Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
Social Psychology
The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people
Social influence
Effect that words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior
How is social influence applied?
Directly or indirectly
Direct Social Influence
when someone takes specific steps to get what they want, such as following instructions or being directly persuaded.
Indirect Social Influence
when someone's actions are influenced by the presence of others, such as watching how others act and speak
Empirical questions
Questions that answers should be derived from experimentation or measurement rather than by personal opinion
Folk wisdom and Common sense
Sayings or beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation such as 'birds of of a feather flock together" or "opposites attract"
How is folk wisdom different from social psychology
Social psychologists use science to test hypotheses about the social world, while individuals who rely on common sense or folk wisdom often rely on personal beliefs or anecdotal evidence
Why don’t we rely on folk wisdom?
It is often contradictory
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency to overestimate the extent to which people's behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors.
Hindsight bias
The tendency for people to exaggerate, after knowing that something occurred, how much they could have predicted it before it occurred
What happens when we fail to take into account the power of the situation?
We overgeneralize, develop a false sense of security, victim blaming
What is a hypothesis similar to?
A hunch
Behaviorism
focuses on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment
What does a scientist do if they think someone else’s research is flawed?
Repeat the research and do their own study to find out
Why did Latane and Darley think no one helps out in an emergency?
Bystander effect; diffusion of responsibility
Observational research
where you observe participants and phenomena in their most natural setting
What are limitations of observational research?
can't control; don’t know what's going on in head; being watched can change behavior; some settings are private; can’t correlate things
Schema
A mental representation that enables us to organize our knowledge into categories
How can a schema become accessible?
Related to a current goal you have, past experiences, recent experiences
Downsides of using schemas
Limited capacity and stereotyping
Social cognition
How people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions.
What happens when people encounter a new situation?
Create a schema for it and accurately size up a new situation
Automatic thinking
Thinking that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
Controlled thinking
Effortful and deliberate, Thinking about self and environment, Carefully selecting the right course of action
The self-fulfilling prophecy
An expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true
Priming
when an individual's exposure to a certain stimulus influences their response to a subsequent prompt, without any awareness of the connection
Why is reality tv so attractive to people?
We are enumerated in the lives of different people. We can use it for self comparison purposes
Social perception
a psychological phenomenon whereby something happens because we expect it to happen
What did Darwin assume about facial expressions? Are they culture specific?
Species specific
Thin-slicing
When you draw a conclusion from another person with just a small time of getting to know them and making an opinion.
What are cultural display rules?
Culturally specific standards that (men aren't allowed to cry in america
Sam Goslin
Showing people what you are like by talking more or less; for example having funko pops in your office leads people to believe you are an extrovert and if your office is bare it makes people think you are an introvert.
Do great apes have a sense of self? How do we know?
Great apes have a sense of self. We know this because of the mirror experiment where there was a red dot on the forehead and they realized, touching the dot in the mirror. Other animals did not notice the dot.
Self-Concept
the image we have of ourselves
How does our self-concept change with age?
Self-concept is the image we have of ourselves. The younger you are the more physical/concrete it is and the older we are the more abstract
What are the limitations of using introspection?
Self bias, beyond the realm of our conscious thought
Causal theories
We learn from our culture; for example, people are in a bad mood on mondays, the saying “if you love someone let them go”
Self awareness theory
It highlights who we are and can make you more ethical.
What happens when we bring our self concept into our consciousness?
Enhanced what you believe about yourself (sat in front of a mirror during test
Mead’s Belief
particular points in your life (significant others)
Cooley’s Belief
anyone you come into contact with
Mead’s three stages in the role-taking process
Preparatory, play, and game
What represents the generalized other?
A graphic. Americans in general.
Traits of a narcissist?
They do worse in school because of the inability to know when they are wrong; have no empathy; don't do well in work environment because they can't admit when they are wrong
Self esteem
A person's overall sense of self-worth and personal value
Cognitive dissonance
The mental disturbance people feel when they realize their cognitions and actions are inconsistent or contradictory
What Cognitive dissonance leads to
unpleasant feelings of unease or discomfort
How do we reduce cognitive dissonance?
change your behaviors
Post decision dissonance
You'll always have some regrets because no decision is always 100% positive or negative
What happens when decisions are irrevocable?
You have greater cognitive dissonance reduction; you can't take that decision back so it has to be a good decision
Rationalizing
Justifying your own behavior
Why do so many people rationalize?
We have a lot of cognitive dissonance and we try to reduce it
