Social Psych Exam #3

The Propinquity Effect

The more we see and interact with people, the more likely we will become friends

Mere exposure effect

More exposure to stimulus, more likely to like it (first exposure is important though)

What predicts attraction

Proximity and Similarity

Reciprocal Liking

We like other people who we think like us, can make up for absence of similarity

Physical Attraction

Most important

Power of Familiarity

People prefer faces that resemble their own, or like faces they’ve seen before

Culture and Standard of Beauty

Beauty is similar across cultures in general

Halo Effect

Whats beautiful is good

Top Partner Characteristics

Trustworthiness, honesty, pleasant personality

Perspectives on Sexual Differences

More rich women care more abt physical attractiveness, women are pickier than men in mate selection only when they are approached, not when they are approaching

Digital Effects on Connection

Pairs lower feelings of connection when a device is present at convo (likely fomo)

Attraction in Digital Age

Proximity is not as important, similarity and familiarity have similar results (able to create idealized versions of person before meeting)

Online Dating

Online dating is no more effective than old fashioned ways of connecting (catfishing is an issue)

What is love

Liking and intimacy, commitment, passion

Sternberg’s Triangular Love Theory

3 core components, intimacy, passion, and commitment.

Triangular Theory of Love Combos

Companionate Love: The feelings of intimacy and affection we have for someone that are not accompanied by passion or physiological arousal (late stages) | Romantic Love: An intense longing we feel for a person, accompanied by physiological arousal – lacks the commitment (early stages) | Fatuous Love: very passionate, fast-moving, and committed, but lacks stable foundation – not very long-lasting | Consummate love – all three components

Culture with love

Romantic love is less important in arranged marriages (community and family are primary considerations)

Attachment styles

Secure attachment style – trust, a lack of concern with

being abandoned, and the view that one is worthy and

well liked – most enduring relationships, progresses

healthily | Avoidant attachment style – difficulty developing

intimate relationships because previous attempts to be

intimate have been rebuffed – first in, first out | Anxious/ambivalent style – concern that others will not reciprocate one’s desire for intimacy, resulting in anxiety – least likely to enter relationships | Disorganized attachment exists too

Misattribution of Arousal

Physiological arousal can be triggered by strong attraction, but it can also be the cause of strong attraction (more brain activity looking at partner vs friend)

Social Exchange Theory

Peoples feelings abt a relationship depend on their perceptions of its rewards and costs (the outcome), their expectations, and their chances of having a better relationship with someone else

Investment Model

Sunk cost fallacy but in a relationship

Equity Theory

The idea that people are happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs experienced by both parties are roughly equal

Exchange Relationship

Relationships governed by the need for equity

Communal Relationship

Relationship in which peoples primary concern is being responsive to other peoples needs (not getting paid back) (healthier)

5 ways people give and receive love

Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, Physical Touch

Key to marital happiness

Speaking your partners primary love language

Stages of Ending a Relationship

Intrapersonal phase: assess own dissatisfaction with relationship | Dyadic phase: confronting partner, repair attempts | Social phase: reporting breakup to family and friends, negotiating with ex | Second intrapersonal phase: dealing with the break-up, “getting over it,” processing it

Types of behavior that occur in troubled relationships

Destructive behaviors: Threatening to leave, actively looking for other partners | Allowing relationships to deteriorate: Refusing to deal with problems, passively ignoring the partner | Actively attempting to improve relationships: Discussing problems, seeking therapy | Passively remaining loyal: Being optimistic, passively hoping problems solve themselves

Break Ups Predictable?

unusual and different” becomes “we have

nothing in common” | exciting and unpredictable” becomes “I

can’t trust you” | No gender differences in who breaks up first

Gottman’s Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, Stonewalling (predicts the end of a relationship)

Prosocial Behavior

Any act with the goal of benefitting another person

Alturism

The desire to help even at the cost of the helper

Kin Selection

The idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection, help those that look like us

Norm of Reciprocity

The expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood they will help us in the future (gratitude evolved to enforce this norm)

Group Selection Theory for Prosocial Genetics

Natural selection operates at the group level (the group that wins is likely more altruistic, giving their live up for the group)

Social Exchange Theory

Much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize our rewards and minimize our costs, theorist argue that altruism doesn’t exist, people help when they expect the benefits to outweigh the costs

Baston Theory for Altruism

Altruism emerges when we feel empathy for the person in need of help

Empathy

Putting ourselves in the shoes of another person and experiencing events the way that person experiences them

Affective Empathy

Traditional view, feeling the emotions of others

Cognitive Empathy

I under stand how you feel, perspective taking

Empathy vs Sympathy

Sympathy is "feeling for," and empathy is "feeling with”

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

When we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain, but only under some conditions

The Carol Experiment

High Empathy Group: Helped at high rates regardless of whether it was easy to escape (low cost) or not (high cost). Low Empathy Group: Helped mainly when it was difficult to escape (high cost), suggesting they were motivated by lowering their own discomfort, not just Carol's.

Evolutionary Psych Prosocial Theory

Helping is instinctive, used to promote welfare of genetically similar people

Why do some people help more than others?

Individual Differences, gender differences, and cultural differences

Altruistic Personality

The qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations

Gender Differences in Prosocial Behavior

Men tend to be more likely to perform a dramatic, heroic act, but women tend to be more likely to take part in a long-term helping relationship

Cultural Differences in Prosocial Behavior

evidence suggests that people tend to favor their in-group (same ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc) over their out-group (someone who does not identify with group) when it comes to helping

Religion and Prosocial Behavior

Religious people are more likely to behave altruistically toward their in-group members, but no more likely to help strangers

Four Perspectives of Religion and Prosocial Behavior

1. Supernatural punishment hypothesis (Bering & Johnson, 2005 2. Moral communities perspective (Graham & Haidt, 2010) 3. Costly signaling theory (Irons, 2001) 4. Religious Self-Regulation (McCullough & Willoughby, 2009)

Feel Good, Do Good

More likely to help after finding a dime on the ground

Feel Bad, Do Good

Sadness can also increase helping (helping makes people feel better)

Guilt

Good deeds cancel out bad deeds

Mood on Prosocial Behavior

Feel good do good, feel bad do good, and guilt

Situational Determinants

Environmental: Rural Versus Urban – People are more likely to help in small

towns versus large cities.

Urban overload hypothesis for situational determinants

People living in cities are constantly bombarded with stimulation and that they keep to themselves to avoid being overwhelmed by it

Moral Licensing

Psychological phenomenon where doing something “good” gives a person a kind of moral credit that makes them more likely to do something “bad” later

The Bystander Effect

Less likely to help when other people present

How Do People Decide to Intervene

Noticing an event, interpreting the event as an emergency, assuming responsibility, knowing how to help, deciding to implement the help

Pluralistic Ignorance

People privately reject a belief or behavior but mistakenly think that everyone else accepts it, so they go along with it to fit in

Bystander Effect in Digital Age

Phones will record but not help

Video Games and Music on Empathy

These media increase empathy and the accessibility of thoughts related to helping one another

How Can Helping Be Increased

Educate abt the bystander effect, bystander intervention programs, seeing others perform behavior, practice overcoming the freeze response

Increasing Volunteerism

“Mandatory volunteerism” can be problematic – the overjustification effect Extrinsic reasons to volunteer (being forced) leads to underestimation of intrinsic reasons (because they wanted to volunteer) – this same concept may apply to mandatory trainings (DEI, microaggression, Bystander, etc.)