Social (& Multicultural) Flashcards
What are Kelley’s 3 types of information with attributions
- Consistency
- Distinctiveness
- Cohesiveness
Is consistency, distinctiveness and cohesiveness (Kelley’s attribution theory) high or low when there’s internal attributions for behaviours?
- Consistency = high
- Distinctiveness = high
- Cohesiveness = low
Is consistency, distinctiveness and cohesiveness (Kelley’s attribution theory) high or low when there’s external attributions for behaviours?
- Consistency = high
- Distinctiveness = high
- Cohesiveness = high
What are 3 results if a person attributes negative events to internal, stable & global causes?
Depression, learned helplessness & hoplessness
fundamental attribution bias/error
attributing OTHER people’s behaviours to internal or dispositional causes - “victim blaming”
Actor-Observer Bias
You attribute your errors to situational/external factors, while you attribute the other person’s errors to dispositional/internal factors
Self-Serving Bias
attribute our own success to internal factors while attributing our own failures to external factors
Availability Heuristic
Estimating the likelihood based on how easily they can recall something
e.g., if people are asked what has a higher rates of death, asthma or firearms, people will say firearms based on the news/publicity when really it’s asthma
Representative Heuristic
Estimation based on typical examples
e.g., people hear “rape” they predict it was a male perpetrator and a female victim
Simulation Heuristic
making mental images of something and then using it to make judgments
e.g., doctor
Kelly’s personal construct theory & what’s the repertory grid technique? (attributions & heuristics)
We perceive the world according to our expectations/what we expect to see
Repertory grid technique: mapping a client’s conceptual model of the world
Balance theory (attitudes)
Balance when all elements are positive (friendship with equal positive views of a politician) or one element is positive while 2 elements are negative (friendship and both have negative views of a politician)
Imbalance is when all elements are negative or one element is negative while the other two are positive
Symmetry Theory (attitudes)
Considers the intensity of the relationship, so if there’s a stronger bond between people with different attitudes, the stronger the motivation will be to change their attitudes
Congruity Theory (attitudes)
Predictions about which attitudes will change depending on the relationship/position a person feels more strongly towards
Cognitive Dissonance (attitudes; Festinger & Carlsmith)
Changing attitudes to reduce the aversive arousal that comes from the inconsistency in their cognitions
Cognitive Dissonance in the Festinger & Carlsmith study
People who got $1 for lying felt more discomfort than the people who got $20, so the people who got $1 changed their attitudes more by giving a higher rating to the task in order to reduce their discomfort
Postdecisional Dissonance (attitudes)
when someone’s faced with 2 good choices so they emphasize the positives of their choice to help their feelings of upsetness of not choosing the alternative
Effort Justification (attitudes)
when they spent a lot of time on something but it didn’t turn out worthwhile then they emphasize the positive qualities from the time spent
e.g., a breakup in a long relationship is reframed as a good learning lesson
Insufficient Justification (attitudes)
When a person performs an undesirable behaviour for a small inducement/result, they emphasize the good qualities of the behaviour
Insufficient Deterrence (attitudes)
When someone doesn’t perform a desirable action because of a small deterrent, then they emphasize the negative aspects of the action
Overjustification Hypothesis
Losing interest/internal motivation in a previously enjoyed activity due to external incentives
Self-verification theory (self-concept)
People are motivated to confirm their self-concept even if it’s negative.
e.g., depressed people will discount positive feedback & seek out feedback that confirms a negative view of themselves
Behavioural confirmation (self-concept) & what does the research say about this theory?
People are motivated to confirm the expectations that others have of us
Research: fails to support it as people actively resist when others have a negative expectation of them
Self-enhancement theory
People are motivated to think favourably of themselves and behave in ways that cause others to see them favorably as well
Sleeper effect (attitude change)
People forget the source of the communication over time but they remember the messaging
What three elements of the source are most influential on unimportant matters?
- likeability
- similarity to the recipient
- attractiveness
What one element of the source is most influential on important matters/deeply held convictions?
Credibility (trustworthiness & expertise)
What’s the primacy effect?
The speaker who spoke first will be remembered best, when there’s a long gap between a speech & a desired action (e.g., election)
What’s the recency effect?
The speaker who spoke last will be remembered best when there’s a short gap (e.g, the person who spoke last in the televised debate right before the election)
What four characteristics of an audience are the easiest to influence?
- moderate self-esteem
- moderate discrepancy in attitude
- higher vulnerability
- higher involvement with the idea or product
Reactance Theory
People will not comply with requests or attempts to be persuaded if they feel their freedom is threatened - they regain a sense of control by refusing to comply
Peripheral route of persuasion
Involves a focus on aspects that are not central to the message like being influenced by the speaker’s attractiveness or their expertise
Central route of persuasion
involves thinking about the message itself
Inoculation & the best way to innoculate people
How can we resist or increase a person’s resistance to being persuaded
Best way: when given a mild argument against a belief, you then practice refuting this mild argument so it helps you refute stronger arguments against the belief later
(e.g., how vaccines give you a mild/weak version of a virus so that if exposed to the virus, antibodies will develop to fight it off)
Approach-approach conflict
A person must choose between two or more favourable alternatives
Approach-avoidance conflict
A person must choose whether to do one thing that will have desirable AND undesirable results (e.g., a couple choosing if they should have a child)
Avoidance-avoidance conflict
Person has to choose between two unpleasant alternatives that will lead to negative results no matter which choice is made
Learned prejudice (source of prejudice) & most common learned prejudices
When a prejudice is learned
Most common: Males are seen as more competent by males & females
Cognitive processes (source of prejudice)
Making sense of the complex world by creating ingroups and outgroups
The most salient personality trait associated with prejudice
is authoritarianism
How do you combat prejudice?
by encouraging cooperation rather than competition
What do superordinate goals help with & what are they?
They help with prejudice, and they are higher than individual goals & can only be achieved with both groups working together
What’s the best measure of reduced prejudice?
intergroup relations/interactions
James-Lange Theory of emotion
Emotions result from perceiving bodily reactions or responses (research overall does not support this theory)
Cannon-Bard Theory
Emotions and bodily reactions happen at the same time
Schacter’s two factor theory
Emotions happen from information from two systems: internal (hypothalamus/amygdala) & external (context). Emotion comes from both physiological arousal & cognitive labelling.
Social comparison theory states that when no objective standards exist, how to people evaluate their own behaviour?
By comparing themselves to others who they perceive as quite similar, a little better or a little worse
What are upward vs downward comparisons?
upward: comparisons to slightly superior people
downward: comparisons to people who are slightly worse
What’s one of the most important factors in our initial liking or loving of others?
Our physical attractiveness
What’s the matching hypothesis in relation to attraction?
that people of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other
Need complementarity tendency
When people choose partners who are different in terms of personality but are similar in values
Social exchange theory with attraction
How attraction is affected by the costs and benefits of being in a relationship - when costs outweigh rewards, someone becomes less attractive to us
Bystander apathy vs diffusion of responsibility
Bystander apathy: failing to help a victim when other bystanders are present
Diffusion of responsibility: tendency to assume that someone else will respond & take action
What three general factors affect conformity?
normative social influence, informational social influence & reference groups
Normative social influence
Want to be accepted by the group
Informational social influence
You think the group knows more than you do
Reference groups
Conform to the people we admire, like and want to resemble
Idiosyncrasy credits (conformity)
When you’ve conformed to group norms initially, then you earn idiosyncrasy credits that make the group more tolerant of deviations from group norms
What, are these key factors involved in (the term)? Persons of authority, placement of responsibility & gradualism
Obedience
What’s the foot in the door technique with obedience?
When a participant’s complied with an initial request & now they feel trapped to continue participating
What key factor is involved in reducing obedience?
witnessing a disobedient model
Additive tasks (group task)
All the efforts/different performances are pooled together to get a combined effect/result
Disjunctive tasks (group task)
the outcome is affected by the performance of the most effective group member
Conjunctive tasks (group task)
The accomplishment is limited by the performance of the least effective member
Deindividuation
Losing your identity, adopt the identity of the group and feel anonymous in the process (the soldiers in the show Squid Games)
Risky shift (decision making in groups)
tendency for people in groups to make riskier decisions than they would on their own
Response polarization (decision-making in groups)
People become more extreme in their views when in a group
Groupthink (decision-making in groups)
seeking coherence, consensus & unanimity more than seeking the best alternatives
Social facilitation (task performance) & what type of task is it most associated with?
the individual task performance is enhanced by the mere presence of others
This happens most when the the task is simple or familiar
Social inhibition (task performance) & what type of task is it most associated with?
When a task is compromised by the presence of others
This happens most when the task is novel or complex
Social loafing (task performance) & when does it most frequently occur?
Phenomenon that people don’t work as hard on a task when in a group as compared to when they work alone
This happens most when people perceive that their individual efforts will be anonymous so then won’t be subject to individual evaluation
