Intro to Social Psychology & Perceiving Individuals & False confessions Myth Flashcards
When asking college students to decide whether a convict should be eligible for probation based on a speech what were the results?
Students who were told it was for academic purposes were swayed by the reactions of the crowd- if they booed then their reaction would be negative, If they cheered then their reaction would be positive. Students who were told the person would be released in their area listened more closely to the content of the persons speech which influenced their decision.
distinguish between social and cognitive processes
Social processes are the ways in which our thoughts, feelings and actions are guided by those around us. Cognitive processes are the ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions and motives guide our understanding of the world and our actions.
What distances social psychology from sociology?
It attempts to understand the social behaviour of individuals
Where did ideas of social psychology originate from? Give an example of this
Greek philosophy; Plato’s ‘crowd mind’
What is sometime’s referred top the first experiment in social psychology?
One studying how swimmers and cyclists performed better when competing against rivals
What are the effects of others on performance of a task?
Often facilitates performance when individual performance is easily identified but is reduced when people can be ‘lost in a crowd.’
What caused social psychology to split from main psychology at one point
What causes behaviour- behaviourism vs thoughts and feelings in social psychology
What factors had a big influence on social psychology in the 1930’s and 40’s?
European social psychologists, where gestalt theory was prevalent, fleeing to north america from the second world war. The questions arisen from the rise of Nazism also had an impact. Anthropologists accounts of the pervasiveness of cultures effects on people’s thoughts and behaviour.
How was social psychology used during the second world war?
To find practical solutions to immediate problems; Due to lack of food and supplies the government consulted social psychologists on how to convince people to exchange steaks for kidneys and liver in their diet and to drink more milk and feed their kids cod-liver oil and orange juice.
It was also used to get troops to resist enemy propaganda, improve morale and performance and even brush their teeth regularly.
What was shown to be more effective than lectures on changing behaviour such as diet?
Discussion groups
What main theory is Kurt Lewin accredited for?
Life space theory
How did North America and asian countries differ in how they viewed behaviour?
North Americans referred to characteristics of the actor while asians gave explanations based on people’s social expectations.
What does the embodiment perspective argue?
People’s thoughts and judgements are deeply intertwined with our sensory experience and bodily movements rather than solely on abstract thought
What are the two fundamental axioms of social psychology?
People construct their own reality through cognitive and social processes and social influence is pervasive even when the people are not physically present.
What are the three motivational principles of social psychology?
People strive for mastery (understand and predict events in the social world in order to obtain rewards), seek connectedness and value ‘me and mine’ (them and the people around them in a positive manner)
What are the three processing principles of Social Psychology?
Established views are hard to change (conservatism principle), accessible informations makes the biggest impact (accessibility principle), sometimes processing is superficial, sometimes it goes into great depth (superficiality vs depth)
What is meant by a mental representation?
A body of knowledge that an individual has stored in their memory
When Elaine Walster and colleagues set up an experiment placing men and women in pairs together for talking and dancing what were the results of the experiment
Out of attractiveness, social skills, intelligence and personality difference, attractiveness was by far the biggest predictive factor for both men and women on whether the date would be interested in another one.
What effect does having a baby-face have when being chosen for certain prospects?
More likely to be chosen for a date by people who like to dominate others but less likely to be chosen for a job where mature traits like competence and leadership are required.
Describe research which indicates the influence of physical attractiveness of politicians on the outcome of elections
Students were asked to rate how competent a politician in a distant state, whom they didn’t know, was for the job and this was indicative of the actual result.
What physical traits can affect your salary?
Men taller than 6 ft 2 earn 10% more than men below 6 ft, men considered below average looking earn 10% less than men who are average and above average looking men earn 5% higher than the average looking men. At least I have a good sense of humour tho ahaha fuck me. Attractiveness in women was more important for feminine jobs than masculine jobs where it might actually be harmful.
In individualistic cultures what non verbal cues may cause someone to like you and for them to perceive you as liking them
Facing them, leaning forward, nodding while they speak and having dilated pupils
How long does it take to form non verbal impressions of people and how accurate are they?
Very quick and pretty accurate
What was the result of asking students to identify a person after hearing a 30s recording of their voice?
they identified the person from two people 75% of the time
What clue can give away a lie
a quiver or higher pitched voice
How does familiarity, even with lack of interaction with the person, affect our liking of them?
Mere exposure over time can increase liking of a person
How accurate are impressions made of a persons environment, their accommodation and their social media space?
Pretty accurate for both
What is meant by salience?
A cue’s ability to attract attention in its context
What three ways can knowledge be activated?
By some other cause concurrently when the cue occurs, because it has been recently activated and because it has been frequently or chronically activated
Give an example of concurrent activation
Being in a good mood makes you see both other’s and your own in rose coloured glasses; weight in metaphors = heavier clipboards seen to be more serious
What is meant by priming?
The activation of a mental representation to increase its accessibility and therefore the likelihood that it will be used
What is meant by a correspondent inference?
Characterising someone to have a personality trait that corresponds to his or her behaviour
When is correspondence inference justified?
When the individual freely chooses to perform the behaviour, when this behaviour has unique effects other behaviours do not AND when the behaviour is unexpected rather than expected or typical
Apart from culture, what other factor has an affect on whether we attribute behaviour as a trait
Time and distance; if it was recent or if the person is close to you, correspondent bias may occur
Differentiate between superficial and systematic processing
Superficial processing is relying on accessible information to make inferences or judgements while expending little effort on processing. Systematic processing is giving thorough, effortful consideration to a wide range of information relevant to a judgement.
What two ingredients does processing systematically require?
Motivation and the ability to process thoroughly
What is meant by causal attribution?
a judgement about the cause of a behaviour or event
What sources are we most likely to attribute the cause of behaviour to?
Those that are most salient, accessible and covariation information (information about potential causal factors when the stimulus is there and absent when it is not.)
What real life implications can this causal attribution effect of salience have?
In a court, they might assume the suspect confessed voluntarily if the camera shows just him
Name and explain the three covariation information factors in attribution
Consensus (does everybody exhibit this behaviour)
Distinctness (does the person exhibit this behaviour in other situations)
Consistency ( Does the person exhibit this behaviour often?)
Which covariation information factors indicate towards which component in the situation (actor etc) when observed absent of the two others?
Consensus: About the stimulus
Distinctness: About the situation
Consistency: About the person
What is meant by discounting?
Reducing a belief in one cause of behaviour for another viable cause
What is meant by implicit personality theories?
The patterns of associations among traits (generous & warm)
How else may we make sense of a persons diverse behaviours and traits?
By creating causal links among them, inferring additional traits and linking multiple traits and behaviours into a coherent whole.
Do we attribute more weight to good or bad qualities in people we meet?
Bad
What motives does the book mention for putting more effort in forming an impression
Accuracy (held accountable, gossip), connectedness and valuing me and mine (less accurate when estimating attractiveness in fashion that could spoil relationship, trivia partner) and attempting to undo biases
How is our approach to perceiving people and the world like that of an attorney?
Constructing the best possible perception for us, seeing ourselves in a positive light
What type of processing generally is it when we use only consider a single attribute
Superficial
When people process quickly and superficially to make a decision what do they focus on regarding past experience with a person?
Their past judgements on the person rather than the underlying evidence
What type of processing is it generally when we integrate multiple factors?
Systematic processing
How may treating someone based on our first impression of them result?
They may adapt their behaviour to match that impression
Whats meant by the primacy effect in impressions
Earlier encountered information has a bigger effect (starting well on show)
What is meant by the perseverance bias?
The tendency for information to have a persisting effect on our decisions even after its been discredited
Do people tend to ask more biased or leading questions when trying to conform a trait or diagnostic questions? (disconfirming questions)
Diagnostic however this can be hard when not knowing the alternative
When are self-fulfilling prophecies less strong?
When the person has strong views about themselves, can be reversed when people are aware of expectations (naive- independent), when people are more focused on portraying an accurate version of themselves than making interactions go smoothly
When we encounter inconsistencies with our first impression what social motives does it challenge?
Our sense of mastery and understanding is threatened and our ability to maintain a relationship or carry out a social interaction is cast in doubt
Are people more likely to make causal attributions to expected or unexpected events?
Unexpected
What happens to an initial impression as you get to know someone better and in different contexts?
You start integrating recurring inconsistencies
When do people perceive change?
When they are looking for it
Give reasons people may confess to a crime they didn’t commit
For immediate gain and attention, as punishment for real or imagined past transgressions, to protect the real culprit, because they find it hard to distinguish fact from reality.
How did Saul Kassin and his colleagues distinguish false confessions?
Compliant (reward, escape etc) or internalised (vulnerable people believing)
What factors can lead to a false confession?
Being young, Having strong evidence put before you, having past convictions (drugs etc) and having no legal council and be interrogated by intimidating and manipulative interviewers
