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Flashcards in Social Psych Part 2 Deck (54)
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1
Q

Attributions

A

when we try to figure out why someone engages in a specific behaviour. E.g. why is someone taking this class

2
Q

Attribution theory

A
Fritz Heider (the father of attribution theory) 
we credit others behaviours to either internal disposition (personality) or external situations (situation) or some combination of the two.
3
Q

Attribution Information

A

There are 3 types of info we consider when making internal/dispositional or external/situational attributions
REFER TO NOTES FOR FLOW CHART
1. Consensus
Extent to which other people react to the same stimulus or event in the same way as the person that we are considering
Do others regularly behave this way in this situation?
E.g. busting a move in a lecture will have low consensus as most people wouldn’t do that

  1. Consistency
    Extent to which the person in question reacts to the stimulus or event in same way on different occasions ( i.e. across time)
    Does this person regularly behave this way in this situation?
    E.g. busting a move every lecture will have high consistency
  2. Distinctiveness
    Extent to which the person in question responds in the same manner to different stimuli or events
    Does this person behave this way in many other situations?
    E.g. busting a move in lectures, shops, parks etc.

Example: A student is always late to the lecture. If consensus is low, consistency is high (late to most lectures) and distinctiveness is low (only late to lectures not late meeting with friends). This is a internal dispositional attribution.

4
Q

Attributional errors

A

Correspondence bias occurs when we infer dispositions from situationally induced behaviours (when we believe that behaviours correspond to identity and why we do things)
- Also known as Fundamental attribution error and Observer Bias

5
Q

Attribution process has 4 main stages

A

Situation perception
Behavioural expectation
Behaviour perception
Attribution

6
Q

Why correspondence bias arises?

A

Situation perception: people may lack awareness of the actor’s objective or subjective situation e.g. we don’t know why lecturer is lecturing us tbh

Behavioural expectation: people have inappropriate expectations for how a person will behave in such situation

Behaviour perception: people’s awareness of the actor’s situation can lead to an inaccurate perception of actor’s behaviour

Attribution: people may lack motivation or capacity to correct for the trait inferences that may have arisen

7
Q

But correspondence bias sometimes leads to wrong conclusions. Why does it exist?

A

Dispositional attributions are economical (they are easier than thinking about all the situational attributions)
Not likely to have drastically bad outcomes
Dispositional attributions satisfy the need for control (understand and predict the world)

8
Q

Attribution example: Attribution Theory in the College Classroom

A
  1. Students recalled a time when they had a disagreement or difference of opinion with an instructor
  2. Participants rated their external vs internal attributions of the instructors behaviour
  3. Participants then rated their dissent behaviours (being mean)
    - Expressive dissent (complaining to others)
    - Rhetorical dissent (complaining to lecturer)
    - Vengeful dissent (hope to ruin instructors reputation)

Findings

  • The more internal the attributions for the instructors behaviour in the disagreement, the more students engaged in all three types of dissent behaviour
  • There was a strongest correlation between attributions and vengeful dissent
9
Q

Stereotypes

A

Can be based on any kind of group memberships

Race, gender, age, religion, sexual, political, career etc.

10
Q

thoughts –>

A

Stereotypes
Generalisation about a group of people where identical characteristics are assigned to all members of the group regardless of actual variation among group

11
Q

feelings –>

A

Prejudice

Hostile or negative feelings toward a distinguishable group of people, based solely on their membership in that group

12
Q

behaviours –>

A

Discrimination
Unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group, simply because of a membership in that group e.g. not letting American into Australia

13
Q

Stereotypes and Attributions

A

Attributions is at the heart of why stereotypes maintain over time
Bc of correspondence bias, we usually blame internal characteristics rather than situation when attributing behaviour of stereotyped individuals
Attributional processes can also lead us to maintain our stereotypes when confronted with stereotype inconsistent behaviour

Consistent behaviour –> internal attribution: thus stereotype maintained E.g. mum caring for a baby (she wants to care for the baby, she’s good at it)

Inconsistent behaviour –> situational attribution: thus stereotype maintained. E.g. dad caring for a baby (where is the mum?)

14
Q

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

A

When our beliefs and expectations create reality by influencing our own or others’ behaviour

15
Q

Pygmalion effect

A

The way we think things may go, can actually make those things happen
Person a believes that person b has particular characteristics
Person b may begin to behave in accordance with that characteristic

16
Q

Examples of self-fulfilling prophecies

A

Rosenthal & Fode
Divided students into 2 groups and gave them randomly selected rats
Group 1 had ‘maze dull’ rats (not v smart)
Group 2 had ‘maze bright’ rats (smart rats)
Students trained rats to run mazes
‘Maze bright’ rat group ended up doing better than ‘maze dull’ rat group even tho the rats had no difference at the start
Thus showing the self-fulfilling prophecies

Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968
Gave IQ test to students
Randomly selected several kids and told teacher they were ‘bloomers’ (excel across the yr: but tbh not rlly)
After 1 year, returned and retested the students
‘Bloomers’ showed significant improvements in their IQ scores

17
Q

TheGolem effect

A

a psychological phenomenon in which lower expectations placed upon individuals either by supervisors or the individual themselves lead to poorer performance by the individual.

18
Q

Is Stereotype an expectation?

A

YES

19
Q

Physical Attractiveness

A

The gatekeeper to interpersonal attraction (it is the starting point)

Evidence from speed dating
- Both men and women had physical attractiveness as the highest thing they were looking for when speed dating

20
Q

Attractiveness over time

A

Attractive judgements are relative- vary across time and culture. But some aspects do cross time and place.

Symmetry

  • Non symmetrical features can mean odd genes or environmental stressors
  • Researchers found that symmetrical faces were more attractive than asymmetrical faces.
  • Researchers also found that composite faces (morph a few faces together thus getting rid of any non-symmetry) were found to be more attractive than individual faces

Pupil dilation
- Only universal beauty feature
- We cannot control pupil dilation while we can control other attractive features
- Pupils dilate when we are interested and contract when we are bored/disinterested
- What else makes pupils dilate
Low lights (like candle lit dinners)
Threats

21
Q

Attraction In women

A

Red lips, flushed checks

Neotenous (child-like) features i.e. full lips, round mouth, big eyes

22
Q

Attraction in men

A

Signs of maturity and dominance

  • Large jaw
  • Thin lips
  • Prominent brow
  • Facial hair

Height (preferably over 175cm)

V shaped torso

23
Q

Arousal

A

Having a higher heart rate and feeling excited through physiological experience

24
Q

Schachter and Singer research (arousal)

A

Experience of emotion arises in part from our awareness of our body’s arousal
Emotion = arousal + label (cognitive interpretation)

Love at first fright experiment
Riders rated attractiveness of photos of other gender before or after being on a rollercoaster
Participants rated the same photos more attractive after the ride than before.
Only thing that changed was that you’re more aroused after the rollercoaster

Bridge Experiment
Male participants were approached by male or female research assistant in middle of either a suspension bridge (they will get aroused) OR sturdy bridge
Results: when male researcher approached the men on suspension bridge, not many of them called back about the research while when female researcher approached them, half the guys called back
Arousal can be misinterpreted as attraction

25
Q

Similarity

A

Shared interests or similar demographic backgrounds as our partners
Tend to be attracted to people with similarities with yourself
Friends and couples are far more likely to share common:
Attitudes
Beliefs
Interests
Religion
Economic status
When proportion of similar attitudes increase, attraction also increases

26
Q

Similarity-liking effect

A

For both perceived and actual similarity, attraction was about the same
For actual similarity, no effect of similarity at later stages of relationship
For perceived similarity, stage of relationship did not matter
THUS, doesn’t mean you need to have actual similarity to your partner, you just need to think you are the same (perceiveed)

27
Q

Matching hypothesis

A

Feingold, 1988: People pair up with those who are similar in physical attractiveness

Berschied et al. 1971: BUT we also want partners who are attractive but we avoid people ‘out of our league

28
Q

Proximity + experiments

A

Need to see them a lot to be attracted

Experiment
Made exactly the same dorms and had college students move in
To find out who was likely to be friends with each other
Results:
Next door neighbours: 41%
Two doors down: 22%
Opposite ends of the hallways: 10%

Experiment:
Collected data from all adolescents in a small Swedish town and asked who their friends were
They tracked down where everyone lived
RESULTS: found that there were decreasing amounts of friendships as the households got further apart

Zajonc, 1968: Mere Exposure Effect can explain why proximity impacts attraction
What is unfamiliar is potentially dangerous and met with negative feelings
If nothing negative happens after repeated exposure to the unfamiliar stimulus, negativity decreases and positivity increases
This effect can explain proximity effects (exposed to the person a lot so you come to like them more)

E.g.
Equally attractive women attended a lecture 0, 5, 10 or 15 times
Women who attended lectures most often was deemed most attractive than those who did not come ever

29
Q

Affect

A

The valence feelings as we go about the world
So if we have positive feelings we like them
If we have negative feelings we won’t like them

Affect can have either a:

Direct effect on attraction

  • We like people who make us feel good
  • We dislike people who make us feel bad

Associated effect on attraction

  • When positive emotion is due to something else but gets associated with a person
  • Although the person is not responsible for it, they are evaluated according to the emotion
  • E.g: familiar scents, good weather, background music, laughter
30
Q

Self-Disclosure

A

How much you tell others about yourself and whether it impacts on how much they like you
Sharing personal info to maintain relationships

3 main findings for self-disclosure

  • People who engage in intimate disclosures (tell stuff to others) tend to be liked more than people who disclose at lower levels
  • People disclose more to those they initially like
  • AND People like others due to having disclosed to them It becomes a cycle
31
Q

Triangular Theory of love

A

Robert Sternberg 1988: how we feel when we are in relationships with other people

Three components of love
Intimacy: feelings of attachment, closeness, connectedness etc.
Passion: drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, sex etc.
Commitment: short term (care for each other) and long term (maintain the relationship)

32
Q

Sternberg combines the three components for various types of love

A

Fatuous love: passion and commitment (whirlwind love)
Romantic love: passion and intimacy (summer relationship)
Companionate love: intimacy and commitment (fam member, platonic life partner)
Consummate love: ALL THREE (lover is best friend)
LOOK AT PIC IN NOTES

33
Q

8 types of love

A
  1. Non-love (acquaintance)
  2. Infatuation (love at first sight)
  3. Liking (close friendship)
  4. Empty love (commitment only)
  5. Fatuous love (passion + commitment): whirlwind love
  6. Romantic love (passion + intimacy): summer relationship
  7. Companionate love (intimacy + commitment): family member, life partner
    Consummate love: ALL THREE (lover is best friend)
34
Q

Prosocial behaviour

A

actions intended to benefit others

35
Q

Emergency helping example

A

Kitty Genovese
Kitty was attacked and murdered outside her apartment in Queens New York
She called for help
Attack continued for 45 mins
Despite many people being home and nearby, no one came to aid her
After 45 mins, one man called the police but Kitty had already passed away.
So people assumed that New Yorkers were evil or apathetic.
BUT, many of the so-called witnesses reported being distressed for years after. THUS, they don’t lack empathy. SO WHY?

Maybe they thought someone else will help etc.

Latane & Darley: thought maybe reason why people didn’t help kitty is due to a function of people’s thought process. SO they ran experiments to test the bystander effect.

36
Q

Bystander effect

A

when the presence of others inhibits helping

37
Q

Diffusion of responsibility

A

As the number of people present increases, individuals feel less personal responsibility and help becomes less likely

38
Q

Latane and Darley: The seizure study

A

And measured whether people are more likely to help as number of people increased
Participants talked about campus life to other participants over an intercom
Thought that they were either talking to
One other person OR
Two, three, four or five other people
Then one of the ‘participants’ had a seizure

Results:
If participants thought they were alone, many tried to help
The more people available to help, fewer helped

39
Q

Latane & Darley developed the-

Emergency Intervention : Decision Tree

A

As someone goes through witnessing an emergency, there are a series of steps and if they fail, then they fail to help

40
Q
  1. Notice the emergency
A

Situation isn’t always shown to be an emergency
In a hurry, people are less likely to notice that there is an emergency

Darley & Batson 1973: Good Samaritan Study:
Seminary students: prepare a sermon and report to the lab in the building next door
Groaning victim in alley
Hurry manipulation- low, medium or high manipulation
How many would stop and help the person in need?
With low hurry manipulation, more helped out while high hurry manipulation, less helped out

41
Q
  1. Interpret as emergency
A

Informational social influence: If there is ambiguity of situation –> we usually look to others and see what they are doing. If others aren’t doing something, then you tend to believe that nothing is wrong

Shotland & Straw 1976: Cues to an emergency research
Man and woman physically fighting on the street and woman would say either:
I don’t know you!
I don’t know why I married you
More than 3x as many observers tried to stop the assault by the stranger

42
Q
  1. Assume responsibility
A

Bystander effect/diffusion of responsibility

Diffusion of responsibility: each bystander’s sense of responsibility decreases as number of witnesses increase
- Most likely under conditions of anonymity and when its difficult to tell what others have done

43
Q
  1. Know what to do
A

Expertise
Bystanders are more likely to offer direct help when they feel competent to perform actions required
E.g. if they have first aid training
They very easily get past the first few stages

44
Q
  1. Decide to help
A

Costs of not helping vs. costs of helping
AND benefits of helping vs benefits of not helping
REFER TO PIC IN NOTES

Maybe gain reputation for being the brave person

Legal concerns: cannot be sued if the rescue is unsuccessful

45
Q

How to get help when u need it

A
  1. Counteract ambiguity
    Make it clear that you need help
  2. Reduce diffusion of responsibility
    Single people out
46
Q

Who gives help

A

Personal Factors
People who are more helpful in one situation are more likely to be helpful in another
- People with higher empathy (ability to notice emotions in others and feel emotionally) are more likely to help

Religious faith promote helping others

  • In minor emergency situations, religious people are only slightly more helpful
  • For planned helping (volunteering), religious faith is a good predictor of helping

Cultural Factors
Helping rates vary around the world
- Levine 2001: Field experiments of helping in 23 cities
Pointing out dropped pen
Helping injured person picked up dropped things
- Assisting blind person cross street

RESULTS: cities in the top 6 for helping had a culture for helping others e.g. Rio, Costa Rica, Vienna, Madrid etc.

47
Q

Who receives help

A

Attributions of responsibility
People are more likely to help others who appear less responsible for their situation
E.g. donations to medical charities for things which people are not responsible for are higher than like lung cancer, HIV etc.

Similarity
If you like someone, you are more likely to help them

E.g. Groaning person in a Manchester or Liverpool stadium
Groaning person was either wearing a -
- Manchester/Liverpool shirt
- Tested to see how many people stopped to help
Manchester people were more likely to help him in Manchester shirt

48
Q

How to Increase helping

A
Media
Prosocial video games 
- Lemming/Super Mario Sunshine (cleaning up the area etc.)
Prosocial music 
- Heal the world
- VS On the line 
Education
Example: 
Participants randomly assigned to lecture topic 
- Bystander intervention
- Unrelated topic 
Two weeks later: second session
- Student lying on the floor 
- Those who heard the bystander lecture were more likely to help
49
Q

Attitude

A

all about liking or disliking. Psychological tendency expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour

50
Q

ABC model of attitudes

A

REFER TO PIC IN NOTES

thoughts, feelings, behaviours

51
Q

There is an alignment between attitudes and behaviours

A

Attitudes impact our behaviour:
When attitude is specifically relevant to behaviour
When outside influences are minimal (no social pressures)
- Under social pressures, it is less likely that you will behave in a way that will align with your attitudes
When we are aware of that attitude
- If we feel a particular way,
When attitudes are shaped by personal experience

Behaviour impacts our attitudes:
Subtle behaviours influence your attitudes

Wells and Petty (1980)

  • Asked participants to make vertical or horizontal head motions while listening to a editorial advocating tuition increase
  • Vertical head nodders agreed with editorial more than horizontal head nodders

Cacioppo and colleagues (1993)

  • Asked non-Chinese speakers/readers to rate Chinese characters while pulling up from the bottom of desk or pushing down from top of desk (muscle tension)
  • Upward pull group liked the characters more than downward push

Nodding and pulling are compatible with positive attitudes
These subtle behaviours form a type of bodily feedback that comes to influence attitudes

52
Q

Attitude Specificity

A
Attitude becomes higher with higher specificity 
E.g. 
Attitude towards birth control
Attitude towards birth control pills 
Using birth control pills ETC.
53
Q

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)

A

When behaviours are inconsistent with attitudes, it leads to tension (dissonance)
To reduce dissonance:
- Change behaviour
- OR change attitude

Amount of dissonance is determined by situational factors such as reward and the reason

E.g. Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)

  • Asked participants to complete a rlly boring task then lie to someone about it being rlly fun
  • They were paid either $1 or $20
  • Found that people who were paid $1 had the most positive attitude towards the boring experiment and happy to do it again. Bc they weren’t really paid at all and experienced cognitive dissonance which led to attitude changes.
54
Q

Dissonance –> attitude change

A

large amount of dissonance leads to large amount of attitude change.

Zimbardo: Grasshopper study
Participants asked to eat fried grasshoppers by a nice and mean experimenter.
Then rated how much they liked the grasshopper. Participants who had a mean experimenter stated that they were more willing to endorse eating them more.
Doing it for no good reason (mean experimenter) means dissonance and attitude becomes updated