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Social Psycholgoy Introduction History
- 20 th^ century
- Triplett’s bicycle hypothesis – first social psychology experiment o Presence vs. abscence of others o Bicyclists seem to pedal faster when another cyclists is beside him o Measured how quickly children would wind fishing reels alone or with another child Result: reel significantly faster with another child
- 1908 – William McDougall published the first social psychology textbook
- Focus on social issues
- Kurt Lewin – father of modern social psychology o Came to US in 1933 o Introduced theory into social psychology Developed general propositions Testing through experimentation Testing general theories of human behavior
- Post-war focus o Conformity o Obedience
- Leon Festinger o Late 50s began to publish work on inconsistencies o Cognitive dissonance o Still a dominant theme
- Later work o 60s and 70s – interest in attribution process o 80s and 90s – many of the same issues Introduction of technology Cognitive research o Current trends Social cognition Social physiology Cross cultural Prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination Social judgments Two Conceptual ways of understanding social psychology
- Social Constructionism o Studying society?
We are manifestations of social world around us, not incredibly unique o Can actually produce knowledge that changes phenomena of study
- Experimental Social Psychology o Makes up most of the field o Based on the scientific method o What are we interested in when we investigate phenomena in social psychology? Goals: describe, predict, understand Basic and applied Basic – seek to understand underlying psychological processes and phenomena Applied – take finding from basic research and apply them to help people function better and have less problems and be more efficient
- Relationship between social and personality psychology o Personality – self esteem, big 5 inventory, o Differences Social psychology – focuses on how the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors of individuals are influence by the real or imagined social world Personality psychology – focuses on individual differences in personality that influence thoughts, feelings, or behaviors 9/ Social Psychological Research
- Theory – a framework to describe/explain some phenomena
- Hypothesis – a testable prediction, normally derived from a theory
- Research methods – “how do psychologists study social behavior?” o Descriptive methods – involve attempts to measure or record behaviors, thoughts, or feelings in their natural state Correlation – the extent to which two or more variables are associated with one another Examples: o Education and income o Skirt length and stock market o Drug use and graduate school attendance – potentially caused by a third variable: the economy Correlation does not imply causation Naturalist observations – involve observing behavior as it unfolds in a natural setting
Experimental Methods Random assignment – the practice of assigning subjects to treatments so each subject has an equal chance of being in any condition Confound – a variable that systematically changes along with the independent variable, potentially leading to a mistake conclusion about the independent variable Demand characteristics – cues that make subjects aware of how the experimenter expects them to behave Guidelines for ethical research: Obtain informed consent – a research subject’s agreement to participate after being informed of any potential risks and his or her right to withdraw at any time without penalty Fully debriefing participants after the research is completed – discussion of procedures, hypotheses, and subject reactions of the completion of the study Evaluating the costs and benefits of the research procedures 9/ Social Cognition
- Schema – mental structure of knowledge capturing the general characteristics of a particular class of episodes, individuals, or events
- Automaticity o Automatic responses – reflexes, Stroop Effect, size constancy o Controlled responses – calculus, actions on 1st^ date, what you say when you raise your hand in class o Automatic effects on social judgment: can the unconscious influence judgments of others? “Donald Study” 1979 Step 1: scrambled sentences task: words either related to hostility or not Step 2: read paragraph about “Donald” and form judgments about him Rate “Donald” on hostility: rated as more hostile when the scrambled sentences related to hostility Effect seems to happen without awareness, intention, or control Bargh and Pietromonaco, 1982 Step 1: “Vigilance task” – words flashed on screen for 100 ms followed by mask (XXX)
o 0%, 20%, 80% related to hostility Step 2: read about “Donald” and make judgments about him Result: the greater the percentage of hostile words during priming, the more negatively they rated “Donald” o Automatic effects on behavior Bargh, Chen, Burrows, 1996 Scrambled sentences task including either: elderly stereotype words or neutral words Told that experiment is over Time taken by the subject to walk to the elevator o Took significantly longer when primed with elderly stereotype words o Automatic Effects on personal goals Bargh et al., 2001 Priming manipulation: word-find task with words related to achievement or neutral Scrabble task: create as many words as possible out of 8 tiles o Measure persistence at task in face of obstacle to goal (told to stop via intercom after 2 min) Proportion who continued to work after the experimenter told them to stop o 57% in achievement condition vs. 22% in neutral condition 9/ o Distinguishing automatic from controlled processes: efficiency “Cognitive load” manipulations: hold a string of numbers or letters in mind during task Logic If it interferes with performance, performance on that task requires cognitive control
- Making estimates o Interplay of automatic and controlled processes Mental control Ironic processes: trying not to think about something involves two processes: o Intentional search for distracters o Automatic search for target o Controlled processes are more prone to disruption – ironic effects of mental control Belief
- Non-verbal communication o Two personality traits influence happiness Extraversion Neuroticism o 6 major emotional expressions (Eckman) Anger Happiness Surprise Fear Disgust Sadness
- Subject construal – to interpret or put a construction on an object, action, person, situation, or event; goes beyond information given; supply meaning
- Attributions – casual judgments about why an event or behavior occurred o Atttributional Process Assigning cause: “Why did that happen?” Consensus – does everyone do it? Distinctiveness – does it occur only in this situation? Consistency – does it occur repeatedly? Internal attribution – conclusion based on consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency to the individual (Jack is desperate) External attribution – conclusion based on consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency to the outside circumstances (Jill is desireable) Interaction Attribution – conclusion based on consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency both internal and external (Jack and Jill are in love) 9/
- The Curse of Knowledge o The more you know about something, the harder it is to teach b/c it seems simple to you
- Just World Hypothesis o People have a strong desire or need to believe that the world is orderly, predictable, and a just place o Consequently, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
- Correspondence Bias o Tendency to assume that people’s actions and words reflect their personality o A possible result of schema reliance?
- Perceptual Salience
o Suggests that people/information that are perceived to a greater extent have more influence on individuals
- Telling Lies o G+ F+ F+ F+ G+ G+ F+ F- F+ F- G+ G- G- F- G+ G+ G+ F+ G+ F+
- Actor-Observer Effect o See other people’s behavior as dispositionally driving o Focus on situational explanations for one’s own behavior
- Mere Exposure o Simple exposure to a target increases liking o Research assistants coming to a certain number of classes TEST 1 9/ THE SELF
- Cognitive view – cognitive generalization about the self derived from past experience
- Self perception – a sense of being distinct from other people and objects
- Self consciousness – ability for reflection back upon the self and treat the self as an object
- Functions of the Self o Organizational function o Emotional function o Executive function Self-Concept
- We develop a sense of self in infancy o Then we evaluate events and objects in the world o Finally, we determine the self that is shown to other people
- “Who am I?”
- Distinction made in infancy between own body and everything else
- ~2 years – self recognition
- 2-3 years – sex and age are identified
- 3-12 years – self concepts are based mainly on talents and skills
- Mirrors make people more self-aware Social Comparison
- Leon Festinger – we socially compare when there is no objective standard
- Downward social comparison – to make self feel better Self-Esteem
- A general evaluation of one’s own self worth along a good/bad or like/dislike dimension
- Are you always the same person?
- High self monitors o More likely to have specialized activity partners rather than a few general purpose friends o Are more interested in casual sex o Have had more 1 night stands o Are more concerned with a potential date’s physical appearance o Have had more sexual partners Better-than-average effect
- “For nearly any subjective and socially desirable dimension, most people see themselves as better than average” Self-regulation: self-standards
- “Actual self” – representation of attributes self is believed actually to have
- “Ideal self” – representation of attributes that one ideally would like to possess
- “Ought self” – representation of attributes that one believes one should possess
- Discrepancies o Actual-ideal discrepancy – lack of positive You are not achieving something you ideally would like to achieve Associated with sadness and depression o Actual-ought discrepancy – presence of negative You are doing something you shouldn’t be doing Associated with agitation and anxiety Effects of social comparison: attainability (Lockwood & Kunda)
- 1 st^ and 4th^ year accountancy students
- Read bogus newspaper article about superstar 4th^ year accountancy student or do not read article (control)
- Rate self
- 1 st^ year students with superstar target rated themselves higher
- 4 th^ year students with superstar target rated themselves lower Bem’s (1972) self-perception theory
- To the extent that o 1 – people’s internal states are weak or difficult to interpret, o 2 – they believe their behavior to be unconstrained o Then people will infer their attitudes (beliefs and feelings) from their behavior Self-perception of motivation
- The over-justification effect o Providing extrinsic reasons for behavior formally engaged in for intrinsic reasons results in reduction of intrinsic motivation to engage in those behaviors (and thus in spontaneous expression of such behaviors) 9/ James-Lange Theory
- Event => arousal and physiological changes => interpretation of the physiological changes => emotion Cannon-Bard Theory
- Event o => Arousal and physical changes o => Emotion (separate from arousal and physical changes) Schacter-Singer Theory
- Event => arousal and physiological changes => interpretation as a function of context => emotion
- Study: o All participants injected with adrenaline o Half around people acting euphorically o Half around people acting angry o Then asked how they feel Physiological arousal Cognitive labeling The Importance of Consistency The Consistency Principle
- People change their attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and behavior so they are consistent with each other Balance Theory
- Individuals are motivated to: o Agree with people they like o Disagree with people they dislike o Associate positive feelings/events with good people o Associate negative feelings/events with bad people
- Cognitive system out of balance = uncomfortable tension
o Knox and Inkster (1968) – seconds after placing a bet, gamblers become much more confident that their horse will win o Self-affirmation – people will reduce the impact of dissonance arousing threat to the self-concept by focusing on and “affirming” their competence on some dimension to the threat o Cooper, Zanna, and Taves (1978) – unknowingly gave half of the participants a tranquilizer (eliminated all arousal) and that half did not change their opinions No arousal = no dissonance = no motivation to change one’s attitudes Inconsistencies with the Self
- How do we deal with things when they are inconsistent with our self?
- Self-verification theory – Swann and colleagues suggest that we have a need to seek information that will verify our self-views
- Self-evaluation maintenance – suggests that self-concept can be bolstered or threatened by other people but this is depending upon relevance of the topic and closeness of the person
- Lowballing – gaining a commitment to an arrangement then raising the cost of carrying out the arrangement o Joule 1987 Group 1 – asked to stop smoking for 18 hours and fill out a short questionnaire – 12% agree Group 2 – asked first to fill out a short questionnaire (90% agree, then asked to stop smoking for 18 hours (85% agree)
- Counterfactual thinking – process of imagining alternatives version of actual events o We tend to generate more counterfactuals over actions than inactions o Olympic medalists – gold happiest, bronze second happiest and imagines winning no medal at all, silver talks about how close s/he was to gold o Downward counterfactuals – “at least….. didn’t happen” – bronze o Upward counterfactuals – “too bad…… didn’t happen” – silver o Old people looking back regret inactions more than actions Factors that Affect the Desire for Consistency Attitudes
- Attitude – an enduring evaluation (positive or negative) of a person, object, or idea
- Also serve a knowledge function which allows us to organize and better understand the world we live in
- On a continuum/spectrum
- ABC tripartite model o Affect – emotional parts of attitude o Cognition – way we think about an attitudinal target o Behavior – actions in relation to attitude
- Attitude formation o Persuasive communications o Classical conditioning
- Do attitudes predict behavior? o LaPierre Study (1934) Restaurants/hotels said they’d refuse service to people of Chinese descent – over 90% Only one out of hundreds actually did Conclusion – in general, measured attitudes are rarely associated with behavior Later research The Chinese couple was well-dressed – not indicative of stereotype Strength = greater conviction = greater predictor Situational Specific measure of attitudes = better Make sure attitudes are accessible Minimize of chances of false answers using indirect means
- Attitude questions o Some attitudes are more accessible than others, thus more likely to affect behavior
- Attitude makeup o Attitudes can be made up of relatively more affective or cognitive aspects
- Misattribution of Arousal o What is your attitude to an “attractive other?” o A person approaches you on a suspension bridge. Would this affect your opinion?
- Dual Process models of persuasion – 2 routes to change o Dual process models of persuasion – models that account for the two ways that attitude change occurs o Message recipients will consider a communication thoughtfully when they have both: The motivation The ability o Factors that influence a person’s motivation to process a message deeply Personal relevance of the topic
o Familiarity with a target leads to increased liking up to a point – plateau effect, then decreased liking can occur o Solution – variation of a repeated message Fear o Usually works for a very short period of time o Works to scare people Mood o Sad moods – motivate people to hold more accurate and realistic attitudes Highlights the potential dangers of making errors Suggestible individuals o Score lower on self-esteem o Score higher on trust o Have less self-confidence o Are more likely to believe what others tell them Peer influence – tend to influence things that are more generational
- Reactance Theory o When freedom to perform a behavior is threatened an unpleasant reactance occurs Motivation to gain freedom – the motivational arousal is reactance
- Subliminal presentation TEST 2 10/ Chapter 6: Conformity
- Conformity – a change in behavior due to the real or imagined influences of other people
- We do not like those who do not conform
- Epidemic phychogenic illness (EPI) – feel sick b/c other people around you do o Illustrates that group norms can be subtle, yet powerful o Ambiguity = more susceptibility to conformity
- Autokinetic effect o Observed light alone (estimate) o Observed light in a group (estimate) o Asked to estimate again in private – estimate becomes much closer to the group’s o In ambiguous situations, people tend to be suggestible
- 2 ways to conform o Private acceptance – we conform to other people’s behavior out of genuine belief o Public acceptance – we conform to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing it is true
- Solomon Asch (1955) o How would you respond in a situation where several others have given the wrong answers? o Do people trust others and respond with the same answers? o Compare lines o ¾ conformed to the wrong answer at least once
- When do people conform? Based on: o Group size – conformity plateaus at ~5 people o Unanimity – any other dissenters make it much easier to resist conformity o Cohesion o Status o Public response o Prior commitment
- Good and bad o Good = society, organization, law o Bad = people can do horrible things when conforming
- Zimbardo Prison Study o Students assigned to be guards conformed to what they thought guards should be Sadistic Took away things from prisoners Did not let prisoners sleep o Students assigned to be prisoners became what they thought prisoners should be like Harassed guards Ended up sleeping naked on the floor without food or beds or toilets
- Milgram (1965) o How likely is it that humans can put aside their moral conscience and obey orders to act cruelly? o 63% of Milgram’s participants were willing to go “all the way” shocking people o Conclusion – there are conditions in which normal, intelligent individuals can blindly obey orders to act cruelly toward others 10/ Groups
Isolated from public opinion Ruled by a directive leader 10/
- Deindividuation o Losing sense of personal identity which makes it easier to behave in ways inconsistent with personal values o Tends to occur in crowds o And anything that leads to anonymity o Halloween Study (Diener et al. 1976) 27 homes Table with bowls of candy Experimenter told them to take candy 57% in groups took more than average 21% alone took more than average
- Social Loafing o Clapping study Group sizes: 1, 2, 4, 6 Task = clap as loud as possible Sound measured Found that as number of people in the group increased, the less effort they put into clapping o Goes away when: Individual’s performances are monitored Task is engaging Individuals have clear standards for group’s performance Individuals know they are good at the task and best performance matters
- Competition vs. Cooperation o Affected by: Closeness of other Culture (collectivist) Strategy Tit-for-tat o “You scratch my back I’ll scratch yours” o “An eye for an eye” o Cooperation with cooperation o Competition with competition Escalation of competition o Increasing threat in reactance to opponent o Teger (1980) – winner gets $1, loser has to pay what they bid Often go up to $20 to avoid losing Perceptual dilemmas
o Both groups think that it is best to cooperate but both groups think that the other group is trying to compete o Strategy – stay ahead of opponent o Cold War o Isn’t more of something better? Money, food, water, space Commons Dilemma Tragedy of the commons o Profit from sheep shearing inspires people to buy more and more sheep – destroy common grazing land o Behaved rationally according to self-interest, but not for the best interest of the group Fishing today
- Brainstorming o Say whatever comes to mind o Evaluate ideas later o Problem solving phases: Generating ideas Evaluating ideas Should be done separately o Issues: Individuals in group will feed off each other’s ideas People generate more and better ideas when they’re alone and uninterrupted
- Leadership o Factors: Intelligence (more) Morality Family size (larger) Height (taller) Personality traits (such as extraversion) Lying (better liars) 10/
- Obedience o Milgram (1965) 63% were willing to go to the highest voltage Intelligent individuals can blindly obey orders to act cruelly toward others o What factors influence obedience? Emotional distance of the victim Closeness and legitimacy of the authority
