PSY 102 Midterm

social psychology

the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations

Kurt Lewin

founder of modern social psychology, believed in power of the situation

power of the situation

situations interact with personal characteristics to determine behavior regardless of individual’s behavior

Milgram experiment

participants did not intend to harm another person, but behaved according to situation

seminarians as samaritans

a study exploring the influence of situational factors on prosocial behavior, where participants failed to help someone in need due to the pressures of time and scenario

fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behaviors

construal

an interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that people confront

schema

a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information that is used to help in understanding events; influence behavior and judgment

stereotype

schemas we have of people and include a belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group

independent (individualistic) culture

a culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct, individual social entities, tied to each other by voluntary bonds of affection and organizational memberships but essentially separate from others and having attributes that exist in the absence of any connection to others

interdependent (collectivistic) culture

a culture in which people tend to define themselves as part of a collective, inextricably tied to others in their group, and places less importance on individual freedom or personal control over their lives

basic science

research concerned with trying to understand some phenomenon in its own right, with a view toward using understanding to build valid theories about the nature of some aspect of the world

applied science

research concerned with using current understanding of a phenomenon in order to solve a real-world problem

the self

a conceptual system made up of one’s thoughts and attitudes about oneself

William James

coined “the social me”; the parts of self-knowledge that are derived from social relationships

introspection

self-examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

the narrated self

refers to the way individuals construct and tell their own life stories, shaping their identity and sense of self through personal narratives

accuracy of self-knowledge

introspection can sometimes lead to accurate self-knowledge in some aspects, but in others, other people are better sources of information

self-schema

a cognitive structure that represents a person’s beliefs and feelings about the self in general and in specific situations that serve as the basic units of organization for self-knowledge

socialization

the process through which children acquire values, standards, skills, knowledge, and behaviors that are regarded as appropriate to their present and future roles in their culture

socialization agents

parents, siblings, teachers, peers, etc.; direct (explicit instruction) and indirect (modeling)

looking-glass self

other people’s reactions serve as a mirror

self-appraisal

how one sees themselves

reflected self-appraisal

how one thinks others see them

situationism

aspects of the self change depending on the situation

working self-concept

subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context

distinctiveness

the tendency to highlight aspects of the self that make us feel most unique in a given context; e.g. age seems more important when surrounded by much older people

social context

sense of self shifts depending on who we are interacting with

independent view of self

the self is seen as a distinct, autonomous entity, separate from others and defined by individual traits and preferences

interdependent view of self

the self is seen as connected to others and defined by social duties and shared traits and preferences

gender and the social self

men have more independent views of the self and women have more interdependent views of the self; women are more likely to define themselves using relationships and use external social cues while men are more attuned to their internal responses

social comparison theory

the hypothesis that people compare themselves to other people in order to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states

downward social comparison

boost self-esteem by making us feel better about the self

upward social comparison

may motivate self-improvement by making us feel worse about the self

social identities

parts of a person’s sense of self that are derived from group memberships

self-stereotyping

characterizing the self in terms of the traits, norms, and values associated with an especially salient or meaningful social group

self-esteem

the overall positive or negative evaluation an individual has of themself

trait self-esteem

a person’s enduring level of self-regard across time

state self-esteem

the dynamic, changeable self-evaluation a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self

self-esteem scale

self-report Likert scale; measures how we feel about our attributes and qualities, our successes and failures, and our self in general

contingencies of self-worth

a perspective maintaining that self-esteem is contingent on successes and failures in domains on which a person has based his or her self-worth

sociometer hypothesis

the assertion that self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others

culture and self-esteem

members of independent cultures report higher levels of self-esteem than members of interdependent cultures; greater contact with Western culture leads to higher reports of self-esteem

self-enhancement

people are motivated to view themselves positively; the desire to maintain, increase, or protect one’s positive self-views

better-than-average effect

the finding that most people think they are above average on various personality trait and ability dimensions; most Westerners tend to have a positive view of self; we weight abilities we excel at as more valuable

self-affirmation theory

the idea that people can maintain an overall sense of self-worth following psychologically threatening information by affirming a valued aspect of themselves unrelated to the threat; most well-adjusted people tend to have slightly unrealistic views about themselves

self-verification theory

the theory that people strive for stable, subjectively accurate beliefs about the self because such self-views give a sense of coherence; selectively attend to and recall information that is consistent with our self-views

self-regulation

processes by which people initiate, alter, and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals, including the ability to resist short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term goals

actual self

the self that people believe they are

ideal self

the self that embodies an individual’s wishes and aspirations

ought self

the self that is concerned with the duties, obligations, and external demands an individual feels compelled to honor

self-discrepancy theory

a theory that behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal and ought selves; falling short produces specific emotions; dejection-related for actual-ideal discrepancies and agitation-related for actual-ought discrepancies

promotion focus

self-regulation of a behavior with respect to standards of the ideal self standards; focus on attaining positive outcomes and approach-related behaviors

prevention focus

self-regulation of behavior concerning ought self standards; focus on avoiding negative outcomes and avoidance-related strategies

automatic self-control strategies

many strategies deployed automatically; influence behavior as well as thoughts, leading people to approach goals and avoid temptations

self-presentation

presenting the person that we would like others to believe we are

impression management

attempts to control how other people will view us

face

the public image of ourself that we want others to believe

self-monitoring

the tendency to monitor one’s behavior to fit the current situation; high self-monitors adjust their behavior to the situation and low self-monitors are more likely to behave according to their internal preferences

self-handicapping

the tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order to have an excuse ready, should one perform poorly or fail; provides an excuse for poor performance and emphasizes good performance

presenting the self online

may present personality and other attributes fairly accurately online but may be less likely to do so for our physical attributes

social cognition

how people think and make judgments about the social world; influence our behaviors but are often inaccurate

snap judgments

quick impressions or decisions based on little information

positive-negative dimension of snap judgment

refers to the tendency to assess others on a scale of positive to negative traits based on initial perceptions, influencing overall impressions; trustworthy-untrustworthy, not aggressive-aggresive

high power - low power dimension of snap judgment

refers to the assessment of others in terms of their perceived dominance or submissiveness, significantly impacting social perceptions and interactions; confident-bashful, dominant-submissive

dominant traits

pronounced jaw, small eyes, and small forehead

trustworthy traits

shape of the eyebrows and eye sockets, smiling

attribution

explanations for people’s behaviors or events that occur; people assign different attributions to the same situation

internal/dispositional attribution

behavior is a product of the person’s personality; low consensus and distinctiveness

external/situational attribution

behavior is a reflection of context or situation; high consensus and distinctiveness

covariation principle

behavior attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behavior

consensus

the extent to which other people behave similarly in the same situation

distinctiveness

the degree to which an individual behaves differently in different situations, indicates how unique a person's behavior is in a specific context compared to their behavior in other contexts

counterfactual thinking

the mental process of imagining alternative outcomes to events that have already occurred, often involving 'what if' scenarios

emotional amplification

the increased emotional response to an event due to its perceived importance or consequences

silver medal effect

bronze medalists are more satisfied with accomplishments than silver medalists since they can compare themselves to others who got gold, rather than those who finished behind them

self-serving attributional bias

tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances and attribute success and other good events to oneself

actor-observer difference

difference in attribution based on who is making the causal assessment; actor makes situational attributions and observer makes dispositional attributions

culture and causal attributions

people from interdependent cultures commit the FAE less frequently than people from independent cultures

gender and attributions

men are more likely to attribute failures to lack of effort, women are more likely to attribute failures to lack of ability

framing effect

the influence of judgment resulting from the way information is presented

primacy effect (order effect)

the disproportionate influence on judgment by information presented first in a body of evidence; most often occur when the information is ambiguous

recency effect (order effect)

the disproportionate influence on judgment by information presented last in a body of evidence; typically occurs when the last items come more easily to mind

spin framing

a type of framing that varies the content in addition to the order of what is presented

positive and negative framing

the way information is presented can influence judgment by highlighting either positive or negative aspects, leading to different interpretations

temporal framing

thinking about actions and event wihtin a particular time perspective

construal level theory

a theory about the relationship between psychological distance and abstract or concrete thinking

confirmation bias

the tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence in support of it

motivated confirmation bias

a type of confirmation bias where individuals favor information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs and motivations

bottom-up processing

individual forms conclusions based on the stimuli encountered in the environment

top-down processing

individual filters and interprets new information in light of pre-existing knowledge and expectations

how schemas affect judgment

attention becomes selective; remember information that is consistent with schemas better than inconsistent information; influence how we construe information; prime our behavior

intuition

consists of rapid responses based on associations that come automatically to mind; is processed in parallel

reason

slower and more controlled, based on rules and deduction; is processed serially

heuristics

intuitive mental shortcuts, performed quickly and automatically that provide efficient answers to common problems of judgment

availability heuristic

judging the frequency or probability of an event based on how readily examples come to mind

representativeness heuristic

categorizing something by judging how similar it is our conception of the typical member of the category

emotion

brief, specific response that involve subjective feeling, physiological changes, behavior, and cognitive appraisal; guide our actions which advance our goals

appraisal

the construal, or interpretation, an individual gives to a situation that gives rise to the experience of emotion

evolutionary approach to emotion

emotions are adaptive reactions to survival-related threats, innate, discrete from one another very early in life, and universal