Social Psychology Final
Self-Serving Cognitions: Downward Social Comparison
- (Taylor, 1989) from interviews with women with breast cancer: A patient with one lump removed: "How awful must it be for women who had a full mastectomy" An older patient with mastectomy: "The people I really feel sorry for are these young gals.." A young patient with mastectomy: "If I hadn't been married, this thing would have really gotten to me" Another study of breast cancer patients showed that 53% of all references made to another person were downward comparisons and only 12% were upward comparisons.
Research examples of Reactance
- 67% of College students increased their liking for music they were told they couldn't have, vs. an increase of only 42% of students who could easily obtain the music (Brehm, 1966) - Mock jurors were more likely to be influenced by information if given a strong rather than a weak admonition to ignore it (Wolf & Montgomery, 1977)
Resistance to Persuasion
- Attitude Inoculation... Successfully defending against a persuasion attempt will strengthen the attitude and make it more resistant to change in the future
Source: Peripheral Route
- Attractiveness of the "source" is often used heuristically (beautiful = good); not much thinking going on... - The appearance of credibility
Consequences of Babyface Schema
- Babyfaced adults are judged more suitable for jobs that require warmth (e.g., counselor vs. bank officer) - Babyfaced adults are less likely to be found guilty of intentional crimes, but more likely to be found guilty of crimes of negligence - Mature-faced children are expected to be more mature and responsible than same-age peers
Defining characteristics of self-handicapping
- Behavior must occur before opportunity for evaluation - Intentional (e.g., knowingly procrastinating vs. forgetting) - Motivated by the desire to maintain positive impressions of one's abilities, in the eyes of others or oneself Note: people who chronically engage in self-handicapping don't feel positively about themselves in the long-term; other people don't view them positively
Factors that Increase Self-handicapping
- Belief that abilities are fixed - Belief that one is likely to fail - Belief that performance reflects ability - Public performance and explicit social comparison (e.g., competition) - People with low self-esteem fear failure; people with high self-esteem see opportunity to stand out as exceptional
Message: Central Route
- Central route: High-quality message provides desirable yet novel ideas - Straightforward, clear & logical arguments - Directly refute opposing views - Link to core values - Vivid messages that provoke more elaboration
Central route
- Change attitudes through deliberation and reasoning (elaboration) - Provide logical, high-quality arguments
Peripheral route
- Change attitudes through feelings and superficial associations (heuristics) - Humor & attractiveness - Superficial credibility - Expensive/exclusive = good - Buzz words (natural, organic, lite, luxury) - Lots of words or arguments = smart
Cialdini et al. (1975), Study 1
- College students approached on campus by another student who introduced him/herself as being with the County Youth Counseling Program. How many students will comply with a request to chaperone a group of boys/girls from a juvenile detention center on a trip to the zoo (2 hrs of time)? - IV: First make an extreme request: volunteer to work at the detention center for 2 hrs/week for 2 years. vs. smaller request only vs. description of both programs - DV: Compliance with smaller request
Downward social comparison
- Comparing oneself to someone who is worse off
Informational Social Influence
- Conformity based on the desire to be accurate - When we aren't sure what to think or do (ambiguity), we look to other people for answers
Fear-based Messages
- Contain vivid information and can be very compelling - Are most effective when combined with instructions on how to avoid negative outcomes
Source: Central Route
- Credibility: knowledgeable and trustworthy (e.g. the Surgeon General on health issues) - Credible sources make one think more about the message
Universality Hypothesis: Basic emotion expression will be similar for people across place and time
- Cultures never exposed to the West can identify Westerners' facial expressions of 6 basic emotions, and vice versa - Blind and sighted athletes show similar facial/body expressions of pride after winning a competition
Self-Verification and Marital Commitment (Swann et al., 1992)
- Does self-verification in partner perceptions relate to marital commitment? Even when self-concept is negative? - Research Study: 86 married couples Each person rated self and spouse in 5 areas (e.g., intellect & social skills), which allows for investigation of match vs. mis-match in perception Each person reported level of commitment to the marriage (e.g., desire to remain married & satisfaction)
Covariation Information = External Attribution
- High Consensus: Most people would behave the same - High Distinctiveness: This person does not usually do this
Discounting principle
- Less weight is given to a particular cause of behavior if there are plausible alternative causes - Role-consistent behavior is less likely to lead to internal attributions
Covariation Information = Internal Attribution
- Low Consensus: Most people would behave differently - Low Distinctiveness: This person often does similar things
Emotional Mimicry
- Many studies have found that people imitate (mimic) others, often unconsciously - Mimicry is especially likely with emotion... smiling & laughing crying blushing & embarrassment - Emotional mimicry even appears at low levels with subliminally presented photos
Augmentation principle
- More weight is given to a particular cause if other potential causes would have produced an opposite result - Role-inconsistent behavior is more likely to lead to internal attributions
Line judgment study (Asch, 1956)
- One participant is surrounded by research confederates who initially make correct judgments, but then give the same incorrect answers - How many participants conform to other people's opinion when they know it is wrong? NOTE: fits with normative social influence
Self-Handicapping in Sports Practice (Stone, 2002)
- Participants given an opportunity to practice before a "miniature golf" test. - IV: Threat (test will reflect on ability) vs. no-threat (test is for fun) - DV: Amount of practice before saying one is ready to complete the test NOTE: Participants had also indicated whether or not they cared about their athletic performance.
Consequences of Attractiveness Heuristic
- People are friendlier toward attractive people; attractive people tend to have more friends and social skills - Attractive job applicants are more likely to be hired - BUT... attractive people are not more intelligent or better adjusted than others
Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954)
- People compare themselves to others in order to obtain information on their abilities and internal states
Perceptual Salience
- People make attributions to causes that are most obvious (salient) - In explaining a person's behavior, we are typically focused on the person rather than the surrounding context - "Why did Jane crash her car?" Not: "Why did the road cause Jane's car to crash?"
Representativeness Heuristic
- People use similarity to the prototype (stereotype) to make a probability judgment
Two Routes to Attitude Change (Elaboration Likelihood Model; ELM)
- Peripheral route - Central route
Message: Peripheral Route
- Peripheral route: Message must contain persuasive cues, associations or heuristics - Catch-phrase or buzz words - Lots of arguments regardless of quality - The appearance that others agree - Positive emotion or mildly negative (e.g., somber music)
Results from Stone (2002)
- Players who were playing the game "for fun" practiced more than those who were told that the game would reflect ability - Engaged performers (those with interest in sports performance) showed greater variation in both directions
Caveats to Fundamental Attribution Error
- Self-enhancing attributions: Bad outcomes are not my fault; good outcomes are all me! - Actor-Observer differences - Cultural differences - Debiasing efforts
Martial Commitment Study Results
- Spouses generally confirmed (verified) each other's self view, but... - 5 areas = intellectual capability, physical attractiveness, athletic ability, social skills, and aptitude for arts/music. - Commitment: Desire to remain in relationship, plans to remain in relationship, relationship satisfaction, time spent together, amount of talking, discussion of problems and worries, and disclosure of personal matters. NOTE:The commitment of those with moderate self-concepts (neither high or low) was not altered by the nature of their spouses' appraisals. Based on other questions asked, the researchers found that commitment was predicted by the belief that the spouse's appraisal "made them feel that they really knew themselves," rather than "confused them." - For people with neg. self-concepts, committed - Not because they thought their spouses would help them improve. - Not because they thought they could "win them over" (in fact there was a tendency for greater commitment if they thought their spouse's appraisal would worsen) - Not because they thought their spouse was especially perceptive.
Accuracy of High-School Grade Recall (Bahrick et al., 1996)
- Students recall their high school grades as being better than they actually were
Predicted Distress Following Romantic Breakup (Eastwick et al., 2008)
- Surveyed freshman college students in a romantic relationship (avg. > 12 months) that ended within the following 6 months - Students made predictions of distress following a breakup (how would you feel immediately, after 2 weeks, etc.); and then reported actual distress following breakup - Also reported on whether they were "in love" and then, later, who initiated the breakup
Focalism
- Tendency to focus on only one aspect of an experience or event when trying to predict future emotions - Do not think about how one will feel after the initial impact of the event or the importance of other events in determining our feelings
Immune neglect
- Tendency to underestimate one's resilience during negative life events - Unaware of the strong "psychological immune system" most people possess (e.g., self-enhancing attributions and downward social comparison)
Actor-Observer Difference
- The actor tends to explain their own behavior as due to the situation - The observer tends to explain the actor's behavior as due to personal qualities of the actor
Unrealistic Optimism
- The belief that good things are likely to happen to us and bad things will not.
Illusion of control
- The belief that we have more control than is actually the case.
Causal Attribution
- The explanation for a person's behavior; what is determined to be the cause of the behavior. - Causal attributions are most likely to be elicited when behavior is... Negative Unexpected Personally relevant
Cultural Differences and Causal Attributions
- The fundamental attribution error is less prevalent in collectivistic cultures - Individualists are more likely to attribute behaviors to dispositions - Collectivists are more likely to attribute behaviors to the situation
Predicted Distress Following Romantic Breakup (Eastwick et al., 2008) Findings
- The students overestimated their resiliency and did not report being as distressed as they had predicted - The gap for the predicted and actual was bigger for those in love
Fundamental Attribution Error
- The tendency to focus on personal (internal) causes and underestimate the influence of the situation on behavior
Belief Perseverance
- The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited
Confirmation Bias
- The tendency to seek, interpret, and even create information that verifies existing beliefs
Behavioral Mimicry Study (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999)
- Two students are asked to have a conversation to get acquainted. One "student" is a research confederate. - IV: Confederate occasionally rubs her face vs. shakes her foot (participants later report they were not aware of actions) - DV: The frequency with which participants rub their faces or shake their feet
Self-serving Cognitions
- Unrealistic optimism - Illusion of control - Self-serving attributions - Self-serving memory - Downward social comparison
Self-Enhancement Motive
- We have a basic need to perceive ourselves positively - This leads us to view the world in a manner that reinforces a positive self-concept (high self-esteem)
Evaluating Videotaped Confessions (Lassiter et al., 2007)
21 Judges & 24 Police officers with extensive experience in interrogations viewed a mock confession IV: Camera focused on suspect, detective, or equally on both DV: How voluntary (vs. coerced) was the confession?
Schema
A hypothetical knowledge structure that contains what a person knows about a particular concept, including the relations among objects, relevant events, actions and sequences of actions.
Sarah loves to listen to New Age music and faithfully reads her horoscope each day. In her spare time, she enjoys aromatherapy and attending a local spirituality group. Is Sarah more likely to be... A) school teacher B) holistic healer
A) school teacher
Bob is a freshman who joins a fraternity. He thinks that binge drinking is foolish and dangerous. In which of these situations is he LEAST likely to binge drink? A. He is hanging out with two of the seniors on the executive board of the fraternity, and they are binge drinking. B. He is hanging out with two of the other freshman who joined his fraternity, and one of them is binge drinking. C. He is at a party at his fraternity, and there are 200 people there who are binge drinking D. He is at a party at his fraternity, and it appears that everyone there is binge drinking.
B. He is hanging out with two of the other freshman who joined his fraternity, and one of them is binge drinking.
Married people with positive self-concepts are more committed to the marriage if their spouse also views them positively. This finding demonstrates... A. self-enhancement B. self-verification C. both self-enhancement and self-verification D. neither self-enhancement nor self-verification
B. Self-verification
Which of the following is NOT true about social comparison theory: A. When we don't have an objective metric by which to measure our competence, we tend to compare our performance to that of others. B. We usually compare ourselves to people who are very different from us. C. We engage in upward social comparison to motivate improvement.
B. We usually compare ourselves to people who are very different from us.
Normative Social Influence
Conformity to gain social approval or to avoid social disapproval
Alex believes that if she is a careful driver, she will never get in a car accident. This is an example of:self-serving A. attribution B. downward social comparison C. self-handicapping D. illusion of control
D. Illusion of control
When individuals in the U.S. are asked to describe themselves, they are more likely to list traits that are ________ compared to others in their current social context. This is in line with ________. A. typical; collectivistic ideals B. typical; reflected self-appraisals C. unusual; the distinctiveness hypothesis D. unusual; social comparison theory
D. unusual; social comparison theory
Feelings as Information
Emotion can also influence cognition (judgment) when used as a source of information
Appraisal Theory
Emotions are not passive events that "just happen" to us. We actively process the world and use cognitive functions that determine our biological and emotional response to the situation
Situational Priming of Culture Affects Fundamental Attribution Error
For people who are connected to both independent and interdependent cultures, attribution styles may change depending on the cultural context
Jones & Harris (1967) study
IV1: Participants read an essay that supported or opposed Fidel Castro's communist regime. IV2: They were told that the essay position was freely chosen or assigned to the writer. DV: Judgment of the writer's true attitude toward Castro.
Weather Study: Schwarz & Clore (1983)
Individuals surveyed about their life satisfaction IV1: sunny vs. rainy days IV2: call attention to weather vs. not DV: rated happiness and life satisfaction
Attractiveness Heuristic: What is beautiful is good...
Intelligent, successful, happy, well-adjusted, socially skilled, confident & assertive But also vain
Availability Heuristic
Judgments of frequency or probability based on how easily examples come to mind
Door-in-the-face technique
Make a large request that is expected to be refused, followed by a smaller request.
Van Boven, Kamada & Gilovich (1999) study
Participants ask another person questions about themselves, e.g., "Do you consider yourself to be sensitive to other people's feelings?" IV: The person is required to say the more altruistic vs. more egoistic answer I try to be sensitive to others' feelings all the time. I think there are too many sensitive, 'touch-feely' people in the world. DV: Judgment of the other person's altruistic character
Ratings of decision-maker Ross et al. (1975) study
Participants observed another student making a series of decisions IV1: The researcher says that the student scored 96% or 40% in the task IV2: The researcher subsequently apologizes for making a mistake and gives "corrected" (opposite) results, or says nothing further about the results DV: Judgments of the student's ability and likelihood of future success on a similar task
Van Boven, Kamada & Gilovich (1999) study results
Participants rated the altruism-mimic as more altruistic than the selfish-mimic
Cialdini et al. (1975), Study 1 Results
Participants were far more likely to comply with the small request when the extreme request was made first
Weather Study: Schwarz & Clore (1983) Findings
People attributed their feelings to the weather but only when reminded of the weather
Affective Forecasting
Predicting how one will feel during or after a specific future event
Ratings of Confession (Lassiter et al., 2007)
The confession was seen as most coerced when the camera was focused on the detective. Next highest rating in coercion was when the camera was focused on both, and the least coercive rating went to the camera being focused on the suspect
Social Norm of Reciprocity
The expectation that people will return benefits for benefits
Selective Attention (Simon & Chabris, 1999; book in 2010)
Video of people playing basketball when monkey walks through
Covariation principle
We consider potential causes of the behavior and "weigh" them based on our perception of what other people would do (consensus) and, if known, what this same person has done in other situations (distinctiveness)
Embodied Emotion
We interpret physical reactions (e.g., certain muscle contractions) as information about feelings
Descriptive Social Norm
What is done
Prescriptive Social Norm
What should be done
Conformation Bias (example)
Wheel of Fortune video: The Power of "and"
Jones & Harris study findings
Writer's were judged to be more pro-castor when the stance was freely chosen as opposed to assigned to them
Self-serving memory
-Having "better" memory for information that reflects positively on us.
Marriage vs. Dating (Swann et al., 1994)
- Does the association between self-verification and relationship quality differ for married & dating couples? - 90 married couples & 95 dating couples - Rated self & partner on 5 dimensions. - Rated intimacy of relationship (e.g., satisfaction & time spent together)
Mimicry for Money (van Baaren et al., 2003)
- Dutch restaurant servers verbally mimicked the diners' orders or simply indicated understanding ("Okay!" & writing it down) - Results: Mimicry increased the chance of getting a tip by 40% and the tip amount increased by 80%.
Cultural Specificity of Emotion
- Emotions are influenced by views of the self, social values and roles, and these vary across cultures - Emotions should thus be expressed in different ways in different cultures
Autokinetic Illusion Study (Sherif 1936)
- IV: Judgments alone vs. group (across trials) - DV: Similarity of judgments over time
Candy for Tips (Strohmetz et al., 2002)
- IV: Server brings a piece of chocolate with the check (vs. nothing) - DV: Tip amount left by diner - Results: 18% vs. 15% tip - Higher increase with 2 pieces of candy - Even higher when 2nd piece is given as a "special treat" just for you
Availability Heuristic (example)
- In a typical English text, are there more words that begin with the letter "k" or that have "k" as the third letter? - Most say the first letter because it is easier to think of words that begin with "k" (kite, know, kangaroo) than have "k" as the third letter (ask, acknowledge)
Two Types of Attributions
- Internal/personal attribution: Behavior is explained by aspects of the person - External/situational attribution: Behavior is explained by aspects of the situation
Heuristics and Information Processing
-Heuristic: mental shortcut that provides a quick and easy answer Availability Heuristic Representative Heuristic
Self-serving attributions
-Believing that good outcomes are due to one's own effort or ability, but bad outcomes are due to external factors.
Self-Handicapping (study)
-Berglas & Jones (1978): Participants told they would complete two sets of difficult verbal problems. IV: Good-performance vs. poor-performance on practice problems (confidence manipulation) DV: choice of a performance-enhancing drug or a performance-impairing drug, before the real test Who was more likely to choose performance-enhancing drug?
Art Judgments Study (Klein, 1997)
-College students asked to select winning artwork and provided (false) feedback on their accuracy - IV1: 40% vs. 60% accurate - IV2: higher vs. lower than average - DVs: Satisfaction with performance; choice to spin roulette wheel vs. obtain 50% accuracy in another art task, both for chance at $10
Representativeness Heuristic (example)
-If X is unknown but it looks more like Y than Z, people are more likely to think that X is a Y than a Z. "If it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck."
Self-Handicapping
-Pre-emptive behavior that provides an excuse for failure and protect self-esteem if failure occurs...but also sabotages one's chance of success
Which culture is more likely to have people who report high self-esteem, as measured previously? A. United States B. Japan
A. United States Reminder: Individualism and collectivism.... Western cultures value self-achievement and feeling good about oneself; Eastern cultures value self-improvement and feeling good about one's contribution to collective goals.
Thomas is thinking about what to pack for his upcoming trip to Seattle, WA. He remembers that the last time he was there, it was warm and sunny, so he decides to bring only shorts and t-shirts. Thomas' consideration of the weather reflects... A. availability heuristic B. representativeness heuristic C. planning fallacy D. selective attention
A. availability heuristic
Behavioral Mimicry Study (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999) results
participants were more likely to rub their face when the confederate rub theirs, and shake their foot when the confederate shook theirs