PSY205 Revision Notes PDF

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PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1: Introducing Social Psychology What is Social Psychology? Definition: The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. Social thinking how we perceive ourselves and others, what we believe, judgements we make, our attitu...

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PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1: Introducing Social Psychology What is Social Psychology? Definition: The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another.  Social thinking – how we perceive ourselves and others, what we believe, judgements we make, our attitudes  Social influence – culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, groups of people  Social relations – prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy, helping  Focuses more on individuals, less on individuals’ differences, and does more experimentation Fundamental Principles of Social Psychology Social psychology’s principles are applicable in everyday life  Have implications for human health and well-being, for judicial procedures and juror decisions in courtrooms, and for influencing behaviours that will enable an environmentally sustainable human future. Social 1. We construct our social reality Thinking  Humans tend to explain behaviour, to attribute it to some cause, and therefore to make it seem orderly, predictable, and controllable  People react differently to a situation because we think differently  There is an objective reality out there, but we always view it through the lens of our beliefs and values (which influences our emotions and actions)

Social Influence

Social Relations

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Our social intuitions (and unconscious information processing) are often powerful, but sometimes perilous  Our instant intuitions shape our fears, impressions, and relationships  Dual processing: Thinking, memory, and attitudes all operate on two levels – one conscious and deliberate, the other unconscious and automatic  However, we intuitively judge the likelihood of things by how easily various instances come to mind; we intuitively trust our memories more than we should; we misread our own minds; we mispredict our own feelings and future

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Attitudes shape, and are shaped by behaviour Social influences shape behaviour  As social creatures, we respond to our immediate contexts. Sometimes the power of a social situation leads us to act contrary to our expressed attitudes (e.g., Nazi’s influence)  Our cultures help define our situations (e.g., our standards regarding promptness, frankness, and clothing vary with our culture)  We adapt to our social context – our attitudes and behaviour are shaped by external social forces

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Dispositions shape behaviour  Internal forces matter – personal attitudes and personality influence behaviour Social behaviour is also biological behaviour  Nature and nurture forms who we are  Evolutionary psychologists o Inherited human nature predisposes us to behave in ways that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce o Natural selection – how our actions and reactions are predisposed o Nature endows us with an enormous capacity to learn and adapt to varied environments  Social neuroscience o Definition: An interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of social and emotional processes and behaviours, and how these processes and behaviours affect our brain and biology o We are bio-psycho-social organisms. We reflect the interplay of our biological, psychological, and social influences.

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Feelings and actions toward people are sometimes negative and sometimes positive Human Values Influence Social Psychology Obvious ways values enter psychology Subtle ways values enter psychology  Subjective aspects of science Choices of research topics typically reflect social history o We interpret nature with our own mental categories Values differ across time and cultures Values influence the types of people who are attracted to and preconceptions various disciplines o The tendency to prejudge reality based on our Values are the object of social psychological analysis – expectations is a basic fact about the human mind social psychologists investigate how values form, why they o Social representations are often our most important change, and how they influence attitudes and actions yet most unexamined convictions (e.g., assumptions, cultural ideologies, biases, stereotypes)  Psychological concepts contain hidden values o Psychologists make value judgements (often hidden

PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 1 within our social psychological language) o Reflected by psychological advice o Forms concepts (label reflects judgements) Social Psychology’s Theories Provide New Insight into the Human Condition 2 contradictory criticisms: 1. It is trivial because it documents the obvious  Hindsight bias: The tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it- all-along phenomenon)  In hindsight, events seem obvious and predictable  Can result in unfortunate consequences o Conducive to arrogance – an overestimation of our own intellectual powers o Outcomes seem as if they should have been foreseeable, hence we are more likely to blame decision makers for what are in retrospect “obvious” bad choices than to praise them for good choices, which also seem “obvious.” 2.

It is dangerous because its findings could be used to manipulate people (Chapter 7) Research Methods Social psychologists propose theories that organize their observations and imply testable hypotheses and practical predictions. To test a hypothesis, social psychologists may do research that predicts behaviour using correlational studies, often conducted in natural settings. Or they may seek to explain behaviour by conducting experiments that manipulate one or more factors under controlled conditions. Then they may explore ways to apply their findings to improve people’s everyday lives. Theory Definition: An integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events  Facts are agreed-upon statements about what we observe, while theories are idea that summarize and explain facts, as well as imply testable predictions (known as hypotheses)  A good theory effectively summarizes many observations, and makes clear predictions that we can use to confirm/modify the theory, generate new exploration, and suggest practical applications. Hypothesis Definition: A testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events  Serves several purposes o Allow us to test a theory by suggesting how we might try to falsify it o Predictions give direction to research o The predictive feature of good theories can also make them practical Social psychological research varies by location (laboratory vs. field), and methods (correlational vs. experimental) Field Research Definition: Research done in natural, real-life settings outside the laboratory Correlational Definition: The study of the naturally occurring relationships among variables Research  Correlations indicate a relationship, but that relationship is not necessarily one of cause and effect  Correlational research allows us to predict, but it cannot tell us whether changing one variable (such as social status) will cause changes in another (such as health)  Advanced correlational techniques can suggest cause-effect relationships (e.g., time-lagged correlations reveal the sequence of events) 

Experimental Research

Advantage: Tends to occur in real-world settings where we can examine factors such as race, gender, and social status (factors that we cannot manipulate in the laboratory)  Disadvantage: Ambiguity of the results Definition: Studies that seek clues to cause–effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent variables) while controlling others (holding them constant)   

Survey Research

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Independent variable: The experimental factor that a researcher manipulates Dependent variable: The variable being measured, so called because it may depend on manipulations of the independent variable Control vs. Random assignment (The process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition) Advantage: Can explore cause and effect by controlling variables and by random assignment Disadvantage: Some important variables cannot be studied with experiments Random sampling: Survey procedure inwhich every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of inclusion

4 potentially biasing influences: 1. Unrepresentative samples – A sampling may not be representative of the entire population 2. Question order 3. Response options 4. Question wording – Subtle changes in the tone of a question can have marked effects Ethics of Experimentation

PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 1 Mundane Realism Experimental Realism

Demand Characteristics Ethical Principles

Definition: Degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations  Laboratory behaviour or experiments need not have mundane realism, but should have experimental realism Definition: Degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants  Experimenters do not want their people consciously play-acting or ho-humming it; they want to engage real psychological processes  Achieving this realism sometimes requires deception (In research, an effect by which participants are misinformed or misled about the study’s methods and purposes) Definition: Cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behaviour is expected  To minimize such demand characteristics, experimenters typically standardize their instructions or even use a computer to present them  Tell potential participants enough about the experiment to enable their informed consent.  Be truthful. Use deception only if essential and justified by a significant purpose and not “about aspects that would affect their willingness to participate.”  Protect participants (and bystanders, if any) from harm and significant discomfort.  Treat information about the individual participants confidentially.  Debrief participants. Fully explain the experiment afterward, including any deception. The only exception to this rule is when the feedback would be distressing, such as by making participants realize they have been stupid or cruel.

PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 2 CHAPTER 2: The Self in a Social World

Spotlight Effect

Spotlight Effect and Illusion of Transparency Definition: The belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and behaviour than they really are Definition: The illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others

Illusion of Transparency  Social surroundings affect our self-awareness  Self-interest colors our social judgment – when problems arise, we tend to attribute responsibility to others; when things go well, we tend to see ourselves as more responsible  Self-concern motivates our social behaviour  Social relationships help define our sense of self – we have varied selves in varied relationships Self-Concept Self-Concept Definition: What we know and believe about ourselves  Consists 2 elements – self-schema, and possible selves  Sum of self-schemas form our self-concept  Mark and mirror test – putting a mark on their forehead (infants are able to recognize themselves between 18 and 24 months) Self-Schema Definition: Beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information  Mental templates by which we organize our worlds  Affects how we perceive, remember, and evaluate other people and ourselves (e.g., an athlete would tend to notice others’ bodies and skills)  The self-schemas that make up our self-concepts help us organize and retrieve our experiences Possible selves Definition: Images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future  Motivates us with a vision of the life we long for OR to avoid the one we dread Development of the Social Self Our self-concepts are determined by genetic influences on personality and self-concept, as well as social experiences:  The roles we play  How other people judge us o Role-playing becomes reality o Labeling from others (e.g., gifted, hardworking) get incorporated in self-concepts and behaviours o Some may “disidentify” with the prejudgements and  The social identities we form identify their interests elsewhere  The comparisons we make with others o Looking-glass self: How we think others perceive us o Social comparison: Evaluating one’s abilities and as a mirror for perceiving ourselves opinions by comparing oneself with others (upward & o What matters for our self-concepts is not how others downward social comparisons) actually see us but the way we imagine they see us o Can diminish our satisfaction when we compare o Self-esteem is a psychological gauge by which we upwards during success monitor and react to how others appraise us o When facing competition, we often protect our shaky self-concept by perceiving the competitor as  The surrounding culture advantaged o Short-term/long-term impacts o Counterfactual thinking (“what if” questions) Self and Culture Individualism Definition: The concept of giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications  Independent view of self: Construing one’s identity as an autonomous self (focus is on “me”)  Usually in industrialized Western cultures  Individualism flourishes when people experience affluence, mobility, urbanism, and mass media Collectivism Definition: Giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly  Interdependent view of self: Construing one’s identity in relation to others (focus is on “we”)  Usually in cultures native to Asia, Africa, and Central and South America  People are more self-critical and have less need for positive self-regard Individualism–  Varies across a country’s regions and political view Collectivism  Despite individual and subcultural variations, researchers continue to regard individualism and collectivism as genuine cultural variables Cognition Individualists Collectivists  Tend to see things holistically (e.g., background,  Tend to focus on the main object  Language allows self-expression surroundings, relationships)  Language allows communication with others  Advertisements highlight personal choice or freedom  Advertisements feature people together  Has many selves (e.g., self-with-parents, self-at Has one self

PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 2  Self-Esteem      

Goal of social life – enhance one’s individual self and make choices independently Individualists More personal and less relational Self-concept is stable (enduring across situations) Persist more on tasks when succeeding (to elevate self-esteem) Make comparisons with others that boost their self-esteem Happiness comes with disengaged emotions (with feeling effective, superior, and proud) Conflicts occur between individuals

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work, self-with-friends) Goal of social life – harmonize with and support one’s communities Collectivists Correlates closely with “what others think of me and my group” Self-concept is malleable (context-specific) Persist more on tasks when they are failing (to not fall short on others’ expectations) Make comparisons (often upward, with those doing better) in ways that facilitate selfimprovement Happiness comes with positive social engagement (with feeling close, friendly, and respectful) Conflicts occur between groups

 Self-Knowledge Explaining our  Sometimes we think we know, but our inside information is wrong Behaviour  We produce plausible answers when asked why we have felt or acted as we have, but our self-explanations are often wrong when causes are subtle – we may dismiss factors that matter and inflate others that don’t  E.g., Experiment – “Which stocking has the best quality?” Predicting our  People tend to err when predicting their own behaviour, while others are better predictors of yours Behaviour  One common error in behaviour prediction is the planning fallacy (Definition: The tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task) – usually occur when people misremember previous tasks as taking less time than they in fact did Predicting our  People have greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and the duration of their future emotions Feelings  Studies reveal our vulnerability to impact bias (Definition: Overestimating the enduring impact of emotion-causing events) – especially after negative events o People’s “affective forecasts” influence their decisions  In focusing on the negative event, we discount the importance of everything else that contributes to happiness and so overpredict our enduring misery o Immune neglect: The human tendency to underestimate the speed and the strength of the “psychological immune system,” which enables emotional recovery and resilience after bad things happen o Consequence – we would adapt to failures, personal/team defeats more readily than expected  E.g., Experiment – US Presidential election (Bush & Gore supporters) Self-Analysis  Perception and memory studies show that we are more aware of the results of our thinking than of its process  The mental processes that control our social behaviour are distinct from the mental processes through which we explain our behaviour. Our rational explanations may therefore omit the unconscious attitudes that actually guide our behaviour. (Timothy Wilson)  Dual-attitude system: Differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes toward the same object. Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly, with practice that forms new habit. Nature and Motivating Power of Self-Esteem Self-Esteem Definition: A person’s overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth  General self-esteem (e.g., looks, abilities) vs. specific self-esteem (e.g., academic) Motivation  High self-esteem people usually react to a self-esteem threat by compensating for it (blaming someone else or trying harder next time) – helps to preserve positive feelings about themselves  Low self-esteem people are more likely to “break” by blaming themselves or giving up  Our self-esteem gauge alerts us to threatened social rejection, motivating us to act with greater sensitivity to others’ expectations o Social rejection lowers our self-esteem and makes us more eager for approval  Terror management theory: Proposes that people exhibit self-protective emotional and cognitive responses (including adhering more strongly to their cultural worldviews and prejudices) when confronted with reminders of their mortality Narcissism  Excessively high self-esteem (inflated sense of self) – more likely to be obnoxious, to interrupt, and to talk at people rather than with them  Most people with high self-esteem value both individual achievement and relationships with others; while narcissists usually have high self-esteem, but has difficulty caring for others  Usually aggressive towards people who criticized/insulted them Low Self-Esteem Secure Self-Esteem  More vulnerable to assorted clinical problems (e.g.,  Rooted more in feeling good about who one is (internal

PSY205 Revision Notes: Chapter 2

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anxiety, loneliness, and eating disorders) Often take a negative view of everything when feeling bad or threatened – notice and remember others’ worst behaviours and think their partners don’t love them Less satisfied with their relationships; more likely to leave those relationships

sources) than in grades, looks, money, or others’ approval – conducive to long-term well-being

Perceived Self-Control  The self’s capacity for action has limits, effortful self-control depletes our willpower reserves  When engaged in self-control, our brain’s “central executive” consumes available blood sugar  Although the self’s energy can be temporarily depleted, our self-concepts do influence our behaviour Self-Efficacy Definition: A sense that one is competent and effective, dist...