Social Psychology Flashcards
Cooperative game vs wall street game
Prisoner’s dilemma type experiment where they told people they were playing either The Cooperative Game or The Wall Street Game. Majority of participants in the Cooperative Game played cooperatively; far fewer in the Wall Street game did.
Fundamental attribution error
in the west, we are much more likely to think the cause of someone’s behaviour is an internal factor rather than an external one. In other, more collectivist cultures, this is not the case. I’d say the same in collectivist cultures within western cultures.
Construal (3)
- Stories we tell
- Esp important for social behaviour- We can only guess what’s going on in someone’s head
- Overconfidence e.g. split brain patient
What types of stories do we tell ourselves about others, and ourselves?
Attributions
Stereotypes
Impressions
Attributions
Attributions: what caused people to behave the way they did
Fundamental attribution error
People tend to put more effort into attributions for extreme or unusual events
What are stereotypes? Why do people have them?
Stereotypes: what different groups of people are like
Efficient way to form an impression, and sometimes that impression will be accurate
Can provide a sense that what roles people are in, outcomes they receive, and the hierarchy of society are just
Two heuristics for impressions
Transference: tendency to transfer impressions of one person onto another person who looks similar (e.g. person looks like your sister so you treat them like you treat your sister)
False consensus: Overestimate how much other people share your beliefs and attitudes
Why do we use heuristics for our impressions of people?
Know who we’re interacting with.
What will people be like in the future?
Name & describe 5 impression management strategies
- Self-promotion: competent
- Ingratiation: likeable
- Exemplification: dedicated
- Intimidation: dominant
- Supplication: needy
Self-serving bias
Processing info to maintain a positive attitude towards yourself.
Self-serving attributions
Thinking good outcomes are bc of something about us but bad outcomes are cuz of something external to ourselves, or explaining past actions or outcomes in ways that reflect well on yourself.
Forecasting errors
People are often inaccurate forecasting their reactions to future events
Affective forecasting error
People’s inability to predict the emotional reactions they will have to future events. We focus on information that has little relevance in predicting our actual happiness, and we have little awareness of our own psychological immune system, which allows us to bounce back emotionally from negative outcomes
When are we more likely to tell external vs internal stories?
We often tell internal stories when we do well and external stories when we do badly. People generally tell internal stories when other people do badly.
How does perspective influence storytelling?
The perspective you tell a story from emphasizes certain facts and so leads people to make certain attributions. Example: body cams vs dashcams
What is the experiment where they switch cards and how does it demonstrate storytelling?
Participants choose which of two people are more attractive, then they’re actually given the other card…and then they tell a story about why they prefer the person in the card they’re given. 80% don’t notice they were given the wrong card, they just confidently tell a story that makes sense for why they’d prefer that person-they feel like that story is true
Attitude
Orientation toward target stimulus that involves an affective feeling, a cognitive belief, and a behavioural motivation.
Implicit/explicit attitudes
Attitudes can be implicit/automatic or explicit. Implicit and explicit attitudes can be uncorrelated with one another and can predict different kinds of behaviour.
Elaboration likelihood model (2)
Attitudes can be changed via two different routes (dual-processing):
- Central route of persuasion: People are motivated to take the time to process information and are convinced by the strength of an argument
- Peripheral route of persuasion: People are less motivated to process information deeply and are instead influenced by superficial factors like fame or the attractiveness of the person
What is one effect of having a high need for cognition?
Some people need to think more than others do. If you have a high need for cognition, you are more likely to be persuaded by logical arguments.
Compliance strategies- Give 5 strategies get people to do what you want them to do?
- Give a reason
- Reciprocity: door in face–perceptual contrast and reciprocal concessions.
- Exploit consistency: foot in door or lowball
- Social proof
- Scarcity principle
How can you resist requests?
- Resist low-balling: recognize consistency traps and avoid premature agreement that might make us feel like we’ve wasted our effort if we don’t follow through.
- Foot-in-the-door: refuse even small requests to prevent the consistency trap
- Violate schema: Andrew’s observational approach: accept all gifts while suppressing urge to reciprocate OR, even more effective, ASK FOR MORE.
What is cognitive dissonance?
A negative feeling/emotion–mostly anxiety–caused by an incongruence between our behaviour and our attitudes or beliefs that cannot be sufficiently justified by the situation. Can be a conflict between what you think is the right thing to do and what you’re actually doing.
Five ways to cope with cognitive dissonance
○ Change behaviour-“I’ll never text and drive again!”
○ Change attitude-“Actually, texting and driving isn’t that bad”
○ Reframe behaviour-“Driving while intoxicated is much worse”
○ Add consonant cognitions-“Multitasking is the sign of an efficient person” or “my brother texts and drives like 3x as much as me”
○ Reduce perceived control-“I have to reply quickly or my friends will reject me”
Effort justification
Developing a positive attitude towards something unpleasant or that requires a lot of effort, to reduce the dissonance you feel from doing it
Cultural differences with cognitive dissonance
Westerners tend to feel more dissonance when their behaviour is out of line with their values. People from more collectivist cultures tend to feel more dissonance when their attitudes are out of synch with important others or the way they wish to appear in others’ eyes.
