Social Psychology: Unit 1

information we do get is wrong

secondhand information is often unreliable and biased exaggerated/ misrepresentation biased by 2 sources -telephone game

bottom-up processing

"data driven" mental processing where people form conclusions based on stimuli encountered in the environment

top-down processing

"theory drive" mental processing where individuals form conclusions based on preexisting knowledge and expectations

Describe social comparison theory. When will one engage in upward social comparison? Downward social comparison? Give an example of each.

Social comparison theory is a form of self-knowledge by means of comparing oneself to another standard (aka another person). We compare ourselves to to others when there are no objective standards to go by. We compare ourselves to those similar to us, better than us (upward social comparison), and worse than us (downward social comparison). Often we engaged in upward social comparison to improve or motivate ourselves. This can be seen with role models. We strive to become better like those we admire. Downward social comparision is implemented to make ourselves more comfortable or to feel better about ourselves. This can be seen with students comparing grades, ACT scores, achievements. Like "so and so in my class failed and I made a C."

reflected self-appraisal

a belief about what others think of one's self

self-schema

a cognitive structure, derived from past experience, that represents a person's beliefs and feelings about the self in general and in specific situations who am I

self-control

a special case of self-regulation that is concerned with inhibiting goal-thwarting behaviors like a gas tank- has to be replenished- has to be replenished at same point

types of self-discrepancies

actual-ideal self discrepancies = produce dejection related emotions --promotion focus- attaining positive outcomes; approach related behaviors actual-ought self-discrepancies = produce agitation-related emotions --prevention focus- avoiding negative outcomes; avoidance-related behaviors ex. not take final

self-knowledge

aka self-concept information and beliefs we have about who we are I am ___________. abilities, traits, physical attributes, groups

construal level theory

theory about relationship between psychological distance and abstract or concrete thinking

construal

an interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations people confront

self-serving attributional bias

attribute failure, etc externally and success internally -2 kinds --external --internal

illusory correlation

availability and representativeness belief that two variables are correlated when they aren't -superstitions -butterfly effect -ice cream

self-discrepancy theory

behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal and ought self 1. actual self- self people believe they are 2. ideal self- self that embodies people's wishes and aspirations 3. ought self- concerned with duties, obligations, and external demands people feel they are compelled to honor states that falling short of standards can lead to a range of emotions

just-world hypothesis

belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get -fundamental attribution error = reassuring because we feel less vulnerable to external factors

gender and attributions

boys- internal girls- external

self-knowledge: situations (3)

can trigger specific working 3 facets: -we have core self-knowledge aspects that we consistently carry with us across situations -our self-knowledge remains relatively stable -any changes that do occur do so in a predictable and stable pattern

stable vs instable

cause is fixed or is just this 1 time

state-self esteem

changes depending on circumstance

self-knowledge: social comparison (2)

compare yourself to another standard (other people) downward and upward

self-serving construals

construal of information in our own personal favor -interviews, dating, church ex. better-than-average effect

self-knowledge: culture (4)

cultural norms, rules, and laws impact our development of self and use of self -independent self-construal -interdependent self-construal -gender roles

social psychology

scientific study of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of an individual in social situations A. Affect B. Behavior C. Cognition

global vs specific

degree that cause is all affective or 1 domain

internal vs external

degree that cause is linked to self or situation

self-enhancement

desire to maintain, increase, or protect one's positive self-views 1. self serving construals 2. self-affirmation 3. comparison and reflecting (SEM model) more important for emotional responses

discounting/augmentation principles

discounting- ignore other information augmentation- assign greater weight

primacy effect

disproportionate influence on judgement by info presented first -most effective when something is ambiguous or unknown

recency effect

disproportionate influence on judgement by information presented last -most effective with something concrete

agent-self

executive function decision making -self regulation

fundamental attribution error

failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, and the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior

people interpret things differently

firsthand information- we can still fail to pick up on relevant aspects or misinterpret things ex. pluralistic ignorance self-fulfilling prophecies

social comparison theory

form of self knowledge; hypothesis that people compare themselves to other people in order to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states upward social comparison downward social comparison

spin framing

how a message, argument, product, etc, is framed to highlight the source's agenda -mostly diction-word choice -know the facts about smoking -know the benefits of quitting smoking

attribution theory

how do we assign cause to events around us

covariation principle

idea that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with behavior -3 kinds --consensus- what most people do --distinctiveness- what a person does in different situations --consistency- what a person does in a situation on different occasions

self-evaluation maintenance (SEM)

idea that people are motivated to view themselves favorably and that they do so through two processes: comparison and reflection comparison- usually relevant domain to ourselves (MJ with golf) reflection- usually non-relevant domain to ourselves (me with sports)

self-affirmation theory

idea that people can maintain an overall sense of self-worth following psychologically threatening information by affirming a valued aspect of themselves unrelated to threat --self-serving bias ex. fail one class but excelling in another

interpersonal self (public self)

image of self that is conveyed to others concerned about how others see you -job interviews, dates, public speaking

temporal framing

influence of actions and events within a particular time perspective influence how we process a message

framing effects

influence on judgement resulting from the way information is presented -wording = spin framing, +/-, temporal -order = primacy, recency

perceptual salience and causal attributions

influence whether potential cause springs to our mind or how readily it springs to mind -people are more salient than surrounding context

positive/negative framing

information that is presented in a positive or negative light = more effective -diction too --86% lean vs 14% fat

dispositions

internal factors such as beliefs, values, personality traits, and abilities, that guide a person's behavior

internal vs external validity

internal- essential and requires that only the manipulated variable could have caused the results external- how well something generalizes outside of the study -ensure with field experiments

heuristics

intuitive mental operations that provide efficient answers to common problems of judgements -mental shortcuts --availability --representativeness

availability heuristic

judgements of frequency or probability are based on how readily pertinent instances come to mind ex. plane crashes, shark attacks

representativeness heuristic

judgements of likelihood are based on assessments of similarity between individuals and group prototypes ex. Greek letters, professors, basically stereotyping

schema

knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information why is this a chair

self-knowledge (looking-glass self)

learn who we are by imagining how we appear to others (act as mirrors) -reflected self-appraisals --but others are inconsistent with our own views

causal attribution

linking an event to a cause, inferring trait is responsible -"unlucky" -important because the type of attribution made will influence how you respond to situations

dangers of self-esteem

low = depression, anxiety, low motivation high = narcissism (participation awards)

pluralistic ignorance

misperception of a group norm; many privately reject the norm but incorrectly assume that most others accept it and go along with it

Gestalt psychology

non-conscious interpretation of what the object represents as a whole lamp/people

types of research

observational archival surveys correlational experimental

self-esteem

overall positive or negative evaluation an individual has of himself or herself -trait self-esteem -state self-esteem -sociometer hypothesis -dangers

self-verification

people strive for stable, subjectively accurate beliefs about self because such self-views give a sense of coherence -fashion -Greek life -sportswear -we attend to information consistent with our own thoughts more important for cognitive validation

explanatory style

person's habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along three dimensions 1. internal/external 2. stable/unstable 3. global/specific

trait self-esteem

person's natural level of self-esteem that is stable across time

contingencies of self-worth

perspective that states self-esteem is contingent upon successes and failures in domains on which a person has based on his/her self-worth

priming

presentation of info designed to activate a concept

self-presentation

presentation of the person we would like others to believe we are

self-regulation

process by which people initiate, alter, and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals

intuitive system

quick and automatic working system; uses heuristics

reliability and validity

reliability- same on repeated occasions validity- corresponds between some outcome measure is supposed to predict

sociometer hypothesis

self-esteem is an internal, subjective index of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably -means of how well we are performing socially

self-structure

self-knowledge interpersonal self agent-self

channel factors

situational circumstances that appear unimportant on the surface but can have great consequences for behavior (facilitating it, blocking it, or guiding it in a particular direction) -catalysts of behavior -store sale but not enough time / email about the online sale and coupon = catalyst

ego depletion

state produced by acts of self-control, in which people lack energy or resources to engage in further acts of self-control

social cognition

study of how people think about the social world and arrive at judgements that help them interpret the past, understand the present, and predict future problems: -not a lot of information to go on -people interpret things different -information we do get is wrong

working self-concept

subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context

self-fulfilling prophecies

tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the very thing they expect to happen -think you're gonna fail, don't study, and fail

self-handicapping

tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order to have an excuse ready should one perform poorly or fail

self-monitoring

tendency to monitor one's behavior to fit the current situation

confirmation bias

tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence that would support it -false beliefs because we can find support for almost anything

counterfactual thoughts

thought of what might have, could have, "if only" -increase in emotional reaction to an event --car wreck

self-knowledge: introspection (1)

to examine one's own mind (self-appraisals) -flawed = assumes we have direct access to our inner states

minimal information

we often don't have a lot to go on -highly influenced by: 1. faces 2. sex 3. race