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MODULE SUMMARY: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY I Define social psychology. Social psychology is the study of the ways that the real or imagined presence of others influences behavior. Give examples of the types of questions social psychologists ask. Some questions social psychologists ask include: Are people more likely to help in an emergency in the presence of others, and does the presence of others influence decision making? Define norms and give examples. Norm is short for normal, and indicates common behavior. For instance, dying one's hair brown (tea hair) is approaching normal among Japanese in their early twenties, to the point that most Japanese in that age group feel uncomfortable without it. However, it is far from normal (common) in government jobs and large corporations. Conformity: Going Along To Get Along Define conformity. Conformity refers to changing one's beliefs or behaviors in response to real or perceived group pressures. Define informational influence. Informational influence refers to the use of group opinions or behaviors as a source of information to guide conduct in uncertain situations. Define normative influence. Normative influence refers to pressure that effectively sways individuals to conform for emotional reasons, such as to avoid social rejection or ridicule. Be prepared to discuss the normative and informational pressures that operate in the Asch paradigm. In Asch's study, an example ofnormative pressure is participants' agreement with group norms (choosing the wrong answer) to avoid social ridicule, even though the subjects knew the group was clearly wrong. Regardinginformational pressures, the appropriate response to make became more ambiguous as the number of confederates who chose the same wrong answer increased. Therefore, participants used the majority response to guide behavior. Give examples of situations where normative pressure is high or low. Normative pressure is high for junior high school students, regarding what to wear, what to say, and how to behave to avoid ridicule. Give examples of situations where informational pressure is high or low. Informational pressure is high in ambiguous situations, such as when people dine for the first time at an ethnic restaurant. Not knowing what to order, they glance about for hints from other diners. CONFORMITY FACTORS Be prepared to explain the effects that group size, stress, group cohesion, and self-confidence have on conformity. Group size influences conformity, in that the greater the number of people exhibiting a specific behavior, the greater the likelihood that a bystander will conform. Conformity is influenced bystress, such that the greater the perceived stress (e.g., to behave in a specific fashion), the more likely an individual is to conform to group norms (e.g., wearing the most popular clothes to impress someone on a first date). Group cohesion refers to the closeness of a group's members. When group cohesion is high, members are unlikely to deviate from group norms for fear of sanction. Self-confidence plays a role in conformity. Conformity is especially high among people low in self-confidence and self-esteem. Be prepared to explain the effects that unanimity has on conformity. The most influential groups are those in which opinions are unanimous.Unanimity makes dissent difficult. However, if even one member deviates from the majority opinion, pressure to conform is reduced. Obedience To Authority: Commands And Demands Give examples of positive obedience. Examples of positive obedience include obeying a crossing guard at a dangerous intersection and yielding to traffic when merging onto a busy highway. Give examples of destructive obedience. Examples of destructive obedience include obeying a coach who asks players to injure an opposing athlete, or humiliating someone as an initiation rite to a fraternity or sorority. THE MILGRAM OBEDIENCE EXPERIMENT Describe Milgram's procedure. Stanley Milgram's procedure included the subject asking questions to a confederate learner and administering progressively more painful shocks for each error made. Summarize Milgram's main findings. Milgram found that a startling 65% of subjects continued questioning the learner and administering shocks up to the maximum 450-volt level, in response to a demanding experimenter. Further, not one subject--not even subjects who quit--inquired about the well-being of the learner, even after hearing cries of pain. These findings indicate that even normal people will commit horrific acts in response to a strong authority figure. Explain the effects that power, entrapment, and personal responsibility have on obedience. The effects of power take three forms: expert, referent, and legitimate. Expert power affects obedience because experts (e.g., scientists) are assumed more knowledgeable than novices. Referent power refers to power by association to a trustworthy institution (e.g., a prestigious institution). Legitimate power refers to power attained through social standing (e.g., a judge or police officer). Entrapment refers to being set up. Entrapment affects obedience by encircling individuals in a web of behavior and moving progressively closer to a desired outcome until the trapped individuals decide they are too far along to quit. Personal responsibility affects obedience when individuals believe ultimate responsibility rests in the hands of others (e.g., the experimenter in Milgram's study). Reactions to the obedience studies Be able to defend or criticize the notion that Milgram's experiments have little relevance to modern society. Milgram showed that situations that create entrapment, with orders from powerful individuals that absolve others of personal responsibility, can lead to intolerable acts of inhumanity. Examples abound, such as the mass killings in Rwanda, or the forced relocation of Native Americans in the nineteenth century. Be prepared to discuss the ethics of Milgram's study. Ethically speaking, Milgram's study caused an uproar among academics because subjects were deceived about the nature of the study for purposes of recruitment and were clearly traumatized by the experience. Yet, Milgram took great steps to ensure subjects did not suffer harm from participation, including giving them medical examinations. Nevertheless, Milgram's study highlights the necessity to use great precaution in designing psychological research with human subjects. Be able to describe what Stoner found in his group decision study. Stoner found that students chose the riskier alternative when deciding between an uncertain job with better payoff and a more stable alternative with a lower payoff. Define group polarization. Group polarization refers to research findings that group decisions are generally extreme, either very radical or quite cautious, rather than the expected middle-of-the-road decision. Explain how informational influence can lead to group polarization. Informational influence refers to members with minority opinions being overwhelmed by arguments in favor of the majority view; this leads to an increased likelihood that they will change their position and support the majority opinion. At that point, the whole group is likely to move to a more extreme position. Explain how normative influence can lead to group polarization. Normative influence refers to a tendency of group members to seek information about the opinions of other group members, and then move their opinions closer to the normative view, to avoid being ostracized. If all group members feel pressure to conform to the group norm, then the group as a whole may move to a more extreme position. Define social comparison. Social comparison refers to checking oneself in relation to group norms, as when an individual compares her opinion to the opinions of others. Groupthink: When good people make bad decisions Define groupthink. Groupthink refers to decision making led by an excessive desire to achieve consensus and avoid confrontation. Identify the four symptoms of groupthink. Four symptoms of groupthink are illusion of invulnerability, self-censorship, the presence of mind-guards, and the illusion of unanimity. BAY OF PIGS ILLUSTRATED ESSAY Explain how groupthink contributed to the Bay of Pigs incident and be prepared to apply groupthink to other real-world situations. At this time, there was great political pressure to do something about Fidel Castro and Cuba, President Kennedy's advisors were highly loyal, and his brother Robert F. Kennedy acted as a mind-guard. Thus, the conditions were right for groupthink and a poor decision. Other examples of groupthink are the space shuttle Challenger accident, the failed peacekeeping operation by the U.S. army in Somalia, and the botched rescue mission for American hostages in Iran by President Carter. Define social cognition. Social cognition refers to our attempts to actively interpret and make sense of information about others. IMPRESSION FORMATION ACTIVITY Describe Asch's impression formation procedure. Asch had participants read a list of adjectives describing an individual, choose other words that they thought could also describe the person, and then write an open-ended description of him or her. Summarize Asch's findings. Ash found that participants had little trouble with the task, and that the substitution of even one adjective could lead to a rather drastic change in description of the fictitious person. Know what a "central trait" is. In Asch's study, central traits are defined as those adjectives that, when changed, had the most dramatic effect on the description of the fictitious person, sometimes even reversing the description from positive to negative. Describe the order effects Asch observed. Asch observed that the ordering of adjectives affected the nature of participants' descriptions, such that earlier words had a more dramatic effect on descriptions than later words. Define a social schema. Social schemas are personal theories people hold of the way social situations and people work. Describe the two perceptual problems schemas solve. Schemas help fill gaps when information is lacking. Schemas also help channel attention to specific stimuli that are believed most relevant (e.g., looking at a friend's face when engaged in a conversation), as far too much information is available for processing at any given time. Describe the ways in which schemas shape our perceptions of others. Be prepared to give examples. Schemas provide ready-made interpretations of people and situations that facilitate understanding. For instance, people considered attractive are generally perceived as possessing the finest qualities. More negatively, minorities are often seen by members of a majority group as possessing the worst personality traits, such as being thieves or lazy. WHAT'S GOING ON? Describe how different situational framings alter perceptions. Framing alters perceptions by guiding interpretation in a specific direction, such as when two friends are presented either as having a casual conversation or as planning a robbery. Physical appearance and impression formation IN YOUR FACE Describe the role that "baby-faced" features play in impression formation. Baby-faced features generally influence the formation of perceptions. Mature features are considered attractive in males as well as a sign of dominance. Alternatively, for women, immature (baby-faced) features are deemed more attractive and are associated with honesty, warmth, and kindness. Define attribution. Attributions are the causes we assign to behaviors. Describe the functions attributions serve. Attributions serve to guide behavior. External versus internal causes Explain what it means to make an external attribution. Making external attributions refers to ascribing behavior to causes out of a person's control, such as an icy hill causing a skiing accident. Explain what it means to make an internal attribution. Making internal attributions refers to ascribing behavior to causes that are within a person's control, such as poor judgment causing a skiing accident. The fundamental attribution error Describe the fundamental attribution error (correspondence bias) and be prepared to give examples. Fundamental attribution error refers to a tendency to attribute successes or failures to internal dispositional causes rather than to external situational causes. For example, people are more likely to attribute failure to answer a difficult question correctly on a game show to a personal flaw (e.g., lack of intelligence) than to situational causes (e.g., being nervous because a live, national audience is watching). Describe the effects that individualistic and collectivist cultures have on the fundamental attribution error. Researchers have found that people of individualistic cultures are more likely to commit fundamental attribution errors than people living in collectivist cultures. Define "self-serving bias" and give examples. Self-serving bias refers to attributions that place oneself in a favorable light. For instance, "I won the tennis match because of my superior ability," whereas "I lost the last point because I slipped on a wet spot on the court." Describe the relationship between the self-serving bias and attributions for success and failure. When self-serving bias occurs, attributions for success are internal and attributions for failure are external. Do attributions really matter? Define "self-handicapping" and give examples. Self-handicapping refers to a behavior undertaken before evaluation (e.g., an exam or golf match) that increases the likelihood of failure on the evaluation, but provides a ready attribution for failure. An example is going to bed very late before a 10K run, placing poorly, and then attributing the failure to exhaustion because of staying up too late the night before the race. Be prepared to explain the difference between an "excuse" and a "self-handicapping" behavior. Self-handicapping refers to a specific behavior before evaluation that increases the likelihood of failure, whereas excuse refers to an explanation occurring after failure has already transpired. Be able to defend or criticize the statement that "attributions do not really matter." In defense of the statement "attributions do not really matter," one could argue that little evidence exists in support of their influence on behavior. Further, attributions occur after behaviors, and therefore are of little consequence. In criticizing the statement, one could argue that attributions can influence behavior, as when individuals self-handicap to provide a legitimate excuse for poor performance in anticipation of failure, which actually makes failure more likely. ACTOR/OBSERVER ACTIVITY Describe the actor/observer effect. When individuals are asked to rate others ("observer"), they tend to make attributions that are dispositional in nature, whereas when individuals rate themselves ("actor"), they tend to attribute behavior to situational causes. Describe the relationship between the actor/observer effect and the fundamental attribution error. Fundamental attribution error refers to a tendency to attribute behavior to dispositional rather than situational causes. In the case of the actor/observer effect, fundamental attribution error occurs when individuals judge the behavior of others and don't take into account situational factors. Be able to distinguish between "liking" and "loving." Liking is an emotion a person feels for another based on factors such as proximity, similarity, and appearance. Loving entails greater emotional involvement in another person, ranging from extreme passion to strong commitment, and can be characterized by intimacy, attachment, and caring.
Describe the relationship between proximity and liking. People tend to like those they have greater exposure to, such as people in close proximity (e.g., neighbors or officemates). Describe the "mere exposure effect." The mere exposure effect refers to the hypothesis that exposure is positively correlated to liking, such that the more individuals see people or objects, the more they like them. The research supports the "mere exposure effect." BIRDS OF A FEATHER Describe the relationship between similarity and liking. Similarity seems to breed contentment. People who end up being friends, dating, or marrying tend to be similar in intelligence, religion, age, and height, as well as other physical, spiritual, or material attributes. THE RATINGS GAME Describe the relationship between appearance and liking. Physically attractive men and women benefit from their appearance in several ways over their less attractive counterparts, including receiving higher ratings on adjustment, friendliness, sociability, and intelligence. Further, attractive individuals are more likely to be hired after job interviews and to earn higher salaries upon hiring. Describe the "instinct" hypothesis of physical attraction. According to the "instinct" hypothesis, humans are predisposed to find attractive individuals with certain facial features and body types. For instance, individuals with symmetrical features are generally seen as most attractive. Evolutionary psychologists argue that symmetrical features are associated with genetic fitness and good health, and are preferred over less symmetrical individuals to parent children. Therefore, individuals with symmetrical features are selected for breeding. Be prepared to defend or criticize the instinct hypothesis of physical attraction. In defense of the instinct hypothesis is the research evidence that shows a preference for individuals with symmetrical (normal) facial features and bodies. In criticizing the instinct hypothesis is the possibility that culture interacts with instinct to determine what is attractive; for example, people in North Africa may have different standards for attractiveness than people in North America. Attachment: The cradle of love? Distinguish among caring, attachment, and intimacy. According to Zick Rubin, caring refers to the belief that the happiness of another person is as important as one's own. Attachment refers to the need to be in close contact with someone and to spend time in his or her company. Intimacy refers to the willingness to share personal and private information with another person. Passionate love and companionate love Define passionate love. Passionate love refers to a highly emotional state of intense absorption in another person. It is equivalent to the familiar notion of romantic love. Define companionate love. Companionate love is supporting and understanding, warm and affectionate. It does not reflect the same intense emotions as passionate love, but has high tolerance for the loved one's flaws and idiosyncrasies. THE LOVE SCALE Be prepared to defend or criticize the notion that "love" can be studied scientifically. Love can be studied scientifically by self-report, as in the case of Zick Rubin's love scale. For instance, in laboratory studies, individuals scoring higher on Rubin's love scale spend more time gazing directly into each other's eyes. In criticism of love's amenability to scientific study, love is an emotion that is subjective and dependent on cultural norms of expression, making it impossible for any one model or survey to be valid cross-culturally. Describe the three components of Sternberg's triangular model of love. The three components of Sternberg's triangular model of love are intimacy, passion, and commitment. Intimacy refers to sharing deeply personal information and concerns. Passion refers to emotional infatuation and desire. Commitment refers to intention or a conscious decision to be with another person. LOVE TRIANGLE Attachment: The cradle of love? Define attachment styles. Attachment style refers to Ainsworth's taxonomy of attachment between parents, more generally between the mother and children. Be able to distinguish between secure, avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent attachment styles. Securely attached children are generally comfortable in new situations and less anxious when approached by strangers, and they have parents who are responsive to their needs. Avoidant attached children have parents who are aloof and uncaring; the children become emotionally detached themselves. Anxious-ambivalent children are confused by their parents' affectional inconsistency. Describe the effects these different attachment styles can have on adult romantic relationships. Attachment styles can affect adult romantic relationships. The attachment style most conducive to successful relationships is secure attachment, as it allows for the greatest intimacy. The avoidant attachment style detracts from intimacy, as at least one party has difficulty trusting the other. The anxious-ambivalent attachment style is characterized by anxious involvement by one party who wants the relationship to move faster than the other party desires, and who fears abandonment and is therefore jealous.
ATTACHMENT STYLE Define attitudes. Attitude refers to opinion toward a person, object, or concept with affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. Explain what it means to say that attitudes have affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. The affective dimension of an attitude refers to the emotion we have toward the object in question. The behavioral dimension refers to whether we move toward or away from engagement with the object in question. The cognitive dimension refers to knowledge about the object in question, which affects our behavior, if not our emotion toward it. Persuasion: Changing attitudes The communication approach to persuasion Summarize the communication approach to persuasion in a sentence. Persuasion refers to a communication approach in which a source delivers a message to an audience with intention of promoting attitude change. Describe the effects that source, message, and audience factors have on persuasion. Be prepared to give examples of each. Source influences persuasion; faster speakers are more persuasive than slower speakers, experts are more persuasive in questions of fact, and ordinary people are more persuasive in questions of opinion. Messages evoking positive emotions, such as models smiling in TV ads for jeans, are most persuasive, whereas messages invoking fear (e.g., smoking and lung cancer) are persuasive when the fear is moderate and the audience knows how to avoid the feared stimulus. Audience influences persuasion, with hostile audiences and audiences expecting persuasion being most difficult to persuade. For instance, people forewarned of a solicitor's intentions are harder to persuade than those unaware of his objectives. The cognitive approach to persuasion Describe the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion. Petty and Cacioppo's elaboration likelihood model of persuasion is based on the premise that individuals process arguments and information more thoroughly when the personal effects of a decision are greater than when the effects are less costly. Distinguish between central and peripheral routes to persuasion. The central route refers to the method involving greater cognitive investment in the details of a persuasive statement than the nature of the speaker; it is employed when the effects of a decision are great. The peripheral route refers to a less involved method, in which individuals defer judgment to factors such as endorser credibility or attractiveness; it is employed when the effects of a decision are relatively small. AD CATEGORIZATION ACTIVITY Give examples of communications that target the central route and communications that target the peripheral route. An example of a communication that targets the central route is a defense lawyer's analysis of the prosecution's evidence. An example of a communication targeting the peripheral route is a basketball shoe ad. Describe LaPiere's study and be able to summarize his findings. In his 1934 study, LaPiere traveled through the western states with a Chinese couple to study the effects of discrimination on behavior. They stopped at hotels, restaurants, and campgrounds. Out of 250 such establishments, the couple was refused business at only one. However, when LaPiere mailed letters to all the places visited, asking whether they would accept a Chinese couple as patrons, of the 50% responding, 90% reported they would deny business to the couple. His findings favor the argument that attitude differs from behavior. Asking the right questions — attitude specificity Be able to explain why general attitudes often fail to predict behaviors. While researchers tend to ask questions about general attitudes, they often assess the general attitudes' effects on specific behaviors. Specific attitudes are better at predicting specific behaviors than general attitudes. Describe the roles that direct experience and self-relevance play in shaping the relationships between attitudes and behavior. Attitudes can be formed spuriously regarding a variety of issues (e.g., mandatory uniforms for public high school students). However, attitudes are more likely to impact behavior when we directly experience the question at issue (e.g., a public high school student) and when the area considered impacts directly our self-conceptions (e.g., me wearing an ugly uniform!). Balancing things out — cognitive dissonance Define cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance refers to the experience of psychological discomfort when our attitudes and beliefs are not consistent with our behaviors. Describe the ways that balance can be restored. Balance can be restored by changing one's attitude about an action, justifying the action, or reducing the importance of the inconsistency. DISSONANCE THEATER Be prepared to give examples of situations that are likely to produce dissonance. One example of dissonance is a student who claims studying is important, but consistently waits until the last minute to cram for exams. Another example is the soccer mom who complains about other parents yelling at their children during a match, but consistently yells at her child at practices and matches. |
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