AP Psych: Chapters 4.1-4.3e

Person perception

how we form impressions of ourselves and others, including attributions of behavior.

Median

The middle number

Mean

The sum of the terms divided by the number of terms

Mode

The most common number that appears in your set of data.

Range

Highest number subtracted by the lowest.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute our successes to internal, personal factors, and our failures to external, situational factors. In other words, we like to take credit for our triumphs, but we are more likely to blame others or circumstances for our shortcomings.

Attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation (a situational attribution) or the person’s stable, enduring traits (a dispositional attribution).

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

• Tend to think that we (as individuals) are good people

• The further away you are from the person (strangers) the more you judge them (think that it’s their stable, enduring traits)

  • If it’s relatives or close friends, then you judge them less

Actor-observer bias

the tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute others’ behavior to internal causes. This contributes to the fundamental attribution error (which focuses on our explanations for others’ behavior).

Prejudice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Generally involves negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action. It’s what you THINK (in your head/what you feel)

• Ex. “boys are better at math than girls” → overgeneralized

  • This term = “I think boys will have done better at the math tests”

Stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members and is fueled by prejudice (ACTING on what you think).

• Ex. “boys are better at math than girls” → overgeneralized

  • This term = making the math tests easier for the girls and harder for the boys so that it would be “equal” → acting on their beliefs

Explicit prejudice

aware of their discriminatory beliefs and can actively work to fix it.

Implicit prejudice

unaware of the discriminatory beliefs/that they think that they have a negative belief

• Ex. think the wealthy deserve the money since they work hard → now believe that other poorer people don’t work hard

Ingroup

“us” – people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

“them” – those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group

• Believe USA is better than Russia (have positive beliefs about what group you’re in)

Social identity

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.

Just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

• Ex. people in poorer communities “deserve” to be there

  • People in poorer communities don’t blame the rich; they want to BE rich, so they instead say, “If I can come up with a Shark Tank idea,” or “If I can get rid of some unfair laws, then I can become rich”

Scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias.

• Ex. a child born to a white family will have an easier time recognizing their faces than black faces

Vivid cases

when you have implicit prejudice, you have the tendency to remember facts that support it (the ones that reinforce your stereotypes are likely to stick in your mind)

Victim blaming

Find ways to blame the victim since it makes you feel safe (“I wouldn’t do what they did, so what happened to them is their fault”)

Attitudes

Feelings often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

• Want an allowance (get $25 but want $50) → say that you want $5 more, but you’ll do a small task/chore → negotiations have already happened (accepted that you can earn more in a week) → get larger chores and can work up to $50

Role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

• Sasha is throwing a party → Piper + Nick agree to go together and match outfits → Nick gets there late → sees Sasha and Piper talk about him → Piper states that she no longer wants to be friends with Nick and how he’s annoying and dragging down her social status → his brain is now thinking two things: Piper is my best friend and now Piper hates him

  • Brain wants balance (trying to compensate for the shock of not realizing what they knew to be true was a lie) → will have two different opportunities

    1. We’re no longer friends

    2. Will pretend that he misheard, will go up to her and pretend he didn’t hear her OR will think okay we’re friends but not as close as I thought we were

Persuasion

changing people’s attitudes, potentially influencing their actions.

Peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

• To get someone to buy a car you show a pic of Brad Pitt driving the car, or an American flag on car to a patriot to make them see it’s patriotic

• It is more effective than other route persuasion BUT doesn’t last as long

Central route persuasion

when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments.

• Shows the facts and statistics of the car to convince someone to buy it

• Less effective than other route persuasion but lasts longer

Norms

a society’s understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. They prescribe “proper” behavior in individual and social institutions.

• Essentially etiquette

• When you break this, you’re made to be embarrassed

• A kind of social contagion (learn to know this because it spreads within the culture (observe what others do, monitor what gets you side-eyes, etc)

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Solomon-Asch

Psychologist who studied the idea of conformity and wanted to see how quickly it takes to conform to the group.

• From 1945 to the end of WWII this question was posed: “How did Hitler obtain obedience from everyone?” thus making social behavior/contagion of the utmost importance → made experiment with a group of people and three pieces of strand

Solomon-Asch Experiments

This psychologist took a pod of people (all of whom are in on the experiment except for one) and had them all compare three pieces of strands of different sizes. All the others in the group decided to have the strands in the wrong order of smallest to largest → the person who wasn’t in on the experiment quickly folded and agreed it was the right order, even though the evidence right in front of them proved that they were wrong.

• NOTHING on the line on this experiment, and yet people still conformed

Characteristics of a group that made them more or less likely to conform:

1. Made to feel incompetent by the group

2. Numbers matter (in groups of three or less, you’re less likely to conform and in groups of 4+ you’re more likely to conform)

3. If everybody in the group agrees (even in a large group of 15+, if one other person disagrees with the group, then you’re more likely to not conform)

4. More likely to conform if you admire the other members

5. More likely to conform if your opinion ISN’T made known BEFORE the group’s (You walk into the pod with three pieces of string, and before any other person voices their opinion, they ask you what you think first and you’ll stick with it)

6. If you’re being watched (if someone is looking for a quicker/right answer, you’re more likely to conform)

7. If you’re joining a group of like-minded people, you’re more likely to conform

Normative social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

• Desire to fit in (more emotional)

Informational social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

• Desire to be seen as smart as the rest of the group (more logical)

Stanley Milgram (1963)

Psychologist that was less concerned with conformity, and more concerned with obedience → what does it take to get people to go against what they believe?

Milgram Obedience Trials

Had student volunteers to come down → their job was to press a button when another student gets an answer wrong (that student is set up with wires in a chair)

• What the student who presses the button DOESN’T know is that the student strapped in the chair is part of the experiment and ISN’T getting shocked

  • The student is told that the shock is starting mild → The student on the receiving end purposefully pretends to get answers wrong → The student is told to work the dial up and shock them with more intense shocks → The student in the chair pretends to say that they want to stop, and even to pretends to be comatose

    • 65% of the students who were tested shocked the other person into seeming death

Conditions of the Milgram Obedience Trials

1. Students more likely to go to through with the shots if there was a professorial person in a lab coat to tell them to keep going (if person who told you to keep going was more esteemed looking/figurehead) 

2. If you’re physically close (if you could make eye-contact with the student in the chair) → less likely to do it 

   1. The more anonymous you are, the more likely you’re able to go through with it 

3. If no one went against it/raised an objection, you would continue 

   1. If even one person voiced an objection = a lot more likely to voice your opinion

4. If you’re told you’re doing this for a prestigious university (ex. Princeton) then you’re more likely to continue than if it was for a local sports team/community college

Social facilitation

In the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks.

• When people are watching us, we get better at simple tasks and worse at complex tasks

  • Bowling is a fairly simple sport, Dr.Schwartz was doing good in the early/practice rounds but the more that people were watching, the worse he did (the task now feels harder)

Social loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

• When you have a group responsible for a project, some group members are more likely to be less responsible and more relaxed because of the assumption that someone else will cover for you (everyone in the group social loaves → group projects are never anybody’s best work)

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

• In a group you become more anonymous → ex. You’re at a sporting event and you’re never the person in real life to yell mean things at anybody → when the group starts yelling at the ref, you join in and say mean things → you’re part of the “group mentality” now

Group polarization

The enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion wit

• When a group has a common belief, when talking about the belief in the group, it reinforces the like-mindedness

Political echo chamber

an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.

• Ex. if you believe that Trump is the second coming and that everything he does is right, and you start listening only to right-wing radio and podcasts, it reinforces your belief

Group think

The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. (overriding legitimate disagreements for the want to come to an agreement)

• When George Bush wanted to invade Iraq, he said that part of the reason was because they had weapons/an arsenal → the group he surrounded himself with had a vested interest in this → had to agree and though there wasn’t much evidence, any evidence that did come was blown up/out of proportion

Collectiveness community (tight culture)

a place with clearly defined and reliably imposed norms.

Individualistic community (loose culture)

a place with flexible and informal norms.

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Frustration-aggression principle

The principle that frustration – the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal –creates anger, which can generate aggression (frustration makes people act aggressively)

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Social script

a culturally modeled guide on how to act in various situations.

Three ingredients of our liking for another:

1. Physical proximity

   1. Mere exposure effect

2. Physical attractiveness

   1. `Symmetry = your face matches (sameness)

   2. Culture dictates what we find attractive

3. Similarity

   1. We tend to shop for our mates and organize our lusts in the direction of people that fit into our social familiarity/demographics (find someone like you or your parents)

      1. Same economic background, beliefs, etc

      2. Recognition that we tend to be attracted to people who reward us (people who seem to be attracted to you as well)

Mere exposure effect

the tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them.

Passionate love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship.

Companionate love

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Equity

A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

Self-disclosure

the act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves to others.

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

• Is human behavior EVER ____ (is someone ever able to do something else with no regard)

  • Even if they’re doing it for nothing, they’re still serving a personal end if they want to be a “good person” (buzz of knowing that they’re a good person)

Bystander effect/diffusion of responsibility

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. → think others will act so they don’t need to

• Term was coined because of this story:

  • Kitty Genovese was brutally attacked between 12 and 2am by a perpetrator who stabbed her, robbed her, raped her, and then came back and raped her again while she was dying 

    • Took an hour and a half total and was near an apartment building 

      • Story was that she begged and screamed for help loudly 

        • Even though lights were being flicked on and people were coming to the window, no one called the police or came to her aid (people were aware of it and did not come to help) 

        • Some people DID call the police (also questionable how many people really knew what was going on) → possibly exaggerated 

      • Notion that came out of it was that cities create uncaring people 

Odds of you helping increase when:

1. When you PHYSICALLY see others helping 

2. Men and women are more likely to get involved when the perceived victim is a female 

3. If you grew up in a small town (a setting in which you know people and feel others know you) 

4. If you’re in a good mood 

   • If you’re in a bad mood and something bad happens to someone else then when you see something you think (“Welcome to the club” → sense of happiness at others’ suffering)

5. If they are like you

   • If you recognize them as having similar race, religion, economic status

     • New Canaan students are more likely to help New Canaan students rather than Darian students 

6. If you have time

   •  If you’re rushed (need to go somewhere) then you won’t stop 

   • Car crash (90% rush by as they have somewhere to be (don’t stop))

7. If you’d feel guilty otherwise (if people will see you not helping) 

   • If you have a child (even an adult) then you don’t want them to know you as someone who wouldn’t help 

Three theories that explain why we help others

Social exchange theory, Reciprocity norm, social-responsibility norm

Social exchange theory

The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs (help others because somehow it’ll benefit us)

Reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them (if we help others, then they’ll help us)

Social-responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those needing their help (we help others because they need help) → one true altruism

Conflict

people interacting with incompatible goals (a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, ideas)

Conflict is heightened by three things:

Social trap, mirror-image perceptions, self-fulfilling prophecy

Social trap

A situation in which two parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

• Ex. The tragedy of the commons = Individual goat herders all share the same plot. Individually, every herder is better off if they get the biggest portion of the shared plan. As a result, everyone is in conflict and they all lose grass (collectively think that their individual goals are more important than the mutual goal). Instead, they should have equally split the land.

Mirror-image perceptions

Mutual views often held by conflicting parties, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive.

• The more set you become on the rightness of your way, the more you view the opponent as wrong

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment

• Belief that the other side is wrong → will only have evidence that they are

To end conflict are the 4 C’s

Contact, Cooperation, Communication, Conciliation

Contact

getting to know the other side (hard to hate someone you know well)

Cooperation

within the conflict, find some goals/areas that you agree on (find goals above the stakes)

Communication

if groups in a conflict can’t communicate, bring in a mediator. Also keep open lines of talking

Conciliation

as a party of the conflict, try and find areas that you’re willing to cede to the other side (if you find something to give up, the other party will as well → can start bridging the distance)

Superordinate Goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

GRIT (Graduated Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction)

Involves one side initiating a breakthrough in the form of a concession or compromise on one of its demands.