: fairness and differential starting places

30:00 Why, according to Dr. Payne, is there "not really any option of not thinking about inequality"?

Because we're constantly making social comparisons to what others around us define as whats normal and whats not

What does Dr. Payne suggest as a "wiser" way to compare ourselves to others?

We can be more mindful about the comparisons we make on a daily basis

Dr. Payne suggests that upward comparisons may serve what adaptive function?

Upward comparisons may act as a motivator to push ourselves.

In poorer countries, the best predictor of crime and other negative health and social outcomes is ___________. In wealthier countries, the best predictors of the best predictor of crime and other negative health and social outcomes is ____________.

poverty; inequality

reflected self-appraisals are based on:

our beliefs about what others think of us

____ refers to the process of looking inward and examining our thoughts, feelings, and motives

introspection

the process of judging frequency by the ease with which instances come to mind is called the ____ heuristic

availability

social comparison theory predicts that people will engage in social comparison when____

people do not have a clear, objective standard by which to judge themselves

Charles is motivated to feel goof about himself after receiving a poor grade on paper/ According to social comparison theory, what kind of social comparison is he most likely to make?

he will make a downhill comparison

According to the sociometer hypothesis,

self-esteem is internal, subjective index of the extent to which people feel included or excluded by others

Changing one’s behavior in response to some real or imagined influence refers to which of the three types of social influence discussed in lecture? 

conformity

In Sherif’s conformity study, participants were asked to estimate how much a stationary red light appeared to move in a dark room (a phenomenon called the autokinetic effect). When making estimates alone, participants gave very different answers. However, when placed in a group and asked to say their estimates out loud, their answers began to converge and become more similar. As discussed in lecture, this study suggests that people will look to others around them to determine what to believe when the situation is ______________.

ambiguous/unclear

In Solomon Asch's conformity experiment, participants were asked to match the length of a line to one of three comparison lines in a group setting. Unbeknownst to the participant, the other members of the group were confederates who intentionally gave incorrect answers on certain trials. What was the primary finding of this study?

Most participants conformed to the group's incorrect answers at least once, despite knowing they were wrong

Sam is planning to celebrate her birthday and wants to choose a good restaurant. She goes online and reads Yelp reviews, then decides to go with the restaurant that has the highest ratings because she assumes it must be the best option. Sam’s deciding that the restaurant with highest Yelp reviews is the best one to go to is an example of _____________ influence.

informational

______________ social influence often leads to public compliance, where a person conforms outwardly without truly believing others are correct. In contrast, ______________ social influence often results in private acceptance, where a person genuinely believes that others' behavior or thoughts are correct.

Normative; informative

The first step in using the foot-in-the-door technique involves

asking for a small favor

Before Milgram conducted his famous obedience experiment, psychology majors and psychiatrists were asked to predict how many participants would administer the highest shock level (450 volts) to the learner when instructed by an authority figure. What percentage did they predict would go all the way to 450 volts?

1%

As discussed in lecture, when a person becomes part of a crowd or group and is more removed from their individual identity as a result, it is referred to as ______________.

deindividuation

In a study discussed in class, researchers observed the brain activity of participants who were induced to feel rejection by using a computerized ball toss game. The results showed that, during the experience of “social pain” from feeling rejected, brain activity looks the same as the brain activity during the experience of physical pain. This study provides support for the argument that the need to belong and have social bonds serves a(n) _________________ function.   

evolutionary

Recall that Diener and his colleagues (1976) monitored 27 homes in a neighborhood on Halloween night. They recorded whether each trick-or-treater arrived alone or in a group. The researchers also randomly determined whether the children would remain feeling anonymous behind their costumes or would not feel anonymous due to being asked for their name. Researchers then observed whether the kids went against the rules and took more than one candy at each house. The results of this study showed that kids were most likely to take more than one candy if they were ________ and if they were ________. 

in a group; not asked to provide their names

As discussed in lecture, the presence of other people increases one’s state of arousal because they

All of the answers are correct.:

• make one feel like they are being evaluated

• cause one to be more alert and vigilant

• distract from the task at hand

According to research discussed in class, anonymity tends to make people:

more responsive to situational cues

When in a heightened aroused state, it is easier to do a(n) ________________and harder to do a(n)___________________.

simple or well-learned task; complex/new task

Marcela is an industrial designer. Her job entails a lot of complex problem-solving. Finn is a professional cyclist who has ridden long distances every day for years and is always trying to improve and increase his speed and performance. According to what we learned about the effect of the presence of others on individual performance, Marcela would perform best at her job if she were ______________ and Finn would perform his best if he were ______________.

on her own and does not feel like she is being evaluated; in the presence of others and felt as if he is being evaluated

Robert Zajonc explained that the presence of others can have different effects on performance because it strengthens a person’s dominant response. This means that the presence of others will improve a person's performance when the dominant response is the correct one. A dominant response is best described as the most ______________ response for a particular person in a particular task. 

likely (or automatic) response

What is informational social influence? When is it most likely to occur?

• We want to be right, and the opinions of other people can be a useful source of information to draw on.

• The tendency to draw on other people’s comments, actions, and opinions as useful sources of information is most pronounced when we’re certain about what is factually correct or when we’re in unfamiliar situations and unsure how to behave

Solomon Asch didn’t address which types of situations? What made Ash’s experiment one of the most famous in the history of psychology?

• Didn’t address situations in which there is a clear conflict between an individual’s own judgment and that of the group.

• Asch predicted that in a clear case of clear conflict between a person’s own position and the viewpoint of the group, there would be far less conformity

Distinguish between tight and loose cultures. What characteristics did Glefand’s team find in their research to be associated with tighter cultures? (p. 262)

• people reared in interdependent cultures are therefore likely to be more susceptible to both informational social influence and normative influence.

• Those from interdependent cultures might be expected to conform more often than those from independent cultures

• Michele and team found that compared with loose nations, tight nations are more likely to have autocratic or dictatorial governments, to punish dissent, to have sharp controls on what can be said in the media, to have more laws and higher monitoring to ensure that the laws are obeyed, and to inflict more punishment for disobedience.

• If a nation was tight on one of these dimensions, it tended to be tight on one of these dimensions, it tended to be loose

What are some examples described by the authors that remind us that majority opinion does not always prevail?

• same sex marriage, ending slavery, woman’s suffrage movement, child labor laws

Distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive norms. Why is this an important distinction to make when considering how to get people to comply? How did the study done in the Petrified Forest National Park demonstrate this?

• Descriptive norm: behavior exhibited by most people in a given context

• Prescriptive norm: the way a person is supposed to behave in a given context: also called injunctive norm

• Descriptive norms correspond to what IS; prescriptive norms correspond to what OUGHT TO BE

• By telling people they shouldn’t remove petrified wood from the national park (prescriptive norm), park officials are communicating that stealing wood is something people do (descriptive norm). This can increase the very action authorities want to prevent

What is one reason people think that they would never behave like the average participant in Milgram studies?

• one reason people think they would never behave like the average participant in Milgram’s studies is that they misunderstand exactly how the average participant behaved

Why, according to the authors, is this distinction between destructive obedience and ineffective disobedience important to recognize?

• The distinction is critical. Most of us have had the experience of having good intentions but not being able to translate those intentions into effective action. Most of us can relate to being good-hearted but ineffective, but most of us can’t relate to being uncaring

How does the step-by-step nature of Milgram’s experiment help explain why so many participants continued to administer stronger and stronger shocks to the learner?

• each participant first administered only 15 volts, then 30, then 45, 60, 75.

• Once participants started down the path, it was hard to stop

• Most of us have had the experience of gradually getting in over our heads

• We may tell a “little white lie” but one that sets in motion a cascade of events that requires more and more deception

• Our behavior often creates its own momentum, and it’s hard to know in advance where that behavior will lead.

Jerry Burger found a way to ethically replicate Milgram’s study in 2009. How do the results of this replication compare to Milgram’s original study?

• Some argue that today’s more intense media coverage of such events as domestic spying by the U.S. National Security Agency, the influence of powerful lobbyists on elected officials, and constant cries of “fake news” by former president Trump and his supporters have made people less trusting of authority and thus less likely to obey instructions to harm another individual

• Ethical concerns make it impossible to replicate Milgram’s experiments today

Once motivated to resist, what factors might increase someone’s ability to resist obeying a command that they do not agree with?

• One variable is practice. In Milgram’s studies, participants wanted to disobey and attempted to but they weren’t good at. Maybe if they had been trained to disobey when the situation called for it, they would have done a better job

• Another way to increase the ability to resist social influence is to have an ally. In Asch’s conformity experiment, having just one additional person who departed from the majority was enough to reduce conformity rather dramatically

What kinds of conflicts have inspired social psychologists to develop new theories to explain a “modern, more constrained, more conflicted sort of prejudice”?

• In Western countries it’s now illegal to engage in many forms of discrimination that were common half a century ago, and its no longer socially acceptable to express the sorts of prejudice and stereotypes that were widespread until recently

• These changes have meant that some people will experience conflict between what they truly think and feel and what they think they should think and feel

• In addition, research has shown that some responses to members of other groups are nonconscious and automatic and may differ considerably from people’s more thought-out and explicit beliefs and attitudes.

What evidence do the authors provide that “old-fashion racism is not dead”?

• Although subtle form of racism may be the most common today and therefore have attracted abundant research attention from social psychologist, it is critically important not to lose sight of the fact that old-fashioned racism is not dead

• In fact, White supremacist groups in the United States appear to be growing in strength and numbers, as are various like-minded ethno-nationalist groups in Europe and around the world—all of whom display their prejudice openly if not brazenly.

• On the night President Obama was elected, internet searches included derogatory term

Why can’t surveys of people’s attitudes toward certain groups always be trusted?

• Respondents may think its not acceptable to express what they really feel, or what people report verbally may only be a part of heir stance toward members of other groups and there may be other beliefs or feelings beneath the surface

What does research suggest about how predictive results on the implicit association test are of behavior? (p. 341)

• IAT: for revealing subtle, non conscious biases, even among those who sincerely believe they are bias-free

• Depends on the degree of correspondence between the specific attitudes assessed by an IAT and the exact behavior of interest

What must any serious attempt at addressing the origins of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination begin with, according to the authors?

• Must begin with the recognition that there will likely never be a single, comprehensive theory of the causes of stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination

• Their causes are many and varied, and any satisfactory account of these intertwined phenomena must incorporate numerous elements.

• The theory also predicts that prejudice and discrimination should be strongest among groups that stand to lose the most from another group’s economic advance.

What is the realistic group conflict theory? When does this theory predict prejudice will increase?

• A theory that group conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are likely to arise over competition between groups for limited resources.

• According to this theory, prejudice and discrimination often arise from competition over limited resources.

What important lessons from the Robbers Cave experiment are described by the authors of the textbook?

• 1. Neither differenced in background nor differences in appearance nor a prior history of conflict are necessary for intergroup hostility to develop. All that is required is that 2 groups enter into competition over rewards that only one can attain

• 2. Competition against outsiders often increases group cohesion.

• 3. How intergroup conflict can be diminished. To reduce hostility between certain groups, policy makers should think of ways to get them to work together to fulfill common goals

What idea is social identify theory based on?

• Social identity theory: the idea that a person’s self-concept and self-esteem derive not only from personal identity and accomplishments but also from the status and accomplishments  of the various groups to which the person belongs

• Based on the idea that our self-esteem comes not only from our personal identity and accomplishments but also from the status and accomplishments of the various groups to which we belong

Why are we more likely to use stereotypes when we are overloaded, tired, or mentally taxed? Be familiar with how researchers have studied this (i.e., study on relationship between use of stereotypes and low points in our circadian rhythm)?

• articipants were more likely to invoke stereotypes when tested at the low point of their circadian rhythm

• “Morning people” were tested at night, tended to invoke a common stereotype and conclude, for example, that an athlete charged with cheating on an exam was guilt

• “Night people”, when tested in the morning, were more inclined to conclude that a black person charged with dealing drugs was guilty

• Thus, people are more likely to fall back on stereotypes when they lack mental energy.

• people have also been shown to stereotype others more when they’re intoxicated and their mental capacities are low

What is paired distinctiveness? How does this help explain why minority groups are vulnerable to being stereotyped as more likely to engage in negative behaviors than they actually are?

• Paired distinctiveness: paring two distinctive events that stand out because they occur together

• Subsequent research has shown that beliefs in such illusory correlations can be formed on the basis of a single instance of unusual behavior by someone from a minority group

How can stereotypes be reinforced by self-fulfilling prophecies?

• people act toward members of certain groups in ways that encourage the very behavior they expect to see from those groups.

• Accentuation of In-Group Similarity and Outgroup Difference

What is the outgroup homogeneity effect?

-    The tendency for people to assume that within-group similarity is much stronger for outgroups than for ingroups.

What is the contact hypothesis? What types of conditions need to be met to make contact between different groups more positive and more productive?

• ontact hypothesis: The proposition that prejudice can be reduced by putting members of different groups in frequent contact with one another.

• contact between different groups is likely to be more positive and productive if certain conditions are met.

• First, the groups need to have equal status.

• second condition, also illustrated in the Robbers Cave study, is that the different groups must have a shared goal that requires cooperation

• A third condition that’s been shown to be important for promoting positive intergroup relations is community support: A community’s broader social norms must support intergroup contact

• making school assignments more cooperative and interdependent promotes more favorable attitudes between different ethnic and racial groups

When groups with historic animosity towards each other have one-on-one contact with one another under the conditions of equal status, interdependence, and supportive social norms, what are three important changes that tend to take place and help reduce prejudice?

• First, people begin to see members of the outgroup as individuals rather than as stereotyped, undifferentiated members of a social category, a process psychologists refer to as personalization

• Second, in this kind of one-on-one contact, a person’s positive feelings for particular outgroup members may generalize to the outgroup as a whole

• Finally, positive intergroup sentiments are solidified when members of both groups come to think of themselves as sharing a common identity

How does Dr. Kristin Neff define self-esteem?

• Self esteem is a global evaluation of self worth, a judgement, am I good person or a bad person. Self esteem was seen as the ultimate marker of psychological health. If you have low self esteem, you will be depressed, anxious, all sorts of psychological problems. However high self esteem can be problematic. Problem is not if you have it but how you get it.

If we need to feel above average to have self-esteem, what problem does this create? In other words, what might we do to increase our self-esteem?

• We start subtly finding ways to puff ourselves up and put others down. High rates of narcissism. Bullying is an epidemic in schools, to build self-esteem. Why are people prejudice? To enhance self-esteem.

Self-esteem is contingent upon success. Why is this problematic?

• We only feel good when we succeed in the domains of life that are important to us. When we don't fulfill, we feel bad and lousy about ourselves. For women this is especially hard. Women invest their self-esteem in how attractive we are.

How do we get off the treadmill of constantly needing to feel good about ourselves?

• Self-compassion is not a way of judging ourselves positively. Its a way of relating to ourselves kindly, embracing ourselves as we are flaws and all

What is the first component of self-compassion?

• Self-kindness with encouragement. We are often harsher and more cruel to ourselves. We are often our own worse enemy. We will treat ourselves like we treat our good friend.

What is the second component of self-compassion? What is the shared human experience?

• Common Humanity where self compassion says how are we the same as others. To be human, means to be imperfect. That is the shared human experience

What is the third component of self-compassion? What does mindfulness mean? What do we need to be able to acknowledge, validate, and accept in order to give ourselves compassion?

• Mindfulness—- means being with what is in the moment. We must accept and acknowledge that we are suffering in order to give ourselves compassion.

According to research, why are we self-critical? Research does not support the notion that self-criticism motivates us – why doesn’t self-criticism motivate us?

• The number 1 reason is we believe we need criticism, to motivate ourselves. Is it true? Research shows just the opposite. Self criticism undermines our motivation. When we criticize ourselves we tao into our bodies threat defense system, the reptilian brain. When we think a thought about ourselves, we feel threatened, we attack the problem meaning we attack ourselves. Self criticism releases high cortisol. The body will shut itself down to protect itself.

To feel safe, we can tap into what system? What are our bodies programmed to respond to? When we provide ourselves with compassion what do we reduce and what do we release? When we feel safe and comforted, we are in the mind state to do what?

• Tapping into the mammalian caregiving system. Our bodies are programmed to respond to warmth, gentle touch and soft vocalizations. This reduces our cortisol and release oxytocin and opiates, which are the feel good hormones. When we feel safe and comforted we are in the optimal mind space to do our best.

According to research, self compassion is strongly related to what? Self-compassion is strongly related to less what? What is self-compassion linked to?

• Self compassion is very strongly related to mental wellbeing. Strongly related to less depression, less anxiety, less perfectionism. It’s equally related to positive states, like happiness, life-satisfaction.

Why does self compassion provide a much more stable sense of self-worth than self-esteem?

• Associated with strong mental health. Not associated with narcissism, or constant social comparison or ego-defensive aggression. It also provides a much more stable sense of self-worth than self-esteem does..

As discussed in lecture, in terms of intergroup bias, prejudice can be best described as _______________ and discrimination can be best described as _________________.

an attitude; a behavior

As discussed in lecture, research shows that people are more likely to notice and remember behaviors of an individual that confirm stereotypes about the groups that person belongs to. In contrast, behaviors that contradict those stereotypes are often overlooked, dismissed, or quickly forgotten. This demonstrates how ____________ can perpetuate stereotypes. 

confirmation bias

Callie attends Fremont High School and sees her classmates as individuals with a wide range of different personalities. However, she believes that students at the other local school, Stonycreek High School, are all the same personality type. Specifically, she thinks all Stonycreek students are arrogant and competitive.

Based on what was discussed in lecture about social categorization, Callie is demonstrating the __________ effect.

outgroup homogeneity

As discussed in lecture, we may be hardwired as a species to automatically categorize social stimuli into schemas and to form stereotypes, but the specific stereotypes and prejudice we form are _____________. 

learned from those we grow up around and the type of information we are exposed to in the media.

Mila believes that members of a particular group are hostile. Because of this belief, when she is in line with someone at the store who is a member of this particular group, she responds to this person in a guarded and cold way. In response to Mia's behavior, the person in line from that group may act guarded or cold toward her. Mila then interprets this person's reaction as confirmation that her original belief was correct, reinforcing her assumption about the group.

Based on what was covered in lecture, this scenario is an example of ____________ that can perpetuate prejudice toward a group.

the self-fulfilling prophecy

Recall Henri Tajfel’s study described in lecture in which participants were told that they were assigned to a group based on some trivial/unimportant criteria. They were then asked to play a distribution game in which they chose how many points to assign to their group and to the other group. The results of this study demonstrated that _____________________________________.

in-group favoritism can occur even without meaningful group distinctions or competition

As discussed in chapter 10, realistic group conflict theory predicts that prejudice and discrimination arise from

competition over limited resources.

From chapter 10 reading guide: 

Recall that Sherif and his colleagues (1961) conducted the Robbers Cave experiment. Which of the following was observed in the experiment?

All of the answers are correct.

From chapter 10 reading guide: 

Ethnocentrism refers to:

glorifying one’s own group while viewing other groups as inferior

From chapter 10 reading guide:

Social identity theory is based on the idea that:

One's self-esteem is partly based on the status of the groups to which one belongs