Intro 2-Social Psychology Flashcards
What does social psychology investigate?
Psychology of social behaviours. Social aetiology of cognition. Social approach to methodology
How is social psychology investigated?
Lab experiments, observations, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups
What are different theoretical approaches?
Social learning/constructivism, cognitive constraints/models, evolutionary (social) psychology-random variation and systematic selection-controversial-critics confuse levels of explanation (biological determinism and naturalistic fallacy)
How has the replication crisis affected psychology?
75% social psychology studies, and half are cognitive psychology studies
What is evidence of the fact that humans are inherently social?
Minimal group paradigm (Tajfel). Dunbar-living socially was a major driving force in the evolution of the human brain. Dunbar’s number-150
What is affiliation and sociality necessary for?
Health, cooperation and cultural transmission
Why is affiliation necessary for health?
Berkman and Breslow 20 year longitudinal study. Social support protects against major depression, and providing it may be more important than receiving it. Camaraderie also protects against emotional burnout in firefighters, and synchronised training leads to a higher pain tolerance in rowers
Why is affiliation necessary for cooperation?
Trading, hunting, warfare and intergroup competition. Eg Sherif et al Robbers cave study (spontaneous group divisions and cooperation required for superordinate goal). Newson et al-intergroup violence supports social cohesion in Brazilian football fans
Why is affiliation necessary for cultural transmission?
Gossip (20% of waking time is spent in conversation). Dunbar found this in dining hall conversations monitored every 30 seconds. Needed for social learning. Sherif-single light in dark room-information conformity
How do friendships differ from romantic relationships?
Rubin-love is more that just lots of liking. Sternberg’s triarchic model of love (intimacy/passion/commitment). Friends are due to proximity, similarity and reciprocity. Relationships are due to these things but also physical attraction
What is passion?
Arousal and attribution. Dutton and Aron’s experiment with high suspension bridge vs low sturdy bridge led to misattribution of arousal
What is lust/attraction/attachment?
Fisher-3 independent systems. Lust is androgen mediated, attraction is dopamine mediate, and attachment is oxytocin mediated
What is proximity in relationships?
Mere exposure effect. Propinquity and opportunity for interaction. Expectation of close interaction
What is similarity in relationships?
Newcomb-accommodation study. Heider and Newcomb-Balance theory. Festinger-social comparison theory
What is similarity in romantic attraction?
Byrne et al who paired blind dates and found that similarity was a strong predictor, though so was attractiveness
What does the role of similarity depend on?
How much commitment is desired (Amodio and Showers)
What is the role of reciprocity?
Dittes and Kelley looked at group discussion and fake ‘approval ratings’, and found that reciprocity can make up for the absence of similarity
What is social exchange theory?
Keep track of rewards and costs, then determine profits. Satisfaction level=outcome-comparison level. Dependence=outcome-comparison level for alternatives
What is equality?
Person 1’s rewards equal person 2’s rewards
What is equity?
Person 1’s rewards-costs equal person 2’s rewards-costs
What is equity theory?
Fair distribution of rewards and costs. It is the balance that counts
What does Campbell say about equity theory?
Emotions, not rational calculation, drive human behaviour
What was Walster et al’s classic psychology study of attractiveness?
Computer design paradigm. Physical attractiveness predicted liking and intention to ask out again, however, the chance of a fifth date depended on similarity in attractiveness (Mathes)
What is the halo effect?
Attractiveness causes a halo effect, leading to belief that the person has more positive attributes and so receive more positive life time outcomes
What is the matching hypothesis?
Similarity in attractiveness is important, more so when in long term relationships (Berscheid and Walster)
How can beauty be seen as objective?
High level of agreement across cultures (Langlois et al), certain features reliably associated with attractiveness (Cunningham), babies prefer attractive faces
How can beauty be seen as subjective?
Beauty is improved differently across cultures (Newman), different cultures have different body type preference (Anderson) and this also varies over time (Silverstein et al)
What was Tovee et al’s study?
Attractiveness ratings of BMIs with Zulus, Zulu migrants, and black British people. Similar study to Boothroyd et al in Nicaragua looking at attractiveness of BMIs and access to TV
What is the cognitive approach to attraction?
Facial prototype and attraction to ‘averageness’-visual adaptation test with Rhodes et al
What does the cognitive approach to attraction find when looking at infants?
Average vs unattractive faces (Rubenstein et al), the distinctiveness preference (Rhodes et al, and Gilffrey and Little), and neonates-innate facial representation (Slater et al)
What does the cognitive approach to attraction find when looking at children?
Story book experiments (Anzures et al), mixed vs signle sex school and preference for more masculine or feminine faces (Saxton et al), and age of peers and feature height (Cooper et al)
What does the evolutionary approach to attraction look at?
Sexual selection and human mating patterns
What is sexual selection?
Inter-sexual selection-preference of a gene increases frequency of that gene in future generations
What are the different human mating patterns?
Monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, and promiscuity
What did Trivers look at?
Anisogomy and different parental investments
What is sexual strategies theory?
Buss and Schmitt. Look at obligate parental investment
What are male priorities?
Proceptivity and fertility in the short term, and youth, fertility and faithfulness in the long term
What are female priorities?
Good genes in the short term, and resources, status and generosity in the long term
What are fertility cues?
Waist-hip ration (Singh et al), and femininity (Law Smith et al
What are good genes in the evolutionary theory of attraction?
Honest advertising, handicap principle (Zahavi), positive infestation (Hamilton and Zuk), immunocompetence (Folstad and Karter), and average represents genetic quality
What are attraction universals?
Averageness, femininity in women, symmetry and health
Why is symmetry attractive?
Cue to health and benefits
How is symmetry a cue to health?
Jones et al measured symmetry of 60 faces, and symmetry predicted apparent health and skin patch health
What are the benefits of symmetry?
Offspring inherit immunity to current pathogens, and avoidance of infection
What are the variations in preference
Sticklebacks (Kraak and Bakker), zebra finches (Burley et al), relationship specific investment inventory (Gangstead and Thornhill), explicit mate advertisements (Pawlowski and Dunbar), and more attractive females prefer more symmetric men (Little et al)
How does variation in preferences affect evolutionary theory?
Variation questions evolution
What is ornamentation?
Variation and attractiveness varies across cultures. Include tattoos and dominance (Wohlraub et al)
What are parental characteristics?
Sexual imprinting, assortative mating, Perrett et al
What are gender roles?
Behaviours considered appropriate for males or females
What is gender identity?
Perception of self as male or female
Is sex dichotomous?
No
What are sex chromosome atypicalities?
1 in 400 live births affected. Include X0 (Turner’s syndrome), XXX, and XXY (Klinefelter’s syndrome)
What can atypical hormone exposure in utero cause?
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and androgen insensitivity syndrome
Why are testosterone levels not necessarily the best measure when looking at sex and gender?
Many men’s testosterone levels are indistinguishable from ‘above average’ women