Social Psych

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to attribute behavior of someone else to their character/personality (internal factors) and to underestimate the role of the situation (external factor)

Perceptual Salience Bias

tendency to assume what is most salient is most significant to understanding the cause of behavior

Making attractions is a 2-step process

1. Make an internal attribution

- assume that a person's behavior was due to something about that person

- occurs quickly, spontaneously, easily

2. Adjust attribution by considering the situation

- only if time/motivated- requires effort, conscious attention

- may fail to make enough adjustment in second step

Just-world phenomenon

belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Cultural Differences in FAE

people from more individualistic (independent) cultures more likely to make FAE than those from more collectivistic (interdependent) cultures

Age Differences in FAE

• in independent cultures, FAE became more likely at older ages

• if FAE increases with age and is more likely in some cultures, suggests FAE is learned

- if FAE increases with age and is more likely in some cultures, suggests FAE is learned

Individual Self

beliefs about what sets you apart from others---unique traits, abilities, preferences, talents, etc.

Relational Self

beliefs about our identities in specific relationships

Collective Self

beliefs about our identities as members of social groups to which we belong

Self- knowledge

our beliefs about who we are and the way in which we formulate and organize this information

Self-control

the way in which we make plans and execute decisions

impression management

how we present ourselves to other people

self-esteem

the way we feel about ourselves

The social self

- our sense of self is social in nature

- what often determines the aspect of self that becomes most salient in a given situation is the current context

- the social self changes across different context

self-concept

what we know and understand about ourselves

self-schemas

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

Working self- concept

currently active aspects of the self; self-concept of the moment

availability heuristic

the process of judging frequency by the ease with which instances come to mind

introspection

mindful/effortful examination of contents of ones mind and mental states

looking-glass self

the idea that other people's reactions to us--their approval or disapproval--serve as a mirror of sorts

reflected self-appraisals

our beliefs about what others think of us

Spotlight effect

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

Social Comparison Theory

suggests that people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others

When might we be motivated to seek out knowledge about who we are?

1. self-enhancement motive

2. self-assessment/ accuracy motive

3. self-improvement motive

4. consistency motive

2. self-assessment/ accuracy motive

3. self-improvement motive

4. consistency motive

Self-enhancement Motive

desire to learn favorable or flattering things about the self

downward social comparison

comparing ourselves to those who we perceive as worse or worse off than we are

Self-Assessment Motive

desire to learn the truth about oneself/desire for accurate self-assessments

Self-Improvement

desire to improve oneself

upward social comparisons

compare ourselves with those we perceive as better at a skill, further along

Consistency Motive

desire for feedback that confirms what person already believes about themselves

self-verification theory

at times we are motivated to get feedback that confirms our self concept

How can we help someone change their negative self-concept?

-when praise is inconsistent with negative self-concept, person will typically become motivated to prove the validity of the negative self-view

- try to undermine the person's certainty of their negative self-view

- change the social feedback one receives day after day

Self-regulation

refers to the process of exerting and managing the self to accomplish a long-term goal

- begins with setting a long-term goal

- proceeds through planning and strategic thinking

- implementing action and self-control

- monitoring and checking

- reflecting and revising

self-control

the capacity to suppress, restrain, and even override an impulsive desire in the moment to pursue a long-term goal

attitude

a learned evaluative (positive or negative) response to specific objects

where do our attitudes come from?

shaped by conditioning, observational learning, and cultural norms

classical conditioning

stimulus that elicits on involuntary response is paired up with a neutral stimulus

CC is PASSIVE learning: happens without active involvement on animals part

Operant conditioning

behaviors we freely choose to perform become more or less frequent depending on whether they are followed by a reward/ reinforcement or punishment

- oc is ACTIVE learning: learn that engaging in behaviors leads to rewards and avoiding some avoids punishment

explicit attitudes

those we are aware of, consciously under our control in terms of behavior

- what we say/are aware of

Implicit attitudes

involuntary, uncontrollable in terms of behavior

- automatic associations/Amy not be aware of

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

reaction time and accuracy are used as measure of implicit associations

- assumes that faster pairing= stronger mental associations

self-perception theory (Bem)

predicts behavior will shape attitudes when original attitude is ambiguous, less important, weaker

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)

Predicts behavior will shape attitudes when behavior is inconsistent with original attitude that is important and clear

Consistency Principle

states people are motivated to maintain cognitive consistency and will change attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors to achieve this consistency

cognitive dissonance

discomfort caused by inconsistency among a persons beliefs, attitudes, and/ or action

3 main areas of research on cognitive dissonance theory

1. counter-attitudinal behavior

2. decision making

3. effort

2. decision making

3. effort

fundamental assertion of Festinger's theory

when someone engages in a behavior that is inconsistent with an existing attitude, this will lead to a change in attitude only when there is insufficient external justification

post-decision dissonance

the dissonance aroused after making a decision

more important decisions=

more dissonance

permanence of decision=

more dissonance

Festinger

dissonance occurs when cognitions are inconsistent

Aronson

dissonance is most powerful when behavior conflicts with ones positive self-image

persuasion

attempt to change a person's attitude

central route

direct route involving thoughtful consideration of arguments and evidence; focus on quality of arguments in a message

peripheral route

indirect route involving more simple, superficial cues related to message

social me

refers to what we know about ourselves from social relationships

self-schema

a cognitive structure, derived from past experience, that represents a person's beliefs and feelings about the self, in both general and specific situations

Hazel Markus

hypothesized that if self-schema exist, then a person who has a self-schema in a particular domain should process information in that domain more quickly, retrieve evidence consistent with the schema more rapidly, and readily reject information that contradicts the schema

schematic

participants who rated themselves closer to the extremes of dependence and independence

aschematic

those who rated themselves moderately on this dimension and for whom neither dependence not independence was important to their self-definition

working self-concept

subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context

Independent Self-Construal

Self is an autonomous entity that is distinct and separate from others (inward focus on self)

Interdependent self-construals

self is fundamentally connected to other people (outward focus on the social situation)

Medial prefrontal cortex

particularly active when people are asked to judge themselves with respect to various trait dimensions, involved in processes that represent self-knowledge

People with interdependent self-construals

the same region of the brain represents one's self and one's mother, they are merged

Social comparison theory

the idea people compare themselves to other people to obtain an accurate assessment of their opinions, abilities, and internal states

Social identities

the phenomenon whereby people come to define themselves in terms of traits, norms, and values that they associate with a social group when their identity as a member of that group is salient

Assembly Bill 3659

charged with two goals: understanding the effects of self-esteem on drug use, teen pregnancy, and high school dropout rates and elevating the self-esteem of schoolchildren

Initiative was based on the assumption that strengthening self-esteem would help cure society's ills

People with low self-esteem

Less satisfied with life

More hopeless

More depressed

Less able to cope with life's challenges, such as the social and academic demands of college

Tend to disengage from tasks following failure

More prone to antisocial behavior and delinquency