social psych test 2
Compare the foot-in-the-door technique to the door-in-the-face technique. Your answer should include which "weapon" each technique is associated with, and an example of each technique being used.
-Foot in the door technique: ask a for small request upfront so that you can get a larger request later on Consistency Rule Example: I ask for a small donation upfront which is compiled and then I ask for another donation which is most likely going to be complied as well. -Door-in-the-face technique: large request that is turned down then ask a smaller request that is often done and is the targeted request Reciprocity rule Example: Example: girl selling tickets to police ball and then candy bar Reciprocal Concession: what is being reciprocated is the concession When this doesn't work If the first request is to large then the concession will not be reciprocated Second request is made by a different person Time between requests is too long
In class, we discussed two studies conducted by Nisbett and Wilson (1977). Describe these studies. (Your answer should include how the studies were conducted, the results of the studies, and why these results are important in regard to explaining our own behavior).
-Nisbett and wilson (1977a) A consumer survey; a table in a mall; 4 pairs of nylon pantihoes; women would look at them to judge which was the best quality; then they were asked which was preferred, and they gave their preference; all pantihoes were the same - the people looking at them were unaware of that; a position effect was noticed - the reason women picked their favorite was because they were the furthest to the right; women gave many plausible answers to why they liked them; they were unaware of the environmental influence which is the fact that it was furthest to the right We like place preference Maybe bc we are more dominant with our right hand Sometimes we don't give enough credit to external influences -Nisbett and wilson(1977b) Here they wanted to see what happened when external influence was put into the experiment Wanted to see what happens when there seems to be an influence of external stimuli; people come into watch a movie about the holocaust; had them rate how others would perceive the movie; general interest on movie, influence how it would affect others how it would create others to be sympathetic ; some groups watched movie in peace, others had construction going on in the background; were your ratings influenced by the noise; people rated yes - but the answer was no; this was a case in which they gave too much credit to the external influence when it really didn't have much of an effect -Conclusions We don't always know ourselves Sometimes we don't give enough credit to external influences Sometimes we give too much credit to external influences Shown that many people are not particularly good at predicting future behaviors Friends and family were better at predicting longevity of a relationship because there's no bias and aren't involved in the relationship Overestimate winning the lottery Underestimate if you were to become paralyzed When it comes to negative personal behaviour self prediction are better than outside predictions Sometimes we will create reasons for out behaviors and believe it to be true because it is plausible
Compare and contrast normative social influence and informational social influence. Discuss Sherif's (1936) autokinetic study and how it relates to the above terms. Finally, provide an example for both normative and informational social influence. (clearly label each example).
-Normative social influence: conform to be accepted to the group Example of normative social influence: You want chinese the rest of your group wants mexican; you decide to get mexican because it's easy -Informational social influence: group provides us with additional information Example of informational social influence: You don't know if you want to go to Ireland or New Zealand; friends tell you what classes you can take getting to new infor leads to conform -Autokinetic Study: Muzafer Sherif conducted a classic study on conformity in 1936. Sherif put subjects in a dark room and told them to watch a pinpoint of light and report how far it moved. Psychologists had previously discovered that a small, unmoving light in a dark room often appeared to be moving. This was labeled the autokinetic effect. The autokinetic effect is an illusion because the light does not actually move. However, people almost always believe that it does.
Cialdini postulates that there are six "weapons of influence". List each weapon and it's respective rule. Also, identify the three components shared by these weapons of influence.
-Reciprocity One should be more willing to comply with a request from someone who has previously provided a favor or concession -Consistency After committing to a position, one should be more willing to comply with requests for behaviors that are consistent with that position -friendship/liking One should be more willing to comply with the request of friends or other liked individuals -Scarcity One should try to secure those opportunities that are scarce or dwindling -social validation One should be more willing to comply with a request for behavior if it is consistent with what similar others are thinking or doing -Authority One should be more willing to follow the suggestion of someone who is a legitimate authority -Components Shared By the Weapons of Automatic Influence Mechanical processes can be activated Can and will be used to exploit others that are aware of these weapons Process is very subtle (social jiu jitsu) You aren't aware that it is happening or by the time you are aware it's too late Car selling example
Define scarcity (as it relates to "weapons of influence"). Why is scarcity influential? Give an example of this technique being used. What is our best defense against this "weapon"?
-Scarcity: one should try to secure these opportunities that are scarce of dwindling Example: Mazis, 1975: laundry detergent ban on detergent with phosphate in it Heuristic: things that are difficult to possess are more valuable Psychological Reactance Theory: we hate to lose our freedoms so we are more likely to go out and get it (reverse psychology) Brehm, 1966 Pennebaker, 1979 Closer you got to closing time potential mates got better looking The availability of mates goes down -Techniques Limited number Limited time -Defense Feel the emotional arousal Ask what we want from the item
Define social comparison, adaptation level phenomenon, relative deprivation, and self-handicapping. Provide an example for each term. (clearly label each example)
-Social comparison (Festinger, 1954) In ambiguous situations we often look to others for how to behave Ex. going to a faculty party and don't know how to behave, you look at others for how to behave -Adaptation level phenomenon Tendency to adapt at a certain level which no longer satisfies us Ex. giving gifts to a significant other becomes more and more expensive each year -Relative deprivation Compare ourselves upward making us feel bad Students complain they got a 95 when their friend got a 98 bcc they wanted the highest grade Comparing ourselves downward makes us feel better As much as your life "sucks" you think about the people who have it a lot worse -Self-handicapping Where you set up a situation with an excuse to fail With 2 ways Purposely create obstacles A student who's worried for exam, goes out and parties the night before so they have an excuse Create ready made excuses before event It provides a safety net so that if you do fail then you feel better about yourself bc you knew it would happen Ex. I have a test tomorrow but instead I'll get drunk. Now I failed the test, bc I went out
Discuss Asch's classic conformity study. Your answer should include a detailed account of how the study was conducted, the results of the study, and what these results tell us about conformity.
Asch 1951: line study; Overall: Participants conform 33% of the time to be in line with the group. Not an ambiguous situation. 76% of participants conformed at least once. 24% did not conform at all. Once people conform people conform they are more likely to conform again.
Describe Milgram's classic obedience paradigm. Your answer should include a detailed account of how the study was conducted, the results of the study, and what these results tell us about obedience
Milgram's Research (1963): Started with a pilot study: Teacher (participant) would have to shock the Learner (confederate) 15 volts-450 volts. Followed the authority figures directions. 15 volt interval plays foot-in-the-door technique. Gender had no effect on the results. Under these conditions 65% would be obedient to authority figures.
Pratkanis and Aronson (1992) came up with seven suggestions for "maintaining and creating a cult." Identify and explain five of these suggestions.
Pratkanis and Aronson's (1992) 7 suggestions for "maintaining and creating a cult" Create your own social reality Go to an island or compound Making it so no one has any real world connections You are developing your own new world Establish an ingroup of followers and an outgroup of the unredeemed You are the chosen one and everyone is not Generate commitment through dissonance reduction Incorporates the foot in the door Ask a small request, so then people are more willing to to give more when you can ask for a larger request later Think of a church with how they ask for money and how much time people put into churches Establish the cult leader's credibility and attractiveness This is done through charisma Ex. obama, joe biden, mlk Passing rumors about these people to make them seem even better Send members out to convert the unredeemed You get more people You usually get people who feel unwanted, gullible, vulnerable Usually people in college age They don't go after the rich or very poor Distract members from thinking "undesirable" thoughts Anything that doesn't relate to the cult Fixate members on a phantom - promised land "Heaven like" "Doomsday" Think of Jim Jones who was an American religious cult leader who initiated and was responsible for a mass suicide and mass murder in Jonestown, Guyana. He believed Socialism was the correct social order in compliance with God's will. Or think of the following Most cults have a religious connotation If you can leave it's probably not a cult
Discuss Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance theory. (Your answer should include the two premises, the two processes, and the three variables that the processes depend on). Finally, provide an example of how this model works.
Self-evaluation Maintenance theory Tesser, 1988 -2 basic premises(foundation): 1. People act in a way to maximize their self evaluation 2. Self evaluation is at least partially dependent upon interactions with other people -2 processes: Reflection - increase your self-esteem by having close associations with other people Comparison - comparing with a high performing other may lower self-evaluation -The process you use depends on three variables: Performance - how someone does and how it compares to you Closeness - relationship between you and the other person Relevance - the importance of the domain of the behavior, in regard to your self-esteem We are thrilled with our friends when they succeed, but not in our domain Ex- the olympics Tesser and smith (1980) experimented with this theory. Men were recruited and asked to bring a friend with them. They were then put into groups of four, Man A and Man A's friend along with Man B and Man B's friend. Half the subjects were told that this activity was measuring important verbal skills and leadership. This was the high relevance group. The other two subjects were told that the task had nothing to do with verbal skills, leadership or anything important. This was considered the low relevance group. The activity was based on the game Password, where persons have to guess a word based on clues. Each man was given an opportunity to guess the word while the other three gave clues from a list. The other three can give clues that are easy or difficult based on their own judgment and basically whether or not they would like to help the other person guess the word. The clues given to the person were necessary to guess the word. The first pair of partners performed poorly (as instructed in the experimental design). The experiment was looking at the behavior of the second group of men. The next pairing was designed to partner a stranger with a friend. Researchers were trying to see when a friend was helped more than a stranger and when a stranger was helped more than a friend. The research was supported. In 10 out of 13 sessions, when relevance was high (told that this activity measures important verbal and leadership skills) the stranger was helped more than a friend. Also, in 10 out of 13 sessions, when relevance was low (subjects were told that this activity determined nothing of importance) the friend was helped more than the stranger.[1] The prediction of the self-evaluation maintenance theory was strongly supported. This creates dissonance You can downplay their success, to make yourself feel better You can also pull yourself away from that person "They weren't that great of a friend" You push yourself to do better now "I need to do better"
In class we discussed three paradigms of dissonance: (1) induced compliance (hint: Festinger and Carlsmith's boring task), (2) effort justification (hint: Aronson' s group initiation), and (3) insufficient determinant (hint: Freedman's forbidden toy). Discuss, in detail, the studies related to these three paradigms. Finally, what is the conclusion that can be made from these studies?
Three paradigms for studying cognitive dissonance -Induced compliance Forced to make a choice Festinger and carlsmith (1959) 1. Participants take part in an extremely boring study, but is asked to tell the next person the experiment was enjoyable. 2. Offered $1 or $20 to lie to the next person, or not asked to lie 3. Main question: How would getting paid affect their attitude? In other words, who later rated the experiment as most enjoyable? 4. The people that got $1 rated the experiment as most enjoyable because they wanted to change their attitudes to comply with their behaviors. Them lying could not be justified by $1, but they could make themselves believe that the activity really wasn't that bad, it wasn't incredibly boring. -Effort justification The more effort put into something shows you want it more Aronson and mills (1959) Aronson and Mills: 1. women come in and do a study about sexual beliefs. Two conditions: 1. low effort: read words out loud (prostitute) 2. high effort: (explicit words) and a passage from a novel (sexual novel). 3. Watch a boring video on animal sexual behavior. Women in high effort rated the movie as interesting because they had to do something difficult beforehand and were trying to justify it."The harder it was to acquire the more we like it later" -Insufficient justification Freedman (1965) Idea being the mild threat induced a sense of dissonance: "I'm not playing with the attractive toy, I guess I don't like it so much after all!"If given severe threat, child says "I'm not playing with the attractive toy only because I will be punished if I do," so later when given the chance he or she will play with it because the child has not experienced an attitude change
Discuss Schachter's two-factor theory of emotion. Your answer must include the two main components of emotion as well as a detailed discussion of the study (i.e., Schachter & Singer, 1962) that supported his hypothesis.
Two factor theory of emotion (schachter) Must have physiological arousal, second factor is how you label the arousal. The physiological arousal is what is experienced in that exact moment (fear) EX. Bear runs towards you, the physiological arousal Schachter and singer (1962) Looked at how people label their arousal Epinephrine One group was told they were getting a stimulant The stimulant group thought the goofy behavior was because of the stimulant One group told they were getting vitamins The vitamin group thought goofy behavior was because of the environment
Compare and contrast central route processing and peripheral route processing. Provide an example for each route.
Two routes of persuasion: Central route: listening and thinking carefully and being persuaded by the facts Peripheral route: persuaded by the "bells and whistles"
In class, we discussed two lines of research that demonstrated that under the right conditions we can use attitudes to predict behavior. One line of research was the theory of reasoned action. The other line focused on three distinct conditions (hint: these are the conditions that were discovered in the 1970s which, of course, was before the theory of reasoned action (1980, 1985). Identify and explain, in detail, ONE of these lines of research.
Yes, according to 1970s researchers: under the right circumstances When social influences are minimized (Jones & Sigall, 1971): not worried about being criticized by others The bogus pipeline study: participants sat in front of a machine and they had to hold a wheel which would tell the truth Those who were put on the pipeline were more likely to tell the truth about their social prejudices When you examine attitudes specific to the behavior Are you a good student? Does not allow me to predict anything beyond that like studying habits. When the attitude is potent Bring the attitude to the forefront If you bring attitude to mind you can predict behavior
