Social Psychology

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Social Psychology

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The scientific study of how our thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others

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Core Social Motives

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Belonging, Understanding, Controlling, Self-Worth, Trusting

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Fundamental Attribution Error

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Tendency to overestimate the power of personality, and underestimate the power of the situation.

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Descriptive research

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Research assess a characteristic of the population accurately and fairly (ex: How many ads objectify women? How many beer ads objectify women?) Requires random sample and an appropriate comparison

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Correlational research

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Research that measures two different things and sees whether they go together (ex: Do men who are exposed to more beer ads objectify women more?)

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Problem with correlational research

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Does not establish whether there is a relationship between the variables...correlation does not equal causation!

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Experimental research

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Research that holds all things constant but one variable, and sees whether that one thing makes a difference

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Problems with experimental research

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While you can determine causation, experiments are NOT real life situations

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Schema

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An organized pattern of thought or behavior. It can also be described as a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.

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Social cognition

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How people think about themselves and the social world (it affects how we interact with the social world!)

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Social-cognitive dilemma

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Desire to be both efficient (quick) but rational (accurate) thinkers

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Boomerang effect

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If we try to forget something, we’ll think about it more, especially if we’re cognitively overloaded!

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Confirmation bias

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Our tendency to seek out evidence that primarily confirms our schemas, rather than evidence that disconfirms our schemas.

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Self-fulfilling prophecy

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When our behaviors cause our expectations to come true. (ex: thinking "attractive" women are more sociable, poised, humorous and socially adept than the “unattractive", also health and investing in education)

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Automaticity

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The ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. (i.e. non-conscious cognition)

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Motivated tacticians

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To deal with the social-cognitive dilemma we try to find short cuts when we can, and think when we have to (ex: stereotyping, but it's not always bad)

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Thought suppression

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The attempt to avoid thinking about something
that we want to forget

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Monitoring process

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High self-monitors tend to weigh subjective norms more heavily than low self-monitors.
high self-monitors may be more susceptible to informational cascades and herd mentality. High self-monitors are more motivated to attain high social status than low self-monitors.

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Operating process

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During thought suppression, effortful attempt to replace
thought with something else

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Heuristic

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Rules of thumb, mental shortcuts (less accurate, but fast and low energy)

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Availability Heuristic

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We judge the likelihood of events based on how
easily we can remember such events (The more easily remembered = more likely)

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What makes things easier to remember?

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-Frequency of occurrence
-Salience
-Selective sampling
-Recency

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Selective sampling

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Things we surround ourselves with vs things we
avoid (ex: I am a student at Oberlin so I think everyone is liberal like me)

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False consensus effect

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Tendency to overestimate the number of people who are similar to us

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Social consequences of False consensus effect (Availability Heuristic)

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" Can rationalize bad behavior “everybody does it.”
" Can become overconfident, unwilling to
compromise

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Priming effect

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Earlier experience influences subsequent judgment. (ex: buying german or french wine with music in the background)

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Simulation heuristic

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We judge the likelihood of events based on how
easily we can imagine the event. (The more easily imagined = the more likely) (ex: slot machine trick or females murdered on TV)

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What makes things easier to imagine happening?

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" Events that almost happened

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Counterfactual thinking

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Thinking about what might have been (easy to imagine something happening if it feels like it almost happened already) (ex: missing a plane by 5 minutes or getting a silver metal)

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Hindsight bias

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Overestimating our ability to have foreseen an outcome after the fact

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Representative heuristic

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We judge something based on how similar it is to
the “typical” case

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negativity bias

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The tendency to give greater weight to negative entities/information (languages across the world has more negative descriptive words)

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anchoring and adjustment Heuristic

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This influences the way people intuitively assess probabilities. According to this heuristic, people start with an implicitly suggested reference point (the "anchor") ...ex: if I only look at fashion magazines I'll have a different standard of beauty

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Self concept

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One's self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself.(ex: sister, daughter, academic performance, gender roles and sexuality, racial identity, etc)

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Interdependent vs independent self concepts

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Interdependent = characterize people's sense of self in collective cultures, as deeply embedded in one's group.
independent = characterizes people's sense of individualist cultures, as autonomous from one's group.

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Actual self vs. ideal and ought selves

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act as self guides with which the actual self aspires to be aligned. The ideal self represents hopes and wishes, whereas the ought self is determined through obligation and sense of duty.

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Self monitoring

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Describes how much people monitor themselves to fit a social situation. (High self-monitors adapt to situations the most)

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Nonverbal communication

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behavior that communicates a person's feelings without words, through facial expressions, body language, and vocal cues

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Nonverbals associated with lying

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Yes: Hesitate more, higher pitched voice, make more errors, give shorter answers, more pupil dilation, more self-touching, more blinking

No: faster or slower speech rate, increase in shifting, less smiling, less eye contact

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Implicit personality theories

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Cluster comparable groups of traits together. i.e. socially good = sociable, popular, happy, good-natured, tolerant, honest, helpful. socially bad = unsociable, irritable, cold, pessimistic, moody, unpopular, etc. competent = industrious, smart, imaginative, etc. incompetent = foolish, irresponsible, wasteful, unintelligent, unreliable etc. Often socially good goes with incompetent because fun people are bad at doing work (?).

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Attribution

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Explanations for behavior

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Weiner’s taxonomy of attributions

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INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION: attribute behavior to something about YOU
EXTERNAL: attribute behavior to anyone/anything other than yourself
STABLE: assume the reason for behavior will not change. Constant.
UNSTABLE: assume reason for behavior can change.

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Covariation model of attribution

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○ Consensus: What other people have done
■ Ex. Only Harold chooses to live in Los Angeles, not other people.
○ Distinctiveness: How particular behavior is
■ Ex. Harold lives in Los Angeles, but any large city would do.
○ Consistency: Does the behavior persist over time (reflects something long-term about a person)
■ Ex. Harold only lived in Los Angeles for three months.

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Attributional errors

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fundamental, self-serving, actor-observer, ultimate

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self-serving attributional error

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tendency to see good deeds as dispositionally caused but bad deeds as situationally caused. When we are good it's because we are good people, when we are bad it's because something else forced us to be.

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actor-observer attribution error

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Tendency to see other's behavior as dispositionally caused, but our own behavior is situationally caused. (According to Malle: observer focuses on observable intentional behavior, actor focuses on unobservable, unintentional behaviors)

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ultimate attribution error

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Tendency to see
friends’ good deeds as dispositional [intentional],
and bad deeds as situational [unintentional] AND
enemies’ good deeds as situational
[unintentional] and bad deeds as dispositional
[intentional]

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Malle’s taxonomy of attributions

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Actions are situational linguistically, but describe subjective beliefs about the target. We overestimate how often behavior is intentional.

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Self perception theory

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We aren't always sure what we believe so we observe our own behavior to illuminate our own beliefs. We infer ambiguous attitudes, traits, etc. by observing our own behavior. We underestimate the power of the situation. We tend to like someone more after we do them a favor. We underestimate the effect of intrinsic motivation and overestimate that of extrinsic motivation.

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Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation

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INTRINSIC: makes you feel better about yourself, you gain social esteem, self-rewarding
EXTRINSIC: rewards that come from outside of the self: money, trophies, grades.

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Overjustification effect

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External incentives (extrinsic motivators) for performing an action decrease a person's intrinsic motivation to perform that action, so that, if the extrinsic motivators were removed, the person would no longer desire to perform that action.

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Primacy of affect

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This is the tendency for the first items presented in a series to be remembered better or more easily, or for them to be more influential than those presented later in the series. (lists of numbers, positive scrabble words etc)

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Two factor theory of emotion

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The two-factor theory of emotion focuses on the interaction between physical arousal and how we cognitively label that arousal.
1. I see a strange man walking toward me.
2. My heart is racing and I am trembling.
3. My rapid heart rate and trembling are caused by fear.
4. I am frightened!

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Misattribution of arousal

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Describes the process whereby people make a mistake in assuming what is causing them to feel aroused

Lady on the bridge!

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Social comparison (upward, downward)

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We compare ourselves to others in order to learn about ourselves.
RELATIVE STANDING can matter more to our happiness than ABSOLUTE STANDING.
UPWARD: comparing ourselves to someone better than us
DOWNWARD: comparing ourselves to someone who is worse than us

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Self handicapping

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Engaging in behaviors that sabotage our own performance so we have an excuse for failure.

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Effort justification

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Tendency to value more what we have suffered for. (ex. weight loss program. Those who performed more difficult tasks lost more weight and kept it off because their commitment level made it seem more important to them.)

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Mere exposure effect

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The more you come into contact with something the more likely you are to like it. (Implications for advertising and voting - exposure of voter to candidates name)

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Ben Franklin effect

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A person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be if they had received a favor from that person. Similarly, one who harms another is more willing to harm them again than the victim is to retaliate.

Ex: Ben Franklin borrowing a rare book from someone to win their favor!

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Self affirmation

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Premise that people are motivated to maintain the integrity of the self. This theory explains why people respond in such a way to restore self-worth when their image of self-integrity is threatened.

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Attitude

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Evaluative reactions to someone or something. Enhance need to understand. Express social identity and values to feel like you belong.

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Central vs peripheral route

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Central: We carefully analyze persuasive appeal. Occurs when we are motivated (because it is relevant to us), able (not distracted), and have a high need for cognition.
Peripheral: We judge persuasive appeal based on superficial characteristics. Influenced by the source (where/who the appeal comes from, more credible, likable people are more persuasive), the message (the more information provided, the more persuasive, triggering good emotions is more persuasive), and the audience (if we are unable to think we can be persuaded by a bad argument, and if we are unprepared to be persuaded we are more likely to be persuaded).

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Sleeper effect

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Non credible sources become more persuasive over time while credible sources become less persuasive.

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Attitude inoculation

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how to keep original attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of persuasion attempts....builds resistance to arguments prior to future arguments!

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Mimicry

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Posture and position mirrored in social interactions
Type of conformity
Ex. An experiment demonstrated the efficient nature of mimicking/conforming
Participants who were counter-mimicked ate more cookies, because their self-regulatory mechanisms were tired

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Conformity, compliance, obedience

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conformity = Automatic conformity (mimicry!)
Compliance = saying yes to a request (delaware is closed!)
Obedience = Change behavior due to the commands of authority (milgram experiments)

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Normative vs informational social influence

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Normative social influence =
informational social influence =

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Compliance techniques and habits of mind that make them work

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Commitment & Consistency

Lowballing

Foot in the Door

Recipro

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Cognitive dissonance and dissonance reduction

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We feel uncomfortable because we hold or have performed 2 or more inconsistent thoughts or a thought and an action. There is a physiological feeling of discomfort associated.
TO REDUCE: Change conditions, stop doing action, decide it is rational, accept it is weird, or remove the choice and don't allow yourself to stop.

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Automaticity and goal regulation

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Nonconscious cognition influences: behavior, goal pursuit, cognition

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Effects of schemas on information processing

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Influence what we notice (cocktail party)

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Illusory experience of conscious will

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○ Priority: Thought should precede the action at the right interval
○ Consistency: Thought should match the action
○ Exclusivity: Thought should be only likely explanation

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Cognitive dissonance and dissonance reduction

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Feeling of discomfort caused by two or more inconsistent thoughts or actions, trying to reduce this feeling

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Cognitive dissonance vs self perception theory

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● Cognitive Dissonance: We are motivated to be consistent, therefore when we perform an action we want to believe we really believe in the action
● Self Perception: We aren’t always sure what we believe, therefore we observe our own behavior to illuminate our beliefs

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Attitude change techniques

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Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Changes in your facial expression cause changes in your emotional state
○ Ex. Pencil held in teeth or with upper lip

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Attitude behavior relationship, theory of planned behavior

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Measure attitudes because they might predict behavior --> In reality, attitude-behavior link is weak!!

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Minority vs majority group influence

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Majority: need to belong, seem consistent, pushing towards unanimity
-provides normative influence

Minority Influence: challenges the need to belong, superseded by the need for understanding; majority is forced to accomodate and consider their understanding
-provides informational influence

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3 ways we see negativity bias

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1. Potency = negative entities are stronger than the equivalent positive entities (gaining vs. loosing $)
2. Dominance = negative things have more corruptive power than good things have redeeming power (Cockroach on cake or race)
3. Differentiation

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■ Cocktail Party Effect

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Your attention is suddenly grabbed by a self-relevant event (i.e. mention of name)

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○ Self Reference Effect

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We remember things better when they relate to our self concept

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○ Egocentric Bias

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Tendency to overestimate our own importance/centrality in an event

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Post Decision Dissonance

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Inevitable dissonance experienced when we reject an option with some good points for another option with some bad points
○ We feel more confident about a choice immediately after committing than we do immediately before

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Attitude is accessible because...

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■ Attitude accessible from Habit (chronically accessed attitudes)
■ Attitude accessible from Priming (Recently accessed attitudes)

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Theory of Planned Behavior

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○ Attitudes, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control --> Intentions --> Actions