Journal Articles Key Notes- Exam 1

Aronson (1991)

Overcoming Denial and Increasing the Intention to Use Condoms through the Induction of Hypocrisy

Aronson Introduction

a lot of safe sex campaigns are based on fear. fear does not always lead people to rational behavior, but it triggers denial. a lot of people know that aids is an issue, but they don’t believe it is their issue.

young people believe that condoms are annoying.

research suggests that being confronted with the fact that you do not practice what you preach induces feelings of hypocrisy- COGNITIVE DISSONANCE!!!

Aronson Methods

80 participants, 40 men, 40 women.

half the subjects (high mindful) were asked to describe a situation where they did not use a condom and then half of the subgroup went on to the preach conditiojn. the other half went directly to the preach conditiomn.

so high mindful, preach. (hypocrisy condition)

low mindful, preach

preach only

mindful only

Aronson Results

subjects in the hypocrisy condition were more likely to admit their failure of using condoms in the past- overcome DENIAL!

study suggests that hypocrisy might be the most effective route to long term behavior change

implication for AIDS prevention: simply learning about AIDS does not appear to motivate people to overcome denial and examine their risk objectively. Information only condition was the LEAST EFFECTIVE!

Eberhardt

Looking Deathworthy: Perceived Stereotypicalaity of Black Defendants Predicts Capital Sentencing Outcomes

Eberhardt Abstract

overall goal of the study: to see if the liklihood of being sentence to death is influenced by the degree to which a Black defendant is perceived to have a stereotypically Black appearance

RESULT: in cases involving a White victim, the more stereotypically Black a defendant is percieved to be, the more likely that person is to be sentenced to death

Eberhardt race of victim effect

race of victim matters in terms of capital punishment

murderers of White victims more likely to be sentenced to death than murderers of Black victims

Eberhardt Methods

using data to examine whether the probability of reciving the death penalty is influenced by how stereotypically Black someone is- thick lips, dark skin

especially interested in the effect of a Black defendant’s perceived stereptypicallyity in cases in which race is the most visible- when a Black defendant is charged with murdering a White victim

Eberhardt Methods for Black defendant, white victim

obtained pics of Black murderers for White victims, had naive raters rate them in terms of stereotypicality of Black defendants

Eberhardt Results for Black defendant, white victim

results confirmed that beyond the cofounding variables, defendants whose appearances were percieved as more stereotypically Black were more likely to recieve a death sentence.

Eberhardt- Black defendant, Black victim

defendants who were perceived to be more stereotypically Black were more likely to be sentenced to death ONLY WHEN their victims were white

Eberhardt- Discussion

the salience of race matters

the salience of race may incline jurors to think of race as a relevant and useful heuristic for determining the blameworthiness of the defendant.

Eberhardt- racial-salience hypothesis

defendants’ perceived stereotypically should not influence death-sentencing outcomes involving a Black defendant and a Black victim. in those cases, jurors may tend to view the crime as a matter of interpersonal rather than intergroup conflict.

Gilovich

The Spotlight Effect in Social Judgement: an Egocentric Bias in Estimates of the Salience of One’s Own Actions and Appearance

Gilovich Abstract

people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others, spotlight effect

Gilovich Introduction

we are the centers of our own universe. we are always so focused on our own behavior, that it can be difficult to arrive at an accurate assessment of how much or how little our behavior is noticed by others.

frequent disparities between the way we view our performance/the way we think other people will and how they actually do.

spotlight effect: people tend to believe that the spotlight shines brighter on them than it really does

naive realism

refers to the common tendency to assume that one’s perception of an object or event is an accurate reflection of its objective properties, not a subjective interpretation or construal

self-as-target bias

the sense that actions or events are disporportiantely directed towards the self

“i just know that she is gonna call on me”

“i bet they are laughing at me”

Gilovich Study 1

particapants had to wear an embarrasing tshirt, then asked them to estimate the number of people who observed their shirt and compare it to who actually noticed. predicted that people would be so consumed with their own knowledge that they would overestimate how many people notives