Social psychology

Define social psychology. Identify the kinds of questions that social psychologists try to  answer. Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals think and behave in a social context. They try to answer how society influences our behaviour and how our behaviour influences society, including others.2. Explain how social psychology differs from sociology and other fields of psychology. Social psychology focuses on individuals whereas sociology focuses on groups. Cognitive psychology focuses on thinking, and other mental processes but not how they interact with society. Clinical psychology focuses on disorders not normal functioning and finally personality psychology focuses on stable traits that remain the same across all situations not how they are influenced by society.  3. Identify the various founders of the field, and the historical events that inspired interest  in and shaped the field of social psychology. Explain the contributions made by Allport,  Sherif, and Lewin. The main founders are Ross, Allport and Mcdougall. Norman Triplett published the first social psych article on how the precense of others influences our performance. Allport wrote the first textbook. Lewin founded the theory that a person is shaped by genetics and our environment otherwise known as interactionism. Sherif conducted the first experiment on social influence.  4. Explain how social psychology incorporates biological, evolutionary, and sociocultural  perspectives of human behavior. Describe the role of new technologies such as PET and  fMRI in the investigation of social behavior. Biological, evolutionary and sociocultural theories provide explanations as to why people behave the way that they do in social situations. New technologies allow S.P's to identify areas of the brain when a person interacts in society. study the interplay of the brain and discrete thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Social psychology research today benefits from other technological advances as well, such as new and better techniques to measure hormone levels, to code people's everyday dialogue into quantifiable units, and to present visual stimuli to research participants at fractions of a second and then record the number of milliseconds it takes the participants to respond to these stimuli.  5. Understand the differences between applied and basic research.  Applied research is to increase our knowledge in natural phenomena and can be applied to everyday social problems whereas basic research increases our understanding of human behaviour.6. Distinguish between hypotheses and theories, between conceptual variables and  operational definitions.A hypothesis is a testable prediction. A theory is a set of  organised principles. an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena. Theories are usually evaluated in terms of three criteria: simplicity, comprehensiveness, and generativity. Theories are usually evaluated in terms of three factors simplicity, cohesiveness and generativity. Conceptual variables are abstract, such as love and jealousy, in order to become testable they must be operationalised. 7. Explain self-report and observational research practices, including the advantages and  disadvantages of each. Self-report is asking participants to complete scales or questionnaires. An advantage is it is cheap a disadvantage is people may lie and is prone to memory errors. Observational research is when experimenters observe the behaviour of people in natural settings. One advantage is it is not prone to memory errors or lies, however, people may change their behaviour especially when they know that someone is watching them.  8. 1. Contrast correlational research with descriptive research. Summarize the  advantages/disadvantages of correlational research designs. Correlational research seeks to find associations between variables but does not seek to find cause and effect. Descriptive research describes human behaviour and seeks to find patterns and trends. 9. Explain the importance of control and random assignment in experimental research.  Differentiate random sampling from random assignment, as well as an independent  variable from a dependent variable. Control assignment is selecting people and putting them in groups according to their sex or age in your study. Random assignment is randomly assigning people into groups. Random sampling is making sure that people from the population are fairly represented in your study. An independent variable can be manipulated whereas a dependent variable is measured. 10. Explain the importance of the following terms with regard to experimental research  design: statistical significance, internal validity, and external validity. Internal validity is making sure that the independent variable actually caused the differences in the dependent variable. External validity is making sure that the research findings in one situation would also be found in other situations.  11. Discuss the function of ethics in social psychological research, including the use of  deception and confederates. Describe the roles of ethics boards, informed consent, and  debriefing in protecting the welfare of human participantsEthics are important especially when conducting an experiment. Deception is where experimenters deceive participants for the purpose of a study. Debriefing is making them aware that they have been deceived. Informed consent is  Individuals must be asked whether they wish to participate in the research project and must be given enough information to make an informed decision. Participants must also know that they are free to withdraw from participation in the research at any point

Define what is meant by “attitudes.” Discuss how attitudes are measured, including both self-report and covert techniques, as well as measurement of implicit attitudes.  An attitude is a positive or negative reaction to an object or person. Attitudes can be measure by self-reports (questionnaires), covert techniques such as nonverbal behaviour and facial expressions as well as using the implicit association test (IAT) to measure implicit attitudes. 2. Discuss the relationship between attitudes and behaviours.An attidue will only lead to behaviour if it is strong (of personal relevance, affects people close to us) and specific.  3. Define and distinguish the peripheral and central routes to persuasion. Identify factors that dictate which route of processing is taken.The central route to persuasion is looking at the strength of the argument and how effective it is. The peripheral route to persuasion is looking at peripheral cues such as the speaker's clothes, and how the message fits in with your values. A person is more likely to use the central route when they have high involvement in the topic but more likely to use the peripheral cues when they have low involvement.   4. Explain how and under what circumstances message source affects whether people are likely to be persuaded. Discuss the reasons behind the sleeper effect.  When a message has personal relevance to your life, you pay attention to the source and think critically about the message, the arguments, and the implications. When a message does not have personal relevance, however, you may take the source at face value and spend little time scrutinizing the information. The sleeper effect is forgetting the source of information over time but remembering the message. 5. Explain how the content and order of messages affect whether people are likely to be persuaded. Consider evidence regarding the effectiveness of subliminal persuasive messages.If two messages are presented at the same time, a person is more likely to be persuaded by the first message, known as the primacy effect. If there is space between the two messages, the person is more likely to be persuaded by the last message, known as the recency effect. Subliminal messages are only effective if a person already has the intent or motivation.  6. Explain how characteristics of the audience can moderate the extent to which it is persuaded by a message. Describe strategies for enabling an audience to resist efforts at persuasion.If a person has a high need for cognition they are more likely to use the central route of persuasion. In contrast if a person has a low need for cognition they are more likely to use the peripheral route. High self-monitors are more likely to be persuaded by positive social images, whereas low self-monitors will tend to behave more in accordance with their own beliefs, values, and preferences.. The inoculation hypothesis is being exposed to weaker arguments before being exposed to the much larger argument. Psychological reactance is reverse psychology, whenever we feel threatend we do the opposite.     7. Explain the elements of the classic version of cognitive dissonance theory, and the relevance of this theory to understanding attitude change. The classical version of C.D.T is a person will become motivated to change their attitude if there is a discrepancy between their attitudes and behaviour.  8. Explain the “new look” of cognitive dissonance and how it expands upon the original theory. Discuss cultural influences on cognitive dissonance.The new look says that there are four steps. An unwanted negative consequence, attributing the consequence to the behaviour, The second necessary step in the process is a feeling of personal responsibility for the unpleasant outcomes of behavior, The third necessary step in the process is physiological arousal, the fourth is attributing the arousal to the behaviour.   9. Consider alternate routes to self-persuasion such as those described by self-perception theory, impression-management theory, and theories of self-esteem. Explain how the processes postulated by these theories differ from those described by cognitive dissonance theory. Self-perception theory states when our feelings are shaky or we are unsure of something we look to our behaviours. Impression-management theory claims that we are not motivated to be consistent, but to appear to be consistent. We calibrate our attitudes and behaviours publicly so we can avoid the social pitfalls of being inconsistent.. Self-affirmation theory relies on the theory of a consistent and robust self-concept. We are motivated to change our attitudes in line with our behaviour so that threats to our self-concept are minimised. The differences between these theories and C.D.T is that no discrepant cognitions or feelings are required to provide motivation for change.  

Explain the idea of the self-concept and how it relates to the ways in which we attend to,  interpret, and remember the world around us.  The self concept is the sum total beliefs we have about ourselves. We see ourselves as separate entities which enables us to attend, remember and interpret the world around us.2. Explain what is meant by describing the self as “relational.” Discuss the social factors  that contribute to the self-concept.We understand ourselves and create ourselves in relation to others. I am someone's daughter, sister etc. The second step involves social factors. Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1902) introduced the term looking-glass self to suggest that other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves. Expanding on this idea, George Herbert Mead (1934) added that we often come to know ourselves by imagining what significant others think of us and then incorporating these perceptions into our self-concepts.Describe self-perception theory, and explain how it can be applied to human emotion, behavior, and motivation.Self perception theory claims that when we are not sure of our feelings we tend to look at our behaviour.  To the extent that internal states are weak or difficult to interpret, people infer what they think or how they feel by observing their own behavior and the situation in which that behavior takes place.Explain social comparison theory, identifying when people tend to engage in social comparison and with whom they tend to compare themselves.Social comparison theory is when  we want to see ourselves, we compare ourselves to those who are similar to us.  Festinger argued that when people are uncertain of their abilities or opinions—that is, when objective information is not readily available—they evaluate themselves through comparisons with similar others.Discuss autobiographical memories and explain how they are influenced by our self-concept.Autobiographical memories are memories of ourselves. They are usually of a significant time in our lives.Describe the influences of gender, race, and culture on our understanding of self.Define self-esteem. Explain the basis for the claim that people have a “need for self-esteem.” Discuss the potential costs associated with the pursuit of self-esteem.Self esteem is the affective component of ourselves. They are the positive and negative feelings we have of ourselves. People have a need for self-esteem because we want to know what others think of us, we want to be liked. Those who have a high need for self esteem may be more sensitive when rejected,  people are inherently social animals and that the desire for self-esteem is driven by this more primitive need to connect with others and gain their approval. In this way, our sense of self-esteem serves as a "sociometer," a rough indicator of how we're doing in the eyes of others. The threat of social rejection thus lowers self-esteem, which activates the need to regain approval and acceptance. Explain how self-discrepancy theory accounts for the general level of and changes in people’s self-esteem, and impacts emotional states.When there is a discrepancy between our actual self and ideal self, we are likely to feel depressed an disappointed. When there is a discrepancy between our actual self and ought self we are more likely to feel anxious. Identify different types of self-focusing situations and personality types. Explain the self-awareness “trap.”Personal self-consciousness is being introspective and regulating ourselves via our thoughts whereas public self-consciousness is seeing oneself as an object, a social item and being concerned with our public image. The self-awareness trap is the unhappy feelings we feel whenever we direct attention to ourselves. Self-awareness theory suggests two basic ways of coping with such discomfort: (1) "shape up" by behaving in ways that reduce our self-discrepancies or (2) "ship out" by withdrawing from self-awarenessExplain what is meant by “ironic processes of self-control” and how this concept relates to self-regulation.The more we try to inhibit or control our thoughts the less likely we are to succeed. We have a limited amount of energy when we try to regulate ourselves.Identify four ways that people strive for self-enhancement and discuss the implications of self-enhancement for mental health and the perception of reality.Self-serving cognitions, downward social comparison, basking in the glory of others and self-handicapping. Those who are low in self esteem have a more realistic view of themselves.Compare and contrast strategic self-presentation and self-verification.Self presentation is influencing the way we want others to see us, as smart, intelligent, strong. Whereas self-verication is try to make others see us the way we truly see ourselves.Describe the differences between people who are high and low in self-monitoringHigh self monitors have a range of selves for every situation that they're in whereas low self monitors remain stable across all situations. 

Explain the importance of first impressions in social perception. Consider the cues that contribute to these snap judgments.We often make judgements about others based on their looks. Looks and a person's face contribute to first impressions. Explain the function of scripts in social perception. Discuss the expectations and beliefs people tend to have with regard to “mind perception” as well.Scripts help us to anticipate and predict the behaviour of others in social situations.  that enable us to anticipate the goals, behaviors, and outcomes that are likely to occur in a particular setting Explain the role of nonverbal cues in social perception. Summarize the research concerning perception of angry faces. Discuss the roles of other nonverbal cues, including body language, eye contact, and touch. Discuss the role of cultural norms in evaluating nonverbal behavior. Behavioral cues are used not only to identify someone's physical actions but also to determine his or her inner states. Illustrating what Christine and Ranald Hansen (1988) called the "anger superiority effect," researchers have found that people are quicker to spot—and slower to look away from—angry faces in a crowd than faces with neutral and less threatening emotions. Define what is meant by attribution. Distinguish between personal and situational attributions. Summarize Jones’s correspondent inference theory and Kelley’s covariation theory.To Heider, we are all scientists of a sort. Motivated to understand others well enough to manage our social lives, we observe, analyze, and explain their behavior. The explanations we come up with are called attributions, Personal attributions are attributed to the person whereas situational attributions are attributed to the situation. Kelley's covariation theory claims when the behaviour is high in consensus, consistency and distinctiveness then the behaviour is attributed to situational circumstances. However, if the behaviour has high consistency and low consensus and distinctiveness, then it is attributed to the person. According to the Correspondent Inference Theory (Jones & Davis, 1965) we try to understand other people by observing and analysing their behaviour. Specifically, we try to infer from an action whether it corresponds to an enduring personal characteristic of the actor. The inferences people make are based on three factors:   1. The actor’s degree of choice – behaviour that is freely chosen is more informative than behaviour that is coerced.   2. The expectedness of the behaviour – if the behaviour departs from the norm it seen as more informative than if the behaviour is typical or   conducted within the context of a social role   3. The intended effects or consequences of the behaviour – behaviours that have many desirable outcomes are less informative than those   that have single outcomesDescribe cognitive heuristics and the availability heuristic in particular. Explain the relationship between the availability heuristic, the false-consensus effect, and the base-rate fallacy.The availability heuristic is using the information that first comes to mind. The false-consensus effect is overestimating the belief that everyone shares your beliefs. Base-rate fallacy is people tend to ignore information presented to them in numbers. Define counterfactual thinking and identify when it is likely to occur. Define the fundamental attribution error and describe the factors that make this error more or less likely to occur. Compare the fundamental attribution error with the actor-observer effect. Understand the role of culture in the attribution process. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to attribute behaviour to internal factors and overlook situational factors. When people explain the behavior of others, they tend to overestimate the role of personal factors and overlook the impact of situations. Collectivist cultures are more likely to attribute behaviour to situational factors whereas individualistic cultures are more likely to attribute behaviour to personal factors.  Explain how attribution biases may stem from motivational factors. Define what is meant by the “belief in a just world,” and identify the factors that lead to defensive attributions.Sometimes people see what they want to see. Explain the summation and averaging models of impression formation. Explain the role of perceiver characteristics and of target characteristics on impression formation.Impression formation theory is based on two factors. The perceiver's characteristics and the weighted sum of the target's characteristics. we tend to use ourselves as a standard, or frame of reference, when evaluating others. Compared with the inert couch potato, for example, the serious jock is more likely to see others as less active and athletic. Furthermore, we are more likely to form stronger impressions on negative characteristics of a person than good characteristics of a person.Explain how people’s implicit personality theories affect their impressions of other people.implicit personality theory —a network of assumptions that we hold about relationships among various types of people, traits, and behaviors. Knowing that someone has one trait thus leads us to infer that he or she has other traits as well Define confirmation bias. Describe how belief perseverance, confirmatory hypothesis testing, and the self-fulfilling prophecy can each contribute to this bias.

Define and distinguish the concepts of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Explain what is meant by modern and implicit racism and explain how each is measured empirically.   Prejudice: Negative feelings about others because of their connection to a specific group.             Discrimination: Negative behaviours directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group.             Stereotypes: Beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics   Modern Racism is a subtle form of prejudice that surfaces when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalise. The research by Parsons et al. (2009) on the calling of strikes by baseball umpires is a good example of how subtle racism is still apparent in modern society. Modern racism can be experimentally observed in our society.   Implicit Racism is that which operates unconsciously and unintentionally. Nevertheless, it can affect outward judgements, feelings, and behaviours. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most common way in which implicit racism can be detected. The computerised test measures how quickly positive (or negative) terms are associated with particular ethnic groups. Implicit racism can be measured by the IAT.   Discuss recent psychological findings regarding the processes of interracial perception and interaction.   Findings suggest that the older we get the less racist we become but that our implicit attitudes remain the same. This could be because we become more aware that racism is socially unacceptable and try to suppress our beliefs.   Explain social identity theory and in particular, how it accounts for ingroup favoritism. Discuss the role of ideology when it comes to understanding prejudice.     According to social identity theory people favour ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self-esteem. Self-esteem consists of a personal identity as well as the various social identities we get from our groups. Thus, we boost our self-esteem by viewing our ingroup more favourably than outgroups.   Explain the different ways in which stereotypes form. Describe the human tendencies towards social categorization, dehumanization, and the formation of ingroup/outgroup distinctions, and discuss the repercussions of these tendencies.   Social categorisation is the classification of people into groups on the basis of common attributes. Because we generally have little contact with outgroups stereotypes about them develop. Dehumanisation is when we perceive fellow human beings as objects, this has allowed horrific events to occur throughout history.   Describe the ways in which stereotypes are perpetuated, including illusory correlation, attributional processes, subtyping, and confirmation bias.    Illusory correlation is one way. We overestimate the strength of correlation between two variables that are particularly novel or deviant. Stereotypes by their very nature favour familiarity of ingroups over outgroups, so the behaviour of outgroups is often perceived as novel and/or deviant, thus increasing the perception of strong correlation. We also overestimate the strength of correlation between things we already expect to see. If we have an existing belief that blonde people are not as smart as dark-haired people we will interpret ambiguous events involving blonde-haired people as indications of their intelligence, thus perpetuating the stereotype. Observations of dark-haired people are not interpreted in such a way.   Attributional biases can perpetuate stereotypes. Fundamental attribution error (see Lesson 4) results in stereotypical behaviours by others being attributed to internal or personal causes, while unexpected/nonstereotypical behaviours are attributed to situational factors.   Stereotypes also survive disconfirmation through subtyping. In this case, exceptions to a stereotype are placed in a separate category rather than used to revise the held stereotype.   Stereotypes can also be maintained and strengthened through confirmation biases (the tendency to interpret, seek, and create information to confirm expectations. Stereotypes can also cause a perceiver to act in such a way that the stereotyped group member really does behave in a stereotype-confirming way (self-fulfilling prophecy).   Discuss the question of whether stereotyping is automatic or intentional.    Most social psychology researchers believe that stereotyping is an automatic process – it often occurs beyond our conscious awareness and is therefore uncontrollable.   We are motivated to protect or enhance our self-esteem or self-image, and this can induce negative stereotypes. For example, if our self-esteem is threatened, stereotyping others can make us feel better about ourselves, thus increasing the chances of automatic activation.   Some people have a desire to control prejudice, either for external (societal) reasons or internal (personal) reasons. People who are motivated internally to control stereotypes are more successful at doing so, although even they can be brought undone by automatic and implicit processes.     Describe the effects of discrimination from the target’s perspective. Explain the concept of stereotype threat. Consider the different situations likely to elicit stereotype threat, and the different populations susceptible to stereotype-threat effects.   Stereotype threat is a theory describing the worry that targets of negative stereotypes feel in situations where the stereotype is relevant. For example, Figure 5.16 from Kassin et al. (2011) shows how stereotype threat can hamper academic achievement. In an American study, black and white students took part in difficult test of verbal ability. Some students were told that it was a test of their intelligence, while others were told it was a task unrelated to intelligence. The figure shows that black students did significantly worse than the white students on the test if it was introduced as a test of intelligence. If the test was not introduced as one of intelligence the black and white students performed equally well. Therefore, reactions to the stereotype threat can directly interfere with performance.   It has also been shown that the threat can cause individuals to dismiss the domain as no longer relevant to their self-esteem and identity.   Stereotype threat can affect any group for which strong, well-known negative stereotypes are relevant in particular settings – see the examples of studies in which stereotype threat has been activated (page 190 in Kassin et al., 2011).   It is important to note that an individual can feel threatened or emboldened by a stereotype depending on which social identity has been activated. For example, one study showed that Asian-American women primed with their ethnic identity performed better on a test of maths ability, than if they were primed with their gender identity. Thus, being identified as “good at maths” (the ethnic identity stereotype) emboldened the participants, whereas being identified as “poor at maths” (the gender stereotype) negatively affected performance.   Further research has shown that an individual does not have to believe in the negative stereotype for it to affect performance. Simply knowing about the stereotype seems to be sufficient for stereotype threat to be activated.   Explain the contact hypothesis and the conditions that enable intergroup contact to reduce prejudice   To avoid stereotyping we should focus on the individual. When we have specific, personal information about an individual, particularly if they are part of our “outgroup”, we are less likely to stereotype. We can also develop skills in avoiding stereotyping by priming with counter-stereotypic examples and engaging in perspective taking of the stereotyped group.   Allport’s contact hypothesis – the theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce prejudice.   The contact hypothesis was tested in the legal case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The case challenged segregation of blacks and whites in the US education system, arguing that it was unconstitutional not to allow black people into “white” schools. The challenge was upheld and a gradual process of desegregation began – black people started to attend traditionally “white” schools. Plenty of hostility ensued, encapsulated nicely by the photo at the bottom left of page 193 in your textbook. From a social psychologist’s perspective, this was the perfect way to test the contact hypothesis. Would desegregation lead to reduced prejudice?   Initial results were unsupportive of the contact hypothesis. A review found that only 13% of studies investigating prejudice before and after desegregation supported the contact hypothesis (i.e., prejudice towards black people by white people reduced). Alarmingly, 53% of studies reported an increase in prejudice. Over time though, it has been shown that intergroup contact does reduce prejudice, particularly if the conditions listed in Table 5.6 from Kassin et al. (2011) are satisfied (see next slide).      

Social Psychology

Attitudes

Social-self

Perceiving Persons

Prejudice and discrimination