Social Psych Midterm

Social Psychology

The scientific study of behaviors and mental processes as they relate to how people interact with or relate to others.

Philosophy

The love and pursuit of knowledge.

Physiology

The understanding of how our body works, primarily brain and nervous system for social psych.

Kurt Lewin

The father of social psych, social situation > person.

Social Psych ABCs

Affect (feelings), Behavior (action), and Cognition (thinking).

Top 8 Social Psych Focus Areas

Social media, political conflict/polarization, AI, loneliness/belonging/social connection, culture, prejudice/inequality, social norms, and research.

Naturalistic Observation

Snapshot

Pro: gather organic/natural interactions

Con: resource intensive, observer bias

Case Study

Deep dive

Pro: depth of info unavailable in other methods

Con: not generalizable

Survey

Self-report info

Pro: gather large amount of info with limited resources

Con: no way to verify data

Correlation

Relationship (x and y are related)

CANNOT ASSUME CAUSATION

Experiment

Causation (x caused y)

Pro: determine causation (only way)

Con: resource intensive, sometimes variables of interest can’t be manipulated

Reliability

Consistency with replication

Validity

Does it measure/do what it is intended to do?

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Studies ethics of proposed research.

Self

Sense of personal identity, “who you are”.

Self-Concept

The way we see ourselves.

Self-Schema

Thoughts and labels we have about ourselves.

Introspection

Looking inward (distractions are taking time away from this).

Self-Discrepancy Theory

Actual Self- attributes you believe you possess

Ideal Self- attributes you hope to possess

Ought Self- attributes you should possess

Looking Glass Self

We base our sense of self on how we think others see us.

Reflected Appraisal

We base our sense of self on how those important to us see us.

Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves to others.

Upward Comparison

Comparing to someone we think is “better” than us or has something we admire/value

Pro: motivation

Con: impacts self-esteem negatively, constant chasing and lack of satisfaction

Downward Comparison

Comparing to someone we believe we are “better” than

Pro: improves self-esteem temporarily

Con: overestimate our true capabilities

Social Norms

What is accepted by society.

Self-Esteem

How we feel about ourselves, both positive and negative

Trait Self-Esteem

Consistent and enduring, several state impact trait.

State Self-Esteem

Dynamic and changing, momentary change.

Self-Efficacy

Your belief in your abilities, sense of competence that we can solve problems we are presented with.

Locus of Control (LOC)

How we attribute events that happen to us.

Internal LOC

Believe you control the outcome.

External LOC

Believe outside factors control the outcome.

Self-Regulation

Controlling and directing the ABCs of social psych to achieve goals.

Self-Enhancement

Tendency to see ourselves in a positive light (can be problematic in both directions- too little or too much).

Self-Presentation

Strategies we use to make ourselves appear in a more positive light.

Self-Monitoring

Monitoring and adjusting our behavior based on the situation to produce the desired impression or meet demands.

Social Cognition

Collecting and analyzing info about others to draw conclusions and make inferences.

Central Nervous System

Bain and spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System

Everything else except the brain and spinal cord.

Autonomic Nervous System

In charge of involuntary movements (under peripheral).

Somatic Nervous System

In charge of voluntary movements (under peripheral).

Sympathetic Nervous System

Elevates us (under autonomic).

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Brings us down (under autonomic).

What our nervous system collects during interactions

Physical cues, salience, facial expressions, personality traits, eye contact, moral character, nonverbal communication (3 Cs: context, clusters- how frequently, and congruence- between verbal and nonverbal).

Negativity Effect

The tendency to recognize/be more sensitive to negative (stems from survival origins).

Halo Effect

We assume someone with one positive quality has more positive qualities (con: can blind us to the negative).

Schemas that influence perception

Role, people, and event (pro: increase cognition processing speed, con: use incomplete info).

Primacy Effect

Info we receive first is more impactful (why first impressions are hard to overcome).

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Predictions on what will happen that end up happening due to changing our behavior based on the prediction

Attribution

Our desire to label behavior

Dispositional Attribution

Person/trait- assign to others (fundamental attribution error)

Situational Attribution

Based on the situation- assign to ourselves (fundamental attribution error)

Fundamental Attribution Error

Labelling the behavior of others as dispositional; ignoring situational factors.

Attitude

Evaluation of ourselves, others, items, ideas, etc.

Influences that attitudes conflict with

Attitude strength, time pressure, social norms, specificity, and relationship with person.

Cognitive Dissonance

When your attitudes don’t align with your behaviors, creates an uncomfortable state.

Factors that influence changing an attitude/behavior

Attitude strength, frequency of behavior, how intentional the behavior is, social norms, importance of attitude vs. behavior, and self-concept impact.

Priorities when deciding what to change (attitude vs. belief)

Impact on self-concept, what leads to the least amount of psychological discomfort.

Improves relationships by (under attitudes)

Increases empathy, patience, improves communication, desire to understand, reduces judgement, be more vulnerable, decreases defensiveness/personalization, and increases awareness.

Persuasion

Serves important social roles (not inherently bad).

Goals of Persuasion

Obtaining info, some object, or permission; getting someone to do a favor, engage in some activity, or do something against self-interest; changing someone’s opinion, someone’s personal habit, or an existing relationship; buying or selling something; or helping the persuader or a third party.

Approaches of Persuasion

Asking; invoking personal expertise, personal need (persuader’s need), role relationships (not a true friend unless…), a norm (everyone’s doing it), moral principle (right thing to do), or altruism (not for me, for others I can help if you do…); buttering up; bargaining for the favor; offering a bribe; emotional appeals (guilt trip); personal criticism (of the person being persuaded); deception (tricking); threat; or physical force.

Central Route (Elaboration Likelihood Model)

Motivation/ability: high on both, personally relevant+knowledge in the area

Process: focus on arguments/statement, form your own thoughts

Outcome: lasting change, more likely to predict behavior

Peripheral Route (Elaboration Likelihood Model)

Motivation/ability: low on either, tired/distracted, incomplete info, not personally relevant

Process: focus on cues (attractiveness, expertise of person, fame, consensus, etc.)

Outcome: temporary change, possibly predicts behavior but weak

Elaboration

Amount of issue relevant thinking

The Who

Source Characteristics

Sender of the message

Attractiveness, credibility, certainty/confidence

Sleeper Effect

Hear a message from a low credibility source but over time we forget the source and start to believe the message.

The What

Message Characteristics

Content of the message

Message quality, vividness, fear/emotional appeals, and culture.

The Whom

Audience characteristics

The audience

Need for cognition, mood, and age.