social influence 2 studies

Question 1

Cohen’s (1981)

Answer 1

They made a video tape with professional actors (married in real life) that showed a man and woman having dinner at home and then an informal birthday celebration
Half of participants were told she was a waitress, the other half a librarian – this was the IV
The videotapes had equal parts waitress and librarian characteristics
DV = what details about the woman did they recall
Aim = did activating a particular stereotype (a schema) influence their memory?
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Waitress condition – remembered more “waitress consistent” information, such as she was drinking a beer, like to play the guitar, and listen to pop music
Librarian condition – remembered more “librarian consistent” information, such as she wore glasses, was eating a salad, like artwork and playing the piano
Conclusion: if we have a “schema activated,” we process new information as it relates to the existing schema and it’s easier to remember because we’ve focused more on the schema-consistent information
Schematic processing = the processing of information in a way that connects the information to existing schemas
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Participants would remember more from one category than the other, depending on which schema was activated

Question 2

(Stone et al.)

Answer 2

College-aged participants
Were asked to listen to a basketball game (a radio commentary) and make judgements about one of the players in the game
They were shown a picture of the player they were supposedly listening to
Half were shown an image of a black player, the other half a white player (IV)
They were then asked to make judgements (DV)
Context = there is a common stereotype in American sports that white athletes are “smart players” whereas black athletes are more athletic
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Black athlete condition: they rated him a “significantly more athletic and having played a better game” than those who thought he was white

White athlete condition: more likely to judge the player as “exhibiting significantly more basketball intelligence and hustle.”
-Schema theory: it shows that activating a particular social schema (someone’s race) can influence our processing of new information. We focus on schema-consistent information, which reinforces that schema.

Stereotypes: stereotypes can be reinforced because of our innate tendency to focus on schema consistent-information. Stereotypes can lead to confirmation bias, which just reinforces the stereotype (this is one way stereotypes affect behaviour)

Bias in thinking (confirmation bias): this study demonstrates confirmation bias and how it could reinforce stereotypes.

Question 3

(Loftus and Palmer, 1974)

speed

Answer 3

Two experiments; today we’re focusing on Experiment #1
45 students 
Watched filmed car accidents
Were given a series of questions
One question was the “critical question” (the one about speed estimates of the car
The IV was the verb used:
Smashed
Collided
Bumped 
Hit
Contacted 
The DV was the speed estimate
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The verb affected the speed estimates:
Smashed = 40mph
Collided = 39 mph
Bumped = 38 mph 
Hit = 34 mph 
Contacted 31 mph

#1) Participants may have been unsure so the leading question guided their answer (this does not necessarily suggest memory can be manipulated).

#2) The leading question actually caused participants to recollect the car crash differently, thus affecting their memory of the speed of the vehicle
They conducted a second experiment to get more evidence for explanation #2, as this would suggest memory can be manipulated.

Question 4

Levine et al (1994)

Answer 4

Population density: how many people live per square mi/km
Tokyo, LA and Hong Kong have high population density
Siberia, Alaska and Mongolian desert have low population density
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Levine et al (1994): studied 36 cities in the USA to measure correlations between population density and helping behaviour
Conducted in the field
Research assistants pretended to drop a pen, a postcard, or needed help crossing the street
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Found that helping others began to decline in cities over 300,000 people
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Question 5

Cialdini et al (2008) - towel study

Answer 5

Arizona, USA
8- day period
randomly put one of two different cards in hotel rooms asking guest to reuse their towel
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one card: help save the environment
one card: didn’t focus on environmental benefits, tried to influence behaviour through social influence by making descriptive social norms obvious
“join your fellow guests in helping to save the environment - almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate - in our new resource savings program do help by using their towels more than once)”
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environment: 38%
using descriptive social norms: 48%

Question 6

Darley and Latane (1969) Smoky Room Study

Answer 6

DV: % of participants who leave the room and tell someone that the room is filling with smoke
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Control: participants alone in room
other condition: 2 passive confederates
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alone: 2 minutes in w/ smoke 50% sough help
6 minutes 75% sough help
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2 passive confederates, 10% went and sought help within 6 minutes.
- the fire suggests that there might be an emergency, but situation is ambiguous
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looking others for guidance to seek information, due to others being passive influenced their thinking and they may have concluded that there’s no need to tell anyone about the smoke.

Question 7

(Loftus and Palmer, 1974) glass

Answer 7

150 students (not the ones from the first experiment)
Watched one film of a car accident
Only used smashed and hit verbs (and a control condition with no questions)
Asked for speed estimates.
smashed 10.8 mph (37% broken glass)
hit = 8mph (14%)
control w/ no questions - 12%
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higher the speed estimate, the higher the the recollection of broken glass.