Social Psychology Unit 1

Social Psychology

The study of how implied, imagined, and actual presence of others influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Actual Presence

How people in the room affect us. I.e we are relaxed around our friends but upright around our parents

Imagined Presence

The thought of someone else influences our behavior. For example, what would X do? Or even, how would X respond if I did this?

Implied Presence

Involves Social Artifacts, which are man-made structures that imply the interest/presence of others. For example, a stop light implies that you can’t drive until it turns green.

Kurt Lewin

Came up with the framework that Behavior is a function of personality and the environment. Or B = f(P, E)

Constructivism

The first axiom of social psych. This is the idea that our reality is a construction of our cognitive and social processes. There is no “objective reality,” and we use our experiences, information, and social learning to craft our perception of a situation.

Perception

IS NOT PASSIVE

Naive Realism

The idea that the way we see the world is the way everyone sees it. Moreso, we see the world as it “really is”

Construction

Based on past experiences, current motives, current experiences, and emotional states

Situationism

The idea that the primary determinant of behavior is the context/situation in which it occurs. Ex

Social Situations

Are characterized by the operation of social roles

Social Roles

Socially defined patterns or behaviors that are expected of people in a setting or group. They are often implicit, meaning we don’t need anyone to tell us what they are to understand them. We are also not usually aware of this phenomenon.

Strong Situation Hypothesis

Highlights a limitation of situation, that not all situations are of equal strength!!! Rather, the extent to which a situation influences behavior depends on the strength of the situation.

Social Cognition

How people select, remember, and use social information to make judgement and decisions

Experiential System

Unconscious, intuitive, automatic way of thinking. These are responsible for Schemas!!!

Cognitive System

Slow, deliberate, rational, conscious, and controlled way of thinking

Automatic Thinking

Nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless thought processing. It contains either a lack of awareness, a lack of conscious intent, lack of control, or is efficient

Categorization

Automatic, nonconscious organization of experiences into existing categories, which create Schemas!!!

Schema

A mental framework from past experience that contains one’s beliefs, feelings, and expectations about subjects/categories. Schemas influence our knowledge about ourselves, others, events, social roles and more

Schemas as a Prophecy

Information about others can influence how we experience the same thing. The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Mandela Effect

Memory misattribution. Our reconstructive memory forgets an event that really occurred, and mixes up the details. This can catch on at large!

Accessibility

The extent to which a schema is at the forefront of our mind, ready to use. There are two kinds

Chronic

Accessibility that is readily available due to past experience. For example, at a primary care appointment the doctor will likely give you a shot.

Temporal

Arbitrary reasons for schemas being accessible. A relatively near-past event affects your influence and approach to a near-future event. This relates to priming

Priming

Using recent experiences to increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. This is often quick and automatic

Perseverance Effect

People’s belief about themselves and the social world persist even if there is evidence that contradicts it

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Schemas that reinforce behaviors reinforce schemas!!! Initial expectation causes the fulfillment of these expectations!

Three Conditions to Override Automatic Thinking

1). Be aware controlled processes are necessary to counteract faulty automatic processes 2). We need to be motivated to exert control over our behaviors 3). We must have the ability to consider our thoughts and actions at a conscious level

Cognitive Dissonance

Unpleasant feeling that arises when our actions and thoughts, attitudes, or beliefs are inconsistent with each other. The kye is we recognize this.

Rationalization

Dissonance reduction method before and afterwards, where we reason the negatives and a preference, then “glaze” the path chosen

Effort Justification

The tendency to reduce dissonance by justifying time, effort, or money spent into a seemingly unpleasant or disappointing outcome

Forced Compliance

Inducing someone to behave in a matter inconsistent with their values. When we’re forced, we tend to act like we wanted to participate all along!!!

When Trying to Change an Attitude

Use the smallest amount of incentive necessary to change minds! Think the TOY

Inconsistency=Dissonance When

It challenges how we view ourselves, we have a choice, our action is not very justified, there were negative consequences, and we could foresee the harm

Self-Affirmation

Focusing on a strong self-schema to reduce dissonance

Self Perception

Challenges dissonance by stating our attitudes are evaluations of our behaviors. We infer from our behaviors what our attitudes should be. Used for weak or no attitudes already present

Self Knowledge

Our own description of ourselves

Three Ways we Learn Self-Knowledge

Appraisals from others, Social Comparisons, and Self-Perception

Appraisals From Others

The “looking glass” self. They can be explicit or implied. You’re a genius vs asking for help constantly

Reflected Self Appraisals

What we think about what others think about us. For example, I saw a girl smile and wave at me so I think she thinks I’m attractive 💀

Distortion of Feedback

We lie about the fact of the matter (i.e, to spare someone’s feelings)

Interpretation of Feedback

We misinterpret or overinterpret stimuli

Downward Comparison

Comparing ourselves to those we think are lesser at a task than us

Upwards Comparison

Comparing ourselves to those we think are better than us at a task

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to view ourselves favorably and attribute our faults to factors out of our control, vs when people make mistakes we attribute it to their personality

Fundamental Attribution Error

We place faults on someone’s intrinsic nature rather than accounting for external variables

Better Than Average Effect

The tendency to rank oneself higher than average on most average traits (statistically impossible)

Dunning Kruger Effect

People with little skill or expertise in an area overestimate their ability. We think we’re great, realize we know nothing, and then realize our reasonable abilities

Self Perception Theory

We learn about ourselves the same way we learn about outsiders. By observing them. So, we evaluate ourselves!!! We are most likely to use this in new, novel situations, such as the first time we try something new. They are also relied upon during transition points in life

Self - Concept

How we view ourselves in different scenarios, categorized by adjective traits

Compartmentalized

All positive or negative in one set

Integrated

Mix of positive and negative in different categories