Social perspective of learning Flashcards
What is called when we used other people as a source of information
Informational Social Influence
What is informational social influence?
When the situation is ambiguous, we rely on others to interpret it & learn how to respond
Example of research in informational social influence?
(Latané & Darley 1968)
You are participating in a research study & filling out questionnaires
White smoke starts trickling into the room
But what if…
2 other participants are in the room
Also filling out surveys, seem unconcerned by the smoke
What do you do?
9 out of 10 kept doing the questionnaire, rubbed their eyes, and waved smoke out of their faces
What is the AutokineticEffect?
phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move.
Forensic application of the informational social influence?
Pairs of eyewitness each shown separate video of an event
Videos of slightly different
Pairs discussed videos
Then took the individual memory test
Did they do well?
No!! 71% later mistakenly recalled details only their partner had seen
What is the social learning theory by Bandura?
Social learning theory holds that we learn social behavior, from aggression to altruism, by observing others and imitating them (Bandura, 1973; 1983).
How do children learn aggressive behaviour (theory)?
Children learn aggressive behaviour by observing other people - family members, peers, teachers and characters portrayed in movies, television shows and video games (Anderson et al., 2003).
What experiment did Bandura realize and what was the outcome?
Classic experiments by Bandura and his colleagues using the Bobo doll paradigm showed that children can learn aggressive behavior through observation of both actual and filmed aggression (Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1961, 1963a).
Their basic procedure was to have an adult knock around a plastic Bobo doll, the kind that bounces back after it’s been knocked down. The adult would smack the doll around with the palm of a hand, strike, kick it, and yell aggressive things at it. Children imitated aggressive adults and treated the doll in almost exactly the same way.
Do you think the consequences of the model’s behaviour matter?
nterestingly, Bandura also found that children are more likely to imitate a witnessed behavior if that behavior was rewarded, and less likely to imitate the behavior if it was punished (e.g. Bandura, 1965; Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1963b).
What about the condition in which the model’s aggressive behavior had no consequences? It was the same as rewarding it!
Think about violence in movies and television shows.
Is it usually punished? No, almost never. Is it rewarded? That doesn’t matter. Showing violence without showing negative consequences promotes imitation.
Does the media only learn violence?
No!!! It is important to note that, while violent media increase aggression, prosocial media which portray characters acting in kind and helpful ways have the power to reduce aggression and increase empathy and helping instead (Prot, Gentile et al., 2014).
Bandura demonstrated that observing aggression in the media increases aggression in real life because of:
Modelling (observational learning)
What are the factors of persuasion?
Who? Source factors
What? Message factors
To whom? Receiver factors
What are the two types of source factors?
Likability and Credibility
What is likability?
Attractive speakers (whether due to physical or personality attributes) persuade people more than unattractive speakers (Eagly & Chaiken, 1975)
What is Credibility?
Credible speakers (those with obvious expertise) persuade people more than people lacking in credibility (Hovland & Weiss, 1951; Jain & Posavac, 2000)- speaker wit crediclly are more presuavive
What are the two message facts?
Fear appeals
Two-sided arguments
What is Fear appeals?
1) Is it better to present a one-sided communication (that just lists arguments in favor of your own position) or a two-sided communication (that also lists arguments against your position?
Fear appeals - Messages that try to persuade you by arousing your fears.
Often used in health psychology (“Smoking will kill you! Etc.)
What are Two-sided arguments?
Two-sided messages work better IF you are sure to refute the arguments of the opposition (Crowley & Hoyer, 1994)
Can fear appeals be effective?
Often used in health psychology (“Smoking will kill you! Etc.)
Can be very effective, but can also backfire if they overwhelm the viewers and cause them to become defensive. We have a psychological immune system that helps us deny threatening information, and these processes are especially clear in studies showing how fear appeals can backfire and actually make people less likely to give up a risky behavior (like smoking).
It is important to give specific recommendations to help people reduce the fear – lowers the likelihood of defensiveness (Hoog, Stroebe & DeWit, 2005)
People are harder to persuade when…
- The attitude is stronger
- They are forewarned
What is the most effective influence way?
People are especially persuadable when they are not aware that a message is meant to be persuasive. Methods such as product placement can be highly effective. The more you believe that advertisements don’t influence you, the more influenced you will be in reality. Being forewarned and aware of the effects of advertising is an excellent defense which will make you much harder to persuade.
When are people harder to persuade?
People are harder to persuade if they are forewarned. An especially effective procedure is attitude inoculation – You expose people to small doses of arguments against their position, which makes it easier for them to defend themselves against a persuasive message they hear later.
When a person’s initial attitude is strong, it is very hard to change….
When a person’s initial attitude is strong, it is very hard to change. Belief perseverance is more likely.
Which theory can help explain attitude change/learning?
Elaboration likelihood model!
