main takeaways of concepts for social psychology

real world-theory world-research world

1) observations

2) data collection

3) theory refinement

4) application

what is social psychology?

scientific study of people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by real or imagined presence of other people

what is social influence?

the effects that the words, actions or mere presence of other people have our own emotions and behaviors.

two key ideas in social?

1) we construct with our own reality

2) social influences are pervasive

theory- a set of ideas intended to explain a general phenomenon, what are the purposes of theories?

1) about abstract constructs

2) theories specific casual relationships

3) theories are general

construct validity?

do the chosen measures assess the abstract constructs of validity

internal validity?

can we make clear conclusions about casual relationship between variables

external validity?

can findings be generalized beyond samples to relevant samples and populations

priming

presenting people with information that brings a whole set of ideas and memories to mind before having them work on related tasks

what is experimental research?

1) at least one IV is manipulated

2) pls are randomly assigned to condition

3) Does the IV cause change in DV?

what not always do experiments?

1) can not change some IVs

2) Some IVs are unethical to manipulate.

3) less powerful and realistic

threats to internal validity?

1) casual relationship, what direction?

2) third variables explain the relationship

threats to external validity?

1) participants does not represent of target population

2) cultural contigent

3) lab setting is artificial

4) demand effects

deception and debriefing?

• can not be used in consent form

• reveal purpose, procedure, scientific value

what are some heuristics?

• judgment heuristics- a mental shortcut use to make judgments quickly and effectively

• availability heuristics- a mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on ease with which can bring something else to mind

• representative heuristic- a mental shortcut that something is apart of a group, because of how close its features are close to the group

replicating research?

1) reproductivity

2) conceptual- the theory is supported using different measures and manipulations of the key constructs

3) direct- pattern is the same when a study is repeat with exactly the same mateirals/procedure

2 types of thinking? explain

1) automatic- non-conscious, unintentional, involuntarily, effortless

2) controlled- conscious, intentional, voluntarily, effortful

accessibility? two things? explain

how easily something comes to mind

1) temporary- things are temporary at the forefront

2) chronic- things that are accessible all the time

humans can:

1) encode: express these emotions nonverbally

2) decode: interpret these emotions

how can automatic thinking helpful and harmful?

helpful: process a lot of info, might not be correct

harmful: leads us astray, overlook, unwanted info

independent cultures focus on? example country?

uniqueness

1) holistic cognition-focus on content (backgrounds)

2) analytic cognition: focus on central object

interdependent countries focus on? example country?

focus on social roles and relationships

• East Asia

what are casual attributions?

explaining the causes about someone behavior

internal (dispositional inferences)

• blaming someone’s behaviors on dispositional factors

external (situational factors)

• blaming your behavior on external factors, rather than internal dispositions

three types of info?

1) distinctive (typical or distinctive, unusual= high distinct)

2) consensus (whether other people respond the same way)

3) consistent (does the actor act the same way over time)

self serving bias? why do we do this?

• attribute internal dispositions to success and failures to external factors

  1) helps maintain a positive self image

  2) informational salience

what is an attitude? what are the two functions?

• mental representation that summarizes an individual’s evolution of a person, event, place, object, action or idea

  1) mastery functions: organize knowledge, guide behavior

  2) conntectiveness: express identity, impression management

is superficial factors automatic or controlled?

automatic

is substantive factors automatic or controlled?

controlled

is superficial the central or peripheral route to persuasion?

peripheral

is substantive the central or peripheral route to persuasion?

central

what is central route to persuasion?

motivation. ability to pay attention

what is the peripheral route to persuasion?

little motivation, and little ability to pay attention

attitude incolutation?

exposing people to weaker doses of counter-attitudinal arguments to make them resistant to later attempts to change their attitude

what is cognitive dissonance?

discomfort people feel when two cognitions beliefs, attitudes conflict or when they behave in ways that threaten their self esteem

how do you reduce cognitive dissonance?

• need to change behavior

• attempt to justify our behavior through changing one of our dissonant cognition

• by attempting to justify our behaviors by adding new cognitions

the self has four functions, what are they?

• self knowledge (understand who we are and how we organize info)

• self-control (way we make plans and execute decisions)

• impression management (the way we present ourselves to others)

• self-esteem (the way we maintain a positive views of ourself)

self identity?

aspects of the self concept that are related to our membership to a specific social group

in-group member? outgroup member?

• a fellow member of a social group

• someone who belongs to a different social group

outgroup discrimination? in-group favoritism? outgroup homogeneity effect?

• discriminating those not within your social group

• emerge easily, favor those within our group

• believing everyone in a group is the same

stereotypes?

a generalization about a group, certain traits are placed on all people within a group

optimal distinctive theory?

people have a basic need to connect but also have a need to be unique

self worth and security depends on?

1) meeting both needs (being contact and unique)

2) membership helps balance

explicit bias? example?

overt and intentional (racial slurs)

implicit bias? example?

assumption or stereotype that unitentionally pops to mind (those with drug addictions are dangerous)

to stop prejudice you must?

1) be aware of the biases

2) concerned about the consequences of them

3) strajedies

what is a stereotype threat?

is where you are at an event or in a situation where a group you identify with is negatively viewed by other members of society and can affect how you act, what you say, as long as you are aware of this stereotype

what is private acceptance? what is public compliance?

• private is conforming to others behaviors because you truly believe what they are saying and doing

• public is doing it in public whether you agree with them or not

according to social impact theory what can impact us being socially influenced?

1) the importance

2) immediacy

2) number of people

social norms?

the standard that we as a society set, in order for everyone to follow

what is explicit social norm? what is implicit social norm? give example of each.

• explicit is showing an outline for why a rule is there (employees must wash hands sign)

• implicit is not explicitly state, an unwritten rule (standing in line)

the two functions of social norms?

1) master the world (others provide relevant info to guide behavior)

2) social connectiveness (ensure we are accepted by others)

when do informational social influence occur?

in ambiguous situations

normattive social influence occur when?

public compliance

informational social influence leads to…?

private acceptance

what is injunctive norms?

when behaviors are approved by others

what are descriptive norms?

are the typical way in which people behave or act

door in the face technique? and why does it work?

large request is rejected but followed by smaller request

• relative size

• norm of reciprocity

what is foot in the door technique? why does it work?

small request first then larger request

• cognitive dissonance

social facilitation?

the presence of others helps

social inhibition?

the presence of others hurts performance

why does arousal increase during task?

1) evaluation apprehension

2) alterness

3) distraction

what is social loafing?

putting les effort in if you’re in a group, compared to if you’re by yourself

what is shared information compared to unshared?

Shared information is info that everyone in a group knows, whereas unshared is something only an individual knows

what is groupthink? how do you avoid it?

• flawed thinking occurs when a group cohesiveness is valued over thought consideration of info

  1) group leaders remain impartial

  2) opinions from outside the group

  3) create subgroup

  4) anonymous vote

what is deindivualization? what drives it?

• the loss of self-awareness and identity

  1) decreased accountability

  2) obedience to norms

what is aggression? the two types?

• any behavior that is intended to harm or cause discomfort

  1) hostile (driven by anger/threat)

  2) instrumental (aggression in the service of a goal)

what is the evolutionary perspective of agression?

1) establish dominance

2) mate protection

what other aspects of a situation influence whether agression is expressed?

1) proximity and ability to retaliate

2) perceived intentionality of goal-thwarting

3) social/culutral factors

prosocial behavior?

the acting of performing a goal that benefits another person

what are the two reasons we might help someone?

1) self-interest- helping to benefit yourself

2) altruism- genuinely helping to benefit others

evolutionary psychology perspective on why we help?

1) kin selection- it is advantages to help genetic relatives

2) the norm of reciprocity- we rely on others for survival, help them now they will help us later

why do bystanders not intervene?

1) apathy

2) situational factor

3) pluralistic ignorance- interpretation of situation

4) diffusion of responsibility

the three factors that take commitment?

1) satisfaction (+)

2) investments (+)

3) quality of alternatives (-)

what is commitment? accomendation?

• commitment is pro-relationship behaviors

• one partner is destructive, the other partner is productive

what is interdependence? how do we assess it?

• rely on another, well being is intertwined

1) first person pronouns

2) self-report overlap

3) self reported relationship quality

what is the self-expression theory?

1) people seek to expand their potential efficacy

2) relationship are a way we can do that

attachment styles? the functions?

• form we build with our caregivers and is a template for relationships later in life

  1) proximity management- bond ensure physical protection

  2) safe haven- provides comfort

  3) secure base- allows them to explore environment

intrinsic v. extrinsic?

• doing an activity for the inherent satisfaction

• doing the activity to attain an outcome

internal locus v. external locus?

• believing you are the cause

• believing someone else is the cause

self determination theory?

• humans have an innate need for:

  1) autonomy- feel like you have a choice

  2) competence-sense of mastery

  3) relatedness- connected to others

what is the over justification effect?

• when there is external pressure a certain behavior, attribute behavior to the external factor

achieve goals theory?

1) mastery goals (competence and understand, embrace challenges and good response to failure)

2) performance goals (appearing competent to others, do not embrace challenges and poor response to failure)

fixed v. growth mindset?

• intelligence is fixed no matter what (performance goals)

• growth-intelligence can be grown (mastery goals)

expectance value theory?

1) utility value (relate to your life)

2) attainment (identity)

3) intrinsic value (internally enjoy)

neuroscience?

the neural processes in social behavior

fMRI v. EEG? describe the spatial accuracy and temporal accuracy in each

• not just structure but also the function (high spatial accuracy and low temporal accuracy)

• electricity in the brain (high temporal accuracy and low spatial)

strengths and limitations of social neuroscience?

• not under conscious control, very early perception, link to biological processes, detect differences in how we process certain stimuli

• ambiguity in situations, limited tasks, correlation not causation, right tool for Q?

basic v. applied research?

• basic is designed to find best answer to a question

• applied is designed to solve a social problem

self-fufilling prophecy ?

You caused the person on the other end to act how you want them to act

fundamental attribution error?

over estimate international dispositions factors and underestimate the role of situtational factors

confirmation bias?

looking at information and processing it, so that it aligns with prior beliefs

two reasons why we have attribution biases?

1) information availability

2) perceptual salience

what are caricatures?

reveal core insight of social psych

what is reactance?

• where you feel that your freedom is being threatened