Social Psychology Flashcards
Social psychology
The study of how people influence others’ behaviour, beliefs and attitudes.
Considers the contribution of the person and the influence of the situation.
What are attitudes
- Favourable or unfavourable evaluative reactions towards an object of person
- These evaluations can be: Affective, Behavioural tendency, Cognitive
How are attitudes formed?
We perform positive attitudes by being exposed to the object –> Chinese characters experiment (Zajonc)
- Classical conditioning: if a CS is paired with a US, the CS evokes an attitude response affiliated with the US
- Operant conditioning: behaviour that leads to positive outcomes or prevents negative outcomes is strengthened
- imitation: adopting the attitudes of role models
Bem’s self perception theory
We infer our attitudes from our behaviour –> behaviour causes attitudes
- we attribute our own behaviour to either an external (situation) or internal (attitude) source
- attitude inferences if behaviour is freely chosen
- holds best for weak attitudes
Unobtrusive influences on attitudes
- Facial expression (cartoons rated as funnier if pen held between teeth)
- testing the quality of headphones (nodders vs shakers)
Functions of attitudes
Cognitive consistency: people try to maintain an internal consistency, order and agreement between their beliefs.
We like people who think and act like us.
Balance theory: relationship between 3 elements (triads)
- P (person)
- O (other)
- X (attitude of the object)
- odd number of positive relationship = balanced triad
- even number of positive relationship = unbalanced
Balance Theory
- unbalanced triads create tension - motivation to restore the balance
- support for this is seen in the experiment with the ‘harsh experimenter’
Implicit attitudes vs explicit attitudes
Implicit: automatic, non-conscious, difficult to change –> gut feelings, automatic (less susceptible to impression management)
Explicit: consciously controlled, easier to change (social desirability) - we tell people what we think about things
Implicit attitudes and prejudice
- cultural conceptions of race, and sex stereotypes learned from an early age
- personal beliefs draw more from controlled processes
- prejudicial reactions may be automatic
These stereotypes are part of our knowledge structure and are drawn on rapidly.
Personal beliefs draw from more controlled processes.
Attitude behaviour link
- We assume attitudes predict behaviour but there are many instances where this is incorrect (for example in polls)
- attitudes are influenced by behaviour, not the other way
Behaviour and attitudes differ because of a multitude of other influences - minimise social influence on expressed attitudes
- measuring attitudes that are specific to the observed behaviour
- attitude strength: personal involvement and knowledge
Theory of planned behaviour
Ajzen and Fishbein
- attitude behaviour link is stronger once we take account of all the influences on the attitude behaviour link
Cognitive dissonance theory
Festinger
- cognitive dissonance: a feeling of discomfort caused by performing an action that is inconsistent with one’s attitudes
- strive to reduce dissonance
Persuasion
Message intended to change an attitude and related behaviour of an audience.
Hare Krishna Society Persuasion
- passerby received a gift, invoked a principle of reciprocity and was more inclined to donate
Jonestown persuasion
- persuaded 910 followers to kill themselves
- great deal of uncertainty (isolated in a foreign land), people were paranoid
The Message-Learning (Yale) approach to persuasion
Attempts to identify what strengthens / weakens a persuasive message. Attitude change follows these stages:
- attend to the message
- comprehend the message
- accept the message
This change in attitude will occur if the incentives of the new message outweigh those of the old message
Factors influencing the Message-Learning approach
Source variables
- attractiveness (physical appearance, likeability, similarity to the audience)
- high vs low credibility (pace in which you talk)
Message variables
- vivid information is generally more persuasive (except when it interferes with the comprehension of the message)
- fear appeals
- humour (when relevant)
- repetition (exposure)
- medium
Audience Variables
- self-esteem (people with low selfesteem are less persuadable because they are less attentive and more anxious, and those with high self-esteem are not easily persuaded because they are self-assured)
- mood (sadness increases buying prices and reduces selling prices)
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Petty and Cacioppo
Explains why attitudes change:
Two routes to persuasion
- central route (able & motivated - can attend to the message and therefore elaborate on the message)
- peripheral route (unable or unwilling - rely on heuristics of irrelevant cues like with coca cola ads) –> attitudes formed this way are weaker and less resistant to counterarguments, less predictive of behaviour
Attitude change can occur without comprehension
Nudges
Behavioural interventions that encourage desirable behaviour without restricting choice or changing economic incentives.
- example: adding a healthy food only line in a school canteen
- increasing uptake of influenza vaccinations through the use of nudges
Enhancing compliance
compliance: behavioural response to a request from another person (you don’t need to have an accompanying attitude change, just a behavioural change)
reciprocity: the idea that we are compelled to return the favour if someone gives us something
- example: hare krishna society
- door in the face tactic: when a large unreasonable request is followed by a small reasonable request
social proof and uncertainty
- we look to other people to lead us
flattery, scarcity, consistency and mindlessness
- flatterers were like more than those who were offering balanced compliments - occurred even when the participants knew that the praise was no accurate or that the flatterer had ulterior motives
- scarcity: we want what we can’t have
- consistency:
—> foot in the door: small request followed by a large request
–> low-ball technique: after initial agreement to a request hidden costs are revealed - agreeing to a request without giving it a thought
Conformity
Change in behaviour or belief in accord with others (being affected by how others act)
- Compliance (sub type of conformity which is publicly acting in accord with others, but you haven’t changed your beliefs)
- Acceptance is conformity that involves believing, as well as acting in accord with social pressure
Our natural inclination to conform helps us get along with each other
Normative social influence
Social norm: a shared standard of behaviour, a guidelines people follow in their relations with others
- don’t want to be punished by the group
- normative social influence
Norm formation
Sherif
Stationary spot of light in a dark room that appears to move –> assessing this in groups vs assessing it alone
There’s a convergence between initial individual beliefs and then group consensus
Asch’s conformity studies
- participants seated 6th in a row of confederates
- looked at unambiguous stimuli
Factors affecting Asch’s task
- group size (increases with group size, only up to about a group of 5)
- one dissenter (when one confederate out of the 6 gave the correct answer, the proportion of conforming responses dropped dramatically)
- anonymity
Miligram’s Obedience Studies
How compliant would people be if they were given direct orders - would they go as far to hurt an innocent stranger?
Being assigned teacher or learner - shocks were given to the learner
Distress: the learner was visibly distressed - but when they asked if they might stop, the prods were enough for at least 2/3 of them to keep going
Variations = the victims distance, closeness and legitimacy of the authority, getting someone else to give the shocks
