Week 23 - Social thinking and people in groups

The father of social psychology

Kurt Lewin - initially developed many of the important ideas of the discipline, including a focus on the dynamic interactions among people

Social cognition

The study of how people think about the social world. An understanding of how our knowledge about our social worlds develops through experience and the influence of these knowledge structures on memory, information processing, attitudes, and judgment.

Social neuroscience

The study of how our social behavior both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain

Social situation

The people with whom we interact every day

Social psychology

The study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them. Each of us is different, and our individual characteristics, including our personality traits, desires, motivations, and emotions, have an important impact on our social behavior.

Social influence

The process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and through which we change theirs

Person-situation interaction

The joint influence of person variables and situational variables, formalized by Kurt Lewin with equation:

Behavior = f (person, social situation).

• meaning behaviour is a function of the interaction between a person’s personality and their social situation

Social support

The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in times of need and provide us with a variety of useful resources (e.g., advice, love, money).

Social norms

An outcome of social influence. The ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate, includes customs, traditions, standards, and rules, as well as the general values of the group.

Culture

A pattern of shared meaning and behavior among a group of people that is passed from one generation to the next. Represents a group of people, normally living within a given geographical region, who share a common set of social norms, including religious and family values and moral beliefs

Individualism

Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values. Includes cultural norms, common in Western societies, that focus primarily on self-enhancement and independence. Children in Western cultures are taught to develop and value a sense of their personal self and to see themselves as largely separate from the people around them.

Collectivism

Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has toward others. Includes norms indicating that people should be more fundamentally connected with others and thus are more oriented toward interdependence. In East Asian cultures, children are taught to focus on developing harmonious social relationships with others, and the predominant norms relate to group togetherness, connectedness, and duty and responsibility to one’s family.

Attitude

A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Refers to our relatively enduring evaluation of something. composed of cognitive, affective, and behavioural components

Attitude object

A person, a product, or a social group that an attitude can be formed about

How are attitudes formed

Research has suggested some attitudes are inherited via genetic transmission from our parents, some are learned through direct and indirect experiences with attitude objects, some are shared by others, some are more individualized

Heritability of some attitudes

From most heritable to least heritable: abortion on demand, rollercoasters, death penalty, immigration policies, religion, athletic activities, voluntary euthanasia, capitalism, reading, exercising, smoking, getting along w people, public speaking, bingo, birth control access, leadership

How to measure attitudes

Self report measures, measures of arousal or facial expressions, Implicit Association Test (IAT), neuroimaging techniques

Attitude strength

The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind. Some of our attitudes are strong attitudes, in the sense that we find them important, hold them with confidence, do not change them very much, and use them frequently to guide our actions. These strong attitudes may guide our actions completely out of our awareness

How are attitudes strengthened

Positive/negative experiences, cognitive accessibility (hence even discussing/saying out loud an attitude strengthens the accessibility of it and strengthens it). Become stronger when linked with self-concept, and when Affect, Behaviour and Cognition lines up.

Attitude consistency

For any given attitude object, the ABCs of affect, behavior, and cognition are normally in line with each other, thus predicts that our attitudes (for instance, as measured via a self-report measure) are likely to guide behavior

Theory of planned behaviour

The relationship between attitudes and behavior is stronger in certain situations, for certain people and for certain attitudes — attitudes that are strong, in the sense that they are expressed quickly and confidently, predict our behavior better than do weak attitudes

Factors that create a strong attitude-behaviour relationship

• When attitudes are strong, rather than weak

• When we have a strong intention to perform the behavior

• When the attitude and the behavior both occur in similar social situations

• When the same components of the attitude (either affect or cognition) are accessible when the attitude is assessed and when the behavior is performed

• When the attitudes are measured at a specific, rather than a general, level

• For low self-monitors (rather than for high self-monitors)

Self-monitoring

Individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust one’s behavior to one’s social environment. High self monitors attempt to blend into teh social situation to be liked, low self monitors are less likely to

Being an effective persuader

Must first get people’s attention, send an effective message, ensure they process the message in the right way. Persuaders must take into consideration the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of their methods. Persuaders also must understand how the communication they are presenting relates to the message recipient—his or her motivations, desires, and goals.

What makes us be persuaded by a communicator

If the persuader is an effective communicator, attractive, has similar opinions and values to us, when we like them, can speak confidently, quickly, and straightforward.

Expert communicators

Perceived as trustworthy because they know a lot about the product they are selling — may not be seen as trustworthy if their statements seem to be influenced by external causes (self interest), but also when a person presents a message that goes against external causes we see the message as more powerful

The sleeper effect

Attitude change that occurs over time. May occur when we are delivered inaccurate info by an untrustworthy source (at first we discount the info as inaccurate) but over time there is a tendency to remember the content of a communication to a greater extent than we remember the source of the communication

Spontaneous processing (peripherally or heuristically)

Direct, quick, and often involves affective responses to the message

Thoughtful processing (centrally or systematically)

Controlled and involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message

Spontaneous message processing

When we accept a persuasion attempt because we focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself. May occur if we find the communicator cute, if the music in the ad puts us in a good mood, or if it appears that other people around us like the ad, then we may simply accept the message without thinking about it very much

Ads that use emotional responses

Often appeal to positive emotions — indicate everything is ok. Fear appeals are persuasive because the emotional aspects make them salient, focus on self-concern and the potential negative outcomes (ie. “not getting a mammogram can cost you your life” was more effective than “getting a mammogram can save your life”)

Problems in fear messaging

May create anxiety that turns people off to the message. Fear messages are more effective when people feel that they know how to rectify the problem, have the ability to actually do so, and take responsibility for the change.

Thoughtful message processing

When we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid, we elaborate on the communication by considering the pros and cons of the message and questioning the validity of the communicator and the message

Advertiser techniques for thoughtful processing

The goal is to create positive cognitions about the attitude object in the listener. The communicator mentions positive features and characteristics of the product and at the same time attempts to downplay the negative characteristics

Study: Effects of message strength, source expertise, personal relevance

Study on students, manipulated three variables, told about new exam they had to pass to graduate. Found when the issue was important (high personal relevance), the students engaged in thoughtful processing (influenced by message quality, not expertise) of the message itself. When the message was largely irrelevant, they simply used the expertise of the source without bothering to think about the message.

Forewarning

Method of increasing attitude strength: Giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts

Inoculation

Building up defenses against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position (think about flu shot, gives small dose of the virus) — presenting a weak attack on the existing attitude with the goal of helping the person create counterarguments about a persuasion attempt that is expected to come in the future

Psychological reactance

A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms. — strong emotional response that we experience when we feel that our freedom of choice is being taken away when we expect that we should have choice

Subliminal advertising

Occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented

Human need to belong

“a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and impactful interpersonal relationships” - Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary

Responses to need to belong being unfulfilled

Negative - studies of ostracism indicate this experience is highly stressful and can lead to depression, confused thinking, and even aggression. fMRI scans find people who were left out of a group activity displayed heightened cortical activity in two specific areas of the brain—the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula — areas associated with physical pain

Social comparison

The process of contrasting one’s personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those of other people.

Downward soical comparison

We prefer those who provide us with reassurance and support as well as accurate information. In some cases, we also prefer to join with others who are even worse off than we are. To maintain a sense of self-worth, people seek out and compare themselves to the less fortunate.

Social identity theory

A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’ self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with the group.

Collective self-esteem

Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others and membership in social groups. If our self-esteem is shaken by a personal setback, we can focus on our group’s success and prestige, can also compare our group to other groups

Sociometer model

A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor of one’s degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups.

Advantages of group life

Provide us with the means to reach goals that would elude us if we remained alone, humans are biologically prepared to seek membership. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, because groups have increased humans’ overall fitness for countless generations, individuals who carried genes that promoted solitude-seeking were less likely to survive

Social facilitation - Norman Triplett

Improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the presence of other people.

Facilitating effects of an audience

Robert Zajonc noted that performance improves only when performing dominant responses i.e., ones that are well-learned or based on instinctive behaviors. If the task requires nondominant responses, i.e., novel, complicated, or untried behaviors that the organism has never performed before or has performed only infrequently, then the presence of others inhibits performance.

Coordination loss

Three people in a tug-of-war competition, for example, invariably pull and pause at slightly different times, so their efforts are uncoordinated. Hence, the three-person group is stronger than a single person, but not three times as strong

Social loafing

The reduction of individual effort exerted when people work in groups compared with when they work alone, people just don’t exert as much effort when working on a collective endeavor, nor do they expend as much cognitive effort trying to solve problems.

Teamwork

The process by which members of the team combine their knowledge, skills, abilities, and other resources through a coordinated series of actions to produce an outcome.

Key ingredients to teamwork

A shared mental representation of the task and group unity.

Shared mental model

Knowledge, expectations, conceptualizations, and other cognitive representations that members of a group have in common pertaining to the group and its members, tasks, procedures, and resources.

Group cohesion

The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group-level forces that unify the group, such as shared commitment to group goals.

Cohesion-performance relationship

Complex - meta-analytic studies suggest that cohesion improves teamwork among members, but that performance quality influences cohesion more than cohesion influences performance

Phases of group development - Bruce Tuckman

Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning

Forming: stage 1

Members expose information about themselves in polite but tentative interactions. They explore the purposes of the group and gather information about each other’s interests, skills, and personal tendencies.

Storming: stage 2

Disagreements about procedures and purposes surface, so criticism and conflict increase. Much of the conflict stems from challenges between members who are seeking to increase their status and control in the group.

Norming: stage 3

Once the group agrees on its goals, procedures, and leadership, norms, roles, and social relationships develop that increase the group’s stability and cohesiveness.

Performing: Stage 4

The group focuses its energies and attention on its goals, displaying higher rates of task-orientation, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Adjourning: Stage 5

The group prepares to disband by completing its tasks, reduces levels of dependency among members, and dealing with any unresolved issues.

Richard Moreland and John Levine’s model of group socialization

The changes we experience as we pass through a group, beginning with initial entry into the group and ending when the member exits it. Starts as you investigate what the group has to offer, but the group also investigates you. Once the group accepts you and you accept the group, socialization begins: you learn the group’s norms and take on different responsibilities depending on your role. Over time you increase commitment to one another. When that commitment wanes membership may come to an end

Group polarization

The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average of the members’ predeliberation preferences.

Common knowledge effect

The tendency for groups to spend more time discussing information that all members know (shared information) and less time examining information that only a few members know (unshared).

Hidden profile task

Used to study the common knowledge effects - gave info about two profiles to individuals, one was more commonly shared but less favourable, the other was only known to a few people but more favourable. Thus the less favourable option was discussed more

Groupthink

A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of invulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence when making a decision. i.e defense of Pearl Harbor; Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs planning group; the presidential team that escalated the war in Vietnam

Symptoms of groupthink

Overestimating the group’s skills and wisdom, biased perceptions and evaluations of other groups and people who are outside of the group, strong conformity pressures within the group, and poor decision-making methods.

Group-level factors that cause groupthink

Cohesion: membership is enjoyed in cohesive groups and people are more likely to accept the goals, decisions, and norms without reservation. Members become reluctant to speak up, necessary disagreements decrease

Isolation: groups work behind closed doors, refuse to modify beliefs to society, strict confidentiality

Biased leadership: biased leader can increase conformity pressure

Decisional stress: time pressure/stress greatly influences

Prejudice

An evaluation or emotion toward people merely based on their group membership.

Mental stereotypes

Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.

Discrimination

Behavior that advantages or disadvantages people merely based on their group membership.

Blatant biases

Conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favor their own group.

Social dominance orientation (SDO)

A belief that group hierarchies are inevitable in all societies and are even a good idea to maintain order and stability. Typically politicially conservative, usually lower than average on tolerance, empathy, altruism, and community orientation, strong belief in work ethic, choose and thrive in occupations that maintain existing group hierarchies (police, prosecutors, business). Focuses on economic conflicts

Right wing authoritarianism (RWA)

Endorses respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity, focuses on value conflicts, respects group unity over individual preferences, wanting to maintain group values in the face of differing opinions. Typically conservative but not always

Subtle biases

Biases that are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, but real in their consequences.

Automatic

A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient. i.e IAT, shows people link “good” and ingroup, “bad” and outgroup

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

An implicit attitude task that assesses a person’s automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.

Ambiguous

i.e social identity theory, self-categorized theory, aversive racism. People favour ingroup, distance from outgroup, emphasize themselves as a part of ingroup and avoid their own prejudices

Ambivalent

i.e stereotype content model, people divide groups by warmth and competence

Self-categorization theory

Develops social identity theory’s point that people categorize themselves, along with each other into groups, favoring their own group.

Aversive racism

Unexamined racial bias that the person does not intend and would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact.

Stereotype content model

Shows that social groups are viewed according to their perceived warmth and competence. i.e housewives, ingroup, poor people, rich people

Map out associated emotional prejudices: pity, pride, disgust, envy