SOCPYSCH

__Symbolic interactionism__

* Developed by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead
* "symbolic interactionism" was coined by Herbert Blumer
* SI theorists understand the world as the product of the everyday interactions of people

Symbolic interactionists - Blumer's SI premises

* People act towards things based on the meaning those things have for them
* These meanings are derives through social interaction and are not inherant
* Meanings can be modified and changed through social interaction

looking-glass self

3 elements:

* Imagine how we appear to others
* Imagine the others persons reaction to out appearance
* Respond with some sort of feeling
* Shame, pride, guilt, happiness

group processes

* The 'group' as a social psychological entity
* What is a group?
* Two or more people
* Become an 'us'
* Dependence on one another
* Rues, roles, norms, power structures
* (not formal but exist)

__Social structure and personality__

Relationships between groups of individuals

* Ex. Social class, religion, family, school, mass media, etc.

__Cognitive perspectives (focuses more on individual)__ 

* Emphasis placed on mental activities as determinants of social behaviour
* Cognitive processes are an intervening factor between external stimuli and behavioural responses

Cognitions

* Mental processes of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses

Cognitive structure

* Cognitions as interrelated
* Emphasis on how they are structured and the affect on behaviour and judgement

Schemas

A blueprint of people and things

__Evolutionary theory__

* Darwin's theory of evolution
* Social behaviour is linked to our genes

Empirical research

* "the systematic investigation of observable phenomena (behaviour, events) in the world". (Delamater et at.)
* Relies on observable and *measurable phenomena*
* Relies on scientific method to ensure finding are reliable and empirically grounded
* Doesn’t rely simply on theory

Surveys

* Popular source of data collection
* Set of question geared toward collecting information about a certain group

Relies on self-reporting

* Avoiding any bias

PROS:

* Generally inexpensive
* Potential clear picture of the phenomena under study
* Glimpse into infrequent or private behaviours

WEAKNESS:

* Problems with self-reporting

Field studies

* Observation of everyday life in action
* Unobtrusive measures
* Participant observation = part of group you are studying
* Non-participant observation = scientists watching

Strengths

* Real-world behaviour
* Study private and sensitive matters (unobstructive)
* In depth understandings

Weakness

* Significant affect of data recording method chosen
* Issues with memorization
* The issue of consent
* Time consuming

Archival research 

* The analysis of data that has already been collected by others
* Sources of archival data
* Government
* Universities
* Formal organization

Content analysis

The systematic study of documents to identify themes and make inferences based on these themes

Lab experiments

* RESEARCHERS HAVE MORE CONTROL
* Can control the physical space 

Field experiment

* Less control
* More generalizable 
* Typically more general place for them to be
* Mitigation of reactivity

__Strengths__

* High levels of internal validity
* More researcher control

 

__Weaknesses__

* Limits to what can be studied
* Depends on question
* Question that makes the most sense to study
* Ethical concerns
* Costly
* Subjects effects and experimenter effects 
* Low external validity

What is the self?

Our sense of who we are as individuals

* The source and object of reflexive behaviour 
* The self as both active and passive 

Mead's 'I' and 'me' (George Herbert Mead)

* Both the I and the Me make up the self
* 'Me' is the socialized self
* Passive self
* 'I' is the impulse
* Active

Role-taking

* ‘the process of imaginatively occupying the position of another person and viewing the self and the situation from the person’s perspective


* Another important step in the development of sel

Cooley and the looking-glass self

* Self as a social object
* Perception of self is based on the perception of others perceptions
* That image of our self is acquired through social relationships 
* Significant others

Meads Play and Game

* Play
* Imitating roles they see enacted by adults
* Game
* More complex; taking on the roles of those around them

The generalized other

* “a conception of the attitudes and expectations held in common by the members 

of the organized groups with whom they interact” 

* When we imagine what the group expects of us, we are taking on the role of the generalized other

Spotlight effect

“the belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance than they actually are” (Myers et al.)

Illusion of transparency

“the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others” (Myers et al.)

Self and culture

* Individualism vs. collectivism
* Independent self vs. interdependent self

Self-esteem

* Ones sense of self-worth
* Low self esteem can lead to: higher levels of anxiety, loneliness, more problems faced in everyday life
* High self esteem can lead to: better performance, more confidence, possibility of Narcissism

Identities

* ‘Meanings attached to the self by one’s self and others’
* We Possess Multiple Identities
* Role Identities
* Social Identities

Situated self

* The self in particular situations
* Multiple identities make up the self
* Not all are compatible

Hierarchy of identities EXAMPLES:

* Mom
* Doctor
* Habs fan
* whovian

More salient identities:

* Will be enacted with more frequency 
* Will be enacted in more situations
* Less situational
* Conform more with role expectations of salient identities

Self presentation

* Inherent in all social situations
* "the process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions that others form of them in social interactions"
* Authentic, ideal and tactical

Authentic self presentation

* Who you think you are
* I am just doing meIdeal

self presentation

* Self you want to be
* Ideally this is you
* Dress for success

Tactical self-presentation

* Present the you that is consistent with the expectation of others 

For social interaction to run smoothly, we need:

* \
* Shared understanding of the situation
* Sense of situated identity
* Shared sense of interaction goals, appropriate actions and behaviours

Frames

“a set of widely understood rules or conventions pertaining to 

a transient but repetitive situation that indicates which roles 

should be enacted and which behaviours are proper”

Situated identity

* Our conception of who we are in relation to the people around us

Tactical impression management 

Conscious decision to control information in an interaction to influence impressions

Impression management tactics:

* PHSYICAL APPERANCE

FRONT AND BACKSTAGE;

* PUTTING ON PREFORMANCE
* \

Impression management tactics: ingratiation

* he attempts we make to get someone to like us
* Can be done consciously or automatically

Ingratiation strategies 

* Opinion conformity
* Other enhancement
* Supplication
* Selective self-presentation

Cooling out

* Eased out of the role
* Alternative identity options
* Close relationships

Identity degradation

* Forced out of role
* No adequate alternative identities
* Dramatic degradation ceremony

Stigma and spoiled identities

* Goffman (again)
* An attribute, behaviour, reputation, or identify that is socially discrediting in some
* Discredited and discreditable

COPING STRATEGIES OF STIGMA AND SPOILED INDETITIES

* Concealment
* Remedy the stigma
* Overly pleasant 

Social perception

"Constructing an understanding of the social world from the data we get through our senses...the processes by which we form impressions of other people’s traits and personalities"

* Data collected through our sense

Attribution

“we observe others’ behaviours and then infer backward to causes...that explain why people act as they do

* What is their motive?

What is a schema?

* A cognitive framework that helps us to organize and interpret information
* Our schemas don’t have to be the same but may share common characteristics
* Help us organize and remember facts, to make inferences, and assess new information
* Help us remember facts and infer

Categorization

Tendency to understand phenomena as categories - as part of groups - rather than unique entities 

* Protype
* The most typical instance of a category
* Often made up of a set of common attributes
* Looks, acts

Person schema

* Types of individual
* Cognitive that describe personality
* Can infer things and see what to talk about
* If man is wearing a post Malone shirt - don’t say bad things
* Idea of Who they are based on of your experiences
* People we know

Self-schema

\
* Structures organize our own characteristics
* Friendly, introvert, stubborn
* Emotion or association with it - think highly of being an extrovert - negative that you are stubborn
* Stereotypes = negative
* Hipifications 

Group schemas

* Stereotypes
* Refer to group or social category
* Stereotype = rigid conceptions of a groups attributes/ behaviour
* Widely held in community or culture
* Men vs women
* Racial 
* Religion
* discrimination

Role schemas

* Attributes and behaviours of a person who occupies a certain role in society
* Based off socialization
* Fluidity 
* Fathers - you can take parental leave

Event schemas

* Scripts
* Important and recurring social events
* An idea of what to expect
* Weddings, funerals
* Relatively simple idea we can build from

Why do we use schemas?

* Help us to organize and understand our complex world
* Help us focus on what is important
* Help us to recall more salient/ relevant facts
* Help us to process information faster
* Help us guide our inferences
* Reduce ambiguity
* More certainty

Disadvantages:

* More accepting of information that fits into current schema
* Consistently fit with their schema (staff and doctors in case study)
* If in mental institution you are mentally ill
* Fill in missing information that fit into pre-existing schemas
* Inaccurate representations of a person
* Fill in gaps with what you already know
* Reluctant to change schemas
* Hold onto their schemas
* Even when new information shows up

Implicit personality theory

* The inference of Co-occurrence of personality traits based on another personality trait
* Halo effect

Implications of IPT

Can lead to poor judgement

Impression formation

* Process of creating a coherent picture of someone based on many sources of information
* Trait centrality
* Self-fulfilling prophecy
* Heuristics 

Trait centrality

* Certain traits ranking high in our perception of a person
* Impacts overall impression
* Also impacts how we perceive the other traits associated with the individual 

Self-fulfilling prophecies

* When we act towards someone based on our impression of them and they reflect that impression back to us
* They react in ways that confirm our original impression

Heuristics

* A mental short-cut that helps us choose that appropriate schema
* Availability
* Representativeness

Attribution theory

* The process we use to infer the causes of someone's behaviour
* In doing so, we are able to act effectively in the situation and make inferences about their future actions or behaviours
* Dispositional attribution
* Internal characteristics
* Situational attribution
* Environmental factors

Subtractive rule

* Subtrac5ing perceived situational forces/attributions from the implied dispositional attribution before inferring the strength of the dispositional attribution

Fundamental attribution error

* "the tendency to overestimate the importance of person (dispositional) factors and underestimate situational influences"
* Ignoring the subtractive rule

Focus-of-attention bias

* Focusing on certain aspects of the person or situation, we may ignore other influencing factors

\

Actor- observer difference

Observer attributes behaviour of actor to inte

Cognitions

* Beliefs about the object

Evaluations

* reinforcing the belief 

Behavioural disposition 

WHEN BOTH COGNITIONS AND EVALUATIONS EFFECT YOUR BEHAVIOURS

 

Affect-based attitudes

* More evaluate component
* More difficult to change

Cognition-based attitudes

* Rational
* More logical 
* Easier to change

Sources of attitudes

* Socialization is an important aspect of attitude formation
* Socialization aspects:
* Family
* Peers
* School
* Media 
* Gender 
* Instrumental conditioning
* Classical conditioning
* Observational learning 

 

Instrumental conditioning

* Direct experience
* Attitude formed by direct experience
* Positive or negative forms attitude

Classical conditioning

* Learning a new behaviour via association
* 2 stimuli put together
* Doctors use classical conditioning to help alcoholics  

Observational learning

* Sees what people around us are doing
* Agents of socialization 
* FAMILY
* Observing people - family majority 

Cognitive consistency 

* Consistency among our cognitions
* We want them consistent
* Cognitions remain consistent because people WANT them to remain consistent
* Two theories
* Balance theory
* Cognitive dissonance

Balance theory

* Developed by - Heider
* Explains int4erpersonal relations 
* Understands balance in terms of cognitions
* Certain structures are balanced and some are imbalanced
* 3 elements 

 

* Balance 
* 3 positive or 1 positive and 2 negative
* Imbalance
* 3 negative or 2 positive and 1 negative 

Cognitive dissonance 

* A state where one or more attitudes are inconsistent with out cognitions
* Dissonance after the act
* Dissonance when act is counter-attitudinal

Do attitudes predict behaviour?

* LaPiere (1934)
* Study in discrimination against Chinese people in America 

Affective-cognitive consistency

* Relationship between the cognitive and affective (evaluative) component's and behaviour
* Significant consistency between the two is a strong predictor of a behaviour

Situational constraints

* Behavioural determined by the situation and whether the people will respond negatively or positively 

Theory of planned behaviour

* Ajzen and Fishbein has shown that One’s (a) attitudes, (b) perceived social norms, and © feelings of control
* Together determine one’s intentions, which guide behaviours

Foot in the door:

* Tendency for people who has first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

Door in the face;

* A strategy for gaining concession. After someone first turns down a large request, the same requester with a more reasonable request

 

Self affirmation theory:

* Elements of oursleves which are very important to our sense of self, as soon as something threatens it we engage in beahiours to diffuse dicreincy 
* Get bad mark
* Tell sense good student and look at old good grades

Social influence

When one person (the source) does something to get another person (the target) to engage in a certain behaviour

* Can result in attitude change
* Can result in compliance
* Can result in both attitude change and compliance 
* Can result in neither 

Persuasion

* Defined as "changing the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours of a target through the use of information or an argument
* Persuading you, not making you
* Compliance is you do it or else

Communication-persuasion paradigm

* The source-the message-the target-the response 

 

The credibility of the source 

* \
* Subjective - relative
* Expert
* Likeable
* Attractive
* Trustworthy
* Hierarchy of credibility
* Scientists, politicians, activists, celebrities 

 

The message

* Can be based on fact or emotion 
* Discrepant message 
* Relationship between the credibility of the source and discrepancy of message 
* The greater the credibility the greater the discrepency can be

The target

* Factors that may impact whether the target is persuaded
* Intelligence
* Degree of involvement 
* Personality
* Degree of focus/distraction

Complying with threats and promise 

* "do as you are told!"
* Compliance through threat or promise
* Reward vs. punishme
* Magnitude and credibility 

Obedience

* Recognition of a social system 
* Authority figures
* Teachers, parents, bosses, police

Authority

* Authority must be accepted
* Civil order hinged on obedience 
* Milligrams experiment

Factors that impact obedience 

* Outward sign of authority
* Backing up threat of punishment
* Where you are in the chain of command

Resistance

* Not just passive actors

Inoculation

* Exposure to weak discrepant info as well as counterarguments supported by target
* Build up immunity against persuasion 

Forewarning

* Warning target prior to act of persuasion
* Prepare for it
* Create counterarguments…