Social Psych Flashcards
What is social psychology? (Definition)
It is the scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
In other words it studies the effects of social variables on behaviour, attitude, perceptions and motives. Also studies group and intergroup phenomena
It links the affective states, behaviour and cognition to their social world
What is the ABC of social psychology?
Affective states
Behaviour
Cognition
What does affective state mean?
Feelings and emotions
What does behaviour mean?
They way they act
What does cognition mean?
Their thought process
What is social cognition
The process by which people select, interpret and remember social information
What is social perception
Process by which people come to understand and categorise the behaviour of others
What is social interaction
Process by which people interact with each other
What are the two perspectives which are taken when studying social behaviour
person perspective
Situational perspective
What is person perspective?
Features or characteristics that individuals carry into social situations (i.e. personality traits, self esteem, age, race etc)
What is situational perspective?
Environmental events or circumstances outside the person (Circumstances people find themselves in, i.e. social norms etc. )
What is social behaviour a result of?
Result of the interaction between person and situation
Situational influences, personal influences –> person –> feelings, behaviours and thoughts
What is attribbution theory
The theory that we tend to give a causal explanation for someones behaviour, often crediting either internal dispositions or external situations as the explanation for someones behaviour
What is internal attribution?
Explaining behaviour as due to dispositional factors (e.g. personality or characteristics)
What is external attribution?
Explaining behaviour as due to situational factors
What are the components of the covariation model?
Consistency information
Consensus information
Distinctiveness information
What is consistency information and what is considered a high and low result? Example
Does the person with the behaviour (actor) behave the same towards the stimulus in other similar situations
High = he always nearly behaves like this
Low = he seldom behaves like this
Example; Reese saw the movie 3 times and liked it every time
What is consensus information and what is considered a high and low result? Example
Do other people behave the same way towards the stimulus?
High = Most people behave like this
Low = Not many people behave like this
Example; Everyone likes the movie
What is distinctiveness information and what is considered a high and low result? Example
Does the actor have different reactions towards different situations
High = person does not behave like this in most other situations
Low = person does behave like this in most other situations
Example; (of high); Reese rarely loves action movies which is similar to this
What is the attribution associated with high consistency, high consensus and high distinctiveness?
External attribution (Stimulus or situation)
What is the attribution associated with high consistency, low consensus and low distinctiveness?
Internal attribution (Person)
What is the attribution associated with high consistency, low consensus and high distinctiveness?
Interaction
What is the attribution associated with low consistency?
Just a one off behaviour. Note that if there is low consistency we dont continue on with the covariation model. We stop there and conclude that it is a one off behaviour
What is correspondence bias
Tendency to infer that traits correspond to behaviour (inferences about persons dispositions from behaviours that can be entirely explained by situations they occur)
What is fundamental attribution error
The tendency to over attribute behaviour to personality traits and underestimate situational influences
What is the difference between correspondence bias and FAE
There is no significant difference, onky slight with FAE often doing it - often used interchangably
How did the quiz show paradigm test FAE?
Wanted to see hhow the different social roles; questioner, contestant and observer resulted in different opinions on the intelligence of the questioner and contestant (seeing the biases)
What was the process of the quiz show paradigm test?
Questioner asked to create general knowledge questions that were challenging but not impossible. Contestants then had to respond to the questions and both parties were asked to rate each other for knowledge (including observers)
What were the result of the quiz show paradigm test?
No difference in questioners ratings of their own knowledge and contestants knowledge (aware of the bias and advantage they had)
Both contestants and observers rates questioners as more knolwedgeable than their contestants (influence of social roles –> underestimate –> not aware of bias -> Fae)
What is the actor observer effect?
Tendency to attribute our own behaviour mainly to external (situational) causes, but behaviour of others is mainly due to internal (dispositional) causes
Making attributions about other peoples behaviour –> focus on dispositional factors
Making attributions about own behaviour –> focus on situational factors
What is an example of the actor observer effect?
For example, if walking on the street and you trip and fall, you may blame the slipper pavement; external cause, but if you saw a random stranger trip and fall, you probably attribute it to an internal factor such as clumsiness or inattentiveness
What are some reasons for actor observer effects?
Perceptual salience
Situations lack salience
Insufficient cognitive resources
Cultural differences
What is perceptual salience and how can it influence actor observer effects
Focus on person more than the situation when observing others, focus on situation when observing our own behaviour
What is ‘situations lack salience’ and how can it influence actor observer effects
Notice the situation but give it less weight
What is ‘Insufficient cognitive resources’ and how can it influence actor observer effects
Automatically make internal attributes and with energy and time or motivation we might consider situational factors
What is ‘cultural differences’ and how can it influence actor observer effects
Western cultures - dispositional, eastern cultures - situational
What are attitudes
Relatively stable organisation of beleifs, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards people, objects, ideas or events
What is the tripartite model of attitudes
That affective (How we feel), behavioural (how we behave) and cognitive (beliefs about attributes associated with attitude object) will influence the attitude object
What is the attitude object
Is an object that a person develops a judgement or feelings about
What are explicit attitudes
Conscious and deliberate attitudes –> easy to fake
What are implicit attitudes
Unconscious and automatic attitudes –> harder to fake
How could explicit attitudes be measured?
Using a scale of agreement, i.e. ( scale from 1-5, where 1 = disagree, 5 = agree)
How could implicit attitudes be measured?
Through the implicit attitudes test (IAT)
What is the IAT and what does it involve
Based on the idea that two particular concepts are strongly associated
Involves rapid categorisation of stimuli (words or images) on screen into categories of “good” or “bad” . Participants must assign this rapidly
The idea is that participants should take longer to respond to incongruent pairs which they dont agree with (i.e. flowers = bad)
Objects already associated in mind –> classification easy –> responses are quick
Objects not associated in our mind –> classification is hard –> responses are slow
The quicker the response, the stronger the implicit bias for that relationship
What is the difference between time in quick vs slow responses?
It describes the strength of the association; an index of implicit attitudes
What are some other attitude measures?
Physiological indices (heart rate, skin, conductance, pupil dilation, eye blink startle reflex, facial electronyography, event related brain potentials)
Unobstrusive means (archival evidence, non verbal behaviour)
Bogus pipeline
What is bogus pipeline
The bogus pipeline is a fake polygraph used to get participants to truthfully respond to emotional/affective questions in a survey. It is a technique used by social psychologists to reduce false answers when attempting to collect self-report data
What can implicit attitudes predict?
Can predict spontaneous, non verbal behaviour and also behaviour undertime pressure.
How can we predict deliberate behaviour
mainly predicting from explicit attitudes
Theory of reasoned action
Theory of planned behaviour
What does the theory of reasoned action suggest
Suggests that attitudes towards behaviour and subjective norms influence behavioural intention which in turn influences behaviour
attitudes towards behaviour, subjective norms –> behavioural intention –> behaviour
There is the assumption that the persons behaviour is always under control.
What do subjective norms mean
It is based on people’s belief about what they would think of that behaviour (people they care about). I.e. the societal norms
What do behavioural intentions mean
Proxy for actual behaviour ; the intention of doing the behaviour
What is the theory of planned behaviour
Suggests that attitudes towards behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, all lead to behavioural intention which ultimately leads to behaviour
However, perceived behavioural control can have an effect on both behavioural intention and the behaviour
What is perceived behavioural control?
Ease / difficulty person thinks they can perform a behaviour (i.e. is behaviour easy or hard)
This can influence both behavioural intention and the behaviour of the individual
What is cognitive dissonance
State of tension one experiences after making a decision, taking an action, or being exposed to information that is contrary to their prior beliefs, feelings and values
What are some methods to reduce the tension from cognitive dissonance
Change behaviour
Change opinion
Add new consonant cognitions
We do whichever takes the least amount of effort to do
What are consonant cognitions
Two cognitions are consonant if one follows from the other
i.e. someone being told not to smoke –> dissonance —> consonant cognition created by maybe saying that the research on smoking isnt conclusive –> continue smoking
What was Festinger’s experiment
Involved paying volunteers either one dollar or twenty dollars to lie about a boring task being fun
What were the results of Festinger’s experiment?
Well paid volunteers had no cognitive dissonance as they could justify lying for a payment
One dollar volunteers had a cognitive dissonance as one dollar wasn’t enough to justify lying. Thus they changed their opinion to actually behlieve it wasn’t boring to prevent ‘lying’ (example of chanigng opinion in response to an event of cognitive dissonance)
What are two explanantions for attitude shifts?
Motivational
Purely cognitive
What is the motivational explanation for attitude shifts
Reduce tension of holding two opposite beliefs (simply to reduce extent of cognitive dissonance felt)
What is the purely cognitive explanation for attitude shifts
Observe own behaviour (self perception of one’s own belief and actual contemplation)
If inconsistencies in behaviour reflect traits, people from western cultures should be threatened and motivated to reduce dissonance
If inconsistences in behaviour reflect situations, people from eastern cultures shouldn’t be threatened and not motivated to redeuce dissonance
What are persuasive communications
Deliberate efforts to change attitutdes
Communicated messages advocating a particular side of an issue, with intention to change attitudes or behaviour of the recipients
What is the elaboration likelihood model
Suggests that to convince someone, there are two possible routes; central and peripheral routes, all based on whether the person is motivated and able to process information.
If they are able to, they should go down the central route with compelling arguments, which could lead to strong, lasting change
If they aren’t able to be motivated to process information, they should go down the peripheral route with peripheral cues, which would lead to weak, temporary change
What does the central route involve
Thinking carefully about the message
Paying attention to quality of arguments
What does the peripheral route involve
Thinking superficially
Emotional appeals
How should emotion arousing communications work
It involves the association of emotions and what they want to advertise to us. Creating a sort of link between the emotion and the product
What is an issue with using emotion arousing communications
Misattribution of emotions, with us forgetting which ad our emotion is associated to
What is the tripartite model of prejudice
Prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes play a factor in the target of prejudice
What are stereotypes
Characteristics ascribed to a group
Beliefs about a group
What are prejudices?
Positive or negative evaaluations of a group
Includes an affective component
What is discrimination
Unjustified negative or harmful treatment and behaviour towards a group
What are the possible origins of stereotypes
Social categorisation
Sociocultural learning
What does social categorisation involve in the origins of stereotypes
Social identity theory - categorising people into “us” and “them” groups. As such this creates new categories
What does sociocultural learning involve in the origins of stereotypes
Stereotypes being transmitted through culture and society
Knowledge of stereotypes acquired at a young age
What are the possible causes of prejudice
Social categorisation
Sociocultural learning
Competition
In group bias
Out group homogenity
How does social categorisation influence the causes of prejudice
Same as above, and also causes us to overestimate differences between groups
How does sociocultural learning influence the causes of prejudice
Associated with group norms
How does competition influence the causes of prejudice
Competition over scarce resources lead to intergroup hostility and conflict
How does in group bias influence prejudice
involves seeing our own group as superior and more desirable –> as such more likely to hold negative perceptions of others
How does out group homogenity influence prejudice
Perceived similarities among out group members. “They all look the same to me”, “They are alike” –> which ultimately lead to holding prejudiced behaviours/opinions
What are some subtle forms of prejudice
Subtle racism
Benevolent seism
What is subtle racism
“Modern” racism. Involves acting unprejudiced but maintaining a prejudiced attitude
What is benevolent sexism
Stereotypical but “positive” views of women
E.g. “women are weak, and need to be protected”
What are the different forms of social and situational infleunces
Social norms and social roles
What are social norms
The expectations a group has for its members regarding acceptable and appropriate attitudes and behaviours
What are social roles
A socially defined pattern of behaviour that is expected of a person who is functioning in a given setting or group
What are the different forms of social influence
compliance, conformity and obedience
What is compliance
A change in behaviour or expressed attitudes consistent with a direct request
What is conformity
Tendency for people to adopt the behaviours, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group –> group pressure —> long lasting sometimes (desire to fit in with group)
What is obedience
Compliance with an authority figure/leader in which the request is perceived as an order or command –> obeying authority figure
What are the two ways of explaining why people can be influenced
Informational influence and normative influence
What is informational influence
This is where we conform to group norm because of belief that group is competent
Involves individuals desire to be correct and right. Also occurs when individuals want to understand the right way to act in a given situation
Most likely to occur when we dont know what to do (uncertainty) because we believe other peoples opinions are better. Because we are uncertain, we look to others for information etc rather than our own interpretation
What was an important experiment exploring informational influence
Sherif’s 1935 conformity experiment with autokinetic effect
Here, p’s were asked to judge how far a light moved, however it didn’t actually move. They would make an estimate alone and then in a group settings
What were the results of the experiment on the autokinetic effect
Over time, estimates of group converged to the same amount of movement. This could occur because noone was sure about how far it moved and thus looks to other people to see why it occurs
Involves private acceptance/internalisation
What is normative influence
Occurs when we conform to a group norm to fit in
Involves individuals desire to be liked and accepted. As a result individuals seek approval of others and thus conform to a group norm
What was an important experiment on normative social influnence
Asch’s (1956) conformity experiments using line studies.
Involves one real participant in a group who was asked to see which line corresponds in length to another line, whilst confederates purposely gave the wrong answers
What were the results of the line studies
Participants only conformed if all confederates said the wrong answer, but if any confederate said the truth, they would be confident in nonconformity
Hre it could be explained with public compliance and a desire for acceptance by a group; being scared of breaking the norm
WHat are some factors affecting conformity
Ambiguity –> increased ambiguity leads to increased conformity
Need to be accurate
Crisis/emergency –> increased conformity in an emergency
Unanimity
Gender –> women conform to a male group with more traditional male stimuli and same vice versa
Expertise
Status and attractiveness of the group –> greater attractiveness will mean greater admiration of the group –> greater chances of conformity `
Culture
Is conformity higher in collectivist or individualist cultures?
Collectivist cultures (37%) is greater than individualistic cultures (25%)
Conformity varies within cultures as well (i.e. rural vs urban areas)
What was a conformity field experiment done. What was the results
1,2,3,5,10 or 15 people stopped and stared up at a 6th floor window for 60 seconds on a NYC street.
For people who stopped, 4% copied a single person stopping, whereas 40% of public copied 15 confederates stopping
For people who stared, 42% copied a single confederate staring, whereas 86% copied 15 people staring
What is the finding on the relationship between group size and fonromity
As number of people increase the % of conformity increases however it reaches a point of diminishing returns in group size on % of conformity after ~5 people
What does it mean by minority influence
Processes of social influence in which a numeric or power minority can change the attitudes and behaviours of the majority
What was an experiment on minority influence
Moscovici et als experiment, which involved showing blue slides which are varying in intensity and the task was to name the colour of slides aloud.
Control condition (6 naive Ps)
Minority condition (4 real Ps + 2 confederates)
However, within the minority condition there was the inconsistent (said green on 2/3 of trials and blue 1/3 of trials), and a consistent minority condition (said green on all trials)
WHat did the results of the minority influence show
Ps in consistent minority conformed 9% of the time
Ps in inconsistent minority conformed 2% of the time
WHat is the conversion effect
Process by which minority influence brings about internal, private change in attitudes of a minority
Compare majority vs minority influence?
In terms of what form of acceptance (private or public)
Normative or informational reasons?
How much thought?
Majority could be either using the central or peripheral route, whilst minority is typically using the central route
Majority involves public or private acceptance, whereas minority influence involves private acceptance
Majority involves normative or informational reasons, whereas minority involves informational reasons
Majority involves not much thought, whereas minority involves thinking about arguments very carefully
What are the requirements for minority influence to work successfully
Demonstrate certainty and commitment to a position
Position is distinct from the majority norm –> disrupts the majority norm
Not motivated by self interest (perception that minority members freely choose their position and express it freely - no agenda )
Draws attention to an alternative position (highlights that any solution to a conflict is adoption of minoritys position)
What was a significant study on obedience
Milgram’s 1963 studies
What did Milgrams 1963 studies involve
Rigged allocation of role to “teacher” and “learner”
Learner’s were confederates and had to memorise a word list which is tested by teacher
For every wrong answer, teacher delivers an electric shock which increases by 15V everytime there is a wrong answer (no electric shcoks actually delivered)
What were the expectations of Milgrams studies what actually happened
Experts suggested that Ps would stop at 130 V (strong shock). In reality, people stopped at 300V. and 26/40 people only stopped at the highest level - 450V
What were results of followup/alternatives of Milgrams studies
When there were two dissenting “teachers” (one confederate and one actual) –> 10%
When there were contradictory experimenters –> 0%
When there was voice feedbaack from victim –> 60%
When we could see the learner –> 40%
When we are in touching proximity of learner –> 30%
Absent experimenter –> 20%
Ordinary person as an experimenter –> 20%
Why do we obey? (with reference to Milgrams studies)
No time to think it through
Self justification (shocks were gradual, cognitive dissonance)
Loss of personal responsibility (“Just doing my job and following orders”)
NOTE: IT HAS NO RELATION TO PERSONALITY
What is a field experiment of obedience?
Zimbardo et al (1973) Stanford Prison experiment
What did the standford prison experiment involve
Set up a prison in basement of STanford uni
Ps were 24 males in a 2 week study
Ps randomly assigned to guard or prisoner
9 prisoners 9 guards
Guards worked in shifts and only order was to keep order in the prison
What were the results of Stanford prison experiment?
Prisoners were degraded
Prisoners revolted on second day
Guards crushed revolt with physical and psychological tactics
Prisoners, guards and experimenters lost track of reality
Experiment called off after 6 days
WHat is prosocial behaviour
Behaving in a way that is good for other people or for society as a whole
Involves acts that are positively valued by society such as following societal rules, laws and helping others
What is helping behaviour
Acts that intentionally benefit someone else
What is altruism?
Prosocial behaviours that help other people even when:
1) No apparent personal gain
2) potential costs to helper
What is the order of narrowing down/specificty of prosocial behaviour, helping behaviour and altruism
Goes from prosocial behaviour –> helping behaviour –> altruism (in terms of slowly narrowing down)
What are some evolutionary social psychology explanations for helping people?
Kin selection
Reciprocity (expectation of being helped back in the future)
Mutually cooperative behaviour (behaviour benefitting the cooperator)
Explain how kin selection can be used to explain why we help people
We are more likely to help direct family than distant family and acquaintances. This is because we might value our relationship with them more
Experiments show that this is true in both everyday and life or death situations, however the differences between everyday and life or death situations for direct family and acquaintances become bigger than other categories (more pronounced differences at ends of spectrum)
What is a social and biosocial explanation of helping?
Social learning theory (Bandura, 1977)
How does social learning theory explain why we help
Learning by direct experiences
Learning by vicarious experience (modelling or observational learning)
We might do this because there are rewards associated with that behaviour. I.e. rewards to self (direct experience) and also rewards to the model (indirect experience)
What is the social exchange theory
Based on a cost benefit analysis
Rewards/benefits: Feel good about oneself, social rewards, monetary rewards etc.
Costs: Physical (danger, pain), social (embarrassment), time spent
Social exchange theory predicts people will help if benefits outweigh costs
What is altruistic helping
This is helping motivated by empathy. There is an empathy-altruism hypothesis –> when we empathise with the other person –> gives altruistic motivation to help
What is egoistic helping?
Motivated to get something in return
Negative state relief hypothesis (i.e. feeling better about ones negative mood)
Aim is to relieve your own distress
are there different personality types which might make a person more likely to engage in prosocial behaviours?
There is no prosocial personality type –> personalities dont predict helping behaviour
What are some individual differences which could influence a person to help people
Gender
Moods
How can gender influence a person to help people
Women more likely to help when caring is required
Men more likely to help in dangerous situations
How can moods influence a person to help people
Positive mood –> feel good, do good to maintain positive mood
negative mood –> negative emotion might influence your willingness to help like guilt and sadness. It might help distract from your own negative mood
Do number of bystanders affect a persons willingness to help
People are less likely to help in the presence of others than when alone (bystander effect) –> because of belief that other people will probably help the person
What are the steps involved in the 5 step model to helping (when emergency occurs)?
1) Notice the event
2) Interpret the event as an emergency
3) Assume responsibility
4) Know appropriate form of assistance
5) Implement decision
What are the barriers involved with each step in the 5 step model to helping
1) Notice the event
Barrier: Fail to notice (Distracted, in a hurry)
2) Interpret the event as an emergency
Barrier: Interpret the event as a nonemergency (Pluralistic ignorance)
3) Assume responsibility
Barrier: Fail to assume personal responsibility (Diffusion of responsibility)
4) Know appropriate form of assistance
Barrier: Can’t offer appropriate help (Lack of knowledge, lack of competence)
5) Implement decision
Barrier: Costs of helping others is too high (danger to self; legal concerns; embarassment)
What are the 5 main factors associated with attraction
Physical attractiveness
Proximity
Familiarity
Reciprocity
Similarity
How does physical attractiveness influence attraction?
This is because it is important to men and women for their partner to meet their ideal physical standard. As part of this, there may be cross cultural standards of beauty. Additionally, the more familiar someone is with another person, the more physically attractive they may look
Facial symmetry is important
What are factors for women which influence their physical attractiveness
Large eyes
Small nose
Small chin
Prominent cheekbones
Narrow cheeks
High eyebrows
Large pupils
Big smile
What are factors for men which influence their physical attractiveness
Large eyes
Large chin
Prominent cheekbones
Big smile
How does proximity influence attraction?
We are more likely to see and interact with people who live/work close to us (i.e. close physical distance)
The more we see and interact with people, the more we like them
What was Festinger et al’s experiment on proximity
Looked at various hotels and stuff. People 19’ from each other in terms of houses had a 41% chance ofbeing friends
For people 32’ from each other, 22% were friends
For people across opposite sides from each other on the hotel block, only 10% were close rfiends
How does familiarity influence attraction?
Mere exposure effect: Repeated exposure to an object results in greater attraction to that object. This could be +ve but also could be -ve
What were some experiments on looking at how familarity influences attraction
Zajonc (1968) found that increased exposure to people from photographic or yearbook photos increases the positive attitudes people have towards them
Moreland and Beach (1993) found that increased number of visits will increase rating for attractiveness in a classroom
How does reciprocity influence attraction
We like those who like us
We dislike those who dislike us
How does similarity influence attraction?
Similarity draws people together. Similarity in terms of:
opinions, attitudes and values, interpersonal styles, interests and experience
However, not necessarily similar personality characteristics
Promotes attraction because similar people have qualities we like, and also tend to validate our beliefs. It will facilitate smooth social interactions.
What are the two types of love?
Passionate love and companionate love
What does passionate love involve
Ecstasy when being with the other person
Physical arousal
Desire for physical contact
Great sadness, despair, pain when things aren’t going well in relationship
What does companionate love involve
Intimacy, affection and caring
Idea of soul mates
Commitment to relationship
Compare passionate and companionate love
Passionate: Attraction, Companionate: Attatchment
Passionate: negative correlation with relationship length, Companionate: Not correlated with relationship length
Both associated with sexuality
Passionate: associated with jealousy , Companionate: n/a
Both correlated with relationship satisfaction
Both correlated with commitment
Both correlated with each other
What are some positive behaviours which are beneficial for relationships?
Validating and expressing appreciation of each other etc.
What are some negative behaviours which can destroy relationships
Criticism (faulting partner)
Contempt (disrespectful)
Defensiveness (Cross complaining about each other)
Stonewalling (emotional withdrawl)
These are all Gottman’s Four Horsemen of apocalypse and these features in a relationship predicts divorce up to 6 years later with 85% success rate
How do satisfying relationships attribute their partner’s behaviour?
Internal attribution for positive and external attribution for negative
How do unsatisfying relationships attribute their partner’s behaviour?
External attribution for positive and internal attribution for negative behaviours
What did Gottman and Leverson (1999) find about contempt in relationships
Increased contempt –> increased divorce rate
