Social Psychology PDF

Chapter 1: Define social psychology Explain how Milgram’s obedience study, the Good Samaritan Study, reveals the power of the situation. Milgram study - Shows how individuals can be influenced by people in power, easily. - Shock experiment, where the people being tested allicite shock to rand...

Chapter 1: Define social psychology Explain how Milgram’s obedience study, the Good Samaritan Study, reveals the power of the situation. Milgram study - Shows how individuals can be influenced by people in power, easily. - Shock experiment, where the people being tested allicite shock to random people until they The Good Samaritan Study - Likelihood of helping someone in distress - Define the fundamental attribution theory and know how to apply it. - For example, if I assume that my friend George missed our study date because he is lazy and doesn’t care about me, I would be making a fundamental attribution error. I assume my boss is late to work because he doesn't have good time management which is the reason he is such a bad boss, when in reality the traffic was really bad, i would be making the fundamental attribution error. - Define Gestalt psychology and explain why it is relevant to our understanding of social behaviour. Gestalt psychology is grounded in the idea “the whole is better than the sum of its parts” - a school of thought that looks at human mind and behavior as a whole. Suggests that humans don't focus on separate components but instead intend to perceive objects as elements. This theory has influenced the way we understand the brain and social behavior. -Define channel factors and the “nudge” concept— Australian vs German organ donor study Chanel factors - small situational details or prompts that can facilitate or hinder certain behaviors - making certain behavior in a particular direction easier or more accessible. The nudge concept - an intervention that subtly alters the environment in predictable ways without restricting freedom or choice. - usually for better decision making and often align with individuals or societal roles. EX - Changing the default option in a form (e.g., opt-in vs. opt-out) is a common nudge Which is the Australian vs German organ donor study Germany uses Opt-in to become an organ donor 12% of the population are donors - LOW Australia uses Opt-out 99%of them are donors. Define construals and be prepared to identify examples. Construals are different interpretations of the world around us. Example - the way I perceive someone telling me they just got broken up with is different than someone else, because I too - just got broken up with. Simply - psychological term for interpreting something. Understand what schemas are including: a.How they relate to stereotypes - Stereotypes are a type of schema. b.How they are formed - Life experiences C. What happens (broadly speaking) when they are violated - When schemas are violated it means they are contracted or new info doesn't align with old schemas. - This can cause low self confidence, procrastination and avoidance behaviors. Schemas - cognitive frameworks that help organize and interpret behavior, situations and contexts. Define how evolutionary psychology explain social behaviour while understanding how this theory draws on: - Explains how our behaviors have changed overtime due to conformity rules. a.natural selection - Overtime humans have strengthened and left behind certain traits, beliefs and biological frameworks due to social change as well as need for different biological change. b.cross culturally present human behaviour (language, theory of mind and emotional bonds) - Language, theory of mind and emotional bonds are interpreted as adaptations that increase fitness by enhancing survival and reproductive success in social environments. - Language - Humans needed to share information about their environment, coordinate group activities, and warn about dangers - Theory of mind - understanding others' thoughts and intentions - supports empathy, deception, and social bonding by allowing us to navigate relationships. - Emotional bonds - Humans who formed strong bonds (e.g., between parents and children, or within groups) had a better chance of survival and reproduction. What are the brain regions we share with other mammals, what makes the human brain unique and How is it important for human social behaviour? - Cerebrum  - Cerebellum - Tectum - An important part of social interaction is based on sensory and motor mirroring between individuals. Describe: the naturalistic fallacy and how it may relate to prejudice against certain groups. Naturalistic Fallacy - refers to the mistaken belief that, what is natural is inherently “good” or “right” - Naturalistic Fallacy might appear when people justify behaviors, social norms, or societal structures based on their perceived naturalness. - Gender - because boys and girls are perceived natural categories - the naturalistic fallacy could support that anything that isnt that is wrong. What Is the difference between automatic and conscious processing? Prepare for its application. Automatic - Fast, intuitive, without effort. Conscious - Slow, deliberate, effortful Automatic - Getting scared and Running from someone late at night if they appear to be running behind you. Conscious - realizing they are probably on a light right run and not a threat. - What are the differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures---know relevant studies: Individualistic - lose, prioritize personal gain and individual goals, Collectivistic - tight, group focused, a. Kim and Markus 1999 Pen study, - 74% of European Americans selected a pen with an uncommon (vs. common) color, whereas only 24% of East Asians made such a choice b. The Wang et al., 2017 brain imaging study with Chinese participants, - collected structural brain images from a large sample of Chinese young adults to assess individual differences in the orientation of independence-interdependence cultural values  c. Nicole Stephens studies uniqueness in working-class vs middle-class. - The studies demonstrated that, unlike middle-class participants, working-class partici- pants chose not to be different or unique but instead to be like other people - Regardless Of if a society is more collectivistic or individualistic- when do societies tend to become tighter? - In collectivistic cultures, individuals are seen as embedded within their group identity, and the notion of a separate, autonomous self is deemphasized. - Usually when traumatic things have happened or there is a large dictatorship, societies will be more tight. What is the difference between “loose” and “tight” societies? Explain How social psychology can improve critical thinking - Being able to analyze and evaluate any situation improves critical thinking abilities and makes it possible to better serve patients carefully and confidently CHAPTER 2 (Research Methods) Distinguish between folk theories and social psychological theories; explain why we cannot always rely on our casual observations of the social world ○Describe hindsight bias - “knew that all along” ○Describe confirmation bias- “ looking for info to support your biases and ignoring contradictory evidence.” - folk theories - the sophisticated cognitive system that humans possess for interpreting the behavior of others, - We cannot always rely on our casual observations because they are subjective. Explain what the scientific method entails - the process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation ○Distinguish between a theory and a hypothesis - Theory - after research with evidence. - Hypothesis - no evidence, just a question. What is observational research? Give an example - Watching and observing - Animals in the wild What is archival research? Give an example - Books, maps, bones - old things. - Looking into statistics from 1990 to compare to research now. What are surveys? Give an example - Many results form many different people - Standing in a park and asking random people to fill out a form - survey to get data. What is correlational research? ○Explain why a correlational design cannot establish causation ○Explain how the experimental design overcomes these limitations, allowing us to establish causation Distinguish between measured and manipulated variables (i.e., IV and DV) - Independent variable is the manipulated - Dependent variable is the measured If the independent variable then the dependent variable will… Explain what a control condition is - A third condition where there is no manipulation intended to compare found evidence against What are some advantages of experiments? What is a natural experiment? Nothing is manipulated. Ex. the study on the effect of air pollution on lung disorders What is a field experiment? - a research method that uses some controlled elements of traditional lab experiments, but takes place in natural, real-world settings Describe the different types of validity and the factors that may threaten these different types of validity Internal validity - the extent to which you can be confident that a cause-and-effect relationship established in a study cannot be explained by other factors. External validity - use to measure how far you can generalise the results of a study in relation to other settings, situations or individuals Validity - refers to whether a measure actually measures what it claims to be measuring. Explain what a confound is; be prepared to identify examples - A confounding variable is an unmeasured third variable that influences both the supposed cause and the supposed effect.  - Explain the logic of null hypothesis testing and what it means for a finding to be statistically significant Statistical significance - The degree to which the statistical significance indicated is predicted by chance. - “ When a finding is significant, it simply means you can feel confident that's it real, not that you just got lucky (or unlucky) in choosing the sample” Identify the factors affecting the statistical significance Explain what a replication study is and why it is important - Too see if you get the same results every time. - Helps determine if the data is valid and reliable. Explain the function of an Institutional Review Board - To protect the rights of humans in research studies. Is it ethical? They were determined. Describe the factors that IRBs consider in their evaluation of research proposals (e.g., informed consent, debriefing) Good. The Social Self (30 1. Describe self-schemas and the role they play in shaping our social experiences - Self schemas are your interpretations of yourself - The way you view yourself and how you will act in certain situations. - Self schemas influence our behaviors meaning they influence our social experience. 2. Describe Working self-concept and its parts - Self esteem - Self imagine - Ideal self Working self - is the parts of your makeup that are still changing. - pieces of self-knowledge, typically stored in long-term memory, that have been temporarily recruited into short-term memory, shaping who the self is in the moment.  3. Describe the spontaneous self-concept and how the McGuire and Padawer-Singer (1976) study provides evidence The spontaneous self-concept - immediate automatic way people think about themselves when promoted. - Relying on aspects of the self that are more easily accessible - Self concept is not static and varies depending on the context or social situation. McGuire and Padawer-Singer (1976) study - Asked children to describe themselves in different contexts. - Children are more likely to emphasize certain aspects of their identity depending on the social context. - When children where in a group with peers they were more likely to differentiate themselves from the other kids - “Good at math” or “a leader” - In isolated and less social contexts they were focused on more stable traits such as “kind” or “funny” 4. Summarize the research we discussed on how well we know ourselves vs. how well others know us 5. Describe social comparison theory; define and compare downward And upward social comparisons Social comparison theory - people have an inherent drive to address their own abilities, opinions, self worth by comparing themselves to others. Upward- upward social comparison happens when we compare ourselves to others who are perceived as better or more accomplished in some way. - think about it like you're on a ladder. Downward - comparison involves comparing oneself to others who are perceived as worse, and less capable. - think about it like downward on a ladder. 6.Define self-esteem Confidence. 7. Describe the contingencies of self-worth model Framework that explains how individuals self esteem is influenced by the domains or area in which they base their self worth. - People derive self esteem from specific aspects of their lives. Your self worth is contingent on your successes and failures on domains that are important to you Ex. Volleyball is important to my self worth and will be measured by how I perform in volleyball. 8. Describe and compare the motives driving self-evaluation Self evaluation - Intrinsic motivation - driven by a genuine desire for personal growth and development. Extrinsic motivation - focuses on external validation and comparison. - Use self motivation to assess their strengths and weaknesses in a goal to improve themselves. Self esteem maintenance - seeking to preserve or increase their self esteem and self worth. - Linked to the desire to feel good about oneself and avoid negative feelings of failure or inadequacy. a)Define the better-than-average effect and how self-serving construals allow us to maintain positive views of ourselves - Better than average effect - the tendency for people to perceive their abilities, attributes, and personality traits as superior compared with their average peer. - Self serving construals - interpreting information,events, or experiences in terms that enhance or maintain their self esteem. - Types - Attribution bias - credit positive outcomes to oneself and not positive to external factors - Selective memory - individuals may focus on positive aspects of their experience while downplaying negative ones - Optimism - being overly optimistic of one's abilities. b) Define and compare self-enhancement and self-verification motives Self-enhancement - refers to the tendency to view oneself in an overly positive light and to seek out information or experience that boost your self esteem and self worth. Self verification motives - the desire to conform and maintain a consistent and stable self concept even if that self concept includes negative and undesirable traits. Comparison Self-enhancement- focuses on boosting self esteem and acquiring positive self views, often through seeking positive feedback and experiences. Self verification motives- consistency in one's self concept, regardless of whether that self view is positive or negative. c)Describe different strategies used for self-enhancement(e.g., self-handicapping); be prepared to identify examples - Self serving biases - people attribute their successes to oneself and failures to external reasons - Downward social comparison - Self disclosure and self promotion - where individuals highlight their strength and successes in order to enhance their image in the eyes of others.  - Better than average effect - thinking you are better than the average joe. - Self handicapping - d) Describe different strategies used for self-verification - Seeking confirmatory feedback - people motivated by self verification seekout feedback that aligns with their self concept - Social comparisons - - Self fulfilling prophecy - people's beliefs lead them to behave in ways that elicit reactions from others that confirm those beliefs. 9. Explain what self-presentation is and define the concept of face - Self presentation is the way you present yourself in the company of others depending on how you want to be perceived. Face - dignity/prestige/reputation 10. Define self-regulation and describe strategies people can use to self-regulate Self regulation - the ability to manage and control one's emotions, thoughts, behaviors in the face of eternal demands, challenges or temptations. Strategies - Mindfulness - Meditation - Goal setting - Self monitoring - Time management. 11. Explain how culture contributes to one’s sense of self and self-esteem By influencing values, norms and social expectation Cultural norms define what is considered successful or worthy Group belonging. 4. Think, how do people make judgements about others? We make judgments - quickly and unconsciously - the voice in your head. - Todorov and colleagues study - participants rated a large number of faces along different personality dimensions. - trustworthiness and dominance were the two main dimensions used by participants. Ask yourself: How accurate are the snap judgments we make about people based on their appearance or brief samples of their behavior? - Snap judgements are not accurate because they are based upon external factors. They are usually based on prejudice. - Usually stereotypical and lack evidence What matters in predicting the outcome of elections is not what is really true but what observers believe to be true. O Book example: U.S. electorate O Book example: Professor classroom performance - Sometimes, even impressions based on extremely brief exposure to other people's behavior are correct. - But note...our snap judgments are likely to only contain only a partial picture of the entire picture. - Think, situations in which you’ve trusted your intuitive judgements only to be proven “not quite right”. Inferring Causes of Behavior - We don't just evaluate others’ character based solely on what they look like... - Evaluating people involves evaluation of their actions, which themselves may unfold over a longer period of time. The construal principle: - Ask yourself, what is the construal principle? - Our judgments are based on the meaning we assign to the behavior we witness, whether someone else’s or our own. Causal attribution - - When we're trying to figure out we causes of someone's behavior, a particularly important question is whether the behavior is the product of something within the person (that is, an internal, or dispositional, cause) - OR a reflection of something about the context or circumstances surrounding the behavior (an external, or situational, cause). Theories of attribution have focused on: - how people assess the relative contributions of these two types of causes. Ask yourself, can I define and identify the internal and external causes of a given event? O Determining whether actions are the product of internal or external causes thus requires assessments of what most people are like and what most people are likely to do. - When evaluating causality, people use what attribution theorists have dubbed the covariation principle. O Ask yourself, what is the covariation principle? Simple terms - it is the correlation between two or more variables. - One type of covariation information, consensus: refers to what most people would do in a given situation. All else being equal, the more an individual's reaction is shared by others (when consensus is high), the less it says about that individual and the more it says about the situation. O Ask yourself, can I come up with an example where consensus would apply? Crying when a dog dies in a movie: all else being equal if you cry and no one else does (consensus is low) but if everyone begins to cry (consensus is high) and a lot of people resonate with that moment. - Another type of covariation information, distinctiveness, O The more someone's reaction is confined to a particular situation (when distinctiveness is high),the less it says about that individual and the more it says about the specific situation. O Ask yourself, can I define distinctiveness? When I see a tiktox of couples being happy and I cry - my reaction is distinctive because it's based on my specific situation in life, when the video was intended for happiness. How do consensus and distinctiveness affect situational/dispositional attributions? O A situational attribution is called for when consensus and distinctiveness are both high. - When something is distinct to you but also an uncommon way to “react” the situation and past experience cause the reaction. Book example: When everyone else in your friend's statistics class likes it too, and when your friend likes few other math classes, there must be something special about that Class. O A dispositional attribution - - is called for when consensus and distinctiveness are both low. - When few other students like the statistics class, and when your friend claims to like all math courses, her fondness for the course must reflect something about her. Discounting and counterfactual thinking. - Sometimes the information available to us suggests that there could be multiple causes for a given behavior. oAsk yourself, what is a counterfactual? “Imagine if we got into a accident” - The judgments people make aren't always based on what has actually happened...sometimes they are based on what people imagine would happen under different situations or if a different individual were involved. - Ask yourself, can you define the discounting principle? If there is a good explanation for an effect, people will disregard other possible factors as irrelevant. oOur confidence that a particular cause is responsible for a given outcome will be reduced (discounted) if there are other plausible causes that might have produced the same outcome. oSometimes, we discount the possibility that what we've seen tells us something about the person involved. - Why? because we imagine that nearly everyone would act similarly in that context. When a girl goes crazy after a breakup - we can all imagine why they are acting in that way. - When we make causal assessments, our attributions are thus influenced not only by our knowledge of what has actually happened in the past but also by counterfactual thinking (thoughts counter to the facts)-considerations of what might have, could have, or should have happened "if only" a few minor things were done differently. Our attributions influence our emotional reactions to events. - An emotional reaction tends to be more intense if the event almost didn't happen—a phenomenon known as emotional amplification Errors and Biases in Attribution - People's causal attributions are subject to errors and biases. - Even if people often rationally infer causes of behavior by following the covariation and discounting principles, sometimes their causal analysis is “not quite” rational. - People sometimes reason from faulty premises, occasionally misled by dubious information. O The Self-Serving Attributional Bias People are inclined to attribute their failures and other bad events to external circumstances but to attribute their successes and other good events to themselves. O The Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to attribute people's behavior to their character or personality, even when powerful situational forces are acting to produce that behavior O Why "fundamental"? Because the problem being solved (figuring out what someone is like from a sample of behavior) is so essential ++ In addition to the tendency to think dispositionally (i.e., attribute behavior to the person while ignoring important situational factors) being quite common. Remember, a pervasive tendency to see the behavior of others as a reflection of the kind of people they are rather than as a result of the situation they find themselves in. Why are people prone to the fundamental attribution error? - When people try to solve an important inferential problem we often face in our daily lives-namely, deciding how much credit to give to those who are succeeding in life and how much blame to direct at those who are not. O Book examples: how much praise and respect should we give to successful entrepreneurs, filmstars, and artists? And to what degree should we hold people in poverty accountable for their economic condition? - Remember, people tend to assign too much responsibility to individuals for great accomplishments and terrible mistakes and not enough responsibility to the particular situations those individuals are in, to broader societal forces. - Result of the tendency to attribute effects to potential causes that stand out perceptually. O Features of the environment that more readily capture our attention more likely to be seen as potential causes of an observed effect. O Because people are so noticeable and interesting, they tend to capture our attention more than other aspects of the environment. So...attributions to the person have an edge over situational attributions in everyday causal analysis because people are usually more salient than situations. - Ask yourself , can you define the actor-observer difference? - the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing our own behavior to external causes O We should be more subject to the fundamental attribution error when explaining someone else's behavior than when explaining our own. O The degree to which you're oriented toward the person versus the situation depends on whether you're engaged in the action yourself or just observing someone else. IF “actor” is more interested in determining what kind of situation you're dealing with than assessing what kind of person you are. IF "observer," primarily interested in determining what kind of person you're dealing with. SO = actors should be more likely than observers to make situational attributions for a particular behavior-to see their own behavior as caused by the situation. BUT...observers of the very same behavior are more likely to focus on the actor's dispositions. O Also ask yourself, how does cultural variation have an impact on the attribution process? - People from western cultures tend to make more personal attributions - Make the fundamental attribution error more often. O Also ask yourself, how do gender differences have an impact on the attribution process?  - People are likely to maintain more favourable attributions with regard to actors of the same sex than of the opposite sex How information is presented. - Every single decision and judgement we make in our lives,is based not only on what information is available to us but also on how that information is presented. - Variations in the presentation of information-how it is presented and even when it is presented-can have profound effects on people's judgments. - Framing - Primacy effect - Recency effect Order effects - The way information is presented, including the order of presentation, can "frame" the way it's processed and understood -Order effects are a type of framing effect the frame of reference is changed by reordering the information even though the content of the information remains exactly the same. - Several types: - Primacy effect - Sometimes the information presented first exerts the most influence - primacy effects most often occur when the information is ambiguous - What comes first influences how the later information is interpreted Recency effect - The information presented last has the most impact - Remembered information receives greater weight than forgotten information. - Later items sometimes exert more influence on judgment than information presented earlier. Other types of framing effects - Spin framing (fake info) - Form of framing that varies the content, not just the order, of what is presented… - Book example : we hear advocates of different positions talk of "illegal aliens" versus "undocumented workers," "torture" versus "enhanced interrogation," and "election integrity" versus "voter suppression." The power of words! Used terms have an impact on “the spin” of how the relevant issues are being presented... - Positive vs. Negative Framing - Even if the exact same information is provided in each frame; the focus changes. - Negative frames are more salient than positive frames.  - The emotional salience + extremity of how a scenario is described affects how salient that information is to us... Most things can be described, or framed, in ways that emphasize the good or the bad... O Book example : a piece of meat described as 75 percent lean seems more appealing than one described as 25 percent fat. Schemas influence the interpretation of information. - Schemas important top-down “tools” for understanding the world, as opposed to the bottom-up processing of information from the outside world. O Schemas guide attention, memory, and the construal of information, and they can directly prompt behavior. O Being exposed to certain stimuli (hospital) often has the effect of priming the concepts with which they're associated with (doctor). - Makes target concepts momentarily more accessible in memory = salient- SALIENT IS ACCESSIBLE. The more recently and the more frequently a schema has been activated, the more likely it is to be applied to new information. O But note, conscious awareness of a schema is not required for it to have an influence. Reason, Intuition, and Heuristics - People have two systems for processing information: An intuitive system and a rational system. - Intuitive responses are based on rapid, associative processes. REMINDS ME OF EXPLICIT AND AUTOMATIC PROCESSING. Rational responses are based on slower, rule-based reasoning. REMINDS ME OF CONSCIOUS AND IMPLICIT. Heuristics= mental shortcuts that provide people with sound judgments most of the time, even if they sometimes lead to errors in judgment. OPeople use the availability heuristic when judging the frequency or probability of some event by how readily relevant instances come to mind. - It can cause people to overestimate their own contributions to group projects. - Can lead to faulty assessments of the risks posed by memorable hazards. The sense of fluency people experience when processing information can influence the judgments they make about it. - How easily info is processed makes quick judgments about it. Ex. seeing an Arab after a terrorist attack - the availability is salient and emotion is likely to be spiked due to the event. O Disfluent stimuli lead to more reflective thought. - People use the representativeness heuristic... O When trying to categorize something by judging how similar it is to their conception of the typical member of a category or when trying to make causal attributions by assessing how similar an effect is to a possible cause. - Going to a new school and comparing all the smart people to the people from your private super ademic old school and assuming they are not as smart. O In occasions, this may lead you to overlook highly relevant considerations, such as Base-rate information. O Ask yourself, what is base-rate information? - refers to the percentage of a population that has a specific characteristic - Remember - basic- understanding of information. Availability + representativeness heuristics = illusory correlations: - Illusory correlations - remember the snap you sent kieran “perceived relationship where there is none”....LOL - Thinking that two variables are correlated... O Why? - Because they resemble each other and because the simultaneous occurrence of two similar events stands out more than that of two dissimilar events. O People often fail to consider the regression effect - “REGRESSION TO THE MEAN” - extreme values on one variable tend to be followed by less extreme values on another variable and believe they have discovered a causal relationship where none truly exists. EX. scoring tones of points in one game - the next game you are unlikely to attain that again. Chapter 5: What are emotions and how do they arise (what are cognitive appraisals and how do they relate to emotions)? - Emotions are state dependent reactions influencing your feelings and therefore actions in given situations. - Cognitive appraisals - the subjective interpretation made by an individual to stimuli in the environment : lowkey just emotional reactions What is the difference between a mood and an emotion and a mood disorder? Moods can last for hours Emotions last for seconds to minutes. - Moods also don't have their own unique facial expressions whereas the universal emotions do. Mood disorder  - Mental death condition that affects your emotional state. Identify the three components of emotions. - subjective experience (a dog barks at you) - physiological response (the dog scares you(emotion) ) - behavioral or expressive response (you back away/run) Describe the functions of emotions. - Like to be human.. Describe the functional value of fear, shame, and anger but also be prepared to identify the functional value of other emotions (such as awe and group identity). - Fear is an adaptive emotion that prepares individuals for potential threat - Shame is a social emotion that signals individuals that they have violated social norms or expectations. - Anger response to perceived injustice or frustration - We typically experience in the presence of something vast, overwhelming, or transcendent. - Group identity - emotion related to group identity, such as pride, belonging and loyalty - strengthens social bonds. Describe and contrast the following theories and be prepared to apply to examples: James-Lange theory - physical changes in the body happen before the experience of the associated emotion. Ex. Suppose you are walking in the woods, and you see a grizzly bear. You begin to tremble, and your heart begins to race. - The James-Lange theory proposes that you will interpret your physical reactions and conclude that you are frightened ("I am trembling. Therefore I am afraid.").Cannon-Bard theory - Stimulating events trigger feelings and physical reactions that occur at the same time. EX. seeing a snake might prompt both the feeling of fear (an emotional response) and a racing heartbeat (a physical reaction). Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory - a theory that states that emotion is due to two factors, physiological arousal and cognitive processes. The theory explains that people use cues from their immediate environment to inform their emotions. Ex. a person being at a dinner party with friends they love (stimulating event) and feeling an increased heart rate and perspiration (physiological arousal). Summarize the support for the evolutionary perspective on emotions, including the following:  a.Cross-cultural research on emotional expression ---Ekman and Friesen’s 6 universal facial expression studies. b.Emotional expression in other animals c.Emotional expression among the blind---Matsumoto’s 2008 blind athlete study. Understand how these theories relate to Darwin’s universality hypothesis. Universality hypothesis - that facial expressions of emotion are culturally universal; that these are conveyed using the same facial movements across all cultures. Define social functional theory - A social psychological theory that pertains to sex differences and similarities in social behavior. - Simply - the way genders function in society and how that is socially accepted and expected. How can emotions help solve the commitment problem? - Bring partners closer together. Describe what is oxytocin and its role in social commitment and pair bonding, including: a.what happens to montane voles who are injected with oxytocin b.what happens when you administer humans with intranasal oxytocin c.Does oxytocin always promote prosocial behaviour? When does it not? Understand and be prepared to apply emotional mimicry - Define - mimicry the expressed emotions around us in order to “react correctly” - Apply - i am at a funeral of a far removed person yet i will still cry because everyone else is. Understand the role of touch in emotionality---Kraus et al 2010 study on NBA teammates. - Study examines how physical touch between teammates - touch on the back, high fives, other forms of touch - influence emotional connection and group dynamics. - The study found that the amount of physical touch between teammates during games was positively correlated with the team's success. Describe the ways in which emotional expression varies across cultures, including: a.Focal emotions—which emotions are more focal in cultures of honor? - Focal emotions are consistent emotions? b.Ideal emotions (affect valuation theory) - Affect Valuation Theory distinguishes how people ideally want to feel (their “ideal affect”) from how they actually feel (their “actual affect”).  C. Emotional regulation and suppression - Emotional regulation - wanting to stay in a good emotional state for various reasons. - Pushing down emotions - Suppression rebound effect - emotions pushed down are likely to come back. - Kieran and I are examples. How can positive emotions influence reasoning - Positive emotions are more likely to make us react positively and in turn make more positive choices. ---Isen’s 1997 and 1993 study findings Describe the “broaden and build hypothesis”---- What were the main findings of the study that tested this hypothesis. Broaden and build hypothesis - positive emotions (such as happiness) broaden one's awareness and encourage exploratory thoughts and actions CHAPTER 6 (Attitudes, Behavior, and Rationalization) Define attitudes and describe their three components - Attitudes are the ways we feel toward certain stimulus - “Learned tendencies to evaluate things. components - affective (emotional), - behavioral (actions) - cognitive (thoughts, beliefs) Explain how attitudes are measured - Commonly measured by likert scale - Self report your attitudes toward given stimuli “Strongly agree - Strongly disagree” What is the difference between implicit and explicit measures? - Explicit measures are better predictors of deliberate behaviors. - implicit attitudes are stronger predictors of spontaneous, no deliberate behaviors. Explain why attitudes may do a poor job of predicting behaviour, including the role that introspection may play in the dissociation between attitudes & Behaviours - Attitudes are often general whereas behavior is more specific - Situational attitudes can be influenced by external factors that may override gender attitudes. Introspection - the process of thinking about one's own thoughts and feelings can sometimes lead to inaccurate distorted self awareness - When people believe they are acting consistently with their attitudes even when their behavior suggests otherwise. - Self Serving bias or rationalization ○ What did LaPiere (1934) find and how does it illustrate attitude’s poor job of predicting behavior? - Traveled across us with a chinese couple and visited various hotels and restaurants - Despite the anti chinese attitude being prevailed - Only one out of 251 establishments refused service. - Illustrates that attitudes dont always predict behavior. What did Wilson and his colleagues find on how dating attitudes predict dating behavior (1984)? - Attitudes about dating where not ever accurate predictors of their actual dating behavior - Even though people thought they knew what would make them happy in a relationship, their attitudes did not consistently match how they behaved in real dating situations. Explain the mismatch between general attitudes and specific targets - general attitudes are bored and not tied to specific action - While behavior is influenced by specific circumstances. What did Lord, Lepper, and Mackie (1984) find and how does it illustrate this mismatch? - Found that attitudes towards controversial issues were influenced by the way information is presented. - People with strong opinions were more likely to accept info that supports their views and reject info that didn't. Define cognitive dissonance theory and describe supporting examples, including: - Define : cognitive dissonance theory is when an individual's attitudes contradict causing dissonance. - Ex. you want to eat but need to study = dissonance ○ Effort justification - the tendency people have to place a higher value on a goal after they have exerted a lot of effort to achieve it. - Overexaderating how hard my volleyball season was now that it's over. - Remember to haze. - Example used in book was hazing ○Induced compliance - individuals are compelled to engage in behavior that conflicts with their beliefs or attitudes due to external pressures, often leading to changes in those beliefs or attitudes. - Stealing because everyone else is ○ For each of the above, you should be able to describe examples of studies and be prepared to apply to real - world examples Both are spin offs of the James Lange theory of cognitive dissonance. Explain under which conditions cognitive dissonance is most likely to emerge - when a person's behavior and beliefs do not complement each other or when they hold two contradictory beliefs. It causes a feeling of discomfort that can motivate people to try to feel better. Describe the association between self -affirmation and cognitive dissonance Describe the association between culture and cognitive dissonance; describe the contexts in which people from collectivistic (vs. individualistic) cultures are more or less likely to experience dissonance Define self-perception theory and describe how it relates to, and has been, reconciled with, cognitive dissonance theory  - people become aware of certain attitudes by observing their own behavior. - When we realize we are experiencing cognitive dissonance we want to eliminate those feelings of discomfort. - The realization is self perception theory and the result is cognitive dissonance Describe the overjustification effect - The overjustification effect can be defined as a phenomenon in which an external reward decreases or eliminates an individual's intrinsic motivation to perform a specific task or behavior. How does self-perception theory fit into research on the embodied nature of cognition and emotion? What is System Justification Theory? What observations seem to support this theory? - When people believe their political systems are just and correct. - People are motivated (to varying degrees depending upon situational and dispositional factors) to defend, bolster, and justify prevailing social, economic, and political arrangements What is Terror Management Theory? ○ When the idea of death scares you and causes dissonance. - states that people feel threatened by their own death and therefore adopt worldviews that allow them to find meaning and worth in their lives What are its central tenets? - A fundamental principle or belief that is essential to a particular ideology or movement. ○ What is a common reaction to terror management? - Suppression - Leads to suppression rebound effect. What does it mean to live on, symbolically? - Probably like keep living What research supports terror management theory? What manipulations do these kinds of research involve? - No idea - Morality? - Fear influences human thinking and behavior. ○ Did TMT survive large -scale replication, and if not, why not? - Suppression of fear and anxiety is implausible from an evolutionary point of view. Persuasion 7 1. Describe the elaboration likelihood model - a dual process theory describing the change of attitudes, ELM states that there is too route of persuasion - Central and peripheral a) Distinguish between the central and peripheral routes to persuasion Central - thinking about something then it persuasion you - Conscious - Based on internal reasonings Peripheral - Nonconscious - Can be due to external factors - Your mood - The person presenting the info B )Identify the conditions that make it more likely that a message will be processed via the central rather than the peripheral route (be prepared to apply to examples) 1) the communicator 2) the message 3) how the message is communicated 4) the audience Central - You are interested in the topic - Knowledgeable on subject - Motivated to learn it Ex. I am likely to listen to a lecture regarding heartbreak because of personal association Peripheral - Money - The person delivering the info is attractive - I am in a happy mood. Ex. When ordering food the waiter asked if I wanted to try their new expensive meal - I said yes because I think he's super cute. 2. List and define source characteristics and describe their influence on persuasion - Attractiveness - Qualification of the person delivering the message - State dependency. - Mood - If i am tired I am more likely to be influenced - Certainty a)Describe the sleeper effect - Someone tells you something and you don't really believe it, then you hear it again and believe it. - occurs when a persuasive message has an impact but is delayed 3. List and define message characteristics and describe their influence on persuasion Aspects or content, of a persuasive message, - the evidence - the explicitness of its conclusions If the content is strong then you are more likely to be persuaded 4. List and define audience characteristics and describe their influence on persuasion - If the audience is both motivated and knowledgeable, they are more likely to carefully follow your presentation - attention, - Age, - intelligence. Characteristics of those who receive a persuasive message, including need for cognition, mood, and age. 5. Describe how attentional biases and selective evaluation increase resistance to persuasion - Preexisting attitudes may resist change by guiding how information is attended to, interpreted, and remembered 6. Describe how previous ideological commitments increase resistance to persuasion and define the thought polarization hypothesis Previous commitments- Attitudes tied to our social identity are more resistant to change Thought polarization hypothesis - he amount of time participants thought about an issue increased, their attitudes about that issue should become more polarized 7. Describe how attitude inoculation increase resistance to persuasion - Inoculation Theory maintains that when individuals are exposed to weakened versions of arguments against attitudes they currently hold, they are able to build up resistance and counterarguments to future threats to those attitudes. - Small attacks on people's beliefs that engage their preexisting attitudes, prior commitments, and background knowledge, enabling them to counteract a subsequent larger attack and thus resist persuasion 8. Describe agenda control and how the media influence people’s conceptions of what issues are important - Efforts of the media to select certain events and topics to emphasize - the media shape our ideas and understanding of various issues and events 9. Explain the hostile media phenomenon - refers to the tendency for individuals with a strong pre existing attitude on an issue to perceive media coverage as biased against their side - Always thinking the media is against you and for everything else. CHAPTER 8 (Social Influence) Define and distinguish social influence and distinguish between conformity, compliance, and obedience Social influence - intentional and unintentional efforts to change another person's beliefs, attitudes, or behavior. Conformity - asch and sherif - Going along with what other people say because it's “easier” and you want to fit in. Compliance - - doing what someone tells you. “ can you pass me paper” - Not negative and also easier to do Obedience - Milgram - People in power ordering you around. - Cops, teachers, anyone in a position of power. Describe the phenomenon of automatic mimicry and explain its function Automatic mimicry - when you unconsciously mimic those around you - Helps in being liked and accepted. Distinguish between normative and informational social influence Normative - Normative influence is when someone joins a group of people despite not agreeing with what they believe in. Informational - Informational influence is when a person joins a group with the intention of gaining knowledge or learning something. Describe and explain Asch and Sherif experiments on conformity Asch - participants choose the wrong answer to keep the association with the group - Normative influence - Lines on a card told to match abc with the shown ones - asch's study examined situations in which one's own beliefs clearly conflict with those of the group. Sheriffs - participants were asked to estimate how far a light appeared to move while in a dark room - The person whose estimate of movement was greatly different from the other two in the group conformed to the view of the other two - Identify the key factors that affect conformity - larger group size - unanimity - high group cohesion - perceived higher status of the group Describe the ways in which minority opinion can influence majority opinion Through informational conformity When minority opinion is  - Consistent - Flexible - appealing to the majority. Describe the methods for eliciting compliance and try to provide research examples and/or apply to real world scenarios What is pluralistic ignorance? What is a study illustrating this phenomenon? Pluralistic ignorance - a phenomenon that occurs when people mistakenly believe that everyone else holds a different opinion from their own. Define norm of reciprocity and explain how it can be leveraged to elicit compliance Norm of reciprocity - a social rule that maintains, among other things, that people should return favors and other acts of kindness - Can be seen as tit for tat , or blackmail. Describe the door-in-the-face technique - Asking for a large request which is likely to be denied then, asking for something smaller in order to get the smaller thing Provide research examples and be prepared to apply to real world scenarios - Asking my mom to buy me a car for my 18th birthday, she says no, so I ask for a bike instead. Describe the foot-in-the-door technique - Asking for small requests and slowly bigger ones which are likely to be accepted because it's been gradual. Provide research examples and be prepared to apply to real world scenarios - Asking for a new pair of sweatpants, then after my mom says yes, asking for a new shirt because we're already there. Describe the effects of mood on compliance  - The better your mood the more likely you are to comply. What is the negative state relief hypothesis? Human beings have an innate drive to reduce negative moods. - They can be reduced by engaging in any mood-elevating behaviour, including helping behaviour, as it is paired with positive values such as smiles and thank you. Describe norm- based approaches for eliciting compliance and distinguish between dynamic and static norms as well as descriptive and prescriptive norms - Leveraging social norms to individuals behaviors. - Dynamic norms - those that are emerging or evolving in response to shifts in behavior, attitudes and social changes - EX social media trends. - Static norms - norms that stay consistent over time - EX laws or customs - Descriptive norms - what most people would do in a given situation - Prescriptive norms - what people ought to do, behaviors that are acceptable or desirable. ○Describe how ineffective disobedience, release from disobedience, and Step-by- step involvement contributed to obedience in the Milgram experiments - participants were more likely to comply with the experimenter's orders when they believed that the experimenter was a credible authority figure. Describe reactance theory - an unpleasant motivational arousal that emerges when people experience a threat to or loss of their free behaviors - People have a fundamental desire for autonomy and the freedom to choose what they do. Chapter 9 Know what the “Need to Belong is” humans have the need to be connected to one another. - How is it like other fundamental needs? - Can this need be satiated? - Why do we have a need to belong? What are some examples that show we have this need? - What is some empirical evidence for this need? Studies on non-human animals? Observational research? Experimental Research? - What does Harlow’s Monkeys study say about the need to belong? What are communal relationships? What are exchange relationships? - Be able to define each type of relationship - What cultures have a more communal type of relationship? What cultures have a more exchange type of relationship - Think about how people in a communal vs. exchange relationship would act under different circumstances What is the social exchange theory of interpersonal relationships? - What are “rewards” in the context of social exchange theory? - According to this theory what types of relationships are we most likely to stay in and seek out? What type of relationships are we most likely to avoid? - What do people do when they can’t find rewarding relationships? - What is a comparison level? What does a high comparison level result in? - What about a low one? - What is a comparison level for alternatives? What about when this is high? - What about when this is low? What is equity theory? - What do people do if they can’t reciprocate in a relationship? - How does it relate to social exchange theory? - Attachment theory? - What kind of research did attachment theory develop out of? - Do non-human animals have attachment needs? - Know about Harry Harlow’s study of updated attachment theory. - What paradigm did she use? - What distinct attachment styles did she identify? - How many were there?  - How do these distinct attachment styles differ from dimensional theories of attachment? What is meant by dimensional? - What does the attachment system do? - What is its purpose? - How do early interactions with caregivers impact the way in which the attachment system develops? - What sorts of caregiver interactions lead to what sort of attachment styles? - How do these different attachment styles impact behaviour later on? - Know about the studies on how proximity impacts friendships? What is functional distance? - How do these proximity studies relate to mere exposure - What is the mere exposure effect? - What are some studies on mere exposure? - Do birds of a feather flock together? - How does similarity impact relationships? Do we prefer similar others? - When do we prefer complementarity? What is the status exchange hypothesis? How does physical attractiveness impact our lives? - For who does attractiveness matter more in terms of life outcomes? - Are there any universal features of attractiveness? What are these features and what do they signal? - What is the halo effect? - Are there any drawbacks to being physically attractive? Gender differences in mate preferences - What do sociocultural perspectives say about gender differences in mate preference? What do evolutionary perspectives say? How are these perspectives similar / different? - Why might women be more selective when choosing mates? Why might men be more indiscriminate? - What physical features are heterosexual men attracted to in women? What Are these features signaling according to evolutionary psychologists? What Are women looking for men? What would evolutionary theory say about this? - What type of relationships are most likely to begin online? - What is a criticism of the evolutionary perspective on mate preference? Know each of Sternberg’s 3 types of love - What is companionate love, what is compassionate love, and what is romantic love? - What happens to romantic love over time? Investment model of commitment - What does this model explain? - What theory is this model influenced by? - What are the three determinants that influence commitment - How does relationship satisfaction impact commitment? What dictates how satisfied someone is in a relationship? What is the role of subjectivity / objectivity in determining satisfaction? - How does perception of alternative partners impact commitment in this model? - What is investment? How does it impact commitment? - How are the 3 main constructs in the investment model related to each other? What is the relationship between the big 5 personality traits and relationship satisfaction / divorce? - What other personal characteristics impact divorce? - What demographic factors predict divorce? - What are the 4 horsemen of the (relationship) apocalypse - How are these 4 behaviours that harm relationships measured? - What is one potential problem with studies on these 4 behaviours? - How does relationship satisfaction impact our attributions? are attributions? - Among what type of couples is the relationship between relationship satisfaction and attributions / construal the strongest? - What is capitalization? - How does it impact relationship satisfaction? - What is a limitation of the research on capitalization? - What other types of behaviours impact relationship satisfaction? - According to fMRI research what brain areas activate in response to love? - Which neurotransmitters are associated with love? - Which brain areas are deactivated in response to love? Chapter 10 - Laws can address behaviour, but for stereotypes and prejudice, they involve beliefs and emotions that are very hard to legislate. - They often bias people’s judgement and decisions automatically, without their awareness. Biases of intergroup - Stereotypes : Beliefs regarding a certain type of group  - Prejudice : attitude and affective response toward a specific group and its individual members - Discrimination : favorable or unfavorable action regarding bias toward ingroup and negativity toward members of outgroup. The three often go together but don't have one either. - Ingroup favoritism can come even if there isn't any hostility toward outgroups. Modern racism - white people may deny explicit racism yet they still hold stereotypes, prejudice and even discrimination implicitly or behind closed doors. - Not socially acceptable to be racist. Masked discrimination (on a modern racism scale) Study: - People were likely to help a lot when alone - But in the presents of other: - people were less likely to help individuals who are black over white. Explicit beliefs are often accompanied with implicit attitudes - therefore, showing that although not blatant prejudice, members of stigmatized groups are still in effect of modern racism. “benevolent “ sexism and racism - those who hold ambivalent attitudes tend to act positively toward members of a group only if they support stereotypical conceptions regarding the group. Example. Hostile sexism. - Men find women who do the dishes unpromptedly or offer to go out of their way in helping because it comes back to the sexist claim that women are caretakers. Measuring attitudes about groups 1) Implicit association test (IMT) - Quick photos or words, the participant needs to sort, shows the unconscious association between two things - which determines attitudes. - Tried this in class 2) Priming and implicit prejudice - Priming is a mental activation process - Used to highlight a certain attitude inorder to determine beliefs. - Person's reaction time to “real” or “made up” words. 3) The affective misattribution procedure. - Measures how people evaluate a stimulus after given a prime rather than how they react to it. The Economic Perspective: roots of intergroup identification that can cause competitive behavior and pin groups against each other. - think economic = competition of power. Realistic group conflict theory - competing for resources can cause groups discriminating and developing prejudice. Robbers cave experiment - Groups of boys and told to compete against each other in a multitude of tasks. - Even though random assignment into each group - the boys began to become biased towards their groups and aggressive toward the other. Lesson - Differences in backgrounds or visible features are not always the reasons for bias. - Competition against others often increased ingroup cohesion. - For intergroup hostility to diminish people should interact in activities regarding cooperation. Supportinate goals - when members of different groups have the same goal, they are likely to put their differences aside in order to reach that goal. The motivational perspective : emphasized the psychological needs that cause intergroup conflict. - think motivation = you want what's best. The minimal group paradigm - Us vs them - Investigators determines weather participant gave equal points to ingroup vs outgroup - Whether they maximize points of ingroup vs outgroup. - Majority of participants are interested in increasing relative gain. - Then they are maximizing absolute gain. Social identity theory - our self esteem comes from not only our independent self but our group membership = the status and accomplishments of the various groups we are apart contribute to our self esteem. - Ingroup favoritism - The desire to boost groups status and fortunes. - Basking in reflected glory - Taking credit for something a group you are in, achieves - even if you did nothing. - Mcgill won men's basketball!! “We are so good at basketball” - I do not play basketball, I am not on a mens team. - My ingroup is mcgill. The cognitive perspective : how internal thoughts and feels affect one's behavior - think cognitive = the brain or inside your head. Illusory correlation - when you perceive a relationship that just isn't there. Example: everytime i win a volleyball game I've worn the same socks therefore I win because I wear those socks - reality - the socks have nothing to do with the game. Paired distinctiveness : the pairing of two distinct events because they occur together. Example. When an arab sits next to you on a plane and then the plane breaks down, - Distinct event 9/11 and stereotyping - Distinct event plane breaking down = association/pairing. Distinctive based illusory correlation: Judgements of the relation between two variables based on the co-occurrence of distinctive stimulus events. Realistic group conflict theory - competing for resources can cause groups discriminating and developing prejudice. Robbers cave experiment - Groups of boys and told to compete against each other in a multitude of tasks. - Even though random assignment into each group - the boys began to become biased towards their groups and aggressive toward the other. Lesson - Differences in backgrounds or visible features are not always the reasons for bias. - Competition against others often increased ingroup cohesion. - For intergroup hostility to diminish people should interact in activities regarding cooperation. Supportinate goals - when members of different groups have the same goal, they are likely to put their differences aside in order to reach that goal. Self fulfilling prophecies - when people act in certain ways towards a group which encourages various behaviors they expect to see. - Experiment: Black applicants. by treating Black applicants differently and thus placing them at a disadvantage, the White interviewers confirmed their negative stereotypes of them - - when you are worried about confirming a stereotype, and that worry then leads you to confirm the stereotype. - Example: I am worried everyone will think I failed my math test because I am a woman, which makes me perform poorly on my math test. Subtyping: the process by which group members who disconfirm the stereotype are clustered together to form a subgroup. - Remember subgroups of stereotypes. Example. People with anti-Semitic stereotypes may distinguish philanthropic Jews from "money-hungry Jews" by creating a subtype for "good Jews." Outgroup homogeneity effect - when we assume the members of an outgroup are more similar to each other whereas, the members of our ingroup are more individuals. - People see more variability in the attributes, habits, and opinions of members of their own group than they do among members of outgroup. - More opportunities of exchange with ingroup members, therefore, making us biased towards them. Own race identification bias - people interact with members of their own race as individuals, without thinking about race. - You are more likely to notice you are speaking to a black person if you are white, rather than speaking to a white person as white. Automatic processing - our reactions to certain types of people are, to a surprising degree, guided by quick mental processes we can override but not eliminate. “What separates prejudiced and unprejudiced people is not whether they are aware of derogatory stereotypes but whether they accept or reject those stereotypes” Contacts hypothesis - prejudice can be reduced if people of different groups are in frequent contact with each other. Contact between certain groups is likely to be more positive if the following is expected - when these are met contact between groups is likely to be positive. 1) Equal status 2) Shared goals the require cooperation (superordinate goals) 3) Community support 4) One-on-one interactions between members of different groups. When these conditions are met 1) Personalization - people begin to see members of outgroups as individuals. 2) A person's liking of one outgroup member might broaden to a likeling of the whole outgroup - not subtyping 3) Sharing of a common identity Multiculturalism - viewing culture and ethnicity as central to a person's identity. = minority spotlight effect: minority group identities become uncomfortable and more accessible. Color Blindness - “not seeing race” - Unfortunately, a deliberate blindness to cultural differences can lead to more prejudice and discrimination Chapter 11 Social dominance theory- argues that all human societies form group based hierarchies. Hierarchies are kept in place through: 1. Individual discrimination : individuals in dominant groups act to preserve their advantage and to keep subordinate groups “in their place”. Connection to hierarchy: ex. Majority-minority fears and/or great replacement theory. 2. Institutional discrimination: laws and norms preserve the hierarchy. 3. Behavioural asymmetries: deference shown to members of dominant but not subordinate groups. Self fulfilling prophecies undermine the achievements of members of subordinate groups. Scale of social dominance orientation - higher scores= more willingness to express prejudiced attitudes and more inclined to endorse policies that preserve existing hierarchies. Just world hypothesis: the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get. Example: Victim blaming after rape or domestic abuse. The Stereotype Content Model: underlying structure of stereotype - thee nature of different stereotypes varies systematically depending on how the groups in question are evaluated on the dimensions of warmth and competence/ Model: Warmth- understanding someone's intention reflects our assessment of their warmth. Competence - whether they are able to act on their intentions, reflecting their competence. - If you know someone competent, you want them to be a friend and not an enemy. - The warmth/competence model is also of relevance to working women Ambivalent stereotype: high in one dimension of the stereotype content model, but low in the other. Common forms of prejudice and discrimination that involve commission and omission. - Acts of commission: individuals engaging in actions that disadvantage or harm members of certain groups. - Omissions: The absence of things, such as resources, opportunities, or mere attention, that are available to members of dominant group Systemic inequalities = inequalities ingrained within society. Attributional ambiguity: When one can’t tell whether their experiences have the same causes as the experiences of the majority-group members do or whether their experiences are instead the result of prejudice Example: if I was turned down for a job, I would wonder if it was my fault or if it was due to the negative perceptions the interviewer had of women in that field of work. Stereotype threat: the fear that one will confirm the stereotypes that others have about them and their group Social Safety net- people tend to be open to providing more generous public assistance to people in need if they believe those people are from their own racial, ethnic, or religious groups. Marley Hypothesis: dominant and marginalized groups assessments tend to differ because members of the dominant group generally know less about the history of oppression and disadvantage suffered by other groups. - Racial groups have different views of racism in society due to historical oppression, and real life application. Chapter 12 – Groups Social facilitation - What is social facilitation? An improvement of performance in the presence of others. - What was the first observation that led to research on social facilitation? Cyclist by norman triplett - Studying records of bicycle races, the sports psychologist noted a tendency for cyclists to race more quickly when riding alongside competitors than when riding alone against the clock. - Do people need to be “coacting” for social facilitation to occur No, competition can be a factor. - Is social facilitation unique to humans? No. - What is Zajonc’s theory of mere presence, what does it have to do with social Facilitation? - The mere presence of another individual can influence your behavior. This has to do with social facilitation facilitating the tendency to emit his or her dominant response for that task. - What is a dominant response? The response that is most likely to occur in the presence of the given array of stimuli. - If a task is easy for the person, then the dominant response will be the correct one Example - Using your left hand to write is a dominant response. - in a simple maze where the only path is a straight line, the dominant (and correct) response would be to run straight ahead. - Under what circumstances does mere presence make different predictions from social facilitation? - enhance the performance in speed and accuracy of well-practiced tasks, but will degrade in the performance of less familiar tasks." Simply - When you are good at something, the mere presence of people will make you perform well. But on taks you are less good at, it can degrade your performance. Why might the presence of others increase arousal? Because we want people to view us positively, we want to be good at things and maintain a good self image. What is evaluation apprehension? - concerns about being evaluated or judged by other people; sometimes assumed to produce increased arousal - The concern for how people are evaluating us: which can lead to social facilitation. - How does it relate to social facilitation? - The concern for how people are evaluating us: which can lead to social facilitation. What is social loafing? - when you feel less responsible in a group project so you diffuse responsibility. - How is it different from social facilitation? In social facilitation- the presence of others enhances performance. In social loafing- the presence of others diminishes performance. What is groupthink? - when you confirm your thoughts to a line with the groups because it's easier. What are the 3 famous examples of groupthink? Be able to explain how each is an example of groupthink?  1. The bay of pigs invasion - The pressure to agree to a plan, along with the lack of open debate lead to a disastrous outcome - Eager to overthrow fidel castro in cuba - John F Kennedy failed to evaluate the risks of his planned invasion. - 2. The challenger space shuttle disaster - Overlooked crucial concerns about the ORINGs on the shuttle's boosters - The decision to launch despite the risks was influenced by the desire to maintain the launch schedule. 3. The vietnam war decision making - Made key decisions regarding military involvement - Despite the evidence that the way was unwinnable - What are conditions that make a group think more likely? - High group cohesion - a strong sense of unity - Stressful situations or external treats - Homogeneity of group members - when group members are similar - Pressure to comfrom - Lack of “devils advocate - What are the symptoms of groupthink? - Failure to consider alternatives - Collective rationalization - everyone agrees so it must work. - Illusion of invulnerability - feeling overly confident and believing they are invincible. - Know the difference between antecedents, symptoms of groupthink, and how groupthink impacts decisions - Antecedent: conditions or factors that create the environment in which groupthink is likely to occur. - Symptoms of groupthink: observable behaviors or mental states that manifest when groupthink is occurring. - Group think impacts decisions: the impact groupthink on decision making. - Why do people engage in groupthink? Because it's easier to go along with what other people say than standing up. - What is self-censorship? The act of an individual withholding or modifying their opinions, ideas, or concerns due to the worry they will disrupt harmony.  - How can groupthink be prevented? Creating an environment that encourages open communication critical thinking and considers diverse viewpoints. Group polarization - Be able to define group polarization occurs when a group of like-minded people reinforce each other's opinions, positive or negative, and these opinions become more extreme as they're discussed. Example - my feminist theory class, creates an environment with negative attitudes and opinions on men because thats all we talk about. - What is the approach / inhibition theory? - psychological framework that explains how different emotions or motivational states influence behavior. Approach motivation - behaviors driven by the desire to attain a goal or reward Inhibition motivation - involves behavior driven by the need to avoid something unpleasant. - What does this theory predict about power and empathy? High power people are more likely to exert - approach related behaviors Low power is associated with inhibition and empathy. - What empirical evidence is there for the proposed relationship between power and empathy? Power can affect empathy with high power often leading to reduce empathy and low power fostering greater empathy What is deindividuation? - loss of awareness in group situations. psychological state where one feels anonymity and a diminished sense of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension. - Reduction of reduced personal account - In what context does deindividuation occur? When individuals do not feel that they could be singled out for behavior. - Who is susceptible to it? individuals become part of a crowd or mob, What is Zimbardo’s model of deindividuation – psychological state where individuals in groups lose their sense of personal identity and responsibility, which can lead to behaviors that are atypical of them - often resulting in aggression, impulsivity or anti-social actions. Stanford prison experiment. - What are the antecedent conditions in the model, what is the internal state, and how does the internal state impact behaviour? Conditions - Anonymity : feel anonymous in a group - they feel like they are less likely to be held accountable for their actions - Group size: bigger the more likely people are to lose their identities. - Physical arousal: high levels of excitement, noise can lead to a loss of self control and judgement. Internal state - Refers to the psychological changes that occur when deindividualization happens - Reduced self awareness - Decrease impulse control - Increased suggestibility. Impact of internal state impact behavior Leads to behavior that is more impulsive, less rational, and more group oriented. People might engage in activities they wouldn't usually participate in. This behavior is driven by reduced self monitoring. - How was Zimbardo’s model tested? What were the challenges to testing the Model? Stanford prison experiment - Participants were randomly assigned to be either guards or prisoners in a simulated prison experiment - Demonstrated how situational factors could influence a participant's behavior, even if it points to cruelty or aggression. - Explain the Halloween study – what did it find? What does this tell us about deindividuation? Explain the study design Study design - Took place on halloween in a residential neighborhood - Experimenters either gave kids a large bowl of candy with instructions to take one or two pieces. - Or two bowls one for those who were in a group (deindividuated) and another for those that are alone (individuated) Two main variables Anonymity : children either arrive alone or in a group and were asked to identify themselves Group identity: children are either alone or in groups which can make them feel less accountable for their actions. Findings - Children ingroups were more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors than children that were alone. - Children who were anonymous in groups took more candy compared to those who were individually identifiable. When people are associated in a group their behavior can become less inhibited. - What is the opposite of deindividuation? Individualization = - Self Awareness - Accountability - How does this impact behaviour? 1. Increased self control - think before acting 2. Personal responsibility 3. Empathy and compassion 4. Adherence to social norms What is self-awareness theory? When individuals focus attention on themselves they are more likely to compare their current behaviors and thoughts to their internal standard and value. - What does the theory predict? Increased self awareness Behavioral changes - Understand the study where students did a timed task in front of a mirror Students were asked to complete a task in front of a mirror (which increases self awareness) influencing performance and behavior. - Students were more likely to follow the rules and performed better compared to those who did the task without the mirror. - Suggests : the mirror promoted individuals to behave more inline with social norms and internal standards. - What is the spotlight effect? People tend to overestimate how much others notice and pay attention to their behavior. Example: when I look bad I think everyone notices, but no one really does. - How was the spotlight effect demonstrated experimentally? Thomas Gilovich - - Participants were asked to wear an embarrassing t shirt and walk into a room filled with other students - After they were asked to estimate how many people noticed their shirt - Participants dramatically overestimated how many people noticed the shirt.