week 6: social psychology Flashcards
what is social psychology?
the scientific study of how individuals think, feel and behave in a social context
levels of social behaviour
attitudes: attitudes and behaviours, persuasion, cognitive dissonance
social cognition: attribution, prejudice
social influence: conformity, obedience
what is an attitude?
a positive/negative/mixed reaction to a person, object or idea expressed at some level of intensity
why are researchers interested in attitudes?
attitudes can predict behaviour
what influences behaviour?
- attitude toward the behaviour (what i think of performing the behaviour)
- subjective norms (what important other think of the behaviour)
- perceived behavioural control (how easy it is to perform the behaviour)
what is persuasion?
the process by which a person’s attitudes or behaviour are influenced by communications from other people
what are the 2 routes to persuasion?
central route
peripheral route
what do persuasion routes depend on?
- how much people think about a persuasive message
- based on motivation and ability
what are the central route persuasion elements?
- person thinks carefully about message
- influenced by the strength/quality of message
- stronger attitudes
- long-lasting impact on behaviour
what are the peripheral route persuasion elements?
- person does not think critically about the contents of a message
- influenced by superficial cues
- weaker attitudes
- temporary impact on behaviour
what is the elaboration likelihood model?
a theory about the thinking processes that might occur when we attempt to change a person’s attitude through communication
- (how likely we are to think hard/critically about a decision or change)
1. central processing
2. peripheral processing
central route persuasion example
a TV ad that presents laboratory findings to demonstrate the effectiveness of an acne treatment
peripheral route persuasion example
- having a popular athlete advertise athletic shoes or
- watching a political debate on TV and the best-dressed candidate seems the most convincing to you
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
mental conflict that occurs when a person’s behaviours and beliefs do not align
what is an individuals options for cognitive dissonance?
- change their behaviour eg. stop smoking because its bad for them
- justify behaviour by changing one of the dissonant cognitions eg. smoking being bad for health so only smokes socially
- justify behaviour by adding new cognitions eg. its ok that i smoke because i go running
Cognitive Dissonance Theory experiment
- The experiment was seeing how much participants enjoyed the boring task.
- participants were offered $1 or $20 to lie to the next participant by saying the boring task was enjoyable.
- Participants who were given $1 rated the tasks enjoyment the highest out of the participants who were given $20 and the participants who were given nothing and weren’t told to lie.
what were the IV and DV of the Cognitive Dissonance Theory experiment?
IV: amount of money, whether participant is to lie or not
DV: how much participants enjoyed the boring task
why did the participants who were given $1 ranked the task enjoyable in the experiment?
Because the reward ($1) was too little to justify lying to other participants so they $1 participants convinced themselves mentally that they enjoyed the task to avoid cognitive dissonance. This didn’t happen with the $20 group as the reward was large enough to justify the lying.
what can influence attitudes?
- Persuasive communication (influence)
- Desire for consistency (avoiding cognitive dissonance)
what is social cognition?
the way people process, remember, and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behaviour and that of others
concepts associated with social cognition?
attribution
prejudice
what are schemas
mental structures that organise our knowledge about the social world
what are attributions?
the process of explaining the causes of events or behaviours
types of attribution
personal attribution
situational attribution
what is a personal attribution?
an internal characteristic of the person caused the behaviour (mood, personality, effort)
what is situational attribution?
an external factor caused the behaviour (the task, other people, luck)
what is fundamental attribution error?
Tendency to overlook situational factors and instead make internal attributions for others’ behaviour
eg. someone arriving late to a meeting
internal attributions: they’re lazy
situational factors: traffic
attribution process/identifying in regards to time and effort
identifying the behaviour and making personal attributions is fast and automatic
adjusting the attribution to account for situational factors requires thought and effort
what is prejudice?
negative feelings about others because of their connection to a social group
what is social categorisation?
mental classification of people into groups on the basis of common attributes
why is social categorisation beneficial?
form impressions quickly
use past experiences to guide new interactions
what can social categorisation lead to?
overestimation of differences between groups
underestimation of differences within groups
what are stereotypes?
beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits
what is discrimination?
negative behaviours directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group
effects of stereotypes on perceptions
- Stereotypes can affect perceptions of ambiguous behaviours
- Behaviours seen as more threatening when performed by someone who was black vs. white
effects of stereotypes on perceptions example
children were shown an 2 identical images of a child on the ground and a child standing up, one was black one was white and their position switched per photo. Children perceived that the white child on the floor was pushed over by the black child. when the black child was on the floor the white child was coming over to help him.
what is the Social Identity Theory
People strive to enhance their self-esteem partly through their social identities
- people favour ingroup members even if they’re a stranger
what are the groups associated with social identity
ingroup: group we belong to
outgroup: group we don’t belong to
what is Realistic Conflict Theory
Hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources
eg. economic resources, political power, food, housing
what is relative deprivation?
the perception that you are worse off than other people you compare yourself to
what is the robber cave study
children at camp were randomly assigned into 2 groups. The groups then engaged in activities that built group cohesiveness. the 2 groups only mingled during competitive circumstances (tug of war, football). This created hostility and conflict between the 2 groups
what is Contact Hypothesis
contact between two groups can promote tolerance and acceptance under certain conditions (equality)
what are the ideal conditions in Contact Hypothesis
-Equality
-Personal interaction
(one-on-one interactions)
- Cooperative activities (come together to achieve a goal)
- Social norms promoting intergroup contact (eg. supported by authorities)
what is the Intergroup Contact meta-analyses
comparison of 500 separate studies found face-to-face contact between group members significantly reduced prejudice
how does Intergroup Contact work
- enhances knowledge about the group
- reduces anxiety about intergroup contact
- increases empathy and perspective taking
what is social influence
a person’s attitudes, opinions, beliefs, or behaviour are altered or controlled by some form of social communication
what is conformity
the tendency to change our perceptions, opinions or behaviour in ways that are consistent with group norms
different forms of pressure
conformity
compliance
obedience
what is compliance
changes in behaviour that are elicited by direct requests
what is obedience
behaviour change produced by the commands of authority
what is the Classic Conformity Study
participants were told to compare line lengths. first answer was correct the rest were wrong and was to see if participants would conform.
- participants conformed 37% of the time
what is the Classic Obedience Study
participants were assigned to play teacher. experimenter told the teacher to administer electric shocks to a learner for the wrong answer. Each wrong answer the volts increased. told keep going whenever the teacher showed reluctance. (learner was an actor and the volts were fake but participants did not know this, experiment could end whenever participant asked)
what did the Classic Obedience Study find
psychology students predicted 1.2% conformity
65% of Milgram’s participants went all the way to 450 volts
why was the level of obedience so high in the classic obedience study
strong situation
- Authority figure
- Experimenter more proximal the victim
- Participant was on their own
Why was the predicted level of obedience so much lower than the actual level?
- People are much more obedient to destructive obedience than we thought.
- People find receiving and obeying destructive orders stressful.
