Social Psychology Exam 2
factors contributing to normative social influence
-how important the person is to you -how physically close you are to the person -the number of people trying to get you to conform
punishment and self persuasion
-if punishment is severe there is a sufficient external justification and doesn't really cause dissonance -when a punishment is less severe, there aren't enough external reasons to justify why you've stopped doing the behavior leading ot dissonance and eventually attitude change
conformity
A change in one's behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people
Asch's line study
An experiment where participants had to pick which line in a group of lines were of the same length. Sometimes the confederates gave the wrong answer and often the participant conformed. They reasoned that they did not want the others to think that they were dumb.
implicit attitudes
Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious
moral dilemmas
Implications for self-esteem, to reduce moral dilemma dissonance people may behave either more ethically or less ethically in the future
attitude accessibility
The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object (attitudes will predict behavior only when highly accessible to people)
milgram studies
This was a social experiment testing how likely a person is to shock another they do not know if the individual in the box answers a question wrong and the "shocker" is pressured by an authority figure.
conclusions of Sherif's study
When faced with an ambiguous situation the participants looked to group for help Informational social influence. they also had private acceptance
reasons generated attitude change
a change in attitude that results from thinking about the reasons for our attitudes
private acceptance
a genuine inner belief that others are right
self persuasion
a long-lasting form of attitude change that results from attempts at self-justification
what are attitudes
a personal positive or negative evaluation or a person, place, idea, or other object that is reflected through our feelings and behaviors
forced compliance
advocating an opinion or attitude that goes against one's private beliefs or attitudes
ways people escape self awareness
alcohol abuse binge eating sexual masochism
affective behavior
an attitude based more on feelings or an emotional reaction (example you feel cool in a sports car so you like sports cars)
Behavioral attitude
an attitude based on observations of of how one behaves toward an attitude object (think of the self perception theory. you chose the hummer because you drove 10 hummers and one prius so you must like the hummer more)
elaboration likelihood model
an explanation of the two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change (peripheral and central)
door in the face technique
asking for a huge favor first and then asking for a smaller second favor to get them to do the small favor
foot-in-the-door technique
asking someone for a small favor then later asking them to do a larger favor (you are evoking cognitive dissonance because they think that oh i did one favor for you i must like you so i will do another one)
peripheral route
associates product with positive or negative cues (playing on your emotion, tapping into your affective attitude)
explicit attitudes
attitudes that we can easily and consciously say out loud
Judging why we feel the way we do
because it is difficult for us to understand why we feel the way we do we generate plausible explanations to explain our behavior (basically we want to know what and why something effects our mood and explain it)
why would we use informational social influence?
because you believe others have more information than you do or because the situation is unclear to you
self affirmation
bolster the self concept, reducing dissonance by adding a cognition about other positive attributes (I'm a smoker, but I work out everyday, so I'm healthy)
example of post-decision dissonance
buying a car: you choose a prius over a hummer and justify your decision by saying that the prius is better for the environment anyway and the hummer would require too much gas
which route of the elaboration likelihood model leads to long lasting changes?
central route
what ways can you reduce dissonance
change behavior justify your behavior by changing one of the dissonant cognitions (changing your attitude) justify your behavior by adding new cognitions
child vs adult self-concept
changes from concrete to subjective social concepts (as you get older you describe yourself how other people see you)
3 components of attitude
cognitive affect (emotions) behavior
downward social comparison
comparing ourselves to people worse than us to achieve higher self-esteem
upward social comparison
comparing yourself to people who are better than you in order to aspire to be like someone better
cognitive
complete opposite of affectively based attitudes, your attitude is based on fact and logic (why did you buy the car cause it is fuel efficient)
social influence
compliance techniques to get people to conform (foot in the door and door in the face technique)
public compliance
conforming to other people's behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what the other people are doing or saying (standing in lines, but you don't like lines)
self-handicapping
creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves, so that if we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves, preserving our self esteem.
Cognitivie Dissonance
discomfort that people feel when two cognitions conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves
post decision dissonance
dissonance aroused after making a decision, which is reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the decision that was chosen over the alternative
how can we preserve intrinsic motivation
do not provide incentives or extrinsic rewards for things that already have a general intrinsic motivation for (summer reading programs, you begin reading just to get six flags tickets not because you personally want to)
Obedience
doing something because you were directly told by an authority figure
hypocrisy paradigm
evoking dissonance by getting people to engage in (desired) speech acts that contradict undesirable behaviors
Large reward or severe punishment =
external justification and temporary change
Introspection
falls under self knowledge, we are understanding why we are behaving a certain way (includes self awareness theory)
consequence of resisting normative social influence
first people will try to bring you back to conformity by long discussions or teasing comments, then they will reject you and distance themselves
who do you compare yourself to?
initial impulse: to anyone that is around
small reward or small punishment =
internal justification and lasting attitude change
what happens when cognitions conflict
it threatens your self image and produces powerful upsetting dissonance
what conditions are needed to pay attention to the peripheral route?
low effort, you don't really have to be motivated to listen
Induce hypocrisy
make person aware of conflict between attitudes and behavior
You use social perception theory when...
no situational influence on the behavior the behavior was freely chosen
self esteem
one's feelings of high or low self-worth
Do fear-arousing advertisements work?
only really works with a small amount of fear or if information is given on how to reduce the fear
self-concept
overall set of that people have about their personal attributes (how you view yourself)
what happens if too much fear in ads are used?
people become defensive deny the importance of the threat cannot think rationally about the issue
Sherif's study
people in a dark room deciding if a light is moving and how much, they are first asked alone but are then asked two times with a group of people and their answers slowly become closer
subjective norms
people's beliefs about how others they care about will view the behavior in question (if i go to UMSL, what will other people think of me)
theory of planned behavior
people's intentions are the best predictors of their deliberate behaviors (predicts that more specific attitudes better predict behavior)
fear-arousing advertisement
persuasive messages that attempt to change people's attitudes by arousing their fears (example an ad to get you to stop smoking)
external justification
reason for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual to receive some reward or avoid punishment (you lie to your friend and say that their ugly dress is pretty because you don't want to hurt their feelings)
social norms
rules on what is acceptable
Four functions of the self
self knowledge self control impression management self esteem
when attitudes change.. it is often due to
social influence sometimes attitudes change dramatically over a short period of time
counter attitudinal advocacy
stating an opinion out loud that you don't truly believe
task-contingent rewards vs. performance-contingent rewards
task contingent: rewards given for performing a task (completion) performance contingent: rewards given based on how well you perform a task
perceived behavioral control
the ease with which people believe they can perform the behavior (how much control do you have to go to UMSL)
social impact theory
the idea that conforming to social influence depends on the group's importance, immediacy, and the number of people in the group
social comparison theory
the idea that we learn about our own abilities by comparing ourselves to others (when do you engage in social comparison and who do you compare yourself to?)
informational social influence
the influence other people have on us because we want to be right, and we think that others know more than we do about the subject
normative social influence
the need to be accepted
minority influence
the power of one or two individuals to sway majorities
social tuning
the process whereby people adopt another person's attitudes (we adopt others views when we want to get along with them, you are likely to hang around people with similar views as you)
internal justification
the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (attitude or behavior, you tell the truth about your friend's dress because the dress isn't that expensive and your friend won't be hurt if you tell the truth)
Yale Attitude Change Approach
the study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages
justification of effort
the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to earn (working really hard to get into a math club but then finding out it didn't receive any benefits, you will justify your actions)
over justification effect
the tendency for people to view their behavior as a result of external reasons or rewards making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by internal reasons (your internal reasons are downplayed by external reasons)
self esteem
the way we maintain positive views of ourselves (believing we understand more than we do)
self control
the way we make plans and execute decisions
impression management
the way we present ourselves to others to get them to see us how we want them to (we like to control the way people see us)
self knowledege
the way we understand who we are and how we organize this information
dissonance reduction
the ways in which we reduce the cognitive dissonance
central route
thoughtful consideration of the evidence (based on facts)
high vs low importance conformity
when in high importance situations (the need to be accurate is more important) people tend to conform, but when in low importance situations, people don't feel the need to conform
when is dissonance the most painful?
when one of the cognitions is about the self (those with high self esteem have more painful reactions)
self perception theory
when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain we look at past behavior to find the answer (when asked do i like classical music, you look back at your past behavior to understand whether or not you do)
self awareness theory
when self aware, we are reminded of our internal standards and values and compare that with our current behaviors (our ideal self and our actual self have to match or we will feel uncomfortable and change our behavior)
when do you engage in social comparison
when there is no objective standard measure against when we experience uncertainty
intrinsic motivation
when you engage in an activity because of enjoyment and interest not because of external pressure (you participated in a study because you generally wanted yo participate not for extra credit)
who said what to whom
who: the source of communication (who is talking) what: what are they saying, what is the quality of the argument whom: who is the audience
acceptance
you are acting and believing in what you are conforming to
compliance
you conform but don't agree or believe in what you are conforming to
extrinsic motivation
you engage in an activity because of external reasons not because of enjoyment or interest (you took this class to get your degree, an external reward)
what conditions are needed to pay attention to the central route?
you have to want to listen and be motivated by the argument
