Jessica Hirschberg PSYC221 Final Exam Study Guide The Science of Social Psychology What is social psychology what do social psychologists study Normative human behavior mental processes social cognition the self personality social influence relationships sexuality political psychology group behavior aggression violence altruism helping religion morality Advantages to research vs lay theories folk theories Intuition is often correct but misses the complete picture Counterintuitive results findings Theoretical perspectives Power of the situation situations matter often more than personality disposition time period in history geography culture ex color of walls season setting temperature social norms Evolutionary psychology behavior is purposeful solves problems faced by ancestors nothing has inherent value or quality differs by species selection pressure Positive psychology positive emotions joy pride positive behaviors cooperation love positive outcomes life satisfaction Theories vs Phenomena Theories composed of abstract ideas or concepts that are linked together in some logical way connected by concrete observable variables Phenomena not tested an observable natural event Validity internal vs external Internal if a researcher can be relatively confident that changes in the independent variable causes changes in the dependent variable External if findings are likely to generalize to other people and other settings Correlation vs Causation Correlation a measure of the relationship or association between two variables ranges from 1 to 0 to 1 Causation saying that one variable causes another to occur Methods for studying behavior mental processes physical processes Social Cognition Conscious vs automatic mind Conscious slow reasoning effortful taxing deliberate controllable flexible Automatic fast evaluations based on gut instinct effortless unintentional stable stubborn Automaticity Most psychological processes occur automatically Supported by different theoretical perspectives Embodied cognition embodiment Mind body connection sensitive to physical environmental cues Heavy backpack guilty feelings Sitting in a hard char tough negotiation vs wobbly chair uncertainty Heavy objects weighty decisions Sensitive to physical and environmental cues Priming spreading activation of mental nodes Spreading activation Priming activates related concepts ideas in the mind s network Automatic uncontrollable Tied to specific brain regions Schemas Types concept specific person group stereotypes self fluctuates across Cognitive structures representing ideas in the mind Exist in the conscious rational mind and automatic associative mind Stable resistant to change after they are formed situations events stand alone procedures sequence of events Behavioral confirmation self fulfilling prophesy A prediction that ensures by the behavior is generates that is will come true The cognitive miser perspective Leads to reluctance to question what we think we know or think deeply Faster judgments conclusions based on small amounts of information Halo effect form overall impression based on limited information Randomness doesn t appear random we often see patterns that aren t Expensive better when evaluation products and services really there Gambler s fallacy tendency to believe that a chance event is affected by previous events will even out Confirmation bias Confirming events are salient and well remembered Disconfirming events are non events and therefore less salient less memorable Motivated reasoning schemata and worldview Thought suppression and dilution effect When weighing evidence we seek preferred conclusions confirm existing Two processes one keeps a lookout for anything that might remind the person of an unwanted thought and one that redirects attention away from the unpleasant thought Suppressing unwanted thoughts often backfires and makes you thinking of something even more Social comparison Self serving bias intelligence or personality test feedback feedback on unhealthy behaviors negative medical diagnoses request more testing downplay significance or diagnosis na ve realism Compare to other people but with the goal to makes ourselves look good Role of ambiguity in defining traits Accuracy is high for others but we inflate estimates for our own behavior Positive psychology perspective positive illusions are beneficial Reducing bias is nearly impossible Point out self serving biases in general Pointing out your self serving biases Writing essays about biases Self critiquing specific arguments critical thinking finding faults in your own perspective with each project assignment Metacognition mindfulness Thinking about thinking higher level conscious domain processing Meditation mindfulness observation without judgment Attributions Perspective taking attribution 2 dimensions locus stability How we can assign causes for behavior events consequences Motivation for understanding building schemas We make attributions when unexpected events painful events social desirability abnormality personalism directed at you specifically successes failures number of potential causes Internal dispositional trait ability personality fleeting trait effort External permanent situation difficult task temporary situation luck Stable fixed or permanent Unstable temporary fleeting situation luck Kelley s cube consensus do other people behave this way consistency does this person behave this way at other times distinctiveness does this person behavior this way in other situations Fundamental Attribution Error FAE internal attributions for others behavior behavior in foreground is very salient more than other environmental factors belief in a just world blaming the victim Actor observer bias actor external attribution observer internal attribution immediate physical perspective The Self Personality The specific effects of self awareness Self serving biases Self handicapping Basking in reflected glory Downward comparison Overestimating contributions to groups Self reference effect endowment effect False consensus opinions values False uniqueness abilities characteristics Self verification Self presentation Motivation to maintain self schema despite conflicting information Even if existing schema is negative and new information is more positive Easier to be genuine online irony of internet anonymity Those who express their true self online are more likely to form close relationships with people they meet online Self esteem
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