social psychology exam 2 Flashcards
attitudes
attitudes -> behavior
Evaluative beliefs and feelings regarding objects, people, or events that predispose particular responses
Social desirability
social forces -> behavior
rather than report their true attitudes, people may report attitudes they think others want to hear
“I love everybody and care deeply about all the world’s social problems.”
Bogus Pipeline
procedure that prompts people into disclosing their true attitudes. Usually involves use of a fake polygraph or other device that participants are led to believe provides direct feedback regarding their truthfulness.
Cognitive dissonance
- Inconsistencies among one’s cognitions (i.e., thoughts, attitudes, perceived actions) lead to
- an aversive state (dissonance) that leads to
- efforts to restore consistency (by altering a cognition, such as an attitude).
When two cognitions are inconsistent,
or a cognition is inconsistent with an
action
something must be changed
In the case of action/behavior, its too late to change the action
so the cognition (attitude) must be changed
Insufficient justification
Cognitive dissonance is greater when the inconsistent behavior is seen as freely chosen, and not the result of strong rewards/threats, i.e., when external justification is insufficient
Effort justification
a type of cog. dissonance reduction where putting great (perhaps unjustified) effort into achieving something can make us value it more
Reducing post-decisional regret
The free-choice paradigm is a classic research design showing that when people make a difficult choice between two alternatives, they often worry, “Maybe I made the wrong choice?”, experiencing something like dissonance
And they reduce the dissonance by spreading the alternatives, mentally emphasizing the positives of the one they chose, and the negatives of the option they did not choose.
The “Foot in the door” technique.
People who have first agreed to a small request are often more willing to comply with a later, larger request
The “Low ball” sales technique.
People who have agreed to an initial request/deal will often still comply when the requester raises the cost,
even when they would not have agreed to the terms initially
Self-perception Theory
Behavior ->Attitudes
It’s not that there is a negative feeling of arousal generated by inconsistency
We merely revise attitudes because we infer our own attitudes from our behavior (just like any observer would).
Take away the incentive, there’s insufficient justification to do activity
Intrinsic motivation
people naturally engage in many behaviors for their own sake (no external rewards needed)
Self-determination theory explanation
Feeling coerced by rewards thwarts our need for autonomy (i.e., we feel unfree) and spoils the intrinsic motivation.
behavior -> attitudes
2 theories
- cognitive dissonance theory
- self-perception theory
Norms
(i.e., customary rules/standards of behavior that coordinate our interactions with others) can be powerful
Injunctive norm:
belief about what behaviors are approved/disapproved of in one’s culture
Descriptive norm:
belief about what most people typically do
Role
can be powerful too
a set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave
Zimbardo Prison Study
Conformity
A change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure
Two ways of conforming: Mere outward compliance or actual inward acceptance.
Compliance
conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing
Acceptance
conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure
Normative influence
motivation to conform in order to avoid disapproval or to gain social rewards (linked with compliance).
Sherif’s studies of the “autokinetic” phenomenon demonstrated how quickly groups converge on arbitrary norms.
Informational influence
motivation to conform because other people are a good source of accurate information about reality (linked with acceptance).
Factors that influence conformity
- Group size: Larger group = more conformity, up to a point (i.e., up to 5 members; more than 5, no difference).
- Group unanimity: If even one other person gives the right answer, much less conformity.
- Having to go public increases conformity (versus private response).
- Having made a prior commitment reduces conformity.
- Status: lower status people find it harder to resist conforming than higher-status people
- Cohesiveness: the more cohesive a group is, the harder it is to resist conforming
Cohesiveness
the extent to which members of a group feel bound together; “we feeling”