Social Thinking and Social Influence Flashcards
What are internal (dispositional) and external (situational) attributions?
internal (dispositional) - inference that a person’s behavior is caused by something about the person
external (situational) - inference that a person’s behavior is caused by something about the situation
What is the fundamental attribution error? What was Jones and Harris’s (1967) study in which participants read essays supporting or opposing Fidel Castro?
tendency to explain others’ actions as stemming from dispositions, even in the presence of clear situational causes
Participants read essays supporting or opposing Castro. Students who “chose” their essay position liked it while those who “didn’t”, didn’t. Participants thought that that’s how they actually felt. External attributions
What is the actor-observer effect?
(Jones & Nisbett, 1972) – tendency to attribute our own mistakes mainly to situational causes, but the mistakes of others mainly to dispositional causes
How can social roles affect attitudes and behavior? What was Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
ASK ANEELA
Participants randomly assigned to either prisoner or prison guard. Roles were taken very seriously.
What is cognitive dissonance?
unpleasant internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between attitudes and behavior
environmental conscious but you buy a gas car instead of electric. how you feel about it = cognitive dissonance
What are the factors involved in cognitive dissonance?
Counterattitudinal behavior - behavior that is inconsistent with person’s attitudes
Insufficient justification - when people perform a counterattitudinal behavior with inadequate reason, they may develop more positive attitudes toward that behavior
Choice -
Effort -
What was Festinger and Carlsmith’s study ($1 vs. $20)?
subjects paid either $1 or $20 to do boring task and tell next subject that it was fun. WHO ENJOYED TASK MORE? Those who lied said it was fun. Those paid $20 actually enjoyed it. Those who paid $1 had insufficient justification and those who paid $20 has sufficient justification.
What are normative and informational social influence?
normative - social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted (conforming to be liked)
informational - social influence based on the desire to be correct (at church - am I supposed to stand? Let me look at everyone else and see what I’m supposed to do)
What was Asch’s study of conformity? What type of social influence did it demonstrate?
Participants asked to judge which comparison line best matched the standard line. All confederates intentionally said wrong answers. Would participant conform? 75% did. But if an ally was present, conformity would go down.
Showed normative social influence
What was Milgram’s study? What proportion of participants continued “shocking” the “learner” after he stopped responding?
sought to investigate obedience to authority. Participants were the “teachers” and confederates were “learners”. For every wrong answer the “learners” gave, a “shock” was adminstered. Teachers didn’t know shocks were fake.
More than 80%
What is social facilitation?
effects upon performance resulting from the presence of others
We do worse on a complex task and/or we’re not skilled at it. We do better if it’s an easy task and/or we’re highly skilled at it.
What is social loafing?
reductions in motivation and effort when individuals work collectively in a group on simple tasks
pushing a car alone vs. pushing a car with other people
What is deindividuation?
psychological state characterized by reduced self-awareness and reduced social identity
Increased feeling of anonymity
Decreased feeling of responsibility or accountability
Follow norms of group
KKK - cover faces when terrorizing
