💥Intro Psyc Ch 10 Social Psychology💥

Diffusion of responsibility (bystander apathy) occurs most strongly under what condition?

Individual feel a diminished sense of responsibility to assist in an emergency when other bystanders are present

Why did helping drop from 85% to 31% in Darley & Latané's study?

Participants perceived others would act, reducing personal responsibility

🔹85% helped when alone

🔹62% helped with two others

🔹31% helped with five others

Witnesses fail to help in emergencies (e.g., Kitty Genovese case) because they assume others will act

Diffusion of responsibility

If no one else is perceived present, helping increases because?

Responsibility is not diffused

What key variable changed in Darley & Latané's experiment?

Number of perceived bystanders

Why is diffusion of responsibility based on perception rather than reality?

Behavior depends on belief others will act, not actual action

A person feels anxious in an emergency but does not help. What explains this?

When other bystanders are present, Diffusion of responsibility reduces action, despite emotional arousal

The way we perceive, evaluate, categorize, & form judgments about the qualities of other people

Social perception

Why can social perceptions override actual behavior?

People act based on their interpretations of others, not on objective reality

A person avoids a friend because they think the friend is annoyed. What concept?

Social perception guiding behavior/response

What makes social perception more powerful than observed behavior?

Interpretation drives response

Why does the primacy effect lead to biased judgments?

The first information we receive about a person has the greatest influence on our perception & shapes interpretation

A negative trait presented first leads to lasting negative perception.

Why?

🔹Primacy effect prioritizes initial info

🔹Negative impressions form quickly and are hard to change

Why are positive impressions easier to lose than negative ones?

They require repeated evidence but can be undone quickly

Person schemas

Generalized assumptions about groups or classes of people

Schemas lead to error primarily because they do what?

We focus on information that fits schemas & Ignore/Filter out inconsistent information

🔹A person ignores evidence contradicting their belief about someone.

🔹Assuming a neighbor is unfriendly & interpreting actions to fit that belief

What process?

Schema filtering

Why are schemas cognitively efficient but inaccurate?

They reduce processing effort but oversimplify reality

🔹A person assumes intelligence implies creativity

🔹Beliefs about how different personality traits are related or tend to occur together

Implicit personality theory

Why do implicit personality theories lead to prediction errors?

They assume traits go together, which can lead to incorrect predictions about behavior

Major characteristics that influence impressions (e.g., warm vs cold)

Central traits

Halo effect

🔹It generalizes one trait to many unrelated traits

🔹Single trait shapes how we see everything else about the person, form an overall impression of a person based on one trait

🔹A hiring manager rates an attractive candidate as successful & more competent.

What bias?

🔹Tendency to infer other traits based on one trait

Halo effect

Why do attributions influence emotional reactions?

The cause we assign to behavior determines how we feel about it

Attribution theory

Explaining behavior by attributing it to internal (dispositional) or external (situational) causes

When we try to explain someone’s behavior by deciding whether it was caused by personality or the situation

Attribution theory

Internal attribution leads to what type of judgment?

That a person’s behavior reflects stable personality traits

External attribution leads to what type of judgment?

That a person’s behavior reflects situational (environmental) factors

Females attributing success to effort represents what type of attribution?

External attribution

Males attributing failure to situation reflects what pattern?

External attribution

Correspondent inference theory

We infer that behavior reflects their internal (dispositional) traits, especially under certain conditions

When are correspondent inferences likely?

When behavior is:

🔺unexpected

🔺socially undesirable

🔺freely chosen

When is a correspondent inference LEAST likely?

When the behavior is socially expected or normative

Why does expected behavior reduce dispositional inference?

Because the behavior may be driven by social norms, not the person’s internal traits

Why is politician smiling is not informative?

🔹Behavior is socially desirable

🔹Expected behaviors reveal little about personality

Why is norm-violating behavior more informative?

Less likely to be caused by situational pressure

Why do noncommon effects increase dispositional attribution?

Behavior leading to unique outcomes is more likely attributed to disposition & personal choice

Choosing a non-required course suggests what?

Internal motivation

Why does free choice strengthen dispositional attribution?

🔺If behavior is freely chosen, it's attributed to disposition

🔺Forced = situation

Forced behavior is attributed to what?

Situational causes

What assumption underlies covariation principle?

Causes and effects vary together, so behavior can be explained by examining how it changes across person, situation, & stimulus

🔹Distinctiveness

🔹Consistency

🔹Consensus

Three factors in ____

Covariation principle

🔹Which factor compares behavior across situations?

🔹Whether behavior occurs only in specific situations

Distinctiveness

🔹Which factor compares behavior across time?

🔹Whether behavior occurs repeatedly in same situation

Consistency

🔹Which factor compares behavior across people?

🔹Others behave the same way

Consensus

Behavior likely due to internal disposition

Low consensus

Behavior likely due to situational factors

High distinctiveness

Low distinctiveness + high consistency + low consensus = ?

Dispositional attribution

High distinctiveness + high consistency + high consensus = ?

Situational attribution

Person loves art everywhere (low distinctiveness, high consistency, low consensus) → disposition

Covariation

A behavior is consistent over time, occurs across many situations, & is uncommon among others. What type of attribution is most likely?

Dispositional

A person laughs at one exhibit & others do too. What attribution?

Situational (external) attribution

A behavior is repeated over time but only in one context.

High distinctiveness suggests a situational (external) cause

If behavior is inconsistent over time

Attribution becomes unclear or weak because the behavior is not stable

Why is consistency necessary for strong attribution?

it shows the behavior is stable over time, making the cause more reliable

Why is consensus critical for distinguishing causes?

Shows whether a behavior is shared by others or unique to the individual, helping determine situational vs internal causes

Why does low consensus suggest internal cause?

Others do not behave the same way, making the behavior seem unique to that person

How do schemas & primacy effect interact?

Initial schema-consistent info reinforces first impressions

How do attribution & perception connect?

Perceptions influence attribution of causes

Why are social judgments often inaccurate?

They rely on shortcuts like schemas & halo effect

What type of behavior gives strongest evidence of personality?

🔺Unexpected

🔺Socially undesirable

🔺Freely chosen behavior

Why do people act like 'naive scientists' in attribution?

They analyze patterns to infer cause

What is the biggest limitation of human attribution?

Attributions are often biased because they are based on perception & incomplete information

Implicit attitudes

Unconscious attitude that automatically influences thoughts & behavior (no thinking)

When are implicit attitudes most likely to predict behavior better than explicit attitudes?

When people give socially desirable responses

🔹sensitive topics

🔹socially controversial topics

🔺A person reports no bias in a survey but behaves differently in real situations.

Which attitude predicts their behavior?

Implicit attitudes

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

🔹Used to measure strength of persons implicit attitudes by recording how quickly they associate groups, individuals, concepts with “good” or “bad” categories

🔹Faster reaction times = stronger implicit attitude/automatic associations, revealing unconscious attitudes that may not be reported explicitly

What Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures

🔹Reaction time when pairing images & words

🔹Faster responses = stronger automatic associations

Explicit attitudes

🔹Conscious attitudes that a person is aware of & can report

🔹Often influenced by social factors such as the desire to give acceptable or desirable answers

🔹A person reports positive feelings toward a group when asked in a survey, but changes answers, depending on who is asking.

What type of attitude is this?

Explicit attitudes

🔹Predict behavior better because they operate automatically without conscious control, influencing behavior without deliberate thought

🔹 Especially in situations where people don't have time to think or give socially desirable responses

Implicit attitudes

If someone reacts quickly without thinking, which attitude is likely used?

Implicit attitudes

If someone has time to carefully think about their answer, which attitude is more likely used?

Explicit attitudes

A person gives socially acceptable answers but behaves differently. Why?

Implicit attitudes guide behavior

Conformity

Change behavior or beliefs to align with others due to social pressure

*is there a group? →Conformity*

Informational social influence (conformity)

🔹CHANGE Belief

🔹Accept the group’s beliefs/behaviors as providing accurate information about reality, look to GROUP for guidance

🔹Used when you are unsure of the truth.

Compared to compliance, conformity _____.

does not result from direct coercion

🔹A person changes their opinion to match the group & continues to believe it when alone.

What type of influence is this?

Informational social influence (conformity)

Sherif's conformity study

🔸Participants sat alone in a dark room & estimated how far a stationary ight moved

(an ambiguous (unclear/confusing) task caused by a perceptual illusion)

🔸 A participant changes their estimate after group discussion & keeps that belief when alone.

Sherif

🔹A participant estimates how far a light moves in a dark room.

After group discussion, their estimate changes & stayed the same even when tested alone later

🔹 They now believe the group’s answer is correct.

What does this demonstrate?

Informational social influence (conformity)

Normative social influence (conformity)

🔺A person changes their behavior (conforms) to match a group in order to gain approval or avoid rejection

🔺Does not believe the group is correct & reverts to their true beliefs when alone

-normative = behavior changed publicly, but beliefs did NOT change

💠When Disa indicates she is a Republican when she knows that 4 of the people on the promotion board are Republican, she is acting under _____

Normative social influence (conformity)

🔸Mia, a student, knows the correct answer on a test question, but changes it after seeing that her classmates choose a different answer.

🔸Blair changes her behavior only when others are watching, but not when alone.

What is it?

Normative social influence (conformity)

🔹Participants show visible stress (leaning forward, double-checking) but still conform to incorrect group answers. Pressure overrides correct perception

Why?

Normative social influence (conformity)

🔸Unfamiliarity: Not having preconceived notions about the object 🔸Low Self-Esteem: High concern for social relationships or low self-worth

🔸Perceived Status: If others have higher status, power over us, or observe/watch us

Are conditions that increase _____

Conformity

Who is MOST likely to conform?

🔹Low self-esteem

🔹When they perceive others as acting independently

Asch’s conformity study

🔺Participants judged which of 3 lines (A, B, C) matched a standard line

🔺In a group setting, confederates intentionally gave incorrect answers even though the correct answer was obvious & not ambiguous

🔺The real subject often changed their answer to match the group after hearing the confederates’ incorrect responses

🔺They showed normative social influence- they conformed to avoid standing out, but they didn't believe the group was correct

The conclusion of Asch's conformity study

🔹Majority of subjects showed normative social influence- matched the group’s wrong answers to avoid standing out, even though the correct answer was not ambiguous & obvious

🔸Some subjects began to doubt their own perceptions & thought the group might be correct, showing informational social influence occurred in some cases

🔸In Solomon Asch’s conformity study, the correct answer was clear & not ambiguous, yet many participants still went along with the group’s incorrect answer.

- What percent of participants conformed?

- What percent never conformed?

🔺33% conformed ( 1 in 3 / 1/3 )

🔺25% never conformed (1 in 4)

🔹Conformity increases when there is complete agreement from the group / unanimous

🔹Creates stronger social pressure- a subject feels isolated & less confident in disagreeing, increasing pressure to conform

Unanimity

🔺What effect does 1 dissenter have on conformity?

(dissenter = someone disagreeing w/group)

🔹Breaks group unanimity, Greatly REDUCiNG Conformity

🔹Reduces pressure to conform

🔹Conformity increases as group size grows, but only up to a point-

🔺The strongest effect is ____

🔹Beyond that point, additional group members have little effect on increasing conformity

3-4 people

Compliance

Behavior change due to direct request

🔸A person donates money after a charity worker directly asks them.

What is it?

Compliance

Foot-in-the-door (compliance)

🔸Compliance technique

🔸Person first agrees to a small or minor request 🔸Setting them up to be more likely to agree to a large/major request later

Why foot-in-the-door works

🔺After agreeing to a small request, people begin to see themself as “the kind of person who does this sort of thing”

🔺Making them more likely to agree to Large commitments- because they want to remain consistent with that self-image

🔸A person first makes a large or unreasonable request that is likely to be refused

🔸Then follows w/ smaller, more reasonable request, which was the goal from the beginning

What technique is this?

Door-in-the-face (compliance)

Why door-in-the-face works

🔹After refusing a large, unreasonable request, the smaller request appears more reasonable

🔹People are more likely to agree

🔹They agree because they feel pressure from saying no to the first request

🔹A salesperson asks you to "sign up for our free newsletter" before asking you to purchase a premium $500 subscription.

Which technique are they using, & why?

🔸Foot-in-the-Door

🔸The newsletter is a trivial request that sets up the "major" goal (the subscription)

🔹You want your friend to lend you $20.

🔹You start with an "unreasonable" request, $500, that you expect them to refuse, making the $20 seem "reasonable" in comparison.

Which technique are they using?

Door-in-the-face (compliance)