PSY 124 - Social Psychology - Past Notes PDF

PSY 124 WEEK 1 sep 3 What is social psychology? The scientific study of how people think, feel,\ and behave in social contexts. These social contexts can\ be real or imagined. Men tend to be more hopelessly romantic than women Lewin (1946) - Social psych questions are tested most efficiently...

PSY 124 WEEK 1 sep 3 What is social psychology? The scientific study of how people think, feel,\ and behave in social contexts. These social contexts can\ be real or imagined. Men tend to be more hopelessly romantic than women Lewin (1946) - Social psych questions are tested most efficiently with experiments - Use experiments to understands basics and develop theories - Use theories developed to address pressing social problems What social psychology is NOT - Sociology - Cognitive psychology - Clinical psychology - Personality psychology What do Social psychologists care about? - Ways to combat stereotypes and prejudice - How to stop being influenced by others - How can I have a good relationships - How to help people achieve goals More time on social media = more social comparisons Correlational study NOT causal As per a study conducted People who took a break from social media had higher happiness levels than people who didn't - Norman triplett (1898) cyclists faster when with other as apposed to against the clock - Max Ringelmann (1913): Do worse on simple tasks in presence\ of others First textbooks\ McDougall (1908)\ Ross (1908)\ Allport (1924) -- stressed interactions between individuals and\ social context and focus on experiments Replication crisis Many studies particularly with interesting results do not replicate Open science colab 36 out of 100 successful Themes in social psychology - Integrating emotion, motivation and cognition - Genetic and evolutionary perspectives and their effects - Culture and its role - Interdisciplinary (including other fields and an intersection of these fields - The social body and brain - New tech and online worlds - Newer standards and practices for research in part due to the replication crisis. Research Literacy We need to understand how to do research and understand if it has been done well The research process Starts with an idea from which a hypothesis is formed. Then a study is designed to test the hypothesis. Then these steps are repeated with different variations and over time it results in a theory. A lot of research comes from pre-existing theory and even if it is wrong it stimulates research. What is a good theory? Susan Fiske - Cause and effect relationship is developed - Is coherent - Aims for the simplest explanation - Can be tested and is falsifiable - Generated new info and questions - Creates solution Basic research focuses on understanding human behaviour designed to test a hypothesis Applied research focuses on application of the basic research in the real worlds How do we define and measure variables Operational definition -- the specific way we measure a variable. Length in cm? in baguettes? Construct validity However we measure a variable should actually measure what we think its measuring How much is the manipulation actually manipulating what its supposed to manipulate Measuring variables - Self report - Observations (watch how they behave) - Technology Descriptive research - Goal is to describe people and their thoughts feelings and behaviours - Observational studies - Archival study ( from already existing sources and documents) - Surveys very easy and common but hard to develop good items/results Correlational research - Goal is to understand relationship between variables - Tested with observational archival or survey research CORRELATION IS NOTTT CAUSATION Causal research - Goal is to establish causal relationship - Experiments Researchers control events and participants are randomly assigned - Uniform experience exceot for manipulation and Participants have equal chance of being in any experimental condition Experiments Independent variable: is manipulated Dependent variable: is impacted by the independent variable Control group is optional but results in more accuracy and internal validity Internal validity : how confident we are that what happened to the dependent variable is actually caused by the independent variable and not something else External validity : how sure we are that the results will apply outside of the experiment or in different situations. Can be fixed by diverse participants in samples Confound is something that could be affecting the dependent variable. Experimenter expectancy effects : effects that occur when researchers expectancy leads to an effect on the participant. May be solved by double blind studies Replication : repeating a study to see if similar results can be achieved Deceptions: ; lying to increase accuracy and avoid prediction done by participants. - Confederates: Accomplices of researcher who act as\ if they are a participant in an experiment Meta-analysis: Statistical techniques to combine the\ results of many studies and establish the overall\ reliability and strength of effects\ Super valuable\ Culture and Research Methods\ Social psychology very North American\ Some results don't hold, or are opposite, in other\ cultures Research Ethics and Standards\ In Canada, rely on Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (TCPS\ 2)\ Informed Consent\ Debriefing Form\ Online Research\ Values\ Research Standards and Practices\ Pre-registration WEEK 2 sep 10 Things that are relevant to ourselves grab our attention really easily Self Concept our beliefs about our own personal attributes Self concept is made up of Self schema : A belief people hold about\ themselves that guides the processing of self-\ relevant information Self recognition: thinking about ourselves and that we are unique and individual. really only identified in great apes and humans How do we know ourselves?? **Introspection (meh not really)** - Research shows were not always good at introspection - Affective forecasting: trying to predict how we will feel to future emotional events. People tend to be bad at this. Reson being we over estimate the strength and duration of responses and tend to underestimate the influence of other stuff. - We are also pretty bad at understanding reasons for our own behaviors - We are very good at creating reasoning for our behaviours and emotions **Perceptions of our own behaviors (kinda works)** - Daryl Bem (1972) people can learn about themselves from observing themselves - Self perception Theory : when internal cues are difficult to interpret and not sure how we are feeling then we can observe our behaviour to look for an answer - But does our behaviour really reflect how we feel or was it the situation that made us acr this way? (If it was your job to demolish walls, you wouldn't infer you were angry if you took a sledgehammer to a wall) - This only works for traits that we aren't sure about - Chaiken & Baldwin (1981):\ Pre-measured attitudes toward environment\ IV: environmentalism or anti-environmentalism survey\ DV: environmentalist identity\ Participants with ambiguous environmental attitudes\ more likely to report environmentalist identity congruent\ with IV\ Participants with strong attitudes were not impacted by IV - Facial feedback hypothesis : facial expression makes you tend to feel that emotion E.g., Marzoli et al., 2013\ IV: Facing the sun (frown) vs.\ back to sun (no frown) DV: How angry/aggressive they\ felt. Those frowning felt more angry,\ even though they said mood was\ not impacted by sun! - Intrinsic motivation : engage in activity due to being interested - Extrinsic motivation : engage in activity only for gain. - Overjustification effect : intrinsic motivation is lost when they are initially rewarded and then later stopped. **Comparing ourselves to other people (has some impact)** - Describe ourselves in ways that distinguish us from others - Other people help us to define ourselves - Social comparison theory: people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others E.g., "Your score is 411" -- No idea what this means,\ so you see what other people scored\ Don't care much about ABSOLUTE score, care about\ ourselves in relation to others - We also tend to compare ourselves to similar people - Facebook depression study (correlational) - Vogel et al., 2014\ Compare self to more successful (upward comparison) or less successful (downward comparison)\ Upward ◊ rate self worse - Verduyn et al., 2015\ Passive scrolling associated with feeling worse about self - Waterloo students spontaneously compare self to those less\ successful when wanting to feel better about self (Wood et al.,\ 2000) - In Canada, lottery-winners' neighbors are more likely to go bankrupt (Agarwal et al., 2016)\ Neighbors went bankrupt buying expensive/visible goods\ like fancy cars Comparing ourselves to others people -- emotion - Sounds strange that we might use others to determine our\ own emotions\ Injected bunch of men (volunteers) with\ epinephrine/adrenaline\ Group 1: Injected, no information about effects\ Group 2: Injected, told what the drug would do\ Group 3: Placebo\ All spent 20 minutes with confederate who acted with\ extreme emotion (happy, angry)\ Group 1 acted similarly to confederate (Schachter & Singer,\ 1962) THIS HAS NOT BEEN CONSISTENTLY REPLICATED Autobiographical Memory (kinda not really but also yes) - Sense of self REQUIRES autobiographical memory : it is the memory of personal history - But we don't remember all this equally due to things like - Positive social memories - Recency Effect - "Firsts" - Surprising events/ flashbulb memories - Memories inform self-concept, but not all memories are\ equally represented, or accurate Cultural factors ------------------------------ ------------------------------- Collectivist\ Individualistic\ Interdependent self\ Independent self\ "We" is important\ "Me" is important\ Disapproves of egotism\ Disapproves of conformity\ More likely to list group\ More likely to list traits\ identities\ and goals\ Asia, Africa, Latin America\ North America, Europe Indigenous Peoples ------------------------------ ------------------------------- Kim & Markus (1999) - European and East Asian participants in America\ completed survey - Afterward, offered a pen as gift - Most pens were same color; one unique - 74% of European Americans chose unique color - 76% of East Asians selected common color - Note on language in textbook: "American pedestrians"\ and "East Asian pedestrians" Self Esteem Self esteem is an affective component of the self, made up of positive and negative self evaluations - High self esteem = good about self - Low self esteem = bad about self Both trait and state elements that play part in this - For most self esteem is pretty stable for most of their life which peaks at 50 - But there are short term fluctuations Why do we need self esteem? Sociometer theory (Leary & Baumeister, 2000) - People are inherently social - Want social approval from others Terror management theory (Greenberg, Solomon, &\ Pyszczynski, 1997) - Humans are biologically programmed for self preservation - We are terrified of death's inevitability - So we create worldviews that preserve our self esteem Outcomes of self esteem -------------------------------- -------------------------- High Self-Esteem\ Low Self-Esteem\ Happy\ Depressed\ Healthy\ Pessimistic about the\ Productive\ future\ Successful\ Prone to failure Lower risk of health issues\ & substance abuse -------------------------------- -------------------------- - Research using objective measures is mixed - There is little evidence that high esteem causes better outcomes - More evidence that suggests self esteem is a consequence of success in life Gender and race differences in self esteem Gender differences are small and specific - Men : higher self esteem for appearance and athleticism - Women : hugher SE for ethics and morality African Americans have higher self-esteem scores than White Americans Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous people have lower self-esteem scores than White people Self-awareness theory Self-awareness theory: Self-focused attention leads people to notice self discrepancies, thereby motivating either an escape from self-awareness or a change in behavior There are 2 responses - Fix what we are feeling bad about - Stop thinking about it via many coping mechanisms like binging etc. Self regulation is the process through which people control their thoughts and emotions to achieve a certain personal or social goal - Its not an unlimited resource and sometimes runs out Culture and Self esteem All people have a need for positive self regard Individualists tend to use self enhancement tactics while collectivists mask to fit in Spotlight effect is the tendency to believe that the social spotlight shines more on you than it really does. Self-presentation: Strategies that people use to shape\ what others think of them 1.Strategic self-presentation - Effects to shape others impressions by changing yourself in pecific ways to gain power sympathy approval etc - It takes cognitive energy to pretend we're something we're not Goals - Ingratiation: get along with people - Self promotion: get ahead of others 2\. Self-verification - The desire for people to see how we think we really are - Will try to correct people if they have a false impression of them Will actively accept feedback which confirms self-conception and image of self even if it is negative - Desire for self verification appears to be universal, observed in individualistic and collectivist cultures Self monitoring Tendency to regulate your own behaviour to meet the requirements of a social situations - High self monitors have a collection of selves which they use n appropriate situations. They regard themselves as flexible and adaptive - Low self monitors don't tend to change much and tend to be self verifiers. See themselves as righteous and forthright WEEK 3 SEP 17 How do we come to form opinions of other people and how we seem to confirm said opinions OBSERVATION Physical appearance People tend to judge others by their physical appearance Evaluation of faces are quick, unconscious, and spontaneous Baby faced people are rated less competent but more warm because they are associated with infants and their helplessness Perception of situtions Enables us to anticipate goals behaviours and outcomes likely to occur in a particular setting First date script:\ (1) man arrives; (2) woman greets; (3) woman\ introduces date to those in home; (4) small talk (5)\ movie (6) food (7) man takes woman home (8) future\ date (9) kiss (10) good night Behavioural evidence : nonverbal behaviour Nonverbal behaviours is something that reveals someone's feelings without words. Eg facial expression, posture , vocal cues like stuttering, eye contact , and touch. facial expressions are understood the same around the globe There is a cultural variation in nonverbal behaviours - Greetings : handshakes, kissing on cheek, bowing etc - A-okay gesture: everything is good, obscene - Social distance : backing away may be considered rude - Eye contact : intimacy connection or lack of respect - Ring : on pinky finger means single in someplaces Most people are no better than chance at detecting lies We tend to think the wrong NVB indicates lying Most things could be attributed to anxiety Best indicator is voice : hesitate speed up and pitch up Asking to Recall things in reverse order is a great indicator Attribution We make attributions or explanations to understand others behaviours to understand lives Attribution theory: A group of theories that describe\ how people explain the causes of behavior\ Personal attribution: attribution to internal\ characteristics of an actor (e.g., the actor's\ personality)\ Situational attribution: attribution to external\ factors (e.g., the task at hand)\ Goal of attribution theories is to understand perceptions\ of causality, not actual causality Correspondent inference theory How a behaviour might reflect an enduring personal trait Degree of choice, expectedness of behaviour, intended\ effects of behaviour Covariation Theory\ If personal traits or environmental factors determine a\ behaviour\ Covariation principle: For something to be the cause of\ a behaviour, it must be present when the behaviour occurs\ and absent when it does not\ Consensus, distinctiveness, consistency Attribution biases - Two systems of thought - Fast : intuitive - Slow : purposeful Cognitive Heuristics Information processing guidelines that make thinking fast but are error prone False-consensus effect: Overestimate how much\ others share your own opinions, attributes, and\ behaviors\ Availability heuristic: Estimate likelihood of event\ based on how easily it comes to mind\ Base-rate fallacy: People tend to be insensitive to\ statistics and are more compelled by graphic, dramatic\ presentations Counterfactual thinking - What if thinking - What would have happened if I did something different - May lead to regret or relief - Often about education career and relief Fundamental attribution error When we interpret someone's behaviour we over estimate their personal causes and underestimate the impact of situations Culture and attribution - Fundamental attribution error are more likely among Protestants, those who believe in Karma, those of upper social class, and in high relational mobility - Fundamental attribution error more common among American adult participants than Indian adult participants (Miller, 1984) Motivational biases Social perceptions are sometimes impacted by personal hopes needs wishes and preferences - Wishful seeing interpret something we see in a way that might advantage us - Need for self esteem interpret behaviour in a self serving way - Belief in a just word if something bad happened to you it must mean that you're bad Integration Impression formation: Process of integrating\ information about a person to form a coherent\ impression\ Information integration theory: Impressions are\ based on (1) perceiver disposition and (2) weighted\ average of a target person's characteristics (Anderson,\ 1981)\ Overall, tend to take an average, rather than a sum\ But some things can throw off this relatively simple\ calculation Perceiver Characteristics We tend to think if we fall within the average, others must be within the average too Priming effects How easily something comes to mind and how that priming can effect how you interpret information E.g., Higgins et al (1977)\ Read words (C1) "brave, independent,\ adventurous" or (C2) "reckless, foolish, careless."\ Read about Don who mountain climbs, does\ demolition derby, and tried to cross an ocean in a\ sailboat\ C1 more favorable impression than C2 Target Characteristics - Some characteristics are easier to spot - Trait negative bias tend to weigh negative information more heavily Implicit personality theories Our own network of assumptions about how types of people traits and behaviours are related - Some traits are more powerful than others like (warm) or (cold) Primacy effect something happening early has a tendency to have more influence than something happening later we do update our impressions in the face of believable facts or extremely negative information. Confirmation biases : tendency To see information which already aligns with yours Belief perseverance : tendency to keep believing something you really believe even when they have been discredited Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing\ Tend to seek out information that will confirm the belief\ we already hold Initial negative impressions can be particularly stubborn\ Why?\ Biased experience sampling\ We want to, and do, spend time with those we\ initially have a positive impression of\ We avoid those we have an initial negative\ impression of\ So we never get a chance to change our impression Self-fulfilling prophecy: The process by which one's\ expectations about a person eventually lead that person\ to behave in ways that confirm those expectations Two different views of social perception:\ Quick and relatively automatic\ Based on physical appearance, preconceptions,\ cognitive heuristics, or just a hint of behavioral\ evidence\ Mindful\ Based on carefully and reserve judgment until their\ analysis of the target person, behavior, and\ situation is complete We Can Be Competent Social Perceivers\ The more experience people have with each other, the\ more accurate our judgments are.\ Although we are not good at making global judgments\ about others, we are able to make more limited specific\ predictions of how others will behave in our own\ presence.\ People can form more accurate impressions of others\ when we are motivated by concerns of accuracy and\ open-mindedness.\ Some individuals are more accurate than others in their\ social perceptions (e.g., those who are well adjusted).