Soc 1-3 Flashcards
What are the 3 models of a Social Thinker?
Naive Scientist - gather evidence to test hypothesis
Cognitive Miser - use heuristics / cognitive shortcuts
Motivated Tactician - we choose where we want to spend energy on; goal motivated
Define motivated scepticism
Only sceptical about the evidence when it suits your motives (we tend to dig deeper when we don’t like the conclusion that has been drawn)
Define priming effect
The unintended influence of prior experience on judgement, thought or behaviour
Priming effects on social judgement, after priming ‘aggression’
Female target showed no difference after priming ‘aggression’, but when it’s a male target, they are rated more aggressively after aggression prime than the neutral prime.
Explained to be a stereotypical trait
Priming effects on social judgement, after priming ‘dependence’
Female targets were rated to show more dependence than male targets.
Explained to be a female stereotypical behaviour, not male
Effects on pornography between macho and androgynous men
Priming manipulating: to have participants look at certain film clips and decide whether they should be censored or not.
They went through an interview process with an attractive women. There was no effect of sexual motivation for androgynous men but there was a significant difference in the macho men.
Porn can prime some men to view women as sex objects.
What does manipulating body temperature do in regards to rewarding themselves or their friend?
Participants held either a cold or hot pack, and they would get given a reward that they could either keep it or give it to a friend.
They found, the heat sensation (hot) they choose to only keep the reward for themselves 46% of the time, therefore more likely to give someone else the reward - pro social; coldness they choose to reward themselves 75% of the time.
Benefits of Self-regulation
Delay of gratification: forego an immediate reward for something bigger
What does good self-regulation in young children show for their future self?
Those who are able to wait and resist immediate reward of one marshmallow were more successful at school and later on in life, simply by showing some self-regulation
Define ironic process theory
Thinking about something that you don’t want to be thinking about
What two processes is mental control achieved through?
Intentional operating process: allows you to search for distractions, replacing the unwanted thought with something else
Ironic monitoring process: used to monitor whether the to-be-suppressed thought is resurfacing
Experimental evidence for ironic process theory
Told not to do something, while under load, backfired - participants ended up doing it more
Is self-regulation like a muscles?
Yes, good at first, but then becomes fatigued; self-regulation relies on a limited energy source; must recover after use, but can be strengthened with ‘exercise’
Define ego depletion
A state where you do not have full resources - you will wear down over time
E.g. having hungry participants refrain from eating a cookie or radishes and then try to complete puzzle. Radish group were able to solve the puzzle for about 15 minutes longer than the cookie group
What did Oaten & Cheng find about exercising self-regulation
Those that participated in an exercise program for 2 months showed greater self-regulatory behaviour in all areas of life, reduce eating junk food, reduce impulse spending, reduce losing temper etc. than those that didn’t do an exercise program for 2 months
