Section 3 Study Guide 1 Social Psychology a Defined study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations b Conformity i Sherif Study 1 Study a Completely dark room and exposed to a stationary point of light and their task was to estimate the distance this light moved b The light never moved light appears to move in a dark room because there is no frame of distance a 1 person in the room the estimates of the distance the light moved varied considerably b 2 or more people in the room people revised their estimates until they were similar 2 Results 1 Stems from our desire to be correct in situations in which the ii Informational Influence correct action or judgement iii Asch Study 1 Normative Influence a Stems from our desire to gain the approval and to avoid the disapproval of other people i 1 3 participants conformed to group iv Normative Influence c Compliance i Foot in the door technique 1 Start small and build on that 2 Compliance to a large request is gained by prefacing it with a very small almost mindless request 3 Example requesting a letter of recommendation ii Door in the face technique 1 The opposite of the foot in the door technique 2 Start with a large unreasonable request that is turned down follow with a smaller more reasonable request iii Low ball technique 1 Compliance to a costly request is achieved by first getting compliance to an attractive less costly request 2 Once you commit the terms are made less favorable 3 Works because we want to remain consistent in our actions 4 Example car advertisements for no money down iv Cognitive dissonance 1 Attitude behavior 2 When our attitudes and behaviors don t match we experience 3 To relieve this tension we change our attitude or behavior to tension make them match d Obedience i Stanley Milgram s Study 1 1960s Stanley Milgram s experiment 2 Purpose examine how far people would go to obey an authority figure when it violated their ethical principles a What factors increase our tendency to obey b Person giving the orders is close by c Person giving the orders is perceived to be a legitimate authority figure e Social Norms f Attitudes and Beliefs About Groups i Stereotypes ii Prejudice 1 a generalized sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized belief about a group of people 1 An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs negative feelings and a predisposition to discriminatory action In group bias iii iv Discrimination 1 2 In classical conditioning the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus In social psychology unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members v Self fulfilling prophecy 1 Expectations of a person elicit behavior from the person that conforms our expectations vi Attribution theory and the fundamental attribution error 1 Explanations for our events behaviors We prefer to think things happen for a reason 2 When observing others we overestimate personal dispositional influences vii Just world hypothesis 1 people get what they deserve 2 Used to explain calamites and random violence More reassuring to blame victims for their misfortune which makes us feel less likely to be victimized 2 Personality a Personality defined i Our characteristic pattern of thinking feeling and acting that is 1 Somewhat consistent over time 2 Somewhat consistent across situations b Freud and psychoanalytic approaches to personality i Different levels of awareness conscious preconscious unconscious 1 Conscious 2 The preconscious contains information which is not in your mind is what you are presently aware of current awareness but which can be accessed with little effort memory 3 The unconscious mind is the part of our mind of which we cannot freely access ii Three personality structures id ego superego 1 ID a Innermost core exists within unconscious no direct contact with reality irrational pleasure principle b Want Take 2 EGO b think then act 3 SUPEREGO a Direct contact with reality primarily within conscious reality principle gratify id in realistic ways Internalized good evil from parents a Morality principle b c Moral compass d Unlike ego strives for perfection for the ideal e no you don t that s evil iii Defense mechanisms understand the theory about how they develop do not need to know specific mechanisms 1 Anxiety is the price we pay for civilization 2 When the ego tries to control impulses anxiety can occur 3 Anxiety can be reduced directly with realistic coping mechanisms 4 Anxiety can be reduced indirectly using unconscious mental operations that deny information iv Psychosexual stage theory understand the general concepts such as it s a stage theory there are erogenous zones and fixation do not need to know the specific stages 1 During each stage the id focuses on a distinct erogenous zone on the body a An erogenous zone is the area of the body where the id s pleasure seeking energy is focused i A change is erogenous zone focuses designated the beginning of each new stages b Fixation excessive gratification or frustration of one s instinctual needs at a particular stage and continues throughout the person s life i This shapes an individual s behavior and personality traits v Healthy and unhealthy personalities according to Freud 1 Unhealthy personalities develop when we become too dependent upon defense mechanisms or when the id or superego is unusually strong or the ego unusually weak vi Evaluation of Freud s theory 1 development is a lifelong process not set in childhood 2 defense mechanisms protect self esteem rather than disguise sexual and aggressive impulses 3 many of his theories don t have testable hypotheses 4 Feud did focus attention on the unconscious c Neo Freudians and psychodynamic approaches to personality i Jung 1 The collective unconscious is the accumulated universal experiences of humankind 2 These experiences are manifested in archetypes which are images and symbols of all the important themes in the history of humankind e g God mother hero ii Adler 1 Development of Personality a Healthy iii Horney i A healthy person learns to cope with these feelings becomes competent and develops a sense of self esteem b Inferiority Complex i The strong feeling of inferiority felt by those who never overcome this initial feeling of inferiority 1 Did not agree with Freud s instinctual drives or