Psych 111: Exam 3 (UMich Hoeffner)

Kelly's Attribution Theory

For behaviors that are consistent, people make personal attributions when consensus and distinctiveness are low

People will make stimulus (situational) attributions when consensus and distinctiveness are high

Fundamental Attribution Error

When explaining the behavior of other people, we tend to overestimate the role of personal (dispositional) factors and underestimate the role of situational factors

Mere-exposure effect

Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking for them, or, we like people we see often

Compliance

Private conformity: both behavior and opinions change (Sherif Paradigm)

Public conformity: temporary and superficial change; outward compliance, inward maintenance of previous beliefs (Asch Paradigm)

Sherif Paradigm

Private acceptance

Social comparison theory: we want to know if our opinions are correct and how good our abilities are, we are dependent on social reality

Asch Paradigm

Public compliance

Normative power: the power that arises because the individual fears punishment from group; always present in social situations; decreases with presence of other dissenters

Milgram's Shock Study

Study on compliance

"Teacher" punishes "learner" whith shocks while the experimenter (authority figure) watched

Demonstrated how far someone will obey an authority figure even though they know the authority's orders are morally wrong

Conformity

A change in an individual's behavior or beliefs as a result of real or imagined group pressure

Conformity increases with group size up to 4-7 people

Public conformity: outward appearance of change, not actually

Autokinetic effect

The illusion that a stationary spot of light is moving when viewed in a darkened room; have to estimate how much the light moves, no reference points available

Foot-in-the-door phenomena

Idea as to why so many people obeyed Milgram's shock study; compliance breeds compliance

Stanford Prison Study

A social psychological study conducted at Stanford University by Philip Zimbardo. Its aim was to study the impact of roles on behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to play the role of either prisoner or guard. This study was terminated early because of the role-induced punitive behavior on the part of the "guards."

central route persuasion

Audience is influenced by the strength and quality of the arguments; people have ability and motivation to think critically

A change in attitude brought about by an appeal to reason and logic

Strong evidence and arguments are presented

Works when people are analytical or involved in the issue

high ability and motivation

Peripheral route persuasion

Audience is influenced by speaker's appearance, slogans, one-liners, emotions, audience reactions and other superficial cues; mental shortcuts, audience has low ability or motivation (i.e. newspaper)

a change in attitude brought about by appeals to habit and emotion

incidental cues, such as celebrity endorsements are used

used when issues do not engage systematic thinking

people rely on shortcuts (heuristics) to make a decision

low ability or motivation

Cognitive dissonance (self-persuasion)

Behaving in a way that is NOT consistent with our own stated attitudes

Dissonance creates tension, person is motivated to reduce tension

Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Proposes that people change their attitudes to reduce the cognitive discomfort created by inconsistencies between their attitudes and their behavior

Social faciliation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others (run faster with other people, etc.)

Usually professionals' performance gets better with an audience and amateurs' gets worse

Social loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal when individually accountable

Tug of war study

Diffusion of responsibility

Explanation for social loafing

the responsibility for a task is spread across all members of the group, lessening individual accountability

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

Group members all convince themselves they are right, can lead to big errors being made

Group polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

the strengthening of a group's prevailing opinion following group discussion

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Altruism

unselfish concern for the welfare of others; helping behavior that is motivated primarily by a desire to benefit others, not oneself

Bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Robber's Cave experiment

Social conflict and cooperation

Social identity theory, in-groups, out-groups

Attractiveness bias

Physically attractive people are rated higher on intelligence, competence, sociability, and morality studies

Stereotypes

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

In-group

"us", the people that we identify with

Out-group

"them". those perceived as different or apart from our in-group

In-group bias

The tendency to favor one's own group, its members, its characteristics, and its products, particularly in reference to other groups

Just-world hypothesis/phenomenon

Belief that the world is basically a just place and therefore people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Emotions

a response of the whole orgasm, involving: physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience

3 components of emotion

Cognition (appraisals)

Expression

Physiology (i.e. arousal)

James-Lange Theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus

Cannon-Bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

Two-factor theory (Schachter-Singer)

the theory that to experience one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) label the arousal

Role of amygdala in emotion

Generate emotiuonal responses

Hormonal secretions and autonomic

Reactopms that accompany strong emotions

Damage causes inability to recognize fear in faces

Two pathways for emotion (Zajonc, LeDoux)

Zajonc/LeDoux's Theory: some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal (ex: we automatically feel startled by a sound in the forest before labeling it as a threat = body takes the speedy low road)

Brain's pathways for emotions: sensory input may be routed:

To the cortex (via the thalamus) for analysis and then transmission to the amygdala = thinking high road

Directly to the amygdala (via the thalamus) for an instant emotional reaction = speedy low road

How polygraphs work

a machine used in attempts to detect lies that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration, heart rate, and breathing changes) accompanying emotion

Are polygraphs accurate and reliable?

About one-third of the time, polygraph test results are wrong

Ekman's theory of facial expression

Ekman's Theory of Facial Expression and Feedback: each basic (6 or 7) emotion is built into us

Each has a unique facial expression

Sensory feedback from expression contributes to emotional feeling

If you look happy, you will BE happy

Facial feedback hypothesis (effect)

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Misattribution

provide support for the two factor theory of emotion since the same state of arousal can lead to different emotions if we make different attributions (as shown in the Dutton and Aron Love Bridge study).

Sex differences in emotion

Differences in emotional expression based on sex

Women are better at decoding others emotional expression, more likely to display emotions herself

Relative deprivation

the perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself

Social readjustment rating scale

Adjusting to big life changes can be a major source of stress for people

Good and bad changes

Scale 0-300

General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Type A personality

Competitive

Impatient

Quick to anger

Hostile

Verbally aggressive

Hard-driving

Type B personality

Easygoing

Relaxed

Laid back

Uplifts (coping with stress)

Completing a task

Relating well with friends

Giving a present

Having fun

Getting and giving love

Being visited, phoned, or sent a letter

Laughing

Entertainment

Music

Psychological disorder

a syndrome (collection of symptoms) marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior

DSM-5

the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition); a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

Anxiety disorders

psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

Generalized anxiety disorder

High level of anxiety, muscle tension, cannot concentrate, lack of sleep, sensitive; person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal

Phobias (Simple (specific) phobias and social phobias & possible causes of phobias)

an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation

Panic disorder

an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry over a possible next attack

PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)

a disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience

OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)

a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both

Dissociative disorder

Disruption in memory, consciousness or self-identity

Conscious awareness is separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, feelings

Amnesia

(loss of memory for self-relevant info, who you are, where you live)

Fugue States

more extensive than simple amnesia; may forget not just name, but wander off and start a new life, new job, get married, etc.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality)

Person has 2 or more distinct personalities/identities

May not be aware of each others actions (or even existence)

Each personality may have own voice, speech pattern habits, memories, sexual orientations, handwriting

Cause: often history of child abuse; in one study, 88% of people with DID had been abused

May be ultimate defense mechanism: child who is abused constructs alternate personalities to escape the pain and suffering

Major depressive disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or another medical condition, 2 or more weeks with 5 or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either a depressed mood or loss of interest/pleasure

Bipolar (or manic) depression

a disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania (manic-depressive disorder)

Mania

a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common; involves delusional levels of optimism, euphoria, and energy; euphoric state that follows depressive mood

Vicious cycle of depression

stressful experiences, negative explanatory style, depressed mood, cognitive and behavioral changes

Depression can lead to behaviors that cause social rejection, which worsens depression

Learned helplessness

expectation that you cannot control outcomes - become apathetic and depressed like Selgman's dogs

Depressive explanatory style

after a negative experience, a depression-proe person may respond with a negative explanatory style

Schizophrenic disorders

schizophrenia is a disorder characterized by delusions (false beliefs), hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression

Delusions

Mind is controlled by evil forces

Thoughts being broadcast out loud and other people can hear what you are thinking

Delusions of grandeur

Delusions of persecution

Hallucinations

Often auditory (report hearing voices)

Can be other senses as well

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral excesses

Hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, bizarre behaviors

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral deficits

Apathy, flattened affect, social withdrawal, inattention, slowed speech or no speech

Paranoid schizophrenia

delusions and auditory hallucinations, delusions of grandeur or of persecution, suspicion and hostility, usually harmless but may become violent if threatened

Catatonic schizophrenia

periods of frenzied activity alternating with periods of immobility, may stay in odd positions for hours

Disorganized schizophrenia

inappropriate affect & actions, incoherent verbal behavior, illogical thinking

Undifferentiated: used to characterize cases with mixed or unusual symptoms

Residual schizophrenia

prior episodes not currently experience symptoms

Personality disorders

inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning

Cluster A personality disorders

paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal personality disorders

Cluster B personality disorders

antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic personality disorders

Cluster C personality disorders

avoidant, dependent, obsessive compulsive personality disorders

Borderline personality

Instability in self-image, mood, and social relationships

Ver common, 3-5% of people

⅔ of diagnosed are women

Some claim that Marilyn Monroe had borderline personality disorder

Symptoms of BPD

Complain of being tired or bored, don't like being left alone, desperate for the company of others

"Clingy" relationships that often don't last

Impulsive, gets into fights, runs away, jumps into beds with strangers, etc.

Commit self-destructive acts to get attention

In study of 57 BPD cases: found 42 suicide threats, 40 overdoses, 38 cases of drug abuse, 36 acts of self-mutilation (pulling out hair, burn self, slash wrists, etc), 14 car accidents caused by reckless driving

Antisocial personality

a personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist

Antisocial personality: chronic pattern of self-centered, manipulative, destructive behavior towards them

80% are men

May become involved in criminal activity

47% of male prisoners have antisocial personality disorders (Fazel & Danesh 2002)

Features of antisocial personality

Superficial charm, and intelligence

Poise, rationality

Lack of sense of personal responsibility

Untruthfulness, insincerity, manipulation of others

Antisocial behavior without regret or a shame

Failure to learn from experience

Inability to establish lasting, close relations with others

Lack of insight into personal motivations

Psychotherapy

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth

Free association

A practice in psychoanalytic therapy (think Freud)

Therapist asks patient to freely share thoughts, words, and anything else that comes to their mind

Freudian free association is fairly uncommon today, but psychologists may ask patients to still recall all the memories associated with a particular event, etc.

Resistance

A phenomenon in clinical practice in which patients either directly or indirectly exhibit paradoxical opposing behaviors in presumably a clinically initiated push and pull of a change process (from internet)

Transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

Repressed memories

memories that have been unconsciously blocked due to the memory being associated with a high level of stress or trauma

Behavioral therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors

Cognitive Therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

GOAL: symptom-reduction and improved quality of life; replacement of maladaptive responses with adaptive ones; long term maintenance of positive effects

Learning theory: classical conditioning principles of treatment skill and reinforcement based

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Focus on harmful patterns of behavior (ex: self-harm, substance abuse)

Modified form of CBT (Dr. Marsha Linehan, BPD)

Four modules:

Mindfulness

Distress tolerance

Emotion regulation

Interpersonal effectiveness

Group Therapy

Works well with most types of therapy

$ saving

The Social Laboratory

Others feel this, too "I'm not alone"

Feedback on behaviors

Self-help (support) groups

Varying demands/levels of commitment

Flooding

flooding= extreme systematic desensitization (exposing to most scary right away)

Exposure therapy

Any therapy where a person is exposed to the thing they are scared of (the source of their phobia)

Systematic desensitization

Technique used in exposure therapy

Systematically building up from the least scary stimuli to the most scary stimuli

flooding= extreme systematic desensitization (exposing to most scary right away)

Aversive conditioning

associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

Psychopharmacology

Study of the effects of drugs on psychological processes and disorders

Many (maybe all) of the drugs developed to treat psychological disorders affect

Psychosurgery

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior

Brain surgery, such as lobotomy, used to treat mental disorder

Lobotomy: once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients; procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain

Antipsychotic drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder

Block activity of both dopamine and serotonin

Can reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia like hallucinations and delusion

Thorazine blocks dopamine receptors

Classical antipsychotics like Thorazine do not affect negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Antidepressant drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD; several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - SSRIs

MAO inhibitors and tricyclics increase the availability of the NT norepinephrine and serotonin at synapses

Problems: side effects include weight gain, dizziness, dry mouth and eyes, sedataion, dietary interactions that can be fatal