Ch. 1, 3, 4

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

1. A relational one

   • viewing the self as connected to other individuals

2. 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?

1. obtaining a positive outcome

2. 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)

1. 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

2. 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

1. behavior is a product of something within the person (internal or dispositional cause)

2. 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