Social Psychology Final Exam | Quizlet

Social Psychology

Study of how people think about and are influenced by others

Assumptions

Things taken for granted that are influenced by past experiences and what other people have told us

Social psychologists often look for ways that perceptions of reality are __________.

Socially constructed

Is social psychology a science?

Yes, because of the application of the scientific method

systematic empiricism

Empiricism: An approach to understanding the word that includes collecting data or making observations

Systematic: Proceeds with a clear design which is more effective at achieving a goal

Independent variable

What is being manipulated

Dependent Variable

Something thought to be influenced by other things

What makes good social psych research?

1. Construct validity

2. Internal & External validity

Construct Validity

The extent to which the variables used in the research correspond to the abstract concepts under investigation

Internal Validity

Degree to which a research finding provides accurate of compelling info about causality

External Validity

Degree to which a research finding provides an accurate description of what happens in the REAL WORLD

Does social psych have an external validity problem?

Social psychology has issues with generality

Grossman et al (2023)

Social scientists were no better than lay people at forecasting U.S. culture

Klein et al (2018): Many Labs

54% of psychology studies showed significant effect in same direction as original study (46% of studies did not replicate)

What factors influence our initial impressions?

1. Physical attributes

2. Non-Verbal Communication

3. Overt Behaviors

4. Cultural Background

Halo Effect

We generally assume that attractive people have a whole host of other positive traits

Halo Effect: Batrest & Shiramazu (2022)

Found halo effect across 45 countries in 11 world regions

Non-Verbal Communication

We have positive impressions of people who are appropriately expressive & we like people who mimic us

Overt Behaviors

Behaviors that we can see

Cultural Background

Impressions of others are guided in part by the set of norms we learn from our own culture

How accurate are our impressions of others?

Better than chance but far from perfect

Attribution

Judgement about the cause of a behavior or other event

Kelly's Covariation Theory

We make 2 basic attributions about a behavior:

1. Internal

2. External

Questions that Kelly's Covariation Theory Asks (3)

1. Do I do that type of behavior across other stimuli?

2. How does the actor respond to that specific stimulus under different circumstances?

3. Cohesiveness: How do other people respond to the same stimulus?

Discounting Principle

Role of a given cause in producing an effect is disregarded if other plausible causes are present

Covariation Principle

For us to attribute something as the cause of a behavior, it must be present when the behavior occurs and absent when it does not.

Correspondence Bias

Tendency to infer an actors' personal characteristics from observed behaviors even when the influence is unjustified because of other possible causes of the behavior exists

Jones and Harris (1967)

IV: Essay writer freely chose position versus not

DV: Personal attribution: How much participants thought the essay writer's true attitudes were in the essay

Results?

Participants gave a personal attribution for both the writer with free choice and the one without.

Consequence of Correspondence Bias

Spontaneous trait transference:

Tendency to infer what person X says about person Y is attributed to person X

Ease of Inference Theory: 2 Step Model

Step 1: Always make the easy automatic inference

Step 2: If we have cognitive resources available, sometimes account for more cognitively different factors

Gilbert et al (1988)

- Woman being interviewed (looks nervous)

IV: Nervous woman talking about embarrassing vs. neutral story

IV2: Cognitive load: some participants asked to memorize versus not

DV: Personal attribution

Results?

Those who had a high cognitive load were more likely to indicate a high personal attribution regardless of embarrassing vs. neutral story (Step 1)

Those who had a low cognitive load were more likely to provide a personal attribution if she was nervous about a neutral story than embarrassing story.

What is the SELF?

Set of beliefs that pertain to one's personal qualities

- Self Concept

- Self Esteem

Self-Concept

All of an individual's knowledge about his/her personal qualities

Self-Esteem

An individual's positive or negative evaluation of himself or herself

How many people actually have low self-esteem?

Very few

Self Enhancing Biases

Tending to gather or interpret information concerning the self that leads to over positive evaluations

Lake Wobegone Effect

Above average effect

- People generally think they are above average on positive characteristics

- Strongest on vague and hard to quantify traits

Zell et al (2020)

- Above average effect in East Asian versus American cultures

East Asians showed above average effect, but less so than Euro-Americans for individualistic traits

Attributions for positive & negative effects

Good events/success -> Internal

Bad events/failure -> external attribution

Self Handicapping

Process of creating external causes for failure when we anticipate failure

Berglas & Jones (1978)

IV: Skill based success vs. Luck based success

DV: % Inhibiting Drug

Results?

Skill Based: 19%

Luck based: 60%

- Want an external attribution for failure

Actor/Observer differences in attribution

Judge others' behaviors different than we judge our own. The tendency to attribute our own behaviors to external/situational causes while seeing others' acts as due to inner characteristics

West et al (1975)

- Burglars (Actors) & Observers

- Results?

Actors gave external attribution

Observers gave internal attribution

When do actor/observer effects occur most clearly?

Negative behaviors

Defensive attribution

Attribution motivated to protect ourselves from emotional harm

Objective self awareness

A state of heightened awareness of the self including our internal standards and whether we measure up

Self Verification

Desire to seek out information that validates our current self-concept

Social Categorization

identifying individual people as group members

Stereotype

Cognitive representation of a social group that people form by associating particular characteristics with the group

Prejudice

Positive or negative evaluation of a social group and its members

Discrimination

Positive or negative behaviors directed towards a social group and its members

Are stereotypes bad?

Although there is a tendency for stereotypes to be negative, positive stereotypes exist

Are stereotypes accurate?

Sometimes, but rarely generalizable to the entire population

- National identity stereotypes bear little resemblance to reality

- Stereotypes vary in their degree of accuracy

Why do we have stereotypes?

Epistemological needs

- a need to know and understand the world

- we have a limited cognitive capacity so we make categories to understand our world

Illusory Correlations

When people estimate that they have encountered more confirmation of an association between social traits than they've actually seen

Social Identity

aspects of self concept/self esteem that derive from an individual's knowledge and feelings about group membership he/she shares with others

Where does social identity come from?

1. Need for belongingness

2. Epistemological needs

When are we most likely to identify with a specific group?

1) Presence of an outgroup

2) Being part of a minority

McGuire et al (1979)

IV1: Gender

IV2: Minority/majority household

DV: Gender based self-description

Results?

Those who were a part of a minority household were more likely to mention gender when describing themselves (girls in boys majorities and boys in girls majorities)

How does self esteem impact group identity?

We feel good about ourselves if we identify with a successful group

Cialdini (1976)

1. When are spirit t-shirts worn more after a football game and why?

2. Quasi experiment: survey after football game:

IV1: good versus bad test performance

IV2: Football team had won vs. lost

DV: % "we"

Results?

Spirit gear is worn more after a school wins the football game because they want to associate the school's success with themselves.

Those who had done poorly on a test after the school won a football game were more likely to refer to themselves as we (in relation to the school) in order to defend their self-esteem.

Basking in Reflected Glory (Berging)

Boosting self esteem by identifying with accomplishments of fellow in group members

Cutting of Reflecting Failure (Corfing)

Distancing oneself from group members viewed negatively

Minimal Intergroup Situation

Research situation in which people are categorized on an arbitrary or trivial basis into groups with no history, no conflict of interest, and no stereotypes

What happens in minimal intergroup situations?

1. Biases in distribution of resources (give more to ingroup)

2. Biases in evaluations (better evaluation of one's own group)

Where do minimal intergroup biases come from?

Social identity theory

Social Identity theory

People's motivation to derive positive self esteem from group memberships

Stereotype threat

Fear of confirming other's negative stereotype of your group

Steele & Aronson (1995)

IV1: Black vs White students

IV2: Test highly related to intellectual ability vs not

DV: Measured test performance

Results?

When told it was a test for a lab exercise, Black and White students performed equally well.

However, when told it was a test to assess intellectual ability, Black students performed significantly worse because of cognitive load from stereotype threat.

Can we undo stereotypes?

Non-prejudiced people do not easily get rid of negative stereotypes, they simply do no allow them to guide their behavior

Devine (1989)

Prejudiced and nonprejudiced people are equally likely to call negative stereotypes to mind

Implicit stereotypes

Only mildly correlated with explicit stereotypes

Macrae et al (1994): Does suppressing stereotypes work?

IV1: Suppress stereotypes vs. not

DV: How far away did participants sit from target

Results?

Group that suppressed their stereotypes sat further away

According to Devine et al (2012), what reduces implicit bias?

1. Stereotype replacement

2. Counter stereotypic imaging

Stereotype replacement

Recognizing stereotyping responses within oneself and society and replacing with non-stereotypic responses

Counter stereotypic imaging

imagining positive examples of the outgroup

Does propaganda work to unlearn prejudice?

No

When can interpersonal contact reduce prejudice?

Only in constructive and positive circumstances

How do superordinate goals work to reduce prejudice?

In-group and Out-group members work together on a shared goal/task by creating a common identity

Attitude

Cognitive representation that summarizes an individual's evaluation of a particular person, group, thing, or idea

How are attitudes measured?

Self report questionnaires

Implicit Attitude Measurement

Self-Report Questionnaire

Simple yes-no questions or "Likert-type" rating scale

Problems with Self-Report Questions

Framing

Context

Social Desirability Biases

Problems with Self-Report Questions: Framing

Wording of the question can have an impact on whether someone agrees with you

Example:

"government assistance to the poor"- 63% agreed"

welfare" - 19% agreement

Problems with Self-Report Questions: Context

Surrounding context within which the question is asked can impact the reported attitude

Example: People asked to agree or disagree with "people should have the freedom to express their opinions publicly" were more likely to say "yes" if they had previously answered a question about the Catholic Church than the American Nazi Party

Problems with Self-Report questions: Social Desirability Biases

Due to the fact that people want to look good, they may not express their true opinions

Implicit Attitude Measurements

generally bases on reaction time designed to bypass problems with self-reports

Different Routes to Persuasion

Systematic processing

Heuristic Processing

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Different Routes to Persuasion: Systematic Processing

Giving effortful consideration to a wide range of info relevant to a judgement

Different Routes to Persuasion: Heuristic Processing

Relying on accessible information to make inferences or judgements while expending little effort in processing

Heuristic

Mental Shortcut

Langer et al (1978: People are ________ likely to comply with a request to interrupt a copy machine if the phrase "because I have to make some copies" is added

More

Different Routes to Persuasion: Elaboration Likelihood Model

model of persuasion that claims attitude chance occurs through 2 different routes

Factors Relevant to Heuristic Processing

Source

- Credibility & Likeability

Message Content

- Message Length, "You get what you paid for", Emotional Content

Audience Factors

- Motivation/Personal Relevance, Positive Emotions

Credibility

Does the source generally give us reliable info?

Keiman & Hovland (1953): Participants were ________ likely to agree with an argument favoring leniency with juvenile offenders if its source was a trial judge than a convicted drug dealer

more; a judge has more credibility than a drug dealer

What makes a source credible?

Competence: Source has some expertise or special knowledge

Trust worthiness: Source is viewed as having no ulterior motives

People are more often perceived as more trustworthy if

they argue for an unpopular opinion

Eagly et al (1978): Participants are __________ likely to trust a political speaker accusing a large company of polluting a local river when ____________________.

the speaker was pro-business speaking to a company than pro-environmentalist speaking to an environmentalist group

Reveals that the individual has no ulterior motives if they voice the unpopular opinion.

Are we more or less likely to trust sources that we are aware are trying to influence us?

less likely