PL3105 midterm

process of formulating hypotheses & theories

• initial observations

• develop/improve theories

• derive hypotheses from theories

• test hypotheses

observational method

• definition + examples + limits

researcher observes people and systematically records measurements or impressions of their behaviours

• ethnography & archival analysis

limits:

• certain behaviours are difficult to observe

• does not allow prediction or explanation

• lower internal validity

• observer bias

ethnography

researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside

archival analysis

researchers examine accumulated documens of a culture

correlational method

• definition + limitations

two or more variables are systematically measured

• measured with correlational coefficient

limits:

• directionality problem + third variable problem

experimental method

researchers randomly assign participants to different conditions

• conditions are identical except for the IV

random selection

a way of ensuring thta a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal chance

random assignment to condition

all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment

probability

Tells researchers how likely it is that results of experiments occurred by change and NOT because of the independent variable

internal validity

making sure nothing besides the IV can affect the DV

• was this observed effect caused by what you thought caused it?

external validity

ability to generalize results to real-world settings, contexts, & people

• recall most research is done with WEIRD people

methods to create generalizability across situations

• psychological realism

  • psychological processes triggered by experiements are similar to those in real life

• cover story

increasing external validity

field experiments

tests of validity

• replications

• meta-analysis

social cognition

how people think about themselves and the social world

• how people select, interpret, remember, and sue social information to make judgements and decisions

• two types:

  • automatic/low effort thinking

  • controlled/high effort thinking

automatic/low-effort thinking

little to no conscious deliberation of thoughts, perceptions, assumptions

• helps people size up a new situation quickly and accurately

• relates new situations to past experiences

• 2 types:

  • schemas

  • heuristics

schemas

mental structures that contains what a person knows about a particular concept

• INCLUDING the relations among objects, relevant events, actions, & sequences

• once the schema is activated, it affects attention, interpretation, & memory

• influence the information we notice, think about, & remember

• can fill in the gaps of our knowledge & reduce ambiguity

what influences our schemas?

• accessibility

• priming

accessibility of schemas

extent to which schemas & concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds

• likely to be used when making judgements

• drives interpretation

• varies depending on chronicity, goals, & recency

priming of schemas

process by which recent experiences increase the accesibility of a schema, trait, or concept

• activation of one concept affects the processing of other concepts

automatic goal pursuit

DEFINITION

• example of how schemas can elicit behaviours

self-fulfilling prophecy

schemas can lead a person to behave in ways consistent with the schemas

• undesirable effects of racism, sexism, ageism, and so on play out because of stereotypes

• golem effect (negative self-fulfilling prophecy)

heuristics

mental shortcuts people use to make judgements

• sometimes inadequate or misapplied → faulty judgements

• mostly highly functional and serve us well

availability heuristic

mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgement on the ease wiith which they can bring something to mind

• the trouble: sometimes what’s easiest to remember is NOT typical of the overall picture → faulty conclusions

• ex. advertising, social media, sensational news titles

representative heuristic

mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case (prototype)

• is X a member of Y or Z group?

controlled/high-effort thinking

slow, effortful & deliberate

free will

association between conscious thought & behaviour creates perception of free will

• we overestimate amount of control or sometimes underestimate it

counterfactual thinking/reasoning

mentally changing some aspect of the past in imaginig what might have been

• can have a big influence on our emotional reactions to events

• the easier it is to mentally undo an outcome, the stronger the emotional reaction to it

planning (controlled thinking)

correcting errors in prediction

• future directed high effort thinking proccess

planning fallacy

tendency for people to be overly optimistic about how soon they will complete a project

• EVEN when they have failed to get similar orojects done on time in the past

difficulties of high effort thinking

• limited mental capacity

• inability to imagine or consider every possibility or information

• we don’t have all the information

• lazy

benefits of high effort thinking

• makes people more analytical

• makes people more humble

• makes people appreciative of other points of view

• reduce judgement errors

• make people more appreciative of statistical prinicples

social perception

study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people

• answers to such questions satisfy our needs to understand and predict our social world

non-verbal communication

how people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words

• facial expressions

• tone of voice

• gestures

• body positions and movement

• use of touch

• gaze

affect blends

facial expressions in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion

• some facial expressions can have different implications based on context & other rules

display rules

culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviours are appropriate to display

emblems

non-verbal gestures that have well-understood defintions within a given culture

• ex. thumbs up sign

• NOT unviersal

true or false:

we form impressions of people based on different cues in less than 100 milliseconds

true

thin slice judgements/thin-slicing

drawing meaningful conclusions about another person’s personality or skills based on an extremely brief sample of behaviour

• limited exposure can lead to meaningful impressions of abilities and personalities

true or false:

the babyface schema is for individuals reminiscent of those of small children.

• the consequences are that they are judged less suitable for jobs that require warmth

• more likelt to be found guilty of intentional crimes

false

attractive heuristic

attractive: intelligent, successful, happy well-adjusted, socially skilled, confident & assertive

primacy effects - why do first impressions stick

when it comes to forming impressions, the first traits we perceive in others influence how we view information that we learn about them later

belief perseverance - why do first impressions stick

tendency to stick with an initial judgement even in face of new information that should prompt us to reconsider

attribution theory

way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behaviour

• internal dispositional attributions

• external situational attributions

covariation model

we make an internal or external attribution based on three pieces of information

• consensus → extent to which other people behave the same

• distinctiveness → the extent to which a particular actor behaves in the same way toward different stimuli

• consistency → extent to which the behaviour between one actor & one stimulus is the same across time

when do we make an internal attribution according to the covariation model?

• consensus = low

• distinctiveness = low

• consistency = high

when do we make an external attribution according to the covariation model?

• consensus = high

• distinctiveness = high

• consistency = high

fundamental attributional error

tendency to overestimate extent to which others’ behaviours result from internal

• underestimate role of situational factors

• also called correspondance bias

• caused because of what is perceptually salient

perceptual salience

seeming importance of information that is the focus of people’s attention

• guides us in making the attributional error

two-step attribution process

• make an internal attribution

• adjust attribution by considering the situation

  • requires effort

self-serving attributions

• attributing one’s success to internal dispositional factors

• attributing one’s failures to external situational factors

belief in a just world

defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people

bias blind spot

tendency to think that others are more susceptible to attributional biases than we are

self-concept

overall set of beliefs that you have about your attributes

• morality = central to self-concept

• subjective rather than objective

• controlled & automatic components

• often use others as references to gauge our own behaviour and make inferences about ourselves

the self is multi-dimensional and composed of different dimensions. what are these dimensions?

• physical descriptions

• personal traits & characteristics

• social roles & relationships

• group memberships & identity labels

• values, beliefs, & life goals

true or false:

the self is both malleable and stable

• malleable: working self concept → school vs. work. vs. home

• stable: core aspects of self are stable

true

indenpedent view of the self

defines self through own internal thoughts, feelings, & actions

• independence and uniqueness valued

• held n many western cultures

interdependent view of the self

define self through relationships to others

• recongizes that others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions affect one’s behaviour

• connectedness, interdependence valued

• uniqueness frowned upon

• held in many Asian and non-western cultures

four main functions of the self

• self knowledge

• self-control

• self-esteem

• impression management

self knowledge

the way we understand who we are and organize this information

how do you determine to yourself the kind of person you are:

1. observe internally - introspection

2. observe behaviour

3. observe how we respond to others & how other people respond to us

introspection

looking inward and examing our own thoughts, feelings, and motives

• useful but not perfect

self control

the way we make plans and execute decisions

self esteem

the way we maintain positive views of ourselfs

impression management

the way we present ourselves to others and get them to see us as we want to be seen

two strategies

• ingratiation → flattering, praising, and generally trying to make ourselves likable to another person

• self-handicapiing → creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves

self-awareness theory

the idea that when people focus on their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards & values

what happens when your current thoughts & behaviours do not meet internal standards?

• some people change their behaviour to meet standards

• indulge negatively or to escape

self-perception theory

people use attributional principles to infer thier own attitudes and feelings when we aren’t sure about something

1. feelings are clear → you don’t need to look at behaviour

2. feelings aren’t clear → look at behaviour

3. ask whether behaviour is (a) freely chosen to do so (b) b/c of the situation

• a) behaviour = actual feeling

• b) not internally motivated

two factor theory of emotion

explains why we feel the way we feel through inferring our emotions by physiological responses

1. you notice your body reacting in some unexplained manner

2. you try to understand your arousal by looking at your situation

misattribution of arousal

making mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

• arousal from one source influences how one interprets their feelings in a different context

criticism of the two-factor theory

emotions are not always too difficult to explain in real life

• we often know exactly how we feel

• we don’t always consult the environment

intrinsic motivation

engages in an activity because of enjoyment or interest

• NOT external rewards or pressures

• preserved by changing the type of rewards

  • task-contingent reward

  • performance contingent reward (less damaging)

extrinsic motivation

engage in an activity because of external reasons

• NOT because of enjoyment or interest

• can lead to over-justification effect

over-justification effect

tendency of people to view their behaviour as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons

• makes them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons

fixed mindset

idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change

growth mindset

idea that achievement is the result of working hard, trying new strategies, and seeking input from others

social comparison theory

we learn about our abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people

• occurs when there’s no objective standard to measure against OR uncertainity

• depends on goals

upward social comparison

occurs if your goal is to how high you can aspire to

• you compare with people who are better on a particular ability

• can sometimes be dispiriting and make you feel inferior

downward social comparison

occurs if your goal is to feel better about yourself

• you compare with people who are worse on a particular trait or ability

looking glass self

we see ourselves and the social world through the eyes of other people

• what we think others think about ourselves NOT how they actually view us

• reflected self-appraisals don’t always correlate what others ACTUALLY think about us

self-control

ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals

• form implementation intentions

• arrange environments

• willpower beliefs

• offset depletion by making sure to be well-rested

self-esteem

overall positive or negative evaluation an indvidual has of himself or herself

• trait self-esteem is a person’s enduring level of self-regard across time

• state self-esteem is a dynamic changeable self-evaluations a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self

sociometer hypothesis

self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others

reported self-handicapping

preparing excuses in case you fail

behavioural self-handicapping

acting in ways that reduce the likelihood of success so that if you fail you can blame it on obstacles rather than ability

• ex. drugs, alcohol, reduced effort, or failure to prepare

factors that increase self-handicapping

• belief that one might do poorly

• belief that performance refelcts ability

• public performance and explicity social comparison

• people with low self-esteem fear fatire

dissonance

the feeling of discomfort when two cognitions conflict or when cognition and behaviours conflict

• most discomforting when the cognition or behaviour challenges our self-esteem

ways to reduce dissonance

1. change behaviour to align with the dissonant cognition

• “i’ll plan my work better so I can get 7 hours”

2. change one of the dissonant cognitions in a way that justify the behaviour

• “sleep is overrated and i’m more productive at night anyway”

3. add new cognitions in ways that justify the behaviour

• “it’s only during midterms, so it’s temporary”

festinger & carlsmith counterattitudinal study

• participants did a boring task and had to lie to another person about how the task was interesting

• those offered $20 rated the task as more interesting than the $1

showed how attitudes could change because of dissonance that results from a conflict between the initial attitude and counterattitudinal behaviour

post-decision dissonance

aroused after making a decision and occurs when the option:

• you chose has some negative aspects

• you rejected has some positive aspects

to reduce dissonance:

• enhance attractiveness of chosen alternative

• devalue the rejected alternative

permanence of the decision

the more permanent the decision, the more dissonance you feel

• the more positively you evaluate your choice

irrevocability hypothesis

the more irrevocable (no choice condition) your decision feels to you, the more dissonance you feel

• the more you value your choice (to resolve the dissonance)

justification of effort

the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain

external justification

explaining a counterattitudinal behaviour as due to something about the situation or environment

• ex. believing the behaviour was justified by a large reward

internal justification

the reduction of dissonance by changing something about onself

• for example, one’s attitude or behaviour

the ben franklin effect

getting someone to do you a favor can make the person like you

for avoiding temptations, what would be more likely to improve behaviour?

• mild or severe?

mild punishments

• the more severe the punishment, the higher the likelihood, the individual will cease and desist

• insufficient external justification

• resolved dissonance through internal justification

insufficient punishment

dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object

• results in individuals devaluing the forbidden object

self-evaluation maintenance theory

idea that we experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area that is central to our self-esteem

• reduced by:

  • becoming less close to the person

  • changing our behaviour so that we outperform them

  • deciding the area is NOT that important to us after all

self-affirmation theory

idea that people can reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming themselves in areas unrelated to the source of the threat

• mitigating threats to self-esteem

• values affirmation writing exercise

hypocrisy induction

arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behaviours

• reminding them of the inconsistency between what they advocated and their behaviour

• leads individuals to more responsible behaviour