Social psych exam 2

Self concept

overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

Independent view of self

way of defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions (Common in western cultures)

Interdependent view of the self

defining oneself in terms to other relationships to other people and recognizing that one's behavior is often determined by thoughts, feelings, and actions of others (common in eastern cultures)

Self-knowledge

way we understand and formulate and organize the information

Self control

way we make plans and execute decisions

Impression management

Self-esteem

way we try to maintain positive views of ourselves

Introspection

looking inward to examine the inside information that a person alone has about their thoughts, feelings, and motives

Self-awareness theory

when we are focused on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values

When people are in a negative state of self-awareness how do they try to escape this

Avoiding looking at photos of themselves, Binge eating, Sexual masochism, Alcohol abuse, religious expression

Casual theories

theories about what influences their feelings and behaviors and often help them explain why they feel the way they do

Self-perception theory

argues that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

Two factor theory of emotion

understanding our emotional states requires two steps: physiological arousal → seek appropriate explanation to label emotion

Misattribution of arousal

people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

Intrinsic motivation

desire to engage in activity because a person enjoys it or finds it interesting

Extrinsic motivation

desire to engage in activity because of external rewards or pressures

Over-justification effect

results when people view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic motivation reasons

Task contingent rewards

people are rewarded simply for doing a task regardless of the quality of their performance

Performance contingent rewards

value of reward depends on how well people perform the task

Fixed mindset

the idea that we have set amount of an ability that cannot change

Growth mindset

belief that achievement is the result of hard work

Mindsets

how people view ability

Social comparison theory

theory states that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others

Upward social comparison

comparing yourself to people who are better than you with regard to a particular trait or ability

Downward social comparison

comparing ourselves to those who are worse than us with regard to a particular trait or ability

To make ourselves feel better people use

downward comparison 

To make ourselves feel motivated people use

upward comparison 

Self control

ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long term goals

Implementation intentions

people's specific plan about where, when, and how they will fulfill a goal and avoid temptations

Impression management

attempt to get people to get others to see them in the way they want to be seen

Ingratiation

use of flattery or praise to make yourself likable to another, often a person of higher status

Self-handicapping

people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid putting the blame on themselves

Behavioral self-handicapping

people act in ways that would reduce the likelihood that they will succeed on a task

Reported self-handicapping

rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise ready-made excuses in case they fail

Saving face

avoiding public embarrassment

Cognitive dissonance

discomfort that is caused with two cognitions conflict, or when behavior conflicts with attitudes

Dissonance is reduced by:

• Changing behavior to bring it in line with the dissonant cognition 

• By attempting to justify behavior through changing one of dissonant cognition 

• By attempting to justify behavior by adding new cognitions

rationalizing

People rationalize their actions and interpret facts to fit what they already believe

What happens every time we are making decisions?

Every time we make a decision, we experience dissonance

Post decision dissonance

refers to dissonance people feel after making a decision, not the conflict they feel in advance of making up their minds

What decisons often make people feel happier?

Final/permanent decisions

Justification of effort

tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they hard to attain, especially if they have freely chosen to exert the effort

Counter attitudinal behavior

acting in a way that is inconsistent with an individual's private beliefs

External justification

explaining counterattitudinal behavior as due to something about the situation or environment

Internal justification

reduce dissonance by changing something about oneself, such as attitude or behavior “Saying becomes believing”

Ben Franklin effect

If someone does you a favor, they’re more likely to do another one for you (especially if you have done a favor for them)

Insufficient punishment

dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting an individual's devaluing the forbidding object or activity

Hypocrisy Induction

arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behaviors and them reminding them of the inconsistency

Self affirmation theory

idea that people can reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming themselves in areas unrelated to the source of the threat

self -evaluation maintenance theory

people will experience dissonance in relationships when three conditions are met

What are the three conditions for the self -evaluation maintenance theory

• If the person feels outperformed in a particular area 

• If that area is central to a person's self esteem 

• If an individual feels close to the person 

When does dissonance occur?

Dissonance only occurs when a close friend outperforms us on a task that is important to the way we define ourselves

To reduce dissonance, what are the three components can be changed

• Distance from the person that outperforms us 

• Change how relevant the task is to an individual's self esteem 

• Comparing and performing the task relative to the other persons skills

Narcissism

the combination of excessive self-love and lack of empathy towards others

Terror management theory

holds that self-esteem serves as a buffer, protecting people from terrifying thoughts about death

Where do attitudes come from?

Genetics, Social experiences

What are three components of shaping attitudes?

Cognitive component, Affective component, Behavioral component

Cognitively based attitudes

attitude that allows for classification of pros and cons of an object so that we can quickly determine whether we want to have anything to do with it

Affectively based attitudes

rooted more in emotions and values than on an object appraisal of pros and cons, they can stem prom peoples values, sensory reactions, or conditioning

Classical conditioning

stimulus that elicits emotional response accompanied by a neutral stimulus, trained controlled response

Operant conditioning

behaviors trained using positive or negative reinforcement

Behaviorally based attitudes

stems from people's observations of their own behavior toward an object

Self perception theory

under certain circumstances people don't know how they feel they see how they behave, their initial attitude is weak or ambiguous

Explicit attitudes

attitudes that are openly endorsed and easily reported

Implicit attitudes

attitudes that exist outside of conscious

Attitude accessibility

strength of association between an object, measured by how fast people can report a response to the object

What happens when accessibility is high?

When accessibility is high attitude comes to mind whenever you think of or see the attitude inducing object

What happens when accessibility is low?

When accessibility is low, attitude comes to mind more slowly

Theory of planned behavior

when people have time to contemplate how they will behave, the best predictor of their behavior is their intention

What are the three things that determine intention?

Attitude towards the specific behavior

Subjective norms

Perceived behavioral control

Persuasive communication

message advocating a particular side of an issue

Yale attitude change approach

the study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response up persuasive messages

What are the 4 conditions of the Yale attitude change approach?

• Who says what to whom 

• The source of communication 

• Communication itself 

• Nature of the audience 

Who: Source of communication

• Credible speakers 

• Attractive speakers 

Sleeper effect

Information from a low credibility sometimes becomes more persuasive with the passage of time 

What: The source of communication

People are more persuaded by messages that do not seem to be designed to influence them

Two sided communication

arguments that presents for and against speakers position)

One sided communication

argument that only presents favoring the speakers personal position

Primacy effect

the first speech is usually more persuasive

Regency effect

people maybe more receptive to the last speech if there is a given delay

To Whom: The nature of the audience

An audience that is distracted, impressionable ages (18-25), high/low self-esteem, western vs eastern audiences

Western audiences

personal preferences are often central to effective messages

Eastern audiences

prioritize contextually appropriate behavior/collective opinions

Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

model explaining two ways in which persuasive communication can cause attitude change via central or peripheral route of persuasion

Central route of persuasion

controlled processing of the logical facts of the argument, The more logically compelling the facts are the more persuasive the argument, focused on arguments information (Motivated and focused)

Peripheral route of persuasion

 people are persuaded by the surface level information of the presentation such as the length, attractiveness of speaker, etc (distracted and disinterested)

When is a person motivated to pay attention to an argument?

If the argument i personally relevant or of interest to the person

When is a person not motivated to pay attention to an argument?

Lack of attention, argument is too complex, uncomfortable environment, psychological or physiological distractions

Fear arousing communication

persuasive messaging that attempts to change attitudes by utilizing people's fear emotions 

Heuristic systematic model of persuasion

an explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change, either systematically processing the merits of the arguments or using mental shortcuts/heuristics

If an attitude is cognitively based then —— arguments will be most effective

rational

If an attitude is affectively based then ——— appeals will be most effective

emotional

What is advertising

Concentrated effort to change the way that consumers think about and act toward a certain product it is powerful and people are surprising susceptible to its influence

Subliminal messages

words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may influence people's judgments. attitudes, and behaviors

Attitude inoculation

making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position

Cultural truisms

beliefs that most members of a society accept uncritically

Reactance theory

when people feel that their freedom is threatened, an unpleasant state of resistance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the prohibited behavior