Social Psychology Notes PDF

## L13. Intro to Social Psychology - Social psychology: the study of the causes and consequences of interpersonal behaviour - Social Influence: how individuals change their behaviour due to group pressure - Social cognition: the processes by which people perceive and interpret information...

## L13. Intro to Social Psychology - Social psychology: the study of the causes and consequences of interpersonal behaviour - Social Influence: how individuals change their behaviour due to group pressure - Social cognition: the processes by which people perceive and interpret information about others (schemas + stereotypes) - Culture and universality: how social behaviour changes/differs between cultures and what is universal - Evolution: how it shaped social psychological processes - Schemas: mental models of the world that help us organize knowledge, enable meaningful encoding of new information and guide anticipation of additional information - Social schemas: schemas of people and relationships (warm vs. cold person) - Stereotypes: beliefs about social categories, regardless of their accuracy (based on gender, age, race, etc.) - The category that comes to mind depends on - Priming: recently activated concept - Salience: the surrounding context - More likely to encode and remember stereotype-consistent info - Two types of cognitive thinking: - System I: intuitive, automatic, fast, less awareness + effort - Recognizing social categories or responding to emotional expressions. - System II: rational, controlled, slower, more awareness + effort - Solving problems, counteracting biases, analyzing complex situations, etc. ## L14. Social Perception and Cognition - Social brain hypothesis (Dunbar): the complexity of social groups correlates with the size of the neocortex - Larger neocortex = larger and more complex social groups - Ability to cooperate in large groups and create shared, imagined realities (things that exist only because we collectively agree they exist e.g. money, institutions, nation's borders) - Research trends in emotions and facial expressions - Early perspective: cultural relativism dominated initially - emotions and their expressions vary across cultures - Paul Ekman: humans have a set of universal "basic emotions." (anger, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, sadness, contempt), each associated with specific facial expressions - Ekman's approach oversimplifies real-life emotional expressions, which are context-dependent and influenced by body language - Body posture and movement impact emotional perception, sometimes more than facial expressions alone (Aviezer et al., 2012) - Gender differences: women generally outperform men in recognizing emotions. - Attribution: the explanations we form for behaviours. - Dispositional (internal): attributing behaviour to stable traits - "She aced the test because she is smart." - Situational (external): attributing behaviour to external factors - "She aced the test because it was easy." - Correspondence bias = bias towards making dispositional (internal) attributions (underestimate situational influences when explaining other's behaviours). - Also known as fundamental attribution error - There's cultural variation in the correspondence bias: weaker among East Asians (more likely to recognize situational causes of behaviour). - Dispositional attributions are more intuitive (System I) and occur automatically. - Situational attributions require deliberate thought (System II). ## L15. The Self - Self-awareness: the capacity to reflect oneself and one's actions - Subjective self-awareness: recognizing oneself as distinct from the environment and regulating internal processes - Objective self-awareness: becoming the object of one's attention, recognizing mental states, developing theory-of-mind. - Symbolic self-awareness: representing the self symbolically (language), setting goals, evaluating actions (uniquely human) - Self-conscious emotions (pride, shame, guilt, embarrassment) relate to how our actions are seen by others - Maintain social cohesion by motivating prosocial behaviour and discouraging actions that lower our standing - Heightened self-focused attention is associated with anxiety. - Self-control: the capacity to regulate thoughts and behaviors in the face of conflict (important for group living) - E.g. delayed gratification (Marshmallow test) - Associated with positive life outcome; better predictor of academic success than IQ; heritability estimate of 60%. - Ego depletion = theory that self-control ability is a finite resource that can be temporarily used up (like muscles) - Engaging in self-control may temporarily reduce self-control ability in subsequent tasks. - Baumeister et al. (1998): Resisting chocolate study → participants who resisted eating chocolates (part 1) gave up more quickly on unrelated tasks (part 2). - Strength model of self-control: it can be depleted like a muscle and may be trainable. - Failure to replicate findings in studies. - Questions about what is being "depleted" → inconsistent with the cognitive view. - Ego-depletion appears influenced by willpower (belief in unlimited willpower → less affected by ego depletion) - Self-esteem = one's overall evaluation of one's worth - Measured using Rosenberg self-esteem scale - Associated with positive life outcomes and prosocial behaviour - However, interventions aimed to boost self-esteem have shown limited success. - Sociometer theory (Leary 1999, 2005): self-esteem functions as a "gauge" of social acceptance - High self-esteem reflects perceived social acceptance - Rejection/being ostracized = one of the most painful experiences. - Social rejection/embarrassment/being outperformed → lower self-esteem (they threaten one's perceived relational value) ## L16. Social Inclusion and Exclusion - Ostracism: intentional exclusion - Williams and Sommer's (1997) study: participants were excluded during a ball-tossing game → exclusion lead to heightened distress, even in minimal social contexts. - Cyberball paradigm: virtual ball-tossing game where participants believe they are interacting with others but are excluded (even when informed that they are playing against a computer, exclusion still causes distress) - See attempts to regain social approval + may show heightened aggression. - Pre-living future social pain is easier to do than pre-living physical pain, but it is more intense (especially if vivid mental imagery). - Effects of social isolation and exclusion - Emotional/psychological impact: increased feelings of distress, anger, sadness. - Reduced sense of meaning in life → can lead to suicidal thoughts when exclusion is severe or prolonged - Behavioral changes: Trying to regain social acceptance through increased cooperation, mimicry, or compliance. - Some react with aggression or anger (means to assert control) - Physical health consequences: Slower recovery from illness or injury, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and chronic illnesses. - Social pain activates the anterior cinguiate cortex (ACC), brain region implicated in the experience of physical pain. - Shared "neural alarm system" for both types of pain. - Language parallels between social and physical pain (broken heart etc.) - Early social trauma correlates with greater physical pain sensitivity in adulthood. - Genotypes associated with physical pain sensitivity are also linked to social pain sensitivity. - Analgesics (paracetamol) have been shown to reduce feelings of - Social pain lingers: Studies demonstrate that memories of social pain are more vivid and disruptive than those of physical pain, affecting cognitive performance and emotional regulation. ## L17. Social Motives - Importance studying motivation (understanding why humans act the way they do) - Intrinsic drives: humans and animals are equipped with intrinsic motives shaped by evolution to meet survival and reproductive needs. - Behavioral insights: motivation underlies every action - Evolutionary approach to motivation: view motives as adaptations that have evolved to solve recurring problems related to survival and reproduction. - Freud (1856-1939): the Id is the source of basic drives + the superego pushes the person to behave in socially appropriate ways. - Maslow (1908-1970): proposed the hierarchy of needs (updated by Kenrick et al. 2010) - motives, such as self-protection, affiliation, and mate acquisition, are prioritized based on their evolutionary importance. - Sexual selection (traits that enhance reproductive success, independent of their effects on survival): - Intra-sexual: competition for sexual access - Inter-sexual: mate choice based on good traits (genetic fitness) - Terror management theory (TMT): addresses how awareness of mortality influences human behavior - Existential anxiety: humans, uniquely aware of their mortality, experience anxiety that motivates behaviors to mitigate this awareness. - Cultural anxiety buffers: include belief systems and achievements that provide symbolic immortality - Religion (life after death) - Social status (fame or wealth) - Legacy (art or intellectual contributions) - Mortality salience: reminders of death lead to - Increased defense of cultural worldviews (nationalism) - Heightened prejudice against conflicting beliefs - Materialism and increased consumption - Self-esteem may offer protection against existential anxiety and may be less susceptible to effects of mortality salience. - Meaning maintenance model (MMM) - Expands on TMT by suggesting that threats to meaning, beyond mortality, drive similar compensatory behaviors - Fluid compensation: when meaning is disrupted, individuals restore it through unrelated domains - Social rejection leads to adopting conspirational beliefs (human tendency to seek meaning in randomness). ## L18. Attraction and Relationships - Factors affecting attraction - Physical attractiveness: the halo effect (attractive people are assumed to be more intelligent, friendly, better adjusted, confident, etc. - Can influence hiring decisions and jury verdicts - Proximity and familiarity: people tend to like those they encounter regularly. - Mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to a stimulus increases positive feelings, even when interactions are minimal - Reciprocity: liking is often mutual; feel attracted to those who express interest in them - Similarity: shared interests/values promote attraction. - Similarity fosters trust and perceived kinship - Features associated with physical attractiveness: - Symmetry and averageness: symmetrical and average-looking faces are considered universally attractive because they signal genetic health and fitness. - Average faces are created by morphing together many faces, which cancels out idiosyncrasies. - Men are drawn to features signaling fertility (youth + clear skin in women) - Women value traits like dominance or resources in men → reflects evolutionary pressures linked to parental investment. - Sex differences in sexual behavior: - Men desire a higher number of sexual partners and are more open to uncommitted sex than women. - Women exhibit greater selectivity in choosing partners, especially for long-term relationships. ## L19. Relationship Maintenance - Types of love: - Passionate love: intense emotional + physical attraction, lasts a few months up to two years - Companionate love: affection and trust that develop over time; crucial for long-term relationship stability. - The Gottman ratio: 5:1 positive-to-negative interactions during conflict, is a hallmark of stable, long-lasting relationships. - Idealization of partners results in higher satisfaction (self-fulfilling prophecy) - Committed individuals find potential alternative partners less attractive and exhibit less automatic attention to them → helps maintain focus on current relationships. - Adult attachment styles (Hazan + Shaver 1987) - Secure: comfortable with intimacy and autonomy. - Preoccupied: anxious and overly dependent on closeness. - Dismissing: independent, avoids emotional closeness. - Fearful: desires intimacy but fears rejection. - Attachment is assessed using the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale → measures dimensions of anxiety and avoidance in relationships.