Social psychology and humor Flashcards
do people who are higher in their field underestimate or overestimate their performance
underestimate
cognitive dissonance
uncomfortable with inconsistencies in our own thoughts and behaviors, we are motivated to relieve this discomfort
two principles of social psychology
power of situation and self/other divide
power of situations
our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors are shaped by immediate social situation; pressure can override personality
self/other divide
our perception of other people is different than perception of ourselves
goal of milgram obedience experiment
had people increasingly shock other person if they did not remember the pair of words
see if authority of researcher could influence people by telling them they could not stop
how many people shocked the highest in the milgram experiment
over 50%
what would decrease the % of people administering lethal shock
seeing the person, someone with less authority
goal of good samaritan study
predict helping behavior in different time pressing situations
result of good samaritan study
increased hurry = less likely to help (10% from 63%)
group polarization
tendency for group to make decisions that are more extreme than the inclination inclination of its members
attitude polarization
where disagreements between 2 parties becomes more exaggerated after discussion
why do we create a vision that ourself is special
motivation (it feels good), informational (we have access to our thoughts and other people do not and they observe)
spotlight effect
we think people notice us more than they actually do (egocentric biases)
finding of saying no to requests: how many people do you needs to ask to get 3 people to let you use the phone
we think people will say no more often that they do (people help)
why do we think people will say no? what do we forget to consider?
we think others are driven by irritation
forget to consider their emotions of embarrassment / awkwardness
self-serving biases
we think we are better than average, we overestimate our contribution, predictions of performance/how much we get done and correctness
dunning-kruger effect
less you know -> think you know more
people who are higher in the field underestimate their performance
how do we keep thinking we are better in the face of reality?
edit definitions to make us look good
totalitarian ego
ego is dictator that controls information to benefit itself (i.e. definitions)
how do we relieve cognitive dissonance
we avoid information that might conflict with our beliefs
2 biases about others behavior / attribution
attribute bad behavior to other people’s internal: ability, efforts
attribute their good behavior to situation/external: luck, accident
what do we attribute OUR failures to?
situation
what do we attribute OUR successes to?
ourself
fundamental attribution error
overemphasize personal characteristics of other people and ignore their situational factors
how many times do we laugh a day
17
when do we start laughing
4 months
laughter in animals
rats chirp when they play and when tickled
physiology of laughter
facial muscles, gasping for air, crying
benefits of laughter
reward circuit
release endorphins
reduces stress hormones
decrease muscle tension
increase presence of positive immune markers
why do we laugh
social and communicative, helps social bonding, contagious (detectors in brain) , social lubricant
provine’s naturalistic studies findings
women laugh more than laugh, talker laughs more than listener, most laugher is not from jokes
4 theories of humor
incongruity, superiority, tension-release, play/mock aggression
incongruity theory of humor
unexpectedness unless it is frightening
superiority theory of humor
sudden realization we are better than who we are laughing at (raise our status and puts higher up people down)
example: queen farts
tension-release theory of humor
biological origin as relief at passing of danger; laugh after tension builds up
play/mock aggression theory of humor
best theory
prepares for skills in the future (play -> hunting)
laughing signals you are not danger of actual aggression
conformity
changing one’s attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm
Asch Experiment
1 participant among other decoys had to compare line length; decoy gave wrong answers and participant eventually conformed to give wrong answer
most persuasive technique
presenting the norm
