Applying Social Psychology Practice Flashcards
Applying Social Psychology to Health
Definition of Stress: Stress consists of negative feelings and beliefs arising when individuals feel unable to cope with environmental demands. It occurs primarily when internal or external resources are insufficient to meet specific demands. * Subjectivity of Stress: Stress is highly subjective; a situation that causes extreme stress for one individual may not affect another to the same degree. * Distress vs. Eustress: * Distress: Stress caused by negative stimuli or situations. * Eustress: Stress originating from situations generally considered positive.
Types of Stressors: * Catastrophes: Large-scale disasters affecting many people for extended periods (e.g., natural disasters). These increase physiological and mental stress. * Example: There was a increase in suicides in areas affected by an earthquake. * Example: Domestic violence increased following the eruption of Mt. St. Helen. * Life Stresses: Typical events expected in a lifetime, such as the death of a family member, loss of a friend, or loss of a job. * Everyday Stresses: Small, annoying daily events that accumulate. These lead to increased interpersonal conflict and create a more stressful day-to-day experience.
Resilience and Personality Factors: * Resilience: Mild, transient reactions to stressful events followed by a quick return to normal homeostasis. Humans are generally fairly resilient. * Hostility: A predictive factor for both stress and heart disease. It involves a tendency to be angry, confrontational, and aggressive. This is a critical trait in Type A personalities and may contribute to health problems in individuals who are more racist.
The Immune System and Cancer: * Immune Response: There is a negative correlation between immune response and stress. Stress weakens the immune system on a day-to-day basis. * Stone et al. (1994): Researchers tracked individuals during the cold season. Those in the high-stress group developed colds at a rate of , while the low-stress group developed colds at a rate of . * Everyday Viruses: These tend to spread more rapidly in areas that have experienced a catastrophe. * Cancer Studies: * Animal Research: Rats biologically predisposed to tumors were subjected to random shocks. The control group (no stress) developed cancer at a rate of , while the shocked group (high stress) developed cancer at a rate of . * Human Research: Male employees with high stress and lower self-esteem were more likely to die of cancer. Stress can trigger genetic predispositions for cancer.
Control and Coping Mechanisms
Locus of Control: * Internal vs. External: People with an internal locus of control feel in charge of their decisions and experiences. Those with an external locus of control feel at the mercy of the world, leading to higher stress levels. * Illness Outcomes: Internal locus of control is associated with better mental health outcomes following an illness. * Langer & Rodin (1976): In a nursing home study, one group was given choices (attending a movie, caring for a plant) while a second group was not. Results showed that only of the internal (choice) group died that year, compared to of the external (no choice) group. * Shulz (1976): Residents were given or denied choice regarding visitor schedules. When the choice was later removed from the internal group after months, they fared worse than those who never had a choice in the first place. * Cultural Differences: Individualistic cultures rely more on internal locus of control than collectivist cultures and are more negatively affected when control is absent.
Coping Strategies: * Problem-Focused Coping: Attempting to solve the issue causing the stress directly. * Emotion-Focused Coping: Managing the emotional reaction to stress. * Positive: Increasing positive emotionality and mindset. * Neutral: Emotional shutdown or numbness. * Sharing: Discussing experiences with others. This is more common with catastrophes than everyday stresses and provides hope by showing the individual is not alone.
Cognitive Appraisal: * Primary Appraisal: Determining if an event is positive, negative, or neutral. If negative, it is evaluated as harmful, threatening, or challenging. * Secondary Appraisal: Evaluating if one has the resources to cope. Stress occurs if resources are deemed insufficient. This process can be repeated. * Proactive Coping: Preparing for an event before it occurs to better handle the stress.
Social Support and Health Models
Social Support Types: * Received Support: The actual, physical response and experienced support. * Perceived Support: The belief that support is available; this is critical for general mental health. * Instrumental Support: Tangible, material resources provided to help with a stressor. * Informational Support: Providing advice or help rethinking a situation. * Emotional Support: Tending to emotional needs rather than solving the problem. * Health Outcomes: Social isolation leads to worse mental and physical health outcomes.
Behavioral Models and Interventions: * Biopsychosocial Model: Health behaviors are socially and culturally defined. * Reid & Aiken (2013): Studied women in Phoenix, AZ, who believed tanned skin was attractive and sun protection was "lame." Correcting these social beliefs led to healthier habits like sunscreen use. * Health Belief Model: Healthy behaviors are determined by beliefs about effectiveness, consequences, ease of the behavior, and social factors. * Prototype-Willingness Model: Used for adolescents; behavior is driven by social activity (if others do it, they will) and reactivity (telling them not to do something increases its attraction).
Clinical Adherence: * Nonadherence: Patients failing to follow doctors' advice, often due to a lack of persuasiveness by the physician. * Assessments: Formative assessments provide advice on changing a situation; summative assessments evaluate the success of that change.
Applying Social Psychology to Business
The Hawthorne Effect: Discovered at the Hawthorne Plant, this observation states that people behave differently and work harder when they know they are being watched.
Job Interviews: * Influencing Factors: Physical attractiveness and similarity to the interviewer (Halo effect) significantly increase hiring chances. * The Resume Impression: Impressions are formed before meeting; these first impressions often stick. * Structured Interviews: All applicants are asked the same questions in the same order to reduce interpersonal bias and level the playing field.
Employee Testing: * Intelligence Tests: Measure general cognitive ability, street smarts, and job-specific knowledge. * Personality Tests: The "Big Five" traits, especially conscientiousness, predict job performance. The Myers-Briggs test is noted as something to be wary of. * Integrity Tests: Designed to measure honesty. * Overt: Directly asking what someone would do in specific scenarios. * Covert: Intentions are hidden; these are more successful at distinguishing integrity levels.
Leadership Traits and Situations: * Successful Traits: High cognitive ability, inner drive (intrinsic motivation), leadership motivation, flexibility, and high integrity. * Guilt-Prone vs. Shame-Prone: Good leaders are guilt-prone (action-focused, feeling bad for followers when things go wrong) rather than shame-prone (person-focused). * Situational Leadership: * Task Orientation: Focus on specific job goals; best for complicated or low-control (novel) tasks. * Relations Orientation: Focus on employee feelings; leads to higher commitment. Best for high-control (well-defined) tasks.
Transformational and Bad Leadership: * Transformational Leadership: Leaders who change the opinions of followers via charisma, intellectual stimulation (encouraging new/ludicrous ideas), inspirational motivation, and individualized consideration. * Bad Leadership Indicators: Reliance on irrelevant traits (e.g., in of the last U.S. presidential elections, the taller candidate won), over-promotion, poor team hiring (nepotism), poor interpersonal skills, and lack of trust.
Job Performance and Motivation
Job Appraisals: * Yam et al. (2014): Workers with flexible start times between and were studied. Bosses rated early-arriving workers as more committed and better performers, regardless of actual productivity. * Restriction of Range: Raters often use only a part of a , leading to poor data. * Self-Evaluations: Often overly optimistic and inaccurate regarding mistakes or absences. * 360 Degree Assessment: Includes appraisals from superiors, subordinates, and peers for a complete picture. * Due Process (Folgers et al., 1992): Requires adequate notice of appraisal, a fair hearing (appropriate parameters), and evidence of job performance (with a chance to rebut).
Motivation Theories: * Expectancy Theory: Motivation is driven by the belief that effort leads to valued outcomes and recognition. * Incentives: Bonuses can cause the overjustification effect. If framed as a bribe, intrinsic motivation drops; if framed as a reward for quality, it remains. * Equity Theory: Rewards should match the level of effort and work. * Progress Theory: Motivation is highest when people feel they are making actual progress.
Applying Social Psychology to Law
Suspect Identification: * Lineup Construction: Fillers must match the witness's description. * Instructions: Witnesses should be told the perpetrator "may or may not be present" to reduce the pressure to pick someone. * Formats: * Simultaneous: Relative process (comparing suspects to each other). * Sequential: Absolute process (comparing one suspect at a time to memory). * Showup: Inherently prejudicial; police present one person to the witness at the scene without fillers.
Biases in Identification: * Familiarity Bias: Misidentifying a familiar face (e.g., a neighbor) as a perpetrator because the witness doesn't remember the context of the face. * Brown et al. (1977): Witnesses were just as likely to identify an innocent person from a mugshot book as they were the actual perpetrator in a later lineup. * Double-Blind Procedure: The administrator should not know who the suspect is to prevent influencing the witness.
Alibis and Confessions: * Alibis: Excuses for one's whereabouts. Marion & Burke (2013) found that about of people will back up a confederate regardless of evidence, though presence of cash (evidence of theft) reduced this likelihood. * False Confessions: People are only accurate at detecting lies. * Techniques: Pressure (Bad Cop), Befriend and Minimize (Good Cop), or lying about evidence. * Types: Voluntary (fame/protection), Compliance (stress/hunger/sleep deprivation), and Internalization (believing they actually did it). * Impact on Juries (Kassin & Sukel, 1997): Guilt ratings were without confession, with low-pressure confession, and with high-pressure confession.
Juries and Sentencing: * Jury Size: Usually . Williams v Florida (1970) allows a minimum of (except in death penalty cases). Smaller juries are more homogenous and reach decisions faster (Saks & Marti, 1997). * Selection: Peremptory challenges allow removal of jurors without cause, often based on stereotypes. * Bias: Pretrial publicity creates a bias blindspot. Defendant beauty and similarity to jurors lead to lighter sentences. * Victim Perceptions: Pica et al. (2018) showed that victims of high school football stars are perceived as having more control over their assault compared to those attacked by regular students. * Sentencing Disparities: Untrustworthy-looking defendants are more likely to get the death penalty (Wilson & Rule, 2015). In Florida, Black defendants were more likely to receive jail time than white defendants (Salman et al., 2016).