Psy 321 Exam 2
Understand how Colorblindness impacts group relations.
"I don't even see race." How do Implicit and Explicit Attitudes influence group relations? • Implicit attitudes - Will drive responses/behavior when people process automatically - When situations are ambiguous (their decision can be justified using other factors) • Explicit attitudes - When they are aware of their attitudes and actions- use deliberate thinking - Non-ambiguous situations (when they can't justify behavior) We trick ourselves • Experience Cognitive Dissonance when our actions don't match our explicit attitudes/ beliefs - "I am tolerant/egalitarian" - "I just picked the white/male/straight/able-bodied candidate over the black/female/gay/disabled candidate" - Therefore: there must be a reason I did that • Justify the bias when ambiguous (unclear) *"Blindness" Plays to Majority Goals* • Keeping the peace is more important... • Microaggressions occur frequently, but not often discussed or acknowledged • Microaggression: small, subtle discrimination, but reflects inequality and produces feelings of exclusion, stress, threat - So small that seem like "whining" to complain about such a small offense - But pile up over time and become difficult to deal with - A social tax that minority group members must pay
Explain the central findings of Milgram's obedience study and what they tell us about situational influence.
*Classic study: Milgram* • Participants were asked to take part in study of learning as "teacher." - They believed they were giving electric shocks to "learner." - Shocks increased in voltage. - "Learner" (confederate) appeared to protest. • Participants who objected were told to continue. • Despite significant personal distress, participants continued to obey at a high rate. - 65% continued increasing shocks until they ran out of switches (to the ones marked "xxx-danger". Implications of Milgram's Study • Participants were not "evil" or particularly different from the normal population. • Results cannot be explained by gender, race, age, education, SES, or country of origin. • The situation caused destructive obedience. - The majority of people in the study violated their own deeply-held values. - They did so ONLY because someone they had never met before said, "The experiment requires that you continue."
Define cognitive dissonance.
*Cognitive dissonance* is a feeling of discomfort if you hold two inconsistent cognitions. People are naturally motivated to reduce or eliminate the dissonance. *Cognitive Dissonance Theory* • We want to appear consistent in our thoughts and behaviors. • Inconsistency in these things makes us feel bad, unpleasant, confused • To avoid this and feeling, we use irrational behavior, cognitive distortions, and rationalization. • Dissonance is produced when attitudes are challenged by other attitudes we hold, behaviors we engage in, and values we have. This lack of consistency produces unpleasant feelings that we prefer not to experience.
Give an example of compliance.
*Compliance* • Publicly acting in accord with direct request • May be associated with attitude change (internal compliance) • May comply without attitude change (external compliance) • Compliance is similar to persuasion - You get people to do what you want People more likely to comply when • In a positive mood • Norm of reciprocity is invoked (If people receive a benefit from someone, they will feel pressure to comply with a later request) • Reasons—even meaningless ones—are given
Give an example of conformity.
*Conformity* • Yielding to perceived group pressure • Imitate others' behavior and beliefs • Conforming to one reference group may result in independence from another reference group. *Pluralistic Ignorance* • The belief that everyone else sees things a certain way, when they don't - For instance, assuming that everyone else thinks binge drinking is a good idea, or that everyone else understands the lecture • Driven by conformity to social norms *Classic Study: Asch* • Participants asked to judge length of lines • Five confederates gave wrong answers on key trials. • 76% of participants gave the wrong-but- conforming answer at least once. • Thus, even when reality is clear, conformity affects behavior.
List the conditions that support improved intergroup relations, according to the Contact Hypothesis, and explain why each is important.
*Contact Hypothesis* • Intergroup attitudes will improve when - groups have equal social status in the setting, - groups have sustained close contact, - groups cooperate toward superordinate goals, - social norms favor equality, and - group members have the opportunity to form friendships. Extended Contact Hypothesis • Shows that this positive influence of contact works even indirectly - Friends of Friends can decrease prejudice against an outgroup - Hollywood, Books, and other media can produce contact that helps people connect with others Focus on Commonalities: • better interaction • like outgroups more • makes low status groups feel more included • but low status group also expects more fairness • doesn't actually lead to more fairness or equality • Attention to Differences: - worse interaction, uncomfortable/awkward - Outgroup expects unfair treatment- can engage in dialogue to negotiate for more fair treatment - at least makes difference visible
Describe the Robbers' Cave study, and explain its implications for understanding intergroup tension.
*Ingroup Bias* • One factor behind prejudice • Implicit preference for own group is very strong. • Bias emerges even for temporary, arbitrary groups. • Bias may be motivated by desire for positive social identity. *Social Identity Theory* • The self-concept demonstrates that groups we identify with are important to the self • People are motivated to maintain a high level of self-esteem • They gain part of their self-esteem from the social esteem of their ingroups • When the social esteem of the ingroup is threatened, we engage in ingroup biasing to maintain a posiBve social identity *Intergroup Conflict* • Realis'c Group Conflict Theory: Groups develop hostility because they compete for scarce resources. • Ethnocentrism: judging another group or culture by the values of one's own culture - More hostility toward outgroup - More loyalty toward ingroup - Increases when groups compete *Robber's Cave Experiment* • Randomly assigned normal children to two groups at camp. • Created ingroup identity through cooperative activities. • Staged intergroup competition. - Boys became hostile to the "other" side. - Began to prefer their own side more. • Require intergroup cooperation. - It imposed superordinate goals. - Attitudes toward outgroups became more positive.
Explain the difference between normative and informational social influence.
*Normative and Informational Influence* • Normative influence: go along with group to gain rewards or avoid punishment from group - Not wanting to "stand out" or "be the only one who...." • Informational influence: go along with the group because they have more information - Especially when we doubt our own judgment
Give an example of obedience.
*Obedience* • Performance of an action in response to a direct order from an authority figure • More likely than other social influence to imply a result of personal freedom • Obedience is seen as a sign of maturity in many situations.
Describe the reactions of a group to a nonconformist.
*Ostracism* • Rejection and exclusion are used for social control. • Emotional pain following social rejection activates same brain regions as physical pain. - Signal of a potential survival threat • Threat of social exclusion disrupts self- regulation and logical thought.
Explain the attitudinal and value conflicts that underlie ambivalent racism, and explain how these conflicts lead to response amplification.
*Racism* • Prejudice/discrimination based on racial background *Aversive Racism* • Form of ambivalent prejudice: ▫ Egalitarian beliefs and internalized negative stereotypes about racial minorities ▫ The negative component may be outside conscious awareness (Implicit Attitudes) ▫ The possibility of holding negative attitudes threatens self-concept as a fair-minded person ▫ This feeling of uneasiness or fear prevents more contact with minority group members Consequences of Aversive Racism • Ambivalent attitudes toward minority groups is that it can cause them to act in a more extreme manner toward minority members than they would to other people of their group. • The tendency for responses to become more extreme when one holds ambivalent attitudes is called response amplification; it can occur in either a favorable or an unfavorable direction, depending on the social context. • Nervousness/lack of comfort during the interaction can be interpreted as negative or racist by minority group member • Think about Stereotype Threat effect • If stereotyped as a "racist" think about how that affects behavior with people from outgroups
Describe how attitudes form, according to self-perception theory.
*Self-Perception Theory* - We do not know what our attitudes are and, instead, infer them from our behavior and the situation in which the behavior occurs. Instead of attitudes causing behavior, it is behavior that causes attitudes. - When we form attitudes, we function like an observer, closely observing our past actions and then attributing them to either external (the situation) or internal (attitude) sources) - We are more likely to make attitude inferences when our behavior is freely chosen rather than coerced. - When we behave in ways that are significantly at odds with well-defined attitudes, we are likely to experience cognitive dissonance and change our attitudes to rationalize our behavior. - When we act in ways that are only slightly out of line with our attitudes, we may experience no dissonance, and simply change our attitudes by making inferences from our behavior. - Self perception process is most likely to operate when we have little prior experience with an attitude object or our attitudes are vaguely defined. - We may have an implicit attitude that is influencing our behavior, prompting us to consistently behave toward a target object in a particular way. This implicit attitude is influencing our actions but we have not yet formed an explicit attitude toward the target object. We examine our past behavior, infer that we have an attitude that is consistent with our past actions, and articulate to ourselves an explicit attitude that is consistent with our already existing and long-operating implicit attitude.
Differentiate hostile and benevolent forms of sexism.
*Sexism* • Prejudice/discrimination based on a person's sex • Persists despite close contact between groups (men and women) *Different Types of Sexism* • Hostile Sexism: - Belief that women are inferior, irrational, and need to be controlled - "Know your place" thinking • Benevolent Sexism: - Belief that women are in need of protection and special treatment - Encourages beliefs that women are not fully "people" the same way men are - Belief that men need women to take care of them in household/care-related duties
Explain how social dominance and system justification contribute to continued oppression of social groups.
*Social Dominance Theory* • Belief that groups in a society are hierarchical. ▫ Groups at the top get a disproportionate share of wealth, prestige, education, and health. ▫ Groups at the top develop prejudice against those at the bottom. ▫ Believe that the groups on top deserve their special status. • As people move up the hierarchy, they (on average) develop less egalitarian beliefs. • Individuals differ in their social dominance orientation. • When a group's status is increased relative to others, they favor unequal circumstances - They suddenly care less about the fact that their increase in status is unfair - Create additional "reasons" why the other group deserves their lower status *System Justification Theory* • Members of disadvantaged groups may still endorse status hierarchy as legitimate. • People minimize the extent to which they personally experience discrimination. - Even while acknowledging it is a problem for their group - "Personal-group discrimination discrepancy." • This is how people from a social group can still hold negative/stereotypical attitudes about their own group - E.g., Women sexist toward other women
Identify the central ideas of social impact theory, and explain how it can help us to understand social influence.
*Social Impact Theory* • The amount of influence others have is a function of their - number - strength - immediacy • People form like-minded social clusters that reinforce their viewpoints.
Define social influence.
*Social Influence* • Exercise of social power to change the attitudes or behaviors of others in a particular direction - Social power: force available to change attitudes or behavior • Three main types of social influence - Conformity - Compliance - Obedience
Describe the cause and consequences of stereotype threat.
*Stereotype Threat* • When you are performing a task where you know your group is stereotyped to perform poorly, your performance suffers. - Arousal increases cognitive load. - Focus shifts to avoiding errors rather than doing well. • Subtle cues can induce stereotype threat. • Stereotype threat is worst for people who want the most to do well. • Majority Groups Experience this Too - Part of why people who find it important to be egalitarian act strangely in cross-race interactions - Fear the stereotype of being labeled racist - Act weirdly and come off looking prejudiced Consequences of Stereotype Threat • Short term consequences - Lower test scores - Depleted self-regulation • Long term consequences - Disidentification with academic area/career - Self-fulfilling prophecies
Outline the Theory of Planned Behavior and explain each of its component elements.
*Theory of Planned Behavior* - people rationally think about the consequences of their behavior prior to acting - The three factors below jointly determine whether we form a behavioral intention, which is a conscious decision to carry out a specific action - Explains carefully reasoned actions - Attitudes are only one influence on behavior, so attitude- behavior link may be weak - Does not account for "mindless" (impulsive, unintentional) behavior *What are these factors?* 1. Our attitudes toward performing a behavior - could be implicit or explicit - how someone feels toward a behavior 2. Subjective Norms: our perceptions about whether other people will approve of the behavior - How other people feel about a behavior - Depends on culture, and reference group 3. Perceived Behavioral Control: our beliefs about how easy or difficult it is to perform the behavior - Belief that someone has control over their behavior
Identify four types of two-step compliance procedures, and explain why each one works.
*Two-Step Compliance Strategies* • Foot-in-the-door - Ask a small favor first - After a small favor is granted, the likelihood of a second, larger favor being granted is higher - Works through self-image - Become the type of person to say YES • Door-in-the-face - Large (unreasonable) request followed by smaller "compromise" request • Must be a large enough request that people don't feel bad saying no • Second request must follow quickly after first request • Same person must make both requests - Works through feelings of obligation • That's-not-all - Unreasonable offer immediately paired with bonus that makes it more reasonable • Cannot be offered the chance to reject between offers - Perception that first request was unreasonable, personal lowering of request feels good • Lowballing - Purposely set cost of request low, then increase - Offer much less money, so that a small increase on second offer seems like a good deal • People imagine the outcome of the first request, get "sold" on it • Then are more willing to comply
Explain two factors that affect the need for cognitive consistency.
1. A person's cultural upbringing may make attitude-discrepant behavior an appropriate and valued option. 2. A person's underlying psychological needs may reduce the aversiveness of attitude-discrepant acts. Whether or not dissonance is aroused depends not only on how central the need for cognitive consistency is in our thinking but also on whether the attitude-behavior discrepancy is important to the self and is substantial.
Define attitude.
Attitude is defined as a positive or negative evaluation of an object. "Objects" include people, things, events, and issues.
Define discrimination.
Discrimination is a negative and/or patronizing action toward members of specific groups. Disliking, disrespecting, and/or resenting people because of their group membership are examples of prejudice.
Explain when fear appeals are most effective, and when they are ineffective.
High fear appeals sometimes induce so much anxiety that the audience is unable to efficiently process later information in the appeal about how to avoid danger. If fear appeals are combined with information that one can do something about the danger, important behavioral changes can and do occur.
Know how an ambiguous or a clear reality influences conformity.
How might perceptions of reality matter? • Perhaps people rely on others when they themselves are uncertain about reality • Ambiguous reality: when what is true or factual is not clear, confidence in opinions is low • Clear reality: one can easily see what is true or factual; confidence in opinions is high - If this reality is different from one others see, people might conform anyways to avoid being different
Explain the differences between implicit and explicit prejudice.
Implicit prejudice involves unconsciously held prejudicial attitudes. Explicit prejudice involves consciously held prejudicial attitudes. - Explicit non-prejudiced attitudes may coexist with implicit prejudiced attitudes. - Implicit prejudice is harder to change than explicit.
Describe conformity patterns in individualist and collectivist societies.
Individualism - individual interests are more important than those of the group - A person from an individualist culture has a higher need for autonomy from the group and a desire to feel unique. - Conformity is a sign of weakness. Collectivism - group interests should guide the thinking and behavior of individual members - People from collectivist cultures are more concerned than individualists with maintaining group harmony and gaining the approval of their group. - People from collectivist cultures tend to be more conforming to their own group than individualists (indication of self-control, flexibility, and maturity)
Describe how the process of "inoculation" works in persuasive communication.
Inoculation is the process of supplying information to receivers before the communication process takes place in hopes that the information would make the receiver more resistant. Attitude inoculation proposes that people can be motivated to build up resistance to future attacks on their beliefs and attitudes by being exposed to weakened versions of the attack message or argument. By making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position and by doing this, people will become immune to later, full -blown attempts to change their attitudes. Attitude inoculation allows people to consider the pro and con arguments against one's attitude before it is attacked. Once people have considered the arguments in advance people are relatively immune to the effects of the later full-blown arguments against their attitudes and ward off attempts to change their attitude using logical arguments.
What is subliminal priming and how might it work to influence persuasion or behavioral change?
It is the stimulations on the unconscious and it increases the probability of later occurrence as well as the related cognitive tasks. It is commonly used with the advertisement where a certain images activate certain desires. When people are already motivated to behave in a certain manner, subliminal messages may have the power to cause them to behave more vigorously then they would without exposure to the subliminal messages. Subliminally embedded messages may be able to energize - or at least sustain - a person's actions, perhaps even their desire to purchase products.
Define prejudice.
Prejudice is defined as attitudes toward members of specific groups that directly or indirectly suggest they deserve an inferior social status. This definition has the advantage of being able to account for seemingly positive attitudes that prejudiced individuals often express toward other social groups that simultaneously justifies placing these groups into a lower social status. This definition can also account for "upward-directed" prejudices, meaning prejudice expressed by members of lower-status groups toward groups that have higher status but are seen as undeserving of their higher rank.
Describe two ways that obedience to destructive authority can be lessened.
Reducing Destructive Obedience • People who voiced firm objections early were less likely to continue to the end of Milgram's study. • Being in the presence of someone who objected reduced obedience. • Gefng destructive orders while in groups reduces obedience by introducing idea of collective action.
Explain how reference groups can shape attitudes.
Reference groups are groups to which we orient ourselves, with which we emotionally identify, and whose standards we use to judge ourselves and others. These people help shape our attitudes (political, social, religious, moral, etc). People refer to reference groups for guidance. This is why peers/friends can have influence, as well as parents.
Identify situational and personal factors that influence conformity.
Situational Factors • Group Characteristics - Group Size: 4 member peak - Clear Reality: high influence of "peer pressure" - Ambiguous Reality: group size is less influential - Relevance: group influence stronger when belief or behavior is important to the group identity - Unanimity: One person disagreeing can greatly lessen group influence • Cues activating automatic conformity - Scripted events - Social norms about specific settings automatically bring normative behaviors to front of mind • Survival Reflex - Evolutionary theory of conformity - Nonconscious imitation of others' behaviors may indeed promote smoother social interaction Personal factors • Self-awareness - Public self-awareness: increases conformity - Private self-awareness: decreases conformity • Self-presentation - High conform more when seen as socially advantageous • Desire for personal control - See Psychological Reactance Theory on next slide • (Not) gender • Cultural Upbringing - Collectivist Cultures tend to be more conforming - "The nail that sticks out will get hammered down" - Vs. "The squeaky wheel gets the grease"
Explain how stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination map onto the tricomponent model of attitudes. Know which term is a feeling, a thought, or a behavior.
Stereotypes are "shortcuts to thinking" that provide us with rich and distinctive information about individuals we not personally know. Not only do stereotypes provide us with a fast basis for social judgments, but stereotyping also appears to "free up" cognition for other tasks. Stereotypes are beliefs about social groups. Prejudice is an attitude and discrimination is an action. • Groups of people (or members of these groups) become attitude objects - Cognitive component = stereotypes - Affective component = prejudice (Implicit vs. Explicit Prejudice) - Behavioral component = Discrimination
Define stereotype.
Stereotypes are beliefs about the personalities, abilities, and motives of outgrip members being similar to one another. They are a type of schema (an organized structure of knowledge about a stimulus that is built up from experience and contains casual relations).
Explain why the tripartite model fell out of use and why the tricomponent model is a better model of attitudes.
The Tripartite model is an old model that used to argue that all attitudes had to have three parts: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. The new tricomponent model is very similar, but allows for attitudes to be formed with only one of the parts, such as only having an affective attitude. So the new tricomponent model is more evaluation based, which could include any combination of affective, cognitive, and behavioral components, but don't require all three to be present for an attitude to form. This is important because feelings and cognitions about certain attitude objects don't have to be in the same direction or consistent with each other in this newer model, they can reflect competing attitudes about the same object
Explain how groups holding minority opinions can be most effective in persuading the majority.
The process by which dissenters produce change within a group is called minority influence. The tendency of those who hold a minority opinion and hesitate in voicing their opinions is called the minority slowness effect. These people are slow in stating their views when they perceive the majority opinion to be widely held. Unlike the majority group, minority groups tend to be viewed negatively by others; and therefore, their viewpoints are subject to more critical analysis, and thus, need greater time to register with group members. If minority views are eventually adopted by the majority, these new attitudes and beliefs tend to be more resistant to change than those adopted from majority persuaders. Attitudes changed through critical analysis (central-route processing) are stronger and more resistant to change than attitudes changed through lazy thinking (peripheral-route processing).
Explain the relationship between resource-based conflict and ethnocentrism.
The realistic group conflict theory argues that groups become prejudiced toward one another because they are in conflict over competition for scarce resources. The group conflict is considered "rational" or "realistic" because it is based on real competition. Contemptuous prejudice and envious prejudice are often fed by the intergroup competition examined by this theory. According to this theory, some Americans' hostility toward immigrants is escalating because of the perception that many immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens and draining resources from various social service agencies *ethnocentrism* When groups are in conflict, two important changes occur in each group. The first change involves increased hostility toward the opposing outgrip, and the second change involves an intensification of in-group loyalty.
Understand what the Stanford Prison Experiment is, and what it shows about social influence.
Zimbardo (1973) was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards or had more to do with the prison environment. Participants were randomly assigned to either the role of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison environment. The prison simulation was kept as "real life" as possible. Findings: Within a very short time both guards and prisoners were settling into their new roles, the guards adopting theirs quickly and easily. Conclusion: People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards. The "prison" environment was an important factor in creating the guards' brutal behavior (none of the participants who acted as guards showed sadistic tendencies before the study). Therefore, the roles that people play can shape their behavior and attitudes.
Explain what central route processing means.
• *Central Route Processing* ~ Elaboration: When the person will really think about the argument - Deliberate thoughts and high engagement with the idea being presented ~ This means that arguments must be strong and well-presented ~ Any attitudes changed or formed through the central route will be - Longer lasting - more predictive of future behavior - When elaboration is high, central-route processing dominates thinking.
Explain what elaboration likelihood means.
• *Elaboration Likelihood Model* - Elaboration likelihood refers to the probability that the target of a persuasive message will carefully analyze and attempt to comprehend the information contained in the message. - People's attitudes will be changed through one of two processing routes - The model predicts when elaboration on a message is likely. - Depending on certain factors, one route will be more successful at persuading than the other, but the outcomes of these two routes to persuasion will be different, even if attitude change occurs. - Central route has stronger influence than peripheral route. Elaboration is more likely in the central route.
Identify four automatic processes that can result in attitude formation, giving an example of how each process can influence an attitude.
• *Exposure* - Mere exposure can lead to positive attitudes. - Seeing an unfamiliar stimulus many times can lead to liking (as long as you do not have initial negative reactions to it). - Requires no knowledge of the object or action toward the object - Possible explanation: Familiar objects are unlikely to be dangerous • *Classical Conditioning* - Classical conditioning can lead to attitude formation, for example toward social groups. Group labels paired with negativity in the environment can produce dislike for the group (same thing with positivity). - A previously neutral attitude object (the conditioned stimulus) can come to evoke an attitude response (the conditioned response) simply by being paired with some other object (the unconditioned stimulus) that naturally evokes the attitude response (the unconditioned response). - Identical to Pavlov's Dog's response - Subliminal conditioning - classical conditioning of attitudes can occur below the level of conscious awareness - Often used in advertising • *Operant Conditioning* - Reinforcement and punishment can shape attitudes. - When a behavior is rewarded, it is more likely to occur in the future. - Receiving praise for holding an attitude is likely to strengthen the attitude. - Attitudes can be shaped by observational learning (by watching the way others are rewarded or punished as they interact with an attitude object). • *Behavior/Physical Input* - Smiling or frowning can cause a change in mood: - Facial Feedback hypothesis: People are aware of their facial expressions and infer that they must have attitudes consistent with their expressions. - Vascular theory of emotion: Smiling causes facial muscles to increase the flow of air-cooled blood to the brain, which, in turn, produces a pleasant mood by lowering brain temperature. In contrast, frowning decreases blood flow, causing heightened brain temperature and an unpleasant mood. Even when people are not aware they are wearing a particular expression, movement of facial muscles can alter their mood. Consciously recognized self-perception processes may not be necessary for facial feedback to work. - Posture and body motion can change mood (nodding/shaking head). - People are unaware of the causes of the mood.
Explain the major differences between explicit and implicit attitudes.
• *Implicit attitude* is activated automatically from memory, often without the person's awareness that she or he even possesses it. - Simple gut-level evaluations (whether they will be positive or negative depends on whether the associations activated in memory are pleasant or unpleasant) • *Explicit attitude* is consciously held, and it is much more thoughtful and deliberate evaluation.
Identify four ways that dissonance can cause behavior to shape attitudes.
• *Insufficient Justification* - When people engage in a counterattitudinal behavior without receiving a sufficient reward, they should experience cognitive dissonance. - The threat of mild punishment is insufficient justification for not engaging in some desired action. - Cognitive dissonance theory demonstrates that the weaker the reasons for acting inconsistently with one's attitudes, the greater the pressures to change the attitudes in question. • *Freedom of Choice* - A person forced into a behavior experiences no dissonance, even is she/he doesn't like the behavior. (I did it because I had to.) - A person who freely chooses behavior she/he doesn't like experiences dissonance. (I did it + I don't like people who do it. -> contradiction) (Can't change what I did, so I'll change my attitude - I guess that behavior isn't so bad after all.) - To experience dissonance, people must feel that they freely chose to behave in a counter attitudinal matter. • *Justification of Effort* - The harder (more unpleasant, dangerous, costly, degrading) it is to accomplish something, the more a person values it once they have completed the effort. If they don't value it, dissonance occurs. - When people have a bad experience with some group or relationship they have freely chosen to join, there is a natural tendency for them to try to transform the bad experience into a good one to reduce cognitive dissonance. - The greater the sacrifice or hardship associated with the choice, the greater the level of dissonance people experience. - I am a smart person + I just subjected myself to humiliation to get into this group + this group stinks... - Dissonance reduction: This group is great. It was worth it. - Examples: boot camp, fraternity/sorority hazing, abusive relationships • *Immoral Behavior* - Moral hypocrisy: motivation to appear moral while avoiding costs of being moral - When people engage in actions that violate their sense of right and wrong, they often reduce the resulting cognitive dissonance by strategically forgetting their previous morel "set points" and becoming more lenient and accepting of immoral conduct. They engage in self-deception and justify their immoral actions. - After committing a moral transgression, people justify the transgression, become more tolerant of immoral conduct, and downplay the harm their behavior caused. • *Postdecision* - Whenever we must decide between attractive alternatives, the final choice is to some extent inconsistent with some of our beliefs. As soon as we commit ourselves to a particular course of action, that attractive aspects of the unchosen alternatives and the unattractive aspects of our choice are inconsistent with our decision. - "Buyer's remorse" - Regret that an alternative was not chosen - Like all dissonance, this is aversive. (I am a smart person +I chose the wrong thing.) - So we change our perceptions of the alternatives we have. Emphasize good points of the thing we chose. Emphasize bad points of the thing we didn't choose.
Explain what peripheral route processing means.
• *Peripheral Route Processing* - When the person will not really think about the argument (elaboration is not likely) - Automatic thoughts, and low or distracted engagement with the presentation - Argument strength does not matter as much, but to change attitudes there must be a peripheral cue - Any attitudes changed or formed through the peripheral route will be temporary, susceptible to future counter-argument and unpredictive of future behavior - It is not necessary for a person who takes the peripheral route to comprehend the content of a message: Attitude change can occur without comprehension. When elaboration is low, peripheral-route processing is dominant.
Explain why stereotyped thinking is difficult to eradicate.
• General beliefs about social groups - Assumption about members of the group that does not allow for individual variation - Learned from others - Maintained through experience • A type of schema • Can be activated automatically - Can affect behavior without conscious awareness • We form stereotypes automatically as part of the way we make sense of the world around us • We process information about outgroups less thoroughly than information about ingroups. - Rely more on heuristics • Can be reversed when ingroup membership is important part of social identity • Why do we do this? Function of Stereotyping • Type of heuristic - Allows for fast judgments - Frees cognitive resources for other tasks • Because stereotyped thinking is fast and efficient, it is often used. • Causes people to ignore information that does not fit the stereotype • Relying on Heuristics - Less careful processing - More likely to use "rule of thumb" - Pay attention more to negative information - Pay attention to information that confirms beliefs • It takes effort and time to reduce reliance on a heuristic *Illusory Correlation* • Belief that two things are related when they are not • Can support stereotyped thinking • Formed when - Perceiver already assumes relationship exists, or - When two unusual or rare events occur together • This leads to a "kernel-of-truth" lay hypothesis - Even if not true in reality *Stereotype Content Model* • Though stereotyped thinking can lead to incorrect judgments, it can also lead to accurate judgments. • The nature of the stereotype and its contents are more about relationship between groups than about the groups themselves. - Based on relative characteristics - Compared on Warmth and Competence Levels
Explain how source credibility and attractiveness influence the success of persuasive appeals.
• Likability - Attractiveness of the source - Similarity to the Audience - Presentation style (dress) • Credibility (believability) - based on perceptions of expertise and trustworthiness - Low credibility is a discounting cue that results in the audience rejecting the message - Source of message has high credibility in message area - Medical messages example: • High credibility source: Doctor • Low credibility source: A garbage truck man - Social messages example: • High credibility source: Celebrity (Kardashians) • Low credibility source: Nobel Prize Science Winner - Sleeper effect: highly credible sources are more persuasive immediately after the message presentation than less credible sources, but over time the credibility gap weakens. 1. The message must be convincing enough by itself to lead to persuasion. 2. People are sufficiently able and motivated to elaborate on the message arguments prior to receiving the discounting cue. 3. People are given information discounting the credibility of the source following the persuasive message, not before. 4. The impact of the discounting cue (the low-credibility information) decays in memory faster than the persuasive message.
Explain the three forms of prejudice, including how they relate to the concepts of warmth and competence (in book these are competitiveness and social status).
• Paternalistic Prejudice: - Feelings: pity and affection, but mixed with condescension and disrespect - Treatment: Does not give full "person-hood" to members of this group. - Typical Groups Associated with this: Elderly, Children, Mentally Challenged, Disabled, Benevolent Sexism toward Women • Envious Prejudice: - Feelings: envy and fear, resentment, and hostility, but mixed with respect and admiration. - Treatment: Sees this group as a threat (highly competent) but does not think they are warm or cooperative toward their group. • Typical Groups Associated with this: Asian People, Rich People, Jewish People • Contemptuous Prejudice: - Feelings: disgust, resentment, fear, hostility. Not mixed with positive attitudes or feelings. - Treatment: Avoidance/Ostracism of these people. Sees this group as something that needs to be fixed about society. Extreme forms lead to genocide. • Typical Groups Associated with this: Homeless People, People on Welfare/Public Assistance, Criminals, Feminists, Islamic Identities (Arabs, Turks)
Define obedience.
• Performance of an action in response to a direct order from an authority figure • More likely than other social influence to imply a result of personal freedom • Obedience is seen as a sign of maturity
