SOP 3004 Final Exam

Explain how the over justification effect explains why someone may develop a negative attitude about a behavior they previously enjoyed

Over justification effect: when people see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing -Paying someone for something they already like may undermine motivation EXAMPLE - giving kids rewards for drawing; they lose the self motivation to draw

Describe social facilitation and give possible explanations for this phenomenon

Social facilitation: strengthening of dominant responses in presence of others -arousal enhances whatever response tendency is dominant -performance hindered during complex/new tasks -performance enhanced on simple tasks -athletes, actors, and musicians perform well-practiced skills Evaluation apprehension: concern for how others are evaluating us

Define a group and provide examples

2 or more people who interact and influence one another EXAMPLES - sports team, group project

Gender roles

set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females

Spontaneous trait inference

when something is said by us about another person, people associate that trait with us

Discuss 3 ways in which situational influences & individual differences interact

-A given social situation affects people differently - we respond to a situation as we construe it -People often choose their situations - people choose a social world that reinforces their inclinations -People often create their situations- we create our own environment/mindsets based on our own psychological traits and social behaviors -we create and are created by our social worlds -GENES AND ENVIRONMENT INTERACT

Explain how the classic experiments on conformity covered in this chapter demonstrates concepts we discussed in earlier chapters

-Asch's line test demonstrated cognitive dissonance; because participants demonstrated clear dissonance when they began saying the wrong answer to conform to the group. Sherif's light experiment also demonstrated this because of how the participants changed their answers and formed an average -Milgram's shock experiment demonstrated the foot-in-door phenomenon by getting participants to perform a practice shock and then getting them to deliver stronger shocks as the experiment continued

Explain the theory of planned behavior

-Easier to predict behavior using info about a person's intentions -Intentions come from attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control EXAMPLE - sticking to a diet

Discuss how the way in which a message is communicated influences its persuasiveness

-Face to face -Written sign/document -Speeches must be understandable, convincing, memorable, and compelling -media advertisement -repetition can make things believable -2 step flow of communication: process by which media influence often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others -Order of persuasiveness: live, videotaped, audiotaped, written (best comprehended and recalled) =Persuasion decreases as the significance and familiarity of the issue increase

Describe Milgram's study of obedience

-In Milgram's experiment, he had a learner, a teacher and another confederate who was the experimenter. The teacher and learner randomly drew slips to see who was who so the participant would think the choice was random, even though it was not. The learner was ushered into an adjacent room, and the teacher was instructed to teach him a series of words through a microphone. Then the learner would be quizzed on these words. Each time he got it wrong, the teacher would shock him with a machine and would raise the level each time. -65% of the participants went all the way to 450 volts of electricity

Describe the ways in which we develop our social selves

-Influences our social selves: roles we play, social identities we form, comparisons we make with others -Social comparison: evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with others -How people judge us -Surrounding culture (individualism vs. collectivism)

Describe Sherif's study or norm formation and explain what is demonstrates about power of social contagion

-Muzafer Sherif sat participants in a dark room and shined a bright light 15 feet away from them. The light moves around a bit and then is shut off. Participants say ow much they think it moved. The next day, multiple participants are put in the room and say their estimates. Eventually, the people's estimates changes slightly and from an average within the group, a sort of "norm" within the experiment. -Sherif used the auto kinetic phenomenon - the apparent movement of a stationary light in the dark

Discuss the changes in prevalence of racial prejudice in the U.S. in history & how it manifests today

-Racial prejudice has declined over the years -Racial prejudice today is more likely to be subtle -Resume test: resumes with stereotypically white names go more call backs than black names -Implicit association test -Inflated praise and insufficient criticism EXAMPLE - when reading essays written by black people, white students did not give effective criticism and made the essays seem better than they actually were -Perceiving anger in black faces when it is not present

Describe Asch's study of group pressure and explain what is demonstrates about power of social influence

-Soloman Asch's experiment put participants in a room with confederates and were all told to examine lines of different lengths and say which line matches. All of the confederates said the incorrect line, eventually causing some participants to conform and also say the incorrect answer -This experiment shows that conformity can occur even when there is no obvious pressure to conform

Discuss whether stereotypes bias judgements of individuals

-Stereotypes DO bias judgements of individuals -Mostly reflect reality but can distort it -People often evaluate individuals more positively than the groups they compose -strong stereotypes can affects judgements -stereotypes bias interpretation

Explain frustration aggression theory

-Theory that frustration triggers readiness to aggress -Displacement: redirection of aggression to target that's not the source -Some frustration increases aggressiveness, some does not -Berkowitz: frustration > anger -Frustration arises from the gap between expectation and attainments

Identify some social psychological explanations for how average people may fall victim to dangerous cults

-Use of foot-in-door phenomenon -Charismatic leader attracts followers -Seems trustworthy -Recruits are often under 25 -at time of turning points in life -time of social and economic upheaval -path to bliss and heroism -public commitment -social implosion: isolated from friends/family and thus are forced to spend all/most of their time around the cultish mindset/people within the cult EXAMPLE - fraternities/sororities and rushing

Describe the circumstances under which attitudes predict behaviors

-When outside influences are minimal -when attitudes are specific to behavior -when attitudes are potent (strong)

Explain how contents of a message make it more/less persuasive

-good feelings enhance persuasion -more frightened/vulnerable = more response -gain-frame: focuses on advantages of healthy behavior -Discrepancy and credibility interact: effect of a large vs small discrepancy depends on whether the communicator is credible -2 sided persuasion is more effective if people are aware of opposing arguments Primary effect: when info is presented early and is most effective Recency effect: when the last info presented is most effective

4 components of the self

1. Self concept - Self-schema: belief about the self; helps process self-relevant info -Possible selves: selves we want to become 2. Social-self -Social environment can influence our sense of self; social comparison (upward & downward) -Culture: individualism (based on individual traits, independent self); collectivism (identity based on group membership attributes, interdependent self); implications of culture (cognition - focus on focal object vs. background features, conformity vs. egoism) 3. Self knowledge -We might not know ourselves as well as we think we do; explaining past behavior; predicting future behavior (planning fallacy); affective forecasting: predicting future emotions -impact bias: overestimating an impact -Immune neglect: neglecting power of psychological immune system to overcome negative events 4. Self esteem: sense of self-worth -individualistic = individual achievement - Collectivist = positive social engagement -Why we have it = SOCIOMETER THEORY (self esteem works as a barometer of where we stand in our environment -Terror management theory: existential, mortality, based theory -Narcissism: inflated sense of self, LACK EMPATHY -Secure self-esteem: Secure (self evaluation rated in internal sources) vs. Insecure (self evaluation rooted in external sources)

List the 3 possible explanations for why our behaviors may influence our attitudes and describe major characteristics of each

1. Self-presentation Theory -Theory: we express attitudes that make us seem consistent -Fake attitude change 2. Cognitive Dissonance Theory -Theory: we justify our actions to ourselves to reduce discomfort -Cognitive dissonance: discomfort that is caused by our awareness of inconsistent, competing ideas -Festinger and Carlsmith= being paid to say boring task was fun -Helps account for attitude change Combating/reducing dissonance: minimizing chances for dissonance -Selective exposure: tendency to seek info and media that agree with one's views and to avoid dissonant info Reducing dissonance: change behavior & attitude Post decision dissonance: Choosing colleges; we experience dissonance after making difficult decisions 3. Self-perception Theory -Theory: we look to our behavior when we feel uncertain about our feelings or beliefs -Explains foot-in-door phenomenon -Facial feedback effect: facial/body expressions contribute to how we feel -Attitude formation

4 Factors that predict obedience

1. Victim's distance: -Emotional distance can affect obedience -when this experiment was performed and teachers had to push the learner's hand down on the shock plate, obedience dropped to 30% -it is easiest to abuse someone who is distant or depersonalized 2. Closeness and legitimacy of authority -when another confederate replaced the original experimenter/the experimenter instructed the teacher via telephone, obedience dropped -if authority does not seem legitimate, people are less likely to comply -Restaurant strip search example 3. Institutional authority -when the experiment moved from Yale to Connecticut, obedience dropped -police officers - people tend to obey officers because of the institutional authority they have 4. Group influence -Conformation to defiant confederates -When a few students defy a teacher, others will do the same -Example: gangs -9/11 responders - "partly obeyed superiors, partly conforming to group loyalty"

Explain the characteristics of an audience that make them more/less susceptible to being persuaded

Age (2 explanations): -life cycle explanation: attitudes change as people grow older -generational explanation: attitudes do not change, older people largely hold onto the attitudes they adopted when they were young Forewarning: -being told that someone about to try to persuade a group, the group may respond with immediate counterarguments -if someone is attempting to persuade a group and knows it will be difficult, the persuader may anticipate counterarguments and may prepare to combat them Need for cognition: -stimulating thinking -Strong messages = more persuasive -Weak messages = less persuasive

Define aggression and the two types

Aggression: social/physical/verbal behavior intended to harm Hostile: from anger; emotional and usually impulsive goal is to injure Instrumental: injury for purpose other than just hurting; bullying or war

Review antecedents & symptoms of groupthink

Antecedents > make groupthink more likely: -highly cohesive group -isolation from dissenting viewpoints -directive leader who makes his/her opinions known -high stress Symptoms of groupthink: -illusion of invulnerability -unquestioned belief in group's morality -rationalization -stereotyped view of opponent -conformity pressure -self-censorship -illusion of unanimity -mind-guards

Define attitude & describe the 3 components of attitude

Attitudes: a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something/someone 3 Dimensions: 1. Affect (feelings) 2. Behavior 3. Cognition (thoughts)

Describe attribution theory and explain the 3 factors that determine how people explain others' social behavior

Attribution theory: Explaining others' behavior; dispositional (internal) & situational (external) 3 FACTORS: 1. Consistency - the behavior is ongoing 2. Distinctiveness - the behavior is different/stands out compared to others 3. Consensus - how many other people do the same/similar behavior INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION: low consistency, low consensus, high distinctiveness EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION: all three are high

Explain the differences between correlational and experimental research and explain why we can't conclude cause/effect from correlational

CORRELATIONAL: determines whether 2 or more factors are naturally associated; variables are measured NOT manipulated (-1 to +1) EXPERIMENTAL: studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent variable) while controlling others (constant); experimental studies; required to be ethical

Review cognitive sources of prejudice

Categorization: -spontaneous -can be energy saving and informative Distinctiveness: perceiving people who stand out -stigma consciousness: expectation of being victimized by prejudice/discrimination -vivid cases -numerical minorities are often overestimated by the majority -distinctive events foster illusory correlations Attribution: -group serving bias -just-world phenomenon

Define the 2 routes to persuasion and explain audience characteristics, type of processing, and persuasion effects associated with each

Central Route: occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts -if these arguments are strong and compelling, persuasion is likely -explicit and reflective -changes explicit attitudes Peripheral Route: occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness -trigger automatic acceptance without much thinking -Easily understood familiar statements are more persuasive than novel statements with the same meaning -Implicit and automatic -Slowly builds implicit attitudes

Explain the overconfidence phenomenon & confirmation bias

Confirmation bias: tendency to search for info that confirms one's preconceptions -people seek as friends/spouses those who boost their self image Overconfidence phenomenon: tendency to overestimate one's accuracy/talent -self-grading of papers

Define conformity and the 3 varieties

Conformity: change in behavior or belief as a result of real/imagined group pressure Compliance = insincere, outward conformity (privately disagree) -Obedience = (form of compliance) acting in accord with a direct order or command Acceptance = sincere, inward. Acting and believing social pressure

Explain characteristics that enable minority positions to influence majority

Consistency: -sticking to own position Self confidence: -consistency and persistence convey self confidence -by being firm and forceful, the minority's self-assurance may prompt the majority to reconsider its position Defections from the majority: -Persistent minority punctures any illusion of unanimity

Describe characteristics of a speaker that make them more/less persuasive

Credibility: perceived expertise/trustworthiness -be knowledgeable -conclusions support views -speak confidently -trustworthy (eye contact, not seeming like they are trying to be persuasive, talking fast, arguing against own self-interest) -Sleeper effect: delayed impact of a message when an initially discounted message becomes effective, such as we remember the message but forget the reason for discounting it Attractiveness: -liking begets persuasion -physical attractiveness -similarity also makes for attractiveness

Describe the phenomenon in which like-minded people develop more extreme attitudes than they might hold on their own

Known as group polarization: -occurs because during discussion, opinions converge

Describe deindividuation and identify circumstances that trigger it

Deindividuation: loss of self awareness and evaluation apprehension Triggered by: -group size -anonymity -arousing/distracting activities

Compare controlled and automatic processing - describe benefits and downfalls of automatic/intuitive thinking

Dual attitudes system: -Controlled processing: explicit, deliberate & reflective, conscious -Automatic: implicit, effortless & habitual, without awareness Automatic/Intuitive thinking: -Benefits: use of schemas, emotional reactions, may be able to assume the answer to a problem, unconscious thinking may guide us to a satisfying choice when faced with a decision -Downfalls: may not be as smart as we think, perceptual misinterpretations

Discuss which perspective addresses similarities in human behavior and differences in human behavior

Evolutionary theory: natural selection predisposes physical and psychological traits and social behaviors that enhance the preservation/spread of one's genes -SIMILARITIES Cultural perpective: different cultures foster different psychological traits and social behaviors -DIFFERENCES

Discuss how evil or moral actions may produce corresponding attitudes

Evil acts lead to negative attitudes -We dislike those who are mean to us/who we are mean to Acts of morality or love/kindness lead to positive attitudes -Benjamin Franklin effect

Compare the explanations of gender differences proposed by evolutionary and cultural perspectives

Evolution: -differences in parental investments result in different mating preferences -Men seek fertility & youth -Women seek resources, power, ambition (physically dominant males excelled in gaining access to females, which over generations enhanced male aggression and dominance as the less-aggressive males had fewer chances to reproduce) -Hunters vs gatherers -Nature selects traits that help send one's genes into the future -Testosterone has strong affects on differences (Sex drive & aggression) Culture: -gender roles vary with culture -gender roles change over time -Peer-transmitted culture: how our peers enforce norms and therefore cause us to pick up these norms -Nurture assumption: parental nurture governs who their children become -Biology = 50% influence - Environmental influence = 0-10% -Peer influence = 40-50%

Describe the components of an ethical psychological experiment

Experimental realism: degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants Sometimes deception in a safe way, minimizing demand characteristics, informed consent, debriefing

Describe ways in which our self knowledge is limited

Explaining our behavior: we are bad predictors at what makes us happy Predicting our behavior: planning fallacy, couples predicting their longevity, we aren't as good at predicting our behavior as we think we are Predicting our feelings: we can mis-predict our responses to certain things, studies of "affective forecasting" reveal that people have greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and duration of their future emotions (impact bias & immune neglect) Self analysis: dual attitude system = different implicit and explicit attitudes toward the same object (we are unaware of much that goes on in our minds)

Compare explicit & implicit prejudice

Explicit: done with effort, can be spoken verbally/acted upon intentionally EXAMPLE - purposefully avoiding people of color because of prejudices against them Implicit: automatic, done in a way/spoken of in a way that the person doing so is not aware they are doing so -implicit association test: people more likely to shoot an unarmed black individual than a white armed individual -Hiding behind another motive

Explain fundamental attribution error

FAE (AKA correspondance bias) = tendency to underestimate situational influences and overestimate the dispositional influences upon others' behavior -assuming someone is a bad driver because they cut us off; they could simply be in a hurry for an unknown reason

Describe foot-in-door phenomenon and low ball technique and how each results in attitude change

Foot-in-door phenomenon: first agree to small request, will later comply with larger request EXAMPLE - politicians giving out buttons, pins, stickers, etc. to gain support Low-ball technique: a tactic for getting people to agree to something EXAMPLE - car salesman

Define gender according to psychology and discuss whether males & females are more similar or different

Gender: characteristics people associate with male and female -Females & males are more similar than different -Of 46 chromosomes, 45 are unisex Gender similarities: -Aggressiveness -more similar than different -individual differences exceed gender differences

Explain why group decision making can be helpful and describe things that can prevent groupthink

Group decision making: -Debating ideas = better than not criticizing -Enhancing brainstorming -Ability to work together to solve problems Preventing groupthink: -Be impartial -Critical evaluation (Devil's advocate) -Welcome outside critiques -Second chance meetings

Describe factors that predict when people will conform

Group size: -3-5 people is ideal -agreement of small groups makes position more credible Unanimity: -agreement by all people; consensus -observing dissent can increase independence -puncturing unanimity deflates group's social power Cohesion: -"we feeling" extent to which members of a group are bound together Status: -higher status people/groups have more impact Public response: -in experiments, people conform more when they must respond in front of others rather than writing their answers privately Prior commitment: -people don't often change their minds, thus restraining conformity and persuasion Example - referees

Explain the differences between hostile & benevolent sexism

Hostile: negative sexism EXAMPLE - women deserve less than men/are inferior to men Benevolent: using implicitly sexist attitudes to support equal/inclusive behavior. Can also be based on assumptions having to do with gender norms EXAMPLE - women need support, women have a superior moral sensibility

Define what theories and hypotheses are and explain the relationship between the two

Hypotheses: testable predictions that describe a possible relationship between events Theory: Ideas that summarize and explain facts and guide future predictions - they help generate hypotheses

Describe 2 ways in which we search for association in random events

Illusory correlation: perception of a relationship where none exists; or perception of a stronger relationship than what actually exists -Illusion of control: perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one's control or as more controllable than they are -EXAMPLE: gambling -Regression towards the average: statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to return toward one's average

Describe the Radishes vs. Chocolate experiment and explain how it demonstrates the Limited resource model of self control

In the radishes & chocolate experiment, participants smelled freshly baking cookies but were instructed to take and eat a radish. These individuals did worse later on in another self-control experiment -Demonstrates the limited resource model in the sense that using self control uses up limited mental resources, impairing future self control

Describe Festinger & Carlsmith's experiment on cognitive dissonance and explain how it demonstrates attitude change following behavior

In this experiment, participants spend time performing very boring tasks, then are asked to tell the next participant that the experiment was very exciting. Participants were paid $1 or $20 to lie -The insufficient justification of $1 created more dissonance than $20 and thus the $1 group were more likely to adjust their attitudes to their actions

Discuss some of the consequences of in-group bias and describe characteristics of this most likely to exhibit in-group bias

In-group bias: positive self concept -feeds favoritism -outgroup disliking Who is most likely to exhibit in-group bias: -people who feel the need for status -terror management theory

Explain differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures

Individualism: concept of giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identification Collectivism: giving priority to the goal's of one's group and defining one's identity accordingly

Discuss evidence that aggression is a biological phenomenon

Instinct theory: aggression is instinctual; must be released -little evidence supports this -"Catharsis" myth Neural influences: -aggression triggered "deeper" brain areas like the amygdala are stimulated -individuals prone to aggression less developed prefrontal cortex Genetic influences: -animals can be bred for aggression -Identical twins show more similar aggression than fraternal -Genes and environment interact Biochemical influences: -alcohol -testosterone -increases width to height ratio > displays more aggression -T increases dominance but dominance increases T -poor diet: omega 3 fatty acids are important

Explain the major ways in which men & women differ

Men: -priority in independence -focus on tasks and connectedness in large groups -as children, aggressive play in large groups -"fight or flight" -vocations: work with things Women: -Priority in connectedness -focus on community in personal relationships -As children, intimate play in small groups -tend and befriend -vocations: with more people -smile more; more empathetic Social dominance: -men tend to be more socially dominant Aggression: -men more likely to engage in physical aggression -women engage in less assaultive forms of aggression Sexuality: -men more likely to think about and initiate sex

Describe the misinformation effect and analyze implications of this effect in everyday life

Misinformation effect: memories being altered as a result of incorrect information -manipulation; recalling a hammer as a screwdriver

Define and provide examples of the 2 motivations behind conformity

Normative influence: conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance EXAMPLE - Polonius agreeing with Hamlet to be in his favor/gain acceptance Informative influence: conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people EXAMPLE - If your friend takes you to a specific restaurant or buys a specific car, you gain information that leads you to like what your friend likes, even if you don't care what your friend likes

Summarize some of the ways personal values may influence the study of social psychology

Obvious ways: when choosing research topics, research reflects social issues of the time; types of people are attracted to certain topics Less obvious ways: cultural influences on interpretation of behavior, social representations, forming concepts and labeling

Explain the ways our sense of self may be influence by our social environment

Our sense of self is dependent on our social world - social surroundings affect self awareness - self interest colors social judgement - self concern motivates social behavior - social relationships help define sense of self

Explain different ways in which perceptions may guide interpretation of events - include description of priming effect

Perception is in the eye of the beholder - our preconceptions can influence or perceptions of our social world Priming: activation of particular associations in memory Kulechov effect: cues about setting and context that color perceptions

Describe the factors that explain why some individuals may be more likely to conform

Personality: -predicts average behavior across many situations -strong vs weak situations -every psychological event depends upon the state of the person and at the same time on the environment, although their relative importance is different in different cases Culture: -cultural values influence conformity -individualistic cultures see conformity as negative -collectivist cultures see conformity as a positive -conformity supports norm of food prep, hygiene, health, and contact with other people Social roles: -acting out a role can be self-conscious, which may then subside -role reversal can change people

Describe factors that cause people to make the FAE

Perspective/situational awareness: -people often ignore powerful situational determinants -we find causes where we look for them -when recalling our past, we become like observers of someone else -western/individualistic cultures: assume people not situations cause events -collectivists consider situational influences

Review prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination and explain the differences between them

Prejudice: preconceived negative judgement of a group and it's individual members EXAMPLE - patronizing a minority group, insufficient criticism, norms Stereotypes: generalizations of an entire group based on limited/lack of accurate info EXAMPLE - "women are so sensitive" Discrimination: negative behavior based on prejudice EXAMPLE - black vs. white spaces

List the 3 main areas of study in social psychology and explain the big ideas that summarize research in that area

SOCIAL THINKING: we construct our own social reality, social intuitions guide us but can deceive us, our attitudes shape our behaviors SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Social influences & dispositions shape behavior SOCIAL RELATIONS: Social behavior is a biological behavior; feelings & actions towards other people can be positive or negative

Using the principle of natural selection explain how psychological traits may have evolved over generations

Psychological traits that our ancestors had that increased their odds of surviving are also carried by us. Thus, traits that made survival/mating difficult/less likely were not as likely to be passed down and have either decreased or disappeared altogether

Describe some of the problems that may be encountered when conducting survey research

Random sampling may not always be representative of the population; question order can affect/create bias; response options can affect what participants choose for a specific survey question; wording of questions can influence answers by creating a bias

Explain how random sampling and assignment are different

Random sampling: survey procedure in which every person in population being studied has an equal chance of inclusion Random assignment: process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition

Explain why people don't completely conform to each other

Reactance: going against conformity because of the sense of personal freedom -People feel uncomfortable with being too different and being too similar; so they assert uniqueness

Explain the representativeness & availability heuristics

Representativeness heuristic: tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling a typical member EXAMPLE - deciding that Carlos is a librarian rather than a trucker because he better represents one's image of librarians Availability heuristic: cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory ; if instances of something come readily to mind, we presume it to be commonplace EXAMPLE - estimating teen violence after school shooting

Discuss the power of roles to change our attitudes - describe examples such as Stanford Prison experiment

Role: set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave -roles can morph reality -pressure of a role can motivate someone to act specific to that role, even if they would not act that way usually STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT: -Guards: took on dominant roles, became abusive, lost morals for prisoners; admitted they did not expect to act that way but the "role" caused them to act that way -Prisoners: became subordinate, felt trapped, mental breakdowns, eventually tried to riot all results of the "role" of a prisoner

Describe the self concept, self schemas, & possible selves and how they are related

SELF CONCEPT: answers the questions "who am I?" SELF SCHEMA: belief about the self - helps process self relevant info POSSIBLE SELVES: selves we want to become -Related: self-schemas go hand in hand with self-concepts, and these influence our possible selves

Explain how self-efficacy and locus of control may play a role in individual's perceived self control

SELF EFFICACY: sense that one is competent and effective; distinguished from self esteem (one's self worth). A sharpshooter in the military might feel self efficacy and low self esteem. -motivates behavior -leads us to set challenging goals and persist LOCUS OF CONTROL: extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts or as externally controlled by chance of outside forces - Own efforts > increased self control -External forces > decreased self control

Define spotlight effect and illusion of transparency

SPOTLIGHT EFFECT: belief others are paying more attention to us than they really are - being self conscious, thinking everyone in a classroom is watching us do something wrong ILLUSION OF TRANSPARENCY: illusion that our concealed emotions can be easily read by others - assuming everyone can tell that we are upset by something

Describe the motivational sources of prejudice

Scapegoat theory: -frustration can lead to displaced aggression Realistic group conflict theory: -competition for finite resources between groups > prejudice -hostility toward immigrants over jobs Social identity theory: -we categorize ourselves and others into groups -us vs. them -ingroup vs. outgroup -Ingroup bias: positive self concept -Feeds favoritism -outgroup disliking Who is most likely to exhibit in-group bias: -People who feel a need for status -terror management theory

Define self esteem, describe theoretical explanations for why we have self-esteem, describe some of the downfalls of extremely high self-esteem and compare sources of secure & insecure self-esteem

Self esteem: a person's overall self evaluation or sense of self worth -terror management theory -the self-esteem gauge alerts us to threatened social rejection, motivating us to act with greater sensitivity to others' expectations Downfalls: narcissism, low vs. secure self esteem (clinical problems, fragile self worth reliant on external sources > low self esteem; long term well being & strong self worth reliant on internal sources > high self esteem)

Define the self fulfilling prophecy & discuss implication of self-fulfilling prophecies for social relationships

Self fulfilling prophecy: belief that leads to its own fulfillment behavioral confirmation: people's social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations

Discuss consequences of prejudice and how it may influence attitudes and behaviors:

Self perpetuating prejudgements: -Subtyping; exceptions Stereotype threat: -stress -self monitoring -suppressing unwanted thoughts and emotions Stereotypes can bias judgements Self fulfilling prophecies: -subgroup stereotypes can fulfill themselves -when oppression ends, its effects linger

Describe ways in which people manage their self presentational concerns to external audiences and internal audiences

Self presentation: expressing oneself and behaving in ways that create a favorable or ideal impression Self monitoring: being attuned to social situations and adjusting one's performance to create desired impression (self presentation to an EXTERNAL audience) Self-handicapping: protecting one's self image with behaviors that cream an excuse for later failure (self presentation to an INTERNAL audience)

Describe the different types of self-serving bias and explain why people tend to exhibit the self-serving bias & describe the potential consequences of self-serving bias

Self serving Attributions: tendency to attribute positive outcomes to oneself and negative outcomes to other factors Better than average effect: assuming our talents/skills are better than average/better than most people Unrealistic optimism: illusory optimism that creates vulnerability Defensive pessimism: adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one's anxiety to motivate effective action False consensus: tendency to overestimate the commonality of one's opinions and one's undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors False uniqueness: tendency to underestimate the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behaviors

Discuss cultural norms that differ/are similar across cultures

Similar norms: -respect friend's privacy -eye contact -don't share things shared in confidence/private Different norms: -expressiveness -punctuality -rule-breaking -personal space

Describe the social sources of prejudice

Social inequities: -unequal status breeds prejudice -we see groups as competent or likable but not both -social dominance orientation: motivation to have one's own group dominate other social groups -Social inequities > mistrust Socialization effects: -Ethnocentric: believing in superiority of one's own ethnic/cultural group -Authoritarian Personality: disposed to favor obedience to authority and intolerance of outgroups and those lower in status -religion is used to support injustice -conformity can lead to stronger prejudice Institutional Supports: -can bolster prejudice through overt policies such as segregation, or by passively reinforcing the status quo -political leaders may both reflect and reinforce prevailing attitudes -often unintended and unnoticed -literature can also enforce prejudice

Discuss the theoretical perspective that aggression isa learned social behavior

Social learning theory: we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished -Bobo doll: when children watched a video of an adult beating a Bobo doll, they reciprocated those actions

Explain social loafing and factors that reduce it

Social loafing: tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable Reducing this phenomenon: -task is challenging, appealing, or involving -members are friends/feel identified with or indispensable to the group -make individual performance identifiable -commitment

Explain why social psychological findings sometimes seem to be common sense

Social psychological findings seem to be common sense because common sense is invoked after we know the facts - events are far more "obvious" and predictable in hindsight than beforehand (hindsight bias or "I knew it all along")

Define social psychology and explain how it combines elements of sociology and personality psychology

Sociology: Study of groups Personality psychology: individual differences Social Psychology: focuses on how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people - real OR imagined (in between of two above points)

Describe ways in which persuasion may be resisted

Strengthening personal commitment: -attitude inoculation: exposing people to weak attacks upon their attitudes so that when stranger attacks come, they will have refutations available Inoculation programs/education: -living with diversity -being educated to know when someone/something is trying to be persuasive -be prepared for counterarguments

Review types of leadership and how each type can be effective in influencing the majority

Task leadership: organizing work, setting standards, and focusing on goals -Holds group's attention and effort remains focused on goals/mission > influences majority Social leadership: building teamwork, mediating conflicts, and being supportive -more satisfaction because of participation in decision making (everyone involved > influences majority) -good for morale -prevents groupthink Transformational leadership: enabled by a leader's vision and inspiration; exerts significant influence -engaged, trusting, effective workforce -Articulate high standards, inspire people to share their vision, and offer personal attention -Charismatic, energetic, self-confident extraverts are generally transformational leaders -All of these characteristics > influence majority

Self affirmation theory

Theory that people often experience a self-image threat after engaging in an undesirable behavior; they can compensate by affirming another aspect of the self

Determine whether 2 variables are strongly correlated and whether they are positively or negatively correlated from their correlation coefficient

We measure correlations with coefficient r (-1 to +1) Positive: both factors increase/decrease together Negative: one factor increases, other decreases

Social representation

a society's widely held ideas and values, including assumptions and cultural ideologies

Empathy

ability to feel what other people feel

Androgynous

capable of both assertiveness and nurturance (masculine & feminine traits)

Experimental realism

degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants

Mundane realism

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday events

Culture

enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted across generations

Social neuroscience

interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of social and emotional processes and behaviors and how these processes and behaviors affect our brain and biology

Describe groupthink

mode of thinking that people engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action EXAMPLES - Pearl Harbor, Bay of Pigs invasion, Vietnam War

Belief perseverance

persistence of one's initial conceptions; such as when the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives