Unit 4 Psych

social psychologists

• focus on situation

• ex.~ studying effect of home team advantage

social psychology

• how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of one individual are influenced by real or imagined situations

attribution theory

• dispositional or situational

fundamental attribution error

• the over-tendency to use dispositional side

• judging others

• less specific situation

• ex.~ a car tailgates you and you just blame that person and yell at them rather than considering a situation they may be going through

actor-observer bias

• the overemphasis of the situational side

• ex.~ failing a very hard test

• others vs. ourself

• more detail and scenario oriented

self-serving bias

• judging ourself, good things we made happen, bad things happen because of someone else or some other situation

• more detail and scenario oriented

prejudice

• unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members who often are people of a particularly racial or ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation

internal locus of control

• you can make things happen

• personal decisions, hard work, etc.

external locus of control

• some things you have no control over

• fate, luck, etc.

self-fulfilling prophecy

• a belief that leads to its own fulfillment

• caused by mirror-image perceptions

  • ex.~ If Juan believes Maria is annoyed with him, he may snub her, causing her to act in a way that justifies his perception

just-world phenomenon

• the tendency for people to believe that the world is just and ppl therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

• working definition: bad things happen to bad people who do bad things, protects the self bc. if I do good things, bad things won’t happen to me

ingroup

• “us”- people whom we share a common identity

• ex.~ sports team

outgroup

• “them”- those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

• ex.~ your rival school

ingroup bias

• a favoring of our own group

• isn’t always vilification of outgroup

scapegoat theory

• the theory that prejudice offers and outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

• ex.~ used in Nazi, Germany with Hitler blaming economic problems on one group

attitudes

• feelings influenced by our beliefs

elaboration likelihood method

• for changing attitudes

cognitive dissonance theory

• Leon Festinger’s theory that we act to reduce discomfort (dissonance) we feel two of our thoughts (cognitions) or our thoughts and behaviors are inconsistent

• disconnect between behavior and attitude

• ex.~ a smoker may enjoy the sensation but know that it may cause lung cancer

halo effect

• communication among people is active, communicate following their creative and convenient ways and method to achieve a certain goal or objective

• Jason Kelce example, putting halo on top of famous person

peripheral route to persuasion

• emotional, distract, incidental clues such as speaker’s attractiveness

• ex.~ ad for tide pods video

central route to persuasion

• facts, direct, people are influenced by arguments and respond with favorable thoughts, will trigger careful thinking

• ex.~ Rocket Mortgage Loans ad video

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

• asking little things to lead up to the big thing

• ex.~ “Can I have $400?” “No.” “Can I have $200?” “Sure.”

conformity

• a change in behavior, due to the pressure of group or social norms

Solomon Asch’s study of conformity

• used lines and group of men (5 confederates and 1 experimental person that doesn’t know what’s going on), all say same one even if it’s wrong

• so, the research subject conformed to the group

normative social influence

• around us

• gain approval or avoid disapproval

informative social influence

• seeking opinions

• willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

obedience

• AKA compliance

• changing one’s behavior due to the request or direction of another person

Stanley Milgram’s obedience study

• come up with a shock experiment

• 3 roles: experimenter and learner as confederates and teacher as the experiment subject

• if ppl get questions wrong, they get shocked and will beg the teacher to stop but they’re testing to see if they’ll stop or listen to the scientist

social facilitation

• improved performance/ work in the presence of others

• ex.~ teams performing at home spot

social inhibition

• presence of crowd makes performance worse, especially with complex tasks

social loafing

• when in a group, we don’t give much effort bc. we think the other people will pick up the slack

• ex.~ group project or tug of war

industrial/ organizational psychology

• study how people perform in the work place, so people won’t get burnout

deindividuation

• loss of sense of identity/ self in a group

• example with Phillies fans stealing luggage

group polarization

• 1 plus groups

• when people of like-minded groups get more extreme with their positions

• ex.~ democrats with democrats and republicans with republicans

groupthink

• group is seeking harmony and any descent is set aside

• group has bad idea then a member goes with the group and stays quiet to not upset the group

• “Fine, I’ll just go”

altruism

• selfless behavior

social debt

“you owe me something”

social reciprocity norm

• I did something for you, so you do something for me

social responsibility norm

• shouldn’t expect something in return

• mostly looking at people of privilege

bystander effect

• less likely to stand up/ help when more people are around

social traps

• a conflict of interest or perverse incentive where individuals or a group of people act to obtain short term individual gains, which in the long run leads to a loss for the whole group

• people have a choice to make

ID

• don’t see much of

• devil on your shoulder

• irrational

EGO

• manager

• always seen by most

• managing both sides

• reality principle

• rational

SUPEREGO

• a good part of this is seen

• some isn’t though

• angel on you shoulder

• striving for moral perfection

• irrational

defense mechanism

• unconsciously protect ego from threats

regression

• revert to child-like behavior

• ex.~ the Step Brothers movie during wedding toasts

reaction formation

• act opposite of what we’re feeling

• ex.~ Happy Endings video

projection

• accuse someone else of your feelings/behavior

• ex.~ Gretchen in Mean Girls with essay

rationalization

• justifying our behaviors

• ex.~ Friends with the cheesecake

displacement

• redirect impulse to something less threatening

• ex.~ How I Met Your Mother video with chain of screaming

sublimation

• redirecting to be over positive

• ex.~ Finding Nemo shark video

denial

• refusal to acknowledge

• ex.~ Despicable Me 2 video of Gru refusing to be scared of women after experience with girl when he was younger

projective tests

• preconscious mind and accessing personality

• something ambiguous is shown and the psychologist hopes the client will convey unconscious thoughts

thematic appreciation test (TAT)

• set of ambiguous pictures and client says the story of what’s happening; reveals things about the client

rorschach inkblot test

• 12 ink blots and people give their immediate reactions

humanistic theory

• free will, unconditional positive regard, says all people are good

focus of humanistic psychologists

• fundamental goodness of people

• focusing on now and future, not the past

unconditional positive regard

• acceptance and nonjudgmental behavior from therapist allows space that the clients need throughout the exploration process

real self

• who we actually are

ideal self

• what/who we wish we could be

self concept

• description and evaluation of oneself

self-efficacy

• perception of capabilities

• “how much do I believe in myself?”

self-esteem

• degree to which self-concept is perceived to be positive

trait

• enduring characteristics, typical responses, usually persistent

Eysencks’ view of traits

• thinks we need to look at traits on a spectrum

• 2 traits but different spectrums

personality inventories

• asking questions and, based on how you answer, is where in the Big 5 you fall

MMPI

• asks about things like violent behavior

• given to people who will work in very sensitive situations

• very personal questions

• want to weed people/liars out

• can be given to criminals in correction facilities

Big 5 Personality Traits

O-openess to experience……….close-minded

C-conscientiousness………….lack of direction

E-extraversion………intraversion

A-agreeableness………….antagonistic

N-emotional stability…………neuroticism

social-cognitive theory

• our personality is made up of social and cognitive factors

Bandura’s idea of reciprocal determinism

• triangle with personal factors, environment, and behavior

• 3 parts to your personality

• all of these things can influence one another

• can change your opinions

drive-reduction theory

• homeostasis is the goal

• we do things in order to bring our body to homeostasis

• that’s why we’re motivated

• need-drive-behavior

  • water-thirst-drink

• very limited

arousal theory

• optimal arousal: each one of use has a need for this to be met

• ex.~ a good book

optimal arousal

• if doing something easy/you’re good at/you like, we can tolerate higher levels of arousal

• opposite for harder things

• doing things to meet our level of arousal

self-determination theory

• behavior is directed toward attaining desirable stimuli and avoiding unwanted stimuli

intrinsic motivation

• internal factors

• makes you feel good inside

external factors

• external reward

• incentive theory

incentive theory

• outside, external rewards

• we do things to gain positive incentives

  • praise, rewards, etc.

Lewin’s motivational conflicts theory

• some of our motivation comes when we have conflict

• we’re driven by those conflicts

approach-approach

• 2 desirable options

• ex.~ choosing between 2 vacation destinations

approach-avoidance

• option with good and bad to it

• ex.~ new job with more money but long hours and more stress

avoidance-avoidance

• two undesirable options

• pick your poison motivator

• ex.~ radiation vs. chemo for cancer treatment

successive experience

• something scares us and that triggers physiological response (arousal), then emotion

• stimuli-arousal-emotion

facial feedback hypothesis

• suggest that facial expressions not only effect emotional experiences but also influence them

• can keep emotion of change it

• ex.~ soft smile when anxious to reduce the feelings of it

simultaneous experience

• when stimulus happens, arousal and emotion follow together

• issue: pounding heart could come with different emotions

cognitive label required

• stimuli is followed by arousal and appraisal together then emotion

universal emotions

• anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise (6)

• looked at infants

  • these are the innate emotions

• across the world

broaden-and-build theory

• emotions are built and broadened by our own experiences

• positive emotions

  • love, joy, curiosity, contentment, etc.

• broaden

  • novel thoughts, activities, relationships

• build

  • social support, resilience, skills, etc.

• transform

  • enhanced health, survival, fulfillment

• upward spiral

• example with someone picking up pickleball

display rules and elicitors

• culture

• gender

• age

• socioeconomic classes

• in some cultures, displaying intense emotions may be discouraged, but, in others, expressing emotions openly may be seen as authentic and valued, fostering emotional intimacy and communication