Social Psych Test 2
Ego Depletion Study (Baumeister)
- Baumeister proposed the idea that self-control is like a muscle, so it can become strengthened or fatigued -This means that initial use of the muscle could lead to a decrease in strength (ego depletion) -The study: People who were instructed to suppress a thought (don't think about a white bear) were worse at trying to regulate their emotions on a second task (try not to laugh while watching a comedy film) as compared to people who did not first have to suppress their thoughts
Describe gender differences in defining the self and how they lead to different cognitions or behaviors.
- Girls and boys are socialized differently starting at a young age -Women: relational interdependence -Men: collective interdependence - this leads to us thinking about socialization differently because girls are expected to focus on relationships and relationship maintenance more than guys
Know what occurs with misattribution of arousal (in relation to two-factor theory of emotion) and be able to provide supporting evidence with Dutton & Aron's (1974) Bridge Study.
- Misattribution of arousal: the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what's causing them to feel the way they do - Bridge Study: a larger proportion of the men approached on the bridge followed up later with the attractive woman than did those approached after crossing the bridge; this is because they attributed more of their arousal to their attraction to the woman even though it was more due to being on the bridge
Two types of self-handicapping
- Reported self-handicapping - Behavioral self-handicapping
What are some ways we measure self-esteem?
- Rosenberg Self-esteem scale - Implicit association task: how easily people pair self-related with good vs bad words - Name-letter preference: how much people favor letters a part of our initials
What is self-control and how does the self-regulatory model describe it? How do we increase it?
- Self-control: the ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals - Self-regulatory model views self-control as a limited resource. - We can increase self-control by forming implementation intentions in advance of a situation we need to exert self-control in, arranging our environments so that we avoid temptations from the beginning, and being well-rested
What is self-esteem, and why is it such an important human motive? Discuss your answer with regard to terror management theory and other positives of high self-esteem discussed in lecture.
- Self-esteem is our evaluation of our self-worth; this is the affective component of the self. this is they way in which we try to maintain positive views of ourselves - According to the terror management theory, self-esteem protects us from terrifying thoughts about our own mortality - High self-esteem has a motivational and protective function, protecting us from depression
What are the steps in the two-factor theory of emotion?
- Step 1: experience physiological arousal - Step 2: seek an appropriate explanation or label for it (using information in the situation to help us make an attribution) -Overall: Emotion = physiological arousal + attribution
What is the two-factor theory of emotion?
- Two-factor theory of emotion: the idea that emotional experience is the result of a two-step self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it
How do attitudes predict automatic and controlled behavior?
- attitudes will predict spontaneous behaviors when they are highly accessible to people - theory of planned behavior: when people have time to contemplate how they are going to behave, the best predictor of their behavior is their intention, which is determined by: their attitude toward the specific behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control
What are other implications of evolutionary theory?
- men should worry about sexual infidelity (concern for whether they're the father or not) - women should worry about emotional infidelity (concern for whether the man is going to provide resources to them and not someone else) - men emphasize sex to maintain the relationship more than women
examples of companionate love
- nonsexual relationships, like close friends - in a sexual relationship: psychological intimacy (feelings of warmth) with less passion as once felt
What is impression management? Know the two main strategies.
-Impression management: an attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen - 2 main types of impression management: ingratiation and self-handicapping
Describe cultural differences in defining the self and how they lead to different cognitions or behaviors.
-Western Culture: independent view of the self, emphasizes agency and personal success - Eastern, Asian and non-Western cultures: interdependent view of the self, emphasizes group cohesion, interpersonal harmony, and the importance of others - Masako Owada Example (from book): If we grew up in western culture, we would believe that her choosing to marry the prince was a result of coercion resulting from a sexist society, whereas Asian cultures would view this as a natural consequence of her view of herself as connected and obligated to others, such as her parents and the royal family
What does the Yale attitude change approach teach us about persuasive communications? Know characteristics of the three components they looked at.
-Yale attitude change approach: conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive communications - 3 components: Who (the source of the communication), What (the nature of the communication), Whom (the nature of the audience) - Teaches us that we're more persuaded by ads that aren't as obviously trying to persuade us (we do not want to agree and feel manipulated by obvious ads)
What is attitude inoculation, be able to identify an example.
-attitude inoculation: making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by initially exposing them to small doses of arguments against their position - ex: picking pepsi over coke all the time because it's just what you're used to doing and you've become immune to the opposition (coke) since you're constantly choosing to like pepsi
What is equity theory, how does it work?
-equity theory: satisfaction determined by ratio of rewards and costs for both partners - in relationships with more satisfaction, there are more similar ratios - inequitable relationships lead to one person feeling over-benefited (lots of rewards, few costs, devote little time/energy to relationship) and the other person feeling under-benefited (few rewards, high costs, devote a lot of time and energy to the relationship)
What is the predicted outcome for close relationships for avoidant individuals
1. least likely to enter into a relationship 2. most likely to report never being in love 3. lowest levels of relationship commitment
What is the predicted outcome for close relationships for secure individuals
1. most enduring, long-term relationships 2. highest level of relationship commitment 3. highest level of relationship satisfaction
anxious individuals
1. most short-lived romantic relationships 2. enter into romantic relationships the quickest 3. most upset and angry when love is not reciprocated
What are the three components of attitudes?
3 components of attitudes: 1. Affective based 2. Cognitive based 3. Behaviorally based
Stanford Marshmallow Experiment
A series of studies on delayed gratification. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards if they waited for a short period (approximately 15 minutes) during which the tester left the room and then returned. The reward was a marshmallow. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes
Describe characteristics and outcomes of the central route of persuasion. When do people take this route?
Central route persuasion: attitude change that occurs through thoughtful elaboration of a message - characteristics: listening carefully and focusing on logical arguments, occurs when motivated to process message and when one has opportunity, results in stronger attitude change, using facts/figures/knowledge/information - we do this a lot when making bigger decisions (Exs: picking a car, picking a college)
Know the developmental theory of close relationships
Developmental theory of close relationships states that there are 3 kinds of attachment styles: secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent
What is an explicit versus implicit attitude measure?
Explicit attitude measure would be asking someone their feelings or beliefs on a subject (ex: Are you a fan of the Yankees?) Implicit attitude measure would probably involve using priming to assess attitudes (ex: puppies or cockroaches pictures with negative/positive words)
What study discussed in class illustrated the propinquity effect?
Friendship at MIT Study - 1940s student housing, 17 apartment buildings, students randomly assigned to residences - Question: Who would become friends with each other? - Students were asked to name 3 best friends at the end of the study - Results: 41% of people listed people living 1 door down (people living next door were 4x more likely to become friends than people who lived down the hallways), 22% 2 doors down, 10% opposite ends of hall, 2/3 of one's friends were in the same building
Example of (behavioral) self-handicapping
Going out and partying the night before an exam instead of studying, then showing up to the exam unprepared and being able to blame a bad grade on being unprepared
How does the halo effect work? How might the self-fulfilling prophecy play a role?
Halo effect: we assume attractive people possess other desirable traits. We judge attractive people to be happier, more intelligent, more popular, have better personalities, be more sociable, have more professional success, be more assertive and extraverted. Attractive people are also predicted to have greater salaries, be more likely to get help when in need, and be less likely to be convicted/get shorter sentences
Which ads are most effective for which types of processing? Know the different advertisement strategies for different products.
If an attitude is cognitively based, ads that try to change the attitude with rational arguments and stress objective merits of a product are best. If an attitude is affectively based, ads that try to change the attitude with emotional appeals, stress social identity and values, and emphasize sex, beauty and youthfulness are best
How does motivation and ability affect the persuasion route taken? Reference research discussed.
If we view something as personally relevant, we are motivated to pay attention to it (more relevance = more attention paid = central route persuasion) - Topic Relevance Study (Petty et al., 1981): Read speech about requiring senior comprehensive exams in college - Results: strong arguments had higher agreement than weaker arguments, but expertise has almost no effect on people who had high personal relevance. People with low personal relevance were more persuaded by expertise and less by quality of argument. - high personal relevance = central route, low personal relevance = peripheral route
How do task-contingent rewards affect motivation?
If you already like doing a task and then start getting a task-contingent reward for doing it, this may decrease your interest in the task because your motivation switches from intrinsic to extrinsic
similarity in interests and experiences
If you have similar interests to someone else, you will be in closer proximity to them as a result of doing the same thing
What is introspection and is it an accurate source of information?
Introspection is consciously "looking inward" and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. - It is not an accurate source of information because although we like to think we know exactly why we did something or feel a certain way, reasons for feelings/behavior are often outside conscious awareness
Love manifested across cultures
Love is a universal emotion, but experiences of love vary across cultures: - Americans value passionate love more -the Chinese value companionate love more Also, cultural rules determine how love is expressed (ex: arranged marriages)
What study discussed in class illustrated the mere exposure effect?
Moreland and Beach 1992 Attraction study - Experiment: female confederate attended class throughout the term; IV: attend class either 0, 5, 10, or 15 times; DV: how attractive the classmates rated them - Results: the more times a stranger attended class, the more she was liked
similarity in opinions and personality study
Newcomb (1961) assessed beliefs of incoming freshman and predicted who would become friends - Measured demographics, attitudes, and values (so he knew who was more similar/dissimilar to each other), people ended up becoming friends with similar others (- Reiterates the idea that we choose to enter into social situations where we find similar others)
What are some of the benefits of being attractive?
People attribute positive qualities to beautiful people (using the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype)
Describe characteristics and outcomes of the peripheral route of persuasion. When do people take this route?
Peripheral Route Persuasion: attitude change that occurs through incidental, automatic cues - characteristics: swayed by superficial characteristics of communication, occurs when people lack motivation and opportunity, results in weaker attitude change, more common type of persuasion in advertising - common peripheral cues: trust the expert, what is attractive is good, what has lots of reasons must be right (Ex: Molson beer ad- attractive man with puppies = beer must be good)
similarity in appearance
Seek physical proximity to those similar in appearance (both level of attractiveness and similarity in looks; matching hypothesis)
What is self-awareness and what does it cause us to think about?
Self-awareness theory: focusing attention on oneself to evaluate and compare one's behavior to internal standards and values - self-awareness is thinking about ourselves, and causes us to think about our behaviors, values, and standards
Define self-perception theory and be able to identify examples.
Self-perception theory: the theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs - FIND EXAMPLES
Why does similarity increase attraction?
Similar others validate us (self-verification), and similarity leads to proximity. We have more fluent interactions with similar others and also greater perceived similarity with them
Beyond direct experience, how do social learning and genetics influence attitudes?
Social learning affects attitudes such as racial beliefs, political beliefs, and religious beliefs (ex: we know from TV crime shows that we do not want to get shot). Genetics influence attitudes by giving heritability of temperaments and personality. (ex: identical twins share more similar attitudes than fraternal twins, even when raised in different environments)
Example of (reported) self-handicapping
Studying the night before the exam but complaining to your friends the day of that you're not feeling well
Example of ingratiation
Telling your boss you like his shirt even if you don't in order to get him to like you more
How do performance-contingent rewards affect motivation?
This type of reward is less likely to decrease interest in a task (might even increase interest) because the earned reward conveys the message that you're good at the task. However, the drawback is that it can put pressure on people by making them feel evaluated, which makes it harder to do well and may lead to a decrease in intrinsic interest for the activity. - The key to this type of reward is conveying positive feedback without pressuring people by making them feel nervous and apprehensive about being evaluated.
Why do individuals engage in self-handicapping?
We engage in self-handicapping because being unsuccessful or doing poorly on tasks cause our self-esteem to be hurt and upset us. Self-handicapping lets us set up excuses before the fact in case we do poorly
How might the self-fulfilling prophecy play a role in the halo effect?
We have expectations for attractive people to fulfill the idea of the halo effect. We act positively toward attractive people because we believe they are good people and their behavior then reflects that, causing them to confirm that "what is beautiful is good"
similarity
We like people who are like us, so we choose to enter social situations where we find similar others - this leads to new similarities being created through new shared experiences that fuel the friendship
How does reciprocal liking effect initial attraction?
We like people who like us. For initial attraction, reciprocal liking can overcome dissimilarity in attitudes, attentional biases to attractive faces and lack of similarity
How do we maintain self-esteem? Recall self-serving memory bias, self-serving attributions, false consensus effect and unrealistic optimism.
We maintain self-esteem by making self-serving attributions where we blame the situation or others for our failures instead of ourselves. - Self-serving memory bias: a bias in which people forget the connection between negative events and themselves - false consensus effect: tendency of people to overestimate the extent to which their opinions, beliefs, preferences, values, and habits are more widely shared than they actually are - unrealistic optimism: a cognitive bias causing someone to believe that they are less likely to experience a negative event
When are we most likely to engage in self-perception?
We use self-perception when our attitudes and feelings are ambiguous, and/or when behavior is freely chosen. If we want to judge whether our behavior reflects how we really feel or if the situation made us act a certain way, we use self-perception.
How do men and women differ in what they seek in a mate?
Women seek reproductive success measured by successfully raising offspring to maturity. - women want mates who can provide resources; look for cues to ability to provide resources (strength and height in the cavemen days; status symbols today) Men seek reproductive success enhanced by mating with fertile women - men want mates who are fertile and also want more mates (look for ideal waist/hip ratio and breasts)
Is physical attractiveness universal? (Do not need to know the exact body parts/features that make someone attractive.) Know about symmetry.
Yes, there are physical features that are universally attractive. - In men: strong jaw, broad shoulders - In women: large eyes, high cheek bones, consistent skin tone, facial symmetry - In everyone: large eyes, high cheek bones, consistent skin tone, facial symmetry
classical conditioning
a stimulus that elicits an emotional response is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus, until the neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first - Ex: snow globes are a neutral stimulus to you, but your grandma, who you love, has snow globes and every time you go to her house you hear her talk about them, and then when you think about snow globes you feel good
independent view of the self
a way of defining oneself in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions
interdependent view of the self
a way of defining oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people, recognizing that one's behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others
avoidant attachment style
about 25% of people - aloof and distant caregivers; infants suppress their need for intimacy - they find it difficult to trust their partners
anxious/ambivalent attachment style
about 25% of people - inconsistent caregivers; infants can't predict how caregivers will respond - want to become close partners but they fear their partners will not return their affections - higher than average anxiety levels among these individuals
secure attachment style
about 50% of people - trust, lack of concern with being abandoned; feel worthy and well-liked
What is product placement?
advertisers purposefully placing messages about products in shows, movies, music videos, etc. - We don't always realize that someone is trying to influence our attitudes
passionate love
an intense longing for a person, accompanied by physiological arousal
social learning
attitude formation through observation of others (parents, teachers, friends)
explicit attitudes
attitudes that are consciously endorsed, self-reported attitudes
implicit attitudes
attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable and at times unconscious
affective based attitudes
based on emotions/values toward an attitude object - 3 common sources of affective based attitudes: operant conditioning, classical conditioning, evaluative conditioning - difficult to change because they are not a result of rational examination or governed by logic and are often linked to values
downward social comparison
comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability (another type of this is comparing our current performance to past performance) - we use this if we want to feel good about ourselves and boost ourr egos
upward social comparison
comparing yourself to people who are better than you are with regard to a particular trait or ability - we use this if our goal is to know what excellence is and to be able to have a goal of what we want to be similar to in the future
self-handicapping
creating obstacles and excuses for ourselves so that if we do poorly on a task, we can avoid blaming ourselves
evolutionary psychology
explains social behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to principles of natural selection
What is fear-arousing communication and what elements are needed for it to be most effective?
fear-arousing communication: attempt to change attitudes by arousing fear - To be effective, the fear must not be too scary and the course of action to reduce the fear must not be obvious - if you only see fear and no solution, you won't be motivated
companionate love
feelings of intimacy and affection for someone that are not accompanied by passion or physiological arousal
relational interdependence
focus more on close relationships (e.g., friend, child, partner) in defining self
collective interdependence
focus more on memberships to larger groups (e.g., fan, frat) in defining self
operant conditioning
freely chosen behaviors become more or less frequent, depending on if they are followed by reward or punishment - Ex 1: you're rewarded for playing baseball as a kid, so you develop a positive attitude toward baseball - Ex 2: you're punished for hanging out with someone of a different race, so you develop a negative attitude toward people of that race
investment model of close relationships
how much would you lose that you put into the relationship? - also determines commitment - factors in emotional energy, tangible resources, kids well-being, etc. - greater investment = less likely to leave relationship
What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model?
how people process or mentally elaborate on the message greatly affects attitude change through persuasion - the idea is that under certain conditions people are more motivated to pay attention to facts
comparison level for alternatives
how well could you do in a different relationship? - determines commitment
example of passionate love
love between sexual partners
evolutionary approach to mate selection
men and women are attracted to different characteristics in each other because this maximizes their chances of reproductive success
How do men and women differ in their minimum obligatory investment?
minimum obligatory investment for reproduction is huge for women and small for men - women have to carry child for 9 months - men don't have to necessarily commit past conception
over-justification effect
overestimating the extent to which one's behavior is due to extrinsic, in comparison to intrinsic
evaluative conditioning
pairing neutral object with valenced other
behavioral self-handicapping
people act in ways that reduce the likelihood that they will succeed on a task so that if they fail, they can blame it on the obstacles they created rather than on their lack of ability
reported self-handicapping
people devise ready-made excuses in case they fail
social comparison theory
people learn about their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves to others and revolves around two important questions: 1. When do people engage in social comparison? and 2. With whom do they choose to compare themselves?
How does the over-justification effect affect motivation and for who?
people overestimate their behavior being caused by extrinsic reasons and underestimate how much the behavior was caused by intrinsic reasons; this affects ourselves
extrinsic motivation
people's desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because they enjoy the task or find it interesting
implementation intentions
people's specific plans about where, when, and how they will fulfill a goal
task-contingent rewards
rewards in which people are rewarded for doing a task, regardless of the quality of their performance - Example: kids are rewarded for the number of drawings they do rather than how well they draw them
Be able to discuss social exchange theory. How are satisfaction and commitment predicted in this theory?
social exchange theory: costs and rewards determine relationship satisfaction commitment (costs + rewards = outcome) - at the beginning of a relationship, rewards outweigh the costs, and as time goes on the costs may start outweigh the rewards
comparison level
standard of comparison for current relationship; determines satisfaction
intrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity because they enjoy it or find it interesting; not because of external rewards or pressures
propinquity effect
the more we see and interact with people (ie proximity), the more likely they are to become our friends
mere exposure effect
the more you are exposed to something, the more you tend to like it
ingratiation
using flattery or praise to make ourselves likable to another person, often a person of higher status
matching hypothesis
we become involved with people who are like us (in attractiveness) - this goes beyond partners and can even be relevant to animals that look like us too sometimes (ex: people with a dog that looks exactly like them)
How can we predict whether people will stay in an intimate relationship or not?
we need to know: 1. their level of satisfaction in the relationship (in terms of rewards, costs, and comparison level) 2. what they think of the alternatives 3. the degree of their investment in the relationship - commitment to the relationship: satisfaction and level of investment have higher degrees of contribution - decision to break up: comparison levels for alternatives has the highest degree of contribution
reactance theory
when we feel our freedom to perform a behavior is threatened
performance-contingent rewards
where the reward depends on how well people perform the task - Example: kids are given cash prizes for scoring high on AP tests
