Midterm 1 - Readings Flashcards
What is the Frustration-Aggression Connection?
The early developed hypotheses on aggression that tied aggression to ALWAYS be a response to frustration
We now know this is not fully the case. Instead, frustration is seen as necessary for aggression but not sufficient alone.
Typically “frustration” occurs in response to ———- and ———which creates an aggressive response in studies
insults, humiliation
When induced frustration in studies does not involve humiliation, what happens?
Provide an example
There is no aggressive response!
Example: Bus did not stop for you at the bus stop because its “NIS” (no aggressive response occurred)
Given frustration without humiliation does not result in agression, what does this suggest?
that frustration is understood as significant loss!
(deflation of one’s worth/dignity)
What is significant loss?
a feeling of deflation of one’s self worth and dignity on a personal level
The idea that significant loss causes aggression is consistent with the body of research on the ————— hypothesis
frustration-aggression
Explain the two examples provided in the reading about significant loss causing aggression.
What is the main takeaway from these studies?
Study 1:
* Participants were “incels” that consider themselves to not be able to attract women sexually (feelings of significant loss) and are hostile to women as a result
* The level of significant loss was associated with an increased likelihood to commit rape
* TAKEAWAY: significant loss predicts hostility towards women
Study 2:
* Automated text analysis of Yelp reviews of coffee shops in Austin, Texas, and of U.S. hotels.
* Terms like “humiliation”, “shame” or “insult” related to significance loss people experienced at the evaluated establishments were negatively correlated to the number of Yelp review stars they gave to a given coffee shop or hotel.
* TAKEAWAY: significant loss predicts aggressive reviews of establishmesnts
Peers and superiors should be held partly responsible for people’s aggression because…
they contribute to the social context where that aggression is taking place!
The individual is not soley responsible for the aggressive behaviour as there has to be a provocation
What does social psychology research emphazise?
The power of the social context
Anyone can be agressive if ——, ———–, or ——
provoked, stressed, ot hot
The Military Police Brigade guardian for Abu Ghraib prisoners fit all the social conditions known to cause aggression?
- Stressed (at war, constant danger)
- Untrained for job
- Identity lost/moral suffered
- Hot and uncomfortable
The fact that the prisoners were part of a group that were viewed as enemies would ——— the tendency for gaurds to feel spontaneous ——– against outgroups.
exaggerate
prejudice
What is the main principle regarding outgroups in social psychology? How does this apply to gaurds and Abu Ghraib prisoners?
People prefer their own group and attribute bad behaviour to outgroups
Emotional prejudices (ex. Disgust) appear more rapidly towards outgroups (which are formed from the social context)
For gaurds, being around a “disgusting” kind of outgroup creates a combination of excluding/demeaning behavior, attacking behavior, and active and passive harm.
What is a “normal” scenario where outgroup bias appears, according to the reading?
In a national sample of Americans who reported that allegedly contemptible outgroups (homeless people, welfare recipients, Turks, and Arabs) are often are attacked or excluded
Prejudice especially festers if people see the outgroup as threatening cherished ——
VALUES
Categorization of people as interchangeable members of an outgroup triggers an ——- response of ——— or ———, depending on the social context.
AMYGDALA response
either disgust or arousal
What are the aspects of the Military Police Brigade gaurds social environment that caused aggression from gaurds?
*very important main points to know
- Impression that the prisoners were disgusting and subhuman
- Guards conformed to peers
- Guards were obedient to authority
Ordinary people are able to engage in destructive behaviour if they beleive that they are what?
under or being ordered by legitamte authority
*obedience to authority is present in every culture!
Torture is partly a crime of —————–
socialized obedience
Is social conformity harmful? Why or why not?
Social conformity in itself is not harmful. The consequences can be good or bad depending on the context.
Does social influence start with smaller or larger actions to begin with?
Starts with small actions, and then followed by more serious actions
The same social contexts that provoke abse can also be used to prevent abuse. Provide an example of this.
Ex. If some Iraquis work alongside guards, other guards are less likely to abuse Iraqi prisoners
…because the social context that they learn changes the perspective of viewing the outgroup as “disgusting”, etc.
What are the two reasons why people are unware of their incompetence?
- The lack of skill deprives people of the ability to produce correct responses
- The lack of expertise necessary to know that they are not producing correct responses
People often judge their performance based off of what?
their perconcieved notions of their skills!
In the study with psychology students taking an exam, what did it reveal about unawareness of incompetence?
Students estimated:
- their performance
- their knowledge of the course material relative to other students
- their raw score on the test
FINDING = Students who scored in the bottom quartile drastically overestimated their performance on the test!
What are a few real world examples of people overestimating their performance (according to the reading?)
- Debate teams overestimate their performance
- Medical residents overestimating their patient-interviewing skills
*These patterns even appear when participants are promised $100 for the accuracy of their performance! (demonstrating that people are giving honest evaluations)
What is the double curse?
The skills needed to produce correct responses are ALSO needed to evaluate the accuracy of one’s responses.
Essentially, if people lack the skills to produce correct answers, they are “cursed” with the inability to know when their answer’s, or anyone’s, are wrong
Incompetence means that people cannot successfully complete the task of —————–.
metacognition!
Which is the ability to evaluate responses as correct or incorrect
——– performers have more difficulty with metacognitive judgements than ——— performers
POOR performers have a harder time with metacognitive judgements
Ex. students doing poorly on an exam are not able to distinguish between which questions they are getting right and which ones they’re getting wrong.
What hypothesis arises with the idea of the double curse?
If poor performers are given the skills necessary to distinguish correct from incorrect answers…. then they would be in a position to recognize their own incompetence
What study was provided in the reading that tested the double curse hypothesis?
Phase 1: Participants tested their ability to solve a problem (poor performers overestimated their performance)
Phase 2: Gave half the participants a mini lecture on how to solve the problem (giving them the skills to distinguish accurate from inaccurate)
When given their tests back, those who got the lecture provided much more accurate self-ratings than their original ratings. (lowered their confidence in their own ability, even though the lecture would technically strengthen, not weaken, their ability)
How do top performers esimate their own performance? What about their performance relavtive to others?
Top performers have a good sense in how they estimate their own performance
HOWEVER, they tend to underestimate how their performance compares with other peoples performances.
What can be done to change the underestimation of performance relative to others for top performers?
Can change by showing them responses of other people → makes them realize how good their performances are.
Ex. showing people who are good at grammar to evaluate the grammar of others makes them understand their skills
*This exercise has no effect on the self-impressions of poor performers!
What is the bottom-up approach of competence perceptions?
making judgements of competence based on their experience with that specific situation
What is the top-down approach of competence perceptions?
making judgements of competence based on preconcieved beliefs about their skills relavent to that situation
Is the top-down or bottom-up approach mostly how perceptions of competence arise?
TOP-DOWN is mostly responsible
Means that preconcieved notions of skill can lead to error in people’s performance estimates
What study demonstrates top-down performance estimates?
*abstract reasoning vs computer programing test
- Half of participants told they were taking an abstract reasoning test
- Other half told they were taking a test on computer programing
- All participants took the same abstract reasoning test (only the framing of what the test would be was different)
- All participants scored the same, but those who were told they were taking an abstract reasoning test estimated that they performed better, than those who thought they were taking a computer program test
*demonstrates that preconcieved beleifs about skills (top-down approach) impacts estimated competence
What is a real world consequence of top-down performance estimates in regards to gender?
Women leave science careers more disproportionately than men likely because of the preconviced beleive that they are less scientifically talented than men
Study showed that women rated themselves worse on science skills before a test, and also worse on their performance after the test compared to men (when there was no gender differences in performance)
When participants were offered after the test to partake in a science contest, more women declined the offer than men.
*demonstrates that perception of performance based on beliefs, not real performance, influences decisions for the future!
It is not ignorance, but ————- or ignorance, that is the death of knowledge!
ignorance!!
Define the Bias Blindspot (BBS)
the idea that people understand biases exist but fail to see their own susceptibility to bias.
BBS prevents people from correcting their biases and leaves the bias to occur towards others
BBS has been identified in over —— different social, cognitive, and behavioral biases
50!!
When assessing the BBS, when do you know the BBS has emerged?
When people rate themselves and others differently when rating their own and other’s suseptibility to bias
In a test-taking context, what did the study on self-serving bias reveal?
Self-serving bias = tendency to attribute successes as our own and failures to others.
Two participants took a test in pairs:
* Person 1 is told they performed well on a test so they praise the test
* Person 2 is told they performed poorly on a test criticize the test
After the pair discusses how they thought the test went (after getting that feedback) → both of them were more likely to detect bias in the OTHER person’s assessment of the test than their own.
At what age does BBS first show up in children?
Age 7
Ex. Children were told that “sometimes people pick their best friend to be the winner even though someone else did the best because they want their friend to be happy” → children rated a “regular kid” more likely to act that way than them
The BBS arising in children is associated with what developmental shift?
What paiget stage does the shift represent?
A shift from assuming everyone is objective (not-biased) –> recognizing bias in others
It updates Piaget’s stage of EGOCENTRISM where children beleive that the world thinks the same as them
(demonstrates that children’s confidence in their objectivity continutes into adulthood)
Are BBS levels differently for people with higher cognitive ability?
NO!
In fact, BBS is actually more pronounced among people who score highly on cognitive ability and a tendency to think deliberately
Ex. those with higher SAT scores were not found to be less biased
Biases operate on a ——— level
UNCONSCIOUS
Define itrospection illusion
illusion where people believe they can accurately understand their own thoughts a feelings, especially regarding biases!
People trust their inner feelings for judging but expecting other people to rely on external information (actions, statistics, etc.) to make judgements… creates an illusion!
Ex. Someone might think “I’m not biased at all in my hiring decisions,” just because they feel that way when looking inside themselves.
————- illusion makes people overestimate their ability to see their biases because they trust their inner feelings.
introspection
Introspection illusion =when people believe they can accurately understand their own thoughts a feelings, especially regarding biases
Define objectivity illusion (or niave realism)
people overlook their objectivity and conclude that those they disagree with must be biased
Even trivial disagreements on food, art, or music can reveal BBS as people remain strong in beleiving their perceptions are correct
What does the objectivity illusion stem from?
Stems people’s egocentrism and confidence that their perceptions directly reflect what is in their reality!!
They are so confident in their views that if you disagree with them you MUST be biased!
In a study where people claimed there was no correct views with art preferences, what illusion was exemplified? What does it demonstrate?
Objectivity Illusion
People said that there are no correct views with art preferences, but they also claimed that the art they preferred was objectively better!
Participants then went on to claim that those who had different art preferences were less principled and would make worse community members/leaders
*demonstrates that trivial disagreements can have big consequences
Draw the map of how BSS and the objectivity illusion can lead to conflict?
Individuals disagree →
attribute that disagreement to the irrationality and bias of the other person →
that attribution leads them to respond to the other person aggressively rather than fairly →
other person views that response as irrational, making them see them as biased
(spiral continues!)
BBS is shown in real-world domains. What are the 7 domains listed in the article?
- Forensics
- Investing
- Political Polarization
- Policing
- Judges and juries
- Human resources
- Medicine
What is the most common efort to reduce bias? Does it work?
Most common effort to reduce bias is to consiously avoid being biased
This does NOT work because of the BBS…
Looking inward to your own thoughts will not reveal any biases, but instead improve one’s sense of objectivity!
People are often unconcerned about the effects of biasing decision processes when it comes to their own decisions. What is an example that demonstrates this tendency?
Looking at paintings and knowing which one’s were painted by someone famous:
- People acknowledged that the procedure was biased, but they still made decisions that were biased with that procedure by rating paintings done by famous artisits as better!
What is the self-diagnosis strategy for bias and what is the solution?
Self-diagnosis: “conciously focus on not being biased”…
BBS = “I made sure to be unbiased, so I am confident I was objective”
Solution: “Wise” Diagnosis = have people assess the bias of others who behaved the same way as them
What is the Educational Intervention strategy for bias and what is the solution?
Educational Intervention: “if we educate people on biases, they can overcome them”
BBS: “Interesting! I see that, but I do not show those biases”
Solution: “Wise” Education: Teach the underlying psychology of why people tend to judge others differently than themselves.
What is the social surrogacy hypothesis?
Thinking about valued narratives leads to feelings of belonging and protects against social isolation and rejection!
STUDY:
* Belongingness needs arose by having participants write about times when they were rejected. After, writing about their favorite television show helped eliminate the negative psychological consequences of feeling rejection.
Explain what each of these variables mean? What process does this represent?
The process that allows the interpersonal expectancy effect to occur:
E = expectancy for behavior of another person
M = Communication (mediating) variables
O = response (outcome) of the person who the expectations were for
Which of the links in this diagram are causal? Which as not?
The** E-O and E-M links are causal ** because E is experimentally induced
**M-O link is NOT causal **because M is usually not experimentally manipulated!
