social psychology Flashcards
Explain the difference between personal and situational attributions, and the information humans use to determine the attributions we make.
attributions- are judgements about the causes of our own and other people’s behaviour and outcomes.
eg. was you exam mark due to hard work and ability, or was it just an easy test? did bills speed because he is aggressive driver or because he is driving his pregnant wife to the hospital?
personal attributes; infer that people`s internal dispositions, traits or characteristics cause their behaviour (eg bills sped because he is an aggressive person or exam mark reflects ability)
situational attribution infer that aspect of the situation, context or environment cause a behaviour (bill sped because he was in a hurry to transport his pregnant wife to the hospital/ you got high mark because test was easy)
people use consistency, distinctiveness and consensus,
e.g Australia day disrespectful.
First, is Kim’s response consistent over time? If you ask Kim
again 2 weeks later and she still says it’s insensitive to celebrate Australia Day, then
consistency is high. Second, is her response distinctive? If Kim dislikes celebrating only
Australia Day, then distinctiveness is high; if she thinks that celebrating all public holidays is
insensitive, then distinctiveness is low. Finally, how do other people respond? If other people
agree with Kim that celebrating Australia Day is insensitive, then consensus is high, but if
they disagree with her, then consensus is low.
illustrates, when consistency, distinctiveness and consensus are all high,
we are likely to make a situational attribution: celebrating Australia Day is insensitive. But
when consistency is high and the other two factors are low, we make a personal attribution:
perhaps Kim is overly critical. Humans, however, are often not so logical. We often take
mental shortcuts to solve problems (known as heuristics ) and make snap judgements that
bias our attributions.
Outline the attributional biases we use (and why we use them).
-fundamental attribution error : we underestimate the impact of the situation
and overestimate the role of personal factors when explaining other people’s behaviour
eg pg. 10
Indeed, when it comes to explaining our own behaviour, we often make attributions that
protect or enhance our self-esteem by displaying a
self-serving bias , the tendency to make
personal attributions for successes and situational attributions for fail.
NOTE:
depressed people often display the opposite pattern—taking too little credit for successes and
too much credit for failures—which serves to keep them depressed.
Cultural attribution;
Culture influences how we perceive our social world.
In one study,
participants of varying ages from India and the United States attributed causality for other
people’s behaviour shows, with increasing age, Indians
made more situational attributions, whereas Americans made more personal attributions.
Evaluate the factors that impact on the attributions we make about ourselves and others.
Seeing what we want to see:
A stereotype , which is a generalised belief about a group or category of people,
represents a powerful type of schema
creating what we expect to see;
Seeing what we expect to see is only one way in which we confirm our initial impressions.
Usually without conscious awareness, a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when people’s
expectations lead them to act toward others in a way that brings about the expected
behaviours, thereby confirming their original impression eg. you expect George to be cold and aloof, then perhaps when you meet him you smile less and
stand farther away than you would have if I had told you that George was a great guy
Recognise the factors that influence our expectations of others in regard to
impression formation.
primacy effect refers to our tendency to attach more
importance to the initial information that we learn about a person. First, we tend to be most
alert to information we receive initially. Second, this initial information may shape how we
perceive subsequent information. example pg.14
NOTE: We seem to have a remarkable capacity for
forming snap judgements based on small amounts of initial information.
Primacy effects decrease, and recency effects
(giving greater weight to the most recent information) may occur—when we are asked to
avoid making snap judgements, reminded to consider the evidence carefully and made to feel
accountable for our judgements
Evaluate the factors that impact on whether our attitudes influence our behaviour.
Attitude and attitude change:
An attitude is a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object or concept.
people’s attitudes strongly guide their behaviour
-our intention to engage in a behaviour is strongest when we
have a positive attitude toward that behaviour, when subjective norms (our perceptions of
what other people think we should do) support our attitudes and when we believe that the
behaviour is under our control eg. I have a positive attitude toward playing cricket, I have perceptions that other people like
cricket and are encouraging of me playing, and I have control over whether I play cricket.
Hence, my intention to engage in playing cricket is strong
Second, , attitudes have a greater influence on behaviour when we are aware of them and
when they are strongly held. eg. I am aware of my
strong liking for cricket, meaning this attitude has a stronger influence on my behaviour, that
is, to play cricket.
Third, general attitudes best predict general classes of behaviour, and specific attitudes best
predict specific behaviours. In my
cricket example, my liking for cricket may not predict my liking of all forms of cricket (I am
a traditionalist, after all); I much prefer test cricket to Twenty20 forms of cricket. Thus, my
liking for test match cricket may predict my behaviour of playing longer forms of cricket,
while avoiding the shorter formats
Evaluate the factors that impact on whether our behaviour influences our attitudes.
theory of cognitive dissonance , people strive for
consistency in their cognitions. When two or more cognitions contradict one another (such as
‘I am a truthful person; the task is boring’ and ‘I just lied to another student; I told them that
those boring tasks were interesting’), the person experiences an uncomfortable state of
tension, which Festinger calls cognitive dissonance, and becomes motivated to reduce this
dissonance. The theory predicts that to reduce the dissonance and restore a state of cognitive consistency, people will change one of their cognitions or add new cognitions. Participants
who received $20 could justify their behaviour by adding a new cognition—‘Who wouldn’t
tell a little lie for $20?’—and there was little reason for them to change their attitude toward
the boring tasks. Those who had lied for only $1 could not use this trivial monetary gain to
justify their behaviour. But if they could convince themselves that the tasks actually were
enjoyable, then they wouldn’t have been lying after all. Thus, they changed their attitude
about the task to bring it more in line with how they had behaved.
Behaviour that is inconsistent with one’s attitude is called counterattitudinal behaviour, and it
produces dissonance only if we perceive that our actions were freely chosen rather than
coerced. Freely chosen behaviours that produce foreseeable negative consequences or that
threaten our sense of self-worth are especially likely to arouse dissonance. Once the
behaviour occurs, people start to consider the meaning of what they have done, and this
produces dissonance
Self-perception If we see someone collecting money for a charity, we will likely assume
that this person has a positive attitude toward that charity. If we see someone exerting great
effort to achieve a goal, we will logically judge that the goal is important to that person. In
short, we infer what other people’s attitudes must be by watching how they behave.
pg 23
Explain how our attitudes can be changed through persuasion.
Persuasion is a fact of everyday life, and it represents the intersection of social thinking and
our next topic: social influence.
Communicator credibility —how believable we perceive the communicator to be—is often a key to effective persuasion.
The central route to persuasion occurs when
people think carefully about the message and are influenced because they find the arguments
compelling. The peripheral route to persuasion occurs when people do not scrutinise
the message but are influenced mostly by other factors such as a speaker’s attractiveness or a
message’s emotional appeal. Attitude change that results from the central route tends to last
longer and to predict future behaviour more successfully.
Distinguish between social norms and social roles, and consider how they influence behaviour.
Firstly; Social norms are shared expectations about how people should think, feel and behave;
they are the glue that binds social systems together. Some
norms are formal laws, but many—as illustrated by the preceding examples—are implicit and
unspoken. Such norms often regulate daily behaviour without our conscious awareness; we
take them for granted until they are violated.
A social role consists of a set of norms that characterises how people in a given social
position ought to behave. The social roles of ‘university student’, ‘lecturer’, ‘police officer’
and ‘spouse’ carry different sets of behaviour expectations
Social norms lose their invisibility not only when they are violated but also when we examine
behaviour across cultures and historical periods In doing so, we see that
many social customs that we take for granted as ‘normal’—from gender roles and children’s
peer relations to views about love, marriage and what constitutes an attractive body shape—
are not ‘normal’ when judged from other cultural or temporal perspectives
Determine how norms are formed, why people conform and the factors that influence conformity
Social norms lose their invisibility not only when they are violated but also when we examine
behaviour across cultures and historical periods. In doing so, we see that
many social customs that we take for granted as ‘normal’—from gender roles and children’s
peer relations to views about love, marriage and what constitutes an attractive body shape—
are not ‘normal’ when judged from other cultural or temporal perspectives. For example, in contemporary Western society, thin women and muscular men are
considered most attractive, probably due to the association with ‘good genes’ that will then
be passed on to any offspring. In contrast, societies in the past valued overweight partners, as
this was a sign of affluence; overweight people had excess food and money. Another example
is found in American and Australian marriage customs, where marriage is typically by
‘choice’ (if legally able to do so), whereas in other cultures, such as Indian culture, marriage
is typically by arrangement between families.
Norms can influence behaviour only if people conform to them. Without conformity—the
adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard—we would
have social chaos. At times we conform due to informational social influence , following
the opinions or behaviour of other people because we believe that they have accurate
knowledge and that what they are doing is right. We also may succumb to normative social i
nfluence , conforming to obtain the rewards that come from being accepted by other
people while at the same time avoiding their rejection pg 32
Explain why we are obedient to authority, and the factors that influence obedience.
most people—ordinary, decent citizens—can
be induced to follow orders from an authority figure they perceive as legitimate, even when
doing so contributes to harming an innocent person. During the Holocaust, obedience
was made easier because most of the personnel working at the concentration camps were
cogs in a horrendous machine: they didn’t pull the switch to flood the chambers with gas but
instead performed other tasks. Their victims also were ‘remote’ at the moment of their
murder. Further, to lessen concentration camp workers’ feelings of responsibility, Hitler’s
subordinate Heinrich Himmler told them in manipulative speeches that only he and Hitler
were personally responsible for what took place.
this research should heighten our responsibility to be aware of the pitfalls of blind obedience and prevent us from being so
smug or naïve as to feel that such events ‘could never happen here’
Recognise different compliance techniques.
The powerful norm of reciprocity involves the expectation that when others treat us well,
we should respond in kind. Thus, to get you to comply with a request, I can do something
nice for you now—such as an unsolicited favour—in the hope that you will feel pressure to
reciprocate later when I present you with my request
Now consider the door-in-the-face technique : a persuader makes a large request,
expecting you to reject it (you ‘slam the door’ in the persuader’s face), and then presents a
smaller request
Using the foot-in-the-door technique , a persuader gets you to comply with a small request first (getting the ‘foot in the door’) and later presents a larger request
With a final technique, lowballing , a persuader gets you to commit to some
action and then—before you actually perform the behaviour—he or she increases the ‘cost’
of that same behaviour
Explain how groups influence individual behaviour.
groups can both undermine and
enhance individual and overall performance. Moreover, in some cases, people are not always
attentive to the group;
Social loafing is the tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in
a group than when working alone
pg 48
Participants from individualistic cultures (e.g. Australia
and the United States) exhibit more social loafing than people from collectivistic cultures
(e.g. China, Japan, Taiwan), in which group goals are especially valued.
achieve a highly desired goal, some people may
engage in social compensation , working harder in a group than when alone to compensate for other members’ lower output.
It is, as long as the group is generally conservative to begin with. In such
cases, the group’s final opinion or attitude will likely be even more conservative. But if the
group members lean toward a liberal or risky viewpoint to begin with, the group’s decision
will tend to become more liberal or riskier. This principle is called group polarisation :
when a group of like-minded people discuss an issue, the ‘average’ opinion of group
members tends to become more extreme.49.
groupthink: the tendency of group members to suspend critical
thinking because they are striving to seek agreement.
-most likely to occur when a group is:
- is under high stress to reach a decision
-is insulated from outside input
-has a directive leader who promotes a personal agenda
-has high cohesiveness, reflecting a spirit of closeness and ability to work well together.
analysed newspaper
reports of incidents in which crowds were present when a person threatened to jump off a
building, in 10 of 21 cases the crowd had encouraged the person to jump. Why would people
in crowds act this way? -In crowds, people may experience deindividuation , a loss of individuality that leads to
disinhibited behaviour
Describe the factors that impact on attraction.
Proximity: People cannot develop a relationship unless they first meet, and proximity (nearness) is the
best predictor of who will cross paths with whom.
mere exposure effect : repeated exposure to a
stimulus typically increases our liking for it. No matter the stimuli—university classmates,
photographs of faces, novel brand names and so on—exposure generally enhances liking and
this occurs even when we are not consciously aware of those repeated exposures.
similarity: people are most often attracted to others who are similar to themselves. For
psychological attributes,
similarity of attitudes and values seems to matter the most. One reason we like people with similar attitudes is that they validate our
view of the world
Do opposites really
attract? At times, of course. But more often, opposites repel. When choosing potential friends
or mates, we typically screen out people who are dissimilar to us. And when dissimilar
people do form relationships, they tend not to last as long.
Attractiveness; It may be shallow and unfair, but most people seem drawn to beauty like moths to a flame.
Facial attractiveness: is ‘average’ beautiful? Given beauty’s power, what makes a face
physically attractive? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but within and across
cultures, people are seeing through similar eyes; their ratings of facial attractiveness agree
strongly.
average faces: One
reason that averaged faces seem more attractive is that they are more symmetrical and people
prefer facial symmetry
Halo effect: ; we
often assume that attractive people have more positive personality characteristics than
unattractive people.
Although we are attracted to ‘beautiful people’, romantic relationships typically reveal a matc
hing effect : we are most likely to have a partner whose level of physical attractiveness is
similar to our own
Budding relationships grow closer as people share more diverse and meaningful experiences. Self-disclosure—the sharing of innermost thoughts and feelings—
plays a key role. In friendships, dating relationships and marriages, more
extensive and intimate self-disclosure is associated with greater emotional involvement and
relationship satisfaction. This relation is reciprocal. Self-disclosure fosters intimacy and trust,
and intimacy and trust encourage self-disclosure.
Social exchange theory proposes that the course of a relationship is governed by
rewards and costs that the partners experience. Rewards include
companionship, emotional support and the satisfaction of other needs.
Costs may include the effort spent to maintain the relationship, arguments, conflicting
goals and so forth. The overall outcome (rewards minus costs) in a relationship can be positive or negative.
Research on ostracism (ignoring or excluding someone) suggests that there is more truth to
the phrase ‘rejection hurts’ than you might think. The real participants felt excluded and distressed, and neural activity
patterns in their cerebral cortex were ‘very similar to those found in studies of physical pain
. . . providing evidence that the experience . . . of social and physical pain share a common
neuroanatomical basis’ pg. 74
Differentiate between prejudice and discrimination.
Perhaps above all characteristics, ethnicity and gender matter the most in impression
formation. They are likely to be the first characteristics someone notices about you
and, like so many other personal qualities, can be the basis for prejudice and discrimination
Prejudice refers to a negative attitude toward people based on
their membership in a group. Thus we prejudge people—dislike them or hold negative beliefs
about them—simply because they are female or male, belong to one ethnic group or religion
rather than to another, are gay or straight and so on.
Discrimination refers to overt
behaviour that involves treating people unfairly based on the group to which they belong
Outline the difference between implicit and explicit prejudice, and note how they are measured.
explicit prejudice , which people express publicly,
implicit prejudice is hidden
from public view.
Many people intentionally hide their prejudices, expressing them only
when they feel it is safe or socially appropriate. In other cases, people may honestly believe
that they are not prejudiced but still show unconscious biases when tested in sophisticated
ways
We can use questionnaires to measure explicit prejudice, but how can we measure implicit
prejudice? Some researchers have found that subtle movements of the facial muscles involved
in smiling (and in some studies, in frowning) can be used to predict people’s biases toward
members of another ethnic group. But most often, measures of
implicit prejudice assess people’s reaction times at special cognitive tasks or their physiological responses, such as sweating.
