Midterm 1 - reading Flashcards
name the three broad themes we care about so far
processing principles
motivational principles
general axioms
what are processing principles and name them
processing - thinking, cognitions; how we take in and deal with information
- conservatism
- accessinility
- superficiality vs depth of processing
what is conservatism
a persons thoughts, beliefs, and opinons are slow to change and tend to perpetuate themselves
what is accessibility
information that is most accessible generally has the most impact on thoughts, feelings and behaviours
what is superficiality vs depth of processing
people typically put little effort into dealing with infromation, but at times are motivated and/or able to consider information more in depth
what are motivational principles and name them
motivation - what drives people to think, feel and act
- need to feel good about ourselves and what is ours (people want to see themselves and things connected to themselves in a positive light
- Need to be accurate and to understand and make sense of the world; strive for mastery: we seek to understand and predict events in the social world around us in order to obtain rewards and a sense of control; we need to know
- Need to seek connectedness: people seek support, liking, and acceptance from people and groups they care about and value
name the three general axioms
interaction of the person and the situation
social influence is very persuasive
we construct / construe our own reality
explain interaction of the person and situaiton
both an individual’s personality/internal characteristics and environment/situational characteristics interact to influence feelings, thoughts, and behavior
explain social influence is very pervasive
people influence virtually all of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, whether these people are present or not, real or imagined, or whether or not we are aware of their influence
we construct / construe our own reality
ach person’s view of reality is a subjective, unique construction, shaped both by cognitive processes (the ways our minds work) and social processes (input from others either actually present or imagined); the world looks different from someone else’s eyes
define social psychology
the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts and behaviours of individuals in social situations
Abu Ghraib
Iraqi prisoner mistreatedment by american soldiers
torture and sexual abuse
30 years previous = zimbardo
who is jurt lewin
founder of modern social pscy
jewish berliner, fled nazi germany
behaviour of people like objects is a function of the field of forces in which they find themselves (in humans force = social situation, persons attributes are important but they always interact with the situation to produce the resulting behaviour)
explain Zimbardo
24 Stanford undergrad men - good character and mental health
random assignment to prisoner or guard
study ended after 6 days as went too brutal
balance of power so unequal, prison = brutal unless guards observe strict regs curbing their worst impulses
Milgram
learning and memory at yale (first done on just men then replicated with women)
participant = teacher administering shocks for mistakes, confederate = pupill recieving shocks
participant shocked way beyond safe levels
Teacher felt 45 v so knew it hurt but was told wasn’t causing any lasting damage
was egged on by experimenter who said he had to continue
key quesiton - why people conform
shock levels in milgram
80% past 150 v (heart problem and screamed let me out)
62.5% past 450 v (the whole way)
average = 360 v (learner had let out an agonised scream and had become hysterical0
what did milgram claim was key as to why people confromed
the step by step nature
if did 200 v then why not administer 225 v etc then suddenly we are at 450 v and we haven’t stopped
seminarians vs samaritans experiment
seminarians only stopped to help a man groaning, coughing and in need of help if they weren’t in a rush
- had just been reminded of their faith!
what factors govern people most
situational (in a hurry or under pressure) > internal (kind of person someone is)
define dispositions
internal factors such as beliefs, values, personality traits, and abilities, that guide a persons behaviours
define fundamental attribution error
the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behaviour, along with the corresponding tendency to overemphasise the importance of dispositions on behaviour
what are channel factors and the study about it (healthcare)
nudges
preventative helthcare - get yale students to get a tetnus shot
read scary material or
others got a map with health centre circled and asked to review their schedule for a convinient time
the map approach worked way better - used in obama campaign
define gestalt psych
form or figure
an approach that stresses the fact that people perceive objects not by means of some sutomatic registering device but by active, usually nonconscious interpretation of what the object represented as a whole
define construal
ones interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that one confronts`
define schemas
a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information that is used to help in understanding events
define stereotype
a belief that certain attributed are characteristic of members of a particular group
automatic vs controled processing overview
automatic - nonconscious often based on emotional factors
controlled - conscious and systematic and more likely to be controlled by deliberative thought
what kinds of attitudes does automatic processing lead to
implicit
beliefs that cant readily be controlled by the mind
what kinds of attitudes does controlled processing lead to
explicit
what is ideomotor mimicry
we change our body position to match the person we are conversing with
some studies showing automatic processing controlling our behaviour
will rate last pari of stockings as the best
hostile and non hostile words then is donald hostile or not
when surrounded by greenery people are less aggressive than red
read persusive stuff in a fishy smelling room = more likley to find it fishy
body mimicing
why we use noncontrolled processing
conscious processing runs serially step by step = slow
automatic runs in parallel = faster
implication of nonconscious processing in social psych research
must craft experiments to isolate the true causes of peoples behaviour - cannot rely on verbal reports
culture and how we’ve studied / viewed its impact on our behaviour
used to think was just religious language etc
now think it goes much deeper to the level of fundamental forms of self-conception and social interaction even to the perceptual and cognitive processes people use to develop new thoughts and behaviours
define independent (individualistic) cultures
a culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities, tied to each other by voluntary bonds of affection and organizational memberships but essentially separate from other people and having attributes that exist in the absence of any connection to others
define interdependent (collectivistic) cultures
a culture in which people tend to define themselves as part of a collevtive, inextricably tied to others in their group placing less importance on the individual freedom or personal control over their lives
table comparing independent and interdependent cultures
inde
-conception of self as distinct
-insistence on abilty to act on ones own
-need for individual distinctiveness
-preference for achieved status based on accomplishments
-conviction that rules governing behaviour should apply to everyone
inter
-conception of self as linked to others
-preference for collective action
-desire for harmonious relations within group
-acceptance of hierarcy based on attributes (age etc)
-preference for rules that take context and particular relationships into account
pen study on cultures
pen reward, all the same colour and one a different
americans = chose the special one
koreans = chose the normal / majority colour
culture shaping the human brain
chinese participants brain scanned then questionnaire of how inde vs inter they were
more independent ratings = denser grey matter in ventrmedial prefrontal cortex
social class and inter vs inde
working class = more inter, middle class = more inde changes parenting styles car study, middle class would be sad to have lost uniqueness if friend bought the same car as them whereas working class would be happy to share some trait middle class found to prefer object they chose over one given (working class was vice versa)
define hindsight bias
peoples tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted a given outcome
what is a thought experiment
think through the results you might get from a study
hypothesis
a prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
define theory
a set of related propositions intended to describe some phenomenon or aspect of the world
what is dissonance theory
people dont like cognitive dissonance so will do alot of hard mental manipulation to get rid of it
participants observation
observing some phenomena at close range
archival research
researchers can look through archives
eg homocide more common in south than north
surveys
questionnaire people
representative sampling
people in the survey / sample must be representative of the population as a whole
best achieved through selecting potential respondents randomly
so in practice must know entire population then can randomly select from it
conveinience sampling
not random but based on an easiky available group
may be biased in some ways
eg literary digest predicting wrong election outcome as used telephone directories and automobile registrations = so just surveyed the wealthy
southern violenec study
southerners were more likely to favour violence in response to insults, threats to hoe and fmaily, defense
honor culture?
define correlaitonal research
research that involved measuring two or more variables and assessing whether there is a relationship betwen them
define experimental research
in social psycholgy research thay randomly assigns people to different conditions or situations and that enables researchers to mke inferences about why a relationship exists or how different situations affect behaviour
define third variable
a variable, often unmeasured in correlational research that can be the true explanation for the relationship between two other variables
self-selection
in correlational research the situaion in which the participant rather than the researcher determines the participants level of each variable therby creating a problem that it could be these unknown other properties that are responsible for the observed relationship
basically the stuff we cannot control for eg whether someone is married or not
define longitudinal study
a study conducted over a long period of time with the same participants
define iv
in experimental research the variable that is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause of a particular outcome
define dv
in experimental research the variable that is measured (as opposed to manipulated); it is hypothesized to be affected by manipulation of the iv
define random assignment
assigning participants in experimental research randomly to different conditions so they are as likely to be assigned to one condition as to another, with the effect of making the types of people in the different conditions roughly equal
define control condition
a condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it lacks one ingredient hypothesized to produce the expected effect on the dv
southerner angry study
north vs south
conditions = gets insulted in corridor or not
dv - obs, made to finish a story off, testosterone levels, then chicken with the lab technition who walked down the middle of the corridor
define natural experiments
a naturally occuring event or phenomenon habing somewhat different conditions that can be compared with almost as much rigour as in experiments where the investigator manipulates the conditions
define external validity
how well the results of a study generalize to contexts outside the conditions of the lab
why poor external validity wasn’t too problematic in milgram
people never going to be placed in that situation
but Milgram’s study highlighted why such things have happened (nazi etc) and how they will probably happen again
when is external validity not essential
when the purpose is to clarify a general idea or theory
define field experiment
an experiment conducted in the real world (not a lab), usually with participants who are not aware they are in a study of any kind
define internal validity
in experimental research, confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results
how to maintain internal validity
random assignemnet
third variables controlled for
realistic experimental set up
define reliability
the degree to which the particular way researchers measure a given variable is likely to yield consistent results
measurement validity
the correlation between a measure and some outcome the measure is supposed to predict
validity coefficients = the number
define replication
reproduction of research results by the original investigator or by someone else
- sometimes wont replicate = results called into question
- replication may not have been done right
- sometimes just chance fail
- replication may fail because was a fluke it worked the first time
5 threats to internal validity named
selection bias differential attribution regression to the mean experimenter / rater buas expectancy / hawthorn effects
define selection bias
assignment to conditions is not random but systematic
so diff people in diff conditions = the reason for differences and not what was manipulated
define differential attribution
if many more people drop out from one condition than another the people who stay in the more taxing or upsetting condition are likely to be different from those in the other condition, thus undermining random assignment
define regression to the mean
if people are in a study because they are exteme on the variable of interest, they are likely to become less extreme even though nothing is done
therefore a treatment can seem effective even when it is of no value
to combat this prblem the subjects in the treatment condition should be equally extreme (by random assignment)
experimenter / rater bias
if DV has an element of subjectivity and the rater knows the hypothesis or what condition the subject or object of judgement was in, the rater may make biased judgements
the most common solution = make the rater blind
what are expectancy / hawthorn effects
participants can be biased by their expectations about the purpose of the experiment and act in away that confirms them
the most common solution is to make the experiment double blind so neither the rater or the participants know what the study is designed to test and/or what condition the participant is in
some ways we are trying to solve the replication crisis
using larger sample sizes
insistence on reporting all stats and not just the one measure that popped out as significant
define open science
practices such as sharing data and research materials with anyone in the broader scientific community in an effort to increase the integrity and replicability of scientific research
institutional review board (IRB)
a committee that examines research proposals and makes judgements about the ethical appropriateness of the research
- one scientisit
- one non scientist
- one person not affiliated with the university
pre 2018 all federal funding used to need an IRB but now if only benign intervention ie interviews and surveys, abilities and personality tests, economic games, decision making and research on conformity to group norms not needed
define informed consent
a persons signed agreement to participate in a procedure or research study after learning all of its relevant aspects
define deception research
research in which the participants are misled about the purpose of the research or the menaing of something that is done to them
define debriefing
in preliminary versions of an experiment, asking particpants directly if they understood the instructions, found the setup to be reasonable and so on
in later version debriefing is used to educate participants about the questions being studied
snap judgements
how we quickly make impressions of people
face ratings were just as accurate when made snap and in a hurry than when given a long time to make the decision
- our first impressions of people
most research says they do well but we shouldn’t put too much confidence in them as are just a kernel of truth
the 5 parts of social cognition
our judgements are only as accurate as the quality of information on which they are based (and the info available to us in everyday life is not always representative or complete)
the way info is presented, including the order in which it is presented or how it is framed, can affect the judgements we make
we don’t just passively take in information, we actively seek it out and pervasive bias in how we do so can distort the conclusions we reach
our preexisting knowledge and mental habits can influence how we construe new info and thus substantially influence judgement
two mental systems : reason and intuition undelie social cognition and their complex interplay determines what judgements we make
define pluralistic ignorance
misperception of a group norma the results from observing people who are acting at variance with their private beliefs out of a concern for the social consequences; those actions reinforce the erroneous group norm
eg gang members all think they act too brutally but won’t be the one to admit it
racial groups not wanting to make friends because both think the other one isn’t interested
define self-fulfilling prophecy
the tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the very thing they expect to happen
eg bloomers study
note to be self fulfiling some mechanism must be at work to translate a persons expectation into action
self fulfilling prophect in interviewing suspects
students go to classroom either told to take $100 or just go there
another group of students told who was guilty and who wasn’t
student interviewer was much more rigorous with the ones they thoughts were guilty which then made those accused more defensive and appear like they had committed the crime
bad news bias
media reports crime looks like 80% is violent when in fact it is only 20%
no rise and fall of crime in the media - its always there
= leads people to think crime has increase in the last 20 years when it has in fact decreased
watching tv and being a victim of crime belief study
correlationally watch more tv, higher belief will be a victim of crime
further research
people who live in dangerous areas and dont watch much tv fell safer than ther neighbours who watch alot
define primacy effects
a type of order effect: the disproportionate influence on judgement by information presented first in a body of evidence
define recency effect
a type of order effect: the disproportionate influence on judgement by information presented last in a body of evidence
an example of order effects in questionnaire
how happy are you
how many dates have you been on in the last month
correlation wayyyy higher when asked the other way round
when does primacy effect most often occur
when the information is ambiguous
so what comes first alters how the later bits of info are perceived
when do recency effects occur most often
when the last item comes more readily to mind
define framing effect
the influence on judgement resulting from the way information is presented, such as the order of presentation or the wording
order effects are a type of framing effect
spin framing
varies the content, not just the order, of what is presented
eg frame product in terms of quality or in terms of price
frame in negative terms = more likely to dislike and be cautious
define construal level theory
a theory about the relationship between temporal distance (and other kinds of distance) and abstract or concrete thinking: psychologically distinct actions and events are thought about in terms of abstract terms; actions and events that are close at hand are thought about in concrete terms
temporal frame
we change our ideas based on the time
ie commit to early plans yesterday afternoon but now when push comes to shove don’t want to get out of bed
define confirmation bias
the tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence that would support it
define bottom-up processing
data driven mental processing in which an individual forms conclusions based on the stimuli encountered in the environment
define top-down processing
theory driven mental processing in which an individual filters and interprets new information in light of preexisting knowledge and expectations
attention is …
selective
how schemas effect our judgements
directing our attention
structuring our memories
influencing our interpretations
but can lead us to mischaracterise the world
gorilla study
basketball thrown around and count passes
you miss th gorilla walking through the scene
only half the participants noticed it
schemas and memory
memory - attention in past tense
schemas effec tour memory
donald experiment
participants thought was two separate studies
words - of confidence of aloofness
then rated donald based on same description of him
those shown more favourable words rated him as more favourable
define priming
the presentation of information designed to activate a concept and hence make it accessible. a prime is the stimulus presented to activate the concept in question
define subliminal
below the threshold of conscious awareness
some quick studeis using priming and subliminal messages
subliminall present gamble or stay will influence people gambling
playing german music increases sales of german wine
activate goal achievement through showing dollar signs = people work harder on difficult stuff
types of schema activations
recent = like priming those words in donald study
frequent activations and chronic accessibility = if you use a schema alot you rely on it and will use it more in the future
do you need to be conscious a schema is being activated to act on it
probably not
interviews post studies most people dont realise there was a link
expectations and schema application
sometimes people apply a schema because of a preexisting expectation about what they will encounter
this expectation activates the schema
when does the intuitive system operate
quickly and automatically
based on associations
performs many operations simultaneously and in parallel
when does the rational system operate
slower and more controlled
based on rules and deductions and performs operations one at time - serially
amos tversky and daniel kahneman
- what did they work on
heuristics of judegments
big impact of their work
define heuristics
intuitive mental operations, performed quickly and automatically, that provide efficient answers to common problems of judgement
define availability heuristics
the processs whereby judgements of frequency ot probabliity are based on how readily pertinent instances come to mind
define representativeness heuristic
the process whereby judgements of likelihood are based on assessments of similarity between individuals and group prototypes or between cause and effect
argument tversky and kahneman made
the intuitive system automatically performs certain mental operations that powerfully influence judgement
they yield answers that feel right and therefore often forestall more effortful, rational deliberation
although these heuristics generally serve us well, they distort our judgements
leads to a systematically biased system
where can availability heuristics be problematic
assessment of risk
define fluency
the feeling of ease (or difficulty) associated with processing information
how we assess group membership
we ask if the person look slike the prototype and not assess the likelihood they are a group member
we use representativeness heuristics
define base-rate information
information about the relative frequency of events or of members of different categories in a population
study on tom by tversy and kahneman
descirption of tom
gp 1 read and said how likley it was he studies each subject
gp2 read and said how likely it was he worked now in each discipline
last group didnt read about tom and just rated how many people they thought did each college degree
= found likelihood of tom studying and toms similatiy ratings were very similar (gp 1and 2) - people followed a prototype approach
but base rates came out totally different
define attribution theory
a set of concepts explaining how people assign cuase to the events aound them and the effects of these kinds of causal assessments
define causal attribution
linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait is responsible for a behaviour
used to explain both their own and others behaviour
define explanatory style
a persons habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along 3 dimensions; internal/external, stable/unstable ad global/specific
what explanatory styles are correlated with poor life outcomes
explain negative events im terms of internal, stable and global causes
explanaotry style and health
link has been found
longitudinal
optimistic explanatory style during younger adulthood was a significant predictor of good physical health in later life
attribtuions about controllability and success
if view outcomes as in your control will persevere, if you think they are out of your controll, will give up
we can train people to adopt certain mindsets (Dweck stuff)
define covariation principle
the idea that behaviour should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with observed behaviour
define consensus
a type of covariation information: whether most people would behave the same way or differently in a given situation
define distinctiveness
a type of covariation information: whether a behaviour is unique to a particular situation or occurs in many or all situations
define consistency
a type of covariation information: whether an individual behaves the same way or differently in a given situation on different occasions
when do we make situational attributions
when consistency, consensus and distinctiveness are all high
when are dispositional attributions called for
when consistency is high but consensus and distinctiveness are low
what do we tend to focus on
information about the person (distinctiveness and consistency) at the expense of information that speaks to influence of the surrounding context (consensus)
define self-serving attribution bias
the tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to exernal circumstances and other good events to ourself
define the fundamental attribution error
the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behaviour, along with the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behaviour
define just world hypothesis
the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get
salience in attributions
features of the environment that grab our attention more become more salient so are blamed more
define the actor-observer difference
a difference in attribution based on who is maing the causal assessment: the actor (who is relatively inclined to make situational attributions) or the observer (who is relatively inclined to make the dispositions)
several causes of the actor-observer difference
assumptions about what needs explaining
perceptual salience
information the actor and observer have
