social animal flashcards 2

theory

a well-supported, organized explanation of how or why something happens in the world

hypothesis

a specific, testable, and falsifiable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables. It acts as an educated guess that guides a research study or experiment

observational method

researcher observes people and systematically records measurements or impressions of their behavior

correlational method

The technique whereby two or more variables are systematically measured to examine the association between them

experimental method

A method of investigation used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships by purposely manipulating one factor thought to produce change in another factor; manipulate one variable to see the effect on another

random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

random sampling

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

internal validity

the degree to which changes in the dependent variable are due to the manipulation of the independent variable

external validity

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people

construct validity

the degree to which a test measures what it claims to be measuring

generalizability

Extent to which research results apply to a range of individuals not included in the study.

mundane realism

the degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events in the real world

psychological realism

the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life

attitudes

a positive, negative or mixed evaluation of some specific object (person, thing or abstract idea)

valence

whether the attitude is positive, negative, or neutral; is your overall evaluation positive or negative?

extremity

how positive or negative is it?

strength

how strong or weak is your attitude? how changeable is your attitude?

object appraisal

helps us classify things in our environment, thus organizing and simplifying our lives --> acts as a mental shortcut. It lets people quickly evaluate, classify, and respond to objects, people, or events in their environment as either beneficial (pleasure/reward) or harmful (pain/cost).
The fundamental function of attitudes

knowledge functions

help people organize and interpret new information

value-expressed functions

used to express central values or beliefs

social-adjustment functions

attitudes affect our social relationships (can help or hurt them)

ego-defensive functions

attitudes can help people protect their self-esteem

tripartite model of attitudes

Postulates that attitudes are composed of three elements: affect, cognition, and behavior

ABC model of attitudes

affect, behavior, cognition

LaPieres Study

Exposed the relationship between racial attitudes and social conduct; Wrote to establishments they visited if they would serve a Chinese visitor? 90% said no → majority (249/250) of establishments DID provide service
Studies suggested a weak relationship between attitudes and behavior

specificity principle

attitudes are much better predictors of a specific behavior when the attitude measurement matches the exact level of specificity as the behavior itself
- To predict specific behaviors, measure specific attitudes
- To predict general behaviors, measure general attitudes

theory of planned behavior

the idea that people's intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviors, which are determined by their attitudes toward specific behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control

direct/self-report measures

ask people what their attitudes are; this assumes that people know their attitudes and will honestly report them

social desirability response bias

Tendency of respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be favorably viewed by others

indirect/covert measures

people do not realize their attitude is being assessed and do not even need to know what their attitudes are

elaboration likelihood model

a model of persuasion maintaining that there are two different routes to persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route; people are persuaded by messages

central route to persuasion

motivated and analytical; high effort, evaluate message, lasting change in attitude; the better route to take to create lasting change

peripheral route to persuasion

not motivated or analytical; low effort and persuaded by cues outside of message, temporary change in attitude

cognitive dissonance

the mental discomfort or tension a person feels when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes, or when their behavior directly clashes with their principles

effort justification paradigm

a psychological tendency to increase the subjective value of an outcome, goal, or group simply because you worked hard, suffered, or spent a lot of money to achieve it

To ease this discomfort, the brain changes its perception—inflating the subjective worth of the goal so the effort feels "worth it."

insufficient justification paradigm

a social psychology phenomenon where people change their personal attitudes or beliefs to match their behavior when they lack a strong external reason (like a large reward or a severe threat) for doing it

social influence

The ways in which people are affected by the real or imagined presence of others

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard; behavior is regulated among people of equal status

compliance

behavior change that occurs as a result of a direct request; someone asks you to do something and you do it

obedience

compliance that occurs in response to a directive from an authority figure (involves a social hierarchy/an order; one person has more power/status than the other)

informational conformity

influence due to the belief that others are behaving correctly; occurs when people conform to the actions, opinions, or beliefs of others because they genuinely believe those others possess more accurate information or superior knowledge

normative conformity

a psychological phenomenon where people change their behavior, opinions, or actions to conform to group norms in order to be liked, accepted, and avoid social rejection or ridicule

autokinetic effect

illusion, caused by very slight movements of the eye, that a stationary point of light in a dark room is moving
- Participants placed in a dark room and asked to estimate how far a light moves in inches
- It is hard to tell how far the light moves without visual cues of spatial relevance
- First done alone, then with other actual participants
- Found over time, participants began to conform to each other

descriptive norms

People's perceptions of how people actually behave in given situations, regardless of whether the behavior is approved or disapproved of by others

prescriptive/injunctive norms

people's perceptions of what behaviors are generally approved of or frowned on by others; where the group should be

asch line experiment

experiment designed to test how peer pressure to conform would influence the judgment and individuality of a test subject involving determining the length of lines; found people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.

implicit norms

unspoken, unwritten standards of behavior for a group of people; ex. no standing on a chair, wearing a shirt in public

explicit norms

formally communicated rules that govern behavior of group members; ex. laws or traffic rules

private acceptance

conforming to other people's behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right

public acceptance

conforming publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying

pluralistic ignorance

the case in which people think that everyone else is interpreting a situation in a certain way, when in fact they are not

ex. almost everyone in a group dislikes or doubts something, yet everyone stays quiet because they think everyone else agrees with it

petrified tree study

shows how descriptive norms are more powerful than injunctive norms

when sign said don't collect wood only went down a little

when sign said majority of people collect wood, tons of more wood collected

invisibilia podcast

Music was banned in Somalia but a reality tv show emulating american idol brought a new opportunity
- Used to undermine the power of al-shabab/the power of a music-hating extremist group → communicates to the audience a very different way of being/indirect political messages
- Peoples behaviors were changed by changing what they considered to be the social norm → if you change someone's perception of what constitutes as the social norm, you can convince people the world is safe enough to sing in public

milgram experiment

A series of psychological experiments which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.

variations of the milgram experiment

obedience depends on the closeness to the confederate

The closeness of the experimenter (if the person telling you to shock is close the conformity increases)

Done in an office building versus lab setting, obedience dropped

The fact that the experimenter is in a white coat makes them an authority figure and that increases conformity.

If there are other teachers and they continue you are more likely to continue. If you have other teachers that want to stop the experiment then you will be less likely to continue

baseline experiment yielded the highest results

step-by-step involvement

-participants progressively increased the "voltage" of shock
-each one a small step
-once started down this path, hard to stop
-"if one level seemed too much, why wouldn't the previous level have been too much?"
-behavior creates its own momentum

stanford prison experiment

Philip Zimbardo's study of the effect of roles on behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to play either prisoners or guards in a mock prison. The study was ended early because of the "guards'" role-induced cruelty.

social roles

Shared expectations in a group about how particular people are supposed to behave

identity leadership

Leadership is a process of social influence that involves making followers want to contribute to shared goals
cultivate sense of shared ingroup identity, define ingroup goals as noble and virtuous (for science) and outline action necessary for advancement of ingroup goals
Zimbardo would be seen as the leader
Guards would be seen as the followers

engaged followership

embraced the sense of shared ingroup identity, understand action necessary for advancement of ingroup goals, work towards leaders by responding enthusiastically and creatively to their pronouncements

BBC prison experiment

Challenges the Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment
-> Suggests that prison-like situations do not necessarily lead to deindividuation; in fact, in Reicher & Haslam's BBC Experiment, it was the prisoners who united and resisted the power relation.