Social Psychology

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

The study of how people influence others’ behaviour, beliefs and attitudes.
Considers the contribution of the person and the influence of the situation.

Question 2

What are attitudes

Answer 2

• Favourable or unfavourable evaluative reactions towards an object of person
• These evaluations can be: Affective, Behavioural tendency, Cognitive

Question 3

How are attitudes formed?

Answer 3

We perform positive attitudes by being exposed to the object –> Chinese characters experiment (Zajonc)
- Classical conditioning: if a CS is paired with a US, the CS evokes an attitude response affiliated with the US
- Operant conditioning: behaviour that leads to positive outcomes or prevents negative outcomes is strengthened
- imitation: adopting the attitudes of role models

Question 4

Bem’s self perception theory

Answer 4

We infer our attitudes from our behaviour –> behaviour causes attitudes
- we attribute our own behaviour to either an external (situation) or internal (attitude) source
- attitude inferences if behaviour is freely chosen
- holds best for weak attitudes

Question 5

Unobtrusive influences on attitudes

Answer 5

• Facial expression (cartoons rated as funnier if pen held between teeth)
• testing the quality of headphones (nodders vs shakers)

Question 6

Functions of attitudes

Answer 6

Cognitive consistency: people try to maintain an internal consistency, order and agreement between their beliefs.

We like people who think and act like us.

Balance theory: relationship between 3 elements (triads)
- P (person)
- O (other)
- X (attitude of the object)
- odd number of positive relationship = balanced triad
- even number of positive relationship = unbalanced

Question 7

Balance Theory

Answer 7

• unbalanced triads create tension - motivation to restore the balance
• support for this is seen in the experiment with the ‘harsh experimenter’

Question 8

Implicit attitudes vs explicit attitudes

Answer 8

Implicit: automatic, non-conscious, difficult to change –> gut feelings, automatic (less susceptible to impression management)
Explicit: consciously controlled, easier to change (social desirability) - we tell people what we think about things

Question 9

Implicit attitudes and prejudice

Answer 9

• cultural conceptions of race, and sex stereotypes learned from an early age
• personal beliefs draw more from controlled processes
• prejudicial reactions may be automatic

These stereotypes are part of our knowledge structure and are drawn on rapidly.
Personal beliefs draw from more controlled processes.

Question 10

Attitude behaviour link

Answer 10

• We assume attitudes predict behaviour but there are many instances where this is incorrect (for example in polls)
• attitudes are influenced by behaviour, not the other way
  Behaviour and attitudes differ because of a multitude of other influences
• minimise social influence on expressed attitudes
• measuring attitudes that are specific to the observed behaviour
• attitude strength: personal involvement and knowledge

Question 11

Theory of planned behaviour

Answer 11

Ajzen and Fishbein
- attitude behaviour link is stronger once we take account of all the influences on the attitude behaviour link

Question 12

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 12

Festinger
- cognitive dissonance: a feeling of discomfort caused by performing an action that is inconsistent with one’s attitudes
- strive to reduce dissonance

Question 13

Persuasion

Answer 13

Message intended to change an attitude and related behaviour of an audience.

Question 14

Hare Krishna Society Persuasion

Answer 14

• passerby received a gift, invoked a principle of reciprocity and was more inclined to donate

Question 15

Jonestown persuasion

Answer 15

• persuaded 910 followers to kill themselves
• great deal of uncertainty (isolated in a foreign land), people were paranoid

Question 16

The Message-Learning (Yale) approach to persuasion

Answer 16

Attempts to identify what strengthens / weakens a persuasive message. Attitude change follows these stages:
- attend to the message
- comprehend the message
- accept the message

This change in attitude will occur if the incentives of the new message outweigh those of the old message

Question 17

Factors influencing the Message-Learning approach

Answer 17

Source variables
- attractiveness (physical appearance, likeability, similarity to the audience)
- high vs low credibility (pace in which you talk)

Message variables
- vivid information is generally more persuasive (except when it interferes with the comprehension of the message)
- fear appeals
- humour (when relevant)
- repetition (exposure)
- medium

Audience Variables
- self-esteem (people with low selfesteem are less persuadable because they are less attentive and more anxious, and those with high self-esteem are not easily persuaded because they are self-assured)
- mood (sadness increases buying prices and reduces selling prices)

Question 18

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Answer 18

Petty and Cacioppo
Explains why attitudes change:
Two routes to persuasion
- central route (able & motivated - can attend to the message and therefore elaborate on the message)
- peripheral route (unable or unwilling - rely on heuristics of irrelevant cues like with coca cola ads) –> attitudes formed this way are weaker and less resistant to counterarguments, less predictive of behaviour
Attitude change can occur without comprehension

Question 19

Nudges

Answer 19

Behavioural interventions that encourage desirable behaviour without restricting choice or changing economic incentives.
- example: adding a healthy food only line in a school canteen
- increasing uptake of influenza vaccinations through the use of nudges

Question 20

Enhancing compliance

Answer 20

compliance: behavioural response to a request from another person (you don’t need to have an accompanying attitude change, just a behavioural change)
reciprocity: the idea that we are compelled to return the favour if someone gives us something
- example: hare krishna society
- door in the face tactic: when a large unreasonable request is followed by a small reasonable request
social proof and uncertainty
- we look to other people to lead us

Question 21

flattery, scarcity, consistency and mindlessness

Answer 21

• flatterers were like more than those who were offering balanced compliments - occurred even when the participants knew that the praise was no accurate or that the flatterer had ulterior motives
• scarcity: we want what we can’t have
• consistency:
  —> foot in the door: small request followed by a large request
  –> low-ball technique: after initial agreement to a request hidden costs are revealed
• agreeing to a request without giving it a thought

Question 22

Conformity

Answer 22

Change in behaviour or belief in accord with others (being affected by how others act)
- Compliance (sub type of conformity which is publicly acting in accord with others, but you haven’t changed your beliefs)
- Acceptance is conformity that involves believing, as well as acting in accord with social pressure

Our natural inclination to conform helps us get along with each other

Question 23

Normative social influence

Answer 23

Social norm: a shared standard of behaviour, a guidelines people follow in their relations with others
- don’t want to be punished by the group
- normative social influence

Question 24

Norm formation

Answer 24

Sherif
Stationary spot of light in a dark room that appears to move –> assessing this in groups vs assessing it alone

There’s a convergence between initial individual beliefs and then group consensus

Question 25

Asch’s conformity studies

Answer 25

• participants seated 6th in a row of confederates
• looked at unambiguous stimuli

Factors affecting Asch’s task
- group size (increases with group size, only up to about a group of 5)
- one dissenter (when one confederate out of the 6 gave the correct answer, the proportion of conforming responses dropped dramatically)
- anonymity

Question 26

Miligram’s Obedience Studies

Answer 26

How compliant would people be if they were given direct orders - would they go as far to hurt an innocent stranger?
Being assigned teacher or learner - shocks were given to the learner

Distress: the learner was visibly distressed - but when they asked if they might stop, the prods were enough for at least 2/3 of them to keep going
Variations = the victims distance, closeness and legitimacy of the authority, getting someone else to give the shocks