Social psychology Flashcards
Norman Triplett
Published first known social psych study
Studied competition: people perform better on familiar tasks in the presence of others
William McDougall
published one of the first textbooks on social psych
EH Ross
published one of the first textbooks on social psych
William Verplank
Studied how social approval influences behavior
Developed reinforcement theory, along with the behaviorists
reinforcement theory
behavior is motivated by anticipated rewards
social learning theory
behavior is learned through imitation
Albert Bandura
main proponent of social learning theory (that behavior is learned through imitation)
role theory
social behavior can be attributed to people’s fulfillment of social roles
cognitive theory
social behavior is influenced by perception, judgment, memories, and decision-making
balance theory:
What is it about? Who developed it? What are the main points?
A theory about attitudes
Developed by Fritz Heider
In a social situation, people strive for balance in their attitudes. This means they tend to want to agree with people they like and disagree with people they dislike. If this isn’t the case, they will change their attitudes toward people or things in order to achieve balance.
Heider depicts this with a triangle showing the person being considered, another person with whom they interact, and the attitude.
Leon Festinger
proponent of cognitive dissonance theory, social comparison theory
cognitive dissonance
Discomfort that arises when attitudes and behaviors are not consistent. Most likely resolved by a change in attitude, though the more difficult change of behavior would also resolve it.
free-choice dissonance
Occurs when someone chooses between multiple desirable alternatives. You can feel dissonance at not choosing a desirable alternative, even though the option you did choose is better.
spreading of alternatives
An approach to reducing free-choice cognitive dissonance. The person will either devalue what they didn’t choose, or exaggerate the value of what they did choose, or both.
Forced-compliance dissonance
dissonance that arises when someone is forced to do something inconsistent with their attitudes
Festinger & Carlsmith
Studied cognitive dissonance (forced-compliance)
Paid participants $1 or $20 to lie about a boring task being really enjoyable. Those who got $1 experienced dissonance and convinced themselves that they enjoyed the task more.
minimum justification effect
Relates to cognitive dissonance. When a sufficient external justification is found, there is no need to modify internal attitudes.
Example: The participants in the boring task study who got $20 could use the money to explain their lying. Those who only got $1 could not.
Two main principles of cognitive dissonance theory
If a person is pressured to do something inconsistent with their attitudes, there is a tendency for them to change their attitudes.
The greater the pressure to comply, the less the person’s attitude will change. Attitude change generally occurs when the behavior is induced with minimum pressure, because the behavior then can’t be explained by external justifications.
Daryl Bem
developed the self-perception theory of attitudes
self-perception theory (of attitudes)
When your attitudes about something are ambiguous, you observe your behavior to learn about them.
overjustification effect
If you reward someone for something they enjoy, they stop enjoying it as much.
An implication of self-perception theory.
Carl Hovland
Studied attitude change. Explained attitude change as a process of communicating with an intent to persuade another person.
sleeper effect
People tend to forget the sources of information on which they base their attitudes. This means that the persuasive power of credible sources decreases over time, while the power of less credible sources increases.
Petty and Cacioppo
Proponents of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
elaboration likelihood model of persuasion
Suggests two routes to persuasion: the central and the peripheral
Central route to persuasion
Think of Kahneman’s System 2: we evaluate arguments by closely following them and generating counter-arguments. Strong arguments are more likely to work this way. We use this route when we care about the thing being discussed.
Peripheral route to persuasion
Think of Kahneman’s System 1: We judge an argument based on easier cues, rather than its merit. Example: who said it and how they said it. We use this route when we don’t care much or can’t pay close attention.
William McGuire
Came up with the inoculation theory of persuasion
How easy is it to persuade people away from “cultural truisms?”
Cultural truisms are seldom questioned, so people don’t have practice defending them. This makes them vulnerable to attack. Persuading someone away from a cultural truism could be easier than one might guess.
belief perseverance
People can hold beliefs even after they are shown to be false.
For example, if someone is asked to justify the belief that chocolate causes acne, then discovers that chocolate does not cause acne, they are likely to continue to believe it anyway.
reactance
If you try too hard to persuade someone, they may believe the opposite of your position.
Social comparison theory
Three principles:
- People prefer to evaluate themselves by objective means, but compare themselves to others when that isn’t possible.
- People compare themselves with others who are similar.
- When a discrepancy in opinions or abilities is found, people try to line up with the group. The need to evaluate oneself is linked to the need to affiliate with others.
Stanley Schachter
Discovered that people feeling greater anxiety are more likely to seek contact with others - especially other anxious people.
Reciprocity hypothesis
We like those who like us and dislike those who dislike us.
Aronson & Linder
Came up with the gain-loss principle, which is an expansion on the reciprocity hypothesis.
Gain-loss principle (of reciprocity)
We will like someone even more if their liking for US has increased over time. The reverse is true when someone dislikes us more over time.
Social exchange theory
Assumes that people weigh the costs and rewards of interacting with others
Equity theory (of social interaction)
When interacting with others, we weigh the costs and rewards not only for ourselves, but also for the other person. A relationship in which one person gets more out of it is uncomfortable.
Need complementarity (in social interactions)
“Opposites attract” - People choose relationships so that they mutually satisfy each other’s needs.
Robert Zajonc
Proponent of the mere exposure hypothesis, which states that people like things more once they have been exposed to them - even if they weren’t aware of it.
Also studied social facilitation
altruism
Helping behavior which intends to benefit others at a cost to oneself.
John Darley & Bibb Latane
Famous for bystander intervention research
Why did no one help Kitty Genovese?
Diffusion of responsibility - they all assumed someone else would help. The more people present, the less likely that any particular individual will help.
Social influence - they saw no one else acting, and that must mean nothing is wrong.
pluralistic ignorance
a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but go along with it because they assume, incorrectly, that most others accept it. No one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone else believes.
Batson’s empathy-altruism model
An attempt to explain the relationship between empathy and helping behavior.
Posits that people feel either distress or empathy when seeing someone in need, and either can motivate them to help.
Research suggests that empathy, rather than distress, is more likely to motivate helping behavior: someone who is distressed can also relieve that feeling by fleeing the situation.
modeling
learning through direct observation
Bobo doll experiment
Conducted by Albert Bandura
Children observed adults either playing peacefully or aggressing toward a big Bobo doll. The children were then made to feel frustrated and left in the room with the doll. Those who observed aggression toward the doll were more likely to mistreat it.
Stanley Milgram
Researcher who did the obedience study with electric shocks in the 60s.
Muzafer Sherif
Studied conformity using the autokinetic effect
Conducted the Robber’s Cave experiment, together with Carolyn Wood Sherif
autokinetic effect - What is it, how has it been used in studies?
If you stare at a point of light in a dark room, the point appears to move.
Muzaver Sherif used it to study conformity. He had subjects estimate how much a point of light moved (it was, of course, an illusion). He then brought subjects together and had them make a group estimate. People’s estimates conformed to the group.
Solomon Asch
Known for studies on conformity.
He put participants in a room with confederates and asked them to judge the lengths of lines. Even when confederates gave an obviously wrong answer, the subjects conformed to it at least once 75% of the time.
conformity
yielding to group pressure (when there is no specific demand to do so)
Results of Milgram’s obedience experiments, including his three follow-ups.
At Yale, each of 40 subjects administered at least 300V (well after the confederate receiving “shocks” screamed in agony and asked to be freed). 65% continued to administer the voltages marked XXX. Thus, they were all willing to harm someone at the experimenter’s command, and 65% were completely obedient.
Milgram himself was surprised at the results and used them to explain what happened in Nazi Germany.
When the experiment was done in a run-down building, he found the same results.
When Milgram had two confederates defy the orders, 90% of subjects followed their lead.
When the participants did not directly administer shocks, 37 of 40 went until the end.
compliance
a change in behavior that occurs as a result of situational or interpersonal pressure.
foot-in-the-door effect
compliance with a small request increases readiness to comply with a larger one
door-in-the-face effect
people who refuse a large initial request are more likely to comply with a smaller one
Clark & Clark
studied self-concept among black and white children using the doll preference task
doll preference task
Used to study self-concept among ethnically diverse children.
In the original version, kids are shown a black and a white doll and asked questions about how they feel about the doll. Originally, everyone preferred the white doll. However, follow-up experiments have shown that black children have a more positive self-perception than this would suggest.
social cognitive theory
Developed by Albert Bandura.
self-efficacy theory
Developed by Albert Bandura, part of his social cognitive theory.
Self-efficacy an individual’s belief in his ability to organize and execute a particular pattern of behavior.
When it is stronger, people exert more effort on challenging tasks.
primacy effect
First impressions are more important than subsequent impressions. This phenomenon crops up in diverse circumstances.
Recency effect
The most recent information we have about someone is more important in forming our impressions. This phenomenon crops up in diverse circumstances.
attribution theory
the tendency for people to infer the causes of others’ behavior. We can infer dispositional or situational causes. We tend to prefer dispositional ones (fundamental attribution error).
Fritz Heider
Developed balance theory, attribution theory
Halo effect
The tendency to allow a general impression about someone influence more specific evaluations. Can be positive or negative.
Example: I like Jill, therefore she must be a hard worker.
M.J. Lerner
Studied the tendency of individuals to believe in a just world
Theodore Newcomb
Studied the influence of group norms. He found that young women at a (women’s) college in 1936 became more liberal each year, despite mostly coming from Republican families.
Edward Hall
Suggested that there are cultural norms that govern how far away we stand from the people we’re speaking to. These vary between countries.
proxemics
The study of how individuals space themselves in relation to others (e.g. how far apart to stand when talking).
Robert Zajonc
Argued that the presence of others increases arousal, which in turn enhances “dominant” responses. (see social facilitation)
Dominant here means “most likely to happen.” A new dancer - prone to mistakes - will make more mistakes around others. An expert dancer, on the other hand, will show enhanced performance.
Social loafing
People tend to work less hard in a group than individually.
Philip Zimbardo
Studied anonymity in social environments. He found that people are more likely to be antisocial when anonymous.
Conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which reflective glasses and uniform clothing made the guards somewhat anonymous.
Key results of the Stanford Prison Experiment
The guards, who were instructed to maintain law and order without physical violence, became crueler as the experiment continued.
One prisoner had to be released before 36 hours because of a mental breakdown. More prisoners had breakdowns and the experiment was ended after six days.
This was all explained by deindividuation - the roles that the participants took on superceded their individual identities.
deindividuation
a loss of self-awareness and individual identity
Irving Janis
Studied group decision-making, and how it goes wrong. Came up with the idea of groupthink.
groupthink
the tendency of groups to strive for consensus and ignore discordant information. Can lead to very bad decisions.
Risky shift
Group decisions are riskier than the average of individual choices.
Probably a version of group polarization - groups tend to develop extreme opinions in general, compared to the average of individuals.
value hypothesis (of group decision-making)
Risky shift particularly occurs in situations in which riskiness is culturally valued, e.g. business situations
James Stoner
Studied risky shift. Found that it does not always occur; sometimes groups became more cautious than individuals.
group polarization
group discussion tends to enhance a group’s initial tendencies, e.g. toward risk or caution.
Kurt Lewin
Studied different leadership styles in boys’ after-school programs. Laissez-faire produced the worst results.
Also: B = f(P, E)
Prisoner’s dilemma
A problem in which two people have to choose whether to compete or cooperate. If they both cooperate, they maximize the positive outcome for everyone. But if one competes and the other does not, the “selfish” person gets an even more positive outcome, and the cooperator is disadvantaged. If they both compete, they get the worst outcome.
Robber’s cave experiment
By Muzafer Sherif.
Two groups of boys went to camp and had a week each to bond. Then, they learned of each other and had to compete. Hostilities arose between the groups, but were later eliminated by cooperation towards a superordinate goal.
superordinate goal
Goals best obtained through inter-group cooperation
social facilitation
During training, the presence of others impairs performance. After mastery, the presence of others enhances performance.
