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Module 37

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Social Cognition: Making Sense of Ourselves and Others

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social psychology

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scientific study of how we feel about, think about, and behave toward the other people around us, and how those people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

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social situation

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the people with whom we are interacting

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social cognition

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the part of human thinking that helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others—and consider the ways that our judgments about other people guide our behaviors toward them.

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attitudes

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our enduring evaluations of people or things—influence, and are influenced by, our behavior.

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psychology of interpersonal relationships

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altruism, aggression, and conformity

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social norms

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the accepted beliefs about what we do or what we should do in particular social situations (such as the norm of binge drinking common on many college campuses) influence our behavior

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stereotyping

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tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of their external appearance or their social group memberships

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prejudice

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the tendency to dislike people because of their appearance or group memberships

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discrimination

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negative behaviors toward others based on prejudice

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self-fulfilling prophecy

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When our expectations about the personality characteristics of others lead us to behave in ways that make those beliefs come true. Ex. A stereotype that attractive people are friendly, if I am friendly towards them. The friendly behavior may be reciprocated by the attractive person, if many other people engage in the same positive behaviors he may actually become friendlier.

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social identity

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the positive emotions that we experience as a result of our group memberships

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stereotype threat

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concerns about confirming the expectation that they will not do well relative to individuals who belong to stereotypically high-performing groups

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close relationships

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the long-term intimate and romantic relationships that we develop with another person—for instance, in a marriage

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interpersonal attraction

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what makes people like, and even love, each other

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self-disclosure

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the tendency to communicate frequently, without fear of reprisal, and in an accepting and empathetic manner

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proximity

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the extent to which people are physically near us

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mere exposure

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the tendency to prefer stimuli (including but not limited to people) that we have seen more frequently Moreland and Beach

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Commitment

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the feelings and actions that keep partners working together to maintain the relationship and is characterized by mutual expectations that the self and the partner will be responsive to each other's needs

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causal attribution

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The process of trying to determine the causes of people's behavior, with the goal of learning about their personalities

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dispositional attribution

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the source or cause of the behavior was due to characteristics that reside within the individual

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situational attribution

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the behavior was caused primarily by the situation

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self-serving attributions

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by judging the causes of our own behaviors in overly positive ways

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fundamental attribution error (or correspondence bias)

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The common tendency to overestimate the role of dispositional factors and overlook the impact of situations in judging others

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Attitude

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our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things

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persuasive communications

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Because attitudes often predict behavior, people who wish to change behavior frequently try to change attitudes.

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Choose effective communicators.

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Communicators who are attractive, expert, trustworthy, and similar to the listener are most persuasive.

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Consider the goals of the listener.

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If the listener wants to be entertained, then it is better to use a humorous ad; if the listener is processing the ad more carefully, use a more thoughtful one.

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Use humor.

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People are more easily persuaded when they are in a good mood.

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Use classical conditioning.

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Try to associate your product with positive stimuli such as funny jokes or attractive models.

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Make use of the listener's emotions.

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Humorous and fear-arousing ads can be effective because they arouse the listener's emotions.

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Use the listener's behavior to modify his or her attitude.

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One approach is the foot-in-the-door technique. First ask for a minor request, and then ask for a larger request after the smaller request has been accepted.

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self-monitoring

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the tendency to regulate behavior to meet the demands of social situations—tend to change their behaviors to match the social situation and thus do not always act on their attitudes

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Self-perception

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when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings; , Wells and Petty

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foot-in-the-door technique

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method of persuasion in which the person is first persuaded to accept a rather minor request and then asked for a larger one after that; Guéguen and Jacob

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Cognitive dissonance

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the discomfort we experience when we choose to behave in ways that we see as inappropriate.

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Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills

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studied whether the cognitive dissonance created by an initiation process could explain how much commitment students felt to a group that they were part of.

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Graham has a negative attitude toward his coworker, Martin, based on Martin's religion. This is an example of __________.

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prejudice

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Believing that women with blonde hair are dumb is an example of _____________, while refusing to hire a woman with blonde hair is an example of ____________.

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a stereotype; discrimination

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Thinking that members of a particular group are unfriendly, we may act toward them in a guarded manner. As a result, we may elicit a coldness that confirms our belief. This scenario captures the essence of ____________.

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the self-fulfilling prophecy

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Jay heard that Ellen has a great sense of humor. Upon meeting her for the first time, Jay encourages Ellen to share jokes she has heard and to tell him about comedy films she has seen. Although Ellen does not see herself as especially funny, she obliges Jay, and he concludes that what he had heard about Ellen is true. Which of the following phenomenon is most closely reflected in exchange between Jay and Ellen?

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the self-fulfilling prophecy

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Which of the following best describes the mere exposure effect? -Deciding a person must be intelligent based on their appearance. - Meeting someone and instantly disliking them. - Realizing the more you are around someone, the better you like them. -Love at first sight.

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Realizing the more you are around someone, the better you like them.

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Which of the following serves to facilitate the mere exposure effect? proximity intimacy self disclosure similarity

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proximity

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During police academy training, the cadets are assigned seats alphabetically. A psychologist finds that after the six-week training, the strongest friendships have developed between those whose last names start with the same or adjacent letters. Which principle of social attraction does this finding best support?

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proximity

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The process of attribution deals with the question of ___________________.

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why people act the way they do

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Which of the following types of attributions do we tend to make for other people's behaviors? objective attribution dispositional attribution external attribution situational attribution

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dispositional attribution

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Self-serving bias refers to our tendency to make __________________________.

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internal attributions for our successes and external attributions for our failures

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Ryan came in second in the 400-meter hurdles at the state high school track meet. He was later quoted in the school newspaper as saying he lost because he drew the inside lane with the tightest turns. Ryan's statement is an example of __________________.

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self-serving bias

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Based on social psychological research, which of the following statements is true? -Our behavior determines our attitudes, but our attitudes do not determine our behavior. -Under certain circumstances attitudes do predict behavior. -Our attitudes and our behavior are unrelated. -Our attitudes determine our behavior, but our behavior does not determine our attitudes.

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Under certain circumstances attitudes do predict behavior.

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People who make the fundamental attribution error when interpreting the behavior of others tend to _______________________.

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overemphasize personal factors

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According to self-perception theory ______________.

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people infer their own attitudes from their behaviors and the context in which those behaviors occur

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Module 38

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Interacting With Others: Helping, Hurting , and Conforming

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Altruism

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any behavior that is designed to increase another person's welfare, and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who performs them

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Positive moods

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We help more when we are in a good mood.

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Similarity

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We help people who we see as similar to us, for instance, those who mimic our behaviors.

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Guilt

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If we are experiencing guilt, we may help relieve those negative feelings.

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Empathy

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We help more when we feel empathy for the other person.

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Benefits

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We are more likely to help if we can feel good about ourselves by doing so

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Personal responsibility

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We are more likely to help if it is clear that others are not helping.

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Self-presentation

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We may help in order to show others that we are good people.

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Reciprocal altruism

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the principle that, if we help other people now, those others will return the favor should we need their help in the future

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reciprocity norm

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reminds us that we should follow the principles of reciprocal altruism. If someone helps us, then we should help them in the future, and we should help people now with the expectation that they will help us later if we need it. "Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"

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social responsibility norm

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we should try to help others who need assistance, even without any expectation of future paybacks

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Diffusion of responsibility

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when we assume that others will take action and therefore we do not take action ourselves

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Aggression

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behavior that is intended to harm another individual

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testosterone

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associated with increased aggression in both males and females

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displaced aggression

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aggression that is directed at an object or person other than the person who caused the frustration.

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Catharsis

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the idea that observing or engaging in less harmful aggressive actions will reduce the tendency to aggress later in a more harmful way-has been considered by many as a way of decreasing violence, and it was an important part of the theories of Sigmund Freud.

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desensitization

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the tendency over time to show weaker emotional responses to emotional stimuli

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culture of honor

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The social norm that condones and even encourages responding to insults with aggression

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conformity

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a change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of the other people around us; Informational and normative

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Normative conformity

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conforming because we want to be liked by others

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Informational conformity

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conforming because we believe that other people have accurate information and we want to have knowledge

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Milgram Conformity Variable: Number in majority

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As the number of people who are engaging in a behavior increases, the tendency to conform to those people also increases. People are more likely to stop and look up in the air when many, rather than few, people are also looking up.

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Milgram Conformity Variable: Unanimity

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Conformity reduces sharply when any one person deviates from the norm. In Solomon Asch's line-matching research, when any one person gave a different answer, conformity was eliminated.

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Milgram Conformity Variable: Status and authority

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People who have higher status, such as those in authority, create more conformity. Milgram found that conformity in his obedience studies was greatly reduced when the person giving the command to shock was described as an "ordinary man" rather than a scientist at Yale University.

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obedience

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The tendency to conform to those in authority; was demonstrated in a remarkable set of studies performed by Stanley Milgram

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minority influence

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which a smaller number of individuals is able to influence the opinions or behaviors of the larger group

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psychological reactance

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a strong emotional reaction that leads people to resist pressures to conform; Reactance is aroused when our autonomy is threatened. Under these conditions, people may not conform at all, and may move their opinions or behaviors away from the desires of the influencer

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The tendency to help others who are related to us as well as reciprocal altruism are two explanations for helping, according to the __________________.

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evolutionary perspective

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When a large group of people fails to help an innocent victim of a crime, the most likely cause is ______________________.

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diffusion of responsibility for helping

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In order to get promoted, Amy starts some vicious rumors about her main competitors. Amy's behavior is an example of ________________.

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aggression

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Research on the effects of viewing violent television programs and other forms of violent media indicates that ________________________.

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viewing violence produces a significant increase in aggression

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Which of the following statements accurately characterizes the research on sex differences in aggression? There are no sex differences in aggression. Men are more physically aggressive. Women are more verbally aggressive. Women experience more anger.

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Men are more physically aggressive.

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Although neither group makes any explicit requests or demands of her, Jane expresses pro-conservative opinions when she is with her conservative friends and she expresses anti-conservative opinions when she is with her liberal friends. Jane's actions best illustrate _____________.

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conformity

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Which of the following people should be least likely to conform to a unanimous majority in a situation similar to that faced by the participants in Asch's study concerning line judgments? -Hector, who comes from a collectivistic culture -David, who is not confident about his eyesight -Sharon, who made her responses in public - Andrew, who saw someone else dissent

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Andrew, who saw someone else dissent

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Sherif conducted a study in which participants in a totally darkened room estimated how far a point of light appeared to move. Asch conducted a study in which participants were asked to report which of three lines was identical in length to a standard line. Compared to the participants in Sherif's study, those in Asch's study exhibited more ___________________.

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public conformity

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During the Vietnam war era, Lt. William Calley was convicted of ordering his men to shoot women and children during the My Lai massacre. This incident most resembles the work of which of the following researchers?

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Stanley Milgram's obedience studies

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Most people are likely to be surprised by the results of Milgram's initial obedience experiment because _____________________________.

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the "teachers" were more obedient than most people would have predicted

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The Milgram obedience experiments were controversial because the __________________.

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"teachers" were deceived and frequently subjected to severe stress

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Module 39

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Working With Others: The Costs and Benefits of Social Groups

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social facilitation

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The tendency to perform tasks better or faster in the presence of others

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social inhibition

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The tendency to perform tasks more poorly or more slowly in the presence of others

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dominant response

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the action that we are most likely to emit in any given situation

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group process

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the events that occur while the group is working on the task

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social loafing

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a group process loss that occurs when people do not work as hard in a group as they do when they are working alone

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Groupthink

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a phenomenon that occurs when a group made up of members who may be very competent and thus quite capable of making excellent decisions nevertheless ends up, as a result of a flawed group process and strong conformity pressures, making a poor decision

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illusion of group productivity

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The tendency for group members to overvalue the productivity of the groups they work in is known

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Techniques That Can Be Used to Improve Group Performance

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Provide rewards for performance. Keep group member contributions identifiable. Maintain distributive justice (equity). Keep groups small. Create positive group norms. Improve information sharing. Allow plenty of time. Set specific and attainable goals.

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Conditions of Groupthink

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Time pressures and Stress. High Cohesiveness and social Identity. Isolation from the other sources of information. Directive, authoritative leadership.

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Symptoms of Groupthink

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• Illusions of Invulnerability • Illusions of unanimity • In-Group favoritism • Little search for new information • Belief in morality of the group • Pressure on dissenters to conform to group norms

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Keep groups small.

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Larger groups are more likely to suffer from coordination problems and social loafing. The most effective working groups are of relatively small size—about four or five members.

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Create positive group norms.

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Group performance is increased when the group members care about the ability of the group to do a good job (e.g., a cohesive sports or military team). On the other hand, some groups develop norms that prohibit members from working to their full potential and thus encourage loafing.

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Improve information sharing.

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Leaders must work to be sure that each member of the group is encouraged to present the information that he or she has in group discussions. One approach to increasing full discussion of the issues is to have the group break up into smaller subgroups for discussion.

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Allow plenty of time.

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Groups take longer to reach consensus, and allowing plenty of time will help keep the group from coming to premature consensus and making an unwise choice. Time to consider the issues fully also allows the group to gain new knowledge by seeking information and analysis from outside experts.

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Set specific and attainable goals.

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Groups that set specific, difficult, yet attainable goals (e.g., improve sales by 10% over the next 6 months) are more effective than groups that are given goals that are not very clear (e.g.,let's sell as much as we can!;).

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Norman Triplett conducted what is widely regarded as social psychology's first experiment. He found that children tended to perform a relatively easy task better while in the presence of another child doing the same task. This finding set the stage for research on _____________.

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social facilitation

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In explaining social facilitation effects, Zajonc suggests that the mere presence of others leads people to do better on easy tasks and worse on hard tasks when performing in front of others than when performing alone because _________________________.

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the presence of other people produces arousal, which in turn affects performance

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Highly cohesive groups, strong leadership, and time pressure are three of the major contributing factors in the development of ________________.

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groupthink

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