Terms Flashcards
Motivated Reasoning + Example
coming to a conclusion that makes you feel good
example: people’s reluctance to admit they’re wrong, reluctance to admit even flaws in our heroes
The Above-Average Effect + Example
tendency of people to believe they are above average in valued domains,
example: people think they are better at driving than they actually are
The Dunning-Kruger Effect + Example
those with lower skills tend to exhibit above average effect in domain, conversely those who have higher skills underestimate themselves
example: a spectator watching a professional sports game claims he can do better than the players on the court despite only playing recreationally
The Actor-Observer Bias + Example
tendency to see others’ behavior as a product of their internal states, but our own behavior as affected by the situation
example (us vs. others): doing poorly on a test , getting into a fight, firing someone
Experiment + Examples
participants randomly assigned to different and varying conditions, all variables are controlled
examples:
1. Alport Conformity Experiment: smells
2. Sherif: illusion of moving light
3. Asch Conformity: change view of line based on group
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy + Example
false definition evoking a new behavior which makes original false conception true
example: a teacher telling a student they are good at math, and the student believing it improving their effort into the subject, actually making them good at math
Descriptive Norms + Example
Patterns of behavior that are common, normal, popular
example: clothing choices, giving a girl flowers on a date
Morals + Example
beliefs about what is right and wrong that are strongly held, seen as universally applicable, viewed to be correct, and backed by emotion
example: not cheating whether on a test or with a relationship
The Fundamental Attribution Error + Example
tendency to overestimate dispositional factors & underestimate situational factors in attributions of others behaviors
example: students from wealthy school districts seen as more talented/intelligent, not taking in the vast amount of resources and opportunities they have access to
The “Holier Than Thou” Effect:
tendency for people to believe they are above average in moral domains
example: people believing they are above the prisoner’s dilemma in taking advantage of power to their own benefit
The Two Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition
Warmth: trustworthy, moral, friendly
Competency: resourceful, intelligent
Confirmation Bias
tendency to pick something to confirm what we believe to be true or pre existing assumptions
Cognitive Dissonance
tendency to construct consistent ideas (cognitive consistency) of the world to allow navigation in order to avoid discomfort of holding incompatible or logically inconsistent thoughts about ourselves, others, or the world
Different Ways to Achieve Dissonance Reduction
Disregard: forget or ignore incident
Change: revise perspective, ability
Distort: pretend situation was something else, focus on other things
Add: add a new behavior or make an excuse to explain situation
“When Prophecy Fails” study
collective faith supposedly saves people in cult from flood, after being promised that they would be saved by aliens after a massive flood would hit their town
—> Related to path of least resistance: members were isolated, committed, spent money/time
“Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance” Study (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959), $1/$20 experiment
- Participants asked to persuade others that tasks of turning pegs was interesting
- $1 felt more dissonance than $20
- Acting in a manner inconsistent with beliefs
—> Large amount of dissonance: no good reason to do so, large attitude change
—> Small amount of dissonance: good reason to do so, small attitude change
“The Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking for a Group” Study (Aronson & Mills, 1959)
- People like groups that have severe initiation ritual
- Women asked to read explicit message, mild, or nothing before listening to a boring passage on sexual behavior in animals
Result: Severely initiated women rated the discussion and group members higher than women who were mildly initiated or not initiated
Spreading of Alternatives
after a decision we tend to increase liking for option we choose and/or decrease liking for rejected options
Cartesian Model of Rational Thought
human thought out to be cold, logical/rational, deliberate, conscious, defensible, reasonable
Cognitive Biases
seen as exception to rationality
Social cognition
the study of way in which we process, store, and remember information about people, focused on exception rational perception
Attribution (Dispositional + Situational)
inferred causes of another’s behavior
Dispositional: attributing others behavior to the actors internal states like personality
Situational: attributing others behavior to the actors environment and situation
Heider’s “Naïve Psychology”
people go around trying to make explanations of other behavior and events to stable factors which leads to underestimation of situational influences over internal factors
Jones & Harris (1967) (the Castro essay study)
- participants given anti/pro Castro essay and asked to identify writer’s attitude
- people generally tended to underweigh situational factor (dispositional attrib.)
Ross et al. (1977) (Quiz show study)
- Participants randomly assigned to be questioner, answerer, observer
Results: observers and answerers rated the questioner more knowledgeable but not questioners
Focalism
bias in attribution, tendency to place too much focus on a single factor when making judgment
Steps of Scientific Method
- Use questions to develop a claim or a theory
- “Operationalize” it by making a testable hypothesis and appropriately defined conditions and variables (run an experiment)
- Derive (modest) conclusions and publish
- Repeat
Independent Variables
The factors that vary naturally (or are manipulated) and affect the dependent variable
Dependent Variables
factors measured to see if they are affected by the independent variable
Conditions
different circumstances created by the manipulation of a variable
First Conformity Experiment (Allport, 1924)
Participants rated the un/pleasantness of odors in groups or alone
Results: Participants avoided making extreme judgments in the presence of others (Moderation Effect)
Conclusion: Instinctual submission to the group
Sherif “Autokinetic Effect” Experiments (1936)
Light shown on wall of totally dark room and participants told it is moving and asked to identify how much
Conditions: Individual vs. Group
Individual to Group: extreme judgement –> initial diversity to convergence
Group to Individual: moderate judgement –> influence perpetuated, quicker convergence
*Everyone in Sherif’s studies conformed to some degree
Asch Conformity Experiments + Reasons
people conformed 32% of the time to line experiment
Reasons for Conformity:
1. Distortion of action: knew the group was wrong but didn’t want to seem different
2. Distortion of judgment: decided perceptions were inaccurate
3. Distortion of perception: reported they saw what the majority saw
individual variance, 75% conformed once
Normative Influence: learning from others to do what is appropriate or right
Obedience
compliance with the directives of an authority figure
Norm Breaching
The purposeful breaking of social norms (usually descriptive, sometimes injunctive)
Norm Internalization
Difficulty of breaching offers insight on norm enforcement
Threshold
Number of others who must join collective behavior before individual will
Forces Upholding Social Norms
- Socialization
- Maintenance of social fluidity
- Sanctioning
Injunctive Norm + Example
patterns of behavior that are commonly approved of, evaluated positively, violation is disapproved of
example: not littering, slow traffic on right, sharing cable accounts
