week 23 - social thinking and people in groups

Question 1

define social psychology

Answer 1

The study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them
We are all different, and our individual characteristics have an impact on our social behaviour
The history of social psychology includes the study of attitudes, group behaviour, altruism and aggression, culture, prejudice, and many other topics.

Question 2

review the history of the field of social psychology and the topics social psychologists study

Answer 2

Social psychologists study real-world problems using a scientific approach.
The science of social psychology began when scientists first started to systematically and formally measure the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of human beings.
“It might be necessary in these experiments to deceive the participants about the true nature of the research”
Social psychology was energised by researcher who attempted to understand how Hitler could have produced such extreme obedience and his behaviour during WW2
The Stanford prison experiment
Social psychology went into different topics, then in the latter part of the 20th century started focusing on attitudes and cognitive processes

Question 3

Summarise the principles of social psychology

Answer 3

Although individuals’ characteristic do matter, the social situation is often a stronger determinant of behaviour than the personality
We often do not recognise how important the social situation is in determining behaviour

Question 4

describe and provide examples of the person situation interaction

Answer 4

The joint influence of person variables and situational variables
Behaviour = f (person, social situation)
The social situation is frequently a stronger influence on behaviour than are a person’s characteristics
The social situation creates social norms—shared ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Question 5

collectivism

Answer 5

Collectivism - Belief system that emphasises the duties and obligations that each person has toward others.

Question 6

culture

Answer 6

Culture - A pattern of shared meaning and behaviour among a group of people that is passed from one generation to the next.

Question 7

individualism

Answer 7

Individualism - Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values.

Question 8

person situation interaction

Answer 8

Person-situation interaction - The joint influence of person variables and situational variables

Question 9

social cognition

Answer 9

Social cognition - The study of how people think about the social world.

Question 10

social influence

Answer 10

Social influence - The process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and through which we change theirs

Question 11

social neuroscience

Answer 11

Social neuroscience - The study of how our social behaviour both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain

Question 12

social situation

Answer 12

Social situation - The people with whom we interact every day

Question 13

Define the concept of attitude and explain why it is of such interest to social psychologists.

Answer 13

Our attitudes are made up of cognitive, affective, and behavioural components. Consider my own attitude toward chocolate ice cream, which is very positive and always has been, as far as I can remember.
When we say that attitudes are evaluations, we mean that they involve a preference for or against the attitude object, as commonly expressed in such terms as prefer, like, dislike, hate, and love. When we express our attitudes—for instance, when we say, “I love Cheerios,” “I hate snakes,” “I’m crazy about Bill,” or “I like Italians”—we are expressing the relationship (either positive or negative) between the self and an attitude object. Statements such as these make it clear that attitudes are an important part of the self-concept—attitudes tie the self-concept to the attitude object, and so our attitudes are an essential part of “us.”

Question 14

Review the variables that determine attitude strength.

Answer 14

Some attitudes are more important than others, because they are more useful to us and thus have more impact on our daily lives. The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind, is known as attitude strength
Strong attitudes are attitudes that are more cognitively accessible—they come to mind quickly, regularly, and easily. We can easily measure attitude strength by assessing how quickly our attitudes are activated when we are exposed to the attitude object. If we can state our attitude quickly, without much thought, then it is a strong one.
Attitudes become stronger when we have direct positive or negative experiences with the attitude object, and particularly if those experiences have been in strong positive or negative contexts.
Because attitude strength is determined by cognitive accessibility, it is possible to make attitudes stronger by increasing the accessibility of the attitude. This can be done directly by having people think about, express, or discuss their attitudes with others. After people think about their attitudes, talk about them, or just say them out loud, the attitudes they have expressed become stronger. Because attitudes are linked to the self-concept, they also become stronger when they are activated along with the self-concept. When we are looking into a mirror or sitting in front of a TV camera, our attitudes are activated and we are then more likely to act on them
Attitudes are also stronger when the ABCs of affect, behaviour, and cognition all line up. As an example, many people’s attitude toward their own nation is universally positive.

Question 15

Outline the factors affect the strength of the attitude-behaviour relationship.

Answer 15

Although there is a general consistency between attitudes and behaviour, the relationship is stronger in some situations than in others, for some measurements than for others, and for some people than for others.

Question 16

Outline how persuasion is determined by the choice of effective communicators and effective messages.

Answer 16

Effective communicators are similar to us, share our values, are attractive, the communicator makes us feel good about ourselves
Expert communicators = trustworthy
But doesn’t have to be an expert, just has to look the part

Question 17

Review the conditions under which attitudes are best changed using spontaneous versus thoughtful strategies.

Answer 17

The messages that we deliver may be processed either spontaneously (other terms for this include peripherally or heuristically or thoughtfully (other terms for this include centrally or systematically). Spontaneous processing is direct, quick, and often involves effective responses to the message. Thoughtful processing, on the other hand, is more controlled and involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message (Figure 5.3). The route that we take when we process a communication is important in determining whether or not a particular message changes attitudes.

If we find the communicator cute, if the music in the ad puts us in a good mood, or if it appears that other people around us like the ad, then we may simply accept the message without thinking about it very much. In these cases, we engage in spontaneous message processing, in which we accept a persuasion attempt because we focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself.
Thoughtful message processing occurs when we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid.
When an advertiser presents a message that he or she hopes will be processed thoughtfully, the goal is to create positive cognitions about the attitude object in the listener. The communicator mentions positive features and characteristics of the product and at the same time attempts to downplay the negative characteristics. When people are asked to list their thoughts about a product while they are listening to, or right after they hear, a message, those who list more positive thoughts also express more positive attitudes toward the product than do those who list more negative thoughts
3 variables for changing attitudes
Message strength. The message contained either strong arguments (persuasive data and statistics about the positive effects of the exams at other universities) or weak arguments(relying only on individual quotations and personal opinions).
Source expertise. The message was supposedly prepared either by an expert source (the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, which was chaired by a professor of education at Princeton University) or by a nonexpert source (a class at a local high school).
Personal relevance. The students were told either that the new exam would begin before they graduated (high personal relevance) or that it would not begin until after they had already graduated (low personal relevance).

Question 18

Summarise the variables that make us more or less resistant to persuasive appeals.

Answer 18

One method of increasing attitude strength involves forewarning: giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts
This procedure—known as inoculation—involves building up defences against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position
The strong emotional response that we experience when we feel that our freedom of choice is being taken away when we expect that we should have choice is known as psychological reactance
Subliminal advertising occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented—for instance, by flashing messages quickly in a TV show, an advertisement, or a movie

Question 19

attitude

Answer 19

Attitude - A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour.

Question 20

attitude consistency

Answer 20

Attitude consistency- For any given attitude object, the ABCs of affect, behaviour, and cognition are normally in line with each other

Question 21

attitude object

Answer 21

Attitude object - A person, a product, or a social group

Question 22

attitude strength

Answer 22

Attitude strength - The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind

Question 23

expert communicators

Answer 23

Expert communicators - Perceived as trustworthy because they know a lot about the product they are selling

Question 24

forewarning

Answer 24

Forewarning - Giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts

Question 25

high self monitors

Answer 25

High self-monitors - Those who tend to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Question 26

inoculation

Answer 26

Inoculation - Building up defences against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position

Question 27

low self monitors

Answer 27

Low self-monitors - Those who are less likely to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Question 28

psychological reactance

Answer 28

Psychological reactance - A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms.

Question 29

self monitoring

Answer 29

Self-monitoring - Individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust one’s behaviour to one’s social environment

Question 30

spontaneous message processing

Answer 30

Spontaneous message processing - When we accept a persuasion attempt because we focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself.

Question 31

subliminal advertising

Answer 31

Subliminal advertising -Occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented

Question 32

theory of planned behaviour

Answer 32

Theory of planned behaviour - The relationship between attitudes and behaviour is stronger in certain situations, for certain people and for certain attitudes

Question 33

the sleeper effect

Answer 33

The sleeper effect - Attitude change that occurs over time

Question 34

thoughtful message processing

Answer 34

Thoughtful message processing - When we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid

Question 35

Review the evidence that suggests humans have a fundamental need to belong to groups.

Answer 35

People join others because groups meet their psychological and social needs
People need to belong
Groups provide members with information, assistance, and social support
Groups help with identity
Groups enhance collective self esteem

Question 36

Compare the sociometer model of self-esteem to a more traditional view of self-esteem.

Answer 36

Sociometer model of self esteem
Suggests self esteem is part of a sociometer that monitors people’s relational value in other people’s eyes
Self esteem is not just an index of one’s sense of personal value, but also an indicator of acceptance into groups

Question 37

Use theories of social facilitation to predict when a group will perform tasks slowly or quickly (e.g., students eating a meal as a group, workers on an assembly line, or a study group).

Answer 37

When he measured how quickly they turned the reel, he confirmed that children performed slightly better when they played the game in pairs compared to when they played alone
Zajonc noted that the facilitating effects of an audience usually only occur when the task requires the person to perform dominant responses, i.e., ones that are well-learned or based on instinctive behaviours. If the task requires nondominant responses, i.e., novel, complicated, or untried behaviours that the organism has never performed before or has performed only infrequently, then the presence of others inhibits performance. Hence, students write poorer quality essays on complex philosophical questions when they labour in a group rather than alone, but they make fewer mistakes in solving simple, low-level multiplication problems with an audience or a co actor than when they work in isolation
Studies of the challenge-threat response and brain imaging, for example, confirm that we respond physiologically and neurologically to the presence of others. Other people also can trigger evaluation apprehension, particularly when we feel that our individual performance will be known to others, and those others might judge it negatively. The presence of other people can also cause perturbations in our capacity to concentrate on and process information. Distractions due to the presence of other people have been shown to improve performance on certain tasks, such as the Stroop task, but undermine performance on more cognitively demanding tasks
Groups usually outperform individuals
Groups tend to be underachievers

Question 38

Summarise the methods used by Latané, Williams, and Harkins to identify the relative impact of social loafing and coordination problems on group performance.

Answer 38

Latane-studied three people in a tug of war competition and spoke about how their coordination was lost
The result is coordination loss: the three-person group is stronger than a single person, but not three times as strong. Second, people just don’t exert as much effort when working on a collective endeavour, nor do they expend as much cognitive effort trying to solve problems, as they do when working alone.
All three examined both coordination losses and social loafing by arranging for students to cheer or clap either alone or in groups of varying sizes. The students cheered alone or in 2- or 6-person groups, or they were lead to believe they were in 2- or 6-person groups (those in the “pseudo-groups” wore blindfolds and headsets that played masking sound). As Figure 2 indicates, groups generated more noise than solitary subjects, but the productivity dropped as the groups became larger in size. In dyads, each subject worked at only 66% of capacity, and in 6-person groups at 36%. Productivity also dropped when subjects merely believed they were in groups. If subjects thought that one other person was shouting with them, they shouted 82% as intensely, and if they thought five other people were shouting, they reached only 74% of their capacity. These loses in productivity were not due to coordination problems; this decline in production could be attributed only to a reduction in effort—to social loafing
Groups can overcome social loafing with teamwork

Question 39

stages of group development and their characteristics

Answer 39

Stage 1 – “Forming”. Members expose information about themselves in polite but tentative interactions. They explore the purposes of the group and gather information about each other’s interests, skills, and personal tendencies.

Stage 2 – “Storming”. Disagreements about procedures and purposes surface, so criticism and conflict increase. Much of the conflict stems from challenges between members who are seeking to increase their status and control in the group.

Stage 3 – “Norming”. Once the group agrees on its goals, procedures, and leadership, norms, roles, and social relationships develop that increase the group’s stability and cohesiveness.

Stage 4 – “Performing”. The group focuses its energies and attention on its goals, displaying higher rates of task-orientation, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Stage 5 – “Adjourning”. The group prepares to disband by completing its tasks, reduces levels of dependency among members, and dealing with any unresolved issues.

Question 40

Apply the theory of groupthink to a well-known decision-making group, such as the group of advisors responsible for planning the Bay of Pigs operation.

Answer 40

Groups sometimes make spectacularly bad decisions. In 1961, a special advisory committee to President John F. Kennedy planned and implemented a covert invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs that ended in total disaster. In 1986, NASA carefully, and incorrectly, decided to launch the Challenger space shuttle in temperatures that were too cold.
Janis labelled this syndrome groupthink: “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members’ strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” (p. 9).
Groupthink is a disease that infects healthy groups, rendering them inefficient

Question 41

4 factors that cause groupthink

Answer 41

Cohesion: Groupthink only occurs in cohesive groups. Such groups have many advantages over groups that lack unity. People enjoy their membership much more in cohesive groups, they are less likely to abandon the group, and they work harder in pursuit of the group’s goals. But extreme cohesiveness can be dangerous. When cohesiveness intensifies, members become more likely to accept the goals, decisions, and norms of the group without reservation. Conformity pressures also rise as members become reluctant to say or do anything that goes against the grain of the group, and the number of internal disagreements—necessary for good decision making—decreases.
Isolation. Groupthink groups too often work behind closed doors, keeping out of the limelight. They isolate themselves from outsiders and refuse to modify their beliefs to bring them into line with society’s beliefs. They avoid leaks by maintaining strict confidentiality and working only with people who are members of their group.
Biased leadership. A biased leader who exerts too much authority over group members can increase conformity pressures and railroad decisions. In groupthink groups, the leader determines the agenda for each meeting, sets limits on discussion, and can even decide who will be heard.
Decisional stress. Groupthink becomes more likely when the group is stressed, particularly by time pressures. When groups are stressed they minimise their discomfort by quickly choosing a plan of action with little argument or dissension. Then, through collective discussion, the group members can rationalise their choice by exaggerating the positive consequences, minimising the possibility of negative outcomes, concentrating on minor details, and overlooking larger issues.

Question 42

Develop a list of recommendations that, if followed, would minimise the possibility of groupthink developing in a group.

Answer 42

Most of us belong to at least one group that must make decisions from time to time. To avoid polarisation, the common knowledge effect, and groupthink, groups should strive to emphasise open inquiry of all sides of the issue while admitting the possibility of failure. The leaders of the group can also do much to limit groupthink by requiring full discussion of pros and cons, appointing devil’s advocates, and breaking the group up into small discussion groups.

Question 43

collective self esteem

Answer 43

Collective self-esteem - Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others and membership in social groups.

Question 44

common knowledge effect

Answer 44

Common knowledge effect - The tendency for groups to spend more time discussing information that all members know (shared information) and less time examining information that only a few members know (unshared).

Question 45

group cohesion

Answer 45

Group cohesion - The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group-level forces that unify the group, such as shared commitment to group goals.

Question 46

group polarization

Answer 46

Group polarisation - The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average of the members’ pre deliberate preferences.

Question 47

groupthink

Answer 47

Groupthink - A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of invulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence when making a decision.

Question 48

shared mental model

Answer 48

Shared mental model - Knowledge, expectations, conceptualizations, and other cognitive representations that members of a group have in common pertaining to the group and its members, tasks, procedures, and resources.

Question 49

social comparison

Answer 49

Social comparison - The process of contrasting one’s personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those of other people.

Question 50

social facilitation

Answer 50

Social facilitation - Improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the presence of other people.

Question 51

social identity theory

Answer 51

Social identity theory - A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’ self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorise themselves as group members and identify with the group.

Question 52

social loafing

Answer 52

Social loafing - The reduction of individual effort exerted when people work in groups compared with when they work alone.

Question 53

sociometer model

Answer 53

Sociometer model - A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorises self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor one’s degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups.

Question 54

Distinguish prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination.

Answer 54

These three aspects of bias are related, but they each can occur separately from one another
Prejudice - evaluation or emotion toward people based on their group membership
having a negative, emotional reaction to a social group
Stereotypes - general beliefs about the traits shared by a group of people
prejudice, but without knowing even the most superficial reasons to dislike a certain social group
Discrimination - behaviour that advantages or disadvantages people based on their group membership

Question 55

define blatant biases

Answer 55

Blatant biases - conscious beliefs that people are perfectly willing to admit, mostly expressing their hostility toward other groups (outgroups) while favouring one’s own group (ingroup)
Ex. organisations preaching contempt for other races and praise for their own
Ex. 80 years ago, American college students thought Turkish people were cruel, religious and treacherous

Question 56

Understand old-fashioned biases such as social dominance orientation and right-wing. Authoritarianism.

Answer 56

Social dominance orientation (SDO) describes a belief that group hierarchies are inevitable in all societies and are even a good idea to maintain order and stability. Those who score high on SDO believe that some groups are inherently better than others, and because of this, there is no such thing as group “equality.” At the same time, though, SDO is not just about being personally dominant and controlling of others; SDO describes a preferred arrangement of groups with some on top (preferably one’s own group) and some on the bottom.
Although research has shown that people higher in SDO are more likely to be politically conservative, there are other traits that more strongly predict one’s SDO.
Understandably, the first list of groups tend to score higher on SDO, while the second group tends to score lower. For example, the SDO gender difference (men higher, women lower) appears all over the world.

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) focuses on value conflicts, whereas SDO focuses on the economic ones. That is, RWA endorses respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity
Notably, the combination of high RWA and high SDO predicts joining hate groups that openly endorse aggression against minority groups, immigrants, homosexuals, and believers in non-dominant religions

Question 57

Understand subtle, unexamined biases that are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent.

Answer 57

These subtle biases are unexamined and sometimes unconscious but real in their consequences. They are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, and nonetheless are biased, unfair, and disrespectful to the belief in equality.
Own-group preference often results in liking other groups less. And whether you recognize this “favouritism” as wrong, this trade-off is relatively automatic, that is, unintended, immediate, and irresistible.Social psychologists have developed several ways to measure this relatively automatic own-group preference, the most famous being the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

People’s biases often stem from the spontaneous tendency to favor their own, at the expense of the other.
Stereotype content model

Question 58

Understand 21st century biases that may break down as identities get more complicated.

Answer 58

As the world becomes more interconnected, more and more people are encountering greater diversity of others in everyday life. Categories are becoming more and more uncertain, unclear, volatile, and complex. People’s identities are multifaceted, intersecting across gender, race, class, age, region, and more.

Question 59

automatic bias

Answer 59

Automatic bias - Automatic biases are unintended, immediate, and irresistible.

Question 60

aversive racism

Answer 60

Aversive racism - Aversive racism is unexamined racial bias that the person does not intend and would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact.

Question 61

blatant biases

Answer 61

Blatant biases - Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behaviour that people are perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favour their own group.

Question 62

discrimination

Answer 62

Discrimination - Discrimination is behavior that advantages or disadvantages people merely based on their group membership.

Question 63

implicit association test

Answer 63

Implicit Association Test - Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures relatively automatic biases that favour one’s own group relative to other groups.

Question 64

right wing authoritarianism

Answer 64

Right-wing authoritarianism - Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) focuses on value conflicts but endorses respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity.

Question 65

self categorization theory

Answer 65

Self-categorization theory - Self-categorization theory develops social identity theory’s point that people categorise themselves, along with each other into groups, favouring their own group.

Question 66

social dominance orientation

Answer 66

Social dominance orientation - Social dominance orientation (SDO) describes a belief that group hierarchies are inevitable in all societies and even good, to maintain order and stability.

Question 67

social identity theory

Answer 67

Social identity theory - Social identity theory notes that people categorise each other into groups, favouring their own group.

Question 68

stereotype content model

Answer 68

Stereotype Content Model - Stereotype Content Model shows that social groups are viewed according to their perceived warmth and competence.

Question 69

subtle biases

Answer 69

Subtle biases - Subtle biases are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, but real in their consequences.