Psych Final Topics Outline PDF

Research in Social Psychology: Correlational Research and correlation coefficient ○ Correlation coefficient: -1 ——— 0 ——— 1 -1 is strong negative correlation 0 is no correlation 1 is strong positive correlation...

Research in Social Psychology: Correlational Research and correlation coefficient ○ Correlation coefficient: -1 ——— 0 ——— 1 -1 is strong negative correlation 0 is no correlation 1 is strong positive correlation Basics of experimental research ○ Independent variable: what is being manipulated ○ Dependent variable: what is being measured ○ Operational definition: defining a variable/how it will be measured ○ Random assignment: process of assigning participants to the conditions of the experiment so that all people have the same chance of being given that condition Internal and External validity ○ Internal validity: how confident a researcher can be that the observed effect in a study is due to the manipulated variable and not other outside factors ○ External validity: how well the findings of the research can be generalized and applied to a wider population Meta-analysis ○ Meta Analysis: a study that combines data from multiple research papers to assess the overall effectiveness of a specific treatment Social Perception: Priming and impression formation ○ Impression Formation: how strangers form perceptions of each other ○ Priming: where a stimulus influences a person's response to a subsequent event without them being aware of the connection Ex: “rather cold” vs “warm” Before a speaker came in, students in the audience were given sheets of paper describing the speaker as either “rather cold” or “warm.” The students given the “warm” paper liked the speaker more than the ones told that he was “rather cold.” ○ Kelley (1950) Memory task:  Subjects were given a set of words to memorize, which were characterized as positive and negative. Then, they were told about a person named Donald. The subjects who had to memorize the positive words liked Donald more than the ones who were memorizing negative words. ○ Higgins et. al (1997) Self fulfilling prophecy ○ Self Fulfilling Prophecy: a psychological phenomenon where a person's expectations or beliefs about a situation cause their actions to lead to the expected outcome Ex: walking into a job interview when you’re insecure about your abilities and qualifications will result in you failing the interview Attribution Basic dimensions ○ Self vs other people tend to explain their own actions and outcomes differently than they explain the actions and outcomes of others ○ Individual vs group explaining someone's behavior based on their personal characteristics and internal factors vs. explaining someone's behavior based on the characteristics of the group they belong to ○ Internal vs external explanation Internal explanation: explains behavior/outcome based on internal factors like personal characteristics Ex: failing an exam because you get easily distracted in class External explanation: explains behavior/outcome based on external factors that are out of your control Ex: failing an exam because you’re just unlucky and got a harder version Kelley's covariation model ○ Covariation Principle: when trying to understand the cause of someone's behavior, people tend to attribute it to the factor that most consistently appears  alongside that behavior, considering three key elements: consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency ○ Consensus: do other people experience the same effect in respect to the entity ○ Consistency: does this occur each time the entity is present, regardless of the form of interaction with it? ○ Distinctiveness: how does behavior vary as a function of the entity? Example: You see a coworker laugh loudly in a meeting. Consensus: are your other coworkers laughing as well? Consistency: does this coworker always laugh loudly? Or was it just this once? Distinctiveness: Does your coworker laugh at this situation in particular? Biases ○ Fundamental attribution error: People tend to ignore external explanations and emphasize internal explanations Ex: person who’s speeding and driving weirdly is seen as a bad driver, when it could have been that they were just not able to focus due to stress ○ Actor-observer relationship Attribute one's own actions to external causes Attribute the actions of others to internal causes ○ Self serving: taking credit for positive events or outcomes, but blaming outside factors for negative events ○ Self handicapping: a behavior where people create obstacles for themselves to protect their self-esteem and avoid blame for failure Ex: procrastinating studying until the very last minute when a test is coming up Social Cognition Schemas: cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the relationship among these attributes ○ Self schemas: perceptions of ourselves Ex: honest, smart, social, introverted ○ Role schemas: stereotypes  Ex: doctors are smart and responsible ○ Event schemas: socially acceptable behaviors appropriate for the event Ex: knowing how to behave at a restaurant Chameleon effect: people unconsciously mimic the behaviors of others in their social environment Perception behavior link ○ There's a link between social behavior and social perception Ex: seeing a group.behavior associated with some character makes you want to behave like them Ironic effects: what you don’t want to think about is what you think about the most Heuristics ○ Availability Heuristic: a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision. ○ Anchoring Heuristic: a cognitive bias that describes how people tend to rely too heavily on the first piece of information they receive when making decisions ○ Adjustment Heuristic: a cognitive bias that occurs when people make decisions or estimates by starting with an initial value, or "anchor", and then adjusting from there. Ex: going out to buy something with a budget of 50 dollars, seeing that item priced at 150 dollars (anchoring on this price), then seeing another item priced at 75 dollars, and buying the 75 dollar item because it’s cheaper than 150 dollars. Counterfactual thinking: The tendency we have to ruminate on the past and wonder “what could have been.” Social Influence Classic conformity studies ○ Asch: Group of people were asked to differentiate between different sized lines, with one person in the experiment and several confederates in the same room. Confederates purposefully gave the wrong answer, and found that when it was just one person, the person would most likely also give the wrong answer. Factors that changed the outcome:  Anonymity: when asked to write down answers, the person gave the right answer Group environment: when another person was there who gave the right answer, the person would also give the right answer ○ Milgram: people were asked to test a subject and administer a shock as punishment if they answered a question wrong, with each wrong answer resulting in a stronger shock. However, the person answering was never in real danger, only acting as if they were. The test “proctor” never physically saw the subject. It found that in most cases, the proctor would administer zaps to extreme voltages, even if the subject stopped answering. Factors that influenced the outcome: Authority figure: the scientists that administered the experiment were seen as authoritative and in control, so the proctor followed orders Diffusion of responsibility: the scientists assumed responsibility for any harm that could have been done to the subject by the high voltage shocks, so the proctor had free reign to keep going Not seeing the subject: there was a sense of detachment to be had because the proctor didn’t see the subject, only hearing their answers. Group size and conformity ○ As group size increases, so does the pressure to conform to the group's norms and expectations Compliance techniques ○ Foot in the door Ask for something small, then something bigger ○ Door in the face Ask for something big, then downsize to make it look more reasonable ○ That's not all Offer something for a high price, but also include an additional item Ex: A suit costs $950, but it comes also with a free set of ties ○ Low-balling  Technique where a favorable price is first introduced and the buyer is willing, but the salesperson then progressively raises the price and makes it less favorable Ex: going to a car dealership and agreeing on $15,000, but the salesman brings up hidden fees on the contract that raise the total to $20,000. The buyer will still purchase because they already had agreed to the $15k price. The Self Possible selves and self discrepancy theory ○ Actual self: type of person you are now ○ Ideal self: type of person you want to be ○ Ought self: type of person someone thinks they have a duty/responsibility to be ○ Undesired self: type of person someone does not want to be ○ Self discrepancy theory: suggests that people prefer to close the gap between their actual and ideal selves, and that discrepancies can lead to negative emotions and motivational consequences. Actual-Ideal discrepancy: difference between who you are now and what you want to be, leads to dejection related emotions like disappointment and discouragement Actual-ought discrepancy: difference between who you are now and what you should be, can lead to agitation related emotions like nervousness, worry, and being tense Self regulation and ego depletion ○ Self regulation: controlling one’s behavior ○ Ego depletion: the self expends a limited resource when it engages in acts of self regulation/self control Self evaluation motives ○ Self-verification: the desire to get feedback that validates/confirms how we view ourselves Positive self view: verifying somebody’s positive self view will make them feel better about themselves  Negative self view: people with negative self perceptions will seek out things reinforcing their negative perceptions of themselves but continue to do so for the sole purpose of reinforcement ○ Self-enhancement: the desire to receive feedback that confirms positive or desirable characteristics. ○ Self-improvement: the desire to improve oneself Social comparison: a behavior where we compare certain aspects of ourselves to other people so that we have a better assessment of ourselves ○ Upwards comparison: comparing yourself to people better than you in certain aspects. Can worsen self-esteem because you’ll feel as if you are lacking in comparison, or also possibly motivate you to try harder and improve yourself ○ Downwards comparison: comparing yourself to people worse than you in certain aspects Sociometer hypothesis and effects of social exclusion ○ Sociometer hypothesis: self-esteem is an internal monitor or gauge of an individual's social acceptance and belongingness ○ Effects of social exclusion: Aggression Suicidal thoughts Lack of empathy/prosocial behavior Terror management theory: people feel threatened by their own death and therefore adopt worldviews that allow them to find meaning and worth in their lives Basic cultural differences ○ Independent construal: self as an autonomous, independent person Primarily western Focus on self enhancement and self glorification Prefers independence and uniqueness ○ Interdependent construal: self is defined by its connectedness and in relation to others Primarily eastern Focus on self criticism Prefers conformity Attitudes Attitude-behavior relation ○ Attitude: learned evaluative response that is relatively enduring and influences behavior in a generally motivated way Ex: your attitude towards a political candidate will affect if you will/won’t vote for them Message variables and persuasion ○ Vividness: attention-grabbing visuals that can pull focus will make people pay more attention to the product A possible risk is that an ad that’s too long and complex can make people forget what the ad was even about ○ One Sided message: discusses only a product’s strengths ○ Two sided message: discusses both a product’s strengths and weaknesses, or supplies another point of view that is not just all positive towards the product. Prevents the audience from forming their own perspective by supplying them with one Ironic effects of warning: people forget the specifics about the warnings, but remember that they can trust this product Elaboration likelihood model ○ Central route of persuasion: focus on logic and reasoning, argument quality is the most important Attitudes changed by the central route tend to persist longer and be more resistant to change ○ Peripheral route of persuasion: focus on emotions, such as positive and negative cues Cognitive dissonance ○ Cognitive Dissonance: a psychological state of discomfort that occurs when a person's beliefs, values, or actions are inconsistent ○ Classical studies regarding this Festinger and Carlsmith demonstrated the concept of cognitive dissonance by paying participants either $1 or $20 to lie about how enjoyable a boring  task was, finding that those paid $1 later rated the task as more enjoyable because they had less justification for lying, leading them to change their perception of the task to reduce cognitive discomfort; ○ What variables influence cognitive dissonance Choice Difficult choice = more dissonance Potentially negative consequences More negative = more dissonance Personal responsibility More responsibility = more dissonance Involvement of the self More personal = more dissonance Self affirmation: Thoughts and actions are motivated by a desire to maintain a self image as moral, adaptive, and capable. Affirming alternate sources of self-integrity results in greater openness to self threatening information. Group Processes Social facilitation and explanations ○ Social facilitation: how our performance changes in the presence of an audience Presence of others facilitates dominant (correct, well learned) responses Distraction-conflict theory: a conflict between paying attention to the task at hand and the person accompanying you creates a drive effect Social loafing and ways to reduce ○ Social Loafing: tendency to put in less effort when working in a group Reducing: Make individual contributions identifiable Emphasize importance of individual member’s roles Keep groups to a reasonable size Group polarization and groupthink ○ Group polarization: tendency for groups to make more extreme decisions than individuals would make alone  ○ Groupthink: group members make poor decisions by prioritizing consensus over critical thinking Deindividuation: psychological state where individuals lose their sense of individual identity and personal responsibility when in a crowd Prejudice: Modern racism: subtle forms of racism Implicit prejudice: unconscious biases that influence behavior without conscious awareness Implicit association test: measures implicit attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling to report explicitly Prejudice causes ○ Realistic conflict theory: competition for limited resources leads to intergroup conflict ○ Social identity theory: people derive self-esteem from group membership and favor their in-group ○ Illusory correlation: false correlation made due to one rare circumstance of a negative experience with a member of a group Reducing prejudice ○ Contact hypothesis: positive intergroup contact can reduce prejudice Must be positive Must be typical members of each group, not rare exceptions ○ Sheriff’s summer camp studies: groups of boys showed prejudice towards other groups, but working towards a superordinate goal fixed this ○ Superordinate goals: objectives that require cooperation between multiple groups to achieve Stereotype threat: awareness of negative stereotypes can impair performance Helping Behavior Bystander effect: individuals are less likely to offer help when others are present pluralistic ignorance: people incorrectly assume that others are not concerned about a situation, resulting in inaction Variables that influence helping  ○ Ambiguity: people are less likely to interpret it as an emergency, or see other people not reacting and further reinforces their own inaction ○ Hurry: if in rush, people are less likely to help ○ Urban vs rural: rural areas are more likely to offer help Aggression: Frustration aggression and displaced aggression ○ Frustration-Aggression hypothesis: frustration can lead to aggression ○ Displaced aggression: redirecting aggression toward a target other than the source of frustration Culture of honor and aggression ○ Some cultures place a high value on defending one’s reputation/honor through aggression Dehumanization: perceiving others as less than human, which can facilitate aggression Attraction: Effects of proximity: people are more likely to form relationships with those who are physically closer to them Similarity and attraction: people tend to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves