PSYC 241 - Midterm

social psychology

the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another

three main areas of social psychology

* social influence (culture, conformity)
* social thinking (judgements/attitudes)
* social relations (helping, aggression)

social thinking

judgements we make, how we perceive ourselves and others 

social influence

influence of culture, conformity, persuasion and biology on behaviour

social relations

how we behave towards others, how we behave differently based on the group

subjectivity

researchers interpreting information using their own mental categories

hindsight bias

tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out

research in social psychology is based on two things…

* theory
* hypothesis

theory

an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena (but not accepted as a fact) 

hypothesis

an “educated guess” about the nature of the relationship among the variables being tested 

nonexperimental method

examining existing, naturally occurring relations, in the world without manipulation of variables 

archival study (nonexperimental method)

examining existing records of past events, looking at multiple things that have already happened

case study (nonexperimental method)

a detailed examination of a single event or person

survey study (nonexperimental method)

participants complete questionnaires in order to collect a large number of responses

observational study (nonexperimental method)

participants behaviors are observed (sometimes covertly), often in a naturalistic setting without manipulation

correlation does not =

causation

independent variable

the factor that is manipulated, differs between groups

random assignment

participants are randomly assigned conditions/groups 

purpose of randomly assignment

ensures that the only thing that differs between groups is the independent variable, greater accuracy

dependent variable

the outcome that is measured, thing that you think is affected by the independent variable

limitations of experiments

* cannot feasibly manipulate some variables (age, gender, sexual orientation)
* cannot ethically manipulate some variables (drug usage, trauma)

internal validity

the extent to which differences between groups in an experiment can be unambiguously attributed to the independent variable, rather than to other factors

external validity

the degree to which one can generalize results obtained in one set of circumstances to another set of circumstances

spotlight effect

the belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance than they really are

illusion of transparency

the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others

factors that influence the self

* self-esteem
* social self
* self-knowledge
* self-concept

self-concept

how a person answers the question “Who am I?” provides a glimpse of their self-concept

self-schema

beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information

self-concept is formed by…

* social comparison
* other people’s judgements
* culture
* self-knowledge

planning fallacy

we have the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

impact bias

we overestimate the enduring impact of emotion-causing events

dual attitudes

differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes toward the same object

self-esteem

person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth

self-serving bias

tendency to perceive yourself favorably

defensive pessimism

the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one’s anxiety to motivate effective action

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviours

false uniqueness effect

the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors

temporal comparisons

comparisons between how the self is viewed now and how the self was viewed in the past or how the self is expected to be viewed in the future

self-handicapping

protecting one’s self-image with behaviours that create a handy excuse for later failure

impression management

we manage the impressions we create to shore up our self-esteem and verify our self-image 

self-presentation

the act of expressing yourself and behaving in ways designed to create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds to your ideals

self-monitoring

being attuned to the way you present yourself in social situations and adjusting your performance to create the desired impression

self-presentation theory

a theory positing that we are eager to present ourselves in ways that make a good impression

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events

individualistic cultures

value individuality, autonomy, and self-reliance; place the individual first (Canada, USA, Australia)

collectivist cultures

value fitting in, cooperation, and social harmony; place the group first (China, Korea)

individualism-collectivism influences  

* our sense of self
* our sense of self-esteem
* social cognition

system 1 (unconscious)

functions automatically and out of our awareness; fast, error prone, responsible for everyday decisions

system 2 (conscious)

requires our conscious attention and effort and is deliberate and controlled; slow, reliable, responsible for complex decisions

priming

activating particular associations in memory, typically without awareness

schemas

mental concepts or templates that intuitively guide our perceptions and interpretations of our experience

expertise

people may intuitively know the answer to a problem 

heuristics

simple, efficient thinking strategies that enable quick judgements  

representativeness heuristic

the tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling (representing) a typical member

availability heuristic

a cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory

counterfactual thinking

imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn’t

illusory correlation

a perception of a relationship where none exists or a perception of a stronger relationship than actually exist

regression toward the average

the statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to return toward the person’s average

belief perseverance

persistence of your initial conceptions, as when the basis for your belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives

misinformation effect

incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of an event, after witnessing an event and then receiving misleading information about it

misattribution

mistakenly attributing a behaviour to the wrong cause

attribution theory

theory of how people explain the behaviour of others

dispositional attribution

attributing behaviour to the person’s disposition and traits 

situational attribution

attributing behaviour to the environment 

spontaneous trait inference

an effortless, automatic inference of a trait after exposure to someone’s behaviour

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences on others’ behavior

explanations for attribution error

* actor-observer difference;

we observe others from a different perspective than we observe ourselves
* cultural differences

behavioral confirmation

people’s social expectations lead them to act in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations

bottom up self-esteem

top down self-esteem

confirmation bias

look for evidence that supports your belief, rather than looking for contradictory evidence

actor-observer effect

refers to a tendency to attribute one's own actions to external causes while attributing other people's behaviors to internal causes

fixed mindset

intelligence/ability is innate

growth mindset

intelligence/ability is developed

attitude

a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, exhibited in one’s beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior

IAT (implicit association test)

a computer-driven assessment of implicit attitudes that uses reaction times to measure people’s automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words, where easier pairings (and faster responses) are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations

role

a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave

norms

rules for accepted and expected behavior that prescribe “proper” behavior

foot-in-door technique

a tactic for getting people to agree to something; people who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante, people who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply with it

door-in-the-face technique

after someone first turns down a large request (the door in the face), the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request

three possible sources for the effect of action on attitudes 

* self-presentation theory
* cognitive dissonance theory
* self-perception theory

self-presentation theory

assumes that, for strategic reasons, we express attitudes that make us appear consistent

cognitive dissonance theory

assumes that to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves;

tension that arises when we are simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions

self-perception theory

assumes that our actions are self-revealing (when uncertain about our feelings or beliefs, we look to our behaviour, much as anyone else would);

when unsure of our attitudes, we infer them much as would someone observing us—by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs

attitude

psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor

tripartite theory (ABC’s of attitudes)

affect (love sushi), behaviour (frequent orders), cognition (sushi is good for you)

explicit measures of attitudes

self report survey, bogus pipeline

problems with explicit measures for attitudes

bias

social desirability bias

the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others

explicit attitudes

measured with explicit measures where the true measure is known to the participant

implicit attitudes

measured with implicit measures (e.g. reaction time), the true measure is not really known to the participant

____ is important when measuring attitudes

specificity

specificity matching

asking these specific questions to get an accurate measure of behavior

intentions

represent whether a person believes that he or she will engage in a specific behavior

implementation intentions

hen individuals identify precisely when and where the behavior is to be performed

effort justification

justifying the time, effort, or money that one has devoted to something (especially when the effort was unpleasant or disappointing)

persuasion

the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behavior

two paths leading to persuasion

central route & peripheral route

central route

occurs when motivated people focus on the arguments and think systematically about an issue

persuasion through central route is best done through…

strong, compelling, thoughtful arguments