Midterm 1 Flashcards
1
Q
What is social psychology?
A
the scientific study of how people’s affect, behaviours and cognitions are influenced by the presence of at lease one other person
2
Q
The Scientific Method
A
Observation + Theory –> Hypothesis + Predictions –> Test (if confirmed, adds to theory; if not, modify hypothesis
3
Q
Control
A
Internal validity; are the findings real, or a fluke due to uncontrolled factors?
4
Q
Generalizability
A
External validity; can the findings be applied to others, or are they relevant only to the group being studied?
5
Q
Correlational Studies
A
the technique wherevy researchers systematically measure two or more variables and assess the relation between them; how are two or more variables related? - use of surveys, pre-existing data analysis
6
Q
Correlational Coefficient
A
a statistic that assesses how well you can predict one variable based on another
7
Q
Experiments
A
done in a lab under controlled conditions, uses cover stories and confederates; includes Independent and dependent variables, between subjects and within subjects designs, random sampling and random assignment.
8
Q
Diehl & Stroebe - Brainstorming
A
randomly assigned subjects to different levels of the independent variable (condition under which brainstorming occurred); measured DV (performance); performance was higher than in a group & that being interrupted alone is the same as being in a group
9
Q
Quasi Experiments
A
no random assignment; lowers experimental control because some factors cannot be randomly assigned
10
Q
Field Experiments
A
done in the field; lowers experimental control because environment and behaviour cannot be controlled; the natural setting increases generalizability
11
Q
Field Experiment Example - Men’s Bathrooms
A
do personal space invasions produce arousal in a men’s bathroom?; IV: where confederate stands; DV: latency to and characteristics or ‘micturition’; when males had their personal space invaded, they had a less steady stream and higher arousal than men who had more personal space
12
Q
Field Observational Studes
A
observe behaviour in its natural settings; no manipulations, no situational control; high generalizability
13
Q
Festinger, Rieken, Schachter - When Prophecy Fails
A
study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world; used participant observation to see how members responded when world didnt end; instead of questioning themselves, the decided that their cult had actually saved the world (cognitive dissonance)
14
Q
Confounds
A
any uncontrolled factor that could alter your research results; occur when uncontrolled factors co-vary with the IV
15
Q
Self-selection bias
A
subjects are those who choose to participate in the experiment; ignores the type of person who wouldn’t choose to attend
16
Q
Kinsey on Human Sexuality
A
used subjects that attended his lectures; forgot to take into account that those who attended his lectures were already comfortable with the topic
17
Q
Self-presentation/social desirability bias
A
we all want to be presented a certain way, so many people answer accorded to how they wish to be viewed rather than how they would naturally behave (use anonymity, confidentiality, bogus pipelines)
18
Q
Confirmation Bias
A
you may end up setting up your experiment to confirm rather than disprove your hypothesis or behave in a way that may alter your result (use blind experimenters)
19
Q
Experimental Demand
A
your subjects might do what they are expected to do rather than what they would naturally do (use blind subjects/cover stories)
20
Q
Thorne & Himmelstein - Confirmation Bias using Subliminal messaging in music
A
subjects listen to backwards songs; IV1: ‘write down any words or phrases your hear’ IV2: ‘write down any satanic words or phrases your hear”; DV: % of subjects who report hearing satanic phrases; primed group had a significantly higher outcome
21
Q
Ethics on experimenting on Human Subjects
A
Institutional review board approval; informed consent; debriefing, voluntary withdrawal, informing about research goals
22
Q
Construral
A
the way which people perceive, comprehend and interpret the social world
23
Q
Individual Differences
A
the aspects of people’s personalities that make them different from other people
24
Q
Fundamental Attribution Error
A
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behaviour stems from internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors
25
Gestalt Psychology
a school of psychology stressing the importance of studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people's minds, rather than the objective physical attributes of that object.
26
Self-esteem
people's evaluations of their own self-worth - that is, the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent and decent.
27
Social Cognition
how people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret and use social information.
28
Natural selection
the process by which heritable traits that promote survival in s particular environment are passed along to future generations, because organisms with that trait are more likely to reproduce
29
Evolutionary psycholougy
the attempt to explain social behaviour in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection
30
Hindsight bias
the tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could have predicted the outcome after knowing that it occurred.
31
Theory
an organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena
32
Hypothesis
a testable statement or idea about the relationship between two or more variables
33
Operational Definition
the precise specification of how variables are measured or manipulated
34
Observational method
the technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour
35
Ethnography
the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside without imposing any pre-conceived notions they might have
36
interjudge reliability
the level of agreement between two or more people who independently observe and code a set f data; by showing that two or more judges independently come up with the same observations are not the subjective impressions of one individual
37
Archival analysis
a form of observational method whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents or archives of a culture
38
surveys
research in which a representative sample of people are asked questions about their attitudes or behaviour.
39
random selection
a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population, by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for their sample.
40
internal validity
ensuring that nothing other than the independent variable can affect the dependent variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions
41
External validity
the extent to which the results can be generalized to other situations and other people
42
Mundane realism
the extent to which an experiment is similar to real-life situations
43
Psychological realism
the extent to which the psycholgical processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occie in everyday life; can be high in an experiment even when mundane realism is not.
44
Cover story
a description of the purpose of a study given to participants that is different from its true purpose; used to maintain psychological realism
45
replication
repeating a study, generally with different subject populations, in different settings, or by using different methods
46
meta analysis
a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable
47
Cross-cultural research
research conducted with members of different cultures to see whether the psychological processes of interest are present across cultures or whether they are specific to a single culture
48
basic research
studies that are designed to find the best answer as to why people behave the way that they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity
49
applied research
studies designed specificaly to solve a particular social problem; building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the specific problem.
50
Types of social power
```
reward power
coercive power
legitimate power
referent power
expert power
informational power
```
51
reward power
some people have power to reward us for conforming
52
coercive power
people with this power have the ability to punish us if we dont conform
53
legitimate power
we believe that they have the right to tell us what to do
54
referent power
reinforce the desire to emulate people who we respect or admire (or identify with)
55
expert power
people who we perceive to be experts in some area have the power to convoke us to do whatever we think is right
56
informational power
has to do with a situation where you dont have the information you need to conform to some one/group who does have the information you need; when you are unsure what to do or how to behave
57
3 types of conformity
compliance
identification
internalization
58
compliance
conforming to what someone tells you to do because otherwise you will have problems; not much room for choice (normative influence)
59
identification
more related to referent power - you conform to what someone does because you respect the person, you identify with them, they fit into your self-concept; you make the conscious choice to change your behaviour (informational influence)
60
internalization
you are in an ambiguous situation and are seeking out information so that you know how to behave correctly; you are only going to apply the information if you think is is correct; you have internalized the information and are now going to treat this as the norm; guides behaviour in the future. (informational influence)
61
normative influence
the desire to fit in and be liked; changing your response because of pressure from others in a non-ambiguous situation
62
informational influence
trying to discover the correct answer in the specific situation we are in; ambiguous situation
63
Ciadini et al. Conformity and Littering
people were more likely to toss their flyer on the ground in the messy parking lot rather than the clean one; being reminded that littering is bad caused people to be very unlikely to litter shortly after watching the confederate
64
Drisball & Muller - Conformity and jaywalking
subjects were less likely to jaywalk when a confederate refused to jaywalk, more likely to do so whenever the confederate jaywalked every time it was safe.
65
Solomon Asch - Line Judgements
conformity in an unambiguous situation; when when the answer to the line judgements was obvious, subjects tended to conform at least once when the rest of the group all gave the wrong answer.
66
Crazy confederate variation
confederate was told to give the wrong answer the rest of the room (16) subjects all laugh at him-was really unpleasant experience
67
private answers variation
when only the subject answers privately conformity drops cause there is no risk of embarrassment
68
Sherif Autokinetic effect
ambiguous situation: subjects are asked to describe how far the light travels; when they do it in groups their answers converge by the 4th day
69
no right answer variation
when they are told that there is no right answer, conformity drops because the situation is no longer ambiguous
70
1 year follow-up
individuals internalized the group answer as a result of gathering information
71
Lone dissenters
releases the normative pressure to conform because someone is already going against the norm; non-conformists; when they are ridiculed then this is a warning that not conforming is not safe.
72
Groupthink
important decisions are often made by groups; everyone can agree on a bad desicion because they do not want to not conform; can be dangerous
73
unhealthy practices
we conform to risk taking behaviours
74
Intervening in emergencies
people dont always help when there is an emergency (bystander effect)
75
Kitty Genovese
attacked in an alley and people nearby are aware of the commotion but no one offered help
76
Latane & Darley's Explanation
emergencies are often ambiguous; people are unsure of what to do and therefore wait to gather information from others to avoid looking foolish; when everyone else does the same, no one acts and this leads to pluralistic ignorance
77
Prentice & Miller - Princeton Drinking study
asked students to rate how comfortable they are with drinking and how comfortable they think their fellow students are; most students were uncomfortable but thought that the average was comfortable; decreased behaviour when they discovered the truth
78
Latane & Rodin - Woman in Distress
subjects hear a recording of a horrible accident in the next room. subjects are most likely to help out if they are alone or with a friend; less likely to id there is another stranger, and even less so if the other person has no reaction whatsoever.
79
Diffusion of responsibility
you know you are in an emergency situation but you do not want to be the one to provide help; we hope that someone else will step up so that we dont have to take responsibility
80
Latane & Darley - Epilepsy Experiment
subject is alone in a room on a conference call with "other subjects", one of them supposedly has a seizure; likelihood of helping decreases as number of perceived witnesses increases
81
Steps to take before helping
```
notice the event
interpret the event as an emergency
decide that you have a responsibility to help
decide what you should do to help
decide to help
```
82
How can we increase people's likelihood of helping?
reduce ambiguity
| take social psychology
83
Reasons for Milgrams experiment
making asch meaningful; understanding evil (just following orders)
84
at 150 volts
big long protest from earner; this was seen as the point of no return
85
at 345 volts
silence; failure to answer question
86
Operational definition of Obedience
the subject continues in the prescribed order of shocks up the scale until 450 volts and will not cease until the experimenter terminates the experiment
87
Slippery slope
the increments are so tiny that going up by one more feels like nothing; the point of no return is when something special happens; this is the only circumstance where you have the real information that you should stop
88
Situational pressure
the situation has no ambiguity and so you follow the norms so you know what the best response is; strong situations > personality
89
Proximity to the victim
no voice cues - no change
same room - decreases
touch - decreases further
physical proximity (rather than psychological proximity) causes a decrease in obedience
90
Proximity to the experimenter
telephone - obedience drops
| coercive power of experimenter diminishes when the experimenter is no longer in the room
91
Who has authority
experimenter suggests termination; learner insists on continuing - obedience drops to 0
another confederate steps up as experimenter - obedience drops
experimenter is the only one with legitimate power
92
Group effects
dissenting peers - obedience drops
Abdicating responsibility - obedience increases
easier to leave experimenter when there is less normative pressure to conform; easier to continue when there is a diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance
93
Legitimacy of experiment
location with low prestige - no change
| perhaps category of institution rather than prestige is what is important
94
Fairness of experiment
learner only agrees if he can leave when asked - no change
| suggests that fairness is not a factor
95
Aggression
teacher chooses shock level - no one increased past 45
| suggests that aggression is not a factor
96
conformity
a change in behaviour as a result of the the real or imagined influence of others
97
Public compliance
conforming to other people's behaviour publicly, without necessarily believing in what they are doing or saying
98
contagion
the rapid transmission of emotions of behaviour through a crowd
99
Mass psychogenic illness
the occurrence of similar physical symptoms in a group of people for which there is no known physical or medical causes
100
social impact theory
the theory that conforming to social influence depends on the strength of the group, its immediacy, and the number of other people in the group
101
people conform to normative pressures when...
the group is 3 or more
the group is important to you
the group is unanimous
the culture is collectivist
102
Minority influence
the case in which a minority of group members influences the behaviour or beliefs of the majority
103
Obedience
conformity in response to the commands of an authority figure
104
Bystander effect
the findign that the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely it is that any one of them will help
105
Pluralistic Ignorance
the phenomenon whereby bystanders assume that nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned
106
Diffusion of Responsibility
each bystander's sense of responsibility to help decreases as the number of witnesses to an emergency or crisis increases
107
Persuasive communication
communication advocating a particular side of an issue
108
consistency
normative pressure ot appear and be consistent
109
Lowballing
an unscrupulous strategy whereby a salesperson indices a customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, and then subsequently raises the price; frequently the customer will still make the purchase at the inflated price
110
examples
working 12 hours
environmental consumption
car dealership
111
Foot-in-the-Door
a technique to get people to comply with a request, whereby people are presented first with a small request, to which they are expected to acquiesce, followed by a larger request to which it is hoped that they will also acqiesce
112
examples
recycling program
113
Reciprocation
evolutionary and normative pressures to reciprocate favours; often stronger than the need for consistency
114
Reciprocation rule
if someone does something for you then you have to do something for them.
115
Regan Coke example
people donated more to Joe when he bought them coke during a survey; whether the subject liked Joe was only correlated with amount donated when there was no coke
116
Door in the Face
a technique to get people to comply with a request, whereby people are presented first with a large request which they are expected to refuse, and then with smaller more reasonable request, which is hoped they will acqueisce
117
Cialdini's Delinquents Study
experimental group is more likely to agree to the smaller (zoo) favour when presented with the large (2 year commitment) favour.
118
Yale attitude change approach
the study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages; researchers in this tradition focus on the source and nature of communication and the nature of the audience
119
4 Components of Persuasion
source
target
medium
message
120
source credibility
the best source is one that is perceived as credible and trustworthy; sometimes this wears off
121
sleeper effect
you forget where you heard the information so after time you have come to have possession of this information but no recollection of whether or not the source was credible
122
non-verbal cues (source)
positive non-verbal cues are more likely to change our minds
123
Mullen et a. - News anchors
subjects asked to rate the positivity of facial expressions of news anchors; those who watched news from ABC (most positive facial expressions) were more likely to vote for the candidate who the anchor was positive toward
124
Non-verbal cues (target)
we are wired to associate our own behaviour with positive or negative attitudes
125
Wells & Petty - Cues
nodding and shaking head cues (following dot with head) influenced postive or negative attitudes
126
Festinger - Distraction
used distractive techniques while presenting an unattractive message; those that were distracted were more likely to agree
127
Learning theory
if the distraction is pleasant then this is rubbed off on the unpleasant message and therefore make it more attractive; Zimbardo finds that persuasion goes up with distraction regardless of pleasantness of distraction
128
Counterarguments theory
because we are overloaded with info, we are unable to create a counterargument, which we need to reject an argument
129
Langer et al. - Mindlessness
when we are in a mindless state we use mental shortcuts and accept what others say based on 'rules of thumb'
placebo was not a good enough excuse when subjects were mindful of large request, was effective when subjects were mindless of small request
130
Elaboration Likelihood model
central processing vs. peripheral processing - depends on how much the audience cares about the issue; if the audience doesnt care then peripheral is more effective, if the audience does care then central is more effective
