social psychology
social psychology
is the scientific study of how people think about, relate to and influence one another, interpersonally or within and between groups
levels of analysis
• Intrapersonal processes (within yourself)
• Interpersonal relations (with someone else)
• Intra-group processes (within groups)
• Intergroup relations (between groups)
1st axiom
human cognition, emotion, and behavior are determined by the situation x person.
personality psychology
focuses on stable psychological traits that shape behavior (extraversion, agreebleness..)
social neuroscience
all our thoughts, emotions and behavior, are rooted in the psychological matter of the brain
evolutionary psychology
heritability of behaviors.
group psychology
crowds make people do things they would not do alone-conformity
cultural psychology
how does culture shape behaviors and feelings
2nd axiom
people construct their own reality
consequences of 2nd axiom
1- self-serving interpretations
2- motivated reasoning
3- ideological conflict
3rd axiom
people are social animals
the social brain hypothesis-Dumbar
the size of the brain is larger in human than in their apes as a result of our complex social life.
The Herding instinct
it is in our nature to desire meaningful relationships, determined by our need to belong. exclusion from social life is very painful
The Cyberball Method
There are two who play with a ball, you go and at first they pass it to you, then they stop and you stay there waiting for them to pass it to you but they don't. The hypothalamus will be activated when you’re excluded. It’s painful: it activates the same regions activated when we feel physical pain.
needs at stake in the cyberball
-belonging
-control
-self-esteem
-meaningful existence
group
multiple people united together, very dynamic and influencing within members.
influence on performance
-social facilitation: makes you perform better in the group
-social inhibition: makes you perform worse in the group
Zajonc social facilitation model
the presence of others generates physical arousal, which is followed by a dominant response or a non-dominant response, based on your ability on that specific action.
evaluation apprehension
people care about how other people judge them.
social loafing
people in a group tend to work less individually because their effort is less noticeable in the overall look of the group, hiding behind it, and prioritizing short-term self interest over long-term collective interest.
group polarization
a group with a specific position on a topic, after discussion, can become polarized, with an extreme position.
The Dunnig-Kruger effect
is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities. Some researchers also include the opposite effect for high performers: their tendency to underestimate their skills
group-think
-people in a group tend to confirm riskier decisions to avoid feeling outcast, leading to error. in very cohesive groups, isolated, and with a leader very clear in his view.
-caused by closed mindedness, conformity, social pressure.
power vs state
-used to control people's outcomes
-the extent to which others hold one in high prestige.
self image
your answer when asked who you are.
attributes of the self
individual self- what makes me unique
relational self-which people are linked to me
collective self- which group i belong to
Self discrepancy theory
actual self- what traits do i have
ought self- what traits i should have
ideal self- what traits i would ideally have
self concepts
our personal knowledge of who we are, encompassing all of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves physically, personally, and socially.
anterior cingulate cortex.
self image
individualistic culture (ME) VS collectivistic culture (US)
independent self
individual traits, uniqueness, focus on personal grouwth, ME is central.
interdependent self
relationships with others, conformity, focus on performance, solidarity, social responsibility and US
Kim and Markus 1999
independent self prefers uniqueness, interdependent self prefers conformity.
impact bias
overestimating the impact of emotional events.
self-esteem
evaluation of your own self-concept.
2 types: explicit and implicit, they are in conflict-> narcissism
narcissism
inflated grandiose self-view, caused by unstable high self-esteem. feelings of superiority, with fragile ego, and egocentrism.
2 types: grandiose and vulnerable.
also, narcissistic personality disorder.
the self-esteem movement
make sure that children develop in high self-esteem, because is correlated to higher academic performance.
self-evaluation maintenance
strategies to maintain a positive self-concept. like:
-social comparison
-social reflection
-self-serving biases
self serving biases
self-serving attribution
better than average effect
unrealistic optimism
false census effect
self presentation
self-promoting
false modesty
intimidation
ingratiation
self handicapping
create obstacles for a good performance, that will look better in case of success, and provides an excuse in case of failure.
spotlight effect
we overestimate how much people care about what we do
illusion of transparency
we overestimate the visibility of our social blunders and public mental slips.
attitude
a cognitive representation that summarizes our evaluation of an attitude object.
a cognitive, negative or ambivalent evaluation of a person an object or an idea.
can be implicit and explicit. we have them for objects, people, yourself. behavior, events and ideas.
attitudes components
cognitive
affective
behavioral
how do we form attitudes?
1. mere exposure (we come to like stimuli after repeated exposure)
2. classical conditioning (supraliminal vs subliminal)
3. operant conditioning
4. self-perception theory (people derive attitudes form behavior when they don't have e clear attitude for something).
why do we form attitues?
instrumental function (accomplish goals and avoid unwanted situations)
knowledge function: understand the world
ego-protective function (protection against inner conflicts)
value-expressive function (show who we are).
cognitive dissonance and how to reduce it
is the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values or attitudes. to reduce it:
change behavior or attitude, trivialize (adapt), ascribe discrepancy to external factors.
Festinger and Carlsmith 1959
boring experiment to be described as funny, for 1$ or 20$. in the second condition, participants were better at describing it as super amazing and fun. external factors are very influencial for congitive dissonance.
post-decision dissonance
after making a decision that is urrevocable, or very hard to revoke.
persuasion
process in which one person tries to influence another or a group to change their beliefs or behaviours.
central and peripheral route
central: attitudes change lasts longer and are stronger, and more predictive of behavior.
peripheral: temporary change in behavior based on peripheral cues and heuristics, not very deep.
fear
often used to persuade, but if there's too much, then it works better at preventing bad outcomes rather than promoting good outcomes.
message variables
length and number of arguments presented are very persuasive. 2 types:
1. one-sided: only persuasive arguments.
2. two-sided: pro and contra arguments, more impactful.
what determine peripheral vs central route?
motivation
capacity
mood (positive or negative)
individual differences
persuasion norms (Cialdini)
- door in the face (extreme request- negative answer- smaller request)
- that's not all (high request for a product-then better deal)
- low balling (attractive initial offer- then rising price)
- foot in the door (small request-bigger request)
descriptive norms
what do i see other people do
conformity
tendency to align one's beliefs, behaviour and thoughts with those of people around.
social influence
you're influenced by ideas and behaviours of others, which end in representing the accepted or preferred thoughts and behaviour of a certain group.
expression of conformity
1. compliance: change in behavior due to a request
2. obedience: change of behaviour following a pressure form an authority
3. acceptance: change fo behavior because one sincerely gets convinced.
the Werther effect
after the suicide of someone is widely reported by news and media, an increase in suicides (especially among teenagers) is reported.
Asch experiment-social conformity
Participants are asked to say to which out of the 3 lines another one is more similar in length. the answer is obvious, but if the group goes in one direction, then the single will follow even if the answer is wrong.
social influence characteristics
informational: using other's decisions to say 'this must be true'
normative: need to belong, go along to get along.
herding behaviour
in panic situations people follow the mass, even if it's not the best or only way to get out of it.
obedience
there's a strong request from a powerful person toward a non powerful one.
Milgram's experiment
participants teacher-experimente victim- errors=(fake) shoks.
participants are obedient to the experimenter even if the shocks are letal.
obedience requrements
- authority must be legitimate and take responsibility
- norm of obedience must be salient
- other norms not salient
- context
why do people hurt others?
- depersonalization of victims: denying that a person is real, that it has feelings
- infrahumanization: ascribing human feeling to one's group but not to members of another.
moral exclusion
a psychological process where members of a group view their own group and its norms as superior to others, dehumanizing other targeted groups (Holocaust- the banality of evil)
virtuous violence theory
most violence is morally motivated, and there is often the conviction that the victims deserve it. requires moral exclusion, hatred and the genuine believe that you're doing the right thing.
victim blaming
belief in a just world: people get what they deserve, thus deserve what they get.
offenders vs victims
offenders see their acts as small incidents and emphasize their acts as understandable. victims emphasize how unnecessary and incomprehensible the offender's actions were.
aggression
behavior intended to harm someone/object. it includes behavior, intention and hurting someone.
types of aggression
-physical vs verbal
-direct vs indirect
-offensive vs difensive
-instrumental and hostile
instrumental aggression
use aggression as a means for reaching a goal, motivated by pursuing reward or avoiding punishment.
hostile aggression
is emotional, impulsive, irrational form of aggression, arising from anger or rage, resulting in the strong will of hurting someone.
gender aggression difference
Bjorkqvist experiment:
boys more physical aggression
no difference in verbal aggression
girls more indirect (gossip) aggression
individual factors in aggression
-heritability
-hormones/neurotransmitters (testosterone and low level of cortisol-boredom-need of action).
-gender
-personality traits
-attribution style
heritability of aggressiveness
Freud Catarsis theory-not very valid
Bushman: expressing anger only produces more aggression.
Lorenz: fight or flight instinct
evolutionary psychology on aggressiveness
it results from adaptation, defense of status and power, to the point where it becomes necessary for own survival and reproduction.
response to negative affect
Dollard, Miller: frustration-> aggressive behavior.
Pedersen: triggered displaced aggression: displace aggression from the original source to another target.
Cognitive Neoassociationist Model
we make association between the stimulus and the possible response, based on our moods and emotions at the moment of giving the response. through self-regulation aggressive and impulsive answers can be mitigated.
arousal
is very important in how we interpret specific situations, and what will be our answer.
social and situational factors for aggressiveness
-alcohol (less self-awareness, prosocial behavior)
-heat (increases violence, southern countries more aggressive)
-crowds
-pain
-weapon effect (permit and trigger violence, negative association).
culture of honor
in which even small disputes become contests for reputation and social status.
Cohen et al. article: southerners countries in the USA for historical reasons, developed a strong society of honor, leading to more aggressive behavior.
Bandura's doll experiment
aggression learned through movie in which adults display aggressive behavior toward a doll. children will imitate the behavior on the same doll, boys more than girls, especially if it's normative or rewarded.
tv/media-aggression
there is a link, but is also true that personal inclination toward it makes one attend more aggressive content.
Eron & Huesman experiment-aggression
longitudinal study on effect of media aggression over long period. aggressive programs watched at 8 predicted aggressive behavior at 19
how to reduce aggression
-punishment right away
-reinforcement of prosocial behavior
-distractions
hate
-it's a feeling, stronger and more endure than anger and dislike.
-it allows you to have endurance, to keep on going even after long time.
importance of healthy relationships
-psychological and physical benefits
-social support
the benefits of attractiveness
-most noticeable
-people tend to agree on what is beautiful
-indicator of health and fertility
hips to waist ratio
research on which hip to waist ratio is considered most attractive/ideal.
what makes faces attractive
symmetry
prototypicality
baby faces
dominant traits
what makes someone attractive
similarity in physical qualities, interests, beliefs..
proximity and coincidence.
time of the day
sharing of secrets, intimacy
mere exposure effect
tendency to like or dislike things merely because they're familiar to us. that's why we tend to like more the reflection of ourselves we see in the mirror than in real life.
excitation transfer
in some situations, in which physical proximity is fundamental, we misattribute the emotion we're experiencing to attraction toward another.
bridge experiment- Dutton & Aron
2 bridges, one dangerous, one not. more participants in the dangerous one called the woman, than the ones in the safe bridge.
self disclosure
a process by which one person reveals information about themselves to another.
commitment
the extent to which one feels committed to the other is a good predictor of a healthy relationship.
investment model
- satisfaction
- quality of alternatives
- investment size
commitment implications
bright side: makes one more willing to put effort into the relationship, forgive, sacrifice.
dark side: can get one trapped into a non-healthy relationship.
consequences of commitment
- greater willingness to sacrifice and forgive, responding constructively or deconstructively, passive or active to problems
positive illusion effect
people in relationships with strong attachments are very likely to believe their relationship is better than others.
attachment theory
determines how people deal with intimacy and relationships: attachment style in newborns is very predictive of adult style.
3 types of attachment:
preoccupied
dismissing-avoidant
fearful-avoidant
natural selection
if there is something really functional for an individual to survive, that trait will remain through evolution. that's why we say evolution determines our traits.
normative behavior
behavior learned thourgh traditions, norms, laws.
culture evolution
it's not bio/genetical evolution, but is about things that we created in our world.
artificial selection
creating an individual artificially, by giving it only the specific genes you want to.
evolutionary psychology
to what extent did behavior evolved through natural selection
Monkey and morality experiment
Brosnam and De Waal
2 conditions, one equal one unequal
result: mokeys have a strong sense of justice and equallity
morality
is the result of evolution+culture
in which evolution provides the deeply routed traits we have, and culture determines which traits we should show in specific situations.
cultural norms
are standards for accepted, typical and expected behaviour and are culture-specific.
cultural dimensions-Hofstede
individual-collectivism
power distance
masculinity-femminility
uncertainty reduction
universal emotions
are 6: anger, surprise, fear, disgust, sadness, and joy. the mere expression of them is really similar in all countries.
non-verbal behavior and lies detection
how fast one's speech is, high pitch in tone of voive, fake smiling, shorter/less words-> lying.
norms of sexuality
countries differ in how sexuality is expressed. still some similarities: man like younger women, women like older man.
parental investment theory- Trivers
the gender that has to invest more in the offspring will be more selective in partner choice. man search for young women cause they focus on fertility, health, offspring. women focus on man able to fulfill caregiver role.
Clark and Hatfield- women are sexually more selective
study on students in university approached by opposite sex. males were more likely to say yes to the proposal of going to the apartment/bed with the asker.
women and resources
material resources are more associated with sexuality for women than for man.
Kathleen Vohs research
advertisement photographs of watch: sex scene vs mountain.
women make uncomfortable association between cheap watches and sex.
evolutionary paradox in sexual minorities
sexual orientation has a genetic basis, but heterosexual intercourse is required to make a baby.
kin selection
selection advantage of big families that include a gay member
genetic carrier explanation
many heterosexual people are carriers of some genes associated with minority sexual orientation- these same genes are also associated with other traits, which predict increased reproductive success.
accentuation effect
magnifying similarities within social categories, but magnifying the differences between groups.
outgroup homogeneity
seeing a lot of difference within own group, but seeing the outgroup as homogeneous, 'all the same'
stereotyping
all the expectations of how people from a certain group or category are like.
social categorization
seeing oneself as a typical member of a certain group. it has different levels and depends on situation and person.
accessibility of categories
direct cues
presence of an outgroup
presence of minority
personal identity
the concept you developed about yourself that evolve over the course of your life.
social identity
the ways that people's self-concepts are based on their memberships in social groups.
optimal distinctiveness
is the result of human dilemma, between desire of being unique, but not to the extent of being outcast.
self categorization
this process creates a sense of identification with the social category or group and produces the array of behaviors that we associate with group membership.
social categorization
how we see ourselves part of a group. 2 ways:
1. involuntary (family, age...)
2. voluntary (study, occupation...)
self-stereotyping
describing your own self with stereotypes associated with the group you're part of.
ingroup bias
perceiving ingroup members as equal on dimensions related to the group, but different in dimensions unrelated to the group.
ingroup members are favoured, and more trusted.
linguistic ingroup bias
tendency to describe outgroup members with more abstract words, because we assume stability in their behavior or traits.
groups and respect
another ingroup bias is respecting and trusting more ingroup members. and we consider it more important to be treated fairly and gain respect from ingroup members.
Smith et al. experiment-t-shirt university
1. when evidence against one member is very strong and unequivocal, to maintain a positive image of the group, other members punish the individual.
2. when evidence against one member is not much strong and equivocal, the other members will give him the benefit of doubt, and stand on his side.
social identity motives
self-esteem
distinctiveness
belinging
symbolic immortality
uncertainty reduction
self-esteem in social identity
2 phenomena:
1. birging (deriving happiness/proudness by ingroup's victory)
2. corfing (when the group fails, members avoid showing they are part of it)
distinctiveness in social identity
there is a difference between roles of members in group: central and peripheral members. the first one don't show aggressive behavior when the group is threatened, whilst the peripheral ones do a lot, to show the centrals that they are loyal and deserve to be in the group.
belonging in social identity
the need to belong is strong and can translate into aggressive behavior.
symbolic immortality
the group offers symbolic immortality by manipulating mortality salience though questionnaire about own's death, after which people are more likely to care about the group and rely more on it.
uncertainty reduction
because of groups we know how to behave in certain situations.
cross categorization
if there are many sources for categorization, we're able to select the ones in common with others, to build social relationships in the easiest way.
Sherif-experiment 1958
He discussed the importance of superordinate goals, where two or more groups needed to cooperate to achieve a particular outcome.
He’d found that these goals encouraged cooperation between the boys (participating in the experiment) which reduced conflict between the groups, increased positive beliefs about boys from the other group, and increased cross-group friendships.
one-on-one relationships
are very important because they guarantee empathy, reciprocity and are psychologically safe, thus individuals are much more likely to bring out the best of them.
types of helping
episodic (in emergency situations)
continuous (volunteering)
what is helping
prosocial behavior
altruism (more costs than benefits)
Daniel Batson- real altruism
altruism exists: needs empathy and others things.
benefits: increase in self-esteem, mood, social recognition and appreciation, reciprocity.
costs of helping
time, money, effort, danger, discomfort, risks
risks and benefits of not helping
risks: guilt, shame, lower self-esteem, social disapproval, loos of face.
benefits: easily reaching own's goals, no discomfort and loss of time.
classical experiment-helping with time pressure
conclusion: when you have time, and listened to the Samaritan story, you're very likely to help. if you're in a hurry, even if you've heard the story of the Samaritan, you'll be less likely to help.
power of social responsibility
-very strong when the person has no control over the situation
-diminishes when the person do not deserve help
WEIRD coutnries
western
educated
industrialized
rich
democratic
bystander effect
not acting when there's someone in need of help.
Darley and Latanè deicion tree
1. notice the situation
2. understand that it is an emergency
3. fell responsible
4. decide to act
5. help.
impulsive helping
helping someone in need, without a lot of thought on the risks.
caused by empathy
how to reduce illusion of transparency as a victim
address someone as the one who should help, say clearly what is going on and what you need, and if the aggressor is known to you.
alcohol and help
it decrease inhibition, so people care less about what others think of them and therefore will be more likely to help.
Fisher et al.-help
in very dangerous situations the bystander effect is weaker and reduced, lowering the pluralistic ignorance effect and increasing the arousal.
evolutionary explanation of why people help others.
helping was selected because it facilitated survival of the human species.
assumptions of helping others evolutionary perspective.
helping increases the likelihood of evolutionary success of the species.
inclusive fittness, increased by kin selection, reciprocal altruism and indirect reciprocity.
Cunningham et al.
we help more those who are more closely related to us.
Burnstein, Crandall and Kitayama
we tend to help more older people in every day help situation instead of life/death ones.
the opposite with young people.
indirect reciprocity
is about reputation: we're more likely to help someone who we've seen helping someonelse.
reputation and indirect reciprocity
having a good reputation from helping others is very important especially in groups, it makes people prosocial, it stimulates cooperation.
indirect reciprocity through gossip
gossip is a very strong tool . evolutionary explanation: to inform group member of the bad/good actions of a member.
Wu, Balliet, Van Lange-gossip
gossip increases prosocial behavior in groups.
results: while gossip and punishment may be both effective at promoting cooperation, gossip may be even more efficient to maintain it.
negative state relief model
fully selfish interpretation of helping.
empathy/altruism
when we see someone suffer, we experience an increased state of alertness and stress.
personal distress
focuses on the self, motivation toward selfish helping.
empathic concern
focuses on others, motivation to help altruistically.
Batson et al.
altruism does exist, even when there are many possibilities for escape a situation in which help is needed. and empathy has a central role.