Social Psychology Flashcards
self-perception theory
internal cues are weak or difficult to interpret, people make inferences about their own attitudes and feelings in the same way they make inferences about others - by observing their own behavior and the situation in which the behavior takes place (ephinephrine studies)
cognitive arousal theory of emotion
the experience of emotion depends on a combination of physiological arousal and a cognitive explanation of that arousal
overjustification hypothesis
providing an external reward to people for performing an intrinsically rewarding activity reduces their intrinsic interest in that activity
self-verification theory
people seek confirmation of their self-concept regardless of whether their self-concept is positive or negative
self-monitoring
tendency to monitor and adjust one’s behavior to fit the situation; continuous variable, high to low in self-monitoring
self-handicapping
purposely sabotaging one’s performance in order to save face, or to provide an excuse for one’s failures
confirmation bias
tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that verifies and strengthens one’s existing beliefs; pseudopatient study by Rosenhan; self-fulfilling prophecy
Barnum effect
tendency to accept vague descriptions (horoscope, psychic readings) as accurate
Illusory correlation
tendency to overestimate the relationship between events or other variables that are unrelated or slightly related
Gambler’s fallacy
false belief that the likelihood of a random event is affected by or can be predicted from previous independent events (ie landing on black after a long run of red)
relationship-enhancing attributions
attribute positive actions to internal, stable factors, and attribute negative actions to external, specific factors
relationship-diminishing attributions
attribute negative actions to internal, stable, global, attribute positive to external, specific factors
Fundamental attribution error
in understanding others’ behavior, one underestimates situational factors, and overestimates dispositional factors
actor-observer effect
tendency to attribute others’ behaviors to dispositional factors, and own behavior to situational factors
self-serving bias
people tend to attribute their failures to situational factors but successes to dispositional factors; exception is those with low self-esteem or depression
primacy effect (impression)
information presented first usually has the greatest impact on impression formation, even when contradictory information is presented later
trait negativity bias
when evaluating others, people often weigh negative information more heavily than positive information
anxiety and affiliation
desire to affiliate in anxiety-arousing situation, possibly due to social comparison or cognitive clarity
affiliation and extroversion/introversion
- extroverts are more likely to seek affiliation
- extroverts: low arousal level and seek interaction to increase arousal to optimal level
- introverts: high arousal level and avoid interactions to maintain a comfortable level of arousal
affiliation and gender
- females tend to prefer dyads
- males prefer larger groups
mere exposure effect
repeated contact with someone is sufficient to increase attraction, possibly due to familiarity and safety; can lead to dislike and contempt when initial contacts are unpleasant
gain-loss theory
predicts that evaluations that change over time have a stronger impact on liking than do evaluations that are consistently positive or negative
sexual attraction
- men prioritize physical attractiveness (evol: youth, health, fertility)
- women prioritize status and resources (evol: offspring resources)
social exchange theory
relationship will continue as long as both partners believe that the benefits of the relationship exceed its costs
equity theory
a person is more likely to be satisfied with a relationship and to maintain it when the person believes that his input-outcome ratio is similar to that of partner
emotions-in-relationships model
a person experiences strong emotions within a relationship when a partner’s actions violate the person’s expectations and affect progress towards a goal, either positively or negatively
Four horsemen of the apocalypse
- criticism, defensiveness, contempt, stonewalling
- contempt: single best predictor of divorce
- stable relationships: 5:1 positive: negative interactions
- 1:1 positive: negative leads to divorce
1964 Case of Kitty Genovese
bystander apathy: diffusion of responsibility, social comparison, evaluation apprehension
stimulus overload
urban dwellers are constantly bombarded by sights and sounds and consequently tune out the environment to prevent overwhelming themselves
Prisoner’s dilemma
- non-zero-sum game: one player’s wine does not result in the other player’s loss
- players are more likely to cooperate if they can communicate, when the importance of cooperation is stated at the beg of the game, when players play repeatedly
identifiability
the extent to which one person can be differentiated from another
frustration-aggression hypothesis
- original definition: frustration always leads to aggression, aggression is always preceded by frustration
- modifications: frustration may lead to a number of responses including aggression, frustration creates a readiness to act by eliciting feelings of anger or hostility but aggression occurs in the presence of an aggressive cue.
hostile expectation bias
an expectation that others are likely to act aggressively, which causes viewers to act more aggressively themselves (applicable to violence in movies, tv, video games, porn)
factors that affect aggression
- deindividuation: loss of sense of self-awareness that leads to decreased ability monitor and regulate one’s own behavior, reduced ability to think rationally, and loosening of constraints
- social roles
- gender: females more likely to engage in relational aggression, males more likely to engage in physical aggression
- catharsis: performing or witnessing aggression reduces a person’s inclination to engage in future aggression - this is false
- temperature: curvilinear correlation between temp and assaults up to 85 degrees and decreasing at higher temps
prejudice v discrimination v stereotypes
prejudice: negative attitudes and feelings toward people based solely on their membership in a particular group
discrimination: negative actions directed toward people due to their group membership
stereotypes: beliefs about members of a group that are overgeneralized, inaccurate, and/or resistant to change
Robber’s Cave Study
- 11 and 12 year old boys divided into groups with different tasks
- best technique to reduce conflict: superordinate goals that could only be accomplished when groups worked together cooperatively
Contemporary racism: aversive, symbolic, ambivalent
- aversive racism: combination of a belief in egalitarianism and unacknowledged negative feelings toward members of minority groups; these people deny being prejudiced but avoid interacting with minorities
- symbolic racism: combines negative racial affect with the belief that members of minorities violate traditional conservative values such as individual responsibility and self-reliance; these people reject overt forms of discrimination but do not support policies such as affirmative action and welfare
- ambivalent racism: not overtly prejudiced and recognize that there are racial inequalities; believe in meritocracy and are willing to accept different outcomes for different groups because they believe that the outcomes are due to differences in taking advantage of available opportunities
contact hypothesis
direct contact between members of hostile groups can reduce prejudice and discrimination as long as: contact includes interactions between individual members of groups, members have equal status, members can work together to achieve mutual goals, cooperation and equality are supported by social norms or authority figures
jigsaw classroom
Aronson’s cooperative learning strategy that required students in newly desegregated schools to work together - less prejudiced, liked school more, higher self-esteem
ADDRESSING
age, developmental and acquired disabilities, religion, ethnicity, SES, indigenous heritage, national origin, gender
group conformity studies
- Sherif’s autokinetic effect
- Asch lines
- informational influence: most likely to occur when people use others as a source of info because task is ambiguous or difficult
- normative influence: occur when people go along with group pressure for acceptance or to avoid criticism
Factors that affect conformity
group size, unanimity, ambiguity, cohesiveness, personality (low self-esteem, low intelligence, high need for approval, authoritarianism)
idiosyncrasy credits
to influence the majority, must have history of conforming to group norms, contributing something special to group, be group leader
6 bases of social power
reward power: person’s ability to provide desired outcomes
coercive power: to provide unwanted outcomes
legitimate power: role or status as authority
referent power: desire of others to identify with the person, their respect, and attraction
expert power: knowledge, experience
informational power: access to info
3 reactions to social influence
compliance, identification, internalization
psychological reactance
a person will attempt to reestablish freedom by acting in a way opposite to what has been requested
theory of planned behavior
behavior is preceded by a behavioral intention which is affected by: attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms related to behavior, perceived behavioral control
social judgment theory
people are more likely to be persuaded by a message when the position it advocates is in their latitude of acceptance than latitudes of rejection (unacceptable positions) or noncommitment (positions neither unacceptable or acceptable)
elaboration likelihood model
a persuasive message can change a person’s attitude through peripheral route (cues unrelated to message, shortcuts) or central route (careful processing of message)
stages of group development
forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
group tasks
additive task: group product is sum of contributions
complementary task: members contribute uniquely different tasks
conjunctive task: performance as good as least competent member
disjunctive task: performance as good as most competent member
compensatory task: average of all input
social facilitation vs inhibition
social facilitation: presence of others improves performance
social inhibition: presence of others decreases performance
intrapersonal conflict
approach-approach conflict: a person must choose between two equally desirable goals
avoidance-avoidance conflict: a person must choose between two equally undesirable goals
approach-avoidance: one goal with both desirable and undesirable qualities
double approach-avoidance: two goals with both desirable and undesirable qualities
Zeigarnik effect
predicts that people tend to remember uncompleted tasks better than completed tasks
Personal space
- more prevalent for North Americans, British, Scandinavians; men with men
Health belief model
perceived susceptibility (to illness), perceived severity (to illness), perceived benefits (to behavior), perceived barriers (to behavior)
hardiness
personality style characterized by personal control, commitment, challenge