PSY252: Midterm 1

social psychology

scientific study of behavior and mental processes as they relate to how people interact with one another and relate to others

sociology

society as a whole

personality

individual differences

physiology

function of the brain

Norman Triplett

1898 1st article on social psych

William McDougall

1908 1st textbook on social psych

Kurt Lewin

referred to as 'father of social psych'

behavior = f(person, social situation)

social neuroscience

brain function

What are the 4 current trends?

social neuroscience, evolutionary, cross cultural, and technology

What are the 5 research methods?

observation, case study, survey, correlation, and experiment

Observation

watching, gives us a 'snapshot' of what is happening

case study

deep dive of 1 person or small group

What is a con of a case study?

it lacks generalizability

survey

self-reported data

what is the difference between social psychology, sociology, and personality?

They are similar, but just are looked at through different lenses

philosophy

love & pursuit of knowledge

What does research say about social situation & person

social situation > person

evolutionary

why a certain trait would give you an advantage

cross-cultural

the most critical trend, discovered in the 1990's

What are the ABC's of Social Psych?

(A)ffect - feelings

(B)ehavior - actions

(C)ognition - thinking

What is a pro of a survey?

fast + efficient

What is a con of a survey?

people lie --> inaccurate

Correlation

relationship between variables (x is RELATED to y)

What is important to note about correlation?

correlation does NOT equal causation

Experiment

potentially find causal relationships (x CAUSES y)

What is important to note about experiments?

confounding variables

reliability

consistency/replicate

validity

does it measure/do what it's designed to do?

What are some ethics?

IRB, informed consent, test for deception

Institution Review Board (IRB)

mostly through academic institutions

Informed Consent

agreed contract

Replication Crisis

falsifying data; collecting more data later

All of Psych is __% replication

39%

All of SOCIAL Psych is __% replication

25%

Self

"a sense of personal identity" ; "who we are"

Self-concept

"how we SEE ourselves"

Self-schema

thoughts; labels we have about ourselves (not always through ourselves)

What are examples of self-schemas?

specific attributes, abilities, experiences

Introspection

looking within

Looking glass shelf

based sense of self on how we think others see us

reflected appraisal

see ourselves as those close to/important to us see us

social comparison

when we compare ourselves to others

^ upward comparison

compare to those who have things we desire

What is a pro of ^ upward comparison?

pro: can motivate us to improve

What is a con of ^ upward comparison?

con: can make us feel incompetent/shameful

downward comparison

comparing to those we feel we are superior to; why?: to boost our self-esteem

self-efficacy

sense of competence & confidence in our ability to deal with life's problem

locus of control

your ability to control a situation (internal + external are on a spectrum)

internal locus of control

we believe we are in control

external locus of control

" " outside factors are in control

Theories of self-discrepancy

1) Actual

2) Ideal

3) Ought

(comes from ourselves OR others)

Theories of self-discrepancy: Actual

attributes we possess

Theories of self-discrepancy: Ideal

" " hope to possess (ex. like hopes and dreams)

Theories of self-discrepancy: Ought

" " feel we should have (ex. like obligations)

cultural norms

rules for how members behave

cultural norms: individualistic

care about individual goals

cultural norms: collectivist

care about good of others/group

self-esteem

how we FEEL about ourselves both positive & negative components

self-esteem: traits

consistent & enduring

self-esteem: state

dynamic/changes (momentary feelings we have about ourselves)

self-regulation

controlling & directing the ABC's in order to meet goals (social OR personal)

self-presentation

strategies we use to make ourselves appear in a more positive light to others

self-promotion

behaving in ways or telling others the positive things about ourselves

self-monitoring

adjusting our behavior to meet the demands of that situation

self-serving bias

success are attributed to us; failures are attributed to outside

Central Nervous System

brain + spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

everything but the brain and spinal cord

autonomic (NS)

involuntary

Somatic (NS)

voluntary

sympathetic (NS)

elevates (our fight or flight)

Parasympathetic (NS)

brings us down

social cognition

collecting and assessing info about others so we can draw inferences and form impressions

collection = sensory organs

assessing = brain

What are things we collect?

physical cues, salience, facial expressions, personality traits, eye contact, moral character, non-verbal communication

physical cues

ex. what someone is wearing

salience

how much something stands out

facial expressions

how they react to something

personality traits

ex. you can tell if they are extrovert or introvert

eye contact

ex. gauges what they are comfortable with

moral character

ex. we observe their actions to access their behavior

non-verbal communication

1) Context

2) Clusters --> the frequency of the actions

3) Congruence

negativity effect

negative stands out more than positive

positivity effect

we assume people w/ positive qualities possess more positive qualities

role schema

how people carry out roles

ex. student/mother/sibling

person schema

relates to certain types of people

ex. jobs/nerds/etc.

event schema

what we expect in social situations

Pros of Schemas

cognitive processing speed

Cons of Schemas

gives incomplete info & not always accurate

primary effect

the info we receive 1st sticks with us, even when we receive contradictory info later

self-fulfilling prophecy

predictions we have influence our behavior, which causes our prediction to become true

attribution theory

desire to explain behavior

dispositional attribution

trait/person

situational attribution

outside the person/the situation

fundamental attribution error

we blame dispositional factors in others + ignore the situational factors

attitude

positive or negative evaluation about ourselves, others, objects or ideas

What is the ABC's in context to attitude?

(A)ffect --> I like it

(B)ehavior --> I frequently

(C)ognition --> attributes & descriptions

Attitude conflicting with social norms

lie to protect others feelings

Attitude conflicting with time pressure

pressured to choose quickly

Attitude conflicting with attitude strength

weaker attitudes --> less production

Attitude conflicting with attitude specificity

less specific = less predictive behavior

more specific = better predictive behavior

self-perception theory

we look at our actions to determine attitude