exam 3 social psych Flashcards
what three factors contribute to social psych
1) power of the situation (enviro affects behavior)
2) power of the person (interaction of our personality traits/variables)
3) importance of cognition (how we think/feel abt our enviro)
what are the 4 categories in social psych
1) social influence and conformity
2) attitudes
3) the self
4) relationships
whats social influence?
how other people/groups influence our behavior
what are the 3 forms of social influence
1) conformity
2) compliance
3) obedience
what’s conformity
deciding to change your behavior to fit in
whats compliance
choosing to change your behavior because someone asked you to
whats obedience
changing your behavior because someone with authority demanded it
what are the two causes for conformity
1) informational social influence
2) normative social influence
whats informational social influence; why do we do it
- we conform because we think other people are a source of info; they know something we don’t; they can help us do the best thing
- we have a desire to be right
when do we conform to informational social influence
- SITUATION MUST BE AMBIGUOUS (you don’t know the right answer)
- there’s a crisis (limited time to decide for yourself)
- if other ppl are experts
experiment that showed informational social influence
- people were shown an illusion where it looked like a light was moving
- were asked how much they thought it moved
- were put into groups to decide how much it moved
- groups converged to common answer
what’s normative social influence; why do we do it
- changing your behavior because other people are acting differently from you, even tho you know you’re right
- we want social approval
when do we conform to normative social influence
- source is similar to us
- conditions are uncertain
- we’re concerned abt our relationship with the source
experiment that showed normative social influence
- arsch line test
- obvious which lines matched
- participant said wrong answer because other “participants” were saying the wrong answer
whats the result of informational influence
- private acceptance
- we truly believe that’s the right answer
whats the result of normative influence
- public acceptance
- we truly DONT believe that’s the right answer
what happens if you try to resist normative social influence
- other group members try to get you to conform
- reject you if you don’t conform
what are idosyncratic credits
- when someone has been a good group member so they have “good credits” and can be deviant sometimes without being punished
What experiment showed the power of obedience
- milgram experiment
- told participant to keep shocking actor (actor said they had heart problems; showed signs of pain/death)
- participants kept shocking past “death” bc milgram demanded them (he had authority)
- participants did not keep shocking if milgram was not there
how does authority influence obedience
- more likely to conform if there’s someone else to take responsibility for the outcome (authority figure takes responsibility bc they’re telling you to do i)
why do we obey authority
- want to be right
- we see authority figures as experts (doing what they say = shortcut to the right choice)
what are the 3 components of attitudes
1) affective: pos or neg emotion/affect toward the object
2) behavior: how you act towards the object
3) cognitive: your thoughts abt the object (facts and beliefs)
are attitudes good predictors of behaviors
NO; changing someones attitude doesn’t usually change their behavior
when do attitudes affect behavior
if the attitude is…
1) stable and strong
2) important/relevant to you
3) easily accessed (do you think abt it a lot?)
4) formed from direct experience
5) if you’re certain about it
whats the cognitive dissonance theory
we get anxiety when out behavior doesn’t match our attitude (dissonance)
- theres strong motivation to restore consistency
what are the 3 ways to resolve dissonance/restore consistency
1) change behavior (quit smoking)
2) trivialize dissonance/change cognition (research says smoking is bad but research is flawed)
3) change attitude *marketing strategy; add new cognition (smoking relaxes me; i know someone who smoked and lived a long time)
what’s required in a behavior for it to cause dissonance
1) freely chosen
2) have negative consequences that you know of
3) you must feel responsible
4) must cause an uncomfortable feeling
What are the 2 subtypes of dissonance
1) insufficient justification
2) post-decision dissonance
what’s insufficient justification
reducing dissonance by internally justifying your past behavior because there’s insufficient external justification (the actual outcome didn’t match your previous behavior)
- ex) saying positive things abt a sorority and hazing to get in, but once you get in, you realize it’s not as good as you thought it would be, but you still have to tell yourself you like it to stay in line with your previous behavior
what’s post-decision dissonance
when you have a positive attitude between 2 things, but can only choose 1, it causes discomfort
–> leads to spreading of alternatives
whats spreading of alternatives
in post decision dissonance, you go back and point out the differences between your two choices –> try to make the one you chose seem much better; make the one you didn’t choose seem much worse –> makes you feel better about the one you did pick
what are the 4 compliance techniques
1) foot in the door
2) door in the face
3) low balling
4) “that’s not all”
what is foot in the door technique
asking someone for a small favor first, which establishes an unconscious positive attitude –> dissonance if they reject a future request
why does foot in the door work?
- cognitive dissonance theory; people want to appear consistent with their attitude/behavior/cognition
what’s the door in the face technique
asking for a large request then reducing it to a smaller one
why does door in the face work
- reducing the original request seems like a favor, so they feel the need to reciprocate and agree to the favor
- people want to appear reasonable/good and maintain self-esteem/not seem like a bad person for not reciprocating
what’s the low balling technique
asking someone to agree to something on the basis of incomplete info (giving an offer that’s not set in stone)
*gets the person committed, before the info is complete
whats the “that’s not all” technique
making an offer seem even better before the person has a chance to say no
- adding a bonus item/lowering the price
what’s the snyder’s self-monitoring scale
how much a person regulates their behavior to match a situation
Traits of high self-monitoring people
change behavior to match situation
- “social chameleons”
- public self (“do I look good to others?)
- speak in 3rd person
- more self conscious in public
traits of low self-monitoring people
don’t change behavior to match situation
- consistent
- private self (“does this appeal to me?”)
- speak in 1st person
- more self conscious in private
what’s self esteem
pos/neg evaluations of ourself
what are the 2 types of self esteem
state of mind vs trait
- state of mind: self esteem boost because of some event
- trait: natural baseline self esteem (some ppl naturally higher than others)
2 factors that impact self esteem
- do you have high self esteem in 1 area or many? (how many legs are on your table?)
- self affirmations (attempts to increase self esteem in other areas/add legs to your table)
what are the functions of self esteem
leary sociometer hypothesis: social self esteem is like a thermostat, and negative social self esteem is motivation to change our behavior
what enhances self esteem
BIRGing
- basking in reflected glory (associating yourself with glory/success)
and CORFing
- cutting off reflected failure (distancing yourself from failure)
what’s the self esteem maintenance model
- how we feel about ourselves depends on the ppl around us (reaction to getting a 21 on a test depends on the class avg)
- people behave in ways to maintain or increase their self evaluation
- our relationships with others have a significant impact on how we evaluate ourselves
When do others’ performances affect our self esteem (3 factors)
- quality of their performance
- how close you are to the person
- relevance of the dimension (was it one of your table legs?)
when will our self esteem suffer
when someone close outperforms us on a relevant dimension
when will our self esteem increase
when someone close to us performs well in a non relevant dimension
what to do when self esteem goes down because of someone else’s performance
1) try to impact the other person’s performance
2) try to change their own performance
3) change their closeness with the other person
4) change self-definition (change your table legs)
What’s the evo/marketplace theory
in a relationship…
- women value partner’s status
- men value partner’s attractiveness
explanation behind the evo/marketplace theory
- has to do with the ability to propagate genes
- male repro success depends on # of partners
- female repro success depends on finding a provider/caretaker
- male’s status indicates caretaking ability
female’s attractiveness/youthfulness indicates fertility
evolutionary/biological theory for gender differences in jealousy
- men find sexual infidelity more upsetting (reproductive uncertainty)
- women find emotional infidelity more upsetting (resource uncertainty)
social pressure theory for gender differences in jealousy
- the double shot theory
- one type of infidelity is worse because it implies that the other one also already happened
- emotional infidelity from a man implies he has already committed sexual infidelity
- sexual infidelity from a woman implies she has already committed emotional infidelity
what are the 2 categories of relationships
1) communal
2) exchange
what are communal relationships
- mutual responsiveness
- immediate repayment makes you like each other less
- no clear distinction between ours/others’ contributions
- care about others’ needs even if they won’t repay us right away
- helping the other person makes us feel good
- have them with closer friends/family
- favors eventually balance out
what are exchange relationships
- tit for tat/immediate repayment
- when we want our own contributions to be distinct from others’
- superficial
- with strangers/people we’re not close with
- lack of trust
- helping the other person doesn’t impact our mood
- care about other peoples’ needs when you know they’ll repay you in the near future
what’s the michelangelo phenomenon
- we are shaped by the people around us (they sculpt us) through long term interactions and their understandings of our ideal selves
whats affirmation in a relationship and what are the 2 kinds?
- partner does things that align with your ideal self/help you achieve your ideal self
1) partner perceptual affirmation
2) partner behavioral affirmation
what’s partner perceptual affirmation?
do your partner’s perceptions of your ideal self align with your actual ideal self?
- do they understand what you want?
what’s partner behavioral affirmation?
does your partner’s behavior align with your ideal self?
- do they physically do things that help you achieve your ideal self?
how do partner affirmations make people happier?
- partner sees what you want to be and does things to help you achieve it –> decreases the gap between your ideal and actual self –> you feel happier
what are the 2 ways someone can fail to bring about their partner’s ideal self
1) failure to affirm: they don’t understand what you want
2) disaffirmation: they do things that are opposite of what you want (they think it’s what you want)
*both are unintentional/not trying to harm the other person
what’s the pygmalion phenomenon
when another person decides what will happen to you without your input
3 myths about conflict
1) they’‘re unnecessary
2) they can always be avoided
3) it’s a sign of a poor relationship
difference between bad fights and fair fights
bad: goal is to win
fair: goal is to come to mutual agreement
what are the 4 types of fighting couples
1) volatiles
2) validators
3) avoiders
4) hostiles
volatiles
- have passionate fights but = passionate love –> conflict may lead to a better relationship
validators
- validate partner, self-controlled, calm, see each other’s perspectives
avoiders
avoid conflict; brush it under the rug; agree to disagree
hostiles
frequent volatile arguments with negative behavior (attacking partner and defensiveness)
what are gottman’s 4 horsemen in relationship fights
1) criticism
2) contempt
3) defensiveness (refusing to accept responsibility)
4) withdrawal and stonewalling
what’s the 5:1 ratio
happy stable relationships have 5 pos actions for every 1 neg action in a fight
criticism
blames problem on partner’s character/personality, instead of a specific behavior they did
- masters point the finger at themselves; take responsibility; make “I” statements vs “you” statements
contempt
1 predictor of breakups; talking down to partner; acting like you’re better
- target is more likely to get sick from stressful environment
defensiveness
- responding to issues by making a counter attack or whining
- kitchen sinking / bringing up old arguments
- masters accepted criticism from partner/took responsibility
withdrawal (stonewalling)
- the last resort; shutting down and tuning out; sends the message that you don’t care
- more common in men
what’s the demand withdraw cycle
- fighting style where each partner thinks it’s the other’s fault
- one partner requests change; the other partner disengages
- predictor of divorce
effects of demand-withdrawal pattern
- less satisfaction, intimacy, communication
- personality changes (aggression and neuroticism)
- physiological problems
gender differences in demand withdrawal cycle
- women more likely to be demander
- person w/ less power demands change from the one with more; conflict structure hypothesis)
- person with power has no motivation to change
- eventually becomes social allergen and triggers big reaction from the one being demanded –> silent treatment
what’s the difference between stonewalling and the silent treatment
- intent
- stonewalling: don’t see a point in engaging; not doing it to hurt their partner
- silent treatment: trying to hurt the partner; send a message that you don’t care and that it doesn’t hurt you do go without them –> partner also feels like they should stop caring
what can demanders to do break the cycle
- give partner space when they stonewall/disengage
- acknowledge partner’s feelings
- take responsibility for your actions
what can the withdrawer do to break the cycle
- separate feelings abt partner’s demands from fear of rejection/disapproval by them
- acknowledge your need to take space/ask how you can make it easier for them
- approach your partner more; express your feelings
