Dr. C Psychology Unit 3 (1-30)

What do social psychologists study?

How we think about, influence, and relate to each other; why the same person may behave quite differently in different situations

What is attribution theory, and who developed it?

Fritz Heider's theory about how we explain other people's behavior

What are attributions? Are they facts, or best guesses?

The reasons we assume people behave the way they do; our best guesses, what we believe to be the best most likely causes and explanations of people's behavior

What are dispositional attributions?

Assuming someone behaves a certain way because of their personality

What are situational attributions?

Someone behaves a certain way because of the environement/situation

What would be an example of dispositional and situational attributions that could be used to explain the same behavior?

Dispositional- someone is being rude in class (personality)

Situational- someone is tired in class, because they have been working all night. (situation)

What is the fundamental attribution error?

the tendency for observers who are analyzing other people's behavior to overestimate the effect of internal dispositional factors (character, personality, motives, etc.) and underestimate the effect of situational factors (the situation or environment, roles people are playing, etc.) in causing people's behvaior.

How was the fundamental attribution error demonstrated in a psychological experiment? What did the experimenters do?

1. They told a woman to speak to a class

2. Half thought it was a normal conversation

3. The other half was told that the woman has been told what to do

What were the results, and why?

If they got the mean, hostile version of her, they would've thought that was her personality. Those that were not aware of the act, believed she was the way she presented herself to be. Those that were of the act still believed she was the way she acted.

What would be some everyday examples of the fundamental attribution error?

Observing a server:

Observers think her personality is really nice. The servers side of the story is, she is trying to be nice to get paid in tips.

How does attribution influence our relationships and marriages?

Good relationships- situational attributions are used

Bad relationships- dispositional attributions are used in the same situation

How does attribution influence our views of social/political issues?

Situational- poor people may not have a job because they couldn't pay for an education or get a job.

Dispositional- poor people are lazy and dropped out of school.

How does the old adage "walk a mile in my shoes" relate to attribution and the fundamental attribution error?

Don't make judgements about my actions. We fail to recognise people behave the way they do because of the situation.

What are attitudes?

beliefs and feelings that predispose our reactions to things, such as people, objects and products, events, ideas, etc.

How well do our attitude statements generally predict our actual behavior?

Our attitudes don't predict it well.

Why is this?

When we write down attitudes, we are not in the situation. We fail to determine that situation determines behavior.

Is it more true that our attitudes cause our behavior, or that our behavior causes our attitudes?

The behavior comes first, then the attitude follows. The behavior is already happening.

If you want to bring about change in the world, should you generally target people's attitudes first. in belief that their behavior will follow their attitudes; or should you target their behaviors first, in the belief that their attitudes will follow their behaviors?

You should target their behavior first, in the belief that their attitudes will follow.

What are some real world historical examples?

Europeans move to South Africa and bring weapons to take over the country.

*Result: small white group runs out native black majority. Blacks stand up for equality

*can be peaceful or hostile

How does treating people badly affect our attitudes toward them, and how does treating people well affect our attitudes toward them?

If we treat people badly, our attitudes towards them would become sour. If we treat people well, our attitude towards them becomes sweet.

What is belief perseverance?

Holding onto one's initial beliefs even after they have been shown to be false

What would be an example of belief perserverance?

When someone says smoking does not cause cancer, despite the abundance of research proving that it does.

What are counterfactuals (counterfactual thinking)?

Imagining/rehearsing what might have happened, but didn't.

What would be an example of the effects of counterfactuals?

A three person race; second place is the least happiest because they came close to winning.

How do counterfactuals relate to belief perseverance?

Once someone has something in their head, it's hard to get them to change it.

How can belief perseverance sometimes be reduced?

Have the person think through and write down all the reasons why they might be wrong.

What is reactance?

Striving to restore one's options, choices, and/or freedom; increasing attraction of what seems difficult or impossible to have

What would be some real-world examples of using reactance to change attitudes and/or behavior?

Drinking: it's more attractive when you're underage

Going on amazon and there is only one left so you want to buy it

What is the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?

When someone requests something small, so that they can ask for something big after.

How was the foot-in-the-door phenomenon demonstrated in an early experiment?

People asked to put a small sticker on a window that says "drive carefully" and 17% said yes. Then other people said they couldn't read the sticker sign so they asked for a bigger sign and 76% said yes.

What would be a real-world example of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?

If you want something big, ask for something small. If they agree to the small thing, odds are they'll agree to the big thing.

What is a role?

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining and/or guiding the behavior of someone in that position

Does role playing significantly affect attitudes and behaviors?

Yes

What was a famous experiment on the effect of roles?

Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment

How did Zimbardo recruit his subjects?

newspaper ad

How did Zimbardo screen his subjects and decide which ones to use?

75 people applied. He gave them a psychology test, got alot of info about them, and he did an in-depth personal interview on them.

Once he selected his subjects, how did Zimbardo decide which ones were going to be prisoners, and which ones were going to be guards?

He randomly assigned roles.

How did Zimbardo set up the experiment for the guards?

He told them to wear the guars uniforms, badges, whistles, batons, mirrored sunglasses etc., and explained the 8 hour shift they were to perform.

How did Zimbardo start the experiment for the prisoners, and how did he set it up for them once they came to his "prison"?

Had them arrested by real police officers. Booked them into the prison. They didn't know it was the experiment until Zimbardo showed up. They were dressed in smock. They were chained at the ankles to remind them that they were prisoners 24/7. They had to memorize a set of rules and would be tested on them. If they messed up they would be punished.

What is learned helplessness?

Acquiring a passive, hopeless, "giving up" response in the face of repeated pain or frustration, eventually not even taking advantage of opportunities to escape

How has learned helplessness been demonstrated in laboratory studies with animals?

They put a lab rat in a cage with a floor that schocked him. The rat would be shocked over and over for a long period of time. The rat would start cowering in fear waiting for the next shock, and eventually he wouldn't try to get out even if the door was open. the rat had given up.

How did Zimbardo demonstrate learned helplessness in the prisoners in his study?

He allowed them to apply for parole, they didn't even care about getting paid, they just wanted out. They were all denied parole and got sent back to their cells. They could've asked to leave but the guards got even worse, the punishments became worse. The prisoners gave up and learned helplessness.

How long was Zimbardo's experiment supposed to run?

2 weeks

How long did it actually run, and why?

6 days because the situation was becoming so abusive and his girlfriend was in shock

How did the prisoners react to stopping it?

They were really happy

How did the guards react to stopping it?

They wanted to keep it going. They said they could keep the prisoners in order.

When Zimbardo went back and reviewed the videotapes of the experiment, what did Zimbardo observe about the behavior of the guards?

1. The guards abused them

2. 1/3 of them were considered to be sadistic

What did Zimbardo conclude about the reasons the guards and prisoners behaved the way they did?

Both sides weren't being themselves, they behaved the way they did bc of the roles they played and the situation they were in.

How do Zimbardo's findings relate to the fundamental attribution error?

They failed to take into count of the roles situations. Many think they're weak/sick.

What criticisms were made of Zimbardo's experiment?

1. It should've never been done bc it can harm the person mentally and physically.

2. The lab experiment; the situation and behavior wouldn't happen in the real world.

3. Experment was never replicated.

What was a real-world event that supported Zimbardo's findings, and what happened there?

Abu Ghraib- prison scandle

The USA guards thought they'd take a bunch of terrorists and put them in the prison. The guards started abusing them and took videos of it, this was not an experiment.

What is Leon Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory?

When our cognitives are incompatible with each other, we will feel discomfort that Festinger calls cognitive dissonance, and we will be motivated to reduce that uncomfortable dissonance.

If we experience cognitive dissonance, what are the two ways we may reduce it?

1. Change behavior to match attitudes, beliefs, and vaules

2. Change attitudes, beliefs, and values but keep behavior

Which way of reducing cognitive dissonance are we more likely to use?

Change attitudes, beliefs, and values to match behavior.

How did Festinger demonstrate this in a famous experiment? What did he do with his subjects?

1. Told his subjects that he was giving them a test to see how their hands and fingers interact... but he was really giving them something to do, a rewarding task. Moving bolts.

2. Told his class to survey the experiment and asked them to meet with other people and lie that the tasks are fun (they were paid $2)

3. Asked a questionaire afterwards "was the task interesting?" those who recieved $20 said no and those that recieved $2 said yes.

What were the results?

Those who recieved $2 believed the lie that the task was fun more than the $20. Anyone would want to do it for $20 but nobody would want to do it for $2, so they believed they enjoyed it.

How did those results support cognitive dissonance theory instead of reward theory?

They changed their attitudes with less money.

How can cognitive dissonance theory be used in attitude change?

If you can get people to engage in voluntary public behavior that match attitudes, it can change.

What would be some real-world examples?

- Car salesman letting people drive a car increases the chances of purchasing it (even though it raises their insurance)

- Extreme churches never end service w/o saying "is anyone ready to commit to Jesus?" ppl walk down the aisle. Public behavior makes it harder to back out.

What is social contagion?

imitating/incorporating the behaviors and/or emotions of people around us

what are some real-world examples of social contagion?

yawning, coughing, packing up in class, slang, facial expressions, laughing, moods/emotions, accents

What is conformity?

adjusting our behavior or thinking to match a group standard

What happened in Solomon Asch's famous experiment on conformity? What did Asch have subjects in his experiment do?

Subjects asked to differentiate lines.

What were the results when he tested subjects individually?

Over 90% got it right.

How did Asch test subjects in groups?

Conformed 1/3 of them in groups.

What are confederates or stooges?

Phony subjects

How did Asch use them in his experiment?

Only 1 person was a real subject (7 were stooges). The stooges agreed in advance what they would all answer. Everyone had to choose which was most like the target line. The correct answers were obvious. The real subject answered last. 1/3 of the real subjects conformed.

What were the results for the real subjects?

-1/3 of them conformed and gave the same wrong answer that the stooges gave (on avg.)

-In 12 critical trials, about 75% of subjects conformed at least once and 25% never did.

What happened in Stanley Milgram's famous experiments on obedience? Who was Milgram, and what motivated him and other psychologists to study obedience?

He was a social psychologist at Yale motivated by WW2 (why would people do such horrible things?)

How many experiments did Milgram end up doing, and how many total subjects participated in them?

-20 experiments

-1,000 subjects

How did Milgram recuit subjects for his original experiment, and how were his subjects different from those in most studies of psychology at the time?

An ad in the newspaper. His subjects wereall men and they were all of different titles and ages.

What did Milgram tell his subjects the experiment was about?

A punishment of learning.

How many of them showed up at the same time? What did one of them not know about the other one?

2 ppl at one time. One was a subject and one was a phony subject.

How did Milgram determine who was going to be the teacher and who was going to be the learner?

Gave them slips of paper. Random choosing.

What did Milgram do with the learner?

Strapped him in a chair. Told him to electricute him.

What did Milgram do with the teacher, and what did he show him?

He told him to punish the learner if he got an answer wrong.

What did Milgram do to convince the teacher the experiment was real?

He temporarily attached an electrode to the teacher and shocked him. That was the only real shock given.

What did Milgram instruct the teacher to do?

He told the teacher to ask the learner questions and if he got them wrong he had to shock him.

What happened once the experiment started?

The learner started making mistakes and the teacher "shocked" him. The learner pretended to get shocked, acted like he was in pain, and begged the teacher to stop. The teacher thought it was real.

What did Milgram do if the teacher did not want to continue?

He'd say things like "please continue/ the experiment requires you to continue/ I'll take responsibility for whatever happens to the learner/ you have no choice/ you must go on"

In the original experiment, how many subjects obeyed Milgram completely?

62.5%

How did Milgram change the experiment the second time?

The teacher was told that the learner had recently had a heart attack and shouldn't be under stress.

How many subjects obeyed him completely in the second experiment?

65%

How did the subjects who obeyed Milgram feel about what they were doing?

Extremely distressed

How did the results change when Milgram used women for subjects instead of men?

Results didn't change

Under what conditions were subjects most likely to obey Milgram?

1. If Milgram was present and said "you must continue the experiment" people would do it.

2. If he was giving orders by telephone , a majority wouldn't go through with it

3. His title people to follow orders

4. There's no model for refusal to obey

In his various experiments, what were the highest and lowest numbers of subjects, on average, who obeyed Milgram?

from 93% to 0%

Under what condition did almost all subjects obey Milgram?

Under the condition that they weren't the ones giving the shocks, just asking the questions

Under what condition did no subjects obey Milgram?

When the learner "escapes" and Milgram told subjects to bring him back

In general, what did obedience depend on?

The situation

How does this relate to the fundamental attribution error?

One would think that for the teachers to shock the learners at the highest voltage level, he'd have to be sadistic (dispositional), but they only followed orders because of the authority figure telling him to continue (situation).

What criticisms were made of Milgram's experiment, and how valid was each?

1. Unethical (put people under extreme stress)

2. Experiment was done in lab (not real-world applicable)

What would be a major real-world example of over-obedience in modern history?

Nazi's following orders to torture, starve, and kill people.

Is all obedience bad?

no

What would be some examples of "good" obedience?

-military

-emergency responders

What is deindividuation and when may it occur?

loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that create feelings of arousal and anonymity

What would be some examples of diendividuation?

-Zimbardo's prison experiment

-Cyberbullying

-Sports crowds

What is Ossorio's Maxim?

If you give people a task they can't do, they respond with something they can do.

What are some examples of Ossorio's Maxim?

taking an essay test. you don't know the answer but you write anything that you know about the topic.

What lesson should leaders take from Ossorio's Maxim?

Do something but don't do nothing.