Psych Class 3 - Self-Identity and Social Interactions

What is personal identity?

All person attributes that are integral to the idea of who you are

What is social identity?

All socially defined attributes defining who you are

Ex: age, race, gender, religion, occupation, etc.

What is personal identity?

All person attributes that are integral to the idea of who you are

What is social identity?

All socially defined attributes defining who you are

Ex: age, race, gender, religion, occupation, etc.

What is the ADDRESSING framework?

Tool to gauge relevant identities in a clinical context

Age: adults have more power, children and elderly have less

Disability status (physical): able bodied have power

Disability status (mental): not mentally ill have power

Religion: christians have more power

Ethnicity/Race: white has more power

Sexual orientation: strait has more power

Socioeconomic status: owning and middle classes have more power

Indigenous background: non-native have more power

National origin: US born have more power

Gender: men have more power

What is deviance?

Behavior that violates social norms (either formal or informal)

What is social stigma?

Extreme disapproval of a person/group on socially characteristic grounds that distinguish them from other members of society

May arise from deviant behavior or circumstances out of control

What is impression management?

Process by which we attempt to influence others’ perceptions of our image

What is the dramaturgical perspective?

Symbolic interactionist perspective that we imagine ourselves playing a role when interacting with others

Front stage: role we have crafted and put on in front of others

Back stage: how we act when alone or with very close people

What is the self-concept?

Self-identity, self-construction, self-perspective

Includes all beliefs about who we are

Influenced by self-schemas, past self, present self, and future self

What is the self-schema?

Beliefs and ideas about ourselves we use to guide and organize processing of relevant information

You have lots of them

What is self-efficacy?

Belief in ability, competence, and effectiveness

High: we can affect an outcome/situation

Low: we cannot affect an outcome/situation

What is a locus of control? Types.

Internal: we can influence events that impact us

External: we have no control over events that impact us

What is learned helplessness?

People with low self-efficacy and an external locus of control

Things happen out of your control

What is self-esteem?

Beliefs about one’s self worth

What is self-consciousness?

Awareness of one’s self

What is the social learning theory?

Learning takes place in social contexts (can be purely through observation)

What is social comparison theory?

People have a drive to gain accurate self-evaluation by comparing ourselves to others → this comparison and the reference groups we have shape identity

What is role-taking?

Understanding cognitive and affective aspects of another’s point of view → ability to do this develops and deepens over time

What is social facilitation?

Presence of others improves our performance

With simple, well practiced tasks

What is deindividuation?

In situations of high arousal and low personal responsibility → people lose sense of restraint/individual identity

Mob mentality

More likely in large groups, when identity is disguised, and when the group is doing an arousing activity

What is the bystander effect?

We are less likely to help a victim when others are present

Everyone feels a diffusion of responsibility

What is social loafing?

When in groups, each person has a tendency to put in less individual effort than if they were working independently

What is groupthink?

Psychological phenomenon where a group of people who desires harmony/conformity → members act to minimize conflict and reach a consensus

Decision without critical evaluation of alternate views → irrational/dysfunctional decision-making

What groups are more susceptible to groupthink?

Group is overly optimistic with strong beliefs

Group demonizes the opponent views

Mindguarding: dissenting opinions are prevented from permeating the group

Individuals are pressured to conform or censor own opinions → illusion of unanimity

What is group polarization?

Groups tend to intensify preexisting views → accentuate those opinions

People moderately favorable about something become more favorable

What is conformity?

Behavior of others causes you to adjust your behavior/thinking

How did Asch show conformity?

Present lines → ask subjects which are the same length → they get it right

Present lines → ask subjects which are the same length → confederates told to pick wrong answer → subjects begin to pick wrong lines

What is obedience?

Yielding to instructions/orders from authority figures

How did Milgram show obedience?

Subject told they are hurting someone → researcher tells them to hurt the person → they do

To show Naziism can happen anywhere

What is attribution theory? Types of attribution?

Explains how you understand behavior

Dispositional attribution: internal causes

Situational attribution: external causes

How is behavior attributed? 3 factors

1. Distinctiveness: extent to which individual behaves in that way in similar situations (across situations)

   1. High: person does not usually behave like this

   2. Low: person usually behaves like this

2. Consensus: extent to which behavior is similar to others’

   1. High: similar to others

   2. Low: not similar to others

3. Consistency: extent to which behavior is similar every time situation occurs (across time)

   1. High: usually the same behavior

   2. Low: does not usually display this behavior

What causes an external attribution?

High distinctiveness

High consensus

High or low consistency

What causes an internal attribution?

Low distinctiveness

Low consensus

High consistency

What are attributional biases?

Fundamental attribution error: attribute another’s behavior to their personality

Actor/observer bias: attribute our own actions to the situation

Self-serving bias: attribute successes to ourselves, but failures to others

Optimism bias: belief that bad things happen to others, not thyself

Just world belief: bad things happen to others because of their own actions or failure to act

What are key elements of persuasion according to Elaborative Likelihood Model?

1. Message characteristics: features of the message itself (logic, length of argument, grammatical complexity, key points)

2. Source characteristics: features of the person/venue delivering the message (expertise, knowledge, trustworthiness, etc.)

3. Target characteristics: features of the person receiving a message (self-esteem, intelligence, mood, etc.)

What are cognitive routes of persuasion according to Elaborative Likelihood Model?

1. Central route: people persuaded by contents of argument itself

   1. Leads to lasting change that resists fading and counter attacks

2. Peripheral route: people persuaded by things external to the message itself

   1. Leads to temporary change that is susceptible to fading and counter attacks

How can you be more persuasive?

To an unwilling audience → use the peripheral route

To a willing audience → use central route

What were the Harlow experiments?

Baby monkeys isolated from mothers → given blankets → separated from blankets → babies distressed because they had formed an attachment to the blanket

Deprived monkeys have social deficits

Demonstrates babies form attachments for mother for social comforts, not just food

What were Mary Ainsworth’s experiments?

Mother leave infant in strange environment

Securely attached infants → explore surroundings when mother present → cry when she leaves → consoled upon return

Insecurely attached infants → do not explore when mother present → cry loudly when she leaves → remains upset or indifferent when she returns} have caregivers that are insensitive to their needs