Koenig Social Psychology Final

Cognitive Dissonance

A state of mental discomfort arising from a discrepancy between two or more of a person's beliefs or between a person's beliefs and overt behavior.

Differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures

-individualistic cultures emphasize personal autonomy and personal responsibility dealing with problems. less likely to seek social support in stressful situations than are members of collectivistic culture

Sex differences in aggression according to Crick and Grotpeter

-Boys show more physical aggression than girls at all age, but girls and women are more likely to be indirectly aggressive. Many men change to this aggression with age

Media Violence on Aggression

-Good characters often commit violence -Violence is often not punished in media -Violence often involves no physical injury or suffering

Ways to Maintain Self Esteem

1) Cognitive Bias-- self-serving bias. take credit for others' work to make ourselves feel better 2) Self Handicapping-- sabotage our own performance (ex. procrastinating) to have an excuse for failure 3) Social Reflection-- bask in success of group 4) Downward Social Comparison-- compare to those below to feel better

Requirements for a good experiment

1) Independent Variable 2) Dependent Variable 3) Random Assignment 4) Avoid Confounds (control)

Reproductive advantages to helping non-kin?

1)Reciprocal Altruism-- helping others because it increases the likelihood you will be helped in return 2) Indirect Reciprocity-- groups with helpful members are more likely to survive. (i'll help you and someone helps me)

Culture of Honor Relate to Cohen et al. study. ("*******" comment)

A culture that is defined by its members' strong concerns about their own and others' reputations, leading to sensitivity to slights and insults and a willingness to use violence to avenge any perceived wrong or insult. Southerners tend to have this way about them where they want to stand their ground when insulted. Higher testosterone levels and less likely to give way to someone in the hall

Correlational Research Methods

A research strategy that identifies the relationships between two or more variables in order to describe how these variables change together. One advantage is that it helps psychologists make predictions. (moderate, strong, positive or negative relationships between variables)

Random Sampling

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Evolutionary view of aggression

Aggression is instinctual, it exists in all species, stronger ppl survive. Supported by the fact that we are less aggressive towards our relatives Critiqued by ppl who say humans can control their aggression

Difference between aggression, violence, reactive aggression, proactive aggression, overt aggression, physical aggression, verbal aggression, indirect aggression, and relational aggression?

Aggression= behavior intended to hurt someone Violence= any physical force used to harm ppl or property Reactive aggression= in reaction to another action Proactive aggression= aggression to fulfill a desire/end Overt aggression=physical or verbal aggression Physical Aggression= physical Verbal aggression= words Indirect Aggression= relational or verbal (ignore/exclude) Relational Aggression= form of indirect (gossip, manip.)

Zillmann's Excitation Transfer Theory How can this theory be applied to the Rude Experimenter study?

Arousal from any source can intensify the next emotional experience. People with and without treadmills are told that the experimenter would be rude. ppl without treadmill weren't aroused, but the ppl with the treadmill miss attributed their physiological arousal to him being rude, not the exercise.

Alcohol and Aggression

Both correlational & experimental research show that provocations are more likely to lead to aggression when provoked person has ingested alcohol. It disrupts executive function (plan, inhibit behaviors and emotions, reason, achieve goals, etc.

Social Facilitation

Change in behavior that occurs when people believe they are in the presence of other people. (bad gets worse and good get better)

Normative Influence

Conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance

How can we reduce aggression in society?

Decrease aggressive primes (ex. guns, violent videogames) Provide prosocial role models to model Model and Reward Prosocial behavior Build empathy/increase laughter--- can't be angry and laugh Increase education/good jobs/healthcare

Construct Validity

Degree to which a test actually measures what it claims to measure

Does punishment work to reduce aggression?

Doesn't work if the punishment itself is an aggressive act. The punishment must be prompt, consistent, and strong

Longitudinal Studies on Media Violence: Doom study and violent video game on helping behavior. How large is the affect of media violence on aggression?

Doom: parts played violent or nonviolent video game and then competed on word pronunciation task. Showed priming for aggressive words and violent video games made the participant deliver louder/longer noise blasts to competitor Violent Vid: played violent/nonviolent vid game and then questionnaire. during the time they were filling out the questionnaire, there was a staged fight outside the room. Violent video gamers were less likely to help and rated the fight as less severe compared to the nonviolent gamers

Five Stages of Helping

EMERGENCY 1) Notice that something is happening (distracted/rushed) 2) Interpret the event as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance) 3) Take responsibility for providing help (diffusion of responsibility) 4) Decide how to help (qualified?) 5) Provide help (negative consequences/fears--- hurt, sued, normative social influence)

Milgram's Obedience Study

Everyone went up at least 300 volts when the confederate began pounding on the wall. But 66 percent went all the way to the end after that. Everyone who reached 375 volts continued to the end.

External Validity

Extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

Social Exclsion Study--- Twenge et al. (2001) and Aggression

Social Exclusion. choose partners. no one chooses you vs everyone chooses you. if you are excluded you delivered louder and longer white noise bursts. The rejected group members chose a higher intensity and longer duration of noise to wage against their opponent when they lost.

How has gun violence changed over time in the US?

Gun violence has actually dropped over time, but mass shootings are on the rise. Social Psychologists explain mass shootings explaining that shooters are lacking social bonds and they have been affected by the learning factor of violence..... they shouldn't be blamed on mental illness but instead substance abuse, poverty, history of violence, and access to guns

Unpleasant Experiences that can lead to Aggression

Hot Seasons/Weather Provocation Social Rejection all increase aggression Uncontrollable noise

Mimicking and helping study---- van Baaren et al. (2004)

In this study, participants were asked to give their reactions to advertisements while the experimenter mimicked them (body orientation/arm or leg position) or didn't mimic. Then the experimenter dropped 6 pens and see if participant is more likely to help pick them up if mimicked. Another level is having a different researcher drop the pens and see if the participant is more likely to help someone that likes(mimics) them. The researchers found the most helping was done when mimicked and their experimenter was the pen-dropper. When the different experimenter dropped the pens, mimicked people were more likely to help than non-mimicked. Participants also asked if they wanted to donate to a charity and they were more likely to donate if asked after being mimicked.

Excitation Transfer Theory Study w/ rude experimenter & exercise--- Zillmann and Cantor (1976)

In this study, some participants ran on a treadmill and some didn't. During the interaction with a rude experimenter, the experimenter provoked them. Before this interaction some participants were told a reason why the experimenter might act nasty, and some of them were not told anything. When they weren't on a treadmill and they were told that the experimenter would be rude, there was no arousal. If not told, they were aroused/frustrated. When on the treadmill and they know he was going to be rude, they still got frustrated because of misattributing phisiological arousal to being due to this person's rudeness.

Sex Differences in Aggression--- Crick and Grotpeter (1995)

In this study, the researchers asked children who which classmates are overtly aggressive (start fights/call mean names) and which are indirectly aggressive (ignore when mad a someone). They found that overall boys are judged as more aggressive than girls, especially in direct aggression. Girls, however were higher in indirect aggression [higher for both in adults]. In adults, women are slightly more indirectly aggressive. Additionally, men and women have the same amount of anger levels, but men are more likely to respond aggressively.

Ways to reduce prejudice

Increasing contact between the target of stereotyping and the holder of the stereotype, making values and norms against prejudice, providing information about the targets of stereotyping, and reducing stereotype threat.

Effect of aggressive primes on behavior

Modeling & Violent Media/Videogames Prosocial/Antisocial behavior

Kin Selection

Natural selection that favors altruistic behaviors by enhancing reproductive success of relatives. (more related, more likely to help)

Natural Selection vs Inclusive Fitness

Natural selection-change on environment which causes pressure for organism to survive better. survival of fittest. Inclusive fitness- the ability of an individual organism to pass on its genes to the next generation, taking into account the shared genes passed on by the organism's close relatives.

Does catharsis work to reduce aggression?

No, it actually increases future aggression and is linked to physical problems such as heart disease PS. catharsis is the idea of "venting" aggression--> punching a pillow/ yelling/ exercising

When/why are nonviolent and violent pornography linked to aggression?

Nonviolent-- increased arousal (energy transfer theory) Violent--- triple wammy: aggressive thoughts, porn increases arousal, and shock/alarm/disgust

The "Doom" Study--- Anderson and Dill (2000)

Participants played a violent or non-violent video game for 20-30 minutes. Next they completed a pronunciation task that included aggressive, anxious, and neutral words [this was to measure priming]. Then they competed with another person on reaction time and they were able to deliver a noise blast to their competitor when they beat them [this is their measure on aggression... longer, louder noise=more aggressive]--> they found that the violent video games make people more aggressive regardless of the level of their aggressive personality

The violent video game and helping study--- Bushman and Anderson (2009)

Participants played a violent video game or non-violent video game for 20 min. Then they were given a questionnaire and told that they would be back in 20 min. Outside the room they played a recording of a staged fight between 2 actors... start shouting, loud crash, kick participants' door. One fighter complains about hurt ankle and the other fighter leaves. The dependent variable is how long it took the participant to come outside and help the ankle person. They found that people who played the violent video game took WAY longer to help than people who played the non-violent video game. Then they were asked how severe they thought the fight was (scale 1-10). People in violent game rated it lower in severity than people in the non-violent assignment.

Empathy-Altruism vs. Negative State Relief--- Cialdini et al (1987)

Participants watched an upset accomplice complete a memory task while receiving shocks. Some of the participants were asked to imagine how the person feels (spurring empathy) and some of the participants were watch objectively and form an impression. The accomplice gets really upset and brings up a childhood memory involving electricity. The participant is then asked to switch places with the accomplice. The curveball here is that some of the participants received money/praise before making their decision (this should make a person feel better). The empathy-altruism hypoth= empathetic people help regardless of $/praise. The negative state relief hypoth= ppl who receive $/praise are now in a better mood and would not feel the need to help anymore. They found that low empathy= lowest helpers, high empathy= highest helpers, but with money they help less and with praise they almost drop to the level of the low empathy group!

Bystander Intervention Study---Darley& Latane (1968)

Participants were escorted into individual cubicles. All the participants communicated over an intercom about personal challenges. They could speak once at a time and they each talked about their personal challenges. One participant spoke of the challenge of having seizures and wanting to be normal in college. After several rounds of chatting, the participants hear the person having a seizure. Some of the participants thought they were the only other person in the group and others there were 4 others. Because of diffusion of responsibility, participants who thought they were the only other person left for help nearly 100% of the time. When there was one other, they responded fewer times, and when they thought there were 4 others, they only left about 60% of the time to find help. Since they can't see what others are doing or talk to them anymore on the intercom, this is pure diffusion of responsibility and no conforming effects.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Who is highest in empathy?

People who are high in agreeableness People who are good perspective-takers(manipulation) People who are similar to those who need help People who share genes with person in need People who have strong moral reasoning People who are in a good mood empathize more

Describe different types of people who are more likely to be aggressive.

People who watch violent media People from a culture of honor People from individualistic cultures Narcissists (inflated self esteem) People with more testosterone

Self-Serving Bias

People's tendency to ascribe their positive behaviors to their own internal traits, but their failures and shortcomings to external, situational factors.

How are narcism and type A personality related to aggression?

Personality characterized by (1) a strong competitive orientation, (2) impatience and time urgency, and (3) anger and hostility. Narcism is also related because they feel they are right and important

Aggression

Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.

How does mood influence helping?

Ppl with positive or negative moods help more than neutral. Good mood= want to help to keep good mood, there are positive expectations about helping, and positive thoughts increase liking Bad Mood= guilty if don't help (negative state relief), or the idea that helping may improve our mood [Not as strong helpers as positive mood]

Difference between prosocial behavior, altruism, heroism.

Prosocial Behavior- actions intended to benefit others Altruism- unselfish behavior Heroism- action that is risky to the self

Self Control/Self-Regulation and Ego Depletion

Self control/regulation is impulse control Ego depletion is the idea that exerting self control on one task diminishes the amount of self-control on the next task

Correspondence Bias (FAE)

The tendency to make a dispositional (internal) attribution even when a person's behavior was caused by the situation

Describe/Explain Six reasons why media violence leads to aggression

Social Learning- imitating/modeling Desensitization- less aroused with more exposure Priming- halfway activating aggressive thoughts Hostile Expectation Bias- expectation that all are hostile Aggressive Scripts- think you're supposed to act aggressively Cultivation-take media as representation of real life

Empathy-Altruism vs. Negative State Relief

TESTED BY CIALDINI The empathy-altruism hypoth= empathetic people help regardless of $/praise. The negative state relief hypoth= ppl who receive $/praise are now in a better mood and would not feel the need to help anymore. They found that low empathy= lowest helpers, high empathy= highest helpers, but with money they help less and with praise they almost drop to the level of the low empathy group! Also related to Stocks et. al.--- They found that high empathy ppl will help even when there is an easy escape, and low empathy ppl will only help when they think they will remember the story. The connection to the negative state relief hypothesis is that high and low ppl will both help only if they think they'll remember Katie's situation.

How studies reflect the 5 stages of helping behavior

The Good Samaritan Study-- Noticing something is happening: Low hurry=highest helping, middle hurry= middle helping, rush=low help The Smoke-Filled Room Study-- Interpreting event as emergency: Normative social influence The Bystander Intervention Study-- Take responsibility: diffusion of responsibility makes people less likely to help bc they can leave it onto others

Informational Social Influence on helping

The desire to conform to the behavior of others that occurs because an individual believes that the information presented is correct.

Independent Variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The idea that (1) frustration always elicits the motive to aggress and (2) that all aggression is caused by frustration.... this ultimately was revised to be frustration is an unpleasant experience and it may lead to aggression

Normative Social Influence on helping

The influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them; this type of conformity results in public compliance with the group's beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily in private acceptance of those beliefs and behaviors

Dependent Variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people think about, interact with, influence, and are influenced by the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of other people.

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Attitude Change

Theory suggesting that there are two routes to attitude change: the central route, which focuses on thoughtful consideration of an argument for change, and the peripheral route, which focuses on less careful, more emotional, and even superficial evaluation.

How does testosterone relate to aggression? What evidence is there relating T to aggression? causal?

There is a correlation between testosterone and direct aggression in both men and women. In a study of Tomboy mice (female mice injected with androgens in utero), they were more aggressive ISSUE, is that can aggression increase testosterone levels? also there can be third variables like stress causes aggression and increase in testosterone. so it is NOT CAUSALLY related!!!!

Increase helping behavior

They have just seen others offering help. They are not in a hurry. They share some similarities with the person needing help. They are in a small town or a rural setting. They feel guilty. They are not preoccupied or focused on themselves. They are happy. The person needing help appears deserving of help.

Who are more likely to help in different situations?

They notice the incident. They interpret the incident as being an emergency situation. They assume responsibility for helping. Other reasons are: They have just seen others offering help. They are not in a hurry. They share some similarities with the person needing help. They feel guilty. They are not preoccupied or focused on themselves. They are happy. The person needing help appears deserving of help.

The Good Samaritan Study--- Darley and Batson (1973)

This study includes seminary students who were recruited to talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan or on jobs available for seminary graduates. The students walk into another building to give the talk and they were told that they were late, just on time, or had more time. As they were walking to their room, they encountered a person in distress sitting in a doorway not moving and groaning. The findings of this study were that giving a speech on the good samaritan increased helping (53-29%), but being in a rush was a key factor in helping behavior. Low hurry=highest helping, middle hurry= middle helping, rush=low help

Empathy-Altruism vs. Negative State Relief--- Stocks et al (2009)

This study is similar to Cialdini's except these researchers believe that altruism exists. They had people listen to a radio program about a student who may have to drop out of school to take care of her siblings. They manipulated empathy by telling people to image how Katie feels or focus on the technical aspects of the broadcast. The easy escape is providing ppl with enhancing/limiting their memory of the story. They found that high empathy ppl will help even when there is an easy escape, and low empathy ppl will only help when they think they will remember the story. The connection to the negative state relief hypothesis is that high and low ppl will both help only if they think they'll remember Katie's situation.

The "Southern Gentleman" study--- Cohen et al. (1996)

This study was conducted on a university campus where males were recruited who grew up in the North or the South. Before walking down the hall they test their testosterone level. As they walked down the hall, they were bumped by an accomplice that called them an *******. At their destination at the end of the hall, their testosterone levels were measured. On the way back down the hallway they played "chicken" with another person walking down the hall. The findings were testosterone levels rose in southern men that were insulted and didn't rise with northern men. They found that Northern men move over more slowly when insulted than not insulted. Southern men hold their ground way longer then they are insulted, but they move over almost immediately when they are not insulted.

Empathy in helping behavior

This was tested by Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis--- the idea that people HIGH in empathy will help even when: there aren't social rewards when helping is difficult and when there are excuses/reasons to not help People LOW in empathy are only motivated to help when: there are high personal rewards personal costs are low and there is no way out of distress

Conclusion about Empathy and Altruism

Ultimately, anyone with higher empathy will help--> when they are high on agreeableness and humble. Plus advanced moral reasoning. Good mood makes people increase liking and help more

Empathy and its two components

Understanding another's perspective and feeling compassion for them 1)perspective taking 2)empathetic concern (sympathy, compassion, and tenderness)

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Courageous Resistance

Voluntary selfless behavior in which there is significantly high risk or cost to the actor and those related to them, the actor makes a conscious decision to act, and the behavior is sustained over time. Examples include rescue of Jews during the Holocaust, whistle-blowing, and protests leading to imprisonment or physical harm.

Similarity and Liking Influence Helping

We are more likely to help others when we like them Similarity, Ingroup, and Mimicking

Social Learning Theory and aggression

We learn behavior through observation and modeling. It applies to aggression (bobo doll experiment), children especially model their behavior after others. Violent video games and media influence violence

Informational Influence

a phenomenon that occurs when another person's behavior provides information about what is good or right

Negative State Relief

a theory that the decision to help others is influenced by whether people believe that helping others will alleviate there own suffering

Self-Fulfilling Prophesy

an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true

Minimal Group Paradigm

an experimental paradigm in which researchers create groups based on arbitrary and seemingly meaningless criteria and then examine how the members of these "minimal groups" are inclined to behave toward one another

Random Assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

Implicit Attitudes

attitudes that influence a person's feelings and behavior at an unconscious level

4 horsemen of the apocalypse and positive interactions

criticism, defesniveness, contempt, stonewalling

Cycle of Violence

pattern of repeating violent or abusive behaviors from one generation to the next. Domestic violence is learned

Factors leading to Attraction/Liking

proximity; physical appearance; competence, intelligence, credibility; self-disclosure and reciprocation of liking; similarities; differences and complimentary

Fear Appeals

suggest to the consumer that he or she can avoid some negative experience through the purchase and use of a product or service, a change in behavior, or a reduction in the use of a product. "Try X and you'll avoid Y"

Thought Suppression

the conscious avoidance of a thought (try to not think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute-Dostoevsky)

Internal Validity

the extent to which an experiment shows convincingly that changes in behavior are a function of the independent variable and not the result of uncontrolled or unknown variables.

Empathy-Altruism

the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person for purely altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain