Psychology 1010 - Unit 3 (chapters 12 and 13)

Social psychology

the study of how people influence other beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes

Altruism

the unselfish concern for and devotion to the welfare of others, when you help someone just to be kind

Some people argue that there's no such thing as true ... because there may be a motive behind it.

Copy Machine Study

Langer, Blank, and Chanowitz

Wanted to see how often people would let people cut in front of them. The independent variable was how you asked to cut in line. The dependent variable was whether or not they allowed you to go ahead.

Some people asked "can I cut" without a reason and 60% of people let them. If they gave a reason, it bumped up the percentage to 94%.

We are conditioned by the word "because" unless it's too big of a request.

Social Cognition

studies the role of cognitive processes in our social interactions (how people think of the social world). Focuses on perception, attention, and memory.

Bystander Effect

Darley and Latane' (1968)

Follows the aftermath of Kitty Genovese's death

Individuals are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present. The less people there are, the more likely they are to help the individual.

Diffusion of responsibility is the reason why people don't help in an emergency situation. Everyone thinks that someone else is going to help, so why should I help?

There are 5 stages in helping: notice the event, understand that it's an emergency, take responsibility for helping, know how to help, and then help.

Individuals would help 75% of the time if they were alone and 50% of the time if there's others present.

Person Perception

different mental processes we use to perceive the personality characteristics of others

How and why we form impressions. Most people need a tenth of a second to make an impression, and the key factor of impression formation is the face.

Todorov did the first research on impressions.

Primacy Effect

the tendency to remember what is learned first

Implicit Personality Theory

the heuristic (mental shortcut) theory that involved assuming a person with a particular personality characteristic will think and behave in other ways that are typically associated with that central personality characteristic

Availability Heuristic

mental shortcut that relies on information that is easily recalled or easily available, though it doesn't mean that it's accurate

Embodied Cognition

field of study that looks at how bodily sensations influence your person perception

Other first impression factors

facial features, other physical characteristics, context, social norms present in a particular culture, and pre-existing social categories

Halo Effect

explains the fact that attractive people are often thought well of. Attractiveness effects our other judgements

Social Categorization Heuristic

we make impressions of others based on social categories such as race, age, and culture. Grouping people to certain characteristics essentially

Attributions

explanations for the causes of behavior

Attribution Theory

people are motivated to discover causes of behavior.

There are internal/external, stable/unstable, and controllable/uncontrollable causes

Dispositional/Internal Attribution

ascribe the cause of behavior to a personal trait, ability, disposition, or feeling

Situational Attribution

ascribing the cause of behavior to a situation or an environmental constraint

Fundamental Attribution Error

a tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influence on other people's behavior and minimize situational causes

Studies have shown that they still make this dispositional attribution even when understanding that it was a situational attribution.

Actor/Observer Attribution Bias

attribute your own actions to situational causes as an actor, but, if you're an observer, you make a dispositional attribution

The actor is at the center of the situation.

Self-serving bias

has to do with success and failure and protects our self-esteem. People take credit for their own successes and blame your failures on external or situational factors

Heuristic

cognitive shortcuts that speed decision making

False Consensus Effect

overestimating the degree to which everyone else thinks or acts the way we do

Positive Illusions

views of ourselves that are not necessarily rooted in reality

Self-objectification

tendency to see oneself primarily as an object in the eyes of others

Stereotype Threat

a self-fulfilling fear about being judged on the basis of a negative stereotype about their group and can undermine performance

Social Comparison

process by which we evaluate our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and abilities in relation to other people

Upward comparisons can lead to envy and inadequacy

Downward comparisons can make us feel better about our own lives

Attitudes

opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas

Theory of Planned Behavior

behaviors are determined by behavioral intentions, and intentions are determined by attitude, subjective norms (perception of what others are going to think), and individual-perceived control (how much confidence you have in changing behavior)

Components of Attitudes

affective (emotions, feelings)

behavioral (how you act or behave towards the attitude object)

cognitive (thoughts and beliefs about the object)

Explicit Attitude

opinions that are thought of

Implicit Attitude

opinions that you don't think much about

Cognitive Dissonance

discomfort caused by two dissonant thoughts (thoughts that don't go together or your thought and behavior don't go together)

Can be reduced by changing behaviors to match attitude, changing attitudes to match behavior, or developing a new attitude

First researched by Leon Festinger

Effort Justification Theory

come up with a rationale for the amount of work you put into getting something, typically by increasing the value associated with things that are difficult to attain

Self-Perception Theory

individuals make inferences about their own attitudes by perceiving their own behavior, especially if their attitudes are unclear

Associated with Bem

Persuasion

trying to change someone's attitude (and ultimately behavior)

Elements of persuasion

communicator (credibility), medium, target, and message

Three most important factors in persuasion

the messenger, the content, and the receiver

Elaboration Likelihood Model

theory of persuasion that suggests the most effective persuasive technique depends on the motivation of the listener

Central Route

strong, well-presented arguments that appeal to reason and are personally relevant. If a person has a high need for cognition. Attitude change usually lasts longer

Peripheral Route

evaluating arguments over tangential cues rather than the argument's merits. How emotional it is. If a person has a low need for cognition. People are likely to have their attitudes change spontaneously

Foot-in-the-door technique

make a small request and then make a large one

Door-in-the-face technique

make a big request and then go down to a smaller one once the big request is denied

Low-ball technique

offering an attractive deal then changing the terms of the deal later. May have hidden cost, fees, and leaves the person to question whether they should change their mind

Inoculation

give a warning about the persuasion that's coming and provide a debunking of the message

Media Bubble

when one-sided information is provided. You don't get both sides of the information and push people further and further apart (affect polarization). Increases dislike for the other side

Prosocial Behavior

behavior that helps someone else and not expecting anything in return. Increases with age, and genetics play a role.

Egoism

helping others for personal gain (reciprocity)

Explanations for Altruism

Biological factors: genetics, neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, gabba glutamate [low levels], oxytocin is released), midbrain

Psychological factors: empathy, personality (agreeableness), mood

Sociocultural factors: socioeconomic status, media influence (positive content increases your likelihood to help)

Greater volume in the posterior singlet cortex for those who are helping.

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Evolutionary views, genetic basis, insula, amygdala, and limbic system and frontal lobe of the brain, low levels of serotonin, testosterone.

Proactive aggression may be more genetic and reactive aggression is more environmental

People low in agreeableness and conscientiousness and high in neuroticism tend to be more aggressive.

Heat, crowding, and physical pain make people more aggressive.

Dual-hormone hypothesis

there's an interaction between cortisol and testosterone and, when you have cortisol present, it can cancel out some aggressive tendencies that testosterone causes

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

people are more likely to be aggressive when frustrated, especially if they're frustrated because they can't reach a goal

Weapon effect

presence of a weapon can prime people for aggression

Culture of Honor

we are brought up to think that if someone disrespects the family or honor, it's a reasonable justification for aggression. Men are supposed to protect women and their honor if they're attacked or disrespected

ex. the south

Conformity

adjusting your behavior of thinking to align with or conform to a group standard. It's the lowest form of social influence

Normative Social Influence

an explanation for conformity that results from the desire for other's approval and longing to be a part of the group. Peer pressure pretty much. Operates on the approval motive

Informational Social Influence

an explanation for conformity that results from the perceived knowledge of others that's brought to the group. Operates on the accuracy motive

Factors of Conformity

Uniformity of agreement, difference in the wrong answer, group size (5-6 people, more than 6 was no more influential), insecurity, status, admiration of the group

Asch's Line Judging Experiment

They bring in actors to give the wrong answer about perceiving the length of a line, and there's only one participant whom they're studying. After only one test, the participant conformed to what the actors said, even though they knew that it was the wrong answer.

36% of the participants agreed with the actors when the answer was wrong.

Obedience

complying with the directive that comes from a person perceived as being authority

Factors that affect obedience

legitimate authority, obedient in initial request, separate learner and participant, task done at a prestigious university or institution

Watching disobedience reduced obedience

Factors that affect extreme obedience

assigning responsibility to authority than themselves, routine, don't want to be rude or offend the authority, obey easy commands first and then feel compelled to obey harder commands

Milgram's Experiment

Wanted to look at what influences how willing people are to follow orders following World War II

The participant came in as a teacher to teach a list of words. The learner (an actor) was behind a wall). The teacher was supposed to shock the learner every mistake made, and you turn the knob a little higher.

65% were willing to give the learner a deathly voltage because the experimenter told them to. Regardless of race, class, gender, they all did it. Explained how people just do whatever they're told because someone's in authority.

Stanford Prison Experiment

looked at what happens when one's asked to play a certain social role

College students were recruited to participate in the study where they were assigned a role randomly of prison guard and prisoner. Zimbardo, the researcher, actually participated in the study and pretended to be the warden of the jail to direct what was happening.

The guards took on the role of guard to the extreme and started treating the prisoners poorly, having them do manual labor, demeaning tasks, scolding them, and the prisoners got really upset. The prisoners got together to start a riot, and the experiment had to be discontinued on the fifth day.

Some people say that Zimbardo's participation affected the guard's behavior. The guards were under demand influences (expectations from Zimbardo and his staff that signaled how the participants are supposed to act) through Zimbardo. Personality traits of the participants also affected the experiment. They were high on social dominance, high on authoritarianism, and high on aggressiveness.

Social identity model of deindividuating effects

when your personal identity is eroded and you engage in a behavior that's not a characteristic of oneself. Takes into account our shared social identity in a group and situational group norms

Because you're part of a group, you have some sort of anonymity (the state of being nameless, unidentifiable, or hidden from public recognition) and are more likely to act differently

Social contagion

spread of behavior, emotions, and ideas. Imitative behavior. If other people are laughing, you're more likely to laugh

Social facilitation

arousal with well-learned tasks and how you participate. Research to suggest that, in a group, you perform better skills than alone

Social loafing

reduced accountability and responsibility. When you work in groups, you're less likely to pull your weight. If you have a large group, you're less likely to be detected

you can make the task more difficult and give everyone a role to reduce it

Sucker effect (social loafing)

some people will wait and see how much effort others put in before you decide to do anything because others often let one person do all the work and take credit

Social disruption

worsening in the group. Opposite of social facilitation

Group risky shift

group decisions are riskier than average individual decisions

Group polarization

groups tend to move towards the extremes more so than an individual

Groupthink

members place high value on conformity and unanimity that dissent from that thinking is almost impossible. Dissent is met with very strong disapproval

when groups have to make decisions and there's no one there to play devil's advocate, no critical thinking. People want to minimize conflict, sacrifice independent thinking and creativity

To avoid it, allow the airing of both sides of the argument, allow someone to play devil's advocate, include outside experts, make sure the group leader is impartial, and avoid isolation.

Symptoms of Groupthink

when morality of the group is important, overestimates power, when the group is very close-minded and unwilling to hear other sides, and when there's a lot of pressure for uniformity. It can happen when people value conformity over accuracy

Majority/Minority Influence

Majority: normative and informational pressure

Minority: informational pressure

Social identity

the way that we define ourselves in terms of group membership. It's natural for people to want to belong in a group

Ethnicity and religion

Personal relationships

Vocations and avocations

Political affiliations

Stigmatized groups

Social identity theory

we do think of ourselves in groups. Ingroups (one you belong to) vs. outgroups (group that you don't belong to)

Ethnocentrism

tendency to favor one's own ethnic group over other groups

Prejudice

an unjustified negative learned attitude toward a group and its members. It may happen because of competition between groups, cultural learning, motivation to enhance self-esteem, and limitations in cognitive processes

Discrimination

acting different towards someone because of their membership in a group

Realistic Conflict Theory

the degree of hostility and prejudice against groups is proportional to the scarcity of resources in the environment. Jobs, money, food, status, political power.

Scapegoat Theory

prejudice results from the need to find someone to blame

Social identity theory (prejudice)

need to feel like you belong to a group that you identify with. Because we divide the world into us vs. them, it enhances our self-image if we make ourselves better than another group.

Just World Phenomenon

some people believe that the world is a fair place and that good people are rewarded, bad people are punished

Best way to reduce prejudice

make the two groups engage in cooperative tasks

Proximity

mere exposure effect (repeated exposure leads to attraction). The more contact, the more closer you are to them, the more attracted you are to them

Similarity

the more two people have in common, the more likely they are to experience an increase in attraction. Personality traits, hobbies, values, could be anything. Consensual validation, avoidance of the unfamiliar, warmth and trustworthiness

Most important part of a relationship

Kindness and honesty

Triangular Theory of Love

Sternberg

Love is made up of three things: passion, intimacy, and commitment. Depending on what combination of the components, it makes up a different kind of love.

Passion

emotional or sexual arousal in response to someone

Intimacy

emotional connection or feeling of closeness

Commitment

short or long-term decisions about where the relationship is going in the future

Relationship Ratio

You need to have a certain ratio in the relationship of positives to negatives, specifically 5 positives to 1 negative

John Gottman

4 "Horsemen" Behaviors

Criticism

Contempt (most detrimental)

Defensiveness

Stonewalling

Social exchange theory

based on the fair exchange of "goods". The goal is to minimize costs and maximize benefits. As the relationship progresses, equity isn't as important.

Investment model

examines the ways that commitment, investment, and the availability of attractive partners predict satisfaction and stability in relationships. Long-term relationships last when both partners are committed and invested.

Factors of stability in a relationship

Commitment to partner

Investment in relationship

Lack of attractive alternatives

Social Loneliness

the subjective, distressing feeling of being disconnected from others

Emotional Loneliness

the painful sense of being emotionally unseen, unsupported, or misunderstood, even when you are surrounded by people

Personality

a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way a person adapts to the world

Idiographic approach

person centered approach to personality