Social Psychology Flashcards
Who published the first textbook on social psych?
William McDougall (a psychologist) E.H. Ross (a sociologist)
Norman Triplett
In 1898, published the first study of social psych. Found that people perform better on familiar tasks when around others than alone. (Effect of competition on performance).
What is Verplank known for?
Suggested social approval influences behavior. Study found that conversation changes based on approval. Helped to est reinforcement theory on social behavior (with Pavlov, thorndike, hall & skinner).
Social learning theorists espouse…
That behavior is learned through imitation (Albert bandura). Challenges early reinforcement theorists (behavior is motivated by anticipated rewards)
What is role theory?
(Bindle, 1979) ppl are aware of social roles, and their behavior can be attributed to adopting those roles
What is Consistency Theory?
Ppl prefer consistency and if their behavior is inconsistent with their professed attitude, they will typically change their attitude. I.e hating cigarette smoking, but falling in love with a smoker- change attitude
What is Fritz Heider’s Balance Theory?
A consistency theory.
P=person of interest
O= another person
X= a thing or idea
Balance exists when all 3 fit together harmoniously.
Example of balance- Patrick likes Olivia and Chinese food, and Olivia likes Chinese food.
Example of no balance- Patrick likes Olivia, Olivia likes Chinese food, but Patrick doesn’t like Chinese food
Festingers Cognitive Dissonance theory
The conflict you feel when your attitudes are not in sync with your behaviors. Can change or compromise either to make them align.
The greater the pressure to comply, the less the attitude change
Free-choice dissonance
I.e guy likes 2 girls, but chooses to date only 1 and therefore experiences dissonance bc he still is fond of the girl he didnt choose- known as post-decisional dissonance.
Spreading of alternatives- he can convince himself that the other girl is superior or focus on the dismissed girl’s faults to make himself feel better about his choice
Forced- compliance dissonance
Occurs when an individual is forced to behave in a way (either through reward or punishment) that is inconsistent with their attitudes
What study resulted in the minimal justification effect?
Experiment by Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) where PTs did a boring task and were paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next subject the task was interesting. Pts who received $1 rated task as more enjoyable bc they had more cognitive dissonance.
I.e when external justification is minimal you will change your attitudes
Bem’s self-perception theory
People infer what their attitudes are based upon the observation of their own behavior
Overjustification effect
If you reward someone for something they already like doing, they may stop liking it
Carl hovland’s model
Broke down the communication of persuasion into 3 components: the communicator (high vs. low credibility), the communication, and the situation.
Can increase your credibility by arguing against your own self-interest.
Sleeper effect
Hovland’s. overtime, the persuasive impact of the high credibility source decreased, while the persuasive impact of the low credibility source increased.
Two-sided messages
Contain arguments for and against a side, are often used for persuasion
Petty and Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
Central (things that are important to us) and peripheral (things that aren’t important to us) routes of persuasion
Analogy of inoculation
William McGuire. People can be inoculated against the attack of persuasive communication. Tested by using cultural truisms-beliefs that are seldom questioned- vulnerable bc they are rarely challenged.
Belief perseverance
If you are induced to believe a statement and then provide your own explanation for it, you will tend to continue to believe it even when it is proven false.
Reactance
If you try too hard to persuade someone of something, they will choose to believe the opposite of your position to preserve their freedom
Festinger’s social comparison theory
We are drawn to affiliate bc of a tendency to evaluate ourselves in relationship to other people.
- Ppl prefer to evaluate themselves on objective non-social means
- When that isn’t possible, we evaluate by comparing to others
- When discrepancy exists in opinions and abilities, there is a tendency to change ones opinion to move in line w group (affiliation).
Stanley schachter’s research
Found that greater anxiety does lead to a greater desire to affiliate. Anxious ppl prefer company of other anxious ppl (and therefore a factor in the affiliation).
Refuted counterarguments
Pertaining to Mcguires theory- innoculate truisms by first presenting arguments against the truisms and then refuting the arguments
Reciprocity hypothesis
We tend to like people who indicate that they like us. We also tend to dislike people who dislike us. Our attractions are a two way street
Gain-Loss principle
Aronson & Linder proposed this twist to the reciprocity hypothesis- an evaluation that changes will have more of an impact than an evaluation that remains constant. I.e if someone’s liking for us has increased, we will like them more than someone who’s liking has remained constant
Social exchange theory
Assumes that a person weighs the rewards and costs of interacting with another. The more the rewards outweighs the cost, the greater the attraction to the other person. ⬆Rewards ⬇costs
Equity theory
Proposes that we consider not only our own costs and rewards, but the costs and rewards of the other person. We prefer that our ratio of costs to rewards be equal to the other person’s ratio. Perceived inequity causes instability in the relationship.
Similarity & affiliation
Correlations have been found between affiliation & similarity of intelligence, attitudes, education, socioeconomic status, etc.
Need complementarity
Claims that people choose relationships so that they mutually satisfy each other’s needs. I.e one person likes to talk, the other likes to listen.
Attractiveness stereotype
The tendency to attribute positive qualities & desirable characteristics to attractive people.
Spatial proximity
I.e people will generally develop a greater liking for someone who lives within a few blocks than for someone who lives in a different neighborhood. Surprisingly, even small differences in proximity can have an effect
Mere exposure hypothesis
States that mere repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to an enhanced liking for it.
Name to remember: Robert Zajonc
Altruism
A form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to himself or herself.
Helping behavior
Includes altruistic motivations, but also includes behaviors that may be motivated by egoism or selfishness
Bystander intervention
Work of John Darley and Bibb Latané. Can be traced to a single event- Kitty Genovese. Has two components- social influence & diffusion of responsibility
Social influence (in reference to bystander effect)
If there are other persons present during an ambiguous event, the other people’s reactions may sway the target person into thinking the event is a non- emergency. I.e A fire alarm going off
Pluralistic ignorance
Leading others to a definition of an event as a non- emergency.
Diffusion of responsibility
If multiple people are present during an emergency, the responsibility, blame, and guilt can be shared. As the person weighs the costs and rewards of helping, the fact that others are in a position to help night sway the person toward not helping.
Empathy
The ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another; thought to be a strong influence on helping behavior
Batson’s empathy- altruism model
When faced with situations in which others may need help, people might feel distress (mental anguish), and/ or they might feel empathy. Both states are important as either can determine helping behavior. However, empathy is more predictive of helping behavior.
Frustration-Aggression hypothesis
When people are frustrated, they act aggressively. The strength of the frustration experienced is correlated with the level of aggression observed.
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
Said to be the most influential theory on aggression that is also focused on social context. Holds that aggression is learned through modeling (direct observation), or through reinforcement. “Bobo doll” experiment
Autokinetic effect
If you stare at a point of light in a room that is otherwise completely dark, the light will appear to move.
Muzafer Sherif’s Conformity Study
Used the autokinetic effect in a study on conformity. When asked to judge how much the light moved, participant’s judgements converged on some group norm
Solomon Asch’s Conformity Study
Experiment were asked to choose which of the three lines was the same length as the comparison line. The comparisons were easy and obvious. Confederates gave answers b4 the subject. Subject were far more likely to report the wrong answer after confederates gave wrong answer than a control group who answered independently.
Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment
Everyone gave 300 volts
65% went all the way to the end
Desire to obey was stronger than desire not to hurt someone against their own will
Foot-in-the-door
Compliance with a small request increases the likelihood of compliance with large request.
Door-in-face Effect
People who refuse a large initial request are more likely to agree to a later smaller request.
Clark and Clark doll Preference Study
Studied ethnic self- concept amount white and black children using the doll preference task. The majority of white and black children preferred the white doll. It highlighted the negative effects of racism on the self- concept of black children. It was used to argue against school segregation. Later studies show that black children in fact hold positive views of their own ethnicity
Dimensions of personality identity
There are several factors that determine which identity will be enacted in particular situations (I.e gender, race, etc). for ex: when college students asked to list characteristics mixed sex group was more likely to list gender. The more salient the identity, the more conform to the role expectations.
Primacy effect
Refers to those occasions when first impressions are more important than subsequent impressions.
Recency effect
Sometimes the most recent information we have about an individual is most important in forming our impressions.
Attribution Theory
Fritz Heider is founder. The tendency for ppl to infer the causes of someone else’s behavior. We are all “amateur” psychologists at heart.
Fundamental attribution error
Self: positive events are dispositional, neg events are situational.
Others: + events are situation, - events are dispositional
Halo effect
The tendency to allow a general impression about a person, “I like Jill”, to influence other, more specific evaluations about a person, “Jill is a good writer, etc”. Explains why ppl provide innaccurate evals of those they like and those they dislike.
Belief in a Just world
(M.J. Lerner). In a just world, good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people. This mindset increases the likelihood to “blame the victim”
Groups
The presence or involvement of others sometimes enhances individual or group performance, and sometimes worsens it. Anonymity within groups also has been found to have an effect on behavior. Individuals are sometimes motivated to cooperate to attain group goals- other times, they are motivated to compete to attain individual goals.
Theodore Newcomb Study
Demonstrates the influence of group norms. Small college with ppl who came from republican backgrounds, but the college was mostly liberal. Overtime, students became progressively liberal. I.e 62% of freshman votes republican, but only 15% of seniors
Proxemics
(Edward Hall). Suggests that there are cultural norms regarding how far we stand from the people we are speaking to. This is the study of how individuals space themselves from each other.
Zajonc’s Theory
Argues that the presence of others increases arousal and consequently enhances the emission of dominant responses. (I.e wrong dance moves for a novice dancer or correct dance moves for a professional dancer).
Social Loafing
Refers to the tendency for people to put forth less effort when part of a group than when acting individually. I.e tug-of-war team of six is half the sum if individual strengths
Anonymity
(Phillip Zimbardo). People are more likely to commit antisocial acts when they feel anonymous within a social environment. Diminished restraint of unacceptable behavior. His study is called the prison simulation. Half assigned to be guards, half assigned to be prisoners. Escalated aggressive behavior
Deindividuation
Refers to a loss of self-awareness and self- identity
Group decision making
Irving Janis has studies the way group decision making can go awry
Groupthink
Refers to the tendency of decision-making groups to strive for consensus by not considering discordant information. Example: bay of pigs
Risky shift
Refers to the finding that group decisions are riskier than the average of individual choices. (And the avg riskiness of indiv choices can be considered to be an est of the groups original riskiness).
Value hypothesis (goes with risky shift)
Suggests the risky shift occurs in situations in which riskiness is culturally valued. I.e riskiness is business decisions is culturally valued. Less risky will compare to the riskier ppl and become more risky.
James Stoner (risky shift extension)
Found that the content can determine whether the shift is toward the risky or the safe. In a study w couple and a risky pregnancy, he found the shift to the more cautious
Group polarization (also an extension of risky shift)
Extremity shifts. Refers to a tendency for group discussion to enhance the groups’s initial tendencies even further towards risk or caution.
Leadership & communication
Research has found that leaders of groups engage in more communication than non-leaders. Furthermore, researchers found that by artificially increasing the amount someone speaks, that person’s perceived leadership status also increases
Kurt Lewin Study
Conducted research to determine the effects of diff leadership styles. 1. Autocratic (more hostile, aggressive, and more dependent on their leader) 2. Democratic 3. Laissez- Faire (less efficient, less organized, and less satisfying than democratic groups). The quantity of work in autocratic groups was greater than in other groups, but work motivation and interest were stronger in democratic groups.
Cooperation
Persons work together for their mutual benefit so all can obtain a goal
Competition
A person acts for his/ her benefit do that he/she can obtain a goal that has limited availability
Prisoner’s dilemma
A classic method of investigating people’s choices to compete or cooperate
Robber’s Cave experiment
Muzafer Sherif’s study on cooperation and competition. Created hostilities through competition and then reduced the hostilities through cooperation. Took place at a boys camp. Two groups, two distant cabins. The first week created group allegiance within both groups. After first week the groups learned of each other’s existence and 4 day competition- hostilities ensued.
Next step was to reduce hostility. 1. Mere contact (didnt reduce) 2. Contact where groups had to cooperate to solve a problem (dramatically improved relations)
Superordinate goals (from robbers cave experiment)
Goals that are best obtained through intergroup cooperation. Dramatically improves intergroup relations.
