Social Psych exam 2

Ego depletion theory

Describes self control as a limited resource, and decreases over time.

Critiques of Ego depletion theory

Failed replications, alternative explanations

Social Identity theory

Group memberships influence an individual’s self-concept and behavior

self-concept

Our beliefs about ourselves and our attributes

4 functions of the self

Self-Knowledge

Self-Control

Impression Management

Self-Esteem

Self-Knowledge

we seek to understand ourselves—- an organization of everything we know about orselves

How we infer information about ourselves

Prior experiences

Relationships

How we acted in certain situations

Our group membership

Self perception theory (AKA self awareness theory)

We observe our behavior according to situational factors to make inferences about ourselves

Self affirmation theory

suggests that people may try to reduce dissonance in one area of self by focusing on another domain

self affirmation theory example

the person who has become addicted to an illegal substance may choose to focus on healthy eating and exercise regimens instead as a way of reducing the dissonance created by the drug use

Cognitive dissonance

attitude doesn’t align with behaviors

Self-control

Ability to make and follow through on plans

Impression management

How we appear to others; we want to be viewed positively by other people

Self-esteem

People’s evaluation of their self worth

Social comparison theory

We learn about ourselves by comparing ourselves to others

Upward social comparison

Comparing ourselves to people who are stronger than us on the compared attribute

Downward social comparison

Comparing ourselves to people who are weaker than us on the compared sttribut

Terror management theory

Humans are uniquely knowledgable about their finite duration and eventual death

How we manage fear/anxiety about eventual death

We do so through the construction of culture, religion, art, and esteem

Critiques of terror management theory

Not replicated well/ produce no effects

What is Terror Management associated with?

Materialism, negative treatment of others, etc.

Where attitudes come from

Socialization, Culture, Environment, Biological effects

Yale Attitude Approach Model

Attitude change is influenced by the source, the message, and the audience

Sleeper effects

Describes a phenomenon whereby initial messages weren’t persuasive because people didn’t trust the source, but over time they remember the message and not the source; it becomes more persuasive over time

Elaboration Likelihood Model

When people are invested and hav time and energy to consider an issue they are more likely to change toward lasting persuasion. However, if not, they are more likely to be superficially persuaded.

Foot-in-the-door

ask for something small—> once they agree you increase the ask

Door-in-the-face

Big ask—→ smaller ask

Bait and switch

advertise a low price—> replace it with something less favorable

Pre giving

give someone something then ask for something in return

Low ball

agree to do soemthing small—> realize the terms are different than what you agreed to

Are sleeper effects controversial?

Yes

Why are sleeper effects controversial?

The effects are small and only seem to occur when the discounting of the message is presented after the message itself

Reactionism

Characterized by a strong opposition to political or social change, favoring a return to a perceived past state of society

Attitude bolstering

Respond by thinking about reasons you believe what you do

Negative affect

Getting angry or upset

Assertions of confidence

Stating that your opinion cannot be changed

Selective exposure

Leaving/ignoring

Counter-arguing

Directly refuting the other argument

Source derogation

Putting down the other person

Social validation

Looking for others who agree with us

Impression of beliefs

Trying to turn the tables and push your own beliefs onto others

Echo chamber

A closed system where individuals are only exposed to information that confirms their existing beliefs and biases, reinforcing their views without considering opposing perspectives. 

Situational factors of Attraction

Familiarity, rciprocal liking, situational emotions

Two factor theory of emotion

Suggests that emotions result from a combination of physiological arousal and cognitive labeling.

Evidence for attraction being objective

• Ratings of attractiveness are reliable across people and across culture

• Certain features are rated as attractiveness (e.g., symmetry, shape, averageness, certain health and/or personality cues)

• Babies even tend to dwell more on more attractive faces

Misattribution of arousal stemming from the 2-factor theory of emotion

Instead of appraising something as fear, we might appraise it as physical/sexual attraction.

Physical attractiveness stereotypes

The tendency to perceive attractive people as having other positive characteristics (sociability, competence, etc.)

Sexual overperception

The idea that people are more desiring of sex than they actually are. Occurs predominately in men.

Stereotypes and eating disorders

Folks that could be referring individuals for help with eating disorders tend to overlook the symptoms for individuals with atypical anorexia nervosa (i.e., that are not considered underweight)

Image concerns in men vs. women

Women desire bing thinner, men desire being larger/stronger

Outcomes of body checking

Weight and shape concerns, muscle dysmorphia, desires for different bmi

Justification of Effort

People tend to like things more when they work harder to achieve them

Fear

If the fear gets people to elaborate and if the message teaches them how to reduce the fear, then it does work to persuade people

Conformity

You’re going along with others

Compliance

changing behavior at others’ request

Obedience

changing your behavior due to an authority figure

Example of Conformity

following a fashion trend

Example of Compliance

helping a neighbor move a couch

Example of Obedience

child obeying a parent

What makes people more susceptible to conformity?

group identification, immediacy, size

Boomerang Effect

• When you accidentally make people do the bad behavior more

• If people are already below the norm, they may feel liberated to do the behavior more

Debate

aims to win an argument

Discussion

exchanges information to persuade others

Dialogue

seeks mutual understanding by building a shared perspective

Helping Behaviors

voluntary actions to aid someone without expecting compensation

Bystander effect

The more people that are around the less likely any one person is to provide help

Steps of helping and where the bystander effect interrupts the process

• Notice the event

• Interpret the event as an emergency

• Take responsibility for helping

• Know how to help

• Choose to help

Three reasons for the bystander effect

evaluation apprehension

pluralistic ignorance

responsibility

Evaluation Apprehension

People fear being judged by others if they misinterpret the situatio and there is actually no need for help

Pluralistic Ignorance

People rely on others’ reactions to see if the person needs help

Diffusion of responsibility

People assume someone else will help

Volunteer’s dilemma

Where a group benefits from a public good, but an individual must incur a cost to provide it

Who we are most likely to help

In-group members

Who doesn’t fall victim to the bystander effect

First responders, in group members, more altruistic bystanders, potentially people on autism spectrum

Why altruism is difficult to definitively show it exists

We can never know someones true intent/thoughts

Informational social influence

We look to others to figure out what to do in a given situation, especially when the situation is ambiguous

Normative social influence

We tend to go along with the crowd to be liked/accepted

Injunctive norms

Refers to perceptions of what ought to be

Descriptive norms

Describe what is actually happening

Milgrim study

Participants in the study were instructed to administer electric shocks to a learner, even when that obedience caused harm to the learner

Critiques of Milgrim study

Criticized for not being open and up front about data

Situational factors that reduced obedience in Milgrim study

a decreased proximity to the learner, the presence of a dissenter, and a lack of a visible authority figure

Social Vigilantism

The extent to which people believe their opinion is better than others and should be impressed upon others

Attitude inoculation

A lot like a vaccine— small dose exposures to attitude challenges strengthens people’s attitudes

Social learning theory

we learn by observing others

Theory of planned behavior

our attitudes are affected by our subjective evaluation of social norms

Self-perception theory

we infer our attitudes by looking at our behaviors