Social Psych Midterm PGSP

scientific study of how ppl think, feel and behave in a social context

• ppl dont have to be real or present
• -walking alone late at night
• -chuckling to onself about funny memory
• -preparing for date or interview

• -argued for relevance of social psych theories to psychotherapy
• -reactance theory
• -dissonance theory
• -attribution theory

• Brehm
• -persuading client
• -minimizing reactance (resistance)

• Brehm
• therapeutic improvement as a means of dissonance reduction
• ex. clients who commit to therapy under conditions of high choice with forewarning of high effort required should reduce dissonance by believing in the therapy

• Brehm
• redirecting attributions as a means of changing the client's emotional experience

• brought social clinical interface to wider audience
• social psych relevant not only for pyschotherapy but also for...
• clinical assessment and decision making
• understanding of factors contributing to development, miantenance and intensification of maladaptive behaviors

• social psych studies psychological processes that occur bw ppl
• majority of psych d/o's influenced by life stress which often takes place in interpersonal contexts

• psychotherapy itself is a social process
• therapist-client relationship
• social-cog beliefs about therapy, prognosis, etc

• diff situations trigger diff goals
• how we act depends on our goals and personality

• subtle and profound effects
• often don't recognize effects of situations on other ppl
• context matters

• how we think about and make sense of ourselves and others
• sometimes we are accurate, sometimes not
• emotions and motivations influence our thoughts, perceptions, and actions

• social identities (race, gender, social class, age, sexual orientation) effect how we...
• percieve the world
• how others percieve and act towards us

• we have a need to...
• seek acceptance and liking
• form intimate relationships
• be a good member of a group

• want to know and understand ourselves
• self reflective-think about ourselves a lot
• we believe we know ourselves better than anyone

• Do others know us as well we know ourselves?
• Ps rated degree to which they engaged in 25 behaviors
• Close others rated Ps behaviors
• Ps wore mic to pick up actual activity
• Results: Others as good as Ps, close friends the best
• Others better at certain activities like talking one on one and attending class

• our views and beliefs about ourselves
• traits
• likes/dislikes
• expectations for future
• attitudes and beliefs

• how do you feel about your relationship?
• "good"-the more they think about it, the worse they rate their happiness
• introspection-accessible
• but, often not true reasons
• lack meaningful access
• think too much

non-central reasons-attitude change

• Better than Average Effect
• -think we are better than we really are

• Hard to predict future feelings
• affective forecasting-"how would you feel when you get dumped?"

Can't access nonconscious processes (implicit attitudes)

• 1. introspection
• 2. influence of other ppl
• 3. cultural perspectives

• Looking inward at one's thoughts, feelings and motivations
• unique access to private self
• can be inaccurate self knowledge

• self is relative-define ourselves using others
• evaluate our traits and abilties by comparing others
• ex. feel good looking around ugly ppl

• contrasting cultural orientations
• individualism-independence, autonomy, self reliance
• North America, Europe

• Collectivism-interdepence, cooperation and social harmony
• Asia, Africa, S. America

• No overlap of others on self
• self is separate from others
• "The only person you can count on is yourself"
• "I enjoy being unique and diff from others"

• Others overlap/ influence sense of self
• "I am partly to blame if one of my family/friends fail"
• "My happiness depends on the happiness of those around me"

• derive happiness from status of the group
• undermine role in group
• modest about contributions
• accept blame for failures

• Strive for personal achievement
• overestimate contributions to group
• take credit for success
• pass blae for failures (self serving bias)

• assessing where one stands and how one is doinf relative to one's goals
• 1. self assessment
• 2. self enhancement
• 3. self improvement

• desire to have accurate info about onself
• abilties, traits, values
• underlies self-knowledge
• knowing self well-->select activities or goals that are appropriate for skill level
• foundation on which to grow or change
• lateral social comparison

• Need to achieve and maintain a positive sense of self
• better than average effect
• self serving bias
• downward social comparison

• goal is to improve skills
• education, work, leisure (athletics)
• focus in getting better, not feeling better
• future orientation not present
• upward social comparison

• wanting to get better at some aspect of our lives
• knwing how we really stand on some aspect of life
• wanting to feel good abot ourselves

• important situation to come (career choice, deciding to end relationship)
• past threat or failure (poor grade in school)--> self improvement

• self-imrovement=upward social comparison
• comparing with ppl better than us at something

• self enhancement=downward social comparison
• comparing with ppl worse than us

• self assessment=lateral social comparison
• comparing with ppl similiar in skill to us

• global evaluation of self and the association of oneself with positive or negative attributes
• high SE-indicator of psych well being and optimal functioning
• academic performance, depression, relationship satisfaction, delinquincy, pessimism, health

• self serving cognitions
• self handicapping
• BIRG-basking in the reflected glory of others
• downward social comparison

• take credit for success and distance from failure
• good grade-I'm smart, I studied hard
• bad grade-teacher unfair, poorly written test

• behaviors that sabotage performance to provide an excuse for failure (ex. procrastination, drinking, not practicing)
• often make excuses for poor performance
• ex. computer crashed
• sometimes make excuses for future performance
• ex. when afraid we may fail-I'm sick, so I can't study

• protects with failure and enhances SE with success
• ex. out late with friends
• Get D-perfect excuse
• Get A-you're brilliant

• Has its costs-increases risk of failure
• ppl dont like self-handicappers

• basking in the reflected glory of others
• -associating with successful others
• sports gear increases after sports team wins

• bronz medalist happier than silver
• direction of social comparison mattered

ex. gods love, virtue

base SE on internal contingnecies...lower psychological distress

• higher psychological distress
• ex. grades, appearance

• extent to which we base feelings of self worth on achieving specific outcomes or matching specific standards
• most ppl have contingent SE to some degree
• differ in which domains we base our SE
• feelings of global SE fluctuate depending successes/failures in the domains in which we are psychologically invested

gods love, virtue, appearance, grades, approval from others, family support, competition

• noncontingent
• associate self worth with WHO they are, not what or how they do
• higher psychological adjustment

• cont=pursue goals for extrinsic reasons
• true=pursue goals for intrinsic reasons

• ppl's projections about what they might become,would like to become and are afraid to become
• cognitive manifestations of enduring goals, aspirations, motives, fears and threats
• motivate behaviors intended to achieve desired possible selves and to avoid feared ones

• impact of mascots on achievement related possible selves
• American Is wrote down what they expected to be in 1 year
• American Indian College Fund ad was equal to the control group and higher than the Indian mascots for % of achievement related possible selves

groups in which an individual affiliates, feels a sense of membership, belonging, identity

• an attribute or characteristic that is devalued in a particular social context
• ex. being overweight

• stereotypes
• prejudice
• discrimination

• beliefs that associate a group of ppl with certain traits
• ex. Arabs

• negative feelings about members of a group
• ex. dislike overweight ppl
• anger-immigrants
• disgust-gay
• fear-black man

• negative behaviors directed against members of a group
• ex. hiring, sex. harassment, social exlcusion, using slurs

• Affect-prejudice
• Behavior-discrimination
• Cognition-Stereotypes

• ppl are differentiated on many meaningful social dimensions
• ex. gender, sexual orienation, SES, religion, race, political, life stage

social identities are an extenstion of the self beyond the level of the individual..."I" becomes "we"

• social identities-ppls knowlesge of memberships in social groups and the emotional sig. they attach to these memberships
• essential part of self concept
• are normative behaviors, feelings and values associated with our various social ingroups
• gives info abour who and we are and are not

• ingroups are psychologically primary
• "we" are smarter, better, etc
• ingroup favoritism even happens in arbitrary groups

• ou9tgroups associated with negativity
• not necessarily antagonistic just not positive feelings
• stereotyping and prejudice can come from mere presence of groups

group identification can buffer negative effects of discrimination on SE, well being and achievement

• strong identification with ingroups can contribute to intergroup conflict and prejudice
• can encourage rigid compliance with group's beh. norms
• Oysterman study

• =engage in beh so a person has inclusion in ingroup
• ex. if health promotion is identified as white or middle class, ppl of color and low SES will not see it as an ingroup activity and will be less likely to engage in health beh.

• ppl have inherent drive to identify with groups and an opposing drive for individuation
• strike a balance by finding point of "optimal distinctiveness"=identities that simultaneously address need for affiliation and need for indivuation

• each social identity gives a basis for shared identity and group membership
• we have multiple social identities
• ppl may share a common ingroup on one dimension, but not others
• what matters is not only specific social groups but also how diff identities are combined

• man who is a clinician
• outgroup=women clinicians and men who are not clinicians

• one primary group identification
• other potential group identities are subordianted
• ingroup=clinicians...then men within that circle
• may feel closer to male clinicians than female ones
• identidies more with female clinicians then males who are not clinicians

• social identities are context or situation specific
• at work, clinicians is relevant social identity, in other situations, gender
• ingroup members depend on the situation
• if both identities are relevant simultaneously, then someone from either group maybe ingroup member

• social identity is sum of one's combined group identification, across situations
• any man (clinician or not), any clinician (male or female)=ingroup member

• Intersection-least complex
• reduces multiple, diverse identities to a single exclusive social identity
• Dominance-low complexity
• suppresses inconsistencies/diversity

• compartmentalization-moderately complex
• separate identities are acknowledged and differentiated but no attempt to reconcile
• Merger-high in complexity
• preserves differentation and integration in an inclusive social identity

• acculturation of immigrants or ppl of color follows models of mutliple identities
• identity may reflect culture of origin and/or culture of residence
• hyphenated identities
• cultural identity is at the intersection of ethnic and societal levels
• ingroup is those who share ethnic heritage and residence in host society
• ex. Mexican American

• sobordiante one identity to the other
• assimilation to host culture OR assimiliation to culture of origin

• cultural ambidextrousness
• activate different cultural identities in diff contexts; code switching
• ex. speaking spanish at home and english at school

• intercultural identity-acknowledges multiple cultural identities at the same time
• membership, values, and norms of both groups are combined and integrated
• Mexican and American

• depends on...
• awareness of more than one ingroup categorization
• recognition that the multiple ingroup categories dont converge
• involves understanding what people mean when they say "I am both A and B"
• some ppl view ingroups as having highly overlapping sets of members OR ingroups as distinct but partially overlapping

• can be disruptive and confusing
• natural and important part of life
• some triggered bu extenal events
• sometimes deliberate attempt to change identity

• 1. sociocultural and environmental change
• 2. development growth and role changes
• 3. acquisition and loss of abilities
• 4. self initiated changes

• changes in immediate social env
• new environments lack struvtures thar once sustained old identity
• ex. moving, going to college
• ex. women's liberation mvnt

• when important others recognize sig change in person
• ex. coming in age (sweet 16)
• status (new title)
• social role (married)
• people may suddenly be treated diff by others
• targets may resist change but is hard to maintain initial identity
• become less invested in maintaining it
• sync identities with how they're being treated
• ex. late adolesnce-big changes, becoming adult

• process of maturing-gain new skills and lose old ones
• gaining or losing ability-update in identity
• helps explain why identities are turbulent early and late in life
• gains occur in early years
• losses occur in later years
• a major challenge of aging is the loss of skills that were essential to ppl's sense of self

• when evaluating a hypothesis, look for evidence that supports over evidence that contradicts it
• seek, interpret, and create info that verifies exisiting beliefs
• interpret ambigous events in ways that confirm exisiting

• extravert condition-asked socialibility qs
• introvert condition-asked social withdrawal qs
• Results=those responding in extrovert condition were deemed more outgoing

• type of confirmation bias
• belief that leads to its own fulfillment

• told teachers some students on verge on intelligence growth spurt
• Randomly assigned students to this group
• they actually performed better
• more attention given to those students??

• 1. Perciever's expectations (Mary thinks dave is shy)
• 2. Perciever's behavior toward the target (mary treats dave with less warmth)
• 3. target's behavior toward the perciever (dave responds by withdrawing)

• age
• gender
• ethnicity
• emotional status
• gaxe direction
• intentions

• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Contempt
• Surprise
• Happiness
• Sadness

• taller-increased income and work success
• revealing clothes-hold rape victims more responsible

• faces are major source of info about others
• make very fast intiial impressions of ppl
• percieve traits from facial expressions

• Ps looked at faces and rated them on attractive, aggressive, trustworthy, compentence and likeability
• political candidate pics
• snap judgments just the same as when Ps had unlimited time
• good at judging attractivemess and trustworthiness
• evolutionary basis-need to read facial expressions to see signs of danger
• first impressions can influence later info

• positive/negative
• trustworthy or not
• aggressive or not
• Power
• confident or bashful
• dominant or submissive

• more favorable treatment in court
• harder time being seen as good for "adult" jobs like banking
• larger round eyes, high eyebrows, round cheeks, large forehead

small eyes, low brows, small forehead, angular chin

• 10 sec clips of professor lectures
• Ps rated professor
• correlated with student evals at end of semester

• high SES-low dependence on others-disengagement beh (self grooming, fisgeting with objects, doodling)
• low SES-dependence on others-engagement beh-head nodding, laughing, ete gaze

• beauty=perception of health, occupational and financial success
• treated more positively, elicits feelings of posivity
• confidence, assertive, kind, poise, well adjusted
• ugly ppl=less social, altrusitic or smart

• attrative kids-more attention and affection
• less punishment
• attractive adults-more sex
• better employment
• increased earning potential
• less courtroom sentencing
• longevity

newborns prefer looking at attractive faces

kids agree with adults about which faces are attractive

• large eyes, small nose and chin, full lips, cheekbones
• hourglass figure

• cheekbons, thick brow ridge, large chin, wide set smile
• v shaped figure

• flawed in appearance and personality
• lazy, incompetent, boring, undisciplined, discrimination in health, work and educational settings

• emotion recognition is enhanced when judging ppl from own culture
• women more accurate at recognizing emotions
• congruent emotions more easily identified (recognizing anger when mad)
• w/ familiar ppl, attractiveness is moderated by liking and respecting the person

Ps no diff than CCTV operators at predicting if a crime was about to occur

• Ps looked at pics of empty therapist offices
• Diplomas on wall=skillful, experiences, trained, authoritative, friendlier, welcoming, interested in clients

• helps us anticipate beh and outcomes
• ex. job interview-expect politeness
• frat party-expect rowdiness

• beh that reveals feelings without words
• facial expressions, body language, vocal cues-quivering voice, skaing hands, avoiding eye contact
• often "leak"

• personal attributions-beh caused by personality
• ex. person yelled bc they are rude

• situational attributions-beh caused by factors in env
• ex. person yelled bc someone insulted them

• peopl determine causes of beh by assessing...
• consensus-do others act same way in same situation?
• distinctiveness-does person act same way in other situations?
• consistency- is person's beh similar in same situation?

• LOW--personal attribution
• HIGH-situational attribution (if ppl would act same way, person doesnt act that way in most situations, would cry at same movie again)

mental shortcuts to make a judgment; rules of thumb that allow us to make quick but imperfect judgments

• tendency to base judgment on how easily relevant examples come to mind
• ex. easier to recall homicides than diabetes deaths

• asked couples to write down % of taks they each did
• both partners overestimate own role

• false consensus effect
• base-rate fallacy

• tendency to overestimate extent to which others agree with us, share our opinions, attitudes and behaviors
• Pervasive-abortion, gun control, politics

• Ps told they couold choose to wear a Repent sign or not
• then predicted what % of other Ps would wear sign
• overestimated % of ppl who would also choose the same answer

• ignoring base rates of probabilities, focus on vivid info
• overestimate chance of..
• winning lotto, dying from being shot, plan crash
• underestimate change of heart attack, strokes, diabetes

• food labeled as 100% natural is healthy
• fats fed only lucky charms or Quaker granola
• Rats were healthier with lucky charms-no saturated fats

• early info remembered more than later info
• order in which something is presented has powerful influence on judgment

• order effects are a type of framing effect
• ex. occupying army vs peacekeepers
• 90% condom effective rate vs. 10% failure rate

• how a message is framed afffects how persuasive it is
• imfo on risky decisions can be framed in two ways...
• emphasizing potential gains OR losses
• framing as gain=risk aversion
• framing as loss=risk taking

• preexisting knowledge is needed for understanding and required for judgment
• we have knowledge structures-info is stored in coherent configurations in which related info is stored together

• attention is selective-cant focus on everything
• schemas let us focus and ignore the rest

• judgments often made based on info retrieved from memory
• ex. Ps told lady was librarian or waitress
• schemas helped with recall...Ps wh were told woman was waitress remembered more waitress consistent details

• 1. general average of target person's traits
• 2. characteristics of perciever

• pay attention to diff things
• often we use ourselves as a yardstick
• mood=happiness-positive impressions
• priming

• increased accessibility of a recently activated concept, object or word
• recently uswed words or ideas come to mind easily and influence our interpretation of new information
• priming influences interpretation of new info/impressions

• Ps primed with + or - words then read same paragraph,
• asked to give impression of man in paragraph
• impressions were shaped by primed words

• primed with words related to elderly
• Ps walked more slowly to elevator than controls

those primed with rudeness were more likely to interupt the confederate

• judgment converges towards the primed construct
• priming aggressiveness-->aggressiveness and hostility
• priming elderly--walked more slowly

priming extreme exemplars-opposite of primed construct

when priming a social category or a personality trait changes a person's overt behavior

percievers mimicking the observable beh of others

• the amountof imitation in social interactions can increase or decrease as a function of goals
• Ps given a conscious affiliation goal OR unconscious affiliation goal
• Ps more likely to mimic behaviors of interaction partner than people without a goal to affiliate
• situations when we have a conscious or unconscious desire to affiliate, we mimic beh of interaction partners

• imitiation increases after being socially excluded
• Ps told they'd complete two unrelated experiments
• online ball tossing game
• Ps were included or excluded
• Excluded Ps mimicked beh of confederates more than included Ps

• Social categorization: Classification of people into groups based on salient attributes
• Stereotype activation: Extent to which associated stereotypes are accessible in a given situation
• Stereotype application: Whether this information serves as a basis of person understanding

• Warmth: Good-natured, tolerant, sincere
• Competence: Confident, independent, intelligent, competitive

pity-handicapped pl

admiration-women ,christians, gay men

envy-men

contemp-latinos blacks welfare

• Visibility: Degree to which stigma can be easily hidden from others
• Controllability: Degree to which individual is seen as responsible for stigma

• Concern you may confirm a negative stereotype about your group
• ST is not an internalization of stereotypes
• Group members don’t believe the stereotype

• Cues may confirm that one’s social identity will likely be a source of stigma, devaluation, or mistreatment = social identity threat
• Social identity threat = increased vigilance

• Belonging: Can I be comfortable here? Will I be accepted?Authenticity: Can I be “me” or am I representing my group?Trust and fairness: Both individual and institutional
• Discrimination and devaluation: Will my social identity by negatively treated or disrespected?

• If cues disconfirm likelihood that one’s social identity is likely to be negatively evaluated, vigilance decreases
• The situation is identity-safe:
• Contains identity-affirming cues
• Signals to people that their social identity is affirmatively welcomed, respected, and poses no barrier for them

• People are all the same
• Group differences are superficial and should be ignored or minimized

• People may be different, often in positive ways
• Differences associated with group identity should be acknowledged, valued, and included

• Whites with black partner performed more poorly than whites with white partner
• Asked more questions, therefore less efficient
• Less nonverbally friendly

• An approach adopted by some whites to avoid talking about race—or even acknowledge racial difference—in an effort to avoid the appearance of bias
• Colorblindness ≠“racists” seeking to hide bias
• Well-intentioned individuals who genuinely believe that colorblindness is culturally sensitive approach to intergroup contact
• These findings indicate that this belief is often misplaced

• Orientation that reflects and values the complex identity of client
• Recognizes multiple social identities and their potential intersections
• Reinforces importance and value of stigmatized identities
• Explores how specific social identities might be influencing presenting issues
• For clients of color, talking about race/ethnicity

• Broaching behavior: A consistent and ongoing attitude of openness with a genuine commitment to continually invite the client to explore issues of diversity
• A recognition that race may contribute to a client’s presenting problem

• Race relations can be emotionally charged
• Concern about saying something viewed as offensive
• Not knowing when race-related conversations are relevant
• Not knowing how to initiate discussion about race
• Waiting until client raises race as a topic of discussion

• But, when race was addressed
• Black and white therapists perceived the discussions to have a positive effect on therapy
• Therapists are perceived as more credible
• Greater depth of client disclosure
• Clients report greater willingness to return

• Relative control over another’s valued resources
• Power focuses and concentrates the mind on enacting goals

• Status: Social respect, recognition, importance, and prestige
• Status confers privileges: Attention, access, respect, and agenda-setting

• Norm of egalitarianism
• Public accountability
• Instructions to be accurate
• Norm of fairness

• Other- and group-oriented
• Fostering relationships, sensitivity, getting along with others; interdependent

• Process of exerting power
• Task oriented, assertive, striving for achievement; independent, self-reliant

• Believing men and women have certain traits
• Women are nice, nurturing
• Men are unemotional, independent

• Believing men and women should have certain traits
• Women should be gentle
• Men should be aggressive

• Contact between hostile groups  reduced prejudice
• *Equal status members
• Common goals
• Intergroup cooperation
• Social norms favor intergroup contact

• Decategorization: Individuating others
• Recategorization: Forming broader category