Social Psychology: Midterm #1:

The Flexible Social Thinker:

"cognitive miser" "motivated tacticians" Cognitive Miser - using mental short cuts wherever you can. We don't like thinking about little things that happen during your day. - going along with what everyone else is doing because you don't have to make any decisions. Motivated tacticians - people who have large arsenal. Being able to choose wisely from rules to make a decision. - motivated reasoning, someone who shifts from quick-and-dirty cognitively economical tactics to more thoughtful, thorough strategies when processing information, depending on the type of degree of motivation.

Social Psychology:

"the scientific discipline that attempts to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others" (Gordon Allport) Construal: the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world.

Advantages of the laboratory experiment:

*FIELD or *LAB Random assignment no yes Control over variables low high Convenience and accuracy of collecting data low high Random assignment in labs you can control. Can be different every day out in the field though. Control over your variables is very high in a lab cause you can control it easily. Outside the lab not so much. Convenience and accuracy of collecting data - in the lab. Will people behave the same way they normally do in a lab? No. Won't get real answers with children especially the first time for example a child comes into the lab for observation. They will act different if they are not comfortable in the space.

Advantages of field experiment:

*Field or *Lab External Validity high low Experimental realism high low Minimizes participants' suspicion and maximizes natural and spontaneous behaviour yes no Field Experiment - people are behaving the way they usually behave. But if you only observe someone once is that really their normal behaviour? Experimental realism - yes, people are probably not going to do what they are doing in the lab though. You are in their world.

The Availability Heuristic:

- A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind - Study by Tversky & Kahneman, 1973 (famous and "non-famous" names - Sometimes what is easiest to bring to mind is not typical of the overall picture. - "It looks like this so it must be this" - not good to assume this without investigation.

The Representativeness Heuristic:

- A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case - Representativeness questionnaire.

Theory of Planned Behaviour:

- A theory of how attitudes guide behaviour suggesting that individuals consider the implications of their actions before deciding to perform various behaviours (Theory of Reasoned Action) - includes our intentions, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control (hard/easy).

Schemas:

- Are cognitive structures that people use to organize their knowledge about the world - Influence attention, interpretation, and memory - Can also act as filters, screening out information that is inconsistent with them. ** Know what a schema is. Experience or being told something. That is how you learn schemas. These kinds of thinks stick. Even if you have been presented different evidence. Very simple when you are little and as you get older they get more and more complex. Schemas become more complex and refined the more you learn. They act as filters that screen out information that doesn't make sense. Ethnocentric world view. Why would you want to learn why people do things differently from you. You believe what you have learned and will be less likely to want to learn or accept what someone else does. Human memory is reconstructive. Why do your memories not always match up with other people who were there? We all pay attention to specific things. Or if you were out of the room to go to the bathroom, were on your phone or went outside to have a smoke. You might not have been paying attention. Just because you somehow managed to miss something that happened even though you were there. You might not have been paying attention. Could be thinking about something else or talking to someone or were distracted by something else.

Automatic versus Controlled Thinking:

- Automatic processing is thinking that is non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless - Controlled thinking is conscious, intentional, voluntary and effortful. We have a tendency to use automatic thinking, but if something is important you switch to controlled thinking. Automatic processing - sometimes you might act on your automatic processing. You may not even know when you act on it but people close to you might notice. Such as your friends or family. Make statements and not always a good thing.

Ironic Processing and Thought Suppression:

- Being preoccupied reduces our ability to engage in thought suppression - the attempt to avoid thinking about something we don't like - Examples. Ironic Processing - sometimes it is hard for us to suppress thoughts. - how hard is it when you are trying not to think about something. Ex. After a break up and you decide not to think about the other person again. But then it almost becomes an obsession, but can you help it? Some people use strategies. Sometimes it gets so bad it turns into a obsession. You should really just let it go through your head and just let it come and go and focus on something else after. It is hard to suppress thoughts.

Psychological Social Psychology:

- Central focus in the individual - Researchers attempt to understand social behaviour by analyzing immediate stimuli, psychological states, and personality traits - prediction of behaviour is the primary goal of research - experimentation is the primary research method, followed by surveys - main scientific journal in the field is the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Sociological Social Psychology:

- Central focus is on the group or society - Researchers attempt to understand social behaviour by analyzing societal variables, such as social status, social roles, and social norms - Description of behaviour is the primary goal of research - Surveys and participant observation are the primary research methods - Main scientific journal in the field is Social Psychology Quarterly.

Errors continued:

- Counterfactual Thinking: tendency to imagine outcomes in a situation other than those that actually occurred - to think about "what might have been" - upward - image better outcomes - downward - imagine worse outcomes. Would've, could've, should've didn't. I would've won the lottery if I had bought a ticket. You might not have been the winning ticket anyways though. I should've said this ____ Should think: It could've been worse.

1. Communicator:

- Credibility (expertise, trustworthiness, sincerity) - Attractiveness (good looks, popularity, likeability) - Rapid speech

C. Self-evaluation Maintenance Theory:

- Holds that one's self-concept can be threatened by another individual's behaviour and that the level of threat is determined by both the closeness of the other individual (e.g., close friend) and the personal relevance of the behaviour (e.g., being a good cook is important to us) - We feel threatened if a close other outperforms us in a relevant domain, and we seek to restore our self-esteem by a. Distancing ourselves from the person b. Improving our performance c. Reducing the relevance of the task. - If you have a role. Ex. the best cook in your friend group and then all of a sudden someone else cooks a good meal. But that is your job, your identity. What happens when someone outdoes you? You vote them off your island. That is your thing. Harder when it is a family member. Ex. Sibling who is better than you, this might make you quit. Try to take over your thrown or you reduce the relevance, "ahh it doesn't really matter" You don't "care" anymore. It doesn't bother you.

B. Use Indirect tactics:

- Leave dissonance intact but reduce the unpleasant feelings that accompany it by a. restoring positive self-evaluations that are threatened by the dissonance (self- affirmations) b. distract yourself (drinking, exercising).

3. Audience:

- Low (early research) or moderate self-esteem - Younger age groups (lower in adults over 25) - Lower education

Deception/Lying:

- Micro-expressions Nose wrinkle (like bad smell) and mouth curl (downwards) - Interchannel discrepancies Mixed signals (psychopaths/sociopaths) - Speech Change in rate, change in voice pitch, increase in "ums" and "ahs" - Eye contact Change (normal is ¼ to ½) - Eye movement Seeing whites of eyes (top and bottom) Looking left (thinking of past); looking right (thinking of future) - Body Nervous movement of feet or legs Hand reaching to mouth, fingers blocking mouth, rub or touches eyes, pulls at ears. What did they say was the eyes? Seeing the whites of your eyes and looking left - means you are trying to recall past events. Looking right - thinking of the future. Interchannel Discrepancies - you have to watch the pat on the back because they may have a different motive. Eye contact - you can't just stare at someone. Body - people move. To get rid of nervous energy. Liars - can't make eye contact, would pull their ear, cover their mouth.

Errors in Social Cognition:

- Negativity Bias: the fact that we show greater sensitivity to negative than to positive information - Optimistic Bias: predisposition to expect things to turn out well overall - Unrealistic Optimism: the tendency to believe that we are more likely to experience positive life events and less likely to experience negative life events, than similar others - Planning Fallacy: our tendency to make optimistic predictions about the completion of a task. Negativity Bias - That is what the news does. Misery loves company. Optimistic Bias - Susan doesn't think this is an error. Lots of times crap happens but does it sometimes turn out better afterwards? It can. Had ____ never happened this new good thing wouldn't have happened. May work out overall. Our relationtion to other people. Unrealistic Optimism - This is one that lots of younger people do. But it can also lead to risky behaviour. You won't get an STI because you are a good person and it will only happen to bad people. Ex. You won't get in an accident while drinking and driving because you are a good driver. This is faulty thinking. Good things should happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people. Planning Fallacy - You have a paper to do and you thought your could get it all done in 8 hours. It is a problem. Group work is even worse. Why did you wait until the last day when you had ___ long to do it and you knew when it was due. You have time to get it done (always the excuse).

2. Message:

- Non-obvious persuasion - Present both sides of the issue - Arouse emotions (strong can work; fear must be moderate and with strategies to reduce).

Impression management:

- Our conscious or unconscious orchestration of a carefully designed presentation of self so as to create a certain impression that fits our goals or needs in a social interaction. Conscious or unconscious 1st years? Care about what they wear to class.

Propaganda Techniques:

- Propagandists use a variety of techniques to influence opinions and to avoid the truth - Often rely on some element of censorship or manipulation, either omitting significant information or distorting it - Indistinguishable except in degree from other persuasion techniques employed in social, religious and commercial affairs - Persuasion technology has become popular (digital image alteration, persuasive presentation, persistent telemarketing based on repetition, making them impossible to avoid).

Ethics in Social Psychology:

- Respect for dignity of persons. The basic foundation for all of the others. - No harm (physical and/or psychological) - Confidentiality/privacy - Deception/debriefing - Right to withdraw - Informed consent Ethics were payed more attention to because of legal/unethical practices. For children, the parents have to give consent. But children are allowed at 7 to give their own consent. Not just physical, but mental abuse are not acceptable. - No harm. (physical and/or psychological) In research you keep the persons name away from the data. Keeps the confidentiality. Right to withdraw: Participants are allowed to withdraw from a study if they choose to leave. Informed Consent: Participants have the right to know what is going on and what is going to be asked of them. Debriefing and deception: If you deceive your participants you have to tell them and they have a right to withdraw after finding out about being deceived. Preconceived notions about what people are allowed to do. Biased. Beneficial treatment: Is it ethical to leave your control group and switched to the group that is testing the ex. Pill that seems to be working?

The Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic:

- Start with a certain reference point (anchor) and then adjust it insufficiently to reach a final conclusion - Biased sampling. You start with a reference point and throw out a number (ex. For selling a house) its not the price you want. Its an anchor. Most people will end up staying near that anchor. People don't want to pay what you are asking so they start ball parking or low ball you. Then you counter then they counter, etc. Is it a win win? Yes, the sellers got what they wanted and the buyers think they got a deal. Biased Sampling Example only seeing a certain part of Saskatchewan and assuming that is all there is to it. But that's not necessarily Saskatchewan. That is just the part you saw. That is a biased sample.

E. Self-verification Theory:

- Suggests that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether positive or negative - Sometimes, this tendency can conflict with the desires to uphold a favourable view of oneself - There are two corollaries that stem from Self-verification Theory. Confirmation of self-concept. This could be positive or negative. Someone feels bad about themselves. They are stupid, useless, and no one will ever love them. They don't go into a relationship with someone who calls them beautiful, etc. sometimes they will go into a relationship with someone who abuses them because they don't think are worth more than that. They can't take a compliment. - they can't just say thank you. We are taught at a very young age not to toot your own horn. If you ace an exam why shouldn't you be able to be proud of yourself for it. If your self esteem is damaged. This is the one that will win every time. It is so sad. People will say oh you're so beautiful. And they say no I'm not. Is it now a self-fulfilling prophecy. People will look for someone who treats them the way they think they are. "I'm too stupid, no one else would want me" they have been told that. And the person in the relationship who says that to you they use you as a punching bag and they know you won't leave because you can't do any better, etc. Just cannot get out of their own self-concept. Unsettling Uncomfortable.

D. Self-affirmation Theory:

- Suggests that people will reduce the impact of a threat to their self-concept by focusing on, and affirming their competence on some other dimension unrelated to the threat. Lets say you don't do well in school and then someone says something and then we start talking about accomplishments in other areas. You need to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. You can't be good at everything. You have to recognize that those are your weaknesses.

Self-presentation:

- The attempt to present who we are, or who we want people to believe we are, through our words, nonverbal behaviour, and actions. We try to present who we are, or do we? Do we really present who we are? What happens when you really show who you are? Are you vulnerable then? To criticism. That one "trusted friend" who shares what you tell them. What was their motivation? Why did they do that? A lot of times there is misinterpretation. Some people want to be themselves around other people. We have our trusted people. But some people feel they can't trust anyone and keep it to themselves. Ex. Teenagers who don't want to tell their parent something.

F. Cognitive Dissonance Theory:

- The feeling of discomfort caused by information that is discrepant from your customary, typically positive, self-concept - We can reduce dissonance by a. changing behaviour b. attempt to justify our behaviour through changing our cognitions. c. attempt to justify our behaviour by adding new cognitions. When you have discomfort. It is an uncomfortable feeling. This is when your attitude and behaviour are conflicting. Eating super healthy, then eat something sweet that grandma made you. While you eat it are you still in cognitive dissonance? Yes. Ex. The whole time you are eating it you are like I should not be doing this. Attempting to justify your behaviour through changing our cognitions. Attempt to justify your behaviour about why you shouldn't be doing it. Ex. Cigarette packs have those pictures on them. They are trying to get you into cognitive dissonance. The warnings are to prevent being sued. Uncomfortable feeling caused by something not quite right. There is nothing really wrong but you don't feel right. Sometimes we are aware of what is causing it and sometimes you don't know. It is unconscious. Then maybe you can switch into that more controlled thinking to try and figure out what it could be.

Knowing ourselves through the "looking-glass self":

- The idea that we see ourselves through the eyes of other people and incorporate their views into our self-concept. Figuring out who you are through the eyes of other people. We allow other people's opinions, comments, etc. to be who we think we are. Is it you who thinks that or someone else?

Is Social Psychology simply common sense?

- There is a problem with common sense (it tends to be activated after the fact; therefore hindsight bias or "I knew it all along" phenomenon) - Must be cautious when relying on common sense, especially in understanding human behaviour. Constrolled - the way people perceive and comprehend the social world.

Cognitive Dissonance:

- Unpleasant, internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between two or more of their attitudes or between their attitudes and their behaviour. - Induced compliance: situations in which individuals are somehow induced to say or do things inconsistent with their true attitudes; also known as forced compliance.

Chapters 1 and 2

- What is Social Psychology? - Research Methods and Ethics

B. Self-completion Theory:

- When people experience a threat to a valued aspect of their self-concept, or identity, they become highly motivated to seek social recognition of that identity. When people feel their valued self-concept or identity are being threatened they will be highly motivated to seek social recognition of that identity. Want people to give you a sense of accomplishment or achievement. Artist example. - experiencing a threat to a valued aspect of herself and need social recognition that she was good at what she thought she was good at.

A. Use direct tactics:

- You can change your attitude - You can acquire new information - You can minimize the importance or trivialization (the conclusion that the attitudes or behaviours in question are not important, so the inconsistency itself is trivial).

Social Psychology continued:

- emphasizes social influence (e.g. conformity, compliance, obedience, persuasion) but also social perception, how we think about individuals or groups (e.g., impression formation, attraction, stereotyping, bias), and social interaction, how we interact with each other (e.g., aggression, helping, prejudice/ discrimination, communication). - studied in both psychology and sociology

E. Self-verification Theory continued:

- it is unsettling and confusing to have our views of ourselves disconfirmed - it can be uncomfortable to interact with people who view us differently from the way we view ourselves - when people with negative self- views receive positive feedback, opposing needs come in to play (self-enhancement needs versus self-verification needs) Which one wins out? Self-verification but recent research now says that only under certain conditions does this occur.

Social Behaviour (feelings, actions, and thoughts of individuals in social situations) stems from many different causes:

1. Cognitive processes (our thoughts, beliefs, memories, inferences about others) 2. Biological factors (inherited aspects of our appearance, sensory and cognitive capacities) 3. The actions and characteristics of others (what they say and do; their appearance, racial or ethnic background) 4. Ecological variables (heat, noise, pollution, crowding, weather) 5. Cultural context (group membership, cultural norms and values).

Function of Self:

1. an organizational function 2. an emotional function 3. an executive function Functions of the Self: 1. An organizational function: Acting as a schema that helps us interpret and recall information about ourselves and the social world. 2. An Emotional Function: Helping to determine our emotional responses. Does experience come in a lot here? Yes. What do you do without a schema? Social referencing. Is there a problem if there is something and you do not know what it is, but you have one person who looks at the ex. New bug and the other person runs away what do you do? Looking at other people for reinforcement of behaviours. 3. An Executive Function: Or managerial function Informing us of our relationship to the physical and social world, organizing our behaviour, and helping us plan for the future. We don't realize how our concept of self is really that complex.

Nonverbal Communication:

1. facial expressions of emotion (major source of nonverbal communication) Darwin thought human emotional expressions were universal (i.e., all human encode and decode expressions in the same way) Encode: to express or emit nonverbal behaviours (e.g., smiling, patting someone on the back) Decode: to interpret meaning of nonverbal behaviour others express (deciding what the pat on the back was an expression of). Six or seven known all over the world. Encode: Smiling, patting someone on the back. Deciding what it is. It is interesting when someone doesn't like you so you use action ___ - you go up to someone who doesn't like you and you act really friendly.

Defensive attributions:

Explanations for behaviour or outcomes, such as tragic events, that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality Unrealistic optimism: good things are more likely to happen to them than their peers and that bad things are less likely to happen to them than their peers (use of "belief in a just world") - Lerner, 1980 - bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people...we are good so May lead to "blaming the victim". Very interesting because we don't like to feel vulnerable or think about our own mortality. People will think of all kinds of rationalization. The belief in a just world - that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. But that's not true. It rattles your safety. You idea that you are a good person so good things will happen to you. "I only will do it think one time" People will rationalize because we feel vulnerable. Any risky behaviours. You won't get into an accident because you are a good driver.

Selkides and Brewer (2001):

Some roles: student, employee, friend, etc. Do your roles play a part in who you are? Yes Dyadic is a relationship that is two people. Ex. Classmate you sit next to in class. Can start out without the relationship becoming intimate. After a while you become more comfortable with each other.

Social Perception:

How we form impressions of and make inferences about other people Rely on information from physical appearance, verbal and nonverbal communication (facial expressions, body movement, gestures, tone of voice, touch). Airport security is trained to know what your facial expressions, body language, etc. means and how to interpret it. Song - smiling faces. Only 7% of what we actually say is interpreted. Started using skype to have less miscommunication.

Communication:

55% is nonverbal (dress, facial expressions, body language) 38% is tone of voice 7% is what you actually say - 7% of what you actually say - this is how social media is at a disadvantage.

Where do attitudes come from?

A. Genetics B. Conditioning classicial conditioning - basic form of learning in which one stimulus, initially neutral, acquires the capacity to evoke reactions through repeated pairing with another stimulus subliminal conditioning: classical conditioning that occurs through exposure to stimuli that are below individuals' threshold of conscious awareness (e.g., media ads) instrumental or operant conditioning: a basic form of learning in which responses that lead to positive outcomes or permit avoidance of negative outcomes are strengthened (e.g.,"Boston" and "1-2-3 Magic). Genetics: Do you actually inherit your attitudes? Yes, we do. If you have never had the food, you're going to have more difficulty. Classical conditioning - a unconscious reaction to things. Ex. Conditioned response to something. Ex. Association between things like alcohol and being sick. Smell something and you either feel sick or smile it is a memory. Subliminal Conditioning ex. Having MacBook's in a show, they don't tell you what they are advertising. Just product placement. Can be very subtle. Can influence you and change your attitude towards it. Instrumental or operant conditioning a lot of our attitudes are learnt.

Self-concept Theories: A Self-Discrepancy Theory:

A. Self-discrepancy Theory theory that we become distressed when our sense of who we are - our actual self- is discrepant from our personal standards or desired self-conceptions - our ideal self - or our ought-self - the type of person we think we should be when discrepancy between ideal self and real self then we experience dejection, sadness, depression, dissatisfaction when discrepancy between real self and ought self then we experience fear, worry, tension and other anxiety-related emotions. Three Types of Self: Our actual self - real self. Who you are. Our ideal self - where you would like to be. Our ought self - who we think we should be. Ideal self, our ought self If you had everything in your life ideal. Then you have your real self - where you really are. Ought self comes from other people in society, the media, telling you what you should do, be, etc. after so long you eventually incorporate it into your beliefs. Ex. With the ought self, make your decision and live with it. Discrepancy between Real self and ideal self can lead to depression. A way to protect yourself - is to have a goal that you are still working towards. Or allow yourself to have one day where you have a pity party. You can't just stay there though. Discrepancy between real self and ought self - anxiety. "You should be....doing this or that.." brings about anxiety.

Which schemas are applied?

Accessibility is the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people's minds - Chronic accessibility - Temporary accessibility Priming is the process by which recent experiences increase a schema's or trait's accessibility. Accessibility is an important concept. When you go to get on a plane and normally you aren't nervous but you saw a plane in the states having technical difficulties. Are you going to be as relaxed? No. Every little thing will be perceived as something wrong with the plane. This is why you need to watch what information you allow yourself to be open to before social situations. Priming - Chronic Accessability - it is always there, it's constant. Can be in the forefront of your mind forever now. Can't do things without thinking about it all the time. Could these people be more susceptible to these kinds of fears and worries? Are they primed for it. Temporary accessability - this eventually goes away. What if a year later you hear footsteps behind you and you start thinking about it all over again. It came back. You can't get rid of schemas. Very consistent and could reinforce any of your schemas. Schemas are resistent to change. If they are incredibly deep and embedded they are know as convictions. It is stuck now. You wont' believe people.

Three Components:

Affective component - emotional reaction Cognitive component - thoughts and beliefs Behavioural component - actions/observable behaviour) strongly influence our social thought and strongly affect our behaviour. Affective component - emotional reaction - emotion tied to for ex. bananas. Do you try to override the originally created component and think rationally? Yes, but does it work? Behaviour - observable behaviour that you act out.

How do they influence our behaviour?

Attitude Specificity: extent to which attitudes are focused on specific objects or situations rather than general ones Attitude Ambivalence: two different viewpoints on same subject. Four Important Determinants of Attitude Strength: 1. Ambivalence - for people who do belong to a certain religion they can't change. Convicted religious individuals who come door to door. They are looking for people they can sway. They are not looking for people who have already decided. This is why some people put signs on their lawn during elections. 2. Accessibility - associating between an object and your evaluation of that object. If you haven't given something any thought then you might not know how you feel about it. If you have experience with it know what to do other people don't. How accessible 3. Subjective experience - the ease with which you are able to generate arguments for or against. You need to understand both sides of the story. Because you need to be able to argue both sides. Not just one. When someone tries to have a discussion about a topic, do you know about this topic. If it is a weak attitude. 4. Autobiographical Recall - Attitudes are stronger if we recall personal behaviours relevant to that attitude. Attitude Specificity - do you often hear other people are arguing general and not specific. What are they even talking about? They aren't being specific enough. Could be too specific or too general. Or generalizing a very specific point. Attitude Ambivalence - can you have an attitude for yourself but not other people for example. Ex. Are against abortion for yourself but are pro choice for other people. Could that give you cognitive dissonance? If you tell a little kid not to do something but you did. Ex. Telling your kids you didn't drink and do other things like that, but you did. Why lie?

Causal Attributions:

Attribution Theory: a description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own as well as other people's behaviour (Fritz Heider) Internal attribution: infer that a person's behaviour is due to his/her traits or dispositions/attitudes/character (personality) External attribution: infer that a person's behaviour is caused by situation(s). Why is something the way it is? Fritz Heider What are the causes of behaviour? It is harder for other people to judge, you usually know why you do things, obviously there are times when you don't. Ex. Being hungry, tired, etc. Do people act different when they are hungry? Yes. Internal - something about the person's personality. Why did that person cut you off? Because they are an *******. That's something we do right away. Could it have been that they didn't even notice you? It's personal. External - It is the situation. We know our own situations, but we don't know other people's situations. This is why people automatically assume if it is internal or external. You could miss out on meeting a really great person because of a one time encounter where they may not have been themselves.

Basic vs. Applied Research:

Basic research: studies designed to find the best answer as to why people behave the way they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity Applied research: studies designed specifically to solve a particular social problem; building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the specific problem.

Where do attitudes come from?

C. Social Learning: a basic form of learning in which individuals acquire new forms of behaviour or thought through observing and imitating others D. Cultural factors can influence attitudes. Values: broad and abstract principles of life (contain our moral beliefs and standards of conduct) [e.g., environmentalist, equality] and can be transmitted through social learning and shaped by social comparisons at home, in school, and among friends. Kids learn from social learning. People need to be a role model for kids. Cultural factors - as you were growing you did things because people did things that way. Ex. Voting for who you vote for because of your parents.

Social Cognition: How we think about the social world:

Chapter 3

Social Perception:

Chapter 4

Kelley's (1967) Theory of Attribution:

Consensus - information about the extent to which other people behave the same way towards the same stimulus as the actor does (used the most) Distinctiveness - information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli (when low...not distinct; when high...treat people differently) Consistency - information about the extent to which the behaviour between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances. When you are trying to figure out someone's behaviour you need to look at these Three Theories of Attribution. Consensus - Do other people behave the same way to the same stimulus? Distinctiveness - does one person behave the same way to different stimuli. Consistency - when the behaviour of the person is the same no matter what the circumstances. When it is all high is it external.

History continued:

Crisis and Reassessment 1970 to present - Solutions to complex problems such as prejudice, aggression, and poverty proved difficult to find - Past research faced criticism as representing a white, male, American perspective, ignoring concerns of women and minority group members as well as contributions from researchers in other countries - Ethics were called into question - Continuing efforts to address these issues result in a stronger, more vital field of social psychology. Do we still have the same problems even with the programs? Yes. Should these problems either be non issues or at least minimalized? Yes. Wanted to revamp it and make it a stronger field of psychology. They started looking for ways to deal with social problems for the crisis and reassessment period. Do we still have the same problems even with the programs? Yes. Should these problems either be non issues or at least minimalized? Yes. Wanted to revamp it and make it a stronger field of psychology. They started looking for ways to deal with social problems for the crisis and reassessment period.

William James (1842-1910):

Discussed the duality of the self a. the "known" or "me" (our self- concept: the contents of the self; the knowledge of who we are) b. the "knower" or "I" (our self-awareness: the act of thinking about ourselves) - We have a spiritual component, a social component, and a material component. The know or I that is self awareness. When you are little you don't know who you are until you are 24 months old. Before that they will say baby but then later they will look in the mirror and realize. Once they have that me self, then they start thinking about themselves. The components.

Nonverbal communication cont'd:

Display rules: Dictate when different nonverbal behaviours like crying are appropriate to display and by whom Unique to each culture. What is allowed. It is very cultural What is crying seen as here? Sad, happy. You have to do the context of what is actually wrong. Are we allowed to cry in Western Culture? Woman. Men can only cry for births, deaths, pain (but some people will tell them to toughen up), getting married. Display rules in different cultures. For what you can do and when. Better know your culture when you travel so you aren't offending people. For ex. Laughing in public can't be displayed, or they need to cover their mouth when they laugh.

Cognitive Approach to Persuasion:

Elaboration Likelihood Model (of Persuasion): theory that suggests persuasion can occur in either of 2 distinct ways, differing in the amount of cognitive effort or elaboration they require - Central Route - systematic processing of information presented in persuasive message - Peripheral Route - heuristic processing or shortcuts (we use persuasion cues or simple cues involving superficial characters of the communicator of the message) - e.g., "he's a doctor" [Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz]; movie star or sport star as spokesperson (Air Canada, Weight Watchers) This depends on the relevance of the argument.

Attitude-to-Behaviour Process Model:

Emphasizes the influence of both attitudes and stored knowledge of what is appropriate (social norms) in a given situation on the present situation (definition then influences overt behaviour).

Attitudes: Chapter 6:

Evaluations of a person, object or idea.

Conducting Research in Social Psychology:

Experiments (theory, hypothesis, operational definition, cause-and-effect, random selection, IV, DV, confounding variables, experimental group, control group, generalizability) Observation (direct, natural, participant, archival, surveys, case studies) Ethnography: method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside without imposing any pre-conceived notions they might have Correlations (relationships but no cause-and-effect; correlational coefficient) Meta-analyses (results of many studies). Conducting research can mean using lots of experiments. Without an experiment you cannot say "this is because of this" In the experiment you have a theory, then a hypothesis, Correlation is not causation. Operational definition is the hardest. What is the definition and how are you defining it. Covert Bullying - under the radar bullying. Doing it but not out in the open. Hardest one to find. Overt Bullying - Hawthorn (Effect) - if you know you are being watched you are likely to act differently. Cause and Effect - random selection makes it so each and every person has the same chance of being part of the experimental or control group. Independent variable is manipulated with you. Confounding variables - any variable that could cause something that you hadn't taken into consideration. The bigger the sample the better the data. There are outliers in research. They are more interesting because they do not have results like the average of the group. Generalize ability. But it needs to be a representative study. People behave differently in different locations. Natural observation - you need to blend in otherwise people will act differently. Natural observation is the best. Participant observation - where you go and participate and watch. Sometimes this is good. Ex. Police officers under cover. Could be incredibly dangerous and unethical. Archival research - go into record that already exist and do your research. Ex. Go into medical files and look at people with diabetes and see what medications people are taking for example. Surveys - What strategies can you use to get people to do something. Case studies - can't generalize to anyone else. Ex. Can't say that this is what someone with this condition does and is like. Participant observation - usually have a preconceived notion of what to expect. Can you really do this without doing anything different? No. Can you remove your exponential view. Are you going to get other people to do things and join even though it is not something you normally do. You have to be able to do everything the same as the rest of the group. Correlation - relationships between two variables. All you see is how well they relate. Can go from +1 to - to - 1. Direction. If you have a positive correlation. As one variable the other increases too. In positive. In negative if one increases the other decreases. Looking for strength. 0 is not strong. If you see a correlation that is .30 and under 0 then you usually do not report it. If you have + .68 and -.72 which is stronger. - .72 is stronger. All the plus and minus are telling you is the direction. Correlations can be reported like causations but that doesn't mean that they are causations it just means they have a relationship of some kind.

Self-serving attributions:

Explanations for one's success that credits internal, dispositional factors, while attributing one's failures to external, situational factors (e.g., marks on midterm) Lau and Russell (1980) observed this pattern in the attributions professional athletes made for their performance (e.g., injuries, coaching, etc.). What we use a lot. Rationalizations If something happens you will blame or rationalize that it was something else. If you don't do well on a midterm who's fault it is? Ex. Professor made a really hard test not that you didn't study enough. You don't learn from the situation. Find out what you weren't doing enough of. For fill in the blanks you can't just study the definitions it is a different part of your memory. Can't search for a term by the definition. Study it both ways that way you will do better no matter how they test you. A lot of times people with athletes. It is changing and people are actually taking responsibility for their bad play. Wouldn't have heard that before. Do it because of our self-esteem and you cannot change history, learn from it and do better next time. People who drink the night before they are self handicaping. They already know that they are not prepared enough and then they have an excuse. Why do we do it? Self esteem, self presentational.

Other channels of nonverbal communication:

Eye contact and gaze (e.g., stares) "the eyes are the windows of the soul" Personal space Body language (cues provided by the position, posture, and movement of people's bodies or body parts) emblems or nonverbal gestures. What happens when you look into people's eyes and there seems to be no soul? If you have even encountered a true psychopath its not like normal people who's eyes might sparkle a bit or look more lively. But a psychopath will have dead eyes. Personal Space - some people who don't like people being too close. Emblems - nonverbal gestures in different cultures.

Fundamental Attribution Error continued:

Gilbert's work suggests attribution is a two-step process A. Automatic and spontaneous - internal B. Effortful and conscious - situation Role of culture (individualistic societies are different from collectivistic societies). We usually assume that you are internal. Then switch into situation. What was going on. Don't get mad at your friend for not answer your text. Maybe their phone was dead and that is why they weren't answering you. You have to know your person. Role of culture - people from collectivistic societies tend to look at the situation right away. Even looking at newspaper articles, who they are, where they are doing it. We have a tendency to blame the person which can lead to blaming the victim. Someone gets raped and for some reason it becomes their fault. What they wore, said, did, etc. Addictions is one area where it is very hard. People do choose in the beginning to drink, do drugs, etc. At first it is a choice but then once it is an addiction it is a biological thing that takes over. Hard to take over the neuronal pathway.

Cultural differences in definition of self:

Independent view of the self defining oneself in terms of one's internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people Interdependent view of the self defining oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people; recognizing that one's behaviour is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others. Cultural differences: You may have an independent view of yourself. Some people define themselves by how other people see, feel, think about them. Or you get messages from other people that you are smart, stupid, etc. how much do you believe them? Way too much. People just accept what other people think of them. Should you sometimes take into consideration what other people say? Sometimes. But for the most part no. people make judgements. Depends too on personality. If you have a high need for affiliation would you become who they want you to be rather than who you actually are. That is dangerous. People get so far away from who they are that they lost themselves. They don't know who they are anymore. Particularly middle aged women who are through with all the mom stuff because the kids have left home. That role is not so demanding anymore. Now you have to figure out who you are and what you want to do.

Correspondent Inference Theory:

Jones and Davis (1965) to explain how we make internal attributions about a person, suggests we examine 1. noncommon effects of his/her behaviour (behaviour cannot be explained by alternative courses of action) and 2. whether the behaviour was expected or not - category-based expectations (group) - target-based expectations (past actions). Noncommon effects - Category based expectations. People actually will do that fundamental attribution error - will blame their behaviour on ___ Category based expectations (groups) - there is an explanation for what is going on. Target-Based expectations (past actions) - Based on a person's past actions.

Schemas can persist even after they are discredited:

Perseverance Effect: the finding that people's beliefs about themselves and the social world persist even after the evidence supporting these beliefs is discredited Self-fulfilling prophecy Rosenthal & Jacobsen , 1968, research ("bloomers" in a classroom - warning for teachers!!!) - "reign of error", Merton (1948) [math teachers and girls] Where do schemas come from? - the culture we live and/or grow up in. So if you think you are stupid because you've been told you are before or something you did was stupid, that is a hard schema to overcome. No matter how successful you are the minute you start to struggle with something you go back to "see I knew I was dumb" Self-fulfilling prophecy - You think someone is stuck up, and then you talk to them and they don't talk back. Do you now have the idea of what they are like. Rosenthal and Jacobsen - They told the teacher that the classroom they were getting were all bloomers (that the students were really smart) The teacher challenged the students more and thought more of them. The students did well and stepped up to the plate because people were challenging them. They did well. Same if you assume people are dumb and if a teacher babies them you aren't doing them a favour, you are not helping them grow up. Merton - "reign of error" thought that girls were bad at math and didn't ask them. Will that make them try? No. Unless they have that screw you attitude to being told you can't do something. Where do schemas come from? Your ethnocentric experience, culture you grow up in. Has a huge influence on what we know and learn.

How do we attempt to change or influence attitudes?

Persuasion: the process through which one, or more, people attempts to alter the attitudes of one or more others Three factors that increase effectiveness of persuasion are:

Type of theories in Social Psychology:

Question: "Why would someone spit on me?" - Because of something about them (e.g., their personality)? - Because of the social context (e.g., social norms - everyone else was spitting on me)? - Because of society (e.g., social hierarchies - power and status differences between .... And ....)? Is it just something about them. Social context? Ex. Back in high school did you join in on the dumb things other people are doing. What caused this person to do what they did. Is there more going on here than you can see? Doesn't always have to be about agreeing that they did a good thing. You don't allow it but understanding why people do the things they do. There could be a lot going on in your friends world that you don't know about. Easy problem to fix. Ask them.

History continued: Rapid Expansion:

Rapid Expansion 1946-1969 - Major research includes authoritarian personality (Adorno et al.); obedience to authority (Milgram); cognitive dissonance (Festinger); interpersonal and romantic attraction (Hatfield Berscheid) - More women and members of ethnic minority groups entered the fields of social science, including social psychology. Cognitive Dissonance - we get thrown into this lots every day. It is a feeling we get into. Anyone who has trouble making decisions. Ex. Picking something for food. "I don't care, you pick" You do care. Interpersonal and Romantic Attraction - tested - men, middle aged and middle class. Who do they do the research with now today? First year and second year classes. - psych students. Is there a problem with that? The results are not coming from third and fourth year students who could give different answers than the first and second year students. You aren't technically a complete volunteer because there was the motivation of extra marks towards your grade. You are also getting around the same age groups.

Mental Strategies and shortcuts:

Schemas - Mental shortcuts or judgmental heuristics (to make judgments quickly and efficiently) - Do not guarantee that people will make accurate inferences about the world. - Does not always lead to the BEST decisions. - Efficient, usually lead to good decisions in a reasonable amount of time. First is schemas - helps you cut out information. Helps you do a lot less thinking Heuristics. Only listening to heuristics and not schemas. They are efficient but not necessarily trustworthy. Accessibility and easiest to bring to mind doesn't necessarily lead to good things/decisions.

The Nature of the Self:

Self-Knowledge: Chapter 5

How do they influence our behaviour?

Situational factors (situational constraints) Attitudinal factors (direct experience stronger) Attitude Strength: ability to predict behaviour depends on strength has several components (intensity, knowledge, importance). - There are situational factors for attitudes. Sometimes people start with an opinion when they are not in the right situation to bring it up. There are times when it is not appropriate. Ex. At a funeral. If you have direct experience your attitude will be stronger. Attitude strength - how intense is it? We have all seen people with an intense attitude. Some people it is passion but some people it is way over the top. Your knowledge - some people go on about a topic with a strong attitude but they don't know very much about the topic. (google searchers) It is a good thing to look at the other side of things.

The Fundamental Attribution Error:

Tendency to overestimate the extent to which people's behaviour is due to internal, dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors (examples) Attention helps explain why the fundamental attribution error is so prevalent; perceptual salience. What other people think or do is none of your business. If it doesn't influence you at all why do you care and how is it affecting you? Judging people all the time about what they say, do etc. they have a right to do what they want. You don't have to agree. Sometimes you might have to agree to disagree. Perceptual salience When do you not pay attention to people? You can't describe the person. There is this one instance where someone does not focus on the person. If that person has a weapon. They can describe the weapon not the person. Usually you can describe the person but not in a situation like that. A lot of times you just cannot remember.

The Actor/Observer Difference:

Tendency to see other people's behaviour as due to dispositional causes, while focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining our own behaviour May occur because we have more information about ourselves. Watching people in the hallway. If someone is walking and trip over nothing someone might say oh that person is so clumsy. But if you do it you look down and then you start rationalize the reason it happened. There was a bump, or something was spilt or something.

History of Social Psychology continued:

The Coming of Age 1935-1945 - The Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues - 1936 - Applications of social psych theory used in WWII - Kurt Lewin introduced principle of interactionism (emphasizes the combined effects of both the person and the situation on human behaviour) which continues to be an integral part of contemporary social psychology theory and research. Made a society looking for that. Applying it to WWII. What are the skills required to make someone an officer? Couldn't just be done by education. Need social skills. Authoritarian, people people (more humanistic). ***Kurt Lewin, introduced interactionism Known as the father of social psych. People don't act the same in different social situations. Observing is still being social. There are some people who are not good self monitors and they don't watch their behaviour or watch what they are doing. Ex. Difference between your behaviour in church and outside of church.

History of Social Psychology:

The Early Years (1885-1934) - First empirical study (Triplett 1895) - McDougall published a social psych text with an evolutionary perspective, focusing on instincts, in 1908 - 1908, Ross published a social psych text focusing on interpersonal processes - Floyd Allport's 1924 text emphasized experimental procedures. 1885 is when it really started. Triplett was a name back in the day. Why do we do the things we do? Survival - McDougall. Does having friends and a support system help you? Yes. What are the processes that happen between people?

Organizing Principles in Social Psychology:

The self is shaped by - and shapes - the social environment Culture shapes social behaviour - Culture (the total lifestyle of people from a particular social grouping, including all the ideas, symbols, preferences and material objects that they share) - Ideology (a set of beliefs and values held by the members of a social group, which explains its culture both to itself and to other groups) - Individualism and collectivism concern how individuals relate to their groups - The "hot" versus "cold" perspectives permeate social psychological theory. Can you become a different self based on the household that you live in? Some people have to adapt to survive. In another situation, their self could be very different. Ex. Neglected, their behaviour could be bad at home. People need attention. You can lash out, create drama or situations (ex. Fb posts where people say something very vague and then not want to talk about it.) Culture shapes behaviour. What is the Canadian Culture? Ideology - do some ideologies conflict? Yes. Hot vs. Cold perspective. Hot - people are moved by their needs desires and emotion. Or affect. Cold - How people think will determine what they want and how they feel. Desires. Rational. Have to look at people's motivation. How does motivation affect your behaviour. We make a lot of assumptions about people.

2. Multichannel nonverbal communication:

Usually receive information from multiple channels simultaneously Extroverts are better decoders than introverts. You have to watch for more than one thing. Try to find more than one thing. Extroverts - they are around people all the time so they are around it more. More experience with people. Introverts - can get snowed easier. We interpret things from experience. Frame of reference of what lying looks like based on your own experience. So just because someone isn't doing the tell that you know about doesn't mean they aren't lying.

Why do we make self-serving attributions?

To maintain/enhance self-esteem Self-presentational (e.g., group work...our contribution versus others contribution) More information about ourselves in other situations which may lead to positive outcomes being expected and negative unexpected - Cultural differences "The mark is all my doing" Self presentational - Negative outcomes. What happens when you go into something assuming you will not do well. Do you try then in that class? No. you put in less effort. If you think you won't do well then what is the point. Rationalization that people use often. Collectivistic cultures - will more likely say its me. I didn't study enough. Will thank others for helping them do something. Individualistic cultures - self serving actions. It's all about me, I did it on my own.

Why do we have Schemas?

We need continuity Important to our understanding of others, ourselves and general social world Personal (types of persons), role (social roles), scripts Important in reducing ambiguity help us avoid information overload Kelley's (1950) "warm/cold" study. Continuity: People who suffer from certain things corcicops? Can't form any more memories and only remember certain things from their life up to a certain point. Have short term working memory. They live in the past, they can do everything they used to do but can never learn anything new. But they can invent schemas where they never existed in order to make sense of the world around them. Do other people do this too? In order to bring order into their world. Is this true or is it not true? If something is true for you and you really believe it. Is it true for you? Yes you will argue it is true too. When a lie has become truth to you if you tell it so many times over the years. You have convinced yourself and created a new memory that didn't actually exist before. Scripts are a bunch of schemas put together. Ex. Fast food restaurants can help explain schemas. You go through the door and through the maze for the line. Decide to order before you get in line so you know what you want. You order, pay and get your number, wait for your food in your seat. There are a lot of steps. Can you use your dairy queen script in McDonalds? No. People get angry when someone else isn't following the script. Do we judge people? Yes. Can't always assume that other people know what to do. They may not have a script. Did a study where half the class was warm and the other half was cold. Then after presentation, each person was given an evaluation form and to state if the person was warm or cold. When you go to figure out who you want to take a class from by referencing ratemyprof.com does ratemyprof influence your decision. Social cognition. - Other people who give you names or categorize you as a certain type of person. Is a certain type of thinking rational? Gossip, etc.

Kelley's (1967) Theory of Attribution cont'd:

When consensus and distinctiveness are low and consistency is high, more likely to make internal attribution When all high, more likely to make an external attribution.

3. Gender differences in nonverbal communication:

When people are telling the truth, women are better both at decoding and encoding Men are better at detecting lies Social-role theory: posits differences are due to division of labour between the sexes in society. Could be why they have more male security than women. Social roles - are there gender specific roles for men and women? Women are supposed to be nurturing.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory continued:

external justification: a person's reason or explanation for dissonant behaviour that resides outside the individual (e.g., in order to receive a large reward, or avoid a severe punishment) internal justification: reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., one's attitude or behaviour) G. Post-decision Dissonance. External Justification: Sometimes people do things because there is an insensitive. You might even do something that goes against your belief system. You may have just gone against your internal belief systems in order to keep your job. Internal: Changing your attitude or behaviour. Post-decision Dissonance: Made a decision. You will convince yourself that the decision you made was the right one. Rationalizing that you made a good decision. Stay Beautiful - Ugly Truth in Beauty Magazines - YouTube video.

Social Cognition:

is the study of how people select, interpret, and use information to make judgments about the social world assumes that people are motivated to understand the world accurately People use mental shortcuts to simplify the amount of information received is pragmatic and usually adopts different procedures depending on a person's goals and needs in a situation. How do we think about the social world?

Gilbert's (1991) theory of automatic believing:

suggests that people initially believe everything they hear and see (automatic processing) Then they assess the info more thoroughly and "unaccept" it if necessary (controlled processing). Is that a problem with social media? Do people comment right away and then other people will say please see the definition of humor or sarcasm because people take things that are said at face value. That is the trolls job? Yes, people enjoy getting people going and worked up. You need more information to unaccept something.

Knowing ourselves through self-schemas:

organized knowledge structures about ourselves, based on our past experiences, that help us understand, explain and predict our own behaviour require autobiographical memories (memories about one's own past thoughts, feelings and behaviours). Ex. Participation pool. Would people participate if they took away the marks? Some would because they are interested in the research. Sometimes once something becomes an extrinsic then it becomes money and a job and they lose the love of doing it because they love it. Ex. Little kids who play hockey but have someone who takes it from being something they love to something they do for money or will be praised if they do really well (ex. Win the game, get a certain amount of goals, etc. Some people will pull themselves out of their spotlight. Ex. Ed sheeran took a year break from the spotlight because he was starting to not enjoy what he was doing anymore.

Resistance to Persuasion:

reactance: negative reactions to perceived threats to one's personal freedom; often increases resistance and may be accompanied by a negative attitude change forewarning: advance knowledge that one is about to become the target of an attempt at persuasion (have time to formulate a counterargument) selective avoidance: tendency to direct one's attention away from information that challenges existing attitudes biased assimilation: tendency to evaluate information that disconfirms our existing views, as LESS convincing or reliable than information that confirms.

Selkides and Brewer (2001):

self-concept consists of three components represent different way people attempt to achieve self definition and self-interpretation. Represents different ways that you try to define yourself. Said it consists of three components that take into consideration how people attempt to achieve self definition and self—interpretation.

Self-Concept:

self-recognition develops approx. 2 years of age as we get older, it becomes more complex concrete (our appearance, our likes) more abstract (our feelings, traits, comparisons with others). 2 years old when you actually get your "me" self. They don't know who they are before then. Ex. Name, age and something they like. Very minimal information. They eventually start to see the comparisons. Ex. That even though they always thought they were the fastest runner but then start realizing that yes they may be fast but their friend is faster and they start to see that. They don't understand concepts until you explain them to them. Do you know your likes? Do we always know what we like and what we don't like. How deep do you go? Sometimes you haven't tried something but still don't want to try it. You have accepted that as something you do not like but you have not tried it. It becomes a part of you. Little kids are more honest, I don't know, I haven't tried that. Then it becomes more abstract. Are feelings hard to describe? Yes. Because you have conflicting feelings about something. On the spectrum how much do you like it or how scared are you? On the scale? 1 - 10 for example.

Gender differences in the definition of self:

stereotype of women's/men's conversations women: relational interdependence men: collective interdependence Women are supposed to do this and men are supposed to do that. Gender differences in individualistic cultures. In the collectivistic cultures they used men and women it didn't matter Individualistic cultures - men do not lack individualistic... Women use their social group for social support Meant use their social group for interests. Ex. Football, fixing cars, etc. Is it getting better for male groups in terms of emotional support? Talking about things. They keep is more superficial instead of going deeper. Collectivistic cultures worry about the good of the group not the individual. so you are more likely to listen and sacrifice yourself for the good of the group. Ex. Wanting to be a doctor but your dad dies and so you stay home and help your mother. Or stay home and look after a sick parent, etc. Individualistic cultures you are heading off to do whatever it is you want to do. This is the example of the group.. The predominance, doesn't mean that everyone does it.

Social Comparison Theory:

the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people - downward social comparisons - upward social comparisons When you compare upwards or downwards it can have different things go on with other people. Downward - makes you feel better - understanding that other people have it worse than you. Upward - it makes you feel worse but not always. Could also motivate you. Motivation and realization that this person started out where you were and they actually became something good. So can you. Can be motivating, but also cannot. Depends on your personality. Keeping up with the Jones', a lot of times the Jones' are broke and are barely making payments. Don't know what is going on in other people's lives behind the outward appearance. We do a lot of comparison. If you are going to compare your marks look at the class average and to your own performance.

Self-awareness Theory:

the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards and values people may distract themselves intentionally to alleviate the pain of unpleasant realizations about the self (self-medication, binge eating, sexual masochism, suicide - turn internal spotlight away from themselves). Could that be a problem? What if you don't like yourself very much. Some people will self medicate, self-harm. That takes the spotlight away from themselves. So they eat or drink, etc. A lot of people eat when they are upset. Ex. Eating because they don't like their body and it makes them feel better for a bit but then they get mad that they did it. And it goes on around and around. When it becomes a pattern it becomes a problem. People do a lot of behaviours they don't know that they do. You need to think about why you are doing this. Where did that message come from?

Knowing our "selves" through introspection:

the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives not very often; even when we do, it may not be conscious awareness. Looking inward examining your own thoughts, feelings, and motives. It is subconscious, sometimes you don't even know they are doing it. If you don't know yourself really well can you get into a committed relationship. If not do you become who they want you to be and what if then later you figure out who you are and now you don't like your situation. Then you might not fit together but you might still love them. The younger the relationship the more likely it is to not carry on through the long haul. Can get caught in a situation where you don't even know who you are because everything you are is what they want you to be.

Causal Theories:

theories about the cause of one's own feelings and behaviours; often we learn such theories from our culture Intrinsic Motivation: desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it versus Extrinsic Motivation: desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures. There are tons of them. People are not aware of where they come from. Where did some of these messages and schema come from? Was that person who gave that to you correct? One thoughtless comment.

Why do we form attitudes?

they have a knowledge function permit us to express central values and beliefs sometimes serve as an ego-defensive function may serve an impression motivation function. They do have a knowledge function. It helps if you do know where you get them from. Are you allowed to have an attitude or opinion in all social groups? Not really. But you are entitled to your own opinion about things. Ego-defensive function - with yourself especially Impression motivation function - do you do things or join organizations in order to look good? Yes, it happens all the time. We want people to believe we have those attitudes and beliefs. There are situational factors for attitudes.