Social Psychology PDF

Introduction to social psychology What is social psychology ​ How the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others ​ Eg - relationships, helping behaviour Methods in social psychology Outline experimental and non-...

Introduction to social psychology What is social psychology ​ How the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others ​ Eg - relationships, helping behaviour Methods in social psychology Outline experimental and non-experimental methods used to investigate social psychological phenomena and evaluate interventions. ​ Experimental - manipulate an individual variable and observe an effect on a dependent variable - eg lab experiment ​ Non-experimental - correlation between variables, no manipulation of an IV - eg case studies Experimental methods Lab experiment - aim is to isolate and manipulate a single aspect of a variable ​ Advantages: establish cause and effect, control over extraneous variables, objectively assess behaviour ​ Disadvantages: low ecological validity, demand characteristics Field experiment ​ Advantages: high ecological validity ​ Disadvantages: less control over extraneous variables Non-experimental methods ​ Archival research - assembly of data collected by others ​ Case studies - an in depth analysis of a single case Distinguish between implicit and explicit methods. ​ Explicit - participant is aware, conscious control ​ Implicit - participant is unaware, automatic processes Define and describe schemas. ​ Schemas - a mental structure that organises and collects information about something ​ Schema accessibility - implicit tasks assess or influence the accessibility of schemas, highly accessible schemas are those more likely to influence cognitive processes and behaviour Describe three implicit methods used in Social Psychology. Implicit association test ​ Assesses implicit associations we hold - quicker responses suggested if associations exist whilst slower responses suggested if associations do not exist Lexical decision task ​ Assesses the accessibility of cognitions ​ Participants judge whether letters form a word or not - on critical trials, target words are presented that reflect the cognitions of interest ​ Reaction times to correctly identify target words are used to infer the accessibility of that cognition Describe a current issue in Social Psychological research. ​ Generalisability of samples - high use of student and WEIRD samples - not generalisable to all cultures Attributions Define causal attribution and give examples of the three different dimensions of causal attributions ​ Causal attribution - the process of assigning a cause to an event or behaviour ​ Locus of causality - behaviours/events can be attributed to internal causes or external causes ​ Internal attribution - the process of assigning the cause of our own or others behaviour to internal or dispositional factors ​ External attribution - assigning the cause of our own or others behaviour to external or environmental factors Recognise and describe Heider’s (1958) view of humans as naïve scientists ​ Attribution theory - humans are naïve scientists motivated by a need to - form a coherent view of the world and be in control of their environment - we try to come up with a simple rational explanation for behaviours and events Describe the key tenets of Correspondent Inference Theory and the Covariation Model, and recognise key issues with these models Correspondent interference theory ​ Explains how people infer that a persons behaviour corresponds to an underlying disposition or personality trait  ​ Why - people like to make correspondent inferences because a dispositional cause is a stable cause that makes peoples behaviour predictable and increases our sense of control over the world Covariation model ​ Argues that attributions are based on what factors co-occur with the behaviour/event ​ 'covariation principles' - the tendency to see a causal relationship between an event and an outcome when they happen at the same time ​ Consensus - does everyone behave this way to the stimulus (low consensus - dispositional, high consensus - situational) ​ Consistency - does this person behave the same to this stimulus on other occasions (low consistency - situational, high consistency - dispositional) ​ Distinctiveness - does this person behave the same way to different stimuli (low distinctiveness - dispositional, high distinctiveness - situational) Define the Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias, the Actor-Observer Effect/Bias, and the Self-Serving Attribution Error, recognise empirical evidence for their occurrence, and describe their possible causes Fundamental attribution error ​ The tendency to over-attribute actions to the person rather than the situation ​ Explanations - lack of awareness of situational constraints, unrealistic explanations of behaviour, incomplete corrections of dispositional inferences Actor-observer effect ​ Tendency to attribute other's behaviour to dispositional factors, and our own behaviour to situational factors ​ Explanations - when we observe our own behaviour we just see the situational background rather than our dispositional + we have far more information about how we behave in different situations Self serving attribution bias ​ People are more likely to attribute positive events to themselves but dismiss negative events as attributable to other causes ​ Explanations - adaptive as it helps us to maintain and enhance self esteem Critically evaluate the validity of the Fundamental Attribution Error ​ Limitations - there is cultural differences in the extent to which people make this fundamental attribution error Recognise and describe the impact of individual and cultural differences in attribution, with reference to empirical evidence How universal is the self serving attribution bias ​ Very large self serving attribution bias, overall people made more internal attributions for positive events than they did for negative events ​ However they also found that the bias is attenuated in - adolescents and adults, some non-western cultures, samples with mental health disorders Stereotypes Define and distinguish between terms ​ Stereotypes - the collection of traits that society associates with a particular social group, widely shared generalisations about members of a social group ​ Prejudice - negative attitude held towards a social group or its member ​ Discrimination - negative behaviours towards a person because of their group membership Describe key social and cognitive explanations for the formation of stereotypes Stereotype content model ​ Argues that stereotype content reflects changes in society ​ Stereotypes are classified along two key dimensions of warmth and competence Warmth ​ Intent and linked to competition for resources ​ Low competition - perceptions of positive intentions - high warmth stereotypes, eg friendly and trustworthy ​ High competition - perceptions of negative intentions - low warmth stereotypes, eg unfriendly and devious Competence ​ Capability and is linked to groups status in society ​ High status - perceptions of high capability - high competence stereotypes, eg intelligent, skilled ​ Low status - perceptions of low capability - low competence stereotypes, eg weak Illusory correlation ​ When we see an association between two variables which are not actually associated ​ When two 'statistically infrequent' events are paired, the correlation between the two is overestimated due to their distinctiveness Distinguish between stereotype activation and stereotype application, and identify common methods for their measurement ​ Stereotype activation - the degree to which a stereotype is accessible in the mind ​ Stereotype application - the actual use of activated stereotypes in judgements Measures ​ Stereotype application - measures that assess whether someone uses stereotypes in judgements ​ Stereotype activation - lexical decision tasks Explain why people stereotype and why stereotypes persist, with reference to empirical evidence Why people stereotype ​ Energy saving - simplifies information processing and reduces cognitive load - mental short cut ​ Justification - people want to believe that social systems are fair and legitimate, stereotypes can help rationalise any inequality that exists How are stereotypes perpetuated ​ Ultimate attribution error - negative/stereotypic behaviours are attributed to disposition whereas positive/counter-stereotypic behaviours are attributed to the situation Outline and describe stereotype threat ​ The concern experienced by a person when there is a possibility that they may act in a way consistent with negative stereotypes ​ Effects - increase anxiety, increase negative thoughts, limit working memory, impair task performance ​ Consequences - affects performance on stereotype relevant tasks or disengagement from the stereotyped domain ​ Self-fulfilling prophecies - expectations and assumptions about a person that influence our interaction with that person and eventually change their behaviour in line with our expectations Personality and individual differences Discuss where our interest in personality began ​ People have been fascinated with personality since the time of the ancient Greeks - Hippocrates and Galen believed that physical humours were linked with personality traits ​ Phrenology - a pseudoscience that aimed to predict people's personality by the size, shape and bumps on their skull Describe and distinguish between the main theories of personality Psychodynamic ​ Personality is influenced by our unconscious mind and our childhood experiences ​ 3 components of personality - id, ego and superego ​ Id is responsible for needs and urges whilst the superego regulates ideas and morals - personality is developed in the struggle to find stability between these two forces Humanistic ​ Emphasise the importance of free will and the role of each persons conscious life experiences in personality development ​ Belief that people are inherently good and people are motivated to pursue things that will help them reach their full potential Behavioural/social cognition ​ Environment has a strong influence on our personality and suggest that personality is learnt ​ Behaviourism - influenced by skinner - our personality is influenced by associations, rewards and punishments ​ Social cognition - influenced by bandura - views personality through the lens of social interactions and learning Describe and critically evaluate the big five model of personality Overview ​ Personality can be reduced to 5 core factors (OCEAN) ​ Trait - a relatively stable personality characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways Openness ​ Willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and creative activities ​ Low - dislikes change, prefers routine, traditional ​ High - curious, imaginative, creative Conscientiousness ​ A person's ability to regulate their impulse control to engage in goal-directed behaviours ​ Low - disorganised, careless, impulsive ​ High - organised, dutifulness, self-disciplined Extroversion ​ The tendency and intensity with which someone seeks interaction with their environment ​ Low - prefers solitude, fatigued by social interaction, reflective, reserved ​ High - sociable, energised by social interaction, outgoing Agreeableness ​ How people tend to treat relationships with others, interactions with others ​ Low - demanding, insulting, stubborn ​ High - trust, altruism, compliance, sympathetic Neuroticism ​ The overall emotional stability of an individual  ​ Low - calm, confident, resilient ​ High - anxious, stressed, self-conscious Describe and critically evaluate measures of personality ​ Strengths of the big 5 model - has been tested in many countries and often demonstrates good cross-cultural validity ​ Limitations of the big 5 model - each trait is too broad, some studies do not support its model ​ Key limitation - the Barnum effect - a cognitive bias that occurs when individuals believe that generic personality descriptions and statements apply to themselves - in reality the description is general and vague enough to apply to almost everyone Explain the person x situation debate in personality research ​ Person - can we use a persons personality as a guide to predicting their behaviour across different situations - eg are we correct when making statements about people having an outgoing or shy personality ​ Situation - is what a person does entirely dependent on the situation at the time - eg is the situation the only thing that influences peoples behaviour Discuss whether personality can change ​ Personality can change over time, although the degree of change may depend upon environmental and developmental influences and the willingness of the individual to change Impression formation Define and describe the nature of impression formation Impression formation ​ The way in which we form impressions, often first impressions, of others and attribute specific characteristics to them ​ Judgements made very quickly and using very little information Describe and critically evaluate classic theories of impression formation Configural model ​ Central traits and traits first encountered impact the overall impression ​ We latch on to certain pieces of information which have a disproportionate influence over the final impression ​ Central traits influence the meanings of other traits and the perceived relationship among traits ​ Impressions are formed as integrated wholes based on central cues Cognitive algebra  ​ Focuses on how people combine attributes that have valence into an overall positive or negative impression - traits are individually combined together to form the overall impression ​ Summative: a method of forming positive or negative impressions by summing the valence of all the constituent person attributes ​ Averaging: overall impression is the cumulative average of each piece of information ​ Weighted averaging: certain traits are given greater weighting in certain contexts Negativity bias ​ Negative traits have a greater impact on impressions than positive traits ​ In the absence of negative information, people tend to assume the best of others and form a positive impression but any negative information attracts our attention and looms large in our subsequent information ​ Explanations - information is unusual which attracts attention, info indirectly signifies potential danger Critically evaluate the role that physical appearance has on impression formation Physical attractiveness ​ Often the first and most salient piece of information available to us ​ Halo effect - generally attribute positive qualities to physically attractive people, eg more sociable and kind ​ Baby faced faces - larger eyes, rounder faces, thicker lips - attributed with child like characteristics such as warmth, submission and kindness Explain with reference to empirical research how impression formations impact real world outcomes ​ Attractive adults are more likely to be hired for jobs ​ Ten Brinke and Gutaw (2010) - for severe crimes, guilty verdicts were formed on less evidence if the defendant had an untrustworthy face compared to a trustworthy face Social comparisons Identify and describe social comparison theory and its key questions ​ Consists of comparing oneself (our abilities, opinions) with others in order to evaluate or to enhance some aspects of the self ​ Important variables are the other persons expertise, similarity with the individual, and previous agreement with an individual ​ Important variables are also the individuals self-concept, level of aspiration, and feelings of wellbeing Relevance and similarity ​ Compare ourselves to others in a dimension that is important or relevant to self ​ Compare ourselves to similar others Define and illustrate the different types of social comparisons people make Upward social comparison ​ Involve comparisons to others who are better in a particular domain, skill, trait ​ Can lead to inspiration and admiration on dimensions that are not self relevant or threatening to self evaluation ​ Can reduce our self esteem but can provide hope and inspiration Downward social comparison ​ Involve comparisons to others who are doing worse in a particular domain, skill, trait ​ Boost own self-evaluations, protect wellbeing Comparison direction and the counterfactual ​ Consequences of social comparison also depend on the counterfactual - 'what might have been' Recognise and explain the different functions of social comparisons Self-knowledge ​ To reduce uncertainty about the self and to understand ourselves ​ Collins (2000) - people intentionally compare themselves with superior others and that such comparisons can help make self-views more positive Self-enhancement ​ Downward social comparisons to boost wellbeing and maintain positive sense of self ​ Particularly for people who have low self esteem and feel threatened Self-improvement ​ Upward social comparisons to learn new skills, improve performance ​ Provides an example of what to aim for Social connections ​ Supports social coordination and building intimate connections with others Recognise the impact of social comparisons made on social media on self-esteem and mood ​ People make more upward than downward social comparisons on social media ​ Frequent users of social media often believe other people are happier and have better lives ​ Upward social comparisons on social media can lead to lower self esteem and more negative self evaluations Social influence Define social influence and identify 3 types (compliance, obedience and conformity) ​ Social influence - the process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or implied presence of other people Compliance  ​ Superficial, public transitory change in behaviour and expressed attitudes in response to requests, coercion or group pressure ​ Tactics for enhancing compliance - intimidation, supplication, self promotion, ingratiation Obedience ​ The performance of an action in direct response to an order from a figure in authority Conformity ​ Refers to the influence of a group upon an individual that usually produces more enduring internalised changes in ones attitudes and beliefs Describe and distinguish between 3 types of compliance techniques Foot in the door technique ​ Smaller request that virtually everyone agrees to, followed by the target large request ​ Why - there is a commitment to a course of action, they like to be consistent and a change in self view (see themselves as 'giving') Door in the face technique ​ Larger request first that most people will reject, followed by a smaller and more reasonable request ​ Why - pressure to reciprocate and compromise, social responsibility and guilt Low balling ​ Request lures people in and then once people are attracted, they then extend the request Describe, critically evaluate and explain research findings on obedience and conformity Milgram ​ Participant was the 'teacher' and was administering shocks (which were actually fake) to the 'student' who was a confederate ​ The 'student' responded to the shocks with increasing alarm as the shock voltage increased ​ Whilst this was happening, the experimenter repeated a series of prods such as 'the experiment requires that you continue' ​ Results - 65% of participants gave the full 450v shock ​ Conclusion - demonstrates the power of authority influence - many people will blindly follow orders from authority figures Milgram - criticisms ​ Harm ​ Deception ​ Insufficient debriefing ​ Produced a transformed view of human behaviour Describe and explain how a group can impact individual and group behaviour ​ Group norms - majority influence upon behaviour ​ Social facilitation - the enhancement of performance in the presence of other people - presence of others leads to arousal which increases the likelihood of performing the dominant response ​ Group behaviour - social loafing (when individuals work as a group, they often generate less effort than if they worked alone), deinviduation can explain anti-social behaviour that can occur in large groups Friendship and love Describe and critically evaluate the social penetration theory of how friendships develop and breakdown Social penetration theory ​ The role of self disclosure (voluntarily sharing personal information about oneself to another person) in developing and maintaining friendships ​ Breadth and depth of self disclosure matters ​ Norm of reciprocity - expects that people share similar levels of depth and breadth of information with us Stages of social penetration ​ Orientation ​ Exploratory affective exchange ​ Affective exchange ​ Stable exchange Orientation ​ Superficial information delivered cautiously and carefully, shows our public self and socially desirable behaviours Exploratory affective exchange ​ Less cautious but still limited to public self ​ Eg - casual acquaintances or friends ​ Over-receiving - can lead to guilt and pity. Under-receiving - can lead to sadness and frustration Interpretation ​ Happy relationships - problems blamed on the self ​ Unhappy relationships - problems blamed on partner, see their partners problematic behaviour as affecting the relationship The investment model Commitment to a relationship is predicted by…  ​ High satisfaction in current relationship ​ Investment size ​ Quality of alternatives Describe the relationship dissolution model of how relationships breakdown and predictors of the impact of relationship breakdown Duck's relationship dissolution model ​ Intrapsychic phase - partners think in detail about the sources of relationship problems, conducts an internal cost-benefit analysis ​ Dyadic phase - decision is made that something must be done - either negotiation and reconciliation or more arguments ​ Social phase - both partners turn to friends and family for support ​ Grave dressing phrase Predictors of the impact of relationship breakdown ​ Attachment style - an avoidant attachment style creates increased anger and sadness following break up ​ Partner initiated break up - increased depression, anxiety and distress