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Exam 2 Social Psych
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Self-Concept | The overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes |
| Rudimentary self-concept | understanding your own reflection, a rough sense of yourself) -Some primates -Humans at 18 to 24 months |
| Child's self-concept | Concrete References to characteristics like age, sex, neighborhood, and hobbies |
| Maturing self-concept | Less emphasis on physical characteristics More emphasis on psychological states and how other people judge us |
| Self-concept and morality | -Friend you haven't seen in 40 years Changes in morality (like cruelty to others) would alter the true self more than other changes) |
| "Self" Center in the brain | -George Bush and the Self Center In the MPFC: Medial prefrontal cortex |
| Independent view of the self | Defines self through own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not other people’s Independence and uniqueness valued Held in many Western cultures |
| Interdependent view of the self | Defines self through relationships to other people Others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions affect one’s behavior Connectedness and interdependence valued Uniqueness Frowned upon Held in many Asian and non-Western cultures |
| Does the "Self" Center activation differ between cultures? | -A Celebrity, Your mother, and Yourself Yes! Westerners do not typically use their self-center when thinking about their mothers. Easterners use their self-center when thinking about their mothers almost as often as when thinking about themselves. |
| Functions of the Self | Self-knowledge Self-control Impression management Self-esteem |
| Self-knowledge | The way we understand who we are and organize this information |
| Self-control | The way we make plans and execute decisions |
| Impression management | The way we present ourselves to others and get them to see us as we want to be seen |
| Self-esteem | The way we maintain positive views of ourselves |
| Introspection | The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives |
| Do people rely on introspection often? | No!: we’re actually really bad at it even though we’d like to think otherwise Why?: Not always pleasant to think about ourselves. Reasons for our feelings and behavior can be outside conscious awareness. |
| Self-Awareness Theory | The idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values |
| Consequences of Self-Awareness | ppl can go far in their attempt to escape the self. Can be aversive. But self-focus is not always damaging or aversive. Example: If you have experienced a major success Can also remind you of your sense of right and wrong |
| Turning off Internal Spotlight | Ways to turn off internal spotlight on oneself from very damaging to not: Alcohol abuse Binge eating Religious expression Spirituality |
| Self-Awareness and Morality | -"Intelligence Test" Greater self-awareness leads to better morality |
| Telling more than we can know | -Telling more than we can know people often lack accurate self-awareness of the mental processes behind their decisions, preferences, and actions. introspection into one’s thought processes is limited and often inaccurate. |
| Are we good at predicting our own happiness? | -Lottery Winners vs. Accident Victims No, we aren't |
| Affective Forecasting | Tendency to overestimate enduring emotional impact of future events E.g., victories, breakups,defeats,results of pregnancy. We are not accurate at judging ourselves and predicting our moods, we always eventually level out to our normal level of happiness |
| Self-Perception Theory | When our attitudes and feelings are uncertain, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs. If u always eat a food and not sure how u feel about it, u may think I must like this food since I keep eating it |
| Internal Attributions | We attribute our behavior to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, or motivations. For example, "I did well on the test because I’m smart" or "I helped because I’m a caring person. |
| External Attributions | We attribute our behavior to external circumstances or environmental factors. For example, "I was late because of traffic" or "I only did well on the test because it was easy." |
| The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion | emotions are the result of physiological arousal and cognitive labeling. According to this theory, emotions are not just the result of biological processes, but also how we interpret or label the physiological responses we experience in a given situation. |
| physiological arousal | When we experience an emotional event, our body responds with physiological changes, such as an increased heart rate, sweating, or shaking. This arousal alone does not determine the specific emotion; it's a general state of alertness or excitation. |
| cognitive labeling | the cognitive interpretation of the physiological arousal. We assess the context and use situational cues to label or define the emotion we are experiencing. we look at what is happening around us to figure out what emotion makes sense in the situation. |
| The study paired with The Two-Factor Theory of Emotion | -Epinephrine Informed and Ignored Study |
| Implications of the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion | Emotions are somewhat arbitrary. Emotions depend on our explanations for arousal. |
| Misattribution of Arousal | -Male Hikers Making mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do Arousal from one source (e.g., caffeine, exercise, a fright) can enhance the intensity of how the person interprets other feelings (e.g., attraction to someone). |
| If you give a child a reward for doing something that they already enjoy doing, will they like the activity more, the same, or less? | less. Without a reward, they were doing the activity for fun. But, now the reward is a good explanation for their behavior, so they attribute their enjoyment to the reward and not to internal factors |
| Intrinsic motivation | Engage in an activity because of enjoyment and interest, not external rewards or pressures |
| Extrinsic motivation | Engage in an activity because of external reasons, not because of enjoyment and interest |
| Overjustification effect | -Math Game for 4th and 5th Graders The tendency of people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons |
| When do rewards undermine interest? | only when interest is initially high |
| Task-contingent rewards | Rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done |
| Performance-contingent rewards | Rewards that are based on how well we perform a task |
| Consequences of Performance-Contingent Rewards | Performance-contingent rewards are less damaging to intrinsic interest (and can sometimes increase intrinsic interest) But potential backfiring effect (people like the positive feedback, but do not want to feel lesser than) |
| Fixed Mindset | The idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change With a fixed mindset, people are more likely to give up and do poorly on subsequent tasks after failure |
| Growth mindset | The idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow |
| Fixed and Growth Mindset Study | -IQ Testing Children |
| Social Comparison Theory | -Describe Your Past and Future Self The idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people |
| two important questions in Social Comparison Theory | When do you engage in social comparison? With whom do you choose to compare yourself? |
| Goals in social comparison | know the furthest level to which we can aspire: Upward feel better about yourself: Downward acquire accurate self-knowledge: Comparing to people who have similar background with you |
| Upward social comparison | Comparing to people who are better on a particular trait or ability |
| Downward social comparison | Comparing to people who are worse on a particular trait or ability |
| Looking glass self (Cooley, 1902) | We see ourselves and the social world through the eyes of other people |
| Social tuning | -Anti-racism vs. Blank T-Shirt, Likeable vs. Unlikeable The process whereby people adopt another person’s attitudes Especially when we want to get along with them |
| Four Main Functions of the Self | Self-knowledge Self-control Impression management Self-esteem |
| Self-control | The ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals |
| When does Self-control NOT work? | When you try not to think about temptations “Do NOT think about polar bears” When you focus on the long-term goal and how important it is “I need to pass my social psychology class because it’s important for my graduation!” |
| When does Self-control work? | Implementation intentions Arrange your environment: turn off your phone to study better, don’t buy ice cream if you cannot avoid eating it Believe that your willpower is unlimited |
| Implementation intentions in Self Control | Make specific plans about where, when, and how you will fulfill a goal and avoid temptations. “On Thursday night, I will study my chapter in my room, and go to my plans after I study.” |
| Impression Management | The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen |
| Self-handicapping | -Drugs and Intellectual Performance Study Creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves If we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves. They blame the obstacles that THEY created for themselves. |
| Behavioral self-handicapping | People act in ways that reduce the likelihood of success so that if they fail, they can blame it on obstacles rather than ability. Example: pulling an all-nighter before a test (I failed b/c I was sleepy, not because I’m not smart) |
| Reported self-handicapping | Rather than creating obstacles to success, people devise readymade excuses in case they fail. Example: Complaining about not feeling well when you take a test |
| High self-esteem | more valued in western cultures |
| Face (saving face) | more valued in eastern cultures |
| What is face? | The amount of social value others give you if you live up to the standards associated with your position. Associated with one’s status in the hierarchical society |
| prevention focus on face | Face is more easily lost than gained. It's when people try to improve something that they are not good at. more prevalent with East Asians (Focusing on things you are bad at, improving weaknesses, because one failure leads to losing face) |
| promotion focus on face | -Canadians vs. Japanese Reactions to Succes+Failure Promotion focus is more prevalent with North Americans (Focusing on improving things that you are already good at, and better than others at) |
| Cognitive dissonance | -Heaven's Gate Cult Discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves |
| Three Ways to Reduce Dissonance | Change behavior Justify behavior by changing one of the dissonant cognitions Justify behavior by adding new cognitions |
| Do we experience dissonance EVERY TIME we make a decision? | YES Chosen alternative has some negative aspects Rejected alternative has some positive aspects -Like picking where we wanted to go to college |
| What do we do with our likes and dislikes to reduce dissonance? | We distort likes and dislikes -Downplay: - Negative aspects of chosen alternative - Positive aspects of rejected alternative |
| Postdecisional dissonance | -Consumer Testing Service Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives |
| The Permanence of the decision | -Photography Class More important decisions = more dissonance Greater permanence = more dissonance Permanence of decision: How difficult it is to revoke (take back) |
| Irrevocability and Dissonance | -Lowballing Study When decisions are permanent (irrevocable) Dissonance increases Motivation to reduce dissonance increases |
| Justification of effort | -Boring discussion and mild-severe initiation The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain. We have a belief that we are smart people, so you protect this belief “It wasn’t a waste of time.” |
| External justification | -Your Friends Ugly Dress A reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual (e.g., to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment) |
| Internal Justification | -Your Friends Ugly Dress The reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., one’s attitude or behavior) |
| Counterattitudinal Advocacy | -The Boring Task with a $1 or $20 Reward Stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one’s private belief or attitude Without sufficient external justification, people change their true belief or attitude to make it consistent with their lie |
| Counterattitudinal Advocacy and Interracial Conflict | -White Students Double Scholarship for African American Students Study |
| The Ben Franklin effect | he made his opponents do something counterattitudinal towards him (lend him a book) and b/c they can’t undo the action, they like him more) |
| Dissonance Theory | -Intellectual Study with HUGE Prize Money predicts that when we dislike someone, if we do them a favor, we will like them more. Behavior is dissonant with attitude Change attitude about person to resolve dissonance |
| How do we justify cruelty? | -Insulting Someone Dehumanization of enemies: I am a good person, but I am fighting against these people and killing them. But, they deserve what I am doing to them, they are not human beings. I am doing a good thing. |
| How to reduce dissonance when behaving immorally? | -Positive view of self inconsistent with dishonest behavior Ex: Change attitude about cheating "Not a big deal, everyone does it." |
| What happens to future behavior when we change our attitude about an immoral act? | Future behavior—less ethical: Ex: if you don't cheat in the future, you’re acknowledging that your past behavior was wrong, so you keep cheating in order to protect your self-esteem |
| How to reduce cheating on tests? | -Self-Image and Cheating Make the behavior inconsistent with one’s dispositional self image! |
| If threat of punishment for engaging in a forbidden behavior is severe | There is sufficient external justification for refraining from behavior Short term effect |
| If threat of punishment for engaging in a forbidden behavior is LESS severe | There is insufficient external justification (an explanation outside of you why you do/don’t do a behavior) Creates greater need for internal justification -Change attitudes via self-persuasion Long Term effect |
| Insufficient punishment | The dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object |
| Self Persuasion | -Attractiveness of Toys to Children |
| (1)Process of dissonance reduction vs (2)Content of dissonance reduction: Universal or not? | (1)Culturally universal (2)Shaped by cultural differences -What thoughts are added/changed differ by culture |
| Postdecisional dissonance paradigm | -Ranking 10 CDs Dissonance where you downplay negative features of your chosen item and instead focus solely on the positive aspects, so you end up liking it more when you don’t have a choice |
| Self-affirmation theory | -Ranking 10 Albums The idea that people can reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming themselves in areas unrelated to the source of the threat |
| Value affirmation exercise | has a wide range of lasting positive effect Especially when they allow people to mitigate a threat to one area of their self-esteem like: “I did poorly in school” |
| Self-evaluation maintenance theory | Idea that we experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area that is central to our self esteem “I am a really good soccer player, but my best friend is much better than me" |
| Ways to Reduce Dissonance in Relationships | Distance self from the person who outperforms us (“I am not that close to my friend after all) Change how relevant the task is to our self-esteem Change one’s performance relative to the other person’s |
| Distance self: to Reduce Dissonance in Relationships | e.g., students who performed less well compared to other students (confederate) in a task relevant to their self-esteem reported they did not want to work with them anymore |
| Change relevance of task: to Reduce Dissonance in Relationships | e.g., people who performed less well than others on a “newly discovered ability” reported this ability was not very important to them |
| Change performance: to Reduce Dissonance in Relationships | -Word Game with Friends Try to get as good as the other person 1 way: practice more, get better Other way: make the other person worse |
| True or False: Dissonance-reducing behavior maintains self-esteem. | True -But must also learn from mistakes and incorrect beliefs. |
| Narcissism | Combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others |
| Self-esteem | Overall evaluation (positive or negative) that people have of themselves |
| Benefits of High Self-Esteem | Buffers against thoughts of own mortality “Terror management theory” Says that we have a fear regarding having a meaningless existence, and have terror for our own deaths, so self-esteem is important Motivates us to persevere when going gets rough |
| Disadvantages of Too High Self-Esteem (Narcissism) | do less well academically be less successful in business be more violent and aggressive be disliked by others be good at reducing dissonance to maintain their grandiose self image |
| Happiness and Self-Focus | -$20 For Yourself or $20 For Charity |
| Attitude | Evaluation of people, objects, and ideas (How much we like or dislike these things) |
| Attitudes are made up of three components: | Cognitive • Thoughts and beliefs Affective • Emotional reaction Behavioral • Actions or observable behavior. How we respond to the attitude object. |
| Cognitively Based Attitudes | An attitude based primarily on people's beliefs about the properties of an attitude object Sometimes our attitudes are based primarily on the relevant facts. Ex:you want to buy a car so you consider: How many miles to the gallon? Does it have airbags? |
| Affectively Based Attitudes | An attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an attitude object Sometimes we simply like a car, regardless of how many miles to the gallon it gets |
| True or False: People are more governed by their affect than their cognitions | TRUE -Political votes People care more about how they feel about a candidate than their beliefs about his or her specific policies (Abelson et al., 1982; Westen, 2007) |
| Sources of Affectively Based Attitudes | people’s values sensory reaction aesthetic reaction classical and operant conditioning (associating a neutral object with a positive feeling) |
| Behaviorally Based Attitudes | An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object If you do not have a super strong attitude initially, you may form one by observing yourself and making an inference |
| Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1972) IMPORTANT | Sometimes people do not know how they feel until they see how they behave Can form our attitudes based on our observations of our own behavior |
| Under what conditions do people infer their attitudes from their behavior? IMPORTANT | When initial attitude is weak or ambiguous When no other plausible explanation for behavior |
| Explicit attitudes | -Low+High Quality Resumes Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report Usually provides input on opinions “How do you feel about affirmative action?” |
| Implicit attitudes | -Low+High Quality Resumes Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious Can be inconsistent+have discrepancies |
| True or False: There is some evidence that attitudes are not good predictors of behavior. | -1930's Anti-Chinese Study TRUE |
| When will attitudes predict spontaneous behaviors? | Attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors only when they are highly accessible to people. (For example: IF they were expecting a chinese couple to enter their establishment, they probably would’ve turned them away, because it was highly accessible.) |
| Attitude accessibility | he strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object |
| when there's past experiences with an attitude object | Direct and indirect experiences (The more direct, the more highly accessible this attitude is) |
| Deliberative behavior | Attitude accessibility matters less |
| Theory of Planned Behavior | People’s intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviors. Intentions determined by their attitudes toward specific behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control |
| True or False: Only specific attitudes can be expected to predict planned behavior. | -Birth Control Study TRUE The more specific your attitude is, the more likely it is that you can predict behavior |
| subjective norms | how other people view your behavior |
| perceived behavioral control | Amount of effort that the behavior takes |
| How Do Attitudes Change | When attitudes change, it is often due to social influence. Attitudes are social phenomena. Sometimes attitudes change dramatically over short periods of time |
| When do people experience dissonance with their attitudes (and want to reduce it) | When their image is threatened When they cannot explain behavior with external justifications -Leads to finding internal justification for behavior -Brings your attitude and your behavior closer together -Equals attitude change! |
| Yale attitude change approach | The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages -“Who said what to whom?” |
| Attitude Change: Who | -Nuclear Submarine Being Built The source of the communication (The person delivering the message and their credibility/attractiveness=“Source characteristics”) |
| The Sleeper Effect | Over time, people dissociate (forget) the source of the message from its content -You only remember the information, and not the source, whether credible or not |
| Attitude Change: What | Message Characteristics Aspects of the message itself, including the quality of the evidence and the explicitness of the conclusions |
| Attributes of high-quality messages | refer to desirable yet novel consequences appeal to the core values of the audience clear and straightforward explicitly refute the opposition (so the audience cannot) against speaker’s self-interest |
| Identifiable Victim Effect | The tendency to be more moved by the plight of a single, vivid individual than by a more abstract aggregate of individuals |
| Attitude Change: Whom | Characteristics of the person who receives the message, including age, mood, personality, and motivation to attend to the message. Feature of personality: Need for cognition |
| What is a need for cognition in terms of attitude change? | the want to engage in deep thinking People high in need for cognition are more likely to change their attitudes in response to high-quality messages (they are able to process the specific rationale and evidence you present in your message |
| How does audience mood effect attitude change? | Matching the content of the message to the goals and mood of the audience More pessimistic messages work for more depressed people “If you do this, that’s really bad” And vice versa |
| How does audience age effect attitude change? | Younger people are more likely to change their attitudes Real-world implications -When children are the witnesses in court rooms, extra care has to be taken so they are not influenced by outside factors like misleading questions |
| Elaboration likelihood model IMPORTANT | An explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change Central Route Peripheral Route |
| Central Route | When people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication |
| Peripheral Route | When people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics |
| Determinant of central vs. peripheral route: | Whether people have both the motivation and the ability to pay attention to the facts |
| The Motivation to Pay Attention to an Argument | -College Seniors & an Exam to Graduate Personal relevance of the topic How important is the topic to a persons well-being? More personally relevant, pay more attention -Central route |
| The Ability to Pay Attention to an Argument | -Biologist Witness When ppl are unable to pay attention to the arguments theyre swayed more by peripheral cues. Status of communicator Liking or trusting communicator Someone with a weak argument can still be persuasive if they distract their audience |
| How to Achieve Long-Lasting Attitude Change | People who base their attitudes on a careful analysis of the arguments (people who took the central route) will be: More likely to maintain this attitude More likely to behave consistently with this attitude More resistant to counter-persuasion |
| Fear Arousing Communications | Persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears |
| Do fear-arousing communications work? | -Fear of Smoking Moderate amounts of fear work best Provide information on how to reduce fear ↑ People will be responsive to your message if you do these |
| When do people use emotions as a Heuristic? | Use emotions and moods as heuristics to determine attitudes when they do not know how they feel about a certain object How do I feel about it? -If we feel good: Must have a positive attitude about object -If we feel bad: Thumbs down! |
| The problem with using emotions as a Heuristic? | Can make mistakes about what is causing our mood -Misattribute feelings created by one source to another |
| How to change a cognitively based attitude? | -Effective Advertising Study Fight fire with fire -Try to change it with rational arguments |
| How to change an affectively based attitude? | -Effective Advertising Study Fight fire with fire -Try to change it with emotional appeals |
| True or False: Body posture plays a significant role in attitude change | -Shake vs Nod Head With Strong and Weak Arguments TRUE body posture like nodding and shaking your head can make an argument more persuasive |
| The Power of Advertising | -Taking Over People's Cable TV People are more influenced by advertising than they think. “Everyone else is affected, but not me” |
| How Advertising Works | make products personally relevant. ppl take emotional approach of attitude change Personally relevant? -Yes—then use fact-based arguments -No—might use peripheral route -Peripheral route leads to attitude change that is not long lasting |
| Subliminal messages: | Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but may nevertheless influence people's judgments, attitudes, and behavior There is no evidence that the types of subliminal messages in EVERYDAY life have influence on behavior |
| Subliminal messages in a lab based setting | -Lipton Ice Study Evidence suggests it can effect peoples behavior, however: Subliminal effects require a controlled environment No evidence that subliminal message can get people to act counter to wishes, values, or personalities |
| Advertising and Western cultures | -Indepence and Interdepence Shoe Advertisement Ads stress independence |
| Advertising and Eastern cultures | -Indepence and Interdepence Shoe Advertisement Ads stress interdependence |
| Attitude inoculation | Making ppl immune to attempts to change their attitude by initially exposing them to a weaker version of the argument against their position =ppl have more time to think about the argument = less likely to change attitude when faced with stronger argument |
| Attitude inoculation Study | -Arguments against cultural truism (e.g., people should brush their teeth after every meal) |
| Peer pressure in adolescence | -Peer Pressure Role-Play Operates on values and emotions Liking and acceptance by peer group Not based in logical arguments To resist peer pressure: Attitude inoculation that focuses on inoculating against emotional appeals |
| Reactance theory | -Bathroom Graffiti Idea that when people feel their freedom to perform a certain behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of reactance is aroused, which they can reduce by performing the threatened behavior |
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