Week7/8/9 -Unit7 Flashcards
Define Social Psychology
scientific study of how ppl’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others.
Explicit & Impicit Attitudes?
- EXPLICIT: aware of attitudes, shape conscious decisions, measured on self-report
- IMPLICIT: unaware of them, may influence behaviour in ways we dont’ recognize, can only be measured indirectly
origins of Attitude development:
THREE broad-based sources of attitudes…
- COGNITIVE: based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of some attitude object
- AFFECTIVE: based on a person’s feelings & values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object
- BEHAVIOUR: how one behaves towards the attitude object
LEON FESTINGER : Cognitive Dissonance?
When we become aware we hold contradictory beliefs or have a different behaviour that is inconsistent with our attitudes, we have discomfort.
We get a motivation to reduce this discomfort
WHAT DO WE DO…
1. Change our attitude
2. Denial
3. Rationalization
WHEN most likely to change attitude?
a) when attitude isn’t that important to us anyways
b) when we don’t have enough justification in the first place (enough facts) ex: receiving only $1 , instead of $20
What is FORCED-COMPLIANCE
- Asking someone’s opinion on something (I like red colour)
- Now ask them to paint a picture in just Purple. Pay them $20 or $1
- People change their attitude toward purple..because they have little justification to behave counter-attitudinal, they easily change their attitude, “I guess purple isn’t that bad”, to align it more with their behaviour (of accepting $1 and painting an entire canvas in purple)
People paid $20 we less likely to change attitude
NOW, let’s say they are given a pill that is supposed to ‘keep them calm’ and they still have unexplained arousal (anger over different opinion then their own), then the person will change their attitude/opinion even more in this ‘forced-compliance’ study b/c they percieve a huge discrepancy in their attitudes.
Self-Perception Theory
vs
Cognitive Dissonance Theory?
- arises when your initial attitude is ambiguous (am i against this other opinion? I don’t really know)
- arises when your initial attitude is definite (I am defnitely against this opinion)
FRITZ HEIDER’s Attribution Theory?
the study of how we make sense of own own and other people’s behaviours
(refer to three little shapes moving around a rectangle video clip)
Conclusions:
1. we constantly construct stories about our social worlds to try to discern cause/effect
2. our interpretation of events/actions depends critically on how we view the person’ personality (what is their nature & motivation)
Difference in internal (dispositional) & external (situational) attribution?
Two attribution we use to explain ppl’s behaviours:
- EXTERNAL : a person behaves in a certain way because it is something outside the person we observe (situation)
- INTERNAL : a person behaves in a certain way because it is something about within them (attitude, personality, character)
Fundamental Attribution Error ?
FAE
refers to tendency to make internal attributions when explaining a person’s behaviour (fail to comprehend or appreciate the power of a situation on the person’s behaviour)
Chameleon Effect?
Unconscious mimicking of others’ expressions, postures, and tones
2 reasons people may CONFORM?
- Informational Social Influence: conformity out of desire to do the right thing (‘private acceptance’ because we believe others over our own opinion (ppl facing the opposite direction in an elevator)
Factors that maximise conformity: when situation is ambiguous (is there an invasion?), a high need to be accurate (people could die!), involves a crisis (lives at stake), when the person who we are following is perceived as an expert (radio itself AND radio broadcaster)
Ex: broadcast on Oct 31st, 1938 of War of the Worlds by Orson Wells
The story was done again in Quito, Equador to see if there would be ‘mass hysteria’ and there was!
2nd story: look below at picture
NOTE: an individual can stand up to a group using these same principles listed above (standing up to your group with an opposite opinion) and be unwavering in their opinion!
SOLOMON ASCH did these Normative Social Influence experiements (2nd reason on next page)
2.Normative Social Influence: conformity out a desire to be normal (‘public compliance’ because of a desire to be liked)
Tips for Resisting SOCIAL INFLUENCE?
USE RATIONAL PROBLEM SOLVING:
1. Do other people really know more than me? Is there really an expert here?
2. Do the actions here seem sensible? If I behave the same way, will I be following my own common sense? My own moral compass? My sense of right or wrong?
Ex: during the War of the Worlds broadcast, some ppl actually checked other radio stations to see if ANY one else was broadcasting the same story
BIB LATANE : Dynamic Social Impact Theory?
Conforming to social influence depends on 3 factors:
1. Strength - how important is the group to you? (people will listen and watch coworkers before they follow advice of management)
2. Immediacy - what is the proximity of the group in space/time? (do i have privacy? can i write my answer down? do i have to say my answer out loud?)
3. Number - how many ppl in the group? (conformity shown to peak at 4 members, and drops off after this)
Depending on these answers, conformity is due to normative reasons.
Other Factors:
* females stuck together somewhat more than men (historical/cultural factors)
* collectivist cultures (Japan, China) more than individualistic, stuck together
* conformity increased if men were questioned about feminine topics (makeup) and women conformed more if questioned on masculine topics (mechanics) and there was equal conformity on gender-neutral topics.
* conformity increased if participant insulted or critcised beforehand
Potential cost of resisting normative influence? A ‘Deviant’ Study was done where most students were providing reasonable discipline for a story about a juvenile delinquent. A ‘deviant’ student (the experimenter) adamantly suggested more severe punishment. Eventually, he was ostracised, given the boring job (taking minutes), and basically ignored. In this case, social influence is so effective in producing conformity because resisting has adverse effects.
what is idiosyncrasy credits?
If a group has formed, and you have ‘conformed’ for a many topics, then you are ‘allowed’ to deviate every so often because of built up credits in the group. The group permits occasional deviation because you’ve followed the ‘rules’ the vast majority of the time!
MILGRAM: Other Factors why obedience occurred…
Entrapment: process by which individuals obey easy commands first and then feel compelled to obey more and more difficult commands
Using authority in obedience experience is very powerful!
Also, it’s been shown that personality traits such as agreableness & conscientiousness may predict obedience. Although these traits are associated with social & socioeconomic success, they may lead one to be mre susceptible to social influence.
