MDT2 SOCIAL PSYCH

Three factors make the FAE less consequential:

1. Our predictions are correct 2. People choose their situations. 3. Situations change us over time.

linking an event to a cause... isolating what one thinks is the cause of a certain behavior like a personality trait causing a bad behavior

Causal attribution:

The tendency to use people who are slightly worse than us when comparing Always ends with a boost to self esteem: "compared to people who are slightly worse at tennis than me I'm pretty good"

Downward social comparisons

Social interaction is a drama of self presentation in which we attempt to create and maintain an impression of ourselves in the minds of others

Dramaturgic perspective of the social self (goffman)

Outward focus of the self

Interdependent self

Most other countries. Self is fundamentally connected to others. Imperatives are to find a place within the community, fulfill appropriate roles. Close attention to context and shifting nature of demands.

Interdependent self construal

What is the covariation model? What are its limitations?

It is hyper rational, and gives us a little too much credit. Judgements are far more heuristic-y and less logical.

in order to avoid the uncomfortable realization that the world is not just (you can be a good person and get cancer, work hard and still starve, the least qualified often are the ones in the most control) we come up with dispositional reasons for these things. They were a smoker so they had it coming. He started a restaurant in this market? He was bound to fail. He went to Yale, of course he should be mayor.

Just world hypothesis

Why people victim blame. It gives an explanation of an otherwise awful phenomena.

Just world hypothesis:

people are ambivalent, feeling both good and bad about themselves

LOW SELF ESTEEM

Boys more likely to have external attributions to

academic failure

the perceived right thing to do is not what one really wants to do, so behavior is prevented to avoid negative outcomes

Prevention focus

the strength of an association between 2 ideas is proportional to how many times they have been presented or brought to mind together Think of 2 things together a lot, they'll be brought to mind together

Principle of associative learning:

When the idea is activated, the activation spreads to other associated ideas. The strength of an association determines what percentage of the activation is passed on to the related idea.

Principle of spreading activation

Pros and cons of self schemas

Pro: Allow us to "pattern complete": makes our lives more efficient. Con: -assimilation: we can see ambiguous stimuli in terms osf our schema -Limiting potential selves: we can limit the amount of possibilities we deem accessible/ allowed depending on our self schemas

how do I bridge the gap? Motivates people to do more to reach their goals

Promotion focus

A belief about the self that is based on what we believe other people think about us

Reflected self appraisal

A belief about the self that is based on what we believe other people think about us We gain self knowledge through reflected self appraisal But they often don't reflect what people really think of us

Reflected self appraisal

1)people give reduced weight to a particular cause of behavior if other plausible causes might have produced it 2)People assign greater weight to a particular cause of behavior if other causes are present that normally would produce a different outcome

1)Discounting 2)Augmentation

Was he nice because he's a nice person or because he wants a job When the socially acceptable thing to do is act that way, we can't make a clear attribution... but when they deviate from the norm.. is an example of?

discounting

We often make dispositional attributions from behavior that isn't indicative of

dispositions

other people's reactions to us serve as a mirror/ way of gauging who and what we are Gets tricky to study because often our beliefs about self change the behavior and responses of other that can then illicit that response (self fulfilling prophecy)

"Looking glass self"

Explanations of the Fundamental Attribution Error

1) Overlooking Situational Constraints 2) Inaccurate theories of situational influence 3) Incomplete corrections of automatic dispositional inferences 4) Salience=attention getting

What are the cultural biases in the FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR?

-FAE is worse for westerners that easterners -Westerners are more oblivious to external causes of things -Westerners are better at absolute action EX: (draw a line that's the same size as this one) while asians (in this study) were better at relative tasks (draw a line that is proportional to this line) → the relative task takes on the whole image while the absolute one takes on an individual part of the image

Understand the research by Hazel Markus and what it tells us about the function of self-schemas.

-Hazel Markus (1977) If self schemas exist, someone who's self schema is "I am extroverted" should process information about extroversion faster, retrieve evidence of trait faster, reject info that contradicts schema -individuals w/ self schemas that relate to independence/ dependance respond quickly to words about independence/ dependance. Also able to present more examples of behaviors that back up their self schemas. More likely to refute info from a personality test that refutes the self schema

What are implementation intentions and how do they relate to self-regulation?

-More implementation intentions increases likelihood of self regulation. -tempting stimuli eliciting immediate temptation, you're reminded of the goal and implementation intentions.

How does the self-fulfilling prophecy work?

-mediated by automatic nonverbal communication -Nobody is aware of their influence on others and the influence others have on themselves

As an actor we have access to all the situational factors that are being seen, experienced, and responded to As an observer we see the individual and the environment, but we don't get the 1st person view of ALL the factors at play

Actor-observer difference

WHY we give internal attributions to other people and external attributions to personal experience

Actor-observer difference

who you believe you are e.g. I'm a theater lover

Actual self

produces agitation related emotions

Actual- ought

produces dejection and negative emotions

Actual-ideal

In self enhancement, Decisions are driven by...

Affective goals

A set of concepts that explain how people assign causes to the events around them and the effects these kinds of causal assessments have (essentially everything in this chapter is under the header of attribution theory)

Attribution theory

If he's a dick at a job interview he must really be a dick because usually people put on a nice front to get the job is an example of?

Augmentation:

SO BY LOGIC, HOW DO PEOPLE ASSUME TRAITS

BEHAVIOR-->INTENTION--> -->STATES-->TRAITS

Most people think they are above average on trait and ability tests Everyone gives weight to things they find important, and think they're good at things they find important

Better than average effect

example of Self serving construals

Better than average effect

How do the better-than-average effect and self-affirmation relate to self enhancement?

Both assume that our default way of construing information is to make ourselves appear good/ worthy of self esteem

What is the correspondence inference theory? What are its limitations? Compare and contrast this theory with the covariation model.

Correspondence inference theory- we make immediate dispositional assumption and then correct it through top down processing Covariation model-that we determine causal attributions through analyzing consistency, uniqueness, and consensus

attributions based on a single behavior

Correspondent inference theory

"the if only"s that we use to look back on events. If only ____ insinuates that ____ is the reason something happened " Is an example of?

Counterfactual thinking

Potential causes of behavior should occur along with the behavior that is being analyzed what are the 3 types of information?

Covariation principle/ covariation model 1) Consensus information: Whether most people behave the same way or differently in a given situation Do other people in the class like it? If yes then external, if no then internal 2) Distinctiveness information: Is this a unique behavior? Or is it something that is consistent over time? Is this the only math class that she likes or does she like all math classes? When distinctiveness is high (she only likes this math class) → external attribution 3) Consistency information: Whether an individual behaves the same way or differently in a given situation on different occasions. Do they like math consistently? If it varies, consistency is low.

It's sadder to think of a car crash when they decided to go out on a whim rather than having planned the trip for a long time is an example of?

Emotional amplification

we respond in different emotional levels to things that were going to happen no matter what and things that almost didn't happen

Emotional amplification

Jones and Harris study (the Castro study) and what it reveals about the correspondence bias. Why do these results show a bias?

Even though there is no real info about the person's disposition, dispositional attributions are made Emphasizes the FAE (or correspondence bias) as something that is innate, and natural despite being illogical

a person's habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along three dimensions What are the 3 types?

Explanatory style -Internal/ external: event is due to something about the individual or something about the environment EX: There I go again ****ing up a test vs those questions were hard -Stable/ unstable: this will be present again in the future or not EX: My kids don't like me and they never will vs my kids don't like me right now because they're teenagers -Global/ specific: this is something that influences other areas of life (a broad thing) or just one (specific) EX:I'm dumb vs I'm not good with names

The tendency to overemphasize the importance of personality and failure to recognize the importance of the situation when looking at another person's behavior

Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence bias

"I am a kind person" and more specific: "I always get chicken when I go to thai restaurants"

General ideas of self schema

I want to do *blank* is an example of?

Goal intentions

people feel good about themselves

High self esteem

who you want to be e.g. I want to act and be on stage

Ideal self

If *blank* happens I will do *blank* is an example of?

Implementation intentions:

Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence bias study:

In one study participants told another person what to say, and still made dispositional judgements reflective of what they had them say (even though this gives no clear window into what the person is actually like) We ignore the situational and structural influences of people's behavior... if we took them more into account we probably wouldn't make a dispositional attribution Even when people are randomly assigned to be a "clerk" or a "manager", those that are managers see themselves as more competent and are seen as more competent... they were just given the position but we give them credit where it's not do

Sequential operations model (gilbert)

Incomplete corrections of automatic dispositional inferences

Inward focus of the self

Independent self

Western cultures where the self is an entity separate from other people It is important to separate oneself, display uniqueness, and independence. Causes are internal and stable over time.

Independent self construal

Tendency to compare self with others who are slightly better than us -To fuel growth and motivate change -upward social comparisons naturally tend to induce more negative feelings.

Upward social comparisons

who you think you are obligated/ should be e.g. I should take over dad's grocery store, not go off to LA or NY

Ought self

The desire to maintain, increase, or protect one's positive self views

Self Enhancement

Humans strive to maintain a sense of overall self worth. When stimuli threatens a valued self image, people are able to maintain self esteem by affirming a positive trait in a domain unrelated to the threatened domain

Self affirmation theory

I may be a convicted felon but I go to church and care for my community (not always a bad thing, this sort of thing keeps people going) The compensatory affirmations can also mitigate harmful coping strategies is an example of?

Self affirmation theory

-created by Tory Higgins 1987 -People hold beliefs about both what they are actually like and what they should be like

Self discrepancy theory

Goal driven behavior (both promotion focused and prevention focused) can either be to Pursue a positive outcome Avoid a negative outcome If you're trying to avoid a short term pleasure for a long term goal it helps to focus on the unappealing aspects of the short term

Self discrepancy theory

The overall positive or negative evaluations people have of themselves How we feel about our attributes, qualities, successes, failures, and self in general

Self esteem

Based on the claim that the fundamental motive is to maintain or enhance positive self evaluations

Self evaluation maintenance theory:

Expectations guide other people's behaviors Expectations guide our own behaviors ARE EXAMPLES OF?

Self fulfilling prophecy

The tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the very thing they expect to happen

Self fulfilling prophecy

presenting the person we would others to believe we are

Self presentation

Process by which we change, control, and initiate behavior in the pursuit of goals, like forgoing short term pleasure for long term reward

Self regulation

________________→self evaluation maintenance theory and self verification theory

Self related motives

"Cognitive generalizations about the self, derived from past experiences, that organize and guide the processing of self-related information contained in the individual's social experiences"

Self schema

The tendency to attribute failure and negative events to external causes and success to internal causes

Self serving attributions

We do this through self enhancement:

Self serving social comparison, self serving attributions (excuses), self serving construals (better than avg effect), self enhancement feedback (fishing for compliments), and basking in reflected glory.

We strive to maintain a stable, subjectively accurate self concept. So we want people to verify our pre-existing understanding of our own traits. We want to be known/ seen by others.

Self verification theory

-Influenced by Goffman -Tendency to monitor one's behavior to fit the demands of the current situation

Self-monitoring

we all share knowledge of social norms -no dispositional inference when social norm creates the behavior EX:?

Situational Constraints EX: Whispering in the library, social norm

What 2 types attribution are associated with consensus information, distinctiveness information, and consistency information? What are they?

Situational attribution: called for when all 3 are high Dispositional attribution: called for when consistency is high but consensus and distinctiveness are low

Idea that people compare themselves to other people to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states (Leon Festinger 1950s)

Social comparison theory

People answer the "who am I's" based on comparisons with others "I am smart because compared to other people I score better on tests" "I am nice because compared to other people I volunteer more" EXAMPLE OF??

Social comparison theory

Mark Leary Posits that self esteem is a subjective index or marker measuring to how we are included and liked we are by the social group around us

Sociometer hypothesis

refers to the changing, dynamic self evaluations a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self

State self esteem

WHAT DO PEOPLE ASSUME IS TRUE ABOUT BEHAVIOR?

TRAITS-->STATES-->INTENTION--> BEHAVIOR

Culture and measuring self esteem

The values of independence, freedom, and individuality from the enlightenment guided the construct of self esteem being buil

Enduring level of self regard across time. About dispositions and intrinsic qualities. I am a good person.

Trait self-esteem

Self enhancement centers on wanting to what? Self verification theory doesn't require what? people rather seek to be seen as what?

be seen as good you to be seen as good how they see themselves.

suggests correspondence between the behavior and one's internal dispositions provide an example

counter normative behavior ex:making lots of noise in the library

the public image of ourselves that we want others to have of us I want to be seen as a competent, gifted public speaker I give a bad speech I need to do something to "save face"... blame it on something so that that impression is still in other people

face

Self affirmation most relevant to emotional responses to _______________ __________ __________. Self verification determines what?

feedback about ourselves our more cognitive assessment of how valid that feedback is

Having more implementation intentions related to the goal intention increase the likelihood of

goal attainment

We gauge the validity of new info based on? Self schemas serve as an organizational tool for?

how it fits into our self schema new experience Influences our interpretations of ourselves

in self verification, decisions are driven by...? Still has what?

informational goals, still has affective consequences

If we get to choose, we want to hear about our good qualities and feel better when we do

self-enhancement

If we have to hear about trait X, we want to hear what we believe is true, but will feel bad if that truth is negative

self-verification

Gender plays a role because of how classrooms are

set up to perpetuate norms

We selectively attend to info that affirms pre existing understandings of?

what we are like

A pessimistic explanatory style correlates with?

worse grades and poor health