Lecture 1 - Fundamentals Of Social Psychology Flashcards
(31 cards)
Foundations of social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of the causes and consequences of people’s thoughts, feelings and actions, regarding themselves an others
- lots of things already covered and will continue to come up, all blended together in a different5
context
Look at interaction with others, but we are more bothered with individuals rather than groups (more sociology)
Different groups of people focus on similar things they focus on, but preferred areas of focus and methods
- Sociologists -
Preferred methods - Surveys, demographic, patterns of data
Focus of observations - group-level behaviours anode social expectations
Example: the study of aggression - group characteristics of aggressive behaviour - Anthropologists -
Preferred methods - detailed observations of people in a given culture
Focus of observations - a discrete group of people over time
Example - cultural habits of aggression within a discrete setting - Clinical psychologists -
Preferred methods - herapeitic interviews and tests
Focus of observation - individuals who have problematic thoughts or behaviours
Example - indivisible and interpersonal causes of aggression
Common sense and the “knew-it-all-along” phenomenon
The idea that research takes several years and people Turn around and say “well i knew that along” - we can make assumptions on a lot of the work, but we can’t trust it until have have researched it
- research in this field tends to be very reactionary - e.g. surge of research into violence within the police force following the Black Lives Matter movement
- people question how social psychology is different from common sense or traditional folk wisdom
Social psychologists use the scientific method to put its theories to the test
- while com,on sense offers compelling predictions and explanations, to is sometimes wildly inaccurate
- even when it is not completely wrong, common sense can be misleading in its simplicity
Example of “knew-it-all-along” research:
- I’m tired and feel like drinking: viewing alcohol cues after exerting self-control increases approach motivation among individuals lower in alcohol sensitivity
The influence of others
People often change their behaviour, often unconsciously, when hey are being observed by or interacting with others
The 1999 study by Chartrand and Bargh, people were paired together to make judgments about pictures
However, unknown to the naive ppts, their partner was a confederate
In this experiment, the confederate rubbed their face or shook their foot throughout the session
Impartial judges with no foreknowledge of the study, coded videotapes of the pairs and found that the real ppts shook their foot more when paired with the foot-shaking confederate and rubbed their faces more when paired with the confederate who did that
Ppts did not realise the effects of their partners on the behaviour, despite the fact they were clearly influenced by them
Instincts (Darwinism)
Societies evolve just as organisms do
First social psychology text published in 1908
“An instruction to social psychology”- William McDougall
Proposes instinct drives social behaviour
Humans driven by innate tendencies
Very big contrast from the two other popular schools of thought in the field in the 20th century - psychoanalysis and behaviourism
- e.g. we mimic people’s actions for survival and reproduction
Darwin’s work was also expanded on in the 19th century by British sociologists Herbert Spencer
- argued theory of evolutions by natural selection from a psychological perspective
- properties of the ind that produce social behaviour are inherited through process of evolution
Unconscious drives (psychoanalytic/Freudian view)
Inspired particularly by Darwin’s concept of the “struggles for existence”
Human behaviour was directed by aggression and sexual drives
Aggressive behaviour is critical for warding off predators and effectively competing for scarce resources and sexual behaviour is critical for reproducing and perpetuating genes
Freud went on to argue that drives for sex and aggression are kept unconscious by repression until the are transformed in ways that allow them to be consciously expressed in a socially acceptable fashion, in his psychoanalytic theory
Our conscious thoughts rarely reflect the motivational underpinnings of what we are doing because the true intent of our behaviour is generally hidden from us
- e.g. we mimic people’s action to help us cope with inappropriate, unconscious thoughts
The environment (behaviourist view)
Watson (1930) argues that only overt behaviour can be directly observed and measured
Abridged that feelings and unconscious processes are unobservable factions invested to explain behaviour and that instincts are most likely learnt, rather than innate
Behaviourists oppose that human behaviour is predominantly determined by experiences to environmental demands - behaviours followed by desirable outcomes are likely to reoccurs, whereas behaviour followed by undesirable outcomes are not
Argued we are similar to animals
Associative conditioning
Operant conditioning
- e.g. we mimic people’s actions because we are motivated by reward through positive reinforcement (mimicking has been positively reinforced in the past so we are now doing it more)
Influences of the mind (cognitive view)
Growth of cognitive psychology in the 19960s - revolution
Understanding of processes in the mind
This helped to develop social psychology
It was wept up in a shift towards understanding the mental processes that underlie behaviour
The social conditions perspective formed to explain how:
- how people perceive, remember and interpret events and individuals, including themselves, in their social world
- this is a dominant perspective in social psychology today
Perspectives in social psychology
Along with the social cognition perspective, there are 4 others:
- evolutionary
- cultural
- existential
- neuroscience
Evolutionary perspective
Views humans as a species of animals ad their social behaviour a a consequence of the same laws and evolutionary process as all other forms of life
- suggests that proper understanding of human activity requires recognise uniquely human adaptations to those we share with other creatures
Cultural perspective
Emphases the central role of culture in everything people do
Many species are inherently social and have evolved to exist in proximity to and coordinate with other members of their own species
However, humans are unlike this and are cultural animals
Only humans create their own symbolic concept of this reality and this creation is pure vulture
It gives meaning to life and is taken to be a true representation of reality by those who share the same cultural background, despite the fact it is clear that people from different cultures have different beliefs about the nature of reality
Existential perspective
Examines basic question about existence and human anytime regarding matters such as meaning, identity, the body and free will
This perspective is becoming increasingly popular in social psychology
They devote considerable attention to understanding the basic nature of the self, authenticity and the core human motivates
The need for meaning, social connections and the ways people cope with the possibilities of trauma and loss as well as the inevitability of death
Neuroscience perspective
Increasingly becoming more popular as technological advances enable us to better understand what is going on in side the brain when people engage in social thought and behaviour
Utilises assessments of activity in the brain to examine the neural processes that underlie social judgments and behaviour
In doing so, researchers can enhance knowledge of the roles of various connive, emotional and motivation as processes in social phenomena
Cognitive misers
We assume people are connive misers
Humans avoid expending effort and cognitive resources when thinking and making decisions (want to do the minimal amount of work possible)
Rely on quick thinking and easy answers to questions and solutions to difficult situations
If we think and explanation makes sense, we ted t accept it without much thought or analysis
However, when evens are important to us or unexpected, we take greater care to make inferences about how the world works and why people are behaving the way we are and may even verify our inferences with other people and use these to direct our own ideas
However, this raises issues when you make observations of a limited part of an event or viewed it from a limited perspective
- we ay have seen a part that isn’t representative of the event as a whole and therefore creat and inaccurate representation of it
Also can cause issues when interacting with people from other social groups and cultures and we may have preconceived idea them so we can process who we are talking to and this can be bad
- heuristics
- stereotypes
The role of introspection
When trying to explain the actions of specific people, expert opinions aren’t always helpful
In these cases, introspection can be useful asking people”why do you think that?” Or “what were you thinking?”
- asking ourselves or others about the causes of behaviour
We ultimately do this because we believe people can reveal things about themselves that no one else can
However, despite having a unique access to our own “inner world”, explanations for our own behaviour can be misleading
People do not always tell the truth because:
- we decide on other people for so many of the things we need in life, we care about the impressions they form of us
- they may be more hesitant answering questions of a more perils at nature honestly, such as their attitudes, grades or sexual proclivities
- put motivation to protect self-esteem can bias how we explain our own actions
People often do not know what they think they know
- Nisbett and Wilson (1977b) found that people can readily answer questions about their moods or presences and why they have those feelings, but their explanations re often incorrect
- people lack direct internal access to the true causes of their thoughts and behaviours os instead their explanations are often based either on causal theories acquired from their culture or other potential explanations that are easily brought to mind
- there are a range of studies to back this up, such as a study where women were asked to choose between 4 pairs of stockings. They had very few differences, and the differences were minor such as slight scent different, and they were put indifferent orders. 71% of women went for those on the right, no matter the order, and offered up explanations about preferring the colour of the texture, but no one mentioned the position of the stockings on the table
- other researchers have looked into how this lack of ability can affect our day to day lives - often put a bad mood down to bad sleep or bad weather
- argues human capacity for introspection is rather limited
- thought we generally have clear access to the products of these processes, we typically6 have little or no access to the processes that generate our preferences
Ultimately, we re unreliable narrators of our own lives and behaviours
Using observation
Major pitfalls in relying on observation of behaviour
- our observations come from our unique and limited perspective
- we may be biased n our interpretation of a situation
Our reasoning may confirm what we set our to assess
- confirmation bias
Confirmation bias
Everything we observe is influenced by our despaired, prior knowledge and beliefs and current expectations
This leads to confirmation bias, a tendency to seek our information and view events and other people in a way that fits how we want and expect them to be
Early study conducted on psychology students who has strong opinions either in favour or against capital punishment
- they read summaries of two studies on capital punishment as a crime deterrent
- one concluded it reduced crime and the other that capital punishment is ineffective as a deterrent to crime
- after reading both, valued how well or poorly each study had been conducted and how convincing their conclusions were
- finally reported their current attitude about capital punishment
- if perception is a direct reflection of reality then all students would have agreed on the quality of the research, but this didn’t happen
- students who were originally in favour of capital punishment found study demonstrating its effectiveness more effective and openings of capital punishment were more convicted by research showing ineffectiveness of capital punishment
- not only did they find the paper that aligned with their beliefs to be of higher scientific value, but they favoured their original positions more greatly after reading them too
Confirmation bias can also be seen in politics
In summer of 2019, US President Trump indicated a phone call to President Zelensky of Ukrainian that he would release aid to Ukraine only of President Zelensky would publicly announce an invitation into corruptions surrounding Biden and his son
- Democrats instigated impeachment hearing of Trump
- Republicans viewed hearings as unfounded and politically motivated
The Scientific Method
Theory: an explanation for how and why variables are related to each other - informed by past research and informs our research (living in themselves and always changing - base theory will never change but there will always be evolution as new evidence comes out - constant cycle)
Research: a process whereby scientists observe events, look for pattern, and evaluate theories proposed to explain the validity of a theory
Hypothesis: an “if-then” statement that follows logically from a theory and specifies how certain variables should be related to each other if the theory is correct - assesses the validity of a theory
Theories lead to hypotheses that are then tested
Outcomes of these tests influence views and revisions of the theory - if theory is accepted or revised and then retested
- reformulated theories are then tested using the scientific process again, then reformed, then retested again and the cycle continues on
We need to be careful within experimental design and we are quite certain in ensuring that it is scientific and therefore we can trust evidence
need to make sure we consider many different studies in theories to avoid type 1 and type 2 errors
- for everyone 1 study you read, there are loads more that might support it
- but, that study could purely just be a fluke or contain a small error
- if you base your research on this one faulty error, that is a lot of wasted recourses trying to develop on something wrong
- IMPORTANT NOTES -
The difference between a fact and a theory - a fact is the content of research observations that have been replicated
- a theory is an explanation for the fact - it may be our current best explanation for how and why things happen as they do, it is not an entirely complete or accurate explanation in any absolute sense
Stereotype threat theory - a case study of a theory
why do members of stigmatised groups sometimes perform poorly on standardised tests?
A theory inspired by the consistent observations that members of socially devalued groups (non-majority groups within a culture that are viewed negatively in some way) often performed less well on average than members of the advantaged or majority group
- it is impossible to predict someone’s intelligence from their race, yet there are still persistent racial gaps intellectual test performance the needed an explanation
Stereotype threat: conditions that bring a stereotype to mind contribute to poor performance among members of various stigmatised groups (Steele & Aronson, 1995) - they become a self fulfilling prophecy
2 hypotheses generates from stereotype threat theory:
1. the more a person is aware of their groups negative stereotype, the worse they will perform in areas related to the stereotype
2. situations that call to mind a negative stereotype of a person’s group will lead to poorer performance than situations that do not (due to anxiety and have gotten onto there head to to conform to the stereotype, moderate their behaviour too much to as not conform, but this distracts from the task at hand and often leads to confirmation of the stereotype which isn’t actually a true representation of their actual behaviour)
Correlations
- Correlation method -
2 or more variables are measured and compared to determine to what extent they are associated - if the variables are associated, then knowing a person’s standing on one variable predicts that person’s standing on another variable
- some we measure stereotypic threat we might (1) measure the extent to which particular members of a given group are conscious of their stereotype status and (2) assess each person’s performance on stereotype-related dimensions
Typically indicated on graphs and in research by “r” - Correlation coefficient -
A positive or negative numerical value that shows direction and strength of a relationship between 2 variables - positive or negative tells us the direction of a relationship
- positive correlation occurs when a high level of one variable tends to be accompanied by a high level of another variable
- negative correlation exists when a high level of one variable is accompanied by a low level of the other variable
- the numerical value tells us the stength of the relationship - strength refers to how closely associated the two variables are
Correlation case example - stereotypic threat theory
Pineal et al. (2003)
Measured stigma consciousness and GPAs of academically stimgmatised and non academically stigmatised students
Moderate negative correlation between the two variables
Concluded that the finding is consistent with hypothesis 1, decided from the stereotype threat theory:
- the more a person is aware of their group’s negative stereotype, the worse they will perform in areas related to the stereotype (e.g. if a woman is told women are bad at maths, she will be more likely to perform badly)
Disadvantages of Correlational Studies
However, it is important to remember that correlation does not imply causation
- although it is certainly possible that stereotype threat causes poorer test performance, it is also possible that the causal relationship runs in the other direction: doing poor on tests makes people especially sensitive to the stereotypes about their group - this is now as the reverse causality problem and happens because correlations tell us nothing about which of the two variables is the cause and high is the effect
- there is also the third variable problem - two variables are correlated but it is possible that neither exerts a causal on the other, and instead a third variable (e.g. tendency to be self-conscious and anxiety prone) is responsible for the correlation found
Longitudinal studies
Variables are measured in the same individuals over two or more periods of time, typically over months or years
- can raise confidecne about likely causal variable order - by examining correlations between one variable at time 1 and another variable at time 2
However
- limited by what variables are assessed
- attrition/dropout rates usually very high
The experimental method
Allows us to draw conclusions on cause and effect
Manipulates a variable, measures effects on another variable, and attempts to hold all other variables constant
- independent variable - manipulated - being investigated as the possible cause
- dependant variable - measured - to assess effect
An experiment can tell us if the dependent variable depends on the independent variable
Internal validity: whether the manipulated independent variable is responsible for the change in the measured dependent variable
Experimental method in stereotypic threat theory
Steele and Aronson (1995)
Used experiment methods to show stereotype threat reduces performance among members of stigmatised groups
- split into experimental and control conditions
- to manipulate and race prime the experimental group, students asked to indicate their race on the answer form prior to beginning the test - was designed to bring to mind the stereotype about how each group was supposed to perform on such tests
- measured performance a sample of the Graduate record exam
- Black students performed worse when reminded of their race
- white students were unaffected by such a reminder
- supports hypothesis 2
- situations that call to mind a negative stereotype of a person’s group will lead to poorer performance than situations that do not
- however, black students actually did better than white students when told that the stereotypes were false
- shows that the issues caused by stereotype threat theory can be dealt with by reassurance that the negative stereotypes aren’t true
- white students also experience stereotype type lift ninth experimental condition so they actually do worse when the black students weren’t put down
