Social Psychology Flashcards
dialogues and debates in social psychology
Rousseau
- man is by nature good and only institutions make him bad
Hobbes
- man is by nature solitary, poore, nasty and brutish
- if not for the civilizing constraints of society, there would be “a war of all against all”
- people are naturally selfish and evil. Cannot be trusted
approaches to social theorizing
- cognitive
- how perception and what you interpret affects behaviour - learning
- emphasis on principles of reinforcement and imitation, responses based on prior learning - motivational
- emphasis on basic human biological and psychological needs - biological
- evolutionary past and genetic disposition - cultural
- how culture affects social behaviour
level of explanation in social psychology
4 levels of analysis
- intra personal level
- what goes on inside the person - inter personal level
- interactions between two people - inter group level
- based on group level behaviour - societal level
- cultural effects on behaviour
social psychology
social psychology is a discipline in which people attempt to understand explain and predict how the thoughts, feelings and actions of individuals are influenced by the perceived, imagined or implied thoughts, feelings and actions of others
core concepts in psychoanalysis
ID, EGO and SUPEREGO
ID - most primitive part of the psyche. contains most basic urges (eat, drink, rest etc)
- the need to gain sexual pleasure
- works on the pleasure principle
- demands satisfaction now not later, regardless of consequences
EGO- works on the reality principle
- tries to satisfy the id pragmatically in accordance with societal norms
SUPEREGO - moral policeman
- represents internalized rules of parents and society
- if rules are broken the superego metes out punishment, this leads to intense anxiety, guit and self reproach
defense mechanisms
displacement:
- impulses redirected into a safer course
reaction formation:
- original wish is supplanted with the opposite
projection:
- urges are projected onto others
isolation:
- awareness of memories but not emotions
psychosexual stages of development
as the child grows older pleasure is achieved through the stimulation of certain body zones
oral stage (0-2)
- little kids always put things in their mouths for sexual pleasure
anal stage (2-4)
- potty trained they would gain pleasure from going toilet
phallic stage (4-6)
- boys develop an oedipus complex where they want to sexually possess the mother, fear father will castrate him leading to castration anxiety. boys identifies with father in hope that he will enjoy an erotic partner like his mother in the future
latency stage (6-12)
- period of dominant sexuality when girls and boys dont like each other
genital stage (12+)
- from 12 and up children were ready for full sexual experiences
experimental evidence
- data more appropriately explained through other processes
- experiments supporting frueds claims are often flawed
- frued claimed that children whose parents treat them harshly would redirect aggressive instincts on to others who have less power: evidence suggests that authoritarian aggression is not caused by the redirection of repressed impulses but by observational learning (bobo doll study)
- frued claimed that threatening stimuli is repressed.
brunner and postman presented threatening (sex, fuck and penis)
and non threatening (six, brick, tennis)
they found that threatening words took longer to report
supports idea of repression
electra complex
girl realizes she does not have a penis and develops envy and feels although she has been castrated
turns to her father who has the desirable organ in the hope that he will give her a penis substitute in the form of a baby
she turns her sexual attetion to father - hates mother, develops anxiety over her desires
resolves this by indentifying with mother
techniques of attitude measurement
likert scales - most popular
- depend on honesty as some people give socially desirable answers
- very cheap and is very quick to get answers
the bogus pipeline
- participants hooked up told it measures changes in muscles/if participants believe it is assessing their true opinion more likely to answer honestly
electromyography (EMG) measures activity of facial measures
- muscles associated with happiness moved when the video supported attitudes
- muscles associated with anger moved when the video disagreed with attitudes
- very expensive form and takes along time to get answers
attitude behaviour relations
two things dont even coincide because we need to take context into account
source of controversy - lapiere 1934
- relation between racist attitudes and behavior
- chinese couple asking for hotel and resturant in person and over phone
- Attitude was no we are racist but when people turned up they were served
- Racist attitude was expressed in the response to letter
- People didn’t follow through with It when it camr to behvaior
- Attitudes do not predict bhevaior
attitude change and stability
on the whole attitudes are relatively stable
inconsistency between attitudes and behavior = cognitive dissonance
- behavior is irrevocable so we change our attitude
- bring beliefs into line with behaviour
attitudes can be changed if the source is credible, trustworthy, attractive and likeable
if the message is presented
quickly, long and without hesitation
if we are approached
on sunny days or when we are happy
attitude resilience
one way to avoid attitude change is via the rehersal of counter arguments
mcalister et al 1982 sought to prevent teenagers from smoking, taught arguments such as
- id be a real chicken is i smoked just to impress you
- teenagers trained in this way were less likely to smoke
theory of planned behaviour
You may have an attitude that predisposes you to behave in certain way but depending on context especially these 3 things to will tell if your attitude will follow or predict the behavior
- when we have a positive attitude towards the behavior
- when norms support our attitudes
- when the behavior is under our control
many studies fail to find relations between attitudes and behaviour because they do not take these factors into account
measurement of attributions
internal or external cause
- internal to a person or external to a person
likert scales
- if you thought the test was easy might say it was external factors
consequences of attributions
couples who experience marital distress tend to attribute their partners negative behaviour to internal charcteristics
frey and rogner 1987 found that following accidents indivudals who thought that they were in some way to blame spent 30 days in the hospital, those who thought they were not to blame spent 20 days in hospital
motivational bias of attributions
self-esteem and control
self esteem
- if we behave positvely or successfully and attribute this to our own internal qualities we can achieve and maintain self esteem
- if we behave negativley or fail in some way we can attribute this to the same internal, qualities, then we can suffer a decrease in self esteem
control
- attributions can enhance control
- if we attribute our successes to our internal charctersitics we may believe that we are in control
levels of attributions
4 levels of analysis
- intrapersonal level
focuses on criteria by which indivudals analyze information and come to make an attribution
- interpersonal level
deals with face to face attributions
attributions no longer seen as rational
- intergroup level
attributions at this level examine the way in which the members of different groups explain behavior
- societal level
shows that while individals from cultures favour dispositional explanations, individuals from non western cultures tend to favour enviromental explanations
major theories and biases of attribution
when making an attribution kelley 1967 claims that inforation can be derived from sources indicating
if mr. brown is always hostile to you (consistency)
if other people are normally hostile towards you (consensus)
if mr brown tends to be hostile to other people (distinctiveness)
actor observer effect vs self serving bias
aoe - people tend to attribute the cause of their own actions to external factors
they tend to attribute the causes of others actions to internal causes
ssb - people take credit for their successes but not their failures
proximity and propinquity
mcknight 1994 in an australian sample found that 83% of people met their partner in a familiar social setting, 6% in casual social setting
byrne found that people tended to make friends with those whom they were seated beside alphabetically
the mere exposure effect zajonc: repeated exposure to any stimulus makes it more appealing, the more people are exposed to faces, photos, languages and tunes the more they like them
mita et al 1977 claimed that if it was repeated stimulus that enhanced our likeing we should prefer a reversed image of ourselves as thats how we see our selves in mirror - friends should prefer photo
results support this view, 70% of people prefer a photo of their own reversed image, 70% of people however prefer normal photo of friends
reis 1997 promximity dosent always work
emotional arousal
people who are emotionally aroused rate others as more attractive
- white et al 1981 found that men who ran on the spot rated women as being more attractive
- dutton and aaron 1974 people expecting electric shocks rated members of the opposite sex as being more attractive
- dutton and aaron conducted a study in which men who crossed a narrow rope bridge met a female experimenter. those who crossed the bridge were more likely to ring up and ask for a date
physical attractiveness
wakil et al 1973 found that out of 32 desirable traits for a partner men ranked physical attractviness 12th women ranked it 22nd
- green buchanan and heuer 1984 analysed computer dating services which used photo matching, physical attractivness was the major determining factor of date choice
similarity
many studies show people tend to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves
- the most important determinants are similarity of attitudes, values and acitivities
- kandel 1978 best friends at high school resemble each other in terms of age, race and academic grades
- craddock 1990 married couple who shared the same religous beliefs were alot happier
failed relationships
divorce rate 1 in 3
- women often initiate the end of relationships
- women may feel more distressed in conflicted relationships
- women better through: divorce, seperation, and widowhood
social facilitation
how the physical presence of others influences our behaviour
presence of others can have detrimental effects
others can either facilitate or inhibit behaviour
Schmitt 1986
- respondents completed simple and complex tasks
- when others are present simple task ability improved, complex task ability decreased
Zajonc 1980
- drive theory of facilitation
- the presence of others leads to increased arousal
- arousal strengthens the display of our dominant response
- our performance is enhanced if our dominant response is appropriate
- our performance is impaired if our dominant response is inappropriate
Michael’s et al 1982 investigated pool players accuracy in the presence of others
- the accuracy of good players increased from 71%-80%
- the accuracy of poor players decreased from 35% to 25%
deindividuation
presence of other people can have bizarre or negative effects
- when people are surrounded by others they lose self awareness and begin to feel anonymous
- when aroused the loss in self awareness works to disinhibit those impulses which are normally kept under check
- the impulses that are released depend on the situation
decrease in self awareness leads to increase in anti social behavior
conformity
solomon asch
- respondents guess which cards were of equal size
- 75% went along with the majority of opinion
obedience
milgram asked to what extent to people obey
results show people will hurt others if ordered to do so
diffusion of responsbility
the idea that group size increases individual responsibility decreases
smoke comes out of a vent 75% of those waiting alone react immediatley, less than 1% of those with others reacted
hannah arendt
claimed that the actions of perpetrators could be explained through what she referred to as the “bonality of evil”
she suggested people were motivated not by hatred by by banal motives
- the desire to do a job well and to please superiors
factors that influence obedience
- remoteness of the victim
- obidence greatest when learner is out of sight
- when teacher and learner in same room obidence dropped to 40% - closeness and legitmacy of the authority figure
- obedience was highest when the authority figure was close by and percieved as legitimate
- experimenter left room, obedience dropped to 20% - diffusion of responsibility
- when another person gave the shock and the real participant had to perform a lesser role conformity increased to 93% - characteristics of the teacher
- when women are teachers they obey just as much as men
- authoriitarians more likely to obey
- if people identify with the victim they are less likely to obey
obedience and disobedience
people do not blindly follow orders. people harm others because they identify with and listen to the appeals of malicious authorities
examples of prejudice
prejudice is the holding of derogatory attitudes or beliefs, the expression of negative affect or the display of hostile or discriminatory behaviour towards members of a group on account of their own membership in that group
“interbreeding in those island and that brings a big increase of retards” - potter & wetherell 1987
“the maori only 150 years ago was a cannibal eating his enemies. he hasent had the advantages of western civilisation, he hasent the capcity to reason, analyse - wetherell & potter 1992
“i dont think mothers have the same right to work as fathers. if the lord had intended us to have equal rights to work he wouldnt have created men and women” - patrick jenkin social services minister 1987
men are the victims of an impulse which is one of the most destructive of human urges, and the true cayse of rape, obscenity and lust - scruton 1983
“wogs smell like six month old shit;pakis smell like curry which has been mixed with the shit and piss; their breath smells like the local fucking sewers” - young girl
authoritarian personality
overly deferential to those in authority whilst hostile towards those percieved as inferior
- associated with a very conventional value system in which right and wrong are clear and distinct
realistic group conflict theory
suggests prejudice occurs from outside us and is reflected into us
- attitudes reflect the objective interests of the ingroup. two implicit assumptions
- if the interests of two groups coincide, then relations between groups will be harmonious
- if there is a conflict of interests between two groups then relations between groups will be hostile
the minimal group paradigm
tajfel et al 1971
- a scientific attempt to create an empty enviroment where researchers could then systematically add variables that would elecit discrimination
- people tend to give more money to in group rather than out group even if you dont know who is in your group
- research shows people show discrimination against those who belong to different groups from themselves (mullen et al 1992)
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