social psych final

how young does knowledge about the self begin developing

as early as 18 months

self-concept

a cognitive schema that answers who you are; knowledge representation containing knowledge and beliefs about our physical abilities, values, goals, and roles as an individual

is the self-concept stagnant

no, it develops and becomes more abstract over time

self-schemas

the organization of our self-concept into different cognitive aspects

self-complexity

the segregation of yourself; the extent to which you have fairly different and independent ways of thinking about themselves

benefits of a higher self-complexity

acts as a buffer against negative events such as stress and depression

why does higher self-complexity act as a buffer

a person’s self-concept is more widely dispersed and not tied up in one element of their identity so when something negative happens they are not completely torn down

self-reference effect

information that is processed in relation to the self is particularly well remembered

self-awareness

thee extent that our current attention is fixated on our self-concept

self-consciousness

publicly induced awareness; self-concept becomes very accessible due to concerns with being observed and judged by others

private self-consciousness

introspective on own thoughts and feelings

public self-consciousness

image, concern with meeting norms and standards set by others

why do we overestimate how much attention others are paying to us

because we are constant considering our own self-concept and it is highly salient to our world experience so we assume others must be thinking about us too

what two feelings are typical with self-consciousness

anxiety and embarrassment

why do we feel anxiety and embarrassment in the context of self-consciousness

they act as signals to monitor and maybe even change our behavior

deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in a group

self-esteem

global self-evaluation that is not separated across concepts/areas; attitude about our self-concept as a whole; relatively stable but does go up and down at times

what are some factors that impact self-esteem temporarily

performance, appearance, and relationship satisfaction

social status

the extent to which we are seen positively and esteemed by others

self-presentation

the tendency to present a positive self-image to others with the goal of increase social status

what are the 5 self-presentation strategies

ingratiation, intimidation, exemplification, supplication, and self-promotion

what is the function of the ingratiation strategy

to create liking

what is the function of the intimidation strategy

to create fear

what is the function of the exemplification strategy

to create guilt

what is the function of the supplication strategy

to create pity

what is the function of the self-promotion strategy

to create respect

why doe we engage in self-presentation

to try and better our social status which then has positive impacts and reflections on our self-esteem

self-monitoring

the extent to which people are motivated and capable of regulating their behavior to meet social demands

high self-monitors

read the room and the emotions of others and are able to adapt

low self-monitors

act on attitude rather than trying to adjust who they are for the situation

narcissism

personality trait with overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness

social comparison

learn about skills, opinion validity, and social status by comparing ourselves to others

upward comparison

compare self with others better than us to create a sense of proximity

downward comparison

compare ourselves favorable with those who are worse off as a way to make ourselves feel better

what are the 3 flavors of self-fulfilling prophecies

stereotype threat, behavioral confirmation, and pygmalion

what is the stereotype threat self-fulfilling prophecy

ability based, non interpersonal; it is a performance expectation wherein the person is both the perceiver and the target; based on awareness of cultural stereotypes people’s performance is impacted

what components cause stereotype threat as a self-fulfilling prophecy

anxiety and dissonance

what is the behavior confirmation self-fulfilling prophecy

perceiver has an expectation about the target that is trait related

pygmalion

perceiver has expectations of how the target will perform; the teacher and late bloomer study

what are the 5 + 1 stages of the expectancy cycle

1. perceiver forms an expectation about the target

2. the expectation impacts the perceiver’s behavior

3. the target interprets the perceiver behavior

4. the target responds behaviorally

5. the perceiver interprets the target’s performance and then the cycle repeats

6. ** the target interprets their own behavior

entity theorist on intelligence

people are either born smart or not which is rather limiting to their perspective on taking intellectual risks

incremental theorists on intelligence

intelligence can shift

what are the 2 concepts within self-esteem

trait: something more stable across time

state: the self-right now more flexible

self evaluation maintenance

BIRG, social comparison, dissonance reduction, self-affirmation are all substitutable methods if you put someone in a state and offer them one mechanism they don’t need the others to restore their self-esteem

the dramaturgical metaphor

all the world is a stage and we are constantly performing

face

the mask we wear, the image we are conveying and constructing

line

the script, all behaviors and actions and approaches that we take towards making the face

front stage

the performance, other people are present and observing us

back stage

rehearsal, practice, or relax time

is impression management deception

in most cases people are just exaggerating parts of themselves as slightly bigger and better essentially a performance of the idealized self; people rarely fully are lying because it is rather risky

self-verification theory

orientation toward other seeing our private version; the desire to be seen how you see yourself as a way to publicly verify the private self

what motivates impression management

social desirability

group think

more prevalent with high stakes; group aim for consensus, connection, and conformity impacts people’s capacity to make well informed personal decisions

consequences of group think

mind-guarding, derogate nonconformists, self-censorship, false infallibility, false unanimity

how to counteract group think

assign a devil’s advocate as a rotating role, have the leader stay quiet until the end, have open meetings, reward all ideas and divergence and creativity, subdivide the group

group cohesiveness

cooperation with the group increases group think

group homogeneity

more similar people and therefore more likely to have same conclusions

impact of leaders expressing their opinions

people will gravitate towards agreeing with them and censor themselves

conformity

going along to get along, social pressure to do thinks you otherwise wouldn’t

what’s the relationship between group numbers and conformity

the more members in the group the higher conformity tends to be and eventually power

role of individual differences within conformity contexts

people who sign up for certain things (i.e. the army or a prison study) likely attract certain people and even in scenarios with varying individual values, a group setting where one group has been explicitly placed above another will lead to conformity

defection

going against the group

what are the impacts of defection

it can break conformity by opening up possibilities and showing new acceptable behavior

what does it take to defect

individuation, self-concept, low self-monitoring, and low agreeableness

obedience

power from above (typically some form of authority figure)

how to decrease obedience in the milligram study example

increase the increments between shocks to reduce foot in the door effect

social facilitation

if you are skilled a x then do it in front of a crowd and you will be more likely to succeed, if you are not skilled at x then do it alone and more likely to succeed; the mere presence of others causes us to default to our dominant response

factors that built towards Jonestown

isolation of vulnerable people from broader society, coercive and referent power, sunk cost fallacy, normalization, established authority, self-jusitification, dissonance, bogus pipeline of truth, false infallibility, punishment of defectors, and framing of the narrative

“prevent” jonestown

break foot in door, try to limit the level they are isolated, resources, modeling good relationship behavior, provide advice but frame it as questions

aggression

acting with the intention to harm another person who does not wish to be harm

what are the two types of aggression

hostile and instrumental

hostile aggression

intentional is affectively based

instrumental aggression

intention is cognitively based, rather calculated and planned out in the pursuit of a particular goal

the 3 natures of harm

physical aggression, psychological aggression, relational aggression

retaliation

something happened to you so you respond and in general there is some kind of goal or escalation

evo psychos on aggression origins

hierarchy, inhibition, non-lethal (social status related)

freud on aggression origins

thanatos (death drive), hydraulic press model, catharsis

social psychologists on aggression origins

it is something that is taught and socialized based on gender and regional affiliation (i.e. cultures of honor in the south and west)

why is physical attraction used in forming impressions

highly salient

why do we find things cute and are drawn to “baby-faces”

babies were not convenient to care for so we had to develop a biological mechanism that makes us not kill them which is to find them cute

face composite studies

the more faces that were averaged to create one face were rated as more attractive

reciprocity

scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, we like people who like us

what do we really like in people in terms of their reaction towards us

we like people who start off not liking us and then gradually like us more because of level and change

similarity

we like people like us; this is typically seen the most in demographics but also appearance and less often but still possible in personality

what type of infidelity do men find worse

physical cheating because of paternal certainty anxiety

what type of cheating do women find worse

emotional cheating because they might lose access to resources

family resource investment

paternal certainty runs deep; paternal grandparents usually invest less in their grandchildren

equity theory in relationships

there is a cost/benefit analysis to be done on the part of each partner; partners who are over benefitted become insecure

three points of Sternberg’s love triangle

passion, intimacy, commitment

whats at the center of Sternberg’s love triangle

consummate love

4 horsemen of divorce

contempt, defensiveness, personal attacks, and stone walling

prosocial behavior

acting with the goal of helping others (even when it backfires); kind of the flip side of aggression

altruism

prosocial behavior that comes at a cost to the helper

social exchange theory in altruism

cost/benefits of material, emotional, and social benefits

costly signaling theory

turning material resources into social ones

licensing theory

you feel good when you do good so then you feel like you do not need to do more

cognitive determinants of prosocial behavior

legitimacy and efficacy

affective determinants

positive/negative affect and empathy

matching hypothesis in VFI

different tasks will meet different needs based on motivation so match people with their motives to increase feelings of fulfillment and decrease chances of losing people