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Social Psychology - Semester 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is social psychology?

A

“Social psychology is the scientific study of how the behaviour, cognition and emotions of individual humans are influenced by other humans.”

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2
Q

What is a scientific study?

A

making controlled observations. (Take measurements and observations of the world. Make a hypothesis and either prove or disprove, make predictions and go out and try and prove them right.)

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3
Q

What is behaviour?

A

observable actions things that we can see around us that will influence us

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4
Q

What is cognition?

A

is not observable it refers to the working of your brain e.g. thinking, unconscious processes, memory.

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5
Q

What are emotions?

A

it’s a confusing one as you can see emotions in people’s actions, but they are a form of mental/cognitive process. It’s the way that we feel e.g. sad. It’s classified as a different type of cognitive process

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6
Q

What is individual humans?

A

the study of the individual, one person at a time

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7
Q

What does influenced mean?

A

things around us that change us or influence us. We are constantly being influenced.

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8
Q

What is meant by other humans?

A

how people influence and affect us through their actions or emotions.

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9
Q

What was Lewin’s equation?

A

B=f(PE)Lewin thought that we should not just look at a person or their environment but the relationship between the two and how they interact.

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10
Q

What is observational research?

A

Is field based observations of behaviour, observations in real life situations. Largest scale research method

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11
Q

What is qualitative research?

A

Interview-based reporting collected from small samples. Smallest scale of research, using things such as interviews

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12
Q

What is correlational research?

A

Quantitative examination of the relationship between two or more variables (generally not causal). If the research is not vigorous it could just be chance, correlation does not mean that it is causing something it could just be chance. E.g. The relationship between height and salary. If you are taller, do you get paid more?

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13
Q

What is empirical research?

A

Experimental investigation driven by a hypothesis. Create a prediction and then carry out experiments or questionnaire to prove or disprove these predictions.

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14
Q

What is self?

A

Self is thought of as a unity but self-changes throughout your life. Our sense of self although it feels fixed, but it is actually somewhat as an illusion.

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15
Q

What is meant by ‘you have many selves’?

A

You act differently infront of your friends, teachers or parents. In different social environments different selves are activated. If we become more self-aware, we become more self-aware.

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16
Q

What is individuation?

A

When your self-awareness is raised, we have heightened sensed of individuation.

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17
Q

What is deindividuation?

A

When we have a self-awareness is reduced deindividuation takes place

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18
Q

What are the two concepts of self?

A

Self-concept
Self-esteem

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19
Q

What is self-concept?

A

Your knowledge of who you are (biography) and your personal characteristics (somewhat more subjective than our biography).

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20
Q

What is self-esteem?

A

The value that people put on their self-concept and self-knowledge. Is it good for me to be Scottish, a woman, etc … Your evaluation of yourself, the value you place on your characteristic individually and collectively. Many self-report (e.g. questionnaire) measures of self-esteem. (Rosenburg self-esteem measures)

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21
Q

What is self-perception theory? (Bem 1967)

A

Self-perception theory (Bem 1967)– suggests that we receive feedback on our behaviour from different sources and this provides knowledge about our self. We do this by the reaction of others, emotional reactions and your own self-perception. E.g. if you donate to charity, you might perceive yourself as generous, caring or soft touch. Other people’s reactions might be admiration or scorn.

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22
Q

What is cognitive dissonance?

A

Tension produced by holding two contradictory ideas (Festinger, 1957). E.g. Knowing that smoking kills but continuing to smoke

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23
Q

What are consonant cognitions?

A

It might be bad but it makes me happy or reduce importance of dissonant cognitions

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24
Q

What is self-discrepancy?

A

You have an idea of what you think you are or what you think other people think of you. If you have a difference between your actual self and your ideal self it has negative effects on self-esteem. Increased discrepancies = Increased dissonance.

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25
What is social comparison theory?
Comparing oneself to external markers (often other people) to evaluate one’s opinions, abilities and value (Festinger, 1954).
26
What is upward comparison?
Comparing yourself to someone better than you
27
What is downward comparison?
Comparing yourself to someone less than you
28
What does upward social comparison cause?
Lower self esteem
29
What does downward social comparison cause?
Improved self-esteem
30
How do people protect self esteem through escape?
Easiest way to reduce threat is to escape or avoid the situation that produces, people with low self-esteem are more likely to give up (Di Paula & Campbell 2002)
31
What is self-serving bias as a way to protect self-esteem?
Tendency to attribute failures to situational factors, but successes to disposition, people with low self-esteem less likely to exhibit. self-bias (Fitch 1970). We attribute our success to ourselves and our failures to our situation.
32
What is social identity?
“That part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups), together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership” (Tajfel, 1981)
33
What were the in-group effects of the robbers cave experiment?
Ingroup favoritism Perceived ingroup heterogeneity (everyone in the ingroup is different)
34
What were the outgroup effects of the robbers cave experiment?
- Outgroup derogation and discrimination - perceived outgroup homogeneity (everyone in the other group is the same)
35
What is minimal group paradigm?
- Developed by Tajfel and colleagues - Participants allocated to a group basis of a meaningless categorisation - Participants only know OWN group membership - No interaction between groups no history of conflict/relationships)
36
What are the three social theory stages?
- Categorisation - Identification - Comparison
37
What is categorisation?
Defining ourselves and other people as belonging to specific social groups Categorisation boosts self-esteem
38
What is the I am not a number experiment?
I am not a number! (Lemyre & smith, 1985) Participants either given an individual number (16) or given a individual number and a group membership (16 in the red group). Participants in the number & group membership condition had higher self-esteem than those in the number only condition.
39
What two assumptions identification makes?
Ingroup similarity (we are all alkie in some way) Outgroup dissimilarity (they are different from us)
40
What is comparison?
We make direct comparisons between ingroup & outgroup. We employ self-serving bias/attribution errors when doing so The biases allow us to gain a positive self-evaluation from comparison
41
What are the three levels of self-categorisation theory?
Superordinate, Intermediate, subordinate
42
What is the superordinate level of self-categorisation?
Global membership, humanity
43
What is the intermediate level of self-categorisation?
Group membership, social identity
44
What is the subordinate level of the self-categorisation theory?
Personal characteristics
45
What are the two OFFICICAL definitions of social cognition?
Definition 1: A sub-discipline of social psychology. (Applies a cognitive approach to the study of social behaviour. Definition 2: The way information about people is represented cognitively.
46
What is the used definition of social cognition?
Attempting to understand the way we extract, process and use information about other people.
47
What does limited attentional resources cause?
- We can’t always consciously focus attention - We can’t process/store all incoming info - We can’t consciously control all our responses
48
What is meant by cognitive miser?
We have limited attentional resources We are motivated to preserve our attentional resources by using strategies and mental shortcuts. (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) Our brain is going to use a shortcut wherever possible
49
When do we have to be especially miserly?
- There is an overload of information - We have low attentional resources availability (e.g. diving attention between tasks; being tired, stressed, drunk, distracted, etc)
50
What are the two modes of perception (dual-process model)?
Individuation/categorisation
51
What is individuation?
Person perception based on individual characteristics, name, british, actor etc
52
What is categorisation?
Person perception based on group membership. E.g female, white, young etc
53
What is individuated person perception?
treating other people as individuals with their own unique set of qualities. (e.g. Andy is someone I know, he likes watching Aberdeen, fashionable clothes and indie music).
54
What is categorical person perception?
inferring information about other people based on the categories to which they belong. (e.g. Andy is a salesman, and therefore must be confident, talkative and pushy).
55
What are stereotypes?
information we associate with members of social categories
56
What did Walter Lippman say about stereotypes?
‘We notice a trait which marks a well-known type, and fill in the rest of the picture by means of the stereotypes we carry about in our heads’ (Walter Lippman, 1922). (knowledge)
57
What is prejudice?
‘A hostile or negative attitude towards a distinguishable group based on generalisations derived from faulty or incomplete information.’ (Adapted from Aronson, 2003, 9th edition, pp. 243) (beliefs and attitudes)
58
What is discrimination?
being treated unfairly because of what you are (behaviour)
59
What is prejudice often based on?
the belief that stereotypes are accurate descriptions of social groups.
60
What is direct discrimination?
being treated unfairly because of who you are. Treating someone with a protected characteristic less favorably than other.
61
What is indirect discrimination?
being treated the same way as other people but in a way that is unfair because of who you are. Having rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone but that puts someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.
62
What are the effects of prejudice?
- Prejudice and discrimination reduce self-esteem.
63
What can prejudice and discrimination lead to?
Self-fulfilling prophecies
64
What causes prejudice?
Intergroup bias Situational misattributions
65
What is situational misattributions?
- Ultimate attribution error – in ambiguous situations we make attributions consistent with our beliefs and prejudices
66
What is operant conditioning?
- Every behaviour has consequences that increase or decrease the likelihood of the behaviour recurring. - Operant conditioning occurs when a response has consequential rewards or punishments
67
What are the 4 types of consequence in operant conditioning?
 Positive reinforcement  Negative reinforcement  Positive punishment  Negative punishment
68
What is observational learning?
Learning by observing others' behaviour
69
What is imitation?
Learning by copying others' behaviour
70
What is the difference between observational learning and imitation?
- Imitation requires replicating the behaviour of another - Observational learning does not require replication
71
What is the social learning theory?
- Combines the principles of observational learning and operant conditioning (Bandura, 1977)
72
What is the likelihood of behaviour being socially learnt dependent on?
Observing the behaviour of another person Observing the consequences of associated with the other person producing the behaviour
73
What are the 4 stages of social learning theory?
 Attention, the individual notices a behaviour to model  Retention, a memory of the behaviour is stored  Motor reproduction, a copy of the behaviour is produced  Motivation, reinforcing or punishing consequences follow
74
What is obedience?
Following the orders of a person in authority. Obedience typically involves a lower status individual behaving in a way complies with the wishes of someone of higher status
75
What is obedience not?
Conforming to the behaviours of individuals of equal status
76
What is the Nuremberg Principle?
‘The fact that a person acted pursuant to the order of their government or of a superior does not relieve them from responsibility under international law.’
77
What reduces obedience?
Victim proximity Proximity of authority figure Legitimacy of authority figure Presence of dissenters
78
What is meant be victim proximity (reducing obedience)?
- Lower obedience when Learner is in room (40%). - Even lower when Teacher has to put Learner’s hand onto plate (30%).
79
What is meant by proximity of authority figure (reducing obedience)?
- Lower obedience when instructions given via telephone (21%).
80
What is meant by legitimacy of authority figure (reducing obedience)?
- Obedience more likely in Yale laboratory (65%) than downtown office (48%). - more obedience for Experimenter than another participant (20%).
81
What is meant by presence of dissenters (reducing obedience)?
- When one confederate quits at 150v, and another at 210v, only 10% give highest shocks. - Obedience disappears when another Experimenter dissents.
82
What is conformity?
a change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of perceived pressure from individuals of similar status
83
What is conformity not?
: a change in behaviour in obedience of the orders of a person in authority.
84
What is internalization?
when people accept a belief or behaviour and agree both publicly and privately
85
What is identification?
When people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected such as a famous celebrity
86
What is compliance?
Is when people appear to agree with others but actually keep their dissenting opinions private
87
What is the bystander effect?
The diffusion of responsibility, you are less likely to help if you are not alone
88
What factors affect majority influence?
- Unanimity - Commitment - Accountability - Individual differences - Culture - Group pressure
89
How does commitment affect majority influence?
Deutsch & Gerard (1955): subjects who had shown experimenter their private judgement (‘committed’) was much less likely to change to conform.
90
How does accountability affect majority influence?
Quinn & Schlenker (2002): - Low conformity when subjects told in advance that they would have to justify their decision to other group members
91
How does individual differences affect majority influence?
- People with low self-esteem are much more likely to conform then those with high self-esteem - The difference is higher for task specific self-esteem - If you have had previous success, then you are less likely to conform - Women more likely than men to conform
92
How does culture affect majority influence?
- Bond & Smith (1996): conformity is higher in ‘collectivist’ countries (e.g. Japan), than ‘individualistic’ countries (e.g. USA) - Conformity has steadily declined since 1950’s
93
How does group pressure affect majority influence?
When is a group more likely to induce conformance?  When it consists of experts  When its members are important to an individual  When members are comparable to the individual When the individual doesn’t feel secure within the group
94
Why do people conform?
Conformity due to informational influence and normative influence.
95
What is informational influence?
The need to be right
96
What is normative influence?
The need to be liked
97
What effects does primary effects have on impression formation?
- We put greater emphasis on early pieces of information we discover about a person – a primacy effect - First impressions count
98
How do advertisers use first impressions to their advantage?
- The majority of adverts use famous celebrities or models due to their physical attractiveness. - Physical attractiveness is associated with warmth, kindness etc
99
What is the halo effect?
a person who is good at ‘X’ is perceived to be good at ‘Y’, even if X and Y are unrelated - The physical attractiveness stereotype is an example of the ‘Halo effect’
100
What evidence did Dion et al (1972) of stereotype impact?
- Dion et al. (1972): participants read reports of children misbehaving in class – photo attached. Unattractive children judged more harshly.
101
What evidence of stereotype impact did Frieze et al (1991) find?
- Frieze et al (1991): rated attractiveness of employees on 5-point scale; compared salaries. Less attractive people tended to have lower salaries – each point worth $2,150
102
What evidence of the stereotype impact did Downs and Lyon (1991) find?
- Downs & Lyons (1991): In a court of law it should not matter what someone looks like but what was found was if you compared the physical attractiveness with prison sentence length those who were less attractive were given higher sentences for the same crimes than their less attractive counterparts (only for smaller crimes such as vandalism and theft, did not occur in high tariff crimes).
103
What do we look for in friends?
- Competency - Closeness - Similarity
104
What competence level do we look for in friends?
- We are attracted to quite competent people - E.g. Arson et al (1966): participants listen to interviews with four candidates for quiz show: - Excellent; average; excellent but makes blunder; average but makes blunder - Order of preference 1. Excellent blunder 2. Excellent 3. Average 4. Average-blunder
105
What do we look for in friends in terms of closeness?
- Out of a group, most likely to like people with whom we have close interactions, even if we have no choice over interaction partners - Insko & Wilson (1977): participants tested in triads (e.g. A, B, C), with two pairs of participants interacting (e.g. A-B, B-C) and one pair never directly interacting but observing the other pair (B-C) - Results: Interacting participants liked each other more increased liking, even though all participants heard the same information
106
What do we look for in friends in terms of similarity?
- Tend to like people who are similar to ourselves, e.g. hold similar opinions - Why? - Have more interaction with similar ‘types’ (through activities, clubs, social groups, etc) and interaction is more likely to be positive - Assume similar people will like us - Similar people make us feel validated, by agreeing with our beliefs and attitudes
107
What is the matching hypothesis (finding a romantic partner)?
- Bersheid, Dion, Walster & Walster, 1971) - People are more likely to form long-term relationships with a person who is of a similar level of physical attractiveness to themselves
108
In terms of selecting a male who is able to invest what are womens evolved mate preferences?
 Good financial prospects (indicated by industriousness, ambition, intelligence, etc)  Social status  Age
109
In terms of selecting a mate who is willing to invest what are women's evolved mate preferences?
 Dependability and stability  Love and commitment cues  Positive interactions with children
110
In terms of selecting a mate to physically protect self and children what are women's evolved mate preferences?
Height Strength Bravery Athletic ability
111
In terms of paternity uncertainty what were mens evolved mate preferences?
 Chasitity and fidelity
112
In terms of selecting mate of high fertility what were mens evolved mate preferences?
Youth Health
113
What do men and women advertise about themselves?
men advertise age and success; women advertise age and physical attractiveness
114
What is face processing?
faces have evolutionary and developmental importance
115
What is prosopagnosia?
Face blindness, patients cannot recognise familiar faces - Person memory is intact – people recognised using other cues (e.g. hairstyle, voice, gait, features)
116
What are of the brain is prosopagnosia associated with?
- Prosopagnosia associated with damage to ‘fusiform face area’ (fusiform gyrus in temporal lobe) and ‘occipital face area’, especially in right hemisphere.
117
What is person processing?
– processing complex person information is important in social groups
118
What is Capgras syndrome?
- Extremely rare - The delusion that intimate others have been replaced by imposters
119
What is neuropathology?
disconnection between the fusiform face area and limbic system
120
What is the explanation of Capgras' syndrome?
others are correctly recognised but lack emotional response causes confusion (Ellis & Young, 1990)
121

Psychology (6 decks)

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