chapters 4-6 Flashcards
impression formation
Process in which we integrate information about another person in order to come to an overall judgement of the person
Implicit personality theory
we make assumptions about which traits go together (all good traits go together, all bad traits go together)
- halo effect, what is beautiful is good
Positivity bias
we tend to view others favorably
negativity bias
if we learn one negative thing, then we weigh this trait more heavily than positive traits
attributions
people’s ideas about what causes things to occur and why things happen as they do
correspondent interference theory
people tend to make inferences about people’s table dispositions when the behaviors can in-fact be explained by the situation
ex- can be the tendency to infer that the personalities of actors and actresses correspond to the roles they play.
jones & harris (Pro/Anti - castro) - FAE
participants were asked to guess the students attitudes towards Castro
- Participants concluded that if the authors choose to write a pro/anti Castro essay than that mean their liking towards him aligned with their stance
- participants also concluded though if the authors with assigned to write a pro/anti Castro essay then the results looked a lot as if they were chosen. when they should look like 50/50.
(FAE)
Fundamental attribution error
when we explain other peoples behavior, we assume that the cause is dispositional & we ten not to consider situational causes.
social cognition
the psychological processes that enable individuals to take advantage of being part of a social group
consistency seekers
people are motivated to resolve inconsistencies in their thoughts and behaviors.
cognitive dissonance
refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.
cognitive-misers
someone who seeks out quick, adequate solutions to problems rather than slow, careful ones
motivated-tacticians
someone who alternates between sloppy thinking and more careful analytical thinking depending on his level of motivation
schemas
a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them
person schema
expectations for specific individuals
self-schema
categories of knowledge that reflect how we expect ourselves to think, feel, and act in particular settings or situations
script
sequence of events that usually take place during specific situations
social categorization
the process by which people categorize themselves and others into differentiated groups
gender schema
mental structures that organize incoming information according to gender categories and in turn lead people to perceive the world in terms of gender
priming
occurs when an individual’s exposure to a certain stimulus influences his or her response to a subsequent stimulus
- seeing fast food commercials makes you want fast food
hindsight bias
the tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they were
counterfactual thinking
mental representations of alternatives to past events, actions, or states
counterfactual thinking
mental representations of alternatives to past events, actions, or states
ex. "ugh if only i wasnt texting i wouldnt have got into a car crash"
person perception
the mental process that we use to form impressions of other people.
social role theory
considers most of everyday activity to be the acting-out of socially defined categories
- men hold jobs, women stay at home
central traits
make up our personality
confirmation bias
the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values
covariation model
theory that people make causal inferences to explain why other people and ourselves behave in a certain way
ex: "they got into a crash becuase they were drinking, texting, careless etc.."
actor-observer effect
people explain their own behavior with situational causes and other people’s behavior with internal cause
what are attitudes
Positive or negative evaluations of objects, situations, people, groups, ideas etc.
implicit/explicit attitudes
Explicit attitudes are attitudes that are at the conscious level, are deliberately formed and are easy to self-report.
implicit attitudes are attitudes that are at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us.
dual-process models of attribution
proposes that when we perceive someone, stereotypes pertaining to them are activated automatically
self-perception theory (Wells and petty)
Participants asked to test the quality of headphones while listening to a taped editorial.
- while nodding
- while shaking head
- asked to rate the editorial
- head nod -> positive attitude
- head shake-> negative attitude
dual attitudes
the simultaneous possession of contradic-tory implicit and explicit attitudes toward the same object is know
- seeing candy shop makes you happy even if you are stuck in traffic
reference group
a group to which an individual or another group is compared
cognitive dissonance (festinger & Carlsmith)
- Participants did boring task for 1 hour
- Participants asked to tell the next participant that the talk was actually enjoyable
- i.e lie - either paid 20$ to lie or 1$ to lie
- then all participants were asked if they though the task was enjoyable
- those who didnt lie: didnt enjoy
- those who got paid 20$: didnt enjoy
- those who got paid 1$ said enjoyed alot!
conclusion: they had to convince themselves they actually liked it because they would have been lying only for 1$
mere exposure effect
brief unreinforced exposure to a stimulus results in the information of a positive attitude about the stimulus on a later occasion
facial feedback effect
one’s facial expression directly affects their emotional experience.
theory of planned behavior
assumes that individuals act rationally, according to their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control
sleeper effect
a delayed increase in the effect of a message that is accompanied by a negative connotation or lack of credibility
ex: a politician utilizing negative advertising against an opponent
wilson & zajonc
results: participants like previously seen items better than new items (the mere exposure effect) but were unable to recognize old items. why (fluency attribution model)
two-sided messages
A message that that presents the arguments in favor of a proposition but also considers the opposing arguments
ingroup
a group to whom you, as a person, belong, and anyone else who is perceived as belonging to that group
outgroup
consists of anyone who does not belong to your group
illusory correlation
when we see an association between two variables when they aren’t actually associated
fluency attribution model
participants attribute the fluency they feel in processing the previously seen item to “like” the item
subtyping
the process by which group members who disconfirm the stereotype are clustered together to form a subgroup
explicit prejudice
preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience, but within an individual’s conscious awareness
persuasion
a active attempt to change a persons mind
implicit prejudice
automatically activated unconscious counterparts of self-reported explicit attitudes
stereotype content model (SCM)
preditc these two basic dimensions perceived warmth (trustworthiness, friendliness) and competence (capability, assertiveness).
Elaboration Likelihood Model
ELM considers the likelihood of high or low effort processes occurring during persuasion
ELM: low elaberation/peripheral route
Low effort processes
- rules of thumb
- heuristics
- attractiveness
-credibility
- changeable
- change does not last long
ELM: high elaboration/Central Route
high effort processes
- reasoned response
- careful scrutiny
- strength of arguments
- resistant to change
change lasts longer
ambivalent sexism
modern-day sexism toward women consists of both positive (benevolence) and negative (hostile) attitudes rather than uniform dislike
courtesy stigma
“stigma by association” public disapproval evoked as a consequence of associating with a stigmatized individual or group
Audience variables: need for cognition
tendency for person to enagge in and enjoy effortful thinking (high or low NFC)
heterosexism
an ideological system that refuses, derogates, and labels any non-heterosexual form of identity
Audience variables: Mood
People in a good mood are more susceptible to persuasion than people in a poor mood (linked with peripheral route)
Audience variable: issue involvement
the less one is involved in an issue, the more one can be persuaded
stereotype threat
a situational predicament in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group
Audience variable: impressionable years hypothessis
middle aged people are lest persuadable
ingroup bias
a pattern of favoring members of one’s in-group over out-group members
ethnocentrism
the practice of regarding one’s own ethnic, racial, or social group as the center of all things
social dominance theory
Social dominance theory describes how processes at different levels of social organization, from cultural ideologies and institutional discrimination to gender roles and the psychology of prejudice, work together to produce stable group-based inequality
personal-group discrimination discrepancy
the tendency of disadvantaged group members to report higher levels of discrimination against their group in general than against themselves personally as members of that group
system justification theory
people are motivated to defend, bolster, and justify aspects of existing social, economic, and political systems
social learning theory
social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the behavior of others
modeling
a theory that states we can learn behavior by observing the actions of others
outgroup homogeneity effect
the perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members
Message Variables: vividness vs. Evidence
vividness may help processing of info
- makes persuasion easier
- vividness is not effective when it interferes with the understanding of the message
Message Variables: Fear: protection- motivatoin theory
causes person to protect the self & crutinize message
message variables: Fear, Protection- motivation theory
causes person to protect the self and scrutinize message.
Message variables: Humor
Use humor increases attention paid to the message
- humor can interfeir with message comprehension
aversive racism
a form of racial prejudice felt by individuals who outwardly endorse unbiased attitudes and values but still experience racist thoughts
automatic stereotypes
process of spontaneous and involuntary activation of stereotypes
implicit stereotypes
the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner
Message Variable: Message order
You and your competitor will present your arguments in a debate. Do you want to go first or second?
implicit association task (IAT)
assessment intended to detect subconscious associations between mental representations of objects in memory
Ex. choose one of the concepts “young” or “old” to pair with the attribute “foolish”
contact hypothesis
intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
Message variable: Timing
if you present your arguments one after another
- the first message is more persuasive (primacy effect)
mutual interdependence
describes the mutual control different individuals have over their own and others’ outcomes.
jigsaw classroom
a method of organizing classroom activity that makes students dependent on each other to succeed
- each group reads a chapter and then teaches it to the other groups
Message variable: repitition
related to the mere exposure effect
Sometimes can be good to repeat things but if you already liked it it can get annoying
prejudice
an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) toward an individual based solely on the individual’s group
stereotype
a thought widely adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group as a whole
discrimination
action or behavior that is directed toward members of certain groups
Channel variables
How is the message transmitted?
- Speed: faster generally more persuasive
- Powerful speech: generally more persuasive
- Powerless speech examples: hesitations disclaimers qualifiers.
Reactence
a negative reaction that occurs when we feel our personal freedom to make choices has been threatened
- want the forbidden even more
forewarning
Advance knowledge that are about to become to the target at persuasion attempt
stereotypes
Generalized beliefs about group members
illusary correlation
when a relationship between two variables is expected, participants often overestimate the degree of the relationship that exists or impose a relationship when non actually exists
Chapman(1967)
Participants read word-pairs
- lion-tiger
-lion-eggs
- bacon-eggs
asked how often each word was paired with every other word
results: words that associated with one another were reported to have occurred together more often ( when all occurred an equal number of times)
associative meaning and paired distinctiveness
Chapman(1967) (results meaning- associative meaning and paired distinctiveness)
Associative meaning: Two items seen as belonging together based on prior expectations
paired distinctiveness: two items are thought to go together because they share some usual features (eg. longer words)
Paired distincitveness
explains some negative stereotyped of minority group members
- majority group members have infrequent contact with minority group members
- negative behaviors are also infrequent
Hamilton & gifford (1976)
Participants read statements about group A and group B
group A had: twice as many statements as group b. (therefore group b is the minority group)
There were twice as many positive statements than negative in both groups
group b had been described as more negative than it actually was because the limited amount of times you saw it
Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale
measures the degree to which people defer to established authorities
social identity theory
this theory aims to specify and predict the circumstances under which individuals think of themselves as individuals or as group members
realistic conflict theory
whenever there are two or more groups that are seeking the same limited resources, this will lead to conflict, negative stereotypes and beliefs, and discrimination between the groups
Sherif (1961)
theory that explains attitude change based on three factors: level of ego-involvement in an attitude, direction of attitude held, and nature of the stimulus.
Mental shortcuts: heuristics
a rapid form of reasoning that uses mental shortcuts to reduce complex judgement to make more simple rules of thumb
representative heuristics
the tendency to judge the category membership of people based on how closely they match the typical or average member of that category.
judging by resemblance
superordinate goal
goals that are worth completing but require two or more social groups to cooperatively achieve.
Anchoring and adjustment heuristics
when making judgements under uncertainty people sometimes reduce ambiguity by starting with a reference point (anchor) and then adjusting it to reach a final conclusion.
availability heuristics
the heuristic is used to evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how quickly instances or associations come to mind.
social world beliefs: self fulfilling prophecy
the process by which someones expectations about a eprson or group leads to the fulfillment of those expectations
social world beliefs: Belief in a just world
a beleif system in which the world is judged to be fair and equitable place with people getting what they deserve
defensive attribution
the tendency to make attributions which help one deal with the inequities in other lies and to main the belief that the world is just.
placebo effect
when a person’s physical or mental health appears to improve after taking a placebo or ‘dummy’ treatment.
insufficient justification
people are more likely to engage in a behavior that contradicts the beliefs they hold personally when offered a smaller reward compared to a larger reward
attitude-behavior specificity
attitudes will better predict behavior if the specificity of a measured attitude matches the specificity of the behavior under consideration.
ex. if I want to predict if you will attend church every Sunday (more specific), I can't ask you how you feel about religion (more general). I need to ask your attitude about attending church every Sunday. You will notice that they are at the same level of specificity or are more specific than general.
classical vs operant conditioning
classical conditioning associates involuntary behavior with a stimulus while operant conditioning associates voluntary action with a consequence.
stimulus
any agent, event, or situation with social significance, that elicits a response relevant to interpersonal relationships
subliminal
affects someone’s mind without them being aware of it
observational/social learning
learning through watching others (Baby’s hitting and being aggressive with things)
forced choice question
forces survey participants to select an option from the given choices
facial feedback hypothesis
not only does emotion evoke facial expression, but facial expression and evoke emotion
Planned behavioral theory: (1) Personal attitudes
a persons attitude to an issue cann help predict their behavior
Ex: attitude to escirxe predicting likelihood of exercisiing
Planned behvaioral theory: (2) Subjective norms
A persons cultural, social, or peer group norms can help predicting their behavior
Ex: friends not going to the gym so you're less likely to
Planned behavioral theory: (3) Perceive behavioral control
A persons behavior can be predicted basoned on whether they feel they can control the outcome
ex: beleif that you can lose weight if you try so you are more likely to go on a diet.
temporal model of group membership
examines not only how people are changed through their membership to a group, but also how the group is changed by members? ideas and actions
expectation states theory
a theory that the development of group status is based on members expectations of others. these expectations are shaped by diffuse-status characteristics, such as race, sex, age, and wealth
stages of group decision-making
Orientation, discussion, decision and implementation
unanimity rule
all group members must agree on the same position before a decision is finalized
majority-wins rule
a group opts for whatever position is held by more than 50% of its members
plurality-wins
when there is no clear majority, the group opts for the position that has the most support
contingency model of leadership
effective leadership is contingent upon the situation at hand, depends on whether an individual’s leadership style befits the situation
authoritarian leader
a management style in which an individual has total decision-making power and absolute control over his subordinates
social dilemma
any situation in which the most rewarding short-term choice for an individual will ultimately cause negative consequences for the group as a whole
cooperative orientation
seek to maximize joint gains. group mentality
individualistic orientation
try to maximize their own well-being regardless of what happens to other. individual mentality
anxiety-affiliation effect
anxiety motivates affiliation. when being scared, stressed or anxious, people want to bond together
gender-based attractiveness standards
men value physical attractiveness in a partner however defined more than women. this is seen across cultures
mate selection preferences
both women and men in all cultures still rate kindness and intelligence more highly in a potential mate than either physical attractiveness or earning potential
sexual objectification
the act of treating a person as a mere object of sexual desire
social anxiety
intense fear or anxiety during social situations
social skills training
a collection of practices that use a behavioral approach for teaching children age-appropriate social skills. Including communication, problem solving, decision making, self-management, and peer relations.
