Midterm 1 - Lectures Flashcards
List the 4 fundamental themes of social psychology
- The power of the situation
- The power of the situation can be subtle
- The role of basic cognitive processes
- The consequences can really matter
Provide an example that demonstrates the fundamental theme of: “power of the situation”
- The way you act and feel being very different at a birthday party compared to a funeral
- How crowded you may feel either in a night club or solo camping
- Stanford prison experiment
Provide an example that demonstrates the fundamental theme of: “the power of the situation can be subtle”
Copy Room Example:
Person asked to cut in front of the person next in line to make copies at the copy machine. There was 3 conditions, all asking in slightly different ways:
- “Excuse me, I have 5 pages, can I use the machine?” → 60% said yes
- “Excuse me I have 5 pages, can I use the machine, because I’m in a rush” → 94% said yes
- “Excuse me I have 5 pages, can I use the machine, because I have to make copies” → 93% said yes
*By providing a justification (even it doesn’t make much sense) makes people more likely to agree
Provide an example that demonstrates the fundamental theme of:
“The role of basic cognitive proccesses”
Copy Room Example:
When people used the word “because” (aka. a justification) people agreed more because it is an automated response to a situation.
By adding the word because, the cognitive process in their heads associated because with a justification, creating their actions (in this case, letting them go ahead)
Provide an example that demonstrates the fundamental theme of: “the consequences can really matter”
Voting Location Example:
Study analyzed voting data from an election to determine if there should be a tax increase for public schools or not.
Found that people who physically voted in a school building were more likely to vote for an increase tax for schools.
Being in the building and thinking “oh this place is really run down”
What is the recipe for aggression?
Two ingredients:
- Provocation
- Contextual Variables
(that affect how a person interprets the provocation and responds)
Define provocation
Anything in someone’s environment that might lead them to having an aggressive response
What are a few examples of a potential provocation?
someone flips you off
witnessing something upsetting
What are contextual variables?
Specific features in one’s environment that affects how a person interprets a provocation and then responds to it.
What’s a very common contextual variable?
Physical Discomfort
(ex. having a headache, stubbing toe, being HOT, etc.)
Physical discomfort influences the way you respond to the provocation
What does the research on heat and aggression demonstrate? Provide example studies
Research shows that when people are uncomfortably hot, they are more likely to engage in more aggressive behaviour.
Examples: when people are too hot, they….
- Act aggressively in experiments
- Throw baseballs harder at opponents
- Honk car horns at other drivers more often
- are more likely to RIOT
According to research, when people are ______, they are more likely to riot
uncomfortably HOT
Draw the map of why being hot can cause aggressive behaviour
Heat –>
Physical discomfort (fatigue, headache, etc.) –>
Crankiness (aka: negative emotional state) –>
Provocation –>
Anti-social interpretation or response –>
Aggression!
Studies show that exposure to weapons can lead to increased aggression. Why is this?
When a person sees a weapon…
Cognitions associated with violence and antisocial behaviour become activated…
Which leads to antisocial interpretations and responses when provocations happen…
Hence causing aggression
What psychology term can be used to summarize why participants are more aggressive in response to provocations when a gun is next to them?
PRIMING
The idea of having something associated with violence in front of someone, will cause them to have a more “violent mindset”. If a provocation occurs, they are more aggressive in response to that because they have this more violent or antisocial mindset.
What is the example study provided in class to demonstrate how exposure to weapons can increase aggressive behaviours?
Participants sat down to deliver electric shocks to other people
Condition 1: guns on table next to them (but were told they just happened to be there)
Condition 2: badminton rackets next to them (but were also told they just happened to be there
Participants in condition 1 sent greater shocks to other people
What are cultural associations with the colour black?
The colour black is often associated with immoral behaviour in some cultures.
Because of this cognitive association, you are more likely to view someone wearing black as more aggressive when a provocation occurs
OR be more aggressive when your wearing black yourself when a provocation occurs
What research examples demonstrate the cognitive association of black being associated with immoral behaviour?
- A study randomly assigned participants to either wear a black or white uniform –> people in black uniforms chose more aggressive forms of competition in the study
- Study showed that in professional hockey and football games, teams wearing black uniforms are more highly penalized.
What is counterfactual thinking?
Cognitions in our minds that think of an alternative reality (how things could have been different)
“what if…”
Draw/explain the map of something happening that leads to an emotional response
Something happens…
Cognitions with reality (what actually happened)
OR
Cognitions regarding an alternative reality (counterfactual thinking)
… BOTH ignite an emotional response
(these emotional response is influenced by what come to mind quickly, which depends on context)
Emotional responses to counterfactual thinking depend on the context. What does this mean in simple teams?
If it’s easy to imagine an alternative reality with WORSE outcomes = HAPPY
If it’s easy to imagine an alternative reality with BETTER outcomes = SAD
What’s an example to demonstrate how emotional responses depend on context?
Olympic medalists!
Bronze medalists always seem happier than silver medalists, because…
If I win bronze, it is easy to imagine how I could have not made the podium (worse outcome), so I am happy!
If I win silver, it is easy to imagine how I could have won gold (better outcome), so I am disappointed!
Look at the table from the article on counterfactual thinking and understand the main points
(left side shows set of examples of the things people likely imagine alternatives to)
(right side provides additional set of examples to illustrate that those effects don’t always happen based on the situation)
What are the 4 types of alternatives people commonly imagine when engaging in counterfactual thinking?
- Things that people have control over (rather than “uncontrollable” things)
- Things that happened relatively recently
- Things that are unusual or exceptional
- Actions (rather than inactions)
Provide an example that demonstrates that people commonly imagine alternatives to “things people have control over”
Women is flying to Germany for vacation. There was an opportunity for the women to take a flight that left 6 hours earlier so she got on that flight. That flight crashed.
When people hear this, they think of the alternative reality of “if only she did not change her flight at the last minute” (controllable thing)
People would not say “if only the mechanics on the airplane were taken more seriously” (because it is less controllable)
Provide an example that demonstrates that people commonly imagine alternatives to “things that happened relatively recently”
The women taking the earlier flight had the decision to take the earlier plane, but she also had the decision of booking the flight to Frankfurt (instead of Oslow)
People do not tend to think of that further away decision of going to Frankfurt over Oslow
Provide an example that demonstrates that people commonly imagine alternatives to “things that are exceptional or unusual”
Person is driving home from work and gets into an accident. He left on time from work but decided to take the scenic route home.
People will think “if only he took the regular route home, that wouldn’t have happened”
Much larger focus on events that are out of the ordinary
Provide an example that demonstrates that people commonly imagine alternatives to “actions (instead of inactions)”
Student is studying late before an exam and doesn’t wake up in the morning and misses their test.
People will think “if only they didn’t stay up so late studying, they would have slept more and got up on time”
People are less likely to think “if only they studied more the week before they would go to bed on time and not cram”
________ is often associated with counterfactual thoughts
REGRET
(but there is a difference for immediate regret and long-term regret)
For immediate experiences of regret, people regret __________ more than __________.
ACTIONS > INACTIONS
Ex. “I really should not have slept with my roommates girlfriend” (regret of ACTION)
For long-term reflections on regret in one’s life, people regret __________ more than __________.
INACTIONS > ACTIONS
Ex. “If only I had written that book when I was younger, I would have accomplished my dreams”
In the domain of sexual behaviour, how does regret differ between men and women in sexual contexts?
Women = regret specific sexual ACTIONS
(“I really should not have slept with him”)
Men = regret of specific INACTIONS
(“I should have been more bold when I was talking to her”)
What kinds of consequences occur with counterfactual thinking?
Emotional responses as a result of counterfactual thinking can have lots of consequences:
- future judgements
- future decisions
- future actions
What’s an example of a consequence that can arise with counterfactual thinking?
Example of legal judgements from counterfactual thinking:
Participants brought into study a stimulated court case about a woman who got food poisoning from a restaurant. She was suing the restaurant and participants were asked how much the restaurant should be fined and how much she should be compensated.
C1: It was a restaurant she eats at regularly
C2: It was her first time at that restaurant
Condition 2 gave the resterant a larger fine an the victim more compensation because….
If it’s her first time, it’s easy to think about an alternative reality where she chose a diff restaurant (better outcome), which creates a stronger emotional response
How does counterfactual thinking relate to the idea of not going back to change your answers on a multiple choice test?
If you initially had the answer right, but changed it to be wrong, it causes stronger emotions
Because… it is very easy to imagine an alternative reality where you could have had a better outcome (did not change answer)
Explain the details of the study that found: Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth
provide method, conditions, and how it illustrates fundamental themes
Experimenter told participants that he needs to record information on the clipboard he is holding, and asks each participant to hold the cup of coffee while he does so:
- Condition 1: Iced Coffee
- Condition 2: Hot Coffee
Participants give back the coffee and each participant is given a short description of someone based on a few adjectives (around 6) and then asked to give an overall description of that person based on those words.
FINDING: People who briefly held a cup of hot coffee judged people to have a “warmer” personality
*Illustration of key themes → a very small detail of the situation (touching something hot or cold), generates cognitions in your head to influence judgments of something (in this case, someone’s personality)
Did the “Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth” finding replicate?
NO
The reason why it did not replicate can be subtle.
For example, the temperature of the coffee may seem like an irrelevant detail, however, if coffee is too hot, that would change cognitions and would not allow the same effect
*illustrates key theme of subtleness of methodologies in changing result
What were the findings of the Open Science Collaboration to estimate the reproducibility of psychological science?
(for both strict and relaxed critera)
*know the percentages and what they mean
Strict Criteria:
* Approximately ⅓ of the new studies replicated the original results
* Subset of cognitive psychology studies → 50% replicated
* Subset of social psychology studies → 25% replicated
Relaxed Criteria:
* Approximately ⅔ of the new studies replicated the original results!
* Subset of cognitive psychology studies → 90%
* Subset of social psychology studies → 50%
What was the goal of the Open Science Collaboration?
To estimate the reproducibility of psychological science
They did this by identifying 100 previously done studies and tried to redo each study each one as faithfully as possible both using either strict criteria OR relaxed criteria
What can we generally infer based off of the findings from the Open Science Collaboration?
That psychological phenomena are fragile, especially social psychological phenomena…
Even seemingly irrelevant details between the details of the original study (methods) and the replication study can lead to different results.
How is it possible for both both the original results and the replication results to be right?
It’s a possibility because psychological phenomena are sensitive to context.
An interesting effect may occur in some situations, but not others (and the differences between those situations may be subtle)
What additional analyses was perfromed by the Open Science Collaboration on the 100 studies they replicated?
Researchers analyzed each study topic for context-sensitivity (to what extent is this topic something you would expect there to be a lot of context-sensitivity?)
Ex. visual attention to predators → would vary based on context, depending on cultural background, etc.
Ex. aggressive behavior → are people’s tendency to be aggressive vary depending on context, background, etc.
FINDINGS:
Studies more sensitive to context = harder to replicate
Social psychology topics = generally are more context-sensitive
Studies more sensitive to context are generally… _______ _______?
harder to replicate
This is why social psychology topics are less easily replicated because they are generally are more context-sensitive
Accoridng to the article by VOX on study replication, what reasons do they suggest for why psychology research is not always replicable?
- Experimenters doing the replication messed something up
- The original study was a false positive
- The human subjects have changed over time which makes it hard for a true replication
List the two examples of studies mentioned in class used to demonstrate how seemingly irrelevant details in methods can make big changes
- “Risky Shift” and Group Polorization
- Facial Feedback Hypothesis
These studies prove the strange idea that both of the original results and the replication results can be right, because of small details and context.
Explain the “Risky Shift” and Group Polarization Study.
Was it replicated?
People presetned with a scenario where one could either make a risky or safe choice. Participants made an individual choice and then all participants had a discussion. Participants were asked to make a group decision and then rethink their original discussion.
ORIGINAL FINDING = “Risky Shift”: people’s individual choices had the general tendency to be riskier after group discussion
Did NOT replicate: in some replications the opposite effect would be true.
* But with the replications, researchers would use new scenarios as they thought the scenario would not matter, but it definitely did. (subtle detail that has big impacts)
Because the effect went in BOTH directions (riskier or safer), we can gather from these studies that there is a tendency to agree to the general consensus of the group (group polarization)
Explain the Facial Feedback Effect Study mentioned in class.
Was it replicable?
Brought participants into the lab and gave them a booklet that had cartoons that were well known. Participants went through cartoons and rated how funny they found each one. While rating cartoons, there was two conditions of how a participant were to hold a pen in their mouth:
C1: Hold pen in lips
C2: Hold pen in teeth (mimics smiling)
FINDING: People who held the pen with their teeth rated the cartoons funnier
Was NOT replicated: did not replicate in 17 studies over 8 countries. WHY?
* all the replication studies had cameras when participants did the cartoon task when there were no cameras in the original study. (subtle detail that changes results)
What is the Facial Feedback Hypothesis?
The theory that facial expressions can activate and regulate emotions by influencing the processing of emotional stimuli
How many replications were performed with the Pen-In-Mouth Study to test the facial feedback hypothesis?
Researchers completed 17 experiments in 17 labs in 8 diff countries (hence lots of attention to methodological detail) → and not a single replication replicated the original finding (because cameras we’re being used)
Researchers replicated the pen-in-mouth study with cameras and without cameras. What did they find?
When the video camera is there, the effect does NOT replicate,
When the camera is not there, the effect DOES replicate.
What is perhaps a better name for the “replication crisis”?
“Psychology’s Renaissance”
Because this “crisis” is actually promoting better methods, deeper insights, etc.