Weeks 11-13 Flashcards
Contact Hypothesis
Increase awareness of similarities
Challenge out group homogeneity view
Put members of different groups in contact with each other so they may recognize similarities with each other.
Research involving sending 22 boys to camp and establishing a rivalry between the camps found that mixing the groups together was not enough. Boys were better able to see past their differences when they were forced to work together toward a shared goal.
Cooperative activities are effective.
Out group homogeneity
A notion where my group has a lot of variety within it but members of other groups are very similar to each other.
Conformity
When a person changes their attitudes or behaviours so they are consistent with those of other people around them in a social situation. This is not requested of us.
Informational social influence: we want to be right
Normative social influence: we want to fit in
Compliance
A change in behaviour as explicitly requested by another person or group.
Principles of Compliance
Friendship/liking: we help our friends
Scarcity: if we think our freedom to make that choice will soon be restricted we are more likely to make that choice. (cookie jar experiment)
Reciprocity: return the favour. (experiment where confederates left for the bathroom and came back with a pop for their partner)
Authority: very convincing. (nurse experiment wherein nurses went over maximum dosage for fake doctor)
Commitment/consistency
Compliance techniques: Foot-in-the-door technique
Ask for something small and when they say yes ask for something bigger.
Experiment wherein people were asked to put safe driver cards in their windows and then billboards on their lawns. People were more likely to say yes if they had previously agreed to the card in the window.
Compliance techniques: lowball technique
Obtain the commitment and then raise the cost of the commitment.
Experiment wherein if people knew the meeting was at 7 am on a saturday they would say no. But if they had already committed then not only would they stick to their commitment verbally, but they also showed up.
Compliance techniques: door-in-the-face technique
Begin by asking for a huge and outrageous request, when refused ask for something smaller.
Undergrads were asked if they would commit to 2 hours every week for 2 years for a volunteer thing. After they refused, they were twice as likely to commit to 2 hours this week if the previous request had been made.
Obedience
Compliance with the orders of another person or group
Stanley Milgram post world war II experiment
Experiment with teacher and “learner” found that despite showing signs of extreme stress people will often go with authority’s agenda. Teacher “shocked” learner even when health concerns were made apparent.
Issues around ethics as many participants were traumatized.
How is proximity a predictor of attraction?
We are more likely to be attracted to people who are closer to us geographically, this is because we find familiarity attractive.
Research around first year friendships on a university residence. People who lived closer to each other were also closer friends.
Frequent exposure to a person makes us feel more positively about them: experiment where researchers showed up to different number of lectures, those who showed up to more lectures were rated at a higher level of attractiveness indicating that frequent exposure increase likelihood of attraction.
Functional Distance
Opportunities to bump into each other
Short functional distance: lots of opportunities to run into each other
-like being in the same psych lecture mon/wed/fri as someone
Physical Attractiveness as a predictor of attraction
Experiment where participants had to go to a dance and were partnered off. The only significant predictor of wanting to see someone again was objective attractiveness.
Attractive Features
Symmetrical faces: because they indicate “typicality” of sex.
More average faces are rated as attractive (familiarity)
Women:
- waists 1/3 narrower than hips
- large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose, wide small
Men:
- v shaped physique
- broad jaws, chiseled features
2 general arguments for why we value physical attractiveness
- halo effect: one positive trait must mean that they have other positive traits
- evolutionary reproductive strategies: assumes reproductive goals, this neglects the queer community though
How does reciprocity impact attraction?
We like people who like us, we like positive feedback.
Self-enhancement.
Experiment found that participants were told their person liked them both participants would like each other more. Behaviours changed because they believed they were liked and vice versa for when they were told they were not liked.
