PSY 240 exam 2

honor culture experiments:

(cohen 1996) 3 experiments: -Participants were those who grew up in the North or South of US -Exp. 1: Were called "*******" by a confederate who had to move things and stop what he was doing each time the participant passed. •Southerners more likely to -(a) think their masculine reputation was threatened -(b) feel upset (cortisol levels were higher) -(c) be physiological primed for aggression (higher levels of testosterone) -(d) be cognitively primed for aggression (word completions: _fight; gun_) -(e) be aggressive (chicken; when did they get out of the way of an approaching person)

Trying to By-Pass Social Desirability: -Bogus Pipeline (Sigall, 1967)

-"we can tell if you're lying..." -If believed, this can produce more honest answers, especially when answers may not be socially desireable.

LaPierre (1934): the attitude-behavior problem:

-In a classic study, LaPierre (1934) drove through the U.S. with a Chinese couple. They stopped at over 250 restaurants and hotels and were refused service only once. Several months later, the owners were surveyed on whether they would serve Chinese people. The response was overwhelmingly negative, 92 percent of those surveyed said that they would not. In this case, clearly, their behavior gave less evidence of racial bias than their expressed attitudes did. -Different time...about six months later. -Different people -Chinese couple spoke flawless English; accompanied by Stanford professor. •Nevertheless, subsequent research showed that in some cases, attitudes did not predict behaviors. -Example: Busing

Fazio, Zanna & Cooper (1977):

-Induced half the subjects to "volunteer" to write a counter-attitudinal essay; randomly assigned other half to write a counter-attitudinal essay. •Both dissonance and self-perception would predict attitude change only for "volunteer" condition. -Crossed with the first manipulation, they told half the participants: •that there was "ultra-sonic" sound piped into their booth that they couldn't hear, but nevertheless would cause them to feel anxious. •The other half got no information about arousal. -Do they come to believe what they wrote? •What would self-perception theory predict? -As long as they volunteer (regardless of arousal source), self-perception predicts attitude change •What would cognitive dissonance theory predict? -Cognitive dissonance predicts attitude change only when participants believed the arousal was the result of their dissonance. -Results? •Supported the dissonance prediction. Only in the condition without the ultrasonic sound did attitudes change. Arousal was the reason for the effect.

Self Complexity theory (Linville):

-People have multiple selves and these selves may overlap to varying degrees •Low = overlapping (all eggs in one basket) •High = non-overlapping -How people respond to success and failure •Those who are low in self-complexity respond more extremely to both success and failure. Higher highs; lower lows. -The extent to which the selves overlap influences our mental health (too much overlap is a problem) •But, it also depends on how much control we feel we have over our multiple selves; higher perceived control, better mental health

other ways to reduce dissonance:

-change behavior -change cognition -justify behavior by adding new cognition -Ex: "I know smoking is bad for me, but I still do it" •Change behavior: Quit smoking •Change cognition: Smoking isn't that bad •Add new cognition: Smoking might be bad for my health, but it's good for me because I enjoy it, it lets me relax, etc.

One-sided vs two-sided appeals:

-if your audience will be exposed to opposing views, offer a two-sided appeal -advantage: they can make the communicator seem more honest

social dominance:

-men tend to be leaders -expectations: >agentic: independence, self-confidence >communal: caring about others' welfare >backlash women: more communal words men: more agentic words

Who conforms?

-people who seek to please others and are comfortable following social rules (those high in agreeableness and conscientiousness) are the most likely to conform -different cultures socialize ppl to be more or less socially responsive -social roles involve a certain degree of conformity, and conforming to expectations is an important task when stepping into a new social role

Optimal distinctiveness (Brewer 1991):

-we seek balance between the desires to fit in and stand out -feelings of too much of one motivates us to strengthen the other

2 explanations of why our actions genuinely affect our attitudes:

1. Dissonance-theory: assumption that we justify our behavior to reduce our internal discomfort -**dissonance explains attitude change 2. self-perception theory: assumption that we observe our behavior and make reasonable inferences about our attitudes, much as we observe other people and infer their attitudes **self-perception explains attitude formation

3 components of attitude:

1. affect (feelings) 2. behavior (intentions) 3. cognition (beliefs)

Big 5 social beliefs:

1. cynicism 2. social complexity 3. reward for application 4. spirituality 5. fate control

Obedience and eating worms: -swallowing micro cameras to see the internal response to situations -Hypothesis: participants will change their rating on chocolate after being put in discomfort

1. participants swallowed a micro camera to see how their insides reacted to these situations; to begin the participants (rats) ate a piece of chocolate and rated it on how much they liked it (0-10) 2. participants had to sniff a raw dead fish for 5 seconds then rated chocolate again and the participants rating stated the same 3. then participants were asked to dig out the fish eye and rate the chocolate again, and their rating dropped 4. they had to taste worms 5. place hand in bucket of maggots 6. put maggot on tip of tongue, none of rats questions the authority bc she's in a white lab coat (like an dr.) 7. had to swallow maggot camera revealed STRESS: -rat 4 stomach shows contractions -rat 2 air bubbles in bowl shows increased swallowing when distressed -rat 1's voice shows changes in emotion; after horrible experience words become clicked and short and tries to talk way of getting control and sentences become longer -increased of bloode flow in stomach walls might be another sign of stress

6 weapons of influence/6 principles of persuasion: 1. reciprocity 2. commitment and consistency --> foot-in-the-door phenomenon or lowball technique 3. social proof 4. liking 5. authority 6. scarcity

1. reciprocity: people feel obliged to repay in kind what they've recieved -the not-so-free sample 2. commitment and consistency: ppl tend to honor their public commitments -low-baling: a tactic for getting ppl to agree to something. ppl who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante. ppl who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply with it (growing legs on which decision stands); making it difficult to say no -foot-in-the-door: tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request >small request (to which everyone says yes) followed by the target request 3. social proof: people allow ex of others to validate how to think, feel, and act -laugh-tracks, "claqueurs" -bystander "apathy" --> kitty genovese attack, 1964 -Jonestown 1978 --> mass suicide by drinking poisoned kool-aid (918 dead) 4. liking: ppl respond more affirmatively to those they like. we like and comply with people who say they like us.. and those who are similar to us.. and to those who are attractive -we feel obligated to those we like bc we don't want them to start disliking us (we dislike relational devaluation) 5. authority: blind obedienct to authority (milgram) -ppl defer to credible experts -status signifies expertise -clothes make the deal 6. scarcity: commodity theory--> an economic principle applied to psychological valuation -- what is scarce is more valuable -ppl prize what's scarce

4 ways to reduce dissonance that comes from making a decision: -Spreading effect -selective exposure

1. revoke the decision 2. increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative 3. decrease the attractiveness of the unchosen option 4. reduce the importance of the decision common way to reduce dissonance is: (2nd and 3rd option) make the chosen alternative look better and unchosen item look worse, called SPREADING EFFECT selective exposure: tendency to seek info and media that agree with one's views and to avoid dissonant info

Severity of Initiation: effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group (Aronson and Mills) (effort justification)

63 college women randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: severe, mild, and control to discuss sex topics -severe group had to read a book about sex then discus supposed to have to read embarrassing material before joining -mild had to read not as embarrassing material to join group -control not required to read any material to join >group members evaluated the discussion -results: ?? ***According to the theory of effort justification, people will believe a goal is worthwhile if they have worked hard to get there. So, even if they never reach their goal, they will justify their actions as being worthwhile. The more effort people have to make to join a group, the higher they rate that group.

Reactance:

A motive to protect or restore one's sense of freedom. Reactance arises when someone threatens our freedom of action. -occurs when social coercion becomes blatant, so people often experience reactance-- a motivation to defy the coercion in order to maintain their sense of freedom

Attitudes:

An evaluative reaction to something or someone (called, an attitude-object) that is exhibited in one's beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior

1950 Asch's Studies of Group pressure:

Asch asked participants which of the 3 lines matches the standard line. -on the third trial, you are confused becasue the answer is clear but the first person gave a wrong answer, 2nd person gave same wrong answer, third person gives same wrong answer, and so on... you start to experience "epistemological dilemma": what is true? is it what my peers tell me or what my eyes tell me? -results shows that most people "tell the truth even when others do not" but still many people would go along with the group at least once

Natural Selection Theory:

Charles Darwin (1859) natural selection theory: Organisms have many varied offspring -These offspring compete for survival -Certain biological and behavioral variations increase their chances of survival And reproduction! -Those that survive AND reproduce are more likely to pass on their genes -This causes gradual population changes over long periods of time

Why do Actions Affect Attitudes? -cognitive dissonance theory (Leon Festinger) -Self-perception theory (Daryl Bem)

Cognitive dissonance theory (Leon Festinger): assumes that to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves -inconsistency (between two cognitions, or a cognition and a behavior, or between two behaviors) makes us feel bad --> (Negatively arousing) -we are motivated to reduce this negative arousal -we do this by justifying our actions by changing our attitudes to be consistent with our actions --> called DISSONANCE REDUCTION Self-perception theory (Darly Bem): -our actions are self-revealing to others and to ourselves -we conclude what our attitudes must be by observing our own behaviors -no inner states needed for this theory (parsimonious)

Compliance: Obedience: conformity/social inhibition:

Compliance: influence attempted, but subtle Obedience: influence clear and blunt conformity/social inhibition: no attempt to influence

Cultural Diversity: Cultural Norms: cultural differences: cultural similarities:

Cultural Diversity: the state of having a variety of cultures in the same area Cultural Norms: Norms: "proper" behavior -standards for accepted and expected behaviors -extraordinary variable -*NORMS*: standards for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior. (In a different sense of the word, norms also describe what most others do -- what is normal) cultural differences: -personal space: buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. its size depends on culture and familiarity with whoever is near us -punctuality -individual chores (individualistic vs collectivistic cultures -expressiveness (ideal affect and appropriate emotions -rule breaking (tight vs loose cultures) cultural similarities: -Universal Friendship Norms; Self-disclosure, privacy, eye contact, reciprocity -Universal Trait Dimensions; 2 to 5 personality traits across 38 countries (McCrae & Costa, 2008) -Universal Social Belief Dimensions; Cynicism, social complexity, reward for application, spirituality, and fate control -Universal Status Norms; Strangers vs. friends, high-status vs. low-status -The Incest Taboo; Every society disapproves of incest

Culture:

Culture: The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next -Culture brings forward most of human variability --> Epigenetics, or the research of gene expression across environments

Social inhibition:

Definition: we stop (or reduce) doing something we ordinarily would do when we're alone, if others are present -similar to conformity, social inhibition effects occur because we generate the pressure ourselves, or we infer pressure from the presence of others -a decrease in performance in front of a crowd -with conformity, we generate the pressure ourselves, or the pressure may be inferred -another social influence phenomenon, social inhibition, is similar in this regard --> we stop doing something we ordinarily would do when we're alone, if others are present Bystander Response to a Cheeseburger (Petty, William, Harkins, and Latane, 1997):

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Petty and Cacioppo -2 routes to persuasion

ELM: an active view of receivers -we are persuaded NOT so much by the message or the source, but by our responses (elaborations) to the message -Two routes to persuasion 1. Central route to persuasion: occurs when interested ppl focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts -the person carefully scrutinizes all the available info in the persuasion environment in an attempt to determine the merits of the presented argument -most likely to occur when ppl find the message personally relevant and involving, ppl are in neutral or mildly neg moods, or the communicator speaks at a normal rate of speed -effect on attitudes: attitudes tend to be strong, resistant to counterarguments, and predictive of behavior -More thoughtful and less superficial 2. Peripheral route to persuasion: occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness -instead of actively thinking about the attitude object, the person relies on incidental cues and simple rules of thumb, such as the attractiveness of the communicator or the length of the message -most likey to occur when ppl find the message to be irrelevant and non-involving, ppl are low in need for cognition, ppl are in pos moods, and communicator speaks rapidly -effect on attitudes: attitudes tend to be weak, susceptible to counterarguments, and not predictive of behavior -people use heuristics or incidental cues to make snap judgements

Ways to increase obedience:

Escalating Commitment -A little obedience over a longer period of time Emotional distance of the victim -If you can't see your consequences, you're more likely to obey Closeness and legitimacy of the authority -If authority is right next to you, you are more likely to obey Institutional authority -The more legitimate the authority seems, the more obedience The liberating effects of group influence -If others obey, so do I. If they don't, I won't either.

William McGuire: Information Processing Theory: -6 steps

Information processing theory: we are persuaded by the info to which we are exposed, but we go through several steps whose probabilities multiply to determine likelihood of final outcome --> action -a relatively passive view of targets. we are receivers of info McGuire's Steps: 1.Exposure / Presentation Audiences are presented with a message through a channel (Eg: Media). This is the easiest step to achieve. 2.Attention / Awareness Audiences will see and recognize the message with either creative exposure, or repeated exposure. Often 3 times or more. 3.Comprehension / Understanding Audiences comprehend the value or point of the message. 4.Acceptance Audiences believe the message. 5.Retention Audiences remember the message, and identify the message with the company and its products / services. Company becomes branded. 6.Action ! Audiences change their behavior in the desired direction. Purchase!

The Chameleon Effect:

Natural (unconscious) tendency to imitate other peoples speech, inflections & physical movements

nCog:

Need for cognition: the motivation to think and analyze. assessed by agreement with items such as "the notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me" and disagreement with items such as "i only think as hard as I have to" -the individual difference in peoples motivation to process and elaborate upon messages --> called NEED FOR COGNITION -it's weakly correlated with IQ Need for cognition: -low: doesn't like to think about stuff unless it is highly relevant -high: likes to think about everything, relevant or not

Why do we conform? -normative influence -informational influence -mindlessness

Normative influence: conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance -the desire to "fit it", or perhaps more important, to not be excluded/rejected -"going along with a crowd" -info about the average behavior of other people--often sways us without our awareness -results from person's desire for acceptance; we want to be like -social comparison: evaluating one's opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others Informational Influence: conformity occurring when ppl accept evidence about reality provided by other people -deals with the arguments presented during discussion and actively participating in discussions -"social proof" -- if others think/behave that way, they must be right -leads people to privately accept others' influences as a source of info -results from others' providing evidence about reality -tendency to conform more on difficult decision-making tasks; we want to be right Mindlessness: a cognitive heuristic that allows us to do what others are doing without taking up valuable time and effort

Social Inhibition -- Help-Seeking (williams and williams, 1983)

People are less likely to seek help in situations where they are more likely to receive help! -computer freezes after participant has answered 17/50 questions. They have a help request button they can push. DV: amount of time to push button >less likely to seek help from experts than non-experts >less likely to seek help from many than one >less likely to seek help from someone close by than someone far away

Persuasion: -4 elements of persuasion

Persuasion: the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors -changing one's attitude as a consequence of being exposed to a message 1. source (communicator)--characteristics of source: credible/expert/similarity to target 2. Target/audience: (the receiver) -characteristics of the target that make them more or less susceptible to changing their attitude as a consequence of being exposed to the source/message -interested; personally relevant; self-esteem 3. Message: -characteristics of the message that make it more or less compleeing -strong/weak; pro/anti -emotional vs rational appeals 4. Channel (or medium): how the message is communicated -written, spoken, visual, face-to-face, film, etc

Gender differences in: -play -friendship/conversation -vocations -smiling

Play: ´Girls - smaller groups, less aggressive ´Boys - larger groups, more aggressive Friendship/ Conversation: ´Women: focus on personal relationships ´Men: focus on connections with large groups and tasks Vocations: ´Women: more interested in jobs dealing with people ´Men: more interested in jobs with things Smiling: ´Girls: By sixth grade they smile more than boys ´Boys: By age 11 they learn not to smile aggression: -physical vs relational aggression sexuality: -men: more likely to initiate sexual activity -gay men: greater interest in uncommitted sex and physical attractions (compared to lesbians) -lesbians: the rate of committed relationships in US is double that of gay men -intersex ppl: more common than you may think

Attitude measurement: -Explicit measures -Implicit measures (IAT)

Reliability and validity Explicit measures: -Thurstone's Equal interval method, likert scaling, Guttman scaling, semantic differential, self-reports (single item). -use explicit measures for straight-forward attitude issues that have no socially desirable bias to them, explict measures are fine -explicit measures may better predict controlled behaviors (mindFUL; effortFUL) implicit measures: use if the attitude issue is one that has an obviously social desirability bias to it (i.e., "politically correct answers"); implicit measures may better predict automatic behaviors (mindLESS; effortLESS) -IAT (Implicit association test): measures how far (in milliseconds) you are able to decide if a series of word pairs belong to a particular category >if it takes us longer to make a decision, then it is assumed that we don't have a strong association between the two word pairs -GNAT (Go No-Go Association test): ex: press space bar if the following word is either good or related to IU; don't press space bar if it is either bad or related to purdue

Why do actions predict attitudes? -Self-presentation theory: - Facial feedback theory:

Self-presentation theory: assumes that for strategic reasons we express attitudes that make us appear consistent -inconsistency looks bad to others -we express attitudes that make us appear consistent with our behavior Facial Feedback Theory: -we determine our attitudes by the muscles we use in our face -these muscles are associated with our attitudes

Sherif's Studies of Norm Formation -study of some social factors in perception

Sherif wondered whether it was possible to observe the emergence of social norm in the lab; he wanted to isolate and then experiment with norm formation-- to figure out how ppl come to agree on something - Used autokinetic phenomenon then asked groups of men to determine how much the point of light had moved - the responses of the men changed when with a group for four days markedly. - The point of light never moved.

Classic obedience Studies Overall: Muzafer Sherif: Solomon Asch: Stanely Milgram:

Sherif: norm formation -method: assessing suggestibility regarding seeming movement of light -real-life ex: interpreting events differently after hearing from others; appreciating a tasty food that others love Asch: Conformity -method: agreement with others' obviously wrong perceptual judgments (when others unanimously gave wrong answers, the participants conformed 37% of the time) -real-life ex: doing as others do; fads such as tattoos Milgram: obedience -method: complying with commands to shock another (65% of adult male participants fully obeyed instructions to deliver what were supposedly traumatizing electric shocks to a screaming, innocent victim in an adjacent room -real-life ex: soldiers or employees following questionable orders

Factors that affect if and how much people conform: -situational factors -group and individual differences

Situational Factors: -if group is larger -group is unanimous -group is highly cohesive: a "we feeling"; the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as by attraction to one another -others have high status -your response is public -if you have not made a prior commitment Group and individual differences: -if their culture reinforces conformity 0if they have low self-esteem -if they have a low desire for control -if they have a low need for uniqueness -*Fear increases conformity; "tight cultures* are more likely to conform

*KNOW THESE DEFINITIONS** Social influence: -conformity -acceptance -social inhibition -compliance -obedience

Social influence: the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior -people affecting other people Conformity: a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure -you do what others are doing (without the others trying to get you to do it!) acceptance: conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure Social inhibition: you stop doing something you would normally do bc others are present Compliance: conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing -you do something you wouldn't have done otherwise bc of subtle, but intentional, manipulations Obedience: a type of compliance involving acting in accord with a direct order or command -subset of compliance; compliance with a direct command -you do something that you wouldn't ordinarily do bc someone (usually an authority) orders you to do it

Synchrony and Destructive Obedience: -Wiltermuth 2012

Synchrony and destructive obedience: Social influence Study 1: -33 university students (40% female) -arrived individually; paired with female confederate -told they would be performing parts of the "hokey pokey" -Experimenter would read part of the lyric and they would complete the lyric while performing the specified action >Synchronous: ps read stanzas at same time >asynchronous: C started in middle of song; P started at beginning

nonconscious mimicry (the chameleon effect)

Tendency to adopt the behaviors, postures, or mannerisms of others with whom you are interacting without your awareness or intention -the chameleon effect: or mimicking someone else's behavior -study used "mr. nice vs mr. nasty" to question subjects. mr. nice was overly friendly and mr. nasty was rude when asking and they had to move their bodies in specific ways. -volunteers with mr. nice begin to copy his body movements but those with mr. nasty didn't copy his movements at all -because the volunteers liked mr. nice, their minds prompted them to mimic him; subconscious attempt to strengthen bond between them

Milgram Obedience Experiment

Tested what happens when the demands of authority clash with the demands of conscience -obedience; electrical shocks to incorrect answers; learners were paid actors. -obedience decreased with increasing intensity of shocks (mostly bc of person being shocked reaction) -shocks are from 15 to 450 volts in 15-volt increments -switches labels slight, very strong, and danger: severe shock -after 330 volts participant becomes quiet and to keep participant going, teacher he uses 4 verbal pronds: 1. plz continue 2. the experiment requires that you continue 3. it is absolutely essential that you continue 4. you have no other choice; you must go on 4 factors determined obedience: -victims emotional distance -the authority's closeness and legitimacy -whether the authority was part of a respected institution - liberating effects of a disobedient fellow participant

Evolutionary Psychology:

The study of evolution of cognition and behavior using principles of natural selection -Looking at the utility of human behavior and cognition -Preference for sweet over sour? -Positive emotions? -Negative emotions?

Autokinetic Effect:

The tendency to perceive a stationary point of light in a dark room as moving

Self-Perception Theory (Daryl Bem 1971):

Theory: assumes that our actions are self-revealing: when uncertain about our feelings or beliefs, we look to our behavior, much as anyone else would -theory that when we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them much as would someone observing us-- by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs is an alternative explanation to cognitive dissonance -- no dissonance is necessary. no anxiety needed -people infer attitudes from observing their own behaviors (just like we infer others' attitudes from their behaviors) -attribution processes -ex: waiting in line -most likely the process when attitude is weak/ambiguous/none-existent

Explicit measures: -Thurstone Scale -Likert Scale -Guttman Scales

Thurstone Scale: (22-24 questions): pre-scaled statements and answered dichotomously: agree or disagree Likert Scale (22-24 questions): strongly disagree-strongly agree with numbers to circle (1= disagree or 10 being agree) Guttman Scales: states a questions and then multiple written answer choices to choose ex: how much would you accept a korean? -as close relatives by marriage -as my close friend -as only visitors in my country

Tight vs loose cultures:

Tight cultures have -strong social norms -a low tolerance for deviant behavior Loose cultures have -weak social norms High tolerance for deviant behaviors findings of hypothesis that predicted that tight nations would have national and political institutions that are more restrictive and less tolerant >they found that, compared to loose nations, tight nations were more likely to have: -autocratic governments -more restrictions placed on the media -less access to new communications technologies -fewer civil liberties -harsher and more effective criminal justice systems -lower crime rates -Higher levels of religiousness -People in tight nations tended to be less tolerant of behavioral variety in common social circumstances than people in loose nations. •As expected, people in tight nations tended to show -higher cautiousness, -higher impulse control, -a greater need for structure and -greater self-monitoring than people in loose nations.

Universal vs Differential genetic traits:

Universal: -Apprehension toward unfamiliar attitudes and attributes (Brown, 1991, 2000) -Need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) -We learn and adapt Differential -Skin tone based on Vitamin D absorption (Pinker, 2002) -Nose shape

role

a set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave

Social Liberation:

a single role model releases in others something they were hesitant to do, but wanted to do

Self perception theory as it applies to over-justification effect: -augmenting principle and discounting principle

augmenting principle: 1. behavior (enjoyable activity) --> no external reward --> self perception: "i do this because i like it" --> intrinsic motivation --> favorable attitude toward activity discounting principle: 1. behavior (enjoyable activity) --> external reward ($$) --> self perception: "i do this because i am paid to" --> extrinsic motivation --> unfavorable attitude toward activity

Baron and colleagues (1996): -people less likely to conform if judgments are easy, and important

baron and colleagues made students do an eyewitness identification task. if they task was easy (lineup exposure 5 sec.), conformity was low in comparison to a difficult (1/2 sec exposure) task

Mating preferences: -clark and hatfield -short v long term mating -cultural differences

clark and hatfield: short v long term mating: -ovulation matters cultural differences: -(e.g., arranged vs love marriages)

Cognitive dissonance theory: -insufficient -over-justification -effort justification -post-decisional dissonance

cognitive dissonance theory definition: tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For ex: dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another insufficient reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is "insufficient" -$1 vs $20 for lying: those paid $1 would be most likely to adjust their attitudes to their actions b/c having insufficient justification for their actions, they would experience more discomfort (dissonance) and thus be more motivated to believe in what they had done. Those paid $20 had sufficient justification for what they had done and hence should have experienced less dissonance Over-justification effect: the result of bribing ppl to do what they already like doing; they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing -ex: if you pay ppl who like to do puzzles to do puzzles, they will start to do puzzles less than those who don't get paid effort justification: people will believe a goal is worthwhile if they have worked hard to get there. So, even if they never reach their goal, they will justify their actions as being worthwhile. The more effort people have to make to join a group, the higher they rate that group. -aronson and mills (1959) severity of initiation study -post-decisional dissonance: is a form of regret, a worry that perhaps we didn't make the best choice. -cognitive and attentional support for one's decisions

credibility: attractiveness:

credibility: believability. a credible communicator is perceived as both expert and trustworthy attractiveness: having qualities that appeal to an audience. an appealing communicator (often someone similar to the audience) is most persuasive on matters of subjective preference

inner attitudes:

evaluative reactions toward some object or person, often rooted in beliefs

how are we influenced by biology?

evolutionary psychologists study how natural selection favors behavioral traits that promote the perpetuation of one's genes

What happens when we don't conform? -Reactions to a deviate

groups create pressures toward uniformity -pressures to change deviate -pressure to reject/exclude deviate

Poison Parasites (Cialdini, 2003):

how to resit persuasion: -poison (strong counteragents) + parasite (retrieval cues that bring those arguments to mine when seeing opponent's message)

implicit attitudes: expressed attitudes:

implicit attitudes: (unconscious) often unacknowledged inner beliefs that may or may not correspond to our explicit (conscious) attitudes expressed attitudes: like our behaviors, expressions are subject to outside influences. -ex: we say what we think others want to hear, but might internally oppose -Facial feedback effect: tendency of facial expressions to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

When did research on persuasion increase dramatically?

in World War II -Irving Janis, Carl Hovland, Arthur Lumsdaine, Fred Sheffield, and others •Changing attitudes to support war effort •Looking for inductions for our people and allies to resist propaganda from enemy •Persuading housewives to use all of the parts of chicken/cow/pig when cooking.

Group pressure and conformity:

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality -conformity is adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard

Independent vs interdependent self:

interdependents: -have stronger sense of belonging -see ground/context in figure-ground -construe themselves in terms of their ingroup (they are their ingroup) -have more overlap of circles -more likely to BIRG and WIRF (wallowing in reflective failure independent:

Theory of Planned Behavior:

knowing people's intended behaviors and their perceived self-efficacy and control -you can best predict a person's behavior when you know that person's: •attitudes •intended behaviors perceived self-efficacy and control over carrying out those behaviors attitude --> intention --> behavior

USA: -loose -tight

loose: -self-expresion (clothes/free speech) -family structure -treatment of the elderly -relationships with authority -definitions of "success" -requiring military service -decision-making -traditions -forgiveness, redemption tight: -penalties for crimes committed by those over 18 -drinking age -social status -SES -plagiarism -belief "right/wrong" -traffic laws -food/drug safety

Daniel Batson 1997: disjuncture between attitudes and actions -moral hypocrisy

moral hypocrisy: appearing moral while avoiding the costs of being so studies presented people with an appealing task for $30 or a dull task for no rewards. Participants had to do one of the tasks and assign a second participant to the other. -only 1 in 20 believed that assigning the appealing task with the reward to themselves was the moral thing to do, yet 80% did so

Wells & Petty (1980): "testing headphones" while listening to persuasive message

nodding your head causes approval

How will our attitudes predict our behavior?

out attitudes will predict our behavior (1) if these "other influences" are minimized, (2) if the attitude corresponds very closely to the predicted behavior (as in voting studies), and (3) if the attitude is potent (because something reminds us of it, or bc we acquired it by direct experience). Under these conditions, what we think and feel predicts what we do

person and the situation:

person: biology, cultural influence, and individual differences -ppl create culture and culture influences ppl situation: including the people involved ex: the social psychology course -situation affects ppl differently -selective choice of situations -creation of situation by ppl ex: party -

When a professor asks her class, "Any questions?" there is silence, even if nobody understands the concept. The students are afraid that they would be the only one with questions. This example represents what social psychological concept?

pluralistic ignorance

Primacy effect: Recency Effect:

primacy: other things being equal, info presented first usually has the most influence -first impressions are important when the two persuasive messages are back-to-back and the audience then responds at some later time, the first message has the advantage (primacy effect) ex: -message 1--> message 2 --> TIME ......... --> response= message 1 accepted recency: info presented last sometimes has the most influence. less common than primacy -when the two messages are separated in time and the audience responds soon after the second message, the second message has the advantage (recency effect) ex: -message 1--> TIME........ --> message 2 --> response=message 2

•Stealing Thunder (Williams, Bourgeois, & Croyle, 1993; Dolnik, Case, & Williams, 2003):

revealing the worst first: -in courtroom -in politics -in interpersonal relationships In the study, participants read a case study about a man who was involved in fatal car crash -NO thunder -Thunder: prosecution reveals that man may have been intoxicated -Stolen thunder: defense reveals that man may have been intoxicated -Stolen thunder + framing: defense reveals that man may have been intoxicated, BUT felt fine to drive

Zimbardo's Prison Study (1971):

role-determined behaviors influence attitudes by a flip of a coin, zimbardo designated some students as guards and others as prisoners. participants had to "play their roles" -after first day, guards/prisoners/experiementers got caught up in the situation -guards began to disparage the prisoners, and some devised cruel and degrading routines -prisoners broke down, rebelled, and became apathetic moral: when we act out a role, we slightly change our former selves into being more like them

Self-awareness theory:

self-awareness: self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. it makes ppl more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions (OPPOSITE of deindividuation) -Public self-awareness •More likely to follow external expectations -Private self-awareness •More likely to follow internalized norms and beliefs •What can trigger self-awareness? •Bodily primes and self-assimilation -How likable would you find this person?

Sex: Gender: gender roles: gender fluid: transgender:

sex: 2 biological categories of male and female gender roles: set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females gender: characteristics , whether biological or socially influenced, that we associate with males and females gender fluid or nonbinary: wishing to be identified as neither male or female transgender: someone whose psychological sense of being male or female differs from their birth sex -ex: trans person might feel like a woman in a mans body

leon festinger (1954) argued in his influential theory of _____ that we humans evaluate our opinions and abilities by comparing them to others views and abilities

social comparison

Synchrony:

synchrony: people more likely to comply with requests from those to whom they feel connected Synchrony increases: -cohesiveness, connectedness -positive group affect ("collective effervescence" also called communitas) Synchrony weakens boundaries between self and group (deindividuation)

how are we influenced by culture?

the cultural perspective highlights human diversity -- the behaviors and ideas that define a group and that are transmitted across generations. The differences in attitudes and behaviors from one culture to another indicate the extent to which we are the products of cultural norms and roles; yet cross-cultural psychologists examine the "essential universality" of all people. ex: despite their differences, cultures have a number of norms in common such as respecting privacy in friendships and disapproving of incest

Social Impact Theory Latané 1980: -multiplication -division

the idea that conforming to social influence depends on the group's importance, immediacy, and the number of people in the group Multiplication: conformity, social inhibition... the more people (sources of influence) around, the more impact they will have on you Division: singing with a group vs singing alone: the more co-targets who share the influence with you, the less impact

Culture of honor:

the traditional culture of the southern US called "culture of honor", a culture where people avoid intentionally offending others, and maintain a reputation for not accepting improper conduct by others

self-affirmation theory:

theory that pple often experience a self-image threat after engaging in an undesirable behavior; and they can compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. 0threaten people's self-concept in one domain, and they will compensate either by refocusing or by doing good deeds in some other domain

Narcissism:

thinking too highly of one's self, while thinking less of others (even or especially one's relationship partner) -also, explicitly stating you are great, but implicitly unsure or doubtful (vulnerable narcissism) -more aggressive to insults by others two types: 1. grandiose (oblivious) 2. vulnerable (defensive)

(Self-knowledge: how well do we know our attitudes) Dual Attitude system (Wilson, Nisgett and Wilson, 1977): -explicit -implicit

two attitude systems: 1. explicit: deliberative, purposeful, in awareness 2. implicit: habitual, automatic, out of awareness asking ppl to give reasons for their attitudes/behaviors for implicit attitudes uncouples the attitude-behavior link bc we often don't know why we feel the way we do, or do the things we do

social-role theory of gender differences in social behavior:

various influences, including childhood experience and factors, bend males and females toward differing roles. it is the expectations and the skills and beliefs associated with these differing roles that affect men's and women's behavior

When does our behavior affect our attitudes?

we are likely not only to think ourselves into action but also to act ourselves into a way of thinking. when we act, we amplify the idea underlying what we have done, especially when we feel responsible for it. many streams of evidence converage on this principle -what we say or write can influence attitudes that we have -action affects our moral attitudes: tend to justify evil acts as right

When don't people conform: -Griskevicius, Goldstein, Mortensen, Cialdini, & Kenrick (2006)

when mate selection motives are strong -study of effects of self-protection or mate-attraction motives on conformity depending on whether group judgment was pos vs neg. -pos values denote an increase in conformity relative to the control; neg values denote a decrease in conformity relative to the control or nonconformity

Allen W. Wicker 1969: attitudes vs action; relationship of verbal and overt behavior responses to attitude objects

wicker concluded: People's expressed attitudes hardly predicted their varying behaviors: -student attitudes toward cheating bore little relation to the likelihood of their acutally cheating -attitudes toward the church were only modestly linked with weekly worship attendance -self-described racial attitudes provided little clue to the behaviors in actual situations. many people say they are upset when someone makes racist remarks yet when they hear racism, many respond with indifference

Authority and destructive obedience: (study 2)

•43 participants (61% female) •1st walked across campus with E -Told to synchronize their walking with E, or not (they all walked behind E; E wore headphones) •Then, in an "unrelated experiment," E asked to kill a number of sow bugs and grind them up in a machine. •DV1: # sow bugs "exterminated" •DV2: % willing to press the extermination button results: men put more bugs into machine but gender did not interact with synchrony

Anagram Task Study 1:

•Anagram Task -Told, as a separate experiment, they would each have 7 minutes to complete anagram task. -They would earn $1 per consecutively solved anagram (if there was a gap, nothing solved after the gap would be rewarded) -As a dyad, they would be rewarded for the least successful of the two. -The third anagram was nearly impossible to solve (taguan). -When E returned, he threw the sheets into trash; asked dyad to agree upon what they were to be rewarded. -C said the anagrams were too hard and told P to lie and say they solved five. •DV: number of anagrams P reported solving •Also, synchronous Ps reported •their actions were more synchronized with C (4.6 v 2.9) •That Cs arguments were more persuasive (4.1 v. 1.6) •They put up less resistance to C (3 v. 4.2)

Distraction and Persuasion Common Sense prediction:

•Common sense prediction: -Distraction would always interfere with persuasive attempts •But, following the ELM logic, what should happen if the audience is distracted from elaborating during central route processing? -If agreement would normally result from elaboration, distraction should prevent the elaboration necessary to result in agreement. Therefore, less agreement for strong messages. -But, if disagreement (through counter-arguing) would normally result from elaboration, distraction will prevent counter-arguing, resulting in higher levels of persuasion. In other words: -Low distraction with a strong message, more people would agree with message vs high distraction with weak message, less ppl agree -Low distraction with weak message, less ppl agree with message vs high distraction with weak message, more people agree with message

pathogen prevalence: (Murrary and Schaller 2014)

•Cultural variability is related to pathogen prevalence and parasites •Geographical differences (hotter versus colder climates) •In hotter cultures, pathogens and parasites are more prevalent •Thus, there is more risk by having contact with others (especially outgroup others) -Prejudice, importance of physical attractiveness (signs of health), xenophobia, stronger family ties, bigger ingroup/outgroup differences

Gelfand study of tight/loose cultures:

•Gelfand et al developed a questionnaire that was designed to measure the degree of tightness or looseness of a particular culture. •People used a 6-item scale (ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree") to respond to statements like -"In this country, if someone acts in an inappropriate way, others will strongly disapprove." •The questionnaires were used to gather data from 6823 people in 33 nations. •Questions were translated into the native language for each nation and each translation was evaluated in terms of whether it was both comprehensible and carried the intended meaning within the relevant culture. •Data analyses gave evidence that the scale was reliably measuring tightness and looseness. •The scale was then used to rank order the 33 nations in terms of tightness - looseness. **proposed that tight cultures are more likely to develop in circumstances in which people are subject to natural or human-made threats or pressure

Self-Esteem:

•Generally, higher self-esteem is associated with positive outcomes. -Low self-esteem is more pessimistic, less likely to strive, less appreciative of positive comments by partner, etc. •But, there are exceptions, based on how we define or think of self-esteem -If self-esteem is based too much on external criteria (i.e., how others think of me), then the individual's self-esteem is fragile and easily diminished •Sociometer (how we think others think of us) -Concern focuses on impressing others •Secure vs insecure (fragile) self-esteem -Developing/improving one's talents and relationships vs. viewing oneself as good or bad

Holistic cultures:

•Holistic cultures -- those that value notions of contradiction, change, and context. (Hornsey et al, 2018) -People from holistic cultures chose ideal levels of traits that were consistently lower than those reported by participants from nonholistic cultures. -Ratings of striving for perfection were more modest (lower) in countries that had traditions of Buddhism and Confucianism -Eastern philosophies and religions tend to place more emphasis on the notion that seemingly contradictory forces coexist in a complementary, interrelated state, such that one cannot exist without the other."

Resisting persuasion:

•Our default nature is to accept persuasive messages -We liked to be liked, we agree •How to resist persuasion? -Make a public commitment to your position -Inoculation (McGuire, 1964) •Metaphor for how vaccines work •Build up reserves of counter-arguments -Weak attacks on your attitudinal position -Increase counter-argument armament -Forewarning (Petty & Brock, 1977) "Forewarned is forearmed."

Post-decisional dissonance:

•Post-decision Changes in Desirability of Alternatives (Brehm, 1956) -225 women students rated a series of domestic appliances, and then were asked to choose one of two appliances as a gift. -Post-decisional ratings: •After making their decision, the women students increased their ratings of the domestic appliance they had selected as a gift, and decreased their ratings of the appliances they rejected. The closer the two options are in desirability, the more dissonance experiences -the more important decision was, the more dissonance experienced --> *Spreading effect* : increase attractiveness of chosen alternative while simultaneously reducing attractiveness of non-chosen alternative

Cognitive consistency theories: -balance theory (Heider)

•We (and others) prefer our cognitions (which include attitudes) and actions to be consistent with each other -To accomplish this, we may update or alter our attitudes to fall in line with previous behavior Balance Theory (Heider 1948): -people are motivated to establish "psychological balance" i.e., cognitive consistency -liking relationships are balanced when the multiplied affect valences (+++,+--) yield a positive (+) result

When are attitudes more likely to predict behavior?

•When you ask for specific attitudes rather than general ones. -Wicker: Yosemite Park and littering •When you sample across many behaviors. •When situational forces are not so strong. •When you ask a low-self-monitors. •When you aren't asked to explain your affectively-based attitudes.