Social Psychology Past Paper PDF

**[Task 1 Groups]** - Minimal Group paradigm - Group-self (social-identity) - **Social identity Theory** - Making sense of the situation (social categorization, social comparison) - What it means to be a group member (social identification, In vs Out group)...

**[Task 1 Groups]** - Minimal Group paradigm - Group-self (social-identity) - **Social identity Theory** - Making sense of the situation (social categorization, social comparison) - What it means to be a group member (social identification, In vs Out group) - Being included or excluded (categorization threat, stereotype threat) - When the group self is under threat - Standing up for the group self (social creativity, social change) - **Groupthink** (agree mostly only with ingroup ideas and stop consider other ideas) - Antecedents - External Threat - Group isolation - Homogeneity of Social Background and Ideology - Lack of Impartial Leadership - Lack of Decision-Making Procedures - Symptoms - Stereotyped adversary - Inherent morality - Illusory invulnerability - Illusory unanimity - Collective rationalizations - (Self-)Censorship - Consequences - Incomplete survey of objectives - Discounting of Alternatives - Selective Information - Failure to Examine Risks and Make a Contingency Plans - **Self-categorization theory** (depersonalize and align behaviour with group norms, values and goals) **[Task 2 Social Influence]** - Social Norms - **Descriptive** norms (what people typically do genuine informational social influence) vs **Injunctive** norms (what people should do less genuine normative group pressure) - Prejudice personality: unwillingness to adapt to social change - **Referent Informational Influence (RII)**: adopt group norms as true and valid, not just to fit in but because they genuinely believe in them - Moderators of group influence - Within groups: Prototypical group members, Group Identification - Between groups: Threat/conflict conform more strongly to in-group, bigger contrast to out-group - Contextual: Anonymity and isolation can enhance group influence, anonymous online groups enhance depersonalisation, if group member are seen as similar then greater group influence **[Task 3 Collaboration & Cooperation]** - **Social Value Orientation (SVO)** (magnitude of concern) - Prosocial (equalize, maximize joint), Individualist (maximize outcome), Competitors (maximize difference) - Conditional cooperation - Reputation - Universal cooperation - Signaling (cooperate to attract new partners) - Parochialism (increase outcomes of in-group, even at cost of out-group) - Egalitarianism (reduce difference in outcomes between in-group vs out-group) - **Triangle hypothesis**: previous experiences and self--fulfilling prophecies lead prosocials to expect heterogeneous behaviour from others, whereas proselfs, through their own competitive behaviour, elicit only competitive behaviour in others and therefore expect only competitive behaviour from others - **Structural Assumed Similarity Bias (SASB)**: individuals with all SVOs project their own dispositions onto others and expect others to be similar to themselves - **Cone model**: it suggests that this false consensus effect is larger for individualists than for prosocials or competitors possibly due to the overestimation of self--interest as a dominant motive underlying social behaviour **[Task 4 Fairness & Justice]** - Justice in organizations - Antecedents - Organizational outcomes (valence of outcomes such as salary or promotion) - Organizational practices - Adhering to justice rules (ensuring fairness in processes, outcomes and interpersonal treatment) - Quality of treatment and communication with employees (respectful, transparent and honest) - Perceiver characteristics - Demographics (minimal impact on justice perception) - Personality (high negative affectivity more likely to interpret event in negative way) - Perceived Justice - **Distributive** (focused on perceived fairness of outcomes) - Strongly linked to job satisfaction and reaction to specific outcomes - **Procedural** (concerned with fairness in processes and decision-making) - Stronger impact on organizational commitment, trust, and job performance - **Interactional** (relates to respectful and transparent interpersonal treatment) - Influences relationships with supervisors and interpersonal trust - Outcomes Performance, Extra-role behaviour, Counterproductive work behaviour, Attitudes and Emotions - **Justice sensitivity** - **Victim** (individuals feel disadvantaged or harmed by injustice Anger seeking compensation - antisocial behaviour) - **Observer** (individuals witness injustice being inflicted on others Moral outrage intervene/report the wrongdoing -- prosocial) - **Beneficiary** (individuals benefits unfairly from a situation Guilt compensate the disadvantaged individuum) - **Perpetrator** (individuals feel guilt after causing injustice Guilt/Shame possible pro social behaviour or effort to avoid causing injustice) - **Situational** (external, uncontrollable) vs **dispositional** (internal, controllable) attributions Attribution bias **[Task 5 -- Cognitive Dissonance]** - Definition: two cognitions are dissonant if the opposite of one cognition follows from another. The magnitude of dissonance between two cognitive elements depend on number and importance (dissonance ratio) - **Free-choice paradigm** (after making decision increase preference for chosen option and devalue of rejected option post-decisional dissonance) - **Belief-Disconfirmation paradigm** (when faced with diconforming evidence, people often experience dissonance may respond by strengthening their original beliefs or rationalizing the contraction) - **Efforst-justification paradigm** (the more effort people put into something, the more they tend to value it, even if the outcome is disappointing) - **Induced-compliance paradigm** (when external justification is insufficient, individuals change their internal attitudes to align with their behaviour and reduce dissonance) - **Self-perception theory** (if external factors like rewards control our action, we don't change our attitudes, but if those factors are absent, we convince ourselves that the actions reflect our true attitudes - **Impression-Management theory** (we don't really change our beliefs, we only fake consistency to avoid looking bad in front of others) - **Reductions strategies** - Distraction & Forgetting (remove DC) - Trivialization & Self-affirmation (reduce importance of DC) - Increasing importance of CC - Act rationalization - Changing behaviour - Adding CC - Denial of Responsibility - Attitude change - Factors that play a role: Availability, Likelihood of success, Effortfulness, Habits, Affective State, Context of discrepancy **[Task 6 -- Social Comparison]** (meta-analysis, social cognition, biopsychology, individual differences and social context is missing) - Social comparison - Upward comparison - Downward comparison - Lateral comparison - **Contrast**: Self-evaluation moves in the opposite direction from the comparison target, individuals feel more different or distant - Negative self-evaluation (upward) - Positive self-evaluation (downward) - **Assimilation**: occurs when an individuals self-evaluation moves towards the comparison target, seen as more similar - Positive (role model upward) - Negative (avoidance downward) - **Enlightenment**: use comparisons that promote personal growth and self-improvement - Theoretical perspectives - **Downward comparison theory:** Individuals tend to engage in downward comparison as a strategy to restore self-esteem after a threat - **Construal theory and upward social comparisons:** People generally use upward comparisons, if a person perceived themselves as similar to a better-off target, they may construe differences as minor, leading to an elevated sense of self-worth - **Selective Accessibility Model (SAM):** SAM offers a nuanced view of social comparisons, emphasizing how judgments of similarity/dissimilarity and the type of question influence whether assimilation of contrast occurs - **Target immediacy**: comparisons with closer targets weigh more heavily on self-evaluation than those more at distance - **Self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM)** - Predicts how people maintain their self-esteem based on three factors: how their performance compares to someone else, hoe close they feel to that person, and how important the comparison is to their sense of identity - Social networking sites (SNS - Antecedents - **User-related factors** - **Personality traits** (neurotic more prone to upward comparisons and feelings of envy) - **Motivations for SNS use**: information gathering, attention-seeking, or entertainment correlated more with upward comparisons - **Vulnerability indicators**: low self-esteem and depressive symptoms predispose individuals to damaging comparisons - Usage patterns - Active use: posting updates or engaging in direct interactions foster positive emotions and social connectedness, enhancing SWB - Passive use: consuming other content leads to upwards comparisons and envy, reducing SWB - Consequences - Negative outcomes - General Comparisons: Upward comparisons exacerbate negative emotions like envy and inferiority - Emotion dynamic: users experience envy when exposed to positive posts but may cope by posting similarity idealized content perpetuating a cycle - Positive outcomes - Context matter: opinion rather than ability comparisons are less harmful - Downward comparisons or assimilative responses to upward comparisons can inspire motivation or enhance self-improvement - Reduction strategies - Set time limits: reducing the amount of time spent on SNS can help prevent constant exposure to idealized content. Using scree time apps to limit SNS usage or scheduling "SNS detox" days can be effective - Engage in meaningful interactions: Rather than just likin or scrolling passively, engage in genuine conversations that go beyond surface-level comparisons - Self-reflection: take time to reflect on your feelings when you use SNS. Notice when you´re comparing yourself to other and recognize the impact it has on your emotions - Follow positive influences: curate your social media feeds by following accounts that inspire, motivate, and promote healthy, positive content rather than idealized or unrealistic content **[Task 7 - Stereotype & Prejudice]** - **Prejudice** (social-category based reaction with cognitive, behavioural, and affective component, which can be negative or restrictive positive) and **Racism** (prejudice specifically based on race) - Theoretical approaches - **Moden/symbol symbolic prejudice**: shift from over racism to subtler forms, but still oppose policies that benefit minorities - **Ambivalent prejudice**: tensions between two conflicting values: Individualism (the beliefs that success is achieved through personal effort and hard work) vs Egalitarianism (The value of fairness and helping disadvantaged groups) - **Aversive Racism**: consciously support equality but hold unconscious bias (rarely explicit) - **Integrated Threat theory**: Realistic threat (concerns about tangible resources, such as jobs, housing or safety) - **Evolutionary perspective**: evolutionary survival mechanism, humans identify outgroup as potential threats to resource or safety - Function of prejudice and racism - **Social Identity theory**: people derive self-esteem from group memberships, leading to ingroup favouritism (e.g. allocating more resources to ones group) and outgroup bias - **Social dominance and system justification theory**: High-status groups justify inequalities through stereotypes, while low-status groups may internalize negative beliefs - **Terror management theory**: Prejudice helps cope with mortality awareness by reinforcing cultural values - Perpetuation of prejudice - **Confirmatory experience**: prejudice are reinforced when people notice and remember stereotype-consistent behaviour while ignoring or forgetting counterexamples - **Behavioural confirmation**: stereotypes shape expectations, which influence how people treat others, leading those other to behave in ways that confirm the stereotype - **Attributions bias**: Stereotype-consistent behaviour are attributed to inherent traits, while stereotype-inconsistent behaviour are explained away as exceptions or situational - **Subtyping:** People create s separate "subgroup" for individuals who don't fit a stereotype, preserving the overall stereotype - **Justification-suppression model**: People supress their prejudice due to social norms, but when they find justifications that seem non-prejudiced, they allow their biases to influence their actions - Stereotype content model - Perceived status Perceived Competence Stereotype - Perceived competition Perceived Warmth Stereotype - **Pitying prejudice** (lower status, not competitive, e.g. elderly, traditional women) High Warmth Low Competence - **Admiration** (high status, not competitive, e.g. whites, students) High Warmth High Competence - **Contemptuous prejudice** (low status, competitive, e.g. poor, homeless) Low Warmth Low Competence - **Envious prejudice** (high status, competitive, e.g. rich) Low Warmth High Competence - **Ambivalent stereotypes**: align with groups that challenge traditional norms or les (stay at home parents high warmth but low competence) or career women (low warmth but high competence) - High W and High C often attributed to ingroups or culturally valued groups - Low H and Lw C to marginalized or stigmatized groups) **[Task 8 -- Gender]** - **Doing Gender**: ways in which individuals perform and reproduce gender roles and expectations through their actions and interactions - **Gender Role Attitudes**: describe the beliefs and expectations that people have about that tasks and role men and women should take on in society and in the home - **Stereotype threat**: prevent people from excelling in counter-stereotypical domains - **Implicit bias:** describes unconscious biases and stereotypes that influence or thoughts and actions without us being aware of them. These distortions often arise from the conditioning in our environment and from constant confrontation with certain stereotypes in the media, family or society - **Communality**: primarily concerned with the welfare of the people such as affectionate, kind, sympathetic, and interpersonal sensitivity - **Agency**: action or intervention producing a particular effect - **Gender stereotypes:** expectations about member of a gender group - **Objectification**: action of degrading someone to the status of a mere object, focus on appearance - **Backlash effect:** describes negative reactions to progress in gender equality - **Benevolent Sexism**: believe that women are particularly sensitive and need to be protected by mean - **Meritocracy:** believe that different social roles of groups (in this case different genders) is the result of individual differences in preferences and abilities or reflects biological differences - **Queen Bee:** women outing their differences to other women, often by putting them down - Meta-Analysis - When one partner promoted, household adjustment is based on gender norms - Job loss leads to reallocation of tasks, but follow gender norms - Households with higher resource outsource house work - Women increase housework when unemployed while men remain same - Dual-earner households, women still do more - **Motivational concerns** - Being a good group member, believing in just world and acting effectively leads to enacting gender stereotypes - If advantaged then discomfort of privilege, if disadvantaged then need to retain hope both neglect the impact of stereotypes - **Privileging stereotype consistency** - Information Communication Evaluation - **Information** (Attention, Processing, Recall) - **Communication** (Parent-child interactions, Media and internet portrayals, linguistic bias, body postures, emotion expression) - **Evaluation** (Approve stereotypical behaviour, Devalue counter stereotypical behaviour) - **1. Gendered Socialization** - **Definition**: The process through which individuals learn gender roles, norms, and behaviors based on societal expectations. - **Explanation**: From early childhood, boys and girls are often socialized differently through toys, media, and parental guidance, reinforcing stereotypical traits (e.g., nurturing for girls, assertiveness for boys). **2. Gendered Expectations** - **Definition**: Societal beliefs about how men and women "should" behave, often based on traditional roles. - **Explanation**: Women are often expected to be warm, nurturing, and communal, while men are expected to be dominant, assertive, and agentic. Deviation from these expectations can lead to social sanctions. **3. Gendered Opportunities** - **Definition**: Unequal access to education, employment, and professional advancement based on gender. - **Explanation**: Gender roles and systemic biases often limit opportunities for women in areas such as STEM, leadership, and high-status jobs, while men may be discouraged from caregiving or traditionally "feminine" careers. **4. Gendered Economic Resources** - **Definition**: Disparities in wealth, income, and economic power between genders. - **Explanation**: Gender wage gaps, unequal access to property ownership, and limited economic opportunities result in women having fewer financial resources, exacerbating inequality. **5. Gendered Violence Experiences** - **Definition**: Disproportionate exposure to physical, sexual, or emotional violence based on gender. - **Explanation**: Women are more likely to experience gender-based violence, such as domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and trafficking, often rooted in power imbalances and societal norms. Career women are often perceived as competent but less warm. The same dominant behavior of career women and men is often perceived differently and women are often socially sanctioned for showing this behavior. How can this be explained by social psychological theories. There are different answer options. (Some prompts here are: gendered expectations, stereotype content model, gender norms, identity threat, masculinity threat, relative deprivation, social dominance theory, being a good group member, etc.) **1. Gendered Expectations** - Society holds **gendered expectations** that women should be nurturing, warm, and communal, while men are expected to be dominant, assertive, and agentic. - When career women exhibit dominance, it violates these expectations, leading to **backlash effects** where women are socially sanctioned for not adhering to prescribed roles. **2. Stereotype Content Model (SCM)** - According to the SCM, career women may be stereotyped as **high in competence but low in warmth** because they are perceived as agentic and career-focused. - This creates ambivalent stereotypes where women are respected for their competence but disliked for their perceived lack of warmth, resulting in negative social judgments or sanctions. **3. Gender Norms** - **Gender norms** dictate appropriate behavior for men and women. Dominance is traditionally seen as a masculine trait, so when women display it, they are perceived as violating norms. - This triggers negative reactions (e.g., labeling them as \"bossy\" or \"abrasive\") because the behavior is incongruent with societal norms for women. **4. Identity Threat** - Women's dominant behavior may provoke **identity threats** in men or others who feel their status or role is undermined. - For example, dominant women may be seen as challenging traditional hierarchies, which can lead to resistance or punitive behavior. **5. Masculinity Threat** - Dominant career women may also trigger a **masculinity threat** in men who perceive their dominance as encroaching on traditionally male domains. - This can result in defensive behaviors or efforts to reassert male dominance. **6. Social Dominance Theory** - According to **Social Dominance Theory**, societal hierarchies are maintained through legitimizing myths that reinforce power dynamics. - Women who act dominantly may be sanctioned as a way to preserve existing gender hierarchies, particularly in male-dominated professions. **7. Being a Good Group Member** - Social groups value **conformity to group norms**, and dominant behavior by women may be viewed as a failure to conform to their \"expected role\" within the group. - This nonconformity can lead to exclusion or criticism as a means of reinforcing group cohesion. **Example Synthesis:** For instance, when a career woman displays assertive behavior during a meeting, **gendered expectations** and **stereotypes** may cause her to be perceived as competent but \"unlikable\" (SCM). Additionally, her behavior might provoke **masculinity threats** in male colleagues, leading them to subtly undermine her authority to reassert traditional hierarchies (**Social Dominance Theory**). Would you like me to expand on any specific theory?