Social Psychology Test 1

Self-fulfilling prophecy

¨You can make a person behave the way you expect that person to behave.

Psychology

¨focus on individual-level variables

Sociology

focus on group-level variables

Wilhelm Wundt

argued for the development of social psychology

Norman Triplett

first official social psychology experiment on social facilitation; cyclists performed better when paced by others

William McDougal

focused on the individual as the unit of analysis

Edward Ross

focused on groups and the structure of society

Floyd Allport

father of experimental social psychology, published a 3rd textbook that moved Psychology clearly in the direction of the individual and the use of the experimental methods of science rather than philosophy

experimental methods

manipulate factors to discover their effects

Kurt Lewin

a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany. " no research without action, and no action without research."

Stanley Milgram

¤influential research programs, searching to explain Nazi atrocities.

Leon Festinger

developed the theory of cognitive dissonance.

cross-cultural study

The examination of a wide variety of societies when considering any particular cultural question, for purposes of comparison.

self-awareness

recognizes that the self is separate from others

explicit

Effortful

Implicit

Effortless and easy

Individualism

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Collectivism

giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

Value-free perspective

scientists should not be concerned with how their discoveries are applied, trying to influence social policy is irresponsible

lit review

a review of existing literature on the topic

Theory

¨our best explanation for a set of observed relationships among 2 or more variables.

Institutional review boards (IRB)

review study proposals with the goal of protecting participants

confederates

experimental assistants generally posing as participants

Descriptive statistics

summarize the responses of the sample

Inferential statistics

estimate the degree to which these responses can be generalized

Significant

reliable difference

effect size

the magnitude of a relationship between two or more variables

Type I

error is a false positive. Results were significant but it was a fluke and will not replicate

Type II

error is a false negative. Results were not significant in your study, but it was a fluke, you missed finding a real relationship

¤Correlational

similar rates of use in Sociology and Psychology

Experimental

Widely used in Psychology

Quasi-experimental

an experimental design that lacks random assignment

random selection

A way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample

social desirability bias

A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.

cause and effect illusion

when two variables are related (correlated), there is a natural tendency to assume that one causes the other, but correlation does not allow us to infer causality

third variable problem

the concept that a correlation between two variables may stem from both being influenced by some third variable

directionality problem

a situation in which it is unclear which variable in an association came first

quasi-experimental research

A research technique in which the two or more groups that are compared are selected based on predetermined characteristics, rather than random assignment

random division

Random assignment of treatment to avoid further bias

statistically significant

an observed effect so large that it would rarely occur by chance

practical significance

an observed relationship that is large enough to be of value in a practical sense

Virtual Environment Technology

early studies suggest a promising combination of realism and control

web-based studies

- recruit many people
- run studies remotely (cheap and easy)
- non representative samples

Non-representative samples

can lead to grossly inaccurate and biased results

implicit measures

Reporting what people don't realize they are thinking/feeling (getting at unconscious attitudes)

Brain Imaging Techniques

-CAT Scan
-PET Scan
-MRI
-fMRI
-Diffusion Spectrum MRI
-EROS
-DOT
-Clarity

social perception

The process through which we seek to know and understand other persons (also called Person Perception).

Charles Darwin

Anger, Fear, Happiness, Sadness, Disgust and Surprise

Paul Ekman

emotion; found that facial expressions are universal

Inter-channel discrepancies

inconsistencies between nonverbal cues from different basic channels

Micro-expressions

very brief, sudden emotional expressions

paralinguistic cues

Aspects of the voice that convey information, such as tone, intonation, pitch, speech rate, use of silence.

theory of correspondent inference

describes how people use others' behavior as a basis for inferring their stable dispositions

Theory of Causal Attributions

how you use observations to infer internal, external. stable, or unstable causes for events

Consistency

The extent to which "he"reacts in the same way to the same stimulus over time.

Consensus

the extent to which others react the same way that "he" does to a stimulus.

Distinctiveness

The extent to which the same person reacts in the same way to different stimuli.

augmenting principle

When a factor which might facilitate a behavior and one which might inhibit the same behavior are both present and the behavior occurs, we add weight to the behavior. The behavior was Unexpected.

The Discounting Principle

the importance of one particular explanation for a given behavior is reduced to the extent that there are other possible explanations for that behavior. The behavior was Expected.

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

actor-observer effect

the tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behavior of others

self-serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

self-attributions

inferences that people draw about the causes of their own behavior

Misattribution

mistakenly attributing a behavior to the wrong source

Attributional style

The way a person typically explains the things that happen in his or her life

The Ultimate Attributional Error

the tendency to attribute positive behaviors to internal traits within one's own group, but negative behaviors to the internal traits of the out group.(the Actor-Observer effect applied to groups

primacy effect

tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list especially well

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Heuristics

mental shortcuts

recency effect

tendency to remember words at the end of a list especially well

Representative Heuristic

judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes

Priming

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

Unpriming

refers to the fact that the effects of the schemas tend to persist until they are somehow expressed in thought or behavior and only then do their effects decrease

Illusory Correlations

the perception of a relationship where none exists

regression fallacy

the failure to recognize the influence of the regression effect and to offer a causal theory for what is really a simple statistical regularity

counterfactual thinking

mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been

Assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

accommodation

reshaping schemas due to new information

automatic processing

emotion based and occurs in the limbic system

controlled processing

reasoning and logical occurs in the prefrontal cortex

Attitudes

lasting general evaluations of people (including self), objects, or ideas

Affect

emotion

behavior

action

cognition

thinking

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punishmet

observational learning

learning by observing others

A-B problem

professed attitudes don't always match behaviors

vested interest

an inherent motivation to pay attention

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

role playing

a good technique for practicing the sales presentation prior to meeting with a customer; the salesperson acts out a simulated buying situation while a colleague or manager acts as the buyer

positive thinking

focusing on what is good about yourself, other people, and the world around you

•Foot-in-the-
door

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

low-ball technique

persuasive technique in which the seller of a product starts by quoting a low sales price and then mentions all of the add-on costs once the customer has agreed to purchase the product

cognitive dissonance

Inner tension that a consumer experiences after recognizing an inconsistency between behavior and values or opinions

brain washing

make (someone) adopt radically different beliefs by using systematic and often forcible pressure.

facial feedback effect

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

self-monitoring

being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression

self-awareness

A self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. It makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions