Social Psychology Flashcards
attitude
cognition, beliefs, feelings, & behavioral predisposition
consistency theories
people prefer consistency & will change or resist changing attitudes based on this preference
Fritz Heider’s balance theory
- person whom we’re talking about
- some other person
- thing, idea, or some other person
balance exists when all 3 fit together harmoniously.
no balance = stress
Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory
the conflict that you feel when your attitudes are not in synch with your behaviors
how can dissonance be reduced?
by changing attitude so it’s consistent with behavior
free-choice dissonance
person makes a choice between several desirable alternatives
post-decisional dissonance
dissonance that emerges after a choice
spreading of alternatives
approach to reducing dissonance by accentuating negatives or positives; reduces inconsistency
forced-compliance dissonance
individual forced into behaving in manner that is inconsistent w/ his or her beliefs
Festinger & Carlsmith experiment
given $1 or $20 to lie; $1 showed greater enjoyment
attitude change occurs when behavior is induced with ____ pressure
minimum
minimal justification effect
when behavior can be justified by means of external inducements, no need to change internal cognitions. when external justification is minimal, you need to reduce your dissonance by changing internal cognitions
Daryl Bem’s self-perception theory
people infer what their attitudes are based upon observation of their own behavior
Ex: “I guess I like brown bread because I’m always eating it.”
overjustification effect
if you reward people for doing something they already like doing, they might stop liking it
Carl Hovland’s model
attitude change as a process of communicating a message w/ the intent to persuade someone
Carl Hovland’s model 3 parts
- communicator
- communication
- situation
sleeper effect
over time, persuasive impact of high credibility source decreased
persuasive impact of low-credibility source increased
two-sided messages
contain arguments for & against position; used for persuasion since it seems “balanced”
Petty & Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood Model of Persuasion
two routes to persuasion:
- central
- peripheral
central route to persuasion
issue very important to us, strong arguments work better
peripheral
issue not that important; strength of argument doesn’t matter that much
how, by whom, & surroundings matter more
analogy of inoculation
medical inoculation works by exposing body to weakened viruses: strong enough to trigger a response, but not so strong as to overwhelm the body’s resistance
inoculation theory
expose someone to weakened counterarguments, triggering process of counter-arguing which eventually confers resistance to later, stronger persuasive messages
cultural truism
beliefs that are seldom questioned; vulnerable for attack; no practice defending them
refused counterarguments
how he inoculated people against attacks
- presented arguments against truisms, refuted arguments; this motivates people to practice defending their beliefs
belief perseverance
under certain conditions, people will hold beliefs even after those beliefs have been shown false
reactance
if you try too hard to persuade someone, that person will choose to believe the opposite of your position
Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory
we are drawn to affiliate b/c of a tendency to evaluate ourselves in relationship to other people
- need for self-evaluation becomes linked to need to affiliate
Stanley Schachter
greater anxiety leads to greater desire to affiliate
reciprocity hypothesis
we tend to like people to indicate that they like us and vice versa
gain-loss principle
an evaluation that changes will have more of an impact than an evaluation that remains constant
(we’ll like someone more if their liking for us has increased)
social exchange theory
assumes that person weighs the rewards and costs of interacting w/ one another; attempt to maximize rewards & minimize costs
equity theory
consider not only our own costs & rewards, but also costs & rewards of other person
want the ratios to be equal
need complementarity
opposites attract; people choose relationships so they satisfy each other’s needs
attractiveness stereotype
tendency to attribute positive qualities & desirable characteristics to attractive people
spatial proximity
people prefer people who live closer
mere exposure hypothesis
the more you see something, the more you like it
helping behavior
includes altruistic motivations, but also includes behaviors that may be motivated by egoism or selfishness
altruism
person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to himself or herself
bystander intervention
people see something happening and don’t do anything about it
social influence
reason for bystander effect
other people don’t do anything, so you don’t do anything
diffusion of responsibility
reason for bystander effect
the more people present, the less likelihood that any individual will offer help
empathy
ability to vicariously experience emotions of another; strong influence on helping behavior
Batson’s empathy-altruism model
when faced with situations in which others may need help, people might feel distress and/or empathy
people who report more empathy than distress are more likely to help out regardless of easy or difficult escape condition
frustration-aggression hypothesis
possible explanation for aggressive behavior; when people are frustrated, they act aggressively
Bandura’s social learning theory
aggression is learned through modeling (direct observation) or through reinforcement
Sherif’s autokinetic effect experiment
if you stare at a point of light in a room that is otherwise completely dark, light will appear to move
used in an experiment to show that people conform to the group (tend to say what others say)
Solomon Asch’s conformity study
with no pressure to conform, researchers found strong tendency for subjects to conform to incorrect responses
comparing lengths of lines: people yield to group pressure and choose incorrect line
Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment
made participants shock Mr. Wallace every time he answered a question incorrectly; shock got stronger, reaction got stronger
result: drive to obey was stronger than drive not to hurt someone against his will
foot-in-door effect
demonstrates compliance w/ a small request increases likelihood of compliance w/ larger request
door-in-the-face effect
people who refuse large initial request are more likely to agree to a later smaller request
Clark & Clark doll preference study
majority of white & black children preferred white doll
- later showed black children hold positive views of their own ethinicity
primacy effect
first impressions are more important than subsequent impressions
recency effect
most recent information we have about individual is most important in forming impression
attribution theory
focuses on tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior
- people are natural psychologists
dispositional causes
those that relate to the attitudes & personality characteristics of the individual
(part of attribution theory)
situational causes
external; relate to features of the surroundings
part of attribution theory
fundamental attribution error
general bias towards dispositional attributions
part of attribution theorY
Halo effect
tendency to allow general impression about person to influence other, more specific evaluations about person
M.J. Lerner’s belief in just world
strong belief in just world increases likelihood of victim blaming since such a world view denies possibility of innocent victims
Theodore Newcomb study
college makes people liberal (shows group effects)
proxemics
the study of how individuals space themselves in relation to others
(cultural norms that govern how far away we stand from people we’re speaking to)
Zajonc
presence of others increases arousal & enhances emission of dominant responses
social loafing
tendency for people to put forth less effort when part of a group than when acting individually
Philip Zimbardo & anonymity
people are more likely to commit antisocial acts when they feel anonymous within a social environment since when a person is anonymous, there’s diminished restraint of unacceptable behavior
Stanford prison simulation
had students act as either prisoners or guards…people went cray
deindividuation
loss of self-awareness & personal identity
groupthink
tendency of decision-making groups to strive for consensus by not considering discordant information
risky shift
group decisions are riskier than the average of the individual choices
value hypothesis
risky shift occurs in situations in which riskiness is culturally valued
group polarization
leading explanation; tendency for group discussion to enhance group’s initial tendencies towards riskiness or caution
leadership & communication
people who communicate more are seen more as leaders
Kurt Lewin
manipulated leadership styles in after-school program
autocractic
hostile, aggressive, dependent on leader, greatest work quantity
democratic
more satisfying, cohesive, strong motivation & interest
laissez faire
less efficient, less organized, less satisfying
cooperation
person acts together for their mutual benefit so that all can obtain a goal
competition
person acts for his or her individual benefit so that he or she can obtain goal that has limited availability
prisoner’s dilemma
maximum gain: if choose to cooperate, other person competes
lose the most: if he or she competes, other chooses to cooperate
Robber’s cave experiment
made two cabin groups compete & hate each other; social events failed to decrease hostilities
superordinate goals
best obtained through intergroup cooperation; joint effort on these superordinate goals dramatically improved intergroup relations
(result of Robber’s cave experiment)
