social psych ch 6 & 8

cognitive dissonance

the discomfort people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways with are inconsistent with their conception of themselves

how to reduce dissonance

• By changing our behavior to bring it in line with the dissonant cognition

• By attempting to justify our behavior through changing one of the dissonant cognitions

• By attempting to justify our behavior by adding new cognitions

postdecision dissonance

dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives

justification of effort

the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they worked hard to attain, especially if they have freely chosen to exert that effort

counterattitudinal behavior

acting in a way that is inconsistent with one’s private beliefs

external justification

explaining a counterattitudinal behavior as due to something about the situation or environment

internal justification

reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself, such as attitude or behavior

insufficient punishment

the dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object

hypocracy induction

the arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behaviors and then reminding them of the inconsistency of what they advocated and their behavior; the purpose is to lead individuals to more responsible behavior

how to resolve post decision dissonance

• focusing on the positives about the chosen option

• focusing on the negatives about the rejected option

permanence

Irrevocable decisions present strong motivation to reduce dissonance because it rules out changes of behavior as a method. Gotta accept behavior, so find a way to be happy about it.

illusory irrevocability

get the effects of permanence on dissonance reduction without the behavior really being permanent

low balling

after committing to a behavior, the cost can be raised to a point that would not have been initially agreed to, without the actor withdrawing

decisional stress

stress is acquired from having to make a decision, once the decision is made the stress goes away; however, if the decision is withdrawn the stress comes back

self affirmation theory

the idea people can reduce the threats to their self-esteem by affirming themselves in areas unrelated to the source of the threat

values affirmation writing exercise

people are given a list of values, asked to pick the one that is most important to them, and then to write about why that value is important; these have been shown to have a wide range of lasting positive effects on people’s lives, particularly when they allow people to mitigate a threat to one area of their self-esteem (e.g., doing poorly in school) by reminding themselves that there are other parts of their lives that are important to them

self evaluation maintenance theory

The idea that people experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area that is central to our self-esteem. This dissonance can be reduced by becoming less close to the person, changing our behavior so that we now outperform them, or deciding that the area is not that important to us after all.

ways to reduce dissonance from self evaluation maintenance theory

1. Distance yourself from the person that outperforms us

2. Change how relevant the task is to our self esteem

3. Change your performance relative to another persons

narcissism

the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others

terror management theory

the theory that self-esteem serves as a buffer, protecting people from terrifying thoughts about their own mortality

insufficient punishment effect

valuation of a desired object/activity decreases if there is no good external justification for resisting the desire object/activity

conformity

changing one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others

informational social influence

relying on other people as a source of information to guide our behavior, which leads to conformity because we believe that others’ interpretation of an ambiguous situation is correct

private acceptance

people conforming to the behavior of others because they genuinely believe that these other people are right

public compliance

conforming publicly without necessarily believing what other people are saying or doing

when will people conform to informational social influence?

when the situation is ambiguous, is a crisis or when other people are experts

social norms

implicit (and sometimes explicit) rules for acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs

hikikomori

a Japanese phenomenon wherein teenagers (mostly male) who have withdrawn from all social interaction

normative social influence

the influence of other people leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted; this type of conformity results in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily in private acceptance

social impact theory

the idea that conforming to social influence depends on the group’s importance, its immediacy, and the number of people in the group

idiosyncrasy credits

the tolerance a person earns, over time, by conforming to group norms; if enough credits are earned, the person can, on occasion, deviate from the group without retribution

minority influence

the case where a minority of group members influences the behavior or beliefs of the majority

autokinetic effect

apparent movement of bright light on dark background; due to lack of fixed referenced

compliance

behavior change as the result of a direct request

reciprocity

if someone does something for you, it creates an expectation that you will repay those actions in kind