Social Psych Exam 1

Social psychology

branch of psychological science that is mainly concerned with understanding how the presence of others affects our thoughts feelings, and behaviors

Levels of Analysis

Complementary views for analyzing and understanding a phenomenon.

Levels of Analysis for Studying Social Psychology

Culture/environment -> Relationship/Groups -> Behavior -> Thoughts/Feelings/Perceptions -> Physiology -> Chemistry/DNA

Studying Social Psych

observation has an advantage of being entirely naturalistic. We all act as amateur social psychologists arriving at conclusions about our own social worlds through informal observations.

Culture of Honor

The social norm that condones and even encourages responding to insults with aggression

Peace and Conflict

Researchers are interested in why people fight, how they fight, and what the possible costs and benefits of fighting are

What do researchers study regarding negative attitudes?

How people can overcome negative attitudes and feel more empathy towards members of other groups.

What are three examples of social attitudes?

Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination.

Conformity

Changing one's attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm.

Obedience

Responding to an order or common from a person in a position of authority

Persuasion

delivering a particular message so it influences a person's behavior in a desired way

What is social cognition?

The way we think about the social world and how we perceive others.

What is social attribution?

The way a person explains the motives or behaviors of others.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

The tendency to emphasize another person's personality traits when describing that person's motives and behaviors and overlooking the influence of situational factors.

Artificial environment

allows researchers to control conditions and variables. Can determine causal direction; how one variable might causally influence another. Can be complex with multiple independent and/or dependent variables. Can employ use of a confederate.

Field Experiments

can be elaborate. People in them do not know they are participating in research-so they will act naturally. Uses real-world situations to study behavior. Can employ use of a confederate. Like a laboratory experiment, there is an Independent Variable (IV) and Dependent Variable (DV)

Naturalistic Observation

Unobtrusively watching people as they go about their lives. Researchers study behavior in natural settings. Researchers can immerse themselves in an environment. Researcher can use devices to capture information about participants. No random assignment. Experience sampling methods: recording devices, smart phone apps, EAR diary, etc

need to belong

a motivation to bond with others in relationships that provide ongoing, positive interactions

What is attraction?

The psychological process of being sexually interested in another person.

What are attitudes?

Opinions, feelings, and beliefs about a person, concept, or group.

What types of attitudes are researchers particularly interested in?

Social attitudes people hold about categories of people.

experience sampling techniques

people are asked to report their conscious experiences at particular times

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable that is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The variable that is measured to assess the effect of the IV.

Control Group

A group that does not receive the experimental treatment and is used for comparison

Random Assignment

Participants are randomly assigned to different groups (e.g., control and experimental) to ensure each participant has an equal chance of being placed in any group, reducing bias

Operational Definitions

Clear definitions of how variables are measured or manipulated.

Complex Experimental Designs

An experiment with two or more independent variables

Factorial Designs

Studies that involve more than one IV. Each IV can have multiple levels. This design allows researchers to investigate the interaction effects between IVs.

For example, a 2x2 ______________ has two IVs, each with two levels.

Repeated Measures Designs

The same participants are used in all conditions of the experiment. This reduces the variability caused by individual differences.

Participants serve as their own control group.

Mixed Designs

Research designs that combine both experimental and correlational methods. In this design, participants from naturally occurring groups of interest (e.g., people with panic disorder and people with social phobia) are assigned to each experimental treatment, allowing the experimenter to determine whether the effectiveness of the treatments varies by group classification.

Counterbalancing

A method of controlling for order effects in a repeated measure design by either including all orders of treatment or by randomly determining the order for each subject

Basic Design Example

A study examining the effect of a new teaching method (IV) on students' test scores (DV) with a control group using traditional methods

Complex Design Example

A factorial design study examining the effects of different types of feedback (positive/negative) and task difficulty (easy/hard) on performance, with each participant experiencing all conditions (repeated measures).

representative sample

a sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of the population as a whole

What are surveys commonly used for in social science research?

Political polling and customer satisfaction.

What are the advantages of using surveys?

They are scalable, relatively inexpensive, and can provide a basis for numerical comparison.

How can electronic platforms enhance surveys?

They can provide more diverse sample sizes.

What is a disadvantage of surveys related to response bias?

The possibility of socially desirable responding.

What is a disadvantage of surveys related to sampling?

They can lead to non-representative sampling.

What limitation do surveys have regarding data collection?

They only capture a single point in time.

Implicit Association Test

A computer-driven assessment of implicit attitudes. The test uses reaction times to measure people's automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words. Easier pairings (and faster responses) are taken to indicate stronger unconscious associations.

Priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Five Principles of Ethical Research

informed consent, privacy, risks and benefits, deception, debriefing

Social Neuroscience

the study of the relationship between biological systems and social processes and behavior

Social Neuroscience aims to address

how our understanding of social behavior can be expanded when we consider neural an physiological responses

Social Neuroscience Methods

Measuring brain activity:

Electrical activity (EEG)

Blood flow (fMRI)

Measuring hormones

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

a measure of electrical activity (generated by neurons)

It is non-invasive

It is able to precisely measure when brain activity occurs

Use a cap

EEG Research on Social Categorization

Participants view pictures of people of different social categories. Asked to categorize or make judgements. (Race/Gender or Attractiveness/Personality)

Results: Brain activity looks different when viewing members of different social groups.

Race: 100 milliseconds

Gender: 150 milliseconds

fMRI

measures changes in the oxygenation of blood flowing in the brain.

When neurons become more active, blood flow to the area increases to bring more oxygen and glucose to the active cells.

neuroendocrine (hormones) system

Oxytocin, cortisol, serotonin are used in the form of hormones

stress response:

corticotrophin-releasing hormone from the hippocampus-> Adrenocorticotropic hormone

Social Categorization

Mental classifying someone as belonging to a social group.

Stereotypes: Beliefs about social groups.

Social categorization is first step

Research question: how automatic is social categorization

Testing simulation hypothesis

• The same brain regions (e.g. Medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) are active when thinking about the self and when thinking about others.

• mPFC is particularly active when subjects mentalized about people they rated as similar to themselves.

• Evidence for the Simulation Hypothesis

Stress

A threat or challenge to well-being.

Exams

Tripping

Extreme Temperatures

Drama

Threats

Protection against stress

-Social support

-Optimism

-Relaxation

Self

is found when you look at yourself and inside your mind

The Social Actor

The sense of the self as an embodied actor whose social performances may be construed in terms of more or less consistent self-ascribed traits and social roles.

Sense of self emerges as a social actor by

age 2.

By age 4,

someone can describe themself in simple behavioral traits.

By age 10,

we see ourselves in more complex ways

The Motivated Agent

prioritizes the motivational qualities of behavior-inner needs, wants, desires, goals, values, plans, programs, fears, and aversions

Theory of Mind

Understanding that other's behavior is often motivated by inner desires and goals

Age 5-to-7 shift-

Children become more intentional and systematic in their goal pursuit

Narrative Identity

Internalized and evolving story of the self

Temporal Continuity

how I have come to be the person I am becoming. (Past, Present, Future). Reconstructs the past. Anticipates the future. Provides unity, meaning, and purpose.

Autobiographical Reasoning

a narrator is able to derive substantive conclusions about the self from analyzing their own personal experiences

Redemptive Narratives

Track the move from suffering to an enhanced status or state

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that often lead to a solution (but not always).

Representativeness heuristics

when we judge the likelihood of the object belonging to a category based on the extent to which the object appears similar to one's mental representation of that category

Availability heuristics

evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event, based on how easily instances of it come to mind

Planning Fallacy

We underestimate the time it will take us to perform a task

affective forecasting

the tendency for people to overestimate how events will make them feel in the future

Cameleon effect

people unconsciously mimic the behaviors, mannerisms, and gestures of those around them, often leading to increased social bonding and rapport. This mimicry happens without deliberate intent and helps to facilitate smoother and more harmonious interactions.

Impact Bias

tendency for a person to overestimate the intensity of their future feelings

Automaticity

the ability to process information with little or no effort

Attitudes

psychological tendency expressed with some degree of favor or disfavor. Can be explicit or implicit

Explicit Attitudes

-Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report.

-Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious.

Implicit Attitudes

-Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious.

Intrapersonal

Within us

Interpersonal

With others

Cultural Display Rules

help people manage or modify their emotions. They are learned early in life and specify how to exhibit emotions in particular social circumstances.

Amygdala

Emotional processing

What role do emotions play in decision-making?

Emotions help us act quickly with minimal conscious awareness.

How do emotions function as information processing systems?

Emotions are rapid information processing systems.

What would happen to our decision-making without emotions?

Without emotions we could not make rapid decisions (attack, flee, defend, approach, etc.).

What effect do intense emotions have on thinking?

Thinking can be difficult during intense emotions.

What does the James Lange theory of emotion propose?

Physiological arousal causes emotion.

What does the Cannon Bard theory of emotion state?

Physiological arousal and emotion happen at the same time.

What is the Schachter Singer theory of emotion?

We use the situation to cognitively interpret physiological arousal to determine emotion.

social facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

visual cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals. Mothers stand on the other side. Infants are more likely to crawl over if the parent doesn't seem distressed.

Partners who express contempt and frustration for each other

are more likely to get divorced later