Psyc Exam 1 Flashcards
Define social psychology
social psychology is the scientific method of how individuals think about, interact with, and influence each other. Or the scientific study of the way in which people thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people
Differentiate sociology/psychology/social psychology
Psychology is more concerned with the scientific study of the mind while social psych is focused on the individual average person. It needs two or more people. Sociology on the other hand studies large groups of people instead of the individual
ABCs of social psychology
Affect, Behavior, Cognition
What does A stand for
Affect: experience of feeling or emotion (positive and negative valence)(motivational intensity – the urge to act)(arousal: activation of the sympathetic nervous system)
What does B stand for
Behavior- Range of actions and mannerisms made by organism-response to stimulus-acting on thoughts and feelings and includes intent to act
What does C stand for
Cognition – All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating – process of sensory input being transformed etc- used to explain attributions, attitudes, and group dynamics.
What is a Schema
A network of ideas/mental structures that guide perception and categorize objects, concepts
Automaticity v control
behaviors we assume are under conscious control, can arise from automatic cognitive processes. Ability and motivation are needed for controlled processes to happen
Operationalizing variables (look at textbook)
transforms the variable from the abstract (conceptual) to the specific(operationalized. Conceptual variables are abstract or general variables. An operationalization states specifically how the conceptual variable will be manipulated/variable
3 claims of research methods
- Frequency claim: one measured variable and to what rate or degree
- Association claim: One level of a variable is likely associated with a particular level of another variable – at least two measured variables
- Causal Claim: 1 variable causes the other variable – at least one manipulated variable, at least one measured variable
Research Methods: 5 types of Data Collection
- Observation -stalker vibes
- Self-report closed answer – 16 personalities style
- Self report open answer: paragraph response
- Biological measures: Hospital vibes
- Content analysis: analyze already existing info
4 design research methods - look up
- Single case
- Qualitative
- Timespan
- Groups: Experimental vs. control
Problems of causation v correlation ?
possibility of a third variable
Self-concept ?
- The self-concept is all the ideas, thoughts, and information we have about ourselves.
Culture has difference- construal’s: Independent: Self above all US. Interdependent/collectivist: self has value through relationships – true to self less - Korea
5 Sources of self-knowledge
Introspection – looking inward – answer is clearly and readily available
Self-perception – observing our own behavior – smile with pen example
Social comparison theory – observing others – learn about self by comparing ourselves to other people - festinger
Reflected appraisal – perception of reaction to us - depends on the circumstance
Personal attributes – individual characteristics – focus on differentiating characteristics
Self-esteem & self-evaluation maintenance theory ?
how the behavior of others affects our self-esteem; particularly important when the behavior they are doing matters to our self-concept -we tend to rank self-enhancing information over accuracy or consistency
6 Strategies for maintaining high self-esteem?
Reduce self-awareness
Self-serving bias - Attribute positive outcomes to internal, dispositional factors and negative outcomes to
external situational forces.
Rationalizing - thinking about things in a way that reflects positively (or less negatively) on you. Creating
excuses to explain behavior.
Self-handicapping - Creating performance excuses or obstacles for ourselves which can then be used to explain away failures.
Downward social comparison - Defensive tendency to compare ourselves with others
who are worse off than we are
Basking in reflected glory - Associating yourself with successful others – usually done with things that are less important
Why does high self-esteem matter?
High self-esteem
* Good feelings, more resourceful
* Links to narcissism (lack of empathy + inflated sense of self)
* Is associated with negative behaviors
* Low self-esteem
* Associated with loneliness, anxiety, eating disorders
Define social perception?
social processes by which we come to
comprehend the behavior words, and
actions of other people. How we
make meaning of/understand other
people.
Explain self-fulfilling prophecy, example
You act based on a schema in such a way that the object of the schema is likely to conform to your expectations – for example IQ test w teachers
Priming – define, example
the tendency for recently used words
or ideas to come to mind easily and
influence subsequent thoughts,
judgments, or behaviors Talking about apples in class than asking for something red- street magician.
2 types of priming
Subliminal(unconscious) Supraliminal (at the conscious level
Heuristics – define
Heuristics are mental shortcuts.
– They are like “if” … “then” rules. They are used when we are NOT motivated or able to engage in more careful and effortful processing
3 types of heuristics?
Availability – if it feels easy to recall it is probably accurate – media agenda/mere exposure
Representativeness: Judge something by intuitively comparing to our mental representation of a category
Confirmation bias - tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions; why our beliefs are so stable
