Social Psychology PDF

IMPORTANT TERMS Social Comparison Theory- We understand ourselves by comparing ourselves to others -Upward: comparing ourselves to someone who is better than us -Downward: comparing ourselves to someone who's worse than us Enlightenment Effect- Once we learn about a concept it can change our...

IMPORTANT TERMS Social Comparison Theory- We understand ourselves by comparing ourselves to others -Upward: comparing ourselves to someone who is better than us -Downward: comparing ourselves to someone who's worse than us Enlightenment Effect- Once we learn about a concept it can change our real world behavior for the better Halo Effect- When someone has 1 good trait we assume they have many good traits Self-Fulfilling Prophecy- Once we believe in a concept we may act in a way to cause that concept to happen ATTITUDES Component- affective (how does it make you feel) behavioral (what does it make you want to do) cognitive (what you think about the concept) Dimensions- strength (strong attitude unlikely to change contrary to a weak one) accessibility (how easy to tap into this attitude, stronger the attitude the easier to come to mind) ambivalence (something you like and dislike about the concept and having to manage this) ATTITUDE CHANGE COMPONENTS Source- person trying to cause change Receiver- whose attitude are you trying to change Message- what they say to create change Channel- way you’re delivering message ATTITUDE CHANGE Cognitive Dissonance- When we have 2 ideas in our head that are different from each other, this causes discomfort we have to resolve this discomfort by changing attitudes Self-Perception Theory- we change our attitudes by our behaviors  Impression Management Theory- we express different attitudes than what we portray Anticipated Regret: we think we will regret something but in actuality we wouldn’t Cognition Errors Theory of Bounded Rationality: People often focus on 1-2 assets of that decision instead of all of them, this can lead to irrational decision making Conjunction Fallacy: You Think 2 traits are likely to occur together rather than individual Recognition Heuristic: You make a decision based on objects we recognize instead of facts or logic Hindsight Bias: once we know the outcome of an event we think we’ve always believed in that Affect Heuristic: more likely to make decisions based off emotional reaction rather than ration Alternative Outcomes Effect: Past random events have an impact on future random events Anchoring Heuristic: We make our decisions based on other decisions we make Availability Heuristic: an easily accessible example Confirmation bias: remember info that agrees w you and ignore info that doesn’t Overconfidence: tend to have more confidence in our actions than we should Ostrich Bias: tend to ignore negative information and focus on positive info Emotion and Motivation Moods: different assetElaboration Likelihood Model- There are 2 paths to create attitude change (central: focus is on the message) (peripheral: relaying on everything but the message to create change)  Foot in the Door- Starting with something small and moving to larger requests until you get to the one you actually care about Door in the Face- Start with something insane that you're expecting them to say no to, and follow up with something that seems more reasonable ATTRIBUTIONS how we explain other people's behaviors Stable vs Unstable- If cause of behavior is unlikely to change its stable, if it's likely its unstable Internal vs External- internal is about the person whos doing the behavior, external is anything outside of the person doing the behavior Individualism vs collectivism- Individual matters people from the culture more likely to make internal attributions, collectivism= external attributions where individual doesn't matter much Fundamental Attribution Error- Everything being held equal we are more likely to make internal attributions Defensive Attribution Error- We make internal attributions for our successes, external attributions for failures PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION Stereotypes- Shortcuts where we overgeneralize groups of people Subtyping- Instead of abandoning your stereotype you create an exception Perceptual Confirmation- We interpret info that supports our stereotype Illusory Correlation- we believe we encounter more situations that support our stereotypes, than we actually have Out-group Homogeneity- we believe that outgroup members are more similar to each other than ingroups (outgroups we don't belong to) (ingroup we do belong to) Contact Hypothesis- One of the ways to decrease prejudice is through contact with an outgroup  Superordinate Goals- Give 2 separate groups a goal they must work together on to accomplish GROUP EFFECTS Common Knowledge Effect- When put into a group more likely to talk about info that all group members share Social Loafing- don’t work as hard in a group as you would individually, because you think the groups effort will make up for it Group Polarization- Groups opinion can become more extreme than any other individuals opinion on the subject Groupthink- more likely to agree with others in the group instead of saying no and bringing up a contrary opinion Deindividuation- Individual identity begins to matter less than the group GROUP INFLUENCE Conformity- You go along with a groups behavior/opinion without being directly asked Compliance- going along with a direct request Obedience- Going along with a direct request from an authority figure CONFORMITY Informational Influence- Going along with the group because you genuinely believe they're right Normative Influence- You go along with the group, because you don't want to be rejected Unanimity- if the entire group agrees on behavior/opinion more likely to see conformity Co-conspirator- someone who is willing to go against group (decreases conformity) Group size-Larger in size the more likely you are to see conformity Anonymity- if you're expressing this behavior in anonymous fashion, likely to see decreased conformity  OBEDIENCE Closeness: (both physically and temporally) closer the authority to you is physically, the more likely you are to obey, or if someone immediately asks you to do something you are more likely to do it Legitimate Authority: if you think the authority is actually legit Prestige: helps creates legitimate authority Depersonalize Victim: easier for someone to separate the consequences of the actions from themselves because they couldn't see it, much harder for obedience when for example you are holding someone Defiant Models: when someone says no it becomes easier for you to say no Attraction Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love (doesn’t only apply to romantic relationships, ex: you will only have intimacy and commitment) -Intimacy: sharing your emotions and feelings -Passion: hot physical attraction(lust) -Commitment: your desire to stay in a relationship with another person Matching hypothesis: genuinely people end up in a relationship with people that are the same attractive level as them Facial Symmetry: we find people with facial symmetry more attractive Attitude alignment: the longer you are in a relationship with someone the more similar your attitudes become Proximity: most important to people, this is why long distance is hard Language Rules: ❖ Structured: in order to be recognized as a language needs to have rules where you can derive messages/words ❖ Generative: a small number of words can create infinite words/messages  ❖ Symbolic: Small number of symbols to use infinite number of words/messages Denotation: dictionary definition of a word, most likely used w people we don’t know Connotation: how you personally understand that word, people we know Aggression Relational Aggression: trying to harm someone else's relationships Physical aggression: when you are trying to cause physical harm to someone else Hostile Aggression: spontaneously aggressive, usually because of your emotional state Instrumental Aggression: displaying aggression in order to accomplish a goal (ex: hockey) Roles: depends on your current role in society, some are more likely to aggress Ex- Stanford Prison Experiment= college aged boys we made to be guards or prisoners, prisoners had mental breakdowns ALTRUISM Kin Selection: more likely to help those that are biologically related to us (the more related we are the more likely we are to help) Reciprocal Altruism: if you help me i’ll help you (most common one we see) Empathy Altruism Hypothesis: in order to help someone without any benefit to yourself. You need to be able to empathize with that person Bystander Effect: more likely yo give help if there are fewer people around Social Responsibility Norm: we as a society have a responsibility to help people who are more vulnerable LANGUAGE & THOUGHT  Cognitive Miser: humans are lazy and we don’t want to extend our cognitive resources if we don’t have to Inductive Reasoning: drawing general conclusions from specific evidence (detectives use this, specific to general) Deductive reasoning: where we go from general statements to specific (general to specific) Syntax: how we put words together in order to create specific meaning Grammar: more general rules for a specific language Genie: she suffered serious abuse but she learned language since it's not a critical period, took our understanding from a critical period to a sensitive one Sensitive Period: easier to learn a trait Homesign: common type of language that occurs when deaf children are born to hearing parents LANGUAGE Rules: Symbolic: you have to be able to use words or sounds in order to represent intangible or abstract concepts Generative: using a small number of words to create an infinite number of words & messages Structured: rules that allow for infinite but understandable creations -Semantics: different types of meanings behind words Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word (more likely to use this when communicating with people you don’t know) Connotation: how you personally understand that word (slang falls into this category) LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES Sociocultural: Observational & interactional learning of language from those around us  Behaviorist: language is learned through operant conditioning, positive interaction with parents (behavior) Nativist (Chomsky): language is an innate skill for humans, not learned through experience -Language Acquisition: biologic deractive that facilitates speech Interactionist: in order to recognize language as a whole it's important to use all these resources Language Components Phonemes: smallest unit of speech, sounds we use Morphemes:smallest unit of meaning, prefixes suffixes and root words Receptive Vocab- words we understand Productive Vocab- words we actually use Telegraphic Speech- simplest subject & verb (Mommy see, Baby draw) Language Errors Overextension: using a word more liberally than they should, they call every utensil a fork Underextension: Using a word more conservatively than they should, they only call pink forks a fork Overregulation: apply regular grammar rules to regular examples Cognition Barriers Field Dependence: relating on context of situation to solve a problem Field Independence: ignoring context of situation in order to solve a problem Irrelevant Information: info that's not important Functional Fixedness: cognitive bias that limits a person to use an object only in the way it is traditionally used Unnecessary Constraints: constraints you put on the problem that aren’t actually in the problem s that occur throughout the day, last longer than emotions  Nonverbal leakage: Trying to disguise your emotions Affective Forecasting: predicting how we feel in the future Hedonic Treadmill: Trying constantly to be in a positive fate Self-Determination Theory: motivated to fulfill needs we have for competence, autonomy, and relatedness Social Motivations Hedonic: We do things to increase pleasure and decrease pain Approval: We want to be accepted not rejected by others Accuracy: we go along w others because we feel like they're more likely to be correct Theories of Motivation Instinct/Evolutionary Theory: Instincts are complex behaviors w a fixed pattern Drive Reduction: (drive) biological necessity and when its out of balance you’re motivated to bring it back into balance Incentive: rewards you get for engaging in a specific behavior Arousal: how aware we are in the moment -Yerkes Dodson Law: optimum level of arousal is a minimum level of arousal Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: need to fill physiological needs to move up to other needs Hunger Motivation Hypothalamus: Responsible for hunger Glucostatic Theory: specific neurons in our brain responsible for the glucose fluids in our brain Learned Preferences: what your family eats influences what you eats, often cultural preference Stress: causes negative emotions,often leads to increase in eating, when we’re stressed our body consumes more resources and we try to replenish this by eating CONTEXTUAL HUNGER CUES Palatability: how good the food tastes impacts how motivated you are to eat the food Quantity: generally you eat what's given to you, ex: if given more food more likely to eat more Quality: if food is of higher quality generally you can eat more of it Variety: generally if there is more variety you will eat more -Sensory-Specific Satiety: if you eat food for too long, you will get bored of it fast Others: we end up eating 44% more around others bc attention is split and not paying attention to signals body gives us so we end up eating more Stress: leads to increase in food consumption bc of increase in anomic response MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE Extrinsic: motivation that's happening externally, ex: raises, bonuses -Undermining Effect: once you get externally motivated there is a decrease in intrinsic motivation Intrinsic: 1. Challenge- If you like to be challenger tend to show higher levels of intrinsic motivation 2. Enjoyment- If you enjoy the task, you show higher levels of intrinsic motivation 3. Mastery- If you like to feel you’ve solved the task you show higher levels of intrinsic motivation 4. Autonomy- the more independence you have the higher your intrinsic motivation Organizational Support: Perception of how much your workplace supports you in your work and as a person VARIATIONS IN PURSUING ACHIEVEMENT  Motivation to Achieve: Stable personality trait where some people like to be high achievers, very organized/structured & focused Probability of Success: If the likelihood of you achieving your goal is low, you see low levels of motivation Incentive of Success: what do you get, the greater reward the greater achievement Self-Discipline: ability to regulate own actions MOTIVATION TO BELONG Evolutionary: our ability to belong to groups is what allows us to thrive & succeed, those who had a low motivation to belong died out. Humans being social creatures was passed down to us Emotional Benefits: Increase in happiness and strong close relationships Health Benefits: People who have a strong social support have more happy marriages and lower cancer levels Social Media: Our reward pathways light up when we our doing well on social media, however higher levels of social comparison, those who spend more time on social media are more likely to be a narcissistic EMOTIONAL COMPONENTS Cognitive: Thought patterns associated with emotions, very personal & influenced by culture Physiologic: What your body does with emotions, less influenced by culture and more individual , positive=parasympathetic. negative=sympathetic Behavior: how an emotion is going to make you behave, varies by culture (mix) -Display Rules/Norms: cultural expectations on how, whom, & when to display behavior relating to emotions BASE EMOTIONS  Valence: We divide most emotions into positive and negative, more likely to feel and make decisions off of negative emotions (they also last longer) Universal Emotions: 6 happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprised Emotion Families: it's helpful to see how emotions relate to each other Confusion: Usually you don’t experience a singular emotion by itself SELF CONSCIOUS EMOTIONS (Emotions based on our relations with others) Pride: When we accomplish something, associated with our superiority over others Embarrassment: Unexpectedly share information you weren’t intending to or broke some cultural rule Envy: We want what someone else has EMOTION THEORIES Discrete Emotions Theory: Humans experience a small number of discrete emotions that combine in a number of complex ways James-Lange: External stimulus or thing you’re reacting to having by having an emotion, physiological arousal is what your body does during this process, cognitive appraisal is what your brain does in this process (looks at arousal and seeks to understand it which = emotions Cannon-Bard: external stimulus which causes bodily and cognitive response, they both happen independently but at the same time Schacter-Singer: Stimulus causes physiological arousal but we consciously look for an explanation, this helps us explain emotional experience were having Continuous Theory: Looks at emotions and relates it to matrix, has high and low arousal Somatovisceral Afference Model Of Emotion (SAME): the stronger your physiological is the easter it is to process that emotion, disgust is very high and sadness is low THE BRAIN AND EMOTION Amygdala: lets us know if a stimulus is important to our emotions and important for fear & anger Prefrontal Cortex: Important for understanding when we should emotionally react to different stimuli, left side more associated with positive emotions & right side with negative emotions Insula: monitors our body reaction with disgust and allows us to register & respond to them quickly EMOTION REGULATION Reappraisal: if we reconsider the stimulus that caused our emotional reaction, it can change it Expressive Suppression: Deliberate conscious effort to limit outward expression of an emotion Duchenne Smile: One that comes from true happiness, creasing around the eyes, lips more relaxed