Social Pysch Exam 1

ABCs of Social Psychology

Affect (feelings)

Behavior

Cognitive (thoughts)

Social psychology

how other people influence your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Conspicuous consumption

the purchase and prominent display of luxury goods just to let others know you an afford it (ex. Grey goose vodka experiment)

Why do people participate in conspicuous consumption?

To buy value, emotions, and image

To let others know they have money and taste

Brand loyalty is the degree to which a customer has…

a positive attitude toward the brand (affect)

a level of commitment to the brand (behavior)

the intent to keep purchasing products from the brand (cognitive)

What is consumer behavior dependent on?

The amount of information and choices they have

Is the more information you have the better?

Not always

Sometimes less is better

What can too much information do to a customer?

Make them less confident, less satisfied, and more confused with decisions

How does amount of choices impact decisions?

Fewer choices often make people happier

More choices often cause overthinking and regret over decisions

Maximizers

analyze all possible options when making a purchase (price, color, etc)

large amount of thinking and input

Satisfiers

make simple choices, often buy the first thing they see, tend to be happier with decisions

How to make the Vodka experiment scientific?

palate: change order of drinks, drink or eat something between each Vodka

split up participants

lab setting

make double-blind instead of single-blind

increase sample size

use mixed drinks

fewer drink choices

increase # of cheap brands

4 things needed to prove cause and effect

1. Experiments

2. Large Groups

3. Random assignment

4. Replication

Experiments

manipulate 1+ variables and hold others constant

Operational definition

concrete definition

must be decided ahead of time to maintain integrity

Large groups

account for individual differences, better represent different parts of population

Random assignment

all subjects have an equal change of being assigned to either group, helps address individual differences

Replication

ability for experiment to be redone and have the same results

Within subjects design

compares individuals for all levels of independent variable (ex. Vodka experiment)

Between subjects design

compares two groups, each group assigned only one level of independent variable

Quasi-experiment

manipulating independent variable but no random assignment, people categorize themselves (ex. comparing political parties)

Most of social psychology comes from…

experiments

Confederate

someone who is placed into the experiment as a “participant” but others don’t know, an actor or imposter

Deception studies

lying to participants, but most are not angry and actually find it makes experiment more interesting

What aspects of store environments impact consumer behavior? (5)

music, co-consumers, smells, store ambiances, phonetic sounds

How do co-consumers/crowds impact shopping experiences?

by amplifying the intensity of the consumption experience an individual is already having

What do people tend to do at heightened stress levels?

enact their dominant response and listen to it

How do ambiances impact purchase-consumption process?

people sometimes pay more for the experience than the product itself, though a strong product can outweigh poor ambiance (ex. fast food)

How will brand ambiances change to reflect technology?

atmospheres may broaden to include website designs

How does phonetics play a role in consumer behavior?

certain sounds in words can influence how people perceive products and whether they want to buy them

(ex. “ice cream” sounds appealing)

What can the act of shopping fufill?

needs beyond the purchase; can lead to more positive health outcomes

Terror management theory

knowing we will die makes people create beliefs and worldviews that help them feel less afraid

How do humans strive to keep existing?

religious beliefs, reproduction, building lasting monuments, “making a mark”, amassing wealth

Awareness of death makes us..

financially optimistic

Self worth is closely tied to…

fiscal social comparisons through conspicuous consumption

Not all operational definitions…

can be applied to every situation or have the same symptoms (ex. depression)

Replication crisis

many studies have not or cannot be replicated; some are retried but have different results or different variables have similar effects

HARK

Hypothesis—After—Results—Known

HARKing

flawed and deceitful experiment process of collecting data first then forming a hypothesis based on the data

Correct experiment process

Deductive reasoning

Hypothesis

Operational definition

Collecting data

When was social psych established?

1950s-60s

When was social psych first named?

1970s-80s

In the 1960s, most had never heard of…

self esteem

Psychoanalysis

idea that much of our behavior is driven by unconscious thoughts and desires, often without our awareness; not considered scientific.

Who established psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud (M.D)

Behaviorism

idea that behavior is shaped by the environment and guided by rewards; highly scientific with extensive research.

Who founded behaviorism

Watson and Skinner

Both psychoanalysis and behaviorism focus on (2)…

the past

the unconscious vs. environment

Social psych focuses on…

the present, external view of normal adults

Kurt Lewin claimed that in order to predict behavior you need…

1. a person (internal view)

2. a situation (external view)

Norman Triplett (1897)

focus on how the presence of others affects behavior; found that cyclists performed better when racing others rather than just the clock

Cockroach experiment

being watched enhances your previous performance

performed better running in a straight line when being watched and worse crossing corners when being watched

Max Ringelmann study (1880s)

when you know you are working with others you don’t try as hard, even if you don’t see the other people (ex. tug of war, yelling in different rooms)

Social psychologists are often “liars” in the sense that…

they deceive participants to execute experiments and observe different reactions

tabula rusa

blank slate

What do behaviorists believe about tabula rusa?

our minds are blank slates when were born that are shaped by our environments

Are we a blank slate?

No, our minds are shaped by nature vs. nurture and nature vs. culture

Socialization is…

powerful but has its limits

ex. Little Brenda

Little Brenda example

after a little boy’s accident, he was raised as a girl, but he still identified as male, showing gender isn’t only shaped by socialization

Monkey experiment

proved gender went beyond socialization and societal norms

boy monkeys preferred blue toys, girls preferred pink

Socialization

involves both formal rules (like stopping at a red light) and unwritten norms, but has limits

What contributes to gender identity

an innate sense of gender you are born with

AND

treatment and messages from socialization

Nature vs. nurture

both innate traits and your environment form your identity

Nature

genes

hormones

brain structure

Nurture

environment

family

childhood

Culture

shared information across a time or place

Nature and culture…

Both shape each other

Culture shapes nature through…

exposure to pathogens (bacteria, viruses) influences culture, regions with more pathogens tend to have higher conformity (ex. Southeast Asia).

More conformity leads to…

more collectivism and prejudice

Why is physical attraction the first thing people notice?

it is their sexual instincts wanting to procreate with healthy and attractive individuals

Prejudice is not inherited but is motivated by…

desire to procreate with those who look like you

Natural selection

the process of selecting who lives and who doesn’t

viewed at the individual level of passing down genes, not collective

Survival of the fittest…

defines survival as what leads to the most reproduction and passing down of genes

An individual is more “fit” if…

they pass down more genes and/or have more offspring

Theory of evolution

how change occurs in nature

not focused on how we got here

parental investment theory

difference in what men/women value in reproduction

Men want…

more partners to pass down genes

physical looks to ensure survival + reproduction in offspring

Women want…

fewer sexual partners to ensure support from partner

money and resources to support survival

epigenetics

genes are turned on/off by material that surrounds the genome (ex. giraffes necks grew when they kept reaching for leaves)

What can affect a genome

stress, nutrition, and other factors

Human nature directly shapes…

culture (ex. restaurants open at night b/c humans eat dinner)

Relative age effect

most elite hockey players born in January and February because they are physically bigger, stronger, and more mature than kids born later in year

Social animal

seeks or has connections with others

Humans as cultural animals

naturally wired to create and participate in culture, dividing labor so everyone plays a role in achieving group goals

Social vs. cultural helps…

social → kin

cultural → stangers

Social vs. cultural conflicts

social solves with aggression, cultural solves with compromise

4 advantages of culture

language

progress, build on work from others

exchange of goods and services

food

Human culture and food

humans are only species who voluntarily choose not to eat something they’re “meant to” (ex. meat)

different cultures of humans eat completely different food

Humans don’t want others encroaching on their…

territory

psychological reactance theory

when people feel their freedom is threatened, they get emotionally uncomfortable and push back to regain control

field experiments

experiments conducted in a real world setting outside of a lab

Field experiments are high in…

experimental and mundane realism but less controlled

Parking lot field experiment

studied territorial behavior by manipulating intrusion levels, drivers stayed longer when others were aggressive about their spot than when they were not.

Primary strength of a lab experiment…

control over other variables that may influence results

Weakness of lab experiments

settings are unrealistic

experimental realism

when participants become so caught up in an experiment that they forget it’s a study; common in labs and important for generalizing results

mundane realism

whether the setting physically resembles the real world

external validity

findings are likely to generalize to other people, settings, and time periods

It is more difficult to make causal statements for…

field settings b/c more random variables

Increased confidence in reliability of findings…

increases similar effect