Social psychology

What is the lay theory?

a belief that people have about a particular field of inquiry but are not based on science or theoretical arguments

ex: opposites attract, birds of a feather flock together, cold hands warm heart

Explain why Hypothesis are not lay theories

While Hypothesis can be inspired by Lay Theories but they are usually driven by previous scientific findings. Some psychology theories will seem to be”common sense”

because relying on Lay Theories alone to inform science can be problematic because people are complex and their behavior.

Social Psychology

To understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individual are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others

What is the difference between Sociology and Social Psychology

While both fields have an intrested in the social behavior. Psychology focuses on personal-level (thought processess, Emotional reactions, and Behavioral tendencies). While Sociology focuses on societal-level( status, norms, and social roles)

Automatic vs Deliberate

These are two ways of thinking.

Automatic thinking is implicit, which is often outside conscoious awareness, and effortless and easy. For example, steering and stopping happen without active focus.

Deliberate thinking is explicit, you are consciously available, careful and slow, and requires effort and cognitive resources. For example, Figuring out (17 times 24) on paper takes hard mental work.

Collectivism vs Individualism

Collectivism is a social belief system where an individual takes care of other within their group. Group goals are more important than indivudal goals. People sacrifice their own happiness and goals to conform to group standards

Individualism is an indivudal taking care of themselves and only immediate family, they dont like being influenced by group.

Identify evolutionary psychology as a theoretical approach

Self-fulfiling Prophecy

You can make a person behave the way you expect them to behave. For example, You worry that your partner will leave you, so you act distant, suspicious, and cold. Your cold behavior pushes your partner away, causing the breakup you feared

What are the 3 categories of scientific methods/ design

1. Observational= observe defined behaviors and analyze their frequency and does not study the relationships between variables. Does not use random assignment. For example, how many times does a child throw tantrums? Could observe at a daycare and mark the frequency of tantrums each day per child

2. Correlation= Measures 2 or more variables and determine the relationshps between them. Can use observational variables but is correlation design. For example, emotion ratings of daily weather correlate with life satisfaction rating( are we happier with our lives sunny vs rainy?)

3. Experimental= Manipulates variables to determine the effect on other, measured variables. used random assignment. (Quasi-experimental is a correlation method where non-manipulated categories are used(gender/race). For example, does exposure to fear-inducing vs neutral anti-smoking ads reduce smoking behavior?

Explain the difference between experimental and correlational study methods

Correlation only measures variables that already exist. does not provide any casual link between variables

Experimental the researcher must manipulate one or more variables and then measure an outcome variable.

Explain how the Bobo doll study show causation of social learning

The Bobo doll study shows the causation of social learning by using an experimental design where researchers actively manipulated whether children witnessed aggressive or non-aggressive adult behavior to see if that exposure directly caused the children to copy it.

• Direct comparison: Children who saw the aggressive adult replicated those exact physical and verbal attacks on the doll.

• Lower aggression: Children who saw the peaceful adult or no adult showed almost no aggressive play.

• Establishing causation: Because the only difference between the groups was what the children observed, the experiment proved that watching aggressive behavior caused the children to imitate it, rather than just coinciding with it.

Can a correlation show causation

No correlation alone cannot show causation. Correlation is two variables move or change together. While causation means that a change in 1 variable directly causes a change in the other variable.

There are 4 explanations for why we cannot conclude a causality from a correlation

1. Reverse Causation: The two things are related, but we might have the direction of the cause backward. For example, Sleeping poorly is tied to high stress.

2. Bidirectionality: Both things are causing each other at the same time, creating a feedback loop. It is impossible to say which one is the true single cause. ex, High anxiety is correlated with insomnia. Anxiety makes it hard to sleep, but lack of sleep also makes anxiety worse.

3. The 3rd Variable problem: A hidden or unseen third factor might be driving both things. For example, ice cream sales and shark attacks go up at the same time.

4. Pure Coincidence: Sometimes two totally unrelated trends match up purely by random chance. ex, A random line graph might show that yearly cheese consumption matches the number of people who died by getting tangled in bedsheets.

While correlation doesnt mean causation but a correlation can be the first step to finding a casual relationship

1. conduct a correlation study to demonstrate a relationshop between 2 variables

2. conduct an experiment to manipulate one of the variables and measuring the other (this will determine if changing one variable will cause a change in the other.

Describe emotional and cognitive apporaches to the self

Emotional Approach to self is the thing/people become part of yourself through emotional identification. They become part of your self-concept which is constantly changing and updating for new emotional connections with people/objects.

Cognitive Approach to self is believed not something you are born with but emerges through socail interations.

What is the self-concept and the working(accessible) self-concept

The self-concept is all of the thoughts and feelings that you have about yourself. Objects and others can be incorporated if they are important to you emotionally

The working self-concept is influenced by people, enviroments,moods, and other factors. (So like a code switching)

Define self-esteem and identify how social reflection and social comparison work to maintain

Self-esteem is a persons overal subjective evalutation of their own personal worth and value.

Social reflection emphasize connections to successful others and minimize connections to losses, stigmatize identities, or failures (example: Professor noticed more people wearing team apparel after a win vs. a loss (conducted a study to investigate lay theory, drew on self-esteem research area)

Social comparison is comparing ourselves to others. Downward comparision to people we feel are “lower” in status or ability than use to make us feel better about ourselves. Upward comparision to people we feel are “higher” in status or ability to use to make us feel worse about ourselves.

Explain what is meant by “Self enhancement” and “Self verification” motives and understands how the motives conflict when a low self-esteem person recieves positive feedback.

Self-enhancement motive is the desire to feel good about the self “hot” emotion driven process

Self-verification motive is the desire to know the truth about the self “cold” cognitive deliberate process

How positie feedback connect to someone that has low self-esteem is that they want that desire to feel valued and praised(self-enhancement) but they belive that they are flawed and believe that the positive feedback is untrustworthy(self-verification)

What is self-awareness and when or under what circumstances it is activated?

focusing attention on yourself.

It is activated during brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex which requires attention and it can be diverted.

What is the difference between public and private self-awareness? Explain the consequences

Private is when we contemplate our thoughts and feelings or are asked to focus our attention inward (going to church, therapy). This can lead to overthinking, self-criticism, focus too heavily on flaws

Public is when we become aware we might be watched by others (picture taken, mirrors are presents). This can lead to self-consciousness, social anxiety

What is the benefits of self-regulations and the control theory model

The benefits of self-regulation helps reduce stress and helps managing difficult feelings.

control model theory makes it easier to spot when your behavior strays from your target so you can fix it quickly

What is the difference between the Actual, Ideal, and Ought self, and self-discrpanicies

Actual Self: our self-concept, physical self, and behaviors
• Ideal Self: who we wish or want to be
• Related to desires
• Ought Self: who we think we SHOULD be
• Related to obligations or responsibilities

A self-discrepancy is the gap or mismatch between your actual self and one of your self-guides (the ideal or ought self). When these versions of yourself do not line up, you experience specific emotional distress.

• Actual–Ideal Discrepancy: When your current self fails to match your personal desires or dreams, it results in dejection-related emotions like sadness, disappointment, dissatisfaction, or shame.

• Actual–Ought Discrepancy: When your current self fails to meet perceived duties, moral standards, or external rules, it results in agitation-related emotions like anxiety, guilt, fear, and restlessness.

Identify and recall common self-presentation strategies and their goals

Ingratiation: wanting others to like you
• Strategy: Flattery
• risks: appear to be sucking up
Modesty: appear humble
• Strategy: Downplay accomplishments
• risk: appear timid, nonassertive, or
fishing for compliments
Self promotion: looking competent
• Strategy: state your own
accomplishments

Exemplification: set a good example
• Strategy: how your integrity and
moral worthiness
• risks: appear hypocritical, holier-
than-thou
Intimidation: control others
• Strategy: Threats, displays of power
• risks: appear idiotic, big-talker
Self-handicapping: dealing with
performance anxiety
• Strategy: put obstacles in your own
way as an excuse for failure (e.g.,
procrastination)
• risks: appear lazy, incompetent,
incapable, poor planner
• risks: appear conceited, big-headed

What is self-monitoring and how it relates to self-presentation

Self-monitoring is a personality trait that describes how much a person observes and regulates their public behavior and emotional expression to fit different social situations.

Explain what is meant by “attachment” and describe the way attachment styles develop

a strong emotional bond between infants and caregivers. Based on the caregiver responsiveness the children develop sense of social self in two ways

1. whether they are worthy of love/care

2. whether other people can be trusted

Distinguish between secure and insecure parent-child attachment styles

secure attachment- develops from responsive caregiving and does not need to be perfect

• if child is seperated from caregiver the child shows distress then soothed quickly when reunited.

• explores enviroment more

• lower physiological arousal/cortisol response, demonstrate more resilence.

• about 70% prevalence worldwide

insecure attachment- develops from inattentive, negletful, or abusive parenting. not consistent/responsive enough to feel dependable but does not have to be legally negletful.

• if child is seperated from caregiver, child may appear detached or exhibit distress but will not be comforted when reunited.

• explores enviorment less

• higher physiological arousal/ cortisol response

• about 30% worldwide

How does childhood relate to adulthood

the sense of self forms in childhood

• as worthy of attention and love (or not)

• as agentic (active) in the enviroment (or not)

• as willing to take risks (or not)

These creates a feedback loop when socializing with other people. If you think you are worthy of love and care (by the way caregivers treat you early in your life) then you will seek out loving and caring and care relationships vice versa for people with insecure attahcment

Identify four adult attachment styles and explain how they influence romantic relationtips

Based on 2 dimensions:

• anxiety: self is viewed positively or negatively(self-esteem)

• Avoidance: others are seen as trustworthy or not

Attachment may be

1. Secure( self and others viewed positively)

Low avoidance: trust in others is high/ Low Anxiety: self is viewed positively

• features

easily become close to others

expect intimate relationships to endure

handle relationship conflics/ problems constructively

2. Preoccupied( self-negative, others positively)

Low Avoidance: trust in others high/ High Anxiety: Self is viewed negatively

• Some features

desperately seeks out intimate relationships

tend to be obsessed and preoccupied with friends and romantic partners

fear that friendship and love will not be reciprocated

3. Dismissing-avoidant( self-positive, others negative)

High Avoidance: trust in others low/ Low Anxiety: self is viewed positively

• some features

find it hard to trust others and be intimate

have difficulty recognizing expressions of warmth and empathy from others

often withdraw from relationships when conflict arise

avoid discussing problems in relationships

4. Fearful-avoidant (self and others negative)

High Avoidance: Trust in others low/ High Anxiety: Self is viewed negatively

• some features

expect to be rejected by others

have a heightened attentiveness and reaction to negative emotions

often responds dramatically to relationships conflicts (hot and cold)

Exchange relationships

tends to be more transaction based (people thay you know but not close with)

• motivated by desire to have a fair relationship

• likes to be immediately repaid for favors

• feels exploited when favors are not returned

• keep track of who is contributing what to the relationship

• helping the other person does not elevate their mood

Communal relationships

tend to be more intimate, less “exchange” oriented

• motivated by desire to please other person

• dislikes being immediately repaid for favors

• does not feel exploited when favors are not returned

• generally doesnt keep explicit track of who is contributing what to the relationship

• helping others elevates their own mood

Intimacy

The most important distiniguisinng feature of intimacy is the removal of psychological boundaries so that one experiences another part of him or herself

• sharing that which is innermost with others

• seeking verification of who we think we are

Some aspects of this

• inclusion of other in self

• communal resourcers

• transactive memory

Inclusion of the other in self

Self-expansion

• incorporate some of the others social identities into their own self-concept

• more satisfied and intimate relationships, the closer they tend to rate on the scale within reason

Communal resources

sharing resources freely and treating each other equally

• often dont think about our rewards and costs as if we were balancing our bank accounts

• usually still needs to be an overall more positive than negative balance from the relationship

Romantic equity

Relationships in general are more communal than exchange but there is an inherit exchange aspect to most relationships

• Equity theory: support from partners should be equal to the contribution one gives in a relationship

if one “Overbenefits”": guilt, shame, but also general content with relationship

if one “Underbenefits”: anger, depression, dissatisfaction with relationship

Transactive memory

Shared memory system for encoding, storing, and retrieving information

• improved memory for events as compared to individual memories (you spend more time recalling joint memories and reconsidering past moments)

• one of you might be better at remembering faces or names

What about friendships?

Intimacy also important among friends. Friends can porivde an important source of social support

friends can also help people when relationships with romance partners are more troubled

Self-disclosure and friendship

1 major way to create friendship is through self-disclosure 9sharing private self-info)

Social penetration theory: proper pacing of disclosure is important to avoid over or under sharing

trouble friendships are marked by lessening of disclosure

Average gender differences in heterosexual friendships

• women friendships more intimate than mens. Women disclose more about themselves to friends than men

• Men engage in less physical contact with friends than do women in north american cultures. In middle-eastern, mediterranean, and eastern cultures tend to engage in much more

Woman are more likely to view friends as rivals for romantic partners

Cross-sex heterosexual friendships

gravitate to “intimacy mean”

• ment tend to disclose more to femal friends than male friends

• woman disclose less to male friends than femal friends

more common among people with nontraditional gender role orientation

• sexual contact is common (particularly among newer friendships)

Friends with benefits relationships

a friendship engage in sexual activity on occasion. some markers of a romantic relationship but considered primarily a friendship by people involved.

these friends worry about potential harm to friendship or hurt feelings. risk of STI/ pregnancy is more serious problems and usually because the sexual activity is often spontaneous

same-sex homosexual friendships

gender differences in intimacy disappear

• gay men and lesbian women tend to have equally intimate friendships

• possible reason is because norms about masculine lack of eotion are lessened in gay populations

friends with benefits relationship occur at same rate as cross-sex heterosexual friendships

Friends as family

many people with less than ideal familial relationships will surround themselves with reliable trustworthy and close friends

• key dependability

would this person help you if you needed it

does this person notice you if you need help or comfort

that is the key — and mimics the foundations of parental relationships

Online romance

generally follows the same patterns as traditional dating

• deepening of self-disclosure

• self-presentation management

Internent provides proximity and intimacy

it can also be a toxic dating scene

• validation seeking behavior

• sexual riskiness'

• misrepresentation

• ghosting

• harassment

What is love?

Consummate love (intimacy + passion + commitment)

= soul mate style of love

• Companionate love (intimacy + commitment)

= the affection we feel from those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined. Develops from a certainty of each others love and respect. stable and enduring. Women tend to prefer companionate as their second choice more over romantic/passionate love.

• Empty love (commitment)

• Fatuous love (passion + commitment)

• infatuation (passion)

• romantic love (passion + intimacy)= a state if intense longing for union with another (sometimes termed passionate love). The honeymoon phase often temporary causes brain changes and can result from exication transfer. Men ted to prefer romantic / passionate love as their second choice to consummate love

• liking (intimacy)

Average gender difference in experience of love

all people tend to prefer consummate love as an ideal goal

• men appear more focused on romantic/passionate love as second option

• women appear more focused on companionate love as second option

both have desires arising from all 3

Relationships are more central to our identity

relationships changed a great deal and used to be out of necessity, financial reasons, etc. Now much more choice and freedom leading to greater emotional investment in the partner.

Partner enhancing bias

bias for positive view of your partner that overlooks negatives. view relationship/partner more positively. usually helpful for relationships similar to how one views the self which can prevent people from seeing flaws in partner.

conflict in relationships and responses to conflict

attachment styles are important of how people react to conflict in a relationship.

• current research is examining this more closely

• looking at physiological impact of marital conflict

troubled couples can fall into a negative reciprocity cycle

• positive behaviors ignored and negative behaviors are reciprocated

happy couples argue more constructively and use the argument to solve a problem and tend to acknowledge the partners viewpoint

Coping with a troubled relationship (4 strategies)

loyalty= stay in relationship no matter what

voice= communicate issues and come to compromise

neglet= avoid engaging with partner on issues

exit= decide to leave the relationship

differ in degree of positivity and degree of activity