Social Psychology Flashcards
Norman Triplett
First study of social psych
people perform better on familiar tasks when in presence of others than when alone
Who published first textbooks in social psych
1908
William McDougall and EH Ross
Who showed that the course of a conversation changes dramatically based upon feedback (approval) from others
Verplank
1950s
Reinforcement Theory
behavior is motivated by anticipated rewards
Social Learning Theorists
Challenged reinforcement
Albert Bandura - behavior by imitation
Role Theory
people are aware of the social roles they are expected to fill, much of their observable behavior can be attributed to adopting those roles
Consistency Theories
people prefer consistency and will change/resist changing attitudes based upon preference. Inconsistencies are viewed as stimuli or irritants, and are often resolved by changing attitudes.
Fritz Heider’s Balance Theory
Consistency theory
Triad POX, in order to balance, no disagreements. the -/+ must balance evenly
Leon Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Consistency Theory
Attitudes not in sync with behavior - dissonance
Free-choice dissonance
where you make a choice between alternatives (have to give something up).
Dissonance that emerges after a choice
post-decisional dissonance
spreading of alternatives
reduce dissonance
ex: case western had cold weather
Tulane has a nice catholic center
Forced-compliance dissonance
force to behave inconsistently with values
ex: eat dinner then dessert
Festinger and Carlsmith experiment
Boring task, given $20 or $1 to tell confederate that it’s fun experiment, but $1 actually think it’s interesting (less justification for why you lie)
Minimal (insufficient) justification effect
When behavior is justified by reward (ex: smoke a cigarette, I give you $10,000) no need to change internal cognition
Does pressure to change attitudes work?
- If pressured to do/say something contrary to his/her privately held attitudes, tendency to change attitude
- Greater pressure to comply = less change. Attitude change if behavior induced with minimal pressure.
Daryl Bem’s Self-Perception Theory
when attitudes are weak/ambiguous, you observe your behavior
I eat strawberries so I must like them
no discomfort/dissonance
Over justification effect
if you reward someone for something they like doing, they might stop liking it
Carl Hovland- attitude change and persuasion
more likely to be persuaded when
- Credible
- Expert
- Trustworthy
- Argue against self interest
Sleeper effect
High credible impact decreases, low credible source increases. over time, less or more persuasive impact
Two-sided messages
contain arguments for and against a position
Petty and Cacioppo’s Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
- Central Route- issue important to us, need strong arguments
- Peripheral Route- how, by whom, in what surroundings argument presented (we don’t care much about this issue)
William McGuire’s analogy of inoculation
Attack of beliefs like attack on body. Need practice defending.
Cultural Truisms
Refuted counterarguments
Cultural Truisms
beliefs that are seldom attacked, thus vulnerable to attack
Refuted counterarguments
inoculation against cultural truisms
present argument, then counterargument
Belief Perseverance
hold beliefs even after shown to be false
especially if it’s your belief that you’ve defended
Reactance
rebellion against social pressure
if you try really hard to get someone to behave a certain way, the person will choose to belief the opposite of your position
Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory
we affiliate because we evaluate ourselves in relation to others.
less similarities, less tendencies to make comparisons
we change to match the group
Stanley Schachter’s
Greater need to compare abilities/opinions, greater desire to affiliate.
Greater anxiety = greater desire to affiliate
anxious people like anxious people
Reciprocity Hypothesis
we like those who like us
we dislike those who dislike us
Aronson and Linder: Gain-loss principle
evaluations that change have more of an impact than evaluations that stay constant.
(like someone more if their like for us has increased and vis versa)
Social Exchange Theory
person weights rewards/costs of interacting with another.
Maximize reward, minimize cost
Equity theory
in social interaction, own cost/reward and the others. If we’re getting less out of the relationship, perceived inequality
Correlation between affiliation and
similarity
Need complementarity
people choose relationships so they can mutually satisfy other’s needs (opposites)
However, even complementary relationships have similarities
Attractiveness stereotype
attribute positive qualities to physically attractive people
Spatial proximity
closer you are, the more attractive you are. increases intensity of initial interactions
Mere Exposure Hypothesis
Familiarity.
Repeated exposure to stimulus increase chance you’ll like it
Robert Zajonc
Altruism vs. Helping Behavior
Altruism- person’s intent is to benefit someone else at the cost to herself
Helping Behavior- altruistic motivations, but also behaviors motivated by egoism or selfishness
