Studied by 122 people
social psych ch. 1, 3, 4
What is social psychology?
the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, & behaviors of individuals in social situations
Social cognition is most closely tied to which of the following core ideas in social psychology?
the idea of subjective construal
Who is the founder of social psychology?
Kurt Lewin
What is the “field of forces” that Kurt Lewin emphasized in understanding human behavior?
social situations
Power of the situation
To predict a person's behavior, we must know about their immediate social situation & not just about who they are as a person
Fundamental attribution error
failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior
overemphasizing importance of dispositions on behavior
What are dispositions?
internal factors that guide a person’s behavior (ex: beliefs, values, personality traits, abilities)
What do the results of the Milgram experiment and Darley and Batson’s Good Samaritan study have in common?
Both highlight the power of the situation in determining behavior
When is someone most likely to do what an authority figure tells them to do, even if it involves hurting someone?
when people can hold the authority figure responsible for his or her actions
Channel factors
help explain why certain circumstances that seem unimportant can have great influence on behavior
either facilitating or blocking it
Nudges
a way to manipulate ppl’s choices to lead them to make specific decisions (ex: putting healthy items a eye level in the cafeteria)
affects behavior
Gestalt psychology
an approach that stresses the fact that ppl’s perception of objects involve active, usually nonconscious interpretation of what the object represents as a whole
Naive realism
belief that we see the world directly w/o complicated perceptual or cognitive machinery (which is false)
Construal
one’s interpretation of or inference abt the stimuli or situation that one confronts
Schemas
a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored info that’s used to help in understanding events
ex: we know how to behave when dealing with a professor, cop, sibling, boss, etc.
ex: we know how to behave in seminar (at a funeral, fancy restaurant, riding a crowded trolley, etc.)
Stereotypes
a belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group
Automatic processing
nonconscious
often emotional
implicit processing
much faster
Controlled processing
conscious
systematic
slow & runs one step at a time
explicit processing
Ideomotor mimicry
we subconsciously imitate others’ body language
Why does mental processing take place outside of our awareness?
efficiency
Subtle situational influences can include:
words
sights
sounds
smells, etc.
Natural selection
evolutionary process that molds animals & plants so that traits that enhance the probability of survival & reproduction are passed down to future generations
How can evolution explain our capacity for culture?
learning languages
caring for offspring
play
forming groups/tribes
cooperation, etc.
B = f(P,E)
Behavior is a function of the person & the environment
Universal behaviors, reactions, institutions
facial expressions
dominance & submission
food sharing
group living
aggressiveness in males
wariness around snakes
How did group living help survival in the past?
community care of offspring
protection from predators
greater success at hunting & foraging
Why is language important when living in groups?
convey emotions & intentions
convey beliefs, attitudes, & complex thoughts
What does evidence say about infants’ brains being pre-wired to acquire language?
developmental stage for language virtually the same across countries
children can learn to speak any language depending on where they grow up
Theory of mind
ability to recognize that others have beliefs & desires & that understanding them allows us to understand & predict behaviors
usually formed at 2 yrs old
Naturallistic fallacy
the claim that the way things are is the way they should be (false)
What can a fMRI show us?
which brain regions are involved in the social behavior of interest
Amygdala
involved in “gut feelings”
nonconscious, automatic reactions
shared w other animals
Nucleus accumbens
rich w receptors for dopamine
brain’s “reward circuit”
ex: smiles from others, eating delicious food, getting support from friends
Neocortex
involved in reasoning, abstracct thought, memory
social behavior
self awareness
moral judgement
empathy network
“mentalizing” network
Why are adolescents more likely to take risks?
region (in prefrontal cortex) that alerts ppl to danger is poorly developed until early adulthood
Independent (Individualistic) Culture
ppl tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities, separated from other ppl (ex: U.S, Canada, Australia, West Europe)
Interdependent (Collectivistic) Culture
ppl tend to define themselves as part of a collective, tied to others in their group (ex: China, Japan, Korea, Latin America, India)
Brain studies on culture showed:
ppl who were more independent had denser gray matter
Familialism
social value defined by interpersonal warmth, closeness, & support
Social Class
captures the degree of wealth, education, & occupational prestige a person enjoys
working-class tend to be more interdependent
What causes societies to become tighter?
frequent invasion
natural disasters
chronic food scarcity
What does culture determine?
which behaviors are likely to be developed in particular situations
Who coined the term “social me?”
William James
Why do we draw inaccurate conclusions about ourselves?
our mental processes are nonconscious, occurring outside our awareness
What did Vazire & Mehl (2008) study results reveal?
although we tend to believe that we know ourselves best, close others do a better job predicting certain aspects of our behavior than we do
How can self-knowledge be stored?
stored in memories to be retrieved, elaborated on, & used as a source of info
Who developed the theory of social comparison?
Leon Festinger (1954)
Theory of Social Comparison
ppl will seek to evaluate their opinions & abilities by comparing with those similar to them
occurs when people have no objective standard by which to judge themselves.
Possible sources of self-knowledge
reflected appraisals
distinctiveness w/in social contexts
culture
gender
social comparisons
group memberships
State self-esteem
more likely to be influenced by the situations in which ppl find themselves inn
At what age does human self-recognition typically emerge?
18-24 months
Socialization agents
family
teachers
peers, etc.
What do socialization agents teach us?
teach us which attitudes & behaviors are socially appropriate (ex: sharing, saying “thank you”)
Who coined “looking-glass self?”
Charles H. Cooley (1902)
Looking-glass self
other ppl’s reactions to us (their approval or disapproval) serve as a “mirror”
Reflected self-appraisal
a belief abt what others think of one’s self
What is self-knowledge partly derived from?
reflected self-appraisal
Situationism
social self changes across different contexts
Working self-concept
subset of knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context
ex: rebellious with friends but conservative w parents or professors
What did the McGuire & Singer (1976) study show about U.S children and how they defined themselves?
children defined themselves with respect to how they differed from their classmates
Independent Self-Construals
common in Western cultures & former British colonies
assert uniqueness & independence
self-expression
choice
pursuit of opportunities
Interdependent Self-Construals
self embedded in social relationships, roles, duties
Asian, African, Latin cultures
constraints in environments
dependence on others
Gender & the social self
women in U.S tend to construe the self in more interdependent terms
men in U.S prioritize differences & uniqueness
Where do gender differences in self-construal come from?
socialization processes
raising boys & girls differently
influenced by early friendships
gendered roles in media
2 forms of interdependent self-construal
A relational one
viewing the self as connected to other individuals
A collective one
viewing the self in relation to social groups or collectives
downward social comparison
boosts our self-esteem by comparing ourselves to ppl worse off
upward social comparison
engaged when we focus on improving ourselves
comparing ourselves to those we think are better than or superior to us
Social identities
the parts of a person’s sense of self that are derived from group memberships
ex: “I am Latina” “I am a student”
Self-stereotyping
phenomenon whereby ppl come to define themselves in terms of traits, norms, & values that they associate w a social group when their identity as a member of that group is important
ex: “I am Californian” which brings stereotypes of being laid-back, eco-friendly, & liberal
Self-Esteem
the overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves
Trait self-esteem
a person’s enduring level of self regard across time
tends to be stable
State self-esteem
refers to the dynamic, changeable self evaluations a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self
shifts during diff. stages of development
Contingencies of self-worth (Jennifer Crocker, 2002)
thesis that ppl’s self esteem is contingent on their success & failures in domains they deem important to their self-worth
Sociometer hypothesis
idea that self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others
Self-enhancement
desire to maintain, increase, or protect one’s positive self views
various strategies used
Self-serving construals
most ppl tend to view themselves positively
better-than-average effect
the finding that most ppl think they’re above average on various personality traits & ability dimensions
Self-affirmation theory
idea that ppl can maintain an overall sense of self-worth after being exposed to psychologically threatening info. affirming a value aspect of themselves unrelated to the threat
ppl can respond to threats in one domain of life by affirming self-worth in other domains
Self-Verification
ppl pay particular attention to info. that is consistent with their self-views
ppl strive for others to view them as they view themselves
Identity cues
create self-confirming social environments
ex: hairstyles, tattoos, other identity cues
Self-Regulation
process by which ppl initiate & control their behavior in the pursuit of goals
ability to resist short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term goals
resisting temptations
Self-Discrepancy Theory
behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal & ought selves
falling short of these standards elicit specific emotions & may lead to efforts to get closer to them
How are the goals we are pursuing, construed?
obtaining a positive outcome
avoiding negative outcome
How to resist a temptation
helps to focus more on unappealing facets
ex: spending money, losing sleep
What construals emphasize ppl’s larger goals & values?
higher level construal
High level construal (example)
ex: thinking about saving money to become financially independent
“forest”
Low level construal (example)
ex: focused on the balance in ur bank account
“tree”
Implementation strategies
an “if then” plan to engage in a goal-directed behavior (“then”) whenever a particular cue (“if”) is encountered
Social Cognition
how ppl think abt social entities (themselves & others)
Two dimensions that stood out in the Todorov study (2006)
Positive Negative dimension
assessments about whether someone looks trustworthy
ppl are predisposed to make judgements about if one should be approached or avoided
ex: aggressive-looking or not
Power dimension
assessments about whether someone seems confident or bashful
ex: dominant or submissive
Snap judgements
psychology of first impressions
Accuracy of snap judgements
some accuracy to impressions based on extremely brief exposure to other people’s behavior
unwise to put too much confidence in our snap judgements
Pooled ratings
group average predicting group average
averaged ratings are often more accurate than the most accurate individual
What can inter-rater agreement reflect?
shared stereotypes (which are not always accurate)
What can different pictures of the same face lead to?
very different impressions
2 types of Causal attribution
behavior is a product of something within the person (internal or dispositional cause)
reflection of something about the context or circumstances surrounding the behavior (external or situational cause)
Covariation principle
the idea that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behavior
Consensus
extent to which other people would behave the same way in the same situation
type of covariation info.
distinctiveness
whether behavior is unique to a particular situation or occurs in main (or all) situations
type of covariation info.
situational attribution
called for when consensus & distinctiveness are both high
Note 
Flashcard (20)