Psych 355 Test 2

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“Come on – what is really the big deal?”

trivialize the behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“I’m not actually that law-abiding – sometimes I bend the rules.”

(Assume that their prior attitude was that they DID see themselves as very law-abiding.)

change one’s attitude

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“I hardly ever drink/speed that much.”

(Assume that they DO drink/speed that much and often.)

change one’s perception of one’s behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“It was really just the one time.”

(Assume that it was indeed just the one time.)

trivialize the behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

I don’t really care if it’s ‘risky’ behavior.”

(Assume that their prior attitude was that they DID care.)

change one’s attitude

What dissonance reducer is the following?

I am more responsible than most drinkers/drivers.”

(Assume that they proceed to share a story about their responsible nature that has nothing to do with drinking/driving.)

self-affirmation

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“It’s only dangerous in a rare minority of cases – when you really go crazy.”

trivialize the behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“Everybody does it.”

socially compare

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“You’re right, and I plan on doing much better in the future.”

change one’s behavior (including future

behavior)

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“So many others drink/speed so much more than I do.”

socially compare

What dissonance reducer is the following?

“I can’t talk to you right now.”

(Assume that they leave the conversation, go to bed, and don’t think about the conversation again until the next morning.)

wait it out

What dissonance reducer is the following?

(for speeding) “I had to go that fast to keep up with the traffic.”

externally justify the behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

(for speeding) “I was running so late, and I couldn’t leave home any earlier because…”

externally justify the behavior

What dissonance reducer is the following?

(for drinking) “What are the police going to do? Arrest me? The police will have to arrest every student in the school.”

socially compare

According to lecture, making attributions can increase our perceived control. Which of the following is true about this increasing-perceived-control outcome?

a. It satisfies our curiosity

b. it makes us feel control

c. it makes us feel more control compared to not making attributions

d. all of these choices

c. it makes us feel more control compared to not making attributions

According to Power of Context, who first had the idea of the everyday FAE? (This item won’t be tested on Exam 2—I generally don’t test on the names of researchers—this item is mainly to give practice or to encourage the habit of reading a text to find answers to explicit heading-based questions, such as “Who Had the Idea First?”)

a. Gustav Ichheiser

b. Kurt Lewin

d. Floyd Rudmin

d. Fritz Heider

a. Gustav Ichheiser

In the Power of Context’s Victim Blaming chapter, there was a section titled “Reasons for Victim Blaming,” which had three subheadings representing three reasons (at least two of these reasons were also mentioned in lecture). Which of the following is NOT one of the three reasons? (Note: NOT)

a. belief in a just world

b. need for control

c. personal dissonance

d. selfish worldview

d. selfish worldview

In the Power of Context’s Victim Blaming chapter, there was a section titled “Gray Areas.” Here there was discussion of the “tyranny of the positive attitude in America,” how “happiness is a choice,” and how people can be blamed for not having a better attitude. This discussion explicitly occurred under which “gray area?”

a. Well-Intentioned Advice

b. The American Dream

c. In the Clinic

a. Well-Intentioned Advice

In Power of Context, one of the ways discussed to try to reduce the FAE was to play “serious video games.” Which of the following describes “serious video games?”

a. educational games that simulate real-life decision-making with an avatar

b. educational games that train the user to handle high levels of cognitive load

c. video exercises that walk the user through cases of actual detective work to solve crime

d. video exercises that expose the used to real-life stories of personal tragedy

a. educational games that simulate real-life decision-making with an avatar

In Power of Context, one of the ways discussed to try to reduce the FAE was the “raisin task.” Which of the following describes the raisin task?

a. placing a raisin under an upside-down glass and trying to eat the raisin without the use of your hands

b. setting up a small glass several feet away and trying to throw raisins successfully into the glass

c. slowly and carefully touching, smelling, and eventually eating a raisin

d. breaking up a judgement or decision into small raisin-size pieces

c. slowly and carefully touching, smelling, and eventually eating a raisin

In Experiment 1 of the logic-FAE article (Stalder. 2000), mathematicians’ attitude estimates showed a smaller FAE than non-mathematicians’ attitude estimates. Another result in Experiment 1 was that mathematicians showed…

a. lower confidence in their attitude estimates

b. higher confidence in their attitude estimates

c. lower ratings of the strength of the essay

d. lower scores on an extraversion scale

a. lower confidence in their attitude estimates

In the logic-FAE article (Stalder, 2000), how did Experiment 2 differ from Experiment 1?

a. Experiment 2 used only female participants and female characters in the story participants read

b. experiment 2 measured the FAE with a very different procedure

c. Experiment 2 used Mathematics professors only and not graduate students

d. experiment 2 used undergraduates and measured their logical reasoning ability

d. experiment 2 used undergraduates and measured their logical reasoning ability

In the happiness-FAE article (Stalder & Cook, 2014), how many female participants were there?

59

Suppose when you are tailgated, you call the tailgater a “jerk.” But when you are the tailgater, you do not call yourself a “jerk” – you claim that you are late for something important. According to lecture, the “actor-observer bias” refers to what part of this story?  

a. how you cited an external factor to explain your own behavior

b. how you called the tailgater a “jerk”

c. how you switched explanation

d. how you are unaware that your explanations may be faulty

c. how you switched explanation

Why do we make attributions?

To increase perceived control, but this does not mean you will feel total control

also we do it out of curiosity

What is the just world hypothesis?

the belief that the world is just

what is the discounting principle?

the more reasons for someone’s behavior, the less confident about a single reason

Why do we commit the FAE?

1. it’s fast and frees up brain space

2. it increases perceived control

3. it reduces stress (victim blaming)

Where might stress arise from when committing the FAE?

it may arise from low perceived control, the just-world belief being violated, or from basic empathy

What are the benefits to reducing the FAE

RIP

Reduces anger and retaliation

Increases willingness to help those in need

Prevents future mistreatment

How can we reduce the FAE?

1. educate

2. slow down (reserve judgment)

3. increase accountability for attributions

4. train the perceiver in logical reasoning

5. train in empathy

6. make the sad

What can we educate people on regarding the FAE

about what it is and what the situational factors are, and how they play a role

What are the challenges in reducing other’s FAE?

When it comes to friends, family, and coworkers, they might feel criticized or betrayed (be prepared for dichotomous thinking

What is dichotomous thinking or false dichotomy?

you’re either with me or you’re not (communicate explaining ≄ excusing)

What is the actor-observer bias?

“the switch”

What is the “observer” part of the actor-observer bias?

they tend to commit the FAE

What is the “actor” part of the actor-observer bias?

they explain their own behavior with situational attributes

Why do we commit the actor-observer bias?

to protect our egos

to know more about our own situations

What is the confirmation bias?

more likely to watch/listen to people with similar beliefs

• i.e: republicans only watch fox news

less likely to watch/listen to people with opposite beliefs

• i.e: democrats not watching Fox News

echo chamber

• i.e: you shout “the president sucks” and you hear the same statement back b/c they agree

What are the four causes of attitude?

ClIMBer

The climber had a adventurous attitude

Classical and operant conditioning

• oPeRant= Punishment and Reinforcement

• claSSical= pairing 2 Stimuli

Information

• social media, books

Modeling/imitation

• my family loves the bears, so i love the bears

Behavior (OUR OWN)

• make sure to know OUR OWN BEHAVIOR

• NYE Resolution Example: NYE drunk

  • no drinking all year and friend records

  • end up forgetting since drunk, go to get a drink at a new party, but friend reminds you of the resolution

What does the Stanford Prison Experiment prove?

proves that role playing can cause us to adopt an attitude consistent with the role (i.e: students, teachers, parents, ect)

What is an experimental design?

1. procedure: participants insulted by a confederate (an actor)

2. IV: participants given an opportunity to shock him or not

3. DV: degree of like for the “insulter”

4. Results: liked the “insulter” less in the shock confession

5. Interpretation: dissonance over hurting someone can be reduced by finding reasons to dislike him (another reason for victim blaming

What are some reasons for victim blaming?

personal dissonance

just-world hypothesis

need for control

What are the 8 strategies for dissonance reduction?

1. externally justify the behavior

• “I’m very stressed/busy”

2. change one’s attitude

• “I’m not that ___”

3. change one’s behavior

• includes future behavior

4. changes one’s perception of behavior

• “lol, no I didn’t”

• “6 cans? I only remember throwing away 4”

5. trivialize the behavior

• “whatever”

6. self-affirmation

7. socially compare

• “nobody’s perfect”

8. wait it out

What are some some ways dissonance can be used?

1. increasing recycling

2. increasing water conservation

3. increasing condom usage

4. decreasing racial prejudice

5. Decrease the risk of eating disorders

How is dissonance used in 5 ways?

all through “hypocrisy induction”

What is hypocrisy induction?

when you induce people to feel hypocrisy

or

making people feel dissonance through their behavior

What is the Festinger and Carlsmith experiment?

Procedure: paid participants to lie about a boring task

IV: $1 or $20

DV: ratings of how interesting the task was

Results: those paid $1 liked the task more, those paid $20 were able to better externally justify

In the logic-FAE article (Stalder, 2000), who were the main participants in Experiment 1?

a. faculty and graduate students

b. undergraduate and graduate students

c. graduate students

d. faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students

a. faculty and graduate students

In the logic-FAE article (Stalder, 2000), how many participants were there in Experiment 1?

a. 60

b. 87

c. 84

d. 67

c. 84

What are the ways to reduce the FAE in PCC

1. learning about the situational factors

2. Slowing down our judgment

3. reducing cognitive load

4. being accountable for our judgement

5. training in logical, statistical, or scientific reasoning

6. being sad

7. being happy or self-affirmed or less emotional

8. being empathetic

9. being mindful: the raisin task

10. becoming more comfortable with uncertainty

11. playing serious video games

12. adopting a growth mind set

13. using non FAE language