Week 1: Social Cognition & Learning Flashcards
What is Social Psychology the study of?
How people’s thoughts and feelings influence their behaviour towards others, and of how the behaviour of others influences people’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.
What is “social cognition and influence”?
The mental processes associated with the ways in which people perceive and react to other individuals and groups.
What are the two components of the self?
Self-concept and self-esteem
What is self esteem?
The evaluations we make about how worthy we are as human beings
What is self concept?
The thoughts, feelings and beliefs we hold about who we are and what characteristics we have
To consider the way we are now compared to the way we were in the past is called a ______ comparison?
Temporal
To use others as a basis of comparison for evaluating ourselves is called a ______ comparison?
Social
Categories to which people see themselves belonging to, and therefore compare themselves to, are called…?
Reference Groups
When one believes that they are getting less than they deserve in terms of money, status, recognition etc in comparison to a reference group, it is called…? E.g you are being paid $5 million while your co star is getting $10 million
Relative Deprivation
What is the name of the social norm that exists in every culture?
The reciprocity norm - the tendency to respond to others as they have acted towards you
What is deindividuation?
A psychological state occurring in group members that results in loss of individuality and a tendency to do things not normally done when alone (e.g acting out of character by trampling on people to get best seats at a concert). People who feel that they are anonymous members of a group may engage in antisocial acts that they might not perform on their own.
What are social norms?
Socially based rules that prescribe what people should or should not do in various situations
What is the term for when the mere presence of people can improve performance?
Social facilitation
What is the term for when the presence of people can hurt or reduce performance?
Social interference
What determines whether the presence of people will either hurt or hinder performance?
Whether the task is easy or difficult, i.e if it is familiar, then the task is easy therefore the dominant behaviour will be enhanced, but if its is not familiar and therefore the level of difficulty is hard, the dominant responses may be incorrect and cause performance to suffer.
What is the term to describe when people exert less effort when performing with others than if they were performing alone?
Social loafing
What are the 3 reasons behind the social loafing phenomenon?
- Harder to evaluate performance of individuals when working as a part of a group 2. Rewards may come to a group whether or not every member exerts maximum effort 3. A groups rewards are usually divided equally among its members rather than according to individual effort
In which cultures is social loafing not prevalent, and why?
Collectivist, Eastern Cultures e.g China and Japan. Because working in a group usually produces social striving.
What is the term used to describe the beliefs we hold about the groups to which we belong? (Also a part of our self-concept)
social identity
What is “social perception”?
The processes through which people interpret information about others, draw inferences about them, and develop mental representations of them
What is a “self-fulfilling prophecy”?
A process through which our expectations about another person cause us to act in ways that lead the person to behave as we expected e.g if we expect people to reject us, we might behave in a way that encourages that person to do exactly that
What is an “attribution”?
The process of explaining the causes of peoples behaviour, including our own
What are Kelley’s three key variables important in understanding how “observers” make attributions about the actions of “actors”?
- Consensus 2. Consistency 3. Distinctiveness
What is “consensus”?
The degree to which other people’s behaviour is similar to that of an actor
What is “consistency”?
The degree to which the behaviour is the same across time or situations. This question is difficult to answer without information about distinctiveness.
What is “distinctiveness”?
Distinctiveness concerns the extent to which the actor’s response to one situation stands out from responses to similar situations.
If there is low consensus, high consistency and low distinctiveness, according to Kelley’s theory people are more likely to make ___ attributions about an actor’s behaviour
Internal
What is the fundamental attribution error?
A bias towards over-attributing the behaviour of others to internal causes, such as personality traits
What does the term “out-group” mean and how does this relate to the “ultimate attribution error”?
Out-group = people we see as “different” When members of a social or ethnic out-group does something positive, we attribute this to luck of an external cause. And if do something negative, we attribute to internal cause. However, if members of an in-group (people we see like ourselves) do something positive, we attribute the behaviour to integrity or other internal factors. And if do something bad - external cause. Consequently, out-group members receive little credit for their positive actions. Biases such as ultimate attribution error help maintain people’s negative views of out-groups and positive views of their own groups.
What is the term used to describe when someone has the tendency to attribute their own behaviour to external causes and attribute other peoples’ behaviours to internal causes?
The actor-observer effect
What is a self-serving bias?
The tendency to attribute our successes to internal characteristics while blaming our failures on external causes. Most pronounced in people from individualist Western cultures
Why does the self-serving bias occur?
Because people are motivated to maintain their self-esteem.
How can schemas be a bias?
Because schemas (our prior knowlege) have an influence on our perception of individuals
What is an “attitude”, one of the aspects of social cognition that has been studied the longest?
The tendency to think, feel or act positively or negatively towards objects in our environment
What are the three components to the structure of attitudes?
Cognitive - a set of beliefs about the attitude object Emotional (or Affective) - feelings about the object Behavioural - The way people act towards the object
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
A model suggesting that attitude change can be driven by evaluation of the content of a persuasive message (central route) or by irrelevant persuasion cues (peripheral route)
What are the three factors involved in changing attitudes?
- Who communicates the message 2. The content of the message 3. The audience who receives it also.. Personal Involvement ‘Cognitive busyness’ Personality characteristics
What does the peripheral route in attitude change involve?
Low elaboration, or processing, of the message and relying on persuasion cues such as the attractiveness of the person making the argument. Persuasion cues say nothing about the logic or validity of the message content.
What does the central route in attitude change involve?
High elaboration - which is carefully processing and evaluating the content of the message. The content of the message is more important than the characteristics of the communicator such as attractiveness.
What is the theory that asserts attitude change is driven by efforts to reduce tension caused by inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviours?
Cognitive dissonance theory
According to Festinger’s research on cognitive dissonance theory, a person will have low dissonance if they have high or low justification to behave that way?
High justification e.g being paid $20 to lie about a task being fun. Instead of low justification through being paid only $1 to lie - more dissonance, but reduced by displaying more positive attitude.
What is self-perception theory and how does it differ to cognitive dissonance theory?
-It is a theory suggesting that attitudes can change as people consider their behaviour in certain situations and then infer what their attitude must be. -It differs in that it does not assume that people experience discomfort when their attitudes are inconsistent with their behaviours.
What are the two kinds of evidence inconsistent with self-perception theory?
- Brain imaging shows people do in fact get uncomfortable when attitudes are inconsistent with behaviours, and that cognitive dissonance does occur. Internal tension is created by cognitive dissonance. 2. People adjust their attitudes to match their behaviour even when unable to reflect on that behaviour
So, how are attitudes usually formed?
Through observation of how others behave and speak about an attitude object, as well as through classical and operant conditioning
What are the two types of routes by which people change the attitudes?
Central and Peripheral
According to cognitive dissonance theory, we tend to reduce conflict between attitudes and behaviours by changing our….?
Attitude!
In what ways can the quality of a person’s social relationships affect biological processes?
Through affecting the functioning of the immune system to the healing of wounds. The social environment can also affect the way genes express themselves.
What are stereotypes?
The perceptions, beliefs and expectations a person has about members of some group. They are schemas about entire groups of people, and, usually involve the false assumption that all members of a group share the same characteristics. Most powerful and commonly they are observable personal attributes, particularly ethnicity, gender, and age.
What is prejudice? (lead to by stereotyping)
A positive or negative attitude towards an individual based simply on membership of some people. Literally meaning is ‘prejudgement’.
What type of component (either cognitive, affective, or behavioural) is stereotyped thinking in prejudicial attitudes?
Cognitive
The hatred, admiration, or anger people have about sterotyped groups is the ___ component? (either cognitive, affective, or behavioural)
Affective (because emotions)
What is the behavioural component of prejudice, and how do you define it?
Social discrimination - the differing treatment of individuals who belong to different groups.
What are the THREE elements in Adorno’s Motivational Theory about why prejudice may be more likely among authoritarian people?
- an acceptance of conventional or traditional values 2. a willingness to unquestioningly follow the orders of authority figures 3. an inclination to act aggressively towards individuals or groups identified by these authority figures as threatening the values held by one’s in-group
True or false: prejudice against certain groups may enhance sense of security and help meet certain personal needs
True
True of false: People with an authoritarian orientation tend to view the world as a dangerous place, and one way of protecting themselves is to identify strong with their in-group, and reject the out-group
True
Why do we use cognitive theories to deal with the world?
Because of sheer volume of behaviours we might perform, we need to use schemas and other cognitive shortcuts to organise and make sense of our social world.
What are the downfalls of using cognitive theories regarding prejudice?
They can lead to inaccurate stereotypes
According to learning theories, how can people develop negative attitudes towards groups with whom they have had little or no contact?
Children can pick up on prejudices just by watchingmor listening to parents, peers and others. “Biopreparedness” also makes us likely to learn to fear people who are strangers or who look different from us.
What is contact hypothesis? (Real life example: When segregated public schools were prohibited..)
The idea that stereotypes and prejudice towards a group will diminish as contact with the group increases.. However, research has shown contact alone is not enough.
What three things had to be in place for the contact hypothesis to be effective between two groups in public school desegregation?
- Members of the two groups have to be of roughly equal social and economic status 2. Cooperation and interdependence between members of different groups has to be promoted, by having them work together on projects that require relying on each other for success 3. Contact between groups members has to be on a one-on-one basis
How does the “environment” influence whether or not we are attracted or like somebody?
Because by being closer in proximity to them, research has shown that the mere-exposure effect means we are more likely to develop a liking to that person/thing. Additionally, we tend to like people who might resemble those who have often been near us.
Similarity in terms of age, religion, drinking habits etc is shown to be a good predictor of whether people like each other. Will a relationship be balanced if Zoe and Abigail, who like each other, also both agree on their evaluation of a third person?
Yes. If they both have different evaluations, the relationship would be imbalanced.
What is the matching hypothesis?
The notion that people are most likely to form relationships with those who are similar to themselves in physical attractiveness
Why is it compromise, and not preference, for people to gravitate towards attractive people but pair off with those roughly equivalent to themselves?
Because people are drawn to those with the greatest physical appeal but also want to avoid being rejected by them.
Why, when women and men consider short term relationships, do women prefer men high in intelligence, when contrastingly men don’t rate intelligence so highly?
Because of learned social norms and expectations of how men and women should behave.
What is the term used to describe when the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours of one person affect the thoughts, emotions and behaviour of the other?
Interdependence
What needs to happen for a person to feel “committed” to a relationship?
- Satisfaction from rewards received from it 2. Investment in significant tangible and intangible resources in it 3. Few attractive alternative relationships available to them
What is the difference between passionate/romantic love and companionate love?
-Passionate love is intense, arousing and marked by both strong physical attraction and deep emotional attachment. Thoughts of loved one intrudes frequently on person’s awareness -Companionate love is less arousing but psychologically more intimate, marked by mutual concern for the welfare of the other
According to Sternberg’s triangular theory, what are the three basic components of love?
- Passion 2. Intimacy 3. Commitment
Why is consummate love the most complete and satisfying type of love?
Has high levels of all three components in the triangular theory, and is mot likely to fulfil many needs of each partner.
What is Sternberg’s “Duplex Theory” of love?
Focuses on the idea that the success of a relationship depends on not only perceived characteristics but also the degree to which those characteristics fit each partner’s ideal story of love - whether that be of a prince and princess or pair of business partners.
True or false: Each culture values loving the person you marry
False. For example, in India and Pakistan, in an interview half the people said they would marry someone they did not love if the person had other qualities they desired.
Are romantic love and liking the same emotions?
No, they are separate. This is proven through research.
What is social influence?
The process through which individuals and groups directly or indirectly influence a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
What is conformity?
The changing of one’s behaviour or beliefs to match those of others, generally as a result of real or imagined, though unspoken, group pressure
What is compliance?
When people adjust their behaviour because of an explicit or implicit request
How is conformity and compliance usually generated?
By unspoken social norms
In which types of cultures is conformity especially likely?
Collectivist cultures
What are the 3 reasons why group norms are so powerful?
- People want to be correct 2. People want others to like and accept them 3. Conforming may increase a person’s sense of self-worth, especially if group is valued or prestigious. The process may occur without awareness
What role do social rewards play in going along with social norms?
Social rewards may help compensate for not always being able to say or do exactly what we please.
When do people conform?
-When a situation is ambiguous, and individuals must rely on others opinions. -Unanimity and the size of the majority -Minority influence -Gender (only in that men desire to be seen as strong and independent and women desire to be cooperative)
How best is compliance brought about?
By asking for something else - not the direct thing you really want. These techniques are called foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, and low-ball.
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
The foot-in-the-door technique works by getting a person to agree to a small request and then gradually presenting larger ones. Why? People are usually far more likely to comply with a request that costs little in time,money,effort or inconvenience. Second, complying with a small request makes people think of themselves as being committed to the cause or issue involved.This change occurs through the processes of self-perception and cognitive dissonance
What is the door-in-the-face technique?
This strategy begins with a request for a favour that is likely to be denied (as when a door is slammed in a salesperson’s face).The person making the request then concedes that asking for the initial favour was excessive and substitutes a lesser alternative, which was what the person really wanted in the first place. Compliance appears to be due partly to activation of the reciprocity norm: this person is making a concession to me, so I should really make a concession in return (Ginges et al., 2007
What is the low-ball technique?
Commonly used by car dealers and other businesses, this strategy is to obtain a person’s oral commitment to do something, such as to purchase a car at a certain price. Once this commitment is made, the cost of fulfilling it is increased, often because of an ‘error’ in calculating the car’s price. Why do buyers end up paying much more than originally planned for low-balled items? Apparently, once people say they will do something, they feel obligated to follow through, especially when the commitment was made in public and when the person who obtained the initial commitment is also the one who tells the buyer about the price increase. In other words, as described in relation to cognitive dissonance theory, people like to be consistent in their words and deeds.
What is obedience?
Changing behaviour in response to a demand from an authority figure
What are the four factors (as studied by Milgram) affecting obedience?
- Experimenter status and prestige 2. The behaviour of other people 3. The behaviour of the learner (learners right to be dismissed from experiment effected disobedience) 4. Personality characteristics
What is “expert power”?
The ability to influence people because they assume that the person in power is a knowledgeable and responsible expert
What is “legitimate power”?
The ability to influence people because they assume that the person in power has the right or legitimate authority to tell them what to do
True or false: a person high in authoritarianism would be more likely to obey than a person predisposed to have empathy, if it involved inflicting pain on another?
True
What is the airline accident phenomenon called “captainitis”?
When the captain of an aircraft makes an obvious error but the copilot is unwilling to challenge the captain’s authority by pointing out the mistake.As a result, planes have crashed and people have died.
What do most psychologists believe about what Milgram demonstrated in his obedience experiments?
That through his research he has confirmed a basic truth about human behaviour: that under certain circumstances, human beings are capable of unspeakable acts of brutality towards other humans. One of the most horrifying aspects of human inhumanity – whether the Nazis’ campaign of genocide against Jews in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of them are, in many respects, ‘normal’ people who have been influenced by economic and political situations and the persuasive power of their leaders to behave in a demented and fiendish manner.
For inhumanity to occur is obedience imperative?
No, it can occur without pressure for obedience. A good deal of people’s aggressiveness towards other people appears to come from within.
How is aggression defined?
As an act that is intended to cause harm to another person
How many violent crimes are committed each year in Australia?
205,000
What percentage of all murder victims know their assailants?
54%
What percentage of those committing sexual assaults know their victims?
73%
True or false: 1/3rd of married people, and a significant proportion of dating couples, display aggression towards each other?
True
The murder rate in the US is ___ times higher than in Australia..
65 times higher
The murder rates in Canada and the UK are ___ higher than in Australia..
30 times higher
How does aggressive behaviour emerge?
While aggressive impulses are universal, the emergence of aggressive BEHAVIOUR is an interplay of nature and nurture (environmental factors).
Does research suggest that people inherit the tendency to be aggressive?
No, but that they inherit certain temperaments such as impulsiveness or emotional oversensitivity in social situations (so aggression is more likely)
Which parts of the brain influence aggression?
The limbic system (incl. amygdala, hypothalamus), and the cerebral cortex.
What may damage to the parts of the brain involved in aggression (limbic system & cerebral cortex) produce in terms of aggression?
Defensive aggression
What is defensive aggression?
Heightened aggression to stimuli that are not usually threatening or a decrease in the responses that normally inhibit aggression.
How does testosterone effect aggression in development?
Children exposed to high doses of testosterone during prenatal development become more aggressive than those not exposed.
How do drugs effect the likelihood of a person acting aggressively?
They alter the CNS functioning. Alcohol in particular does this, but no one is sure why.
______ learning plays a significant role in the development and display of aggressive behaviour?
Observational
How does culture impact on aggression?
If cultures value aggression, and people are rewarded for it, individuals will be more likely to be aggressive. Or if individuals are punished for aggression, then less likely to be aggressive.
When are people more likely to be aggressive?
When both physiologically aroused and experiencing angry or hostile thoughts and feelings.
Which emotion is a major cause of aggression?
Frustration
According to research, is the following true or false? The more time people spend on violent video games, the more aggressive they tend to be
True
What is the frustration aggression hypothesis?
A proposition that frustration always leads to some form of aggressive behaviour
Regarding playing violent video games, is there enough research to suggest that playing these games is a direct cause of aggressiveness?
No. It may be that the individual is already aggressive, therefore more prone to playing these games and thus exacerbating these tendencies.
What is the most reasonable conclusion to draw about the effects of violent video games on aggressiveness?
Prolonged exposure to violent video games will be quite similar to that of long-term exposure to violent television
Does frustration always produce aggression?
No, it sometimes produces depression and withdrawal. Additionally, not all aggression is preceded by frustration
What is Berkowitz’s “aversively stimulated aggression theory” and how does it differ to the frustration aggression hypoethsis?
He proposed that it may be stress, rather than frustration, that can produce a readiness to act aggressively. This readiness means cues in the environment associated with aggression can lead to aggressive behaviour.
Can stress alone lead to aggression? Or environmental cues alone?
No, it is a combination of the two that often sets off aggression
What is the “excitation transfer”?
When arousal from one experience carries over to an independent situation
Can generalised arousal alone lead to aggression?
No, the situation must contain a reason, opportunity or target for aggression
True or false: men who are aroused by watching violent pornography may be more likely to commit rape or other forms of aggression against women
True. It is most likely in men who are high in promiscuity and hostility
Does extensive exposure to pornography alone make men more likely to engage in sexual aggression?
No. But if men who are hostile to women and have a history of sexual promiscuity, those who view pornography are much more likely to engage in sexual agression.
Can individual characteristics alone lead to aggression?
No, it is the joint influence of individual characteristics and environmental circumstances
What is environmental psychology?
The study of the relationship between people’s physical environment and their behaviour
Can hot climates affect aggression?
According to the research, high temperature might be a source of stress and arousal
Can unpredictable and irregular noise make someone more likely to display aggression?
Yes
What three aspects of the environment can affect aggression?
Weather, noise, and overcrowding
What is “helping behaviour” (aka prosocial behaviour)
Any act that is intended to benefit another person
What is altruism?
An unselfish concern for another person’s welfare
Why do children use helping behaviour?
For rewards or to gain social approval
How are children’s helping behaviour shaped?
By social norms eg praised for helpfulness but scolded for selfishness
What are the three major theories about why people help even when not expecting any external rewards?
- Arousal: cost-reward theory 2. Empathy-altruism theory 3. Evolutionary theory
What is the “Arousal: cost-reward theory”?
A theory attributing people’s helping behaviour to their efforts to reduce the unpleasant arousal they feel in the face of someone’s need or suffering
What is the bystander effect?
A phenomenon in which the chances that someone will help in an emergency decrease as the number of people present increases
What is the empathy–altruism theory (empathy– altruism helping theory)?
People are more likely to engage in altruistic, or unselfish, helping – even when the cost of helping is high – if they feel empathy towards the person in need
The survival of one’s genes in future generations is called ….?
Inclusive fitness
What is “kin selection”?
Helping a relative survive
According to the evolutionary theory, are we more likely to save a grandparents or our own child from a burning building? Explain your choice.
Child - because they are more likely to carry our genes on to the next generation, whereas a grandparent is older and will not out survive us.
Co-action effect.
Is when the presence of another person doing the same task increases task performance.
Audience effect.
Is that task performance can also be influenced by the mere presence of others.
