Advanced Topics: Social Psychology FINAL

Folkman & Lazarus coping strategies

Lazarus: social cognitive appraisal model (1966), thinking plays a strong role in stress.

Outcomes Predicted by Self Esteem:

Low SE: want to fail and suffer, confirm bad opinions, self loathing. High SE: easy to understand, wants and expect to succeed, be liked by others, perform better and better

Self Schemas:

Mental structure that people use to organize their knowledge about themselves and that influences what they notice, think about, and remember about themselves. EXAMPLE: if you have to give a speech in one of your classes, your self-schema might be that you are shy in situations where you have to speak in public. Since you have an overall belief about your personality as well as past experiences talking in public situations, you probably already have a fairly good idea of how you will feel, think, and act in this situation.

Theory of Mind

A person cannot predict someone else's mind. This is developed at the age of 3-4 years. Empathy for others, "other have their emotions that cause their actions", allows us to predict future behavior. Example: "If x they will do y"

Ingroup identification defined; measurement

Any psychological response toward others as a function of their group membership -Cognition- schemas, stereotypes -Affect: attitudes, evaluations -Behavior: competition, aggression, violence --Can be between 2 individuals- dyadic level --Or between 2 groups- intergroup level

Sociometer Theory

"gage of temperature" "social temp" - keeps track of eligibility, promise social acceptance, "need to belong"

Original and Revised Frustration- Aggression Theory

*Original- frustration results from blocked goal attainment- F always leads to some form of A, A is always some consequence of F BUT too strict *Revised- F is stimulus to A- A is dominant response but not only; F creates a readiness to agress but depends on additional conditions- cue arousal theory

Problems with pop-psych and behavior change-

--pop psych approach: attitude, values belief, personality, ego deceptively simple; analysis of behavior & consequences. --behavior change: behavior and consequences not useful in describing problems

Walster et al. (1967) - Belief Disconfirmation Paradigm?

-A determinant of preference among modes of dissonance reduction. Walster, Elaine; Berscheid, Ellen; & Barclay, Andrew M. -Effectiveness of debriefing following deception experiments. Walster, Elaine; Berscheid, Ellen; & Abrahams, Darcy.

Cannon vs. Selye models of stress

-Cannons: parasympathetic nervous system. -Syle: general adaptation syndrome (1956), respond to all stressors in a similar way.

Constructive and Destructive conflict accommodation behaviors

-Destructive: 1. Actively harming the relationship. 2. Passively allowing the relationship to deteriorate. -Constructive: 3. Actively trying to improve the relationship. 4. Passively remaining loyal to the relationship.

Relative Deprivation Theory

-Social comparison determines satisfaction with how things are. -Conflict arises when one group is perceived as doing better than another without justification, when something is taken away. -EX: Revolutionary War Deprivation -Post WWII Civil rights conflict

Attribution Theory

Applies to situations where one person (the observer) is making judgments about someone elses behavior observers attribute the behavior of actors to particular causes Two primary dimensions 1) internal vs external 2) stable vs unstable

Socialization hypothesis:

-Socialization: You get prejudice from the same source as other evaluations of the world -Basis processes of conditioning and observational learning lead to prejudice -Basic socialization hypothesis Prejudice towards other groups is a set of values that is transmitted from parent to child ---EX: Zak Ebrahim's father was a bomber on the U.S. in 93' but broke away from his social influence. -Socialization: Personality --Assumption is that hard discipline in childhood is the root cause of such personality -Socialization: Religion & Prejudice --When will religion make prejudice? --Perhaps it's in the nature of certain kinds of religion -------Emphasis on Us vs Them -------Emphasis in our way is the "best way" -Explanation of these correlated findings --No causal connection perhaps less educated people are more fundamentalist and more prejudiced --Instead of religion causing prejudice perhaps prejudice causes religiosity --Religion causes prejudice -----The belief in free will -> impoverished minority groups get what they want --------------EX: "Curse of ham", "Curse of Cain"

Hidden Profile - applications

-Strassers Info Sampling Theory: strong tendency to emphasize shared info -favors one decision but unshared info favors another -rational outcome favors hidden profile, initial preference holds, even more strongly -How does it lead to selective sampling? 1) law of numbers- informative influence and 2) social costs- normative ----all of this leads to reinforcement, confirmations, and validation of own view. Illusion of consensus, over confidence, downplay of risks

o Behaviors that can increase happiness and well being

-acceptance & positive reappraisal, focus on strengths, emotional regulation, hang around happy people, volunteering, having face to face convos, cultivate gratitude

Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) - Induced Compliance Paradigm

-measures of performance(boring tasks) -spool on and off tray for 30 min, pegs on a board for 30 mins, then told they needed a research assistant "It fun! They were paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant the tasks were really fun. When the participants were asked to evaluate the experiment, the participants who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the participants who were paid $20 to lie.

Aronson & Mills (1959) - Effort Justification Paradigm

-when people experience a great deal of trouble/ pain attaining something, they tend to value it more than if they had no trouble attaining it. participants who underwent a severe initiation to join a group expressed more liking toward the group than participants who underwent a mild or no initiation. The more severe the initiation, the more difficult it is to convince oneself that it was not unpleasant. Thus, participants who experienced the severe initiation resolved their cognitive dissonance by expressing more liking for the group than participants who experienced a mild or no initiation. -the readings of certain words(racy) to get into a desired group - "the hamster sex conversation"

Tri-partite model of attitude structure

1) Affective component:emotional reactions 2) Cognitive component-consisting of thoughts and beliefs of attitude object 3) Behavioral Component-consisting of your actions or observable behavior

• "Four horsemen" of the apocalypse

1) Criticism: Complaint and blaming with a global assault. 2) Contempt: This is criticism bolstered by hostility or disgust. 3) Defensiveness: These are the counterattacks people us to defend their innocence or avoid taking responsibility for a problem. 4) Stonewalling: This happens when a partner withdraws from the conversation, offering no physical or verbal cues that they are affected by what they hear.

Elements of a Flow activity

1) complete involvement (fully concentrated on activity) 2) ecstasy (outer body experience, zone out the world and you are just doing the activity) 3) Inner clarity (clear goals w/ direct feedback) 4) Activity is doable (capability of doing activity, nothing that you are trying to learn) 5) serenity (not thinking of anything else but the activity 6) timelessness (you are so zoned out that you lose time while performing activity) 7) intrinsic motivation (you're doing it for YOUR pleasure and no other reason)

Two competing theories of the effects of guilt; an integrative theory:

1. Affective- feeling of sorrow and remorse 2. Cognitive- recognition of wrongdoing and violated norms. -Intergroup guilt- vicarious guilt, feeling that it's something that "WE" did, it's a group process in which they are involved in. this can motivate prosocial tendencies.

Social Identity Theory: basic assumptions and predictions

1. People are motivated to have a positive self-esteem 2. Group memberships are an important source of self-definition and esteem. 3a. Prejudice/discrimination are methods of making the ingroup look better than the outgroup, thereby reflecting positively on the self. 3b. Engage in collective action to improve the group's status.

Three elements of effective self-regulation (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007)

1. Standards - ideas of how things could be. Converted to concrete behaviors 2. Monitoring - keeping track of behaviors Also reminders to perform the behaviors 3. Capacity to change - learning to align behavior with standards; practicing behavior change techniques

o Three definitions of happiness; relative contributions of each to general well being

1. pursuit of positive emotions (food,drugs,sex,etc.) 2. pursuit of individual strengths (flow state, find strength and use it as much as possible) 3. pursuit of positive positive institution/ social connection (use strength and use it to promote positivity in the world)

Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Quest religiosity; their respective relationships with prejudice

3 approaches to religion --Extrinsic: Instrumental for social connections, status ----Positively correlated with prejudice --Intrinsic: Religion is an end in itself, underlies one's who approach to life ----Negatively correlated with prejudice but only on obvious, explicit measures --Quest: Embrace doubts and questions ----Negatively correlated with prejudice on both explicit and unobtrusive measures

Behavior Change Techniques: definition; describe and apply some of the more effective BCTs

4. Prompt intention formation Come to a decision to act or to achieve a goal. 7. Set graded tasks Gradually more demanding, challenging, or difficult tasks. 10. Specific goal setting Plan to perform a specific behavior (frequency, intensity, or duration) in a specific context (e.g., where, when, how, or with whom). 11. Review of behavioral goals Review goals or plans. 12. Self-Monitoring Keep a record (e.g., diary) of target behaviors. 13. Feedback / Self-Awareness How does your performance compare to your goals? 15. Cues / prompts 18. Follow-up prompts

Excitation transfer theory of aggression; experimental design and findings

Arousal theories: 1) High arousal is aversive leading to aggression 2) Arousal narrows cognitive attention making A more likely 3) Social facilitation- arousal increases the likelihood of dominant response 4) Mislabeled as anger (misattribution à excitation transfer- Zillman) arousal dissipates slowly - If two occur in the same "x" period, first can transfer to second- first event can make second behavior worse- giving disproportionate reasoning to aggression when it really comes from different event- evidence against Catharsis hypo

Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura is known for self efficacy. Self efficacy refers to a person's confidence in their capability to perform a particular behavior and achieve desired outcome. Fours ways to increase self efficacy: Mastery experiences Modeling/ observational learning Persuasion Physiological experiences (e.g. mood, anxiety and pain)

Desensitization neuroscience and behavioral methods and findings

Bartholow- measured EEG while showing pic to violent and non-violent video gamers- results showed more violent game = less brain response in EEG—meaning brain becomes desensitized

Interventions for reducing anger and aggression

Behavioral modification for proactive (instrumental) aggression- punishment doesn't teach alternatives so we use DRA techniques - Modeling nonaggressive behaviors-when children see the parents react in a calm manner; they model calm behavior next time in similar situation - Reducing reactive aggression- CBT tech - Stoicism - Reduction of anger arousal

"Weapons Effect": Theory and findings

Berkowitz- weapons present leads to aggression over control in neutral objects- even people in control who were not shocked/angry were still more aggressive in weapons condition

Mindfulness and burnout

Burnout: emotional exhaustion, negativity, reduced personal accomplishment.

What is ELM?

Central Route happens when: When we are motivated and pay attention, logical and conscious thinking. -can lead to permanent change in attitude. Peripheral: When we do not pay attention but stay with what we see. -Change is temporary

Culture and aggression "culture of honor" and religion findings

Cohen et al 96- southern US white male- small disputes become contests of reputation and status - Found biomarkers in provocation condition in southern participants for testosterone and cortisol - Religious inspired violence- KKK, buddhist extremists, murder of bible publishers in turkey—uses reasoning "sanctioned by God" § DV: difficult tasks à noise blasts- results showed greater aggression when in Bible condition & God said so

Extended contact hypothesis (Wright et al., 1997)

Contact is the best way to stop/control/slow prejudice as long as the interactions go well

Allport's contact hypothesis (key conditions) Mediators of the relationship between contact and prejudice

Cooperation on a task together

Low-ball technique: what is it and what makes it a dissonance-based technique?

Definition: gain agreement and then change terms of agreement...it is a dissonance based theory because backing out would create cognitive dissonance, which is prevented by playing down the negative effect of the "extra" costs.

Stress defined

Environmental demand exceeds the regulatory capacity of an organism.

Allport's contact hypothesis (key conditions) Key outcomes / Dependent Variables that change via contact

Equal status using cooperation, stereotypes are dis-confirmed and norms now support equality

How is Theory of Mind Tested?

False belief test Appearance vs. reality test. False photograph test

Recategorization (both versions): Defined, applied, limitations

Find a common ingroup identity; "Robbers cave"- bus broke down and both groups had to work together to fix the bus and get back- turns the different groups into one big subordinate group; works in lab but not in real groups (prejudice is sometimes too high in real settings)

Correspondence bias

Fundamental Attribution Error: concept and possible explanations- heuristic, tendency to believe that people's behavior matches (corresponds to) their dispositions "must be them/who they are "Fidel Castro Study why? People are "cognitive misers" (low effort)- don't want to do much extra thinking Two step process- 1) We make internal attribution (fast) 2) correct attribution by considering the situation the person was in (often we don't make enough adjustment as we should- conscious decision we make/slow) Collectivist cultures make more adjustments (step 2)

Adaptive value of confirmation bias

If I need food and shelter I will walk this direction (belief) only and eventually find something rather than if I change directions (beliefs) often

Mindfulness: operational definition; affected brain regions

Mindfulness: full attention to internal and external experiences as they occur in the present moment. -Long term mediators: prefrontal cortex (meta-awareness and reappraisal), the sensory cortices and insula (body awareness), the hippocampus (memory processes), the cingulate cortex (self and emotional regulation). -Prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, insula, and hippocampus: increased activity, connectivity, and volume.

Monteith's model of prejudice motivation

Noting the conceptual parallels between the groups with prejudice

Crossed Categorization: Defined, applied, limitations

People belong to multiple categories has 3 different categories: double ingroup, double outgroup, crossed Weakens the "line" between the groups

Theory of Reasoned Action

Predict that behavioral intent created or caused by two factors: Attitudes and subjective norms

Pettigrew's theoretical integration

Proved useful in applied settings specifically in the distinction between racial desegregation and the integration in schools; uses a common goal

Fishbein et al. Theoretical Intergration

Reviewed the theories and research to identify the best predictors of behavior. 1. Intentions: how committed you are to performing the behavior 2. Environmental constraints preventing behavior: ,not having sports facilities nearby might be viewed as an environmental constraint hindering exercise; not having health insurance prevents basic care 3. Skills: whether the person has the actual ability or skills to perform the behavior 4. Self-efficacy:whether the person thinks they have the ability to perform the behavior in a variety of situations Best predictors (continued) 5. Emotional reactions: and whether these are, on balance, more positive or negative 6. Self-standards and sanctions: whether the person sees their performing the behavior as being consistent or inconsistent with how they see themselves ÷ Consequences for success or failure 7. Perceived normative pressure: whether they feel that people, important to them, want them to perform the behavior or not -Peer pressure could be seen as a fairly strong example of this -But perceptions of approval / disapproval are also important 8. Anticipated outcomes: attitude towards performing the behavior and achieving the outcome.

Protection Motivation Theory

Roger 1983. Suggests that people engage in two types of appraisal in order to minimize risk. Threat Appraisal: How severe a negative outcome is and how vulnerable one is to the negative outcome. Coping Appraisal: How effective and easy it is to perform a behavior that will reduce the negative threat.

Decategorization: Defined, applied, limitations

See group as similar to you instead of completely opposite category; don't use the category within the interaction; not likely to happen in the real world

Self knowledge/concept vs. Self awareness

Self Knowledge: Content of knowledge on who we are (I am Hispanic, I am a dog lover....) Self Awareness: Thinking about ourselves (physical description)

Four functions of the self:

Self knowledge Self justification Self agent Interpersonal Self

Social Dominance Theory

Sidanius & Pratto -Human Societies naturally organize into hierarchies --Within the hierarchies, some groups have better access to resources than other groups --Societies also develop ideologies to support -Consistent with the theory men (as a group) score reliably higher than a women on SDO. --Men gravitate toward being "hierarchy enforcers" -UCLA Studies --Males (higher in SDO) are overrepresented in law, law enforcement, etc. --Females (lower in SDO) are overrepresented in social work, arts, etc.

Why do BCTs work?

Specific translation of "values" into concrete behavioral plans Monitoring, prompts, cues, review, feedback, etc.: all using power of self-awareness to change behavior. Help to circumvent the "willpower" problem

Integrated Threat Theory

Stephan & Stephan -Proposes that there a 4 distinct threats (2 group level & 2 personal level) that are experienced from a specific outgroup --Realistic threats (group) Threats to power, well being, existence of the ingroup --Symbolic Threats (group) Threats to the values, ideals, goals, morals, of the ingroup --Intergroup anxiety (personal) Personal discomfort, experienced with actual or anticipated interaction with outgroup members --Negative Stereotypes (personal) Assumptions about the outgroup that imply negative interactions or outcomes -Good support for the role of these threats (especially symbolic & realistic) in supporting and perpetuating real conflict

TOTE model of self-regulation

Test, Operate, Test, Exit model The first TEST is a comparison of self against the standard. In the OPERATE phase, you try to match behavior to the standard. TEST again to see if the match is close enough to reduce anxiety. -If it is not close enough, keep trying. If it is close enough, stop changing behavior (EXIT). -Also, stop intrusive thoughts about unfinished business.

Delay of Gratification

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies on delayed gratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s led by psychologist Walter Mischel, then a professor at Stanford University. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards (i.e., a larger later reward) if they waited for a short period, approximately 15 minutes, during which the tester left the room and then returned. (The reward was sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel.) In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI),and other life measures.

Theory of Planned Behavior

The direct precursor to behavior is one's underlying behavioral intentions ( the degree to which an individual is ready and willing to try to perform the behavior)

Foot-in-the-Door: what is it and what makes it a dissonance-based technique?

The phenomenon is the tendancy for people to comply with some large request after first agreeing to a small request.

Define dissonance theory

a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc.

EMGB

added goal desires

Aronson et al. (1991) - Free Choice Paradigm

asked sexually-active undergraduate volunteers to develop a speech promoting condom use from a set of facts. Participants either to deliver the speech in front of a camera or to silently rehearse the speech but not to deliver it. Among these groups, participants were also randomized to review occasions in their past when they had unprotected intercourse (high mindful), or not to (low mindful), prior to developing the speech. Results indicated that participants in the preach/high mindful condition (the hypocrisy condition) reported the highest levels of previous risk behavior. All conditions reporting strong intention to use condoms in the future. Participants were called three months later and asked to report recent condom use. Results suggested the hypocrisy induction had led to increased condom use.

Zimbardo et al. (1965) - Induced Compliance Paradigm

attitudes toward a highly disliked food: fried grasshoppers. A one condition the communicator was friendly; in the other he was unfriendly. 50 percent% of subjects in each experimental condition ate at least one grasshopper. the results support dissonance theory explanation of communicator characteristics as a source of justification in forced compliance situations.

Self-serving bias

augmenting good thing inward discounting negative outward one of the most pervasive & replicable findings in attribution research in relationships, we give our loved ones the same attributions as we give ourselves When individuals think they cannot improve in something, they are more likely to engage in self-serving bias because 1) maintain self esteem and 2) maintain our image (impression management)

Self-presentation/impression management

behaviors that convey on image to others

Victim Derogation

blaming the victim-( Davis and Jones 1960)

Bushman's (2013) arguments for why the effects of violent media are still controversial Catharsis and relevant empirical findings

catharsis- hypothesis that "blowing off steam" or aggression relieves built up tension- Freud - Doesn't work to reduce A but actually increases it - Sometimes exercise can be a substitute but it maintains arousal & can be dangerous when upset

Theory of Objective Self Awareness

comparison of self to standards or (other people) is automatic.

Selective Exposure

from dissonance theory- people can mentally dissect the information they're exposed to and select favorable evidence while ignoring unfavorable

Dunning-Kruger effects

incompetence- poor performance and the lack of meta cognitive skills to recognize one's own limitations flip side is "burden of expertise"

Social learning theory of aggression

individuals acquire new and more complex forms of behavior by seeing it & its consequences. People who "model" aggression 1) show others their ways 2) send message its right & correct response in situation

Aggression defined:

infliction of harm or injury on another person or organism intended to hurt or harm them

Self-handicapping

ingesting performance (drugs, alcohol,etc), choosing unreachable goals, giving competitors advantage, and impression management

alternative explanations

interpretation- rule out any alternatives. Avoid overly complicated explanations (parsimony/ Occam's razor)

falsifiability

is it possible to find disconfirming evidence? (Hypo must have falsifiability)

Representative bias

judged likelihood of an event based on the extent it resembles the typical case. We ask, "does it belong in this category?" Actor vs engineer example

Category Salience: Defined, applied, limitations

keep group clear; can generalize positively toward group; limit: interaction does not go well, or there is too much emphasis on the group

Dissonance approach to prejudice reduction

key element in dissonance is choice; Internal motivation: I don't want to be like this External motivation: I don't want others to think that about me

Belief Perseverance

once we believe, tend to keep believing even in the face of contradicting evidence -Ross, Lepper-- suicide study (still kept same initial belief after debriefing (after knowing it was made up) -Why smart people believe weird things

Illusory correlation

overestimate relationship between variables Study with Group A positive to negative ratio 18:8 while Group B 9:4 ration participants rated Group B as having more negative behaviors even though ratio is the same

Attitude change models: Yale Model Who: source factors What: Message Factors Whom: audience factors

people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages Who: source likability and source credibility What: Fear Appeals? Whom: low to moderately intelligent are easiest to persuade High "need for cognition" are more persuaded by stronger arguments low self-esteem are a little easier to persuade

Availability bias

people base judgement on the ease with which they can bring the subject to mind (downside- what is easiest to remember is not usually representative, leading to faulty conclusions)

different forms of aggression; examples:

physical, verbal, relational- direct, indirect, displaced- active vs passive 1) visible, external 2) social- involves two people 3) intentional

Ben Franklin effect

proposed psychological phenomenon: A person who has performed a favor for someone is more likely to do another favor for that person than they would be if they had received a favor from that person.

Mere exposure effect

psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.

controls

randomization

different functions of aggression: examples:

reactive; hot/impulsive; proactive- premeditated cold

Cognitive Biases/Errors o Anchoring and adjusting

relying too much on a reference point to estimate some value

Effects of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, testosterone, and serotonin on aggressive behavior

situational triggers- cognitive expectations vs true effects -Bushman & Cooper- some have alcohol vs placebo- both groups believed had not received but had and showed no difference- expectancy matters -Moderating effects are stronger in men, stronger in those with trait aggression; stronger in those with alcohol aggression expectancies- also works with alcohol priming effects

Everyday scientific reasoning o hypothesis

specific, measurable hypothesis/operationalize

Group Polarization

tendency for group to make decision that is more extreme than the initial inclination of its members

Groupthink

tendency for groups to make decisions without careful consideration of alter & consequences -how? strong/directive leadership; pressure for unanimity; cohesive ingroups

False Consensus Effect

tendency to overestimate the number of other people who share your own opinions or beliefs also- false uniqueness effect- underestimate who shares values- not super practical though

Model of Goal Directed behavior

tries to correct for this: providing a link between goals and intentions. Desire is perceived to be a stronger predictor compared to attitudes and subjective norms

Different sources of affectively-based attitudes

value system, social system, hedonic system

Kelley's three covariation dimensions: define and apply

we notice and think about more than one piece of info when we form impressions. Attributions result from systematically noting the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causes and if behavior occurs, "the effect is attributed to that condition". 1) consensus- only this person (low) or a lot of people(high)? 2) distinctiveness- apply to only this situation (high) or a lot of situations (low)? 3) consistency- only this place and time (low) or a lot of times(high)? makes good predictions in lab but unrealistic conditions in real life.

Axsom & Cooper (1985) - Effort Justification Paradigm

weight loss study examining the effects of effort justification by subjecting participants to series of cognitive tasks, unrelated to weight loss therapies. One of the therapies required a series of high effort cognitive tasks while the second therapy required low effort cognitive tasks. Over an initial 3-week period, high-effort subjects lost slightly more weight than low-effort subjects or controls. Significant differences were observed during a 6-month follow-up. Reliable differences remained even 1 year after the initial experimental sessions.

Error Management Theory and the confirmation bias

when false positives are more costly (Type 2) vs not -explanation for the discovery that men have a tendency to perceive women as having greater sexual interest in them than they actual do (smart for man to sow his seeds far & wide) -but reverse for women- need to ensure one man will support family