ucsb psy 102 midterm 1

social psychology

The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and
behaviors of individuals in social situations

Kurt Lewin

Founder of modern social psychology

He believed the behavior of people is a function
of the forces surrounding them

social psychology

The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and
behaviors of individuals in social situations

Kurt Lewin

Founder of modern social psychology

He believed the behavior of people is a function
of the forces surrounding them

The Milgram Experiment

An early demonstration of “the power of the situation” is Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience (1960s)

Participants did not intend to harm another person, yet they behaved in accordance with the situation

Construal

an interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that people confront

Schemas

A schema is a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information that is used to help in understanding events

Steroeypes

schemas we have of people and include a belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group

Independent (individualistic) cultures

a culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct,
individual social entities, tied to each other by voluntary bonds of
affection and organizational memberships but essentially separate from other people and having attributes that exist in the absence of any
connection to others

Interdependent (collectivist) cultures

a culture in which people tend to define themselves as part of a
collective, inextricably tied to others in their group, and place less
importance on individual freedom or personal control over their lives

Basic Science

research concerned with trying to understand some
phenomenon in its own right, with a view toward using that
understanding to build valid theories about the nature of some
aspect of the world

Applied Science

research concerned with using current understanding of a
phenomenon in order to solve a real-world problem

Observational research

Involves observing participants in social situations

Archival research

Involves analyzing social behaviors documented in past
records

Surveys

Surveys involve asking participants questions
○ usually through an interview or a questionnaire
● Surveys can accurately represent a population from a
relatively small sample if the sample is unbiased
● But, survey results may be limited if the sample is
biased

Random Sampling

Every person in the
population has an equal
chance of being studied
○ Creates an unbiased sample

Convenience Sampling

Participants are easy to access

Leads to bias & potentially
erroneous conclusions

Correlational Research

psychologists measure two
or more variables and examine to what extent those
variables are related (associated) with one another

Correlation Coefficient

A numerical value between two variables that tells
us about the strength and the direction of the
relationship

Directionality of causality problem

We don’t know which of our two variables is causing the other. We may think/assume variable 1 (casual sex) causes variable 2 (lower mental health), but it could be the other way around. Lower mental health may cause us to engage in casual sex

Third variable problem

There may be a 3rd, unknown variable that is causing both of our variables. Loneliness (a 3rd variable) might be causing both lower mental health & casual sex encounters

Experimental Research

Randomly assigns people to different conditions
or situations
● Enables researchers to make strong inferences
about why an association among variables exists
or how these different conditions affect behavior.
● Experiments allow investigators to test for
causation

Independent variable

Hypothesized to be the cause of a particular
outcome
○ Manipulated by the researcher

Dependent variable

Outcome that is hypothesized to be
affected/changed by the independent variable
○ Measured (not manipulated/controlled) by the
researcher

External Validity

An indication of how well the results of a
study generalize to contexts other than
those of the study itself

Internal validity

refers to the likelihood that only the
manipulated variable could have produced the results, and
not other factors

Reliability

the degree to which the particular way
that researchers measure a given variable is likely to
yield consistent results

Measurement Validity

the correlation between
some measure and some outcome that the measure
is supposed to predict

Statistical significance

is a measure of the
probability that a given result could have
occurred by chance.

The Self

a conceptual system made up of one’s
thoughts and attitudes about oneself

can
include thoughts about one’s own physical being,
social roles and relationships, and “spiritual” or
internal characteristics

Self Schema

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

self appraisal

how one sees themselves

reflected self appraisal

how one thinks others see the self

Working self-concept

Subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a
particular context (usually the current situation)

Independent view of self

The self seen as a distinct, autonomous entity, separate from
others and defined by individual traits and preferences

More prominent in North American and Western European cultures

Interdependent view of self

The self seen as connected to others and defined by social duties
and shared traits and preferences

More prominent in many East Asian, South Asian, Mediterranean, Latin
American, and African cultures.

Social comparison theory

The hypothesis that people compare themselves to other
people in order to obtain an accurate assessment of their
own opinions, abilities, and internal states

Downward social comparisons

May boost self-esteem by making us feel better about the self

Upward social comparisons

May motivate self-improvement by making us feel worse
about the self

Social identities

The parts of a person’s sense of self that are derived from group
memberships

self-stereotyping

Characterizing the self in terms of the traits, norms, and values
associated with an especially salient or meaningful social group

Self-esteem

The overall positive or negative evaluation an individual has
of him- or herself

Trait self-esteem

a person’s enduring level of self-regard across time

State self-esteem

the dynamic, changeable self-evaluations a person
experiences as momentary feelings about the self.

Contingencies of self-worth

a perspective maintaining that self-esteem is contingent on
successes and failures in domains on which a person has
based his or her self-worthA pe

Sociometer hypothesis

The assertion 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

the desire to maintain, increase, or protect one’s positive
self-views

Better-than-average effect

the finding that most people think they are above average
on various personality trait and ability dimensions

Self-affirmation theory

the idea that people can maintain an overall sense of self-worth
following psychologically threatening information by affirming a
valued aspect of themselves unrelated to the threat

Self-verification theory

The theory that people strive for stable, subjectively
accurate beliefs about the self because such self-views give
a sense of coherence
○ We selectively attend to, and recall, information that is
consistent with (and therefore verifies) our self-views.

Self-regulation

Processes by which people initiate, alter, and control their
behavior in the pursuit of goals, including the ability to resist
short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term
goals.

Types of self

○ actual self: the self that people believe they are
○ ideal self: the self that embodies an individual’s wishes and
aspirations
○ ought self: the self that is concerned with the duties,
obligations, and external demands an individual feels
compelled to honor

Self-discrepancy theory

A theory that behavior is motivated by standards reflecting
ideal and ought selves

Promotion focus

Self-regulation of behavior with respect to standards of the ideal
self standards; a focus on attaining positive outcomes and
approach-related behaviors

Prevention focus

Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ought self standards; a
focus on avoiding negative outcomes and avoidance-related
behaviors

Self-monitoring

The tendency to monitor one’s behavior to fit the current
situation
○ High self-monitors try to fit their behavior to the situation;
low self-monitors are more likely to behave according to
their internal preferences.

Self-handicapping

The tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order
to have an excuse ready, should one perform poorly or fail

Social Cognition

Examines how people make decisions, interpret past events,
understand current events, and make predictions for future
events

Dimensions of snap judgements

Positive-Negative dimension

High power-Low power dimension

Attributions

the explanations, or the “reasons why”, we
give to explain people’s behaviors (including our own) or
events that occur

Internal attributions (dispositional attributions)

the behavior is the product of something within that person

External attributions (situational attributions)

the behavior is a reflection of something about the context or circumstances

Covariation principle

behavior attributed to potential causes
that occur along with the observed behavior

Counterfactual thinking

occurs when we imagine different outcomes for an event that has
already occurred

Self-serving attributional bias

tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances, and to attribute success and other good events to oneself

Fundamental attribution error

the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, and the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior

Actor-Observer Difference

a difference in attribution based on who is making the causal assessment: the
actor (who is relatively inclined to make situational attributions) or the observer
(who is relatively inclined to make dispositional attributions)

Framing effect

The influence on judgment resulting from the way information
is presented, such as the order of presentation or the wording

Primacy effect

the disproportionate influence on judgment by information
presented first in a body of evidence
○ Most often occur when the information is ambiguous

Recency effect

the disproportionate influence on judgment by information
presented last in a body of evidence
○ Typically result when the last items come more easily to mind

Construal Level Theory

A theory about the relationship between psychological distance and abstract or
concrete thinking
○ Psychologically distant actions/events → thought about in abstract terms
○ Actions/events that are close at hand → thought about in concrete terms

motivated confirmation bias

People seek confirmatory information when they want to maintain
a certain belief

Bottom up processing

“Data-driven” mental processing, in which an individual forms conclusions based on the stimuli encountered in the environment

Top down processing

“Theory-driven” mental processing, in which an individual filters and interprets
new information in light of preexisting knowledge and expectations

Intuition

Consists of rapid responses based on associations that come
automatically to mind
○ Intuitive information processing can be done in parallel
■ Many things can be intuitively processed at the same time

Heuristics

Intuitive mental shortcuts, performed quickly and automatically, that
provide efficient answers to common problems of judgment

Availability Heuristic

Judging the frequency or probability of an event based on how readily examples comes to mind

Representativeness Heuristic

Categorizing something by judging how similar it is to our conception of the typical member of the category

Emotions

a brief, specific response, involving appraisals, experiences, expressions,
and physiology, that helps people meet goals, including social goals

Appraisals

the construal, or interpretation, an individual gives to a situation that gives rise to the experience of emotion

Focal Emotions

Emotions that are especially common within a particular culture

Affect Valuation Theory

Emotions that promote important cultural ideals are valued → will tend to play a
more prominent role in the social lives of individuals

Emotion Regulation

the ways in which people modify their emotions and emotional
responses to make themselves feel better or to fit the present context

Main strategies for emotion regulation

reappraisal, acceptance, suppression

Emotions influence perception

We perceive events in ways that are consistent with the emotions we’re currently feeling

Emotions influence reasoning

Positive mood → more creative; Negotiators in positive mood reach better solutions

Attitudes

an evaluation of an object in a positive or negative fashion

Response latency

the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, such as an attitude question

Implicit attitude measure

An indirect measure of attitudes that does not involve a self-report

Who proposed cognitive dissonance theory

Leon Festinger (1957)

Cognitive dissonance theory

theory that inconsistencies among a person’s thoughts, sentiments, and
actions cause an aversive emotional state that leads to efforts to restore
consistency

Effort justification

the tendency to reduce dissonance by justifying the
time, effort, or money devoted to something that turned
out to be unpleasant or disappointing

Free choice

Choosing to engage in a behavior that is inconsistent with beliefs will cause dissonance

Insufficient justification

Dissonance may occur when the reason for a behavior is weak or unclear

Self-perception theory

the theory that people come to know their own attitudes by looking at their
behavior and the context in which it occurred, and then inferring what their
attitudes must be