Social Psychology Prof Michael Hogg, Prof Graham Vaughan Chapter 2 summary PDF

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Social Psychology Prof Michael Hogg, Prof Graham Vaughan Chapter 2 summary...

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Asch (1946) configuration model We make first impressions based on central traits, which have disproportionate influence. Peripheral traits are those with less influence. Both can be intrinsically correlated with other traits and are therefore more or less useful in forming an integrated impression of someone. Central traits influence the meaning we put on other traits, and are responsible for the integrated impression of someone. Asch (1946) experiment- two lists of 7 descriptions, one with warm one with cold. Asked to rate on bipolar scales, ie, happy/unhappy, reliable/unreliable. In warm condition= much greater influence on positive traits. When warm/cold were replaced with polite/blunt, found little difference in evaluations. Warm/cold = central trait, polite/blunt= peripheral trait. Kelley (1950) – guest lecturer who was introduced as cold (or warm), determined, industrial, critical, and practical. After, students rated on scales, if in cold condition were rated as unsociable, self-centred, unpopular, formal, and humourless. Students asked less questions in the cold condition. Supports configuration model. Issue= the traits described are to do with intelligence and drive, where as warm/cold describes sociability, which is what the students were rating the character on. This may be why it was central, rather than warm/cold being an inherently central trait. Asch (1946) primacy effect- order of description determines the character evaluation. This may be because people pay more attention at the start or because the early descriptions work as a cue. - more common than recency effects in the absence of any info, we assume positive things about people. If we have any negative, this will hold a disproportionate impact on our view. Could be because 1- negative information may indicate danger, detection has survival value for individual and species. 2- the information is unusual and distinctive, and attracts more attention. Personal constructs- Kelley (1955)- we develop an indusial way of characterising people, ie, some people might find humour most important, others may think intelligence is, and will therefore create different ways of judging others. This is easily changed over time. Implicit personality theories- principles of which traits go together, widely shared in cultures, and are unlikely to change, ie Rosenberg and Sedlak (1972) found that people assumed that intelligent people are likely to be friendly and not self-centred. Knapp (1978) – in the US males over 1.88m had 10% higher starting salaries than makes under 1.83. Heilman and Stopeck (1985) – good looking make executives were perceived as more able, opposite for women, assumed good looking women were promoted because of looks. People use prototypes theories for groups they belong, and only exemplar theories for groups they are not a part of. In prototype, likely to say car, rather than vehicle (not specific enough, or particular type of car (too specific) Stereotypes- people show a readiness to categorise, try to make sense, broad groups of people in terms of a few crude characteristics - they are slow to change- can change through wider social political or economic changes - they are acquired early on, before a child has real knowledge or experience of group - they are more pronounced and hostile when social tension and conflict appears between groups, really hard to modify this - not inherently wrong- they serve as schemas to make sense of group relations Tajfels accentuation principle- we may use general labels to help us understand something, ie, line length + estimates, substitute with ethnicity and ability – the categorisation of a stimuli produces a perceptual accentuation of intra-category similarities and outer-categories differences on dimensions believed to be correlated within the categorisation, - the accentuation effect is enhanced where the categorisation has importance, relevance, or value. – most pronounced when people are unsure Sterotyping is effected by – uncertainty, accessibility, and motivation – motivation as they may help identify power, social roles, social identity and self esteem (help create a positive sense on ingroup identity) , intergroup conflicts, cognitive or social uncertainty, and justify the social norm. Schema use-

People are more likely to use easily detected features to categorise, such as skin colour, dress, or physical appearance- or contextually distinctive, such as single man in a group of women (ie, from lecture, woman in lab coat – think doctor, women in lab coat with many men in lab coat- think woman). Accessible schemas= habitually used or recently in memory Use of mood-congruent schemas, and schemas reflect early rather than later information (primacy effect) Pressure of being wrong/ time can increase schema use, as a poor judgement may be better than no judgement. Jamieson and Zanna, 1989- study with time pressure, men and women choosing job roles, those with conservative views were bias in choosing men/discriminating against women. Those with progressive sex-roles bias towards women and discriminate against men. Regression- the tendency for initial observations to be more extreme than subsequent observations, this can be diluted by other information. Base rate information- factual and statistical about an event. People tend to chronically ignore this, when vivid anecdotal evidence is supplied. Ie, knowing plane crashes are rare but seeing them on tv, assumes happens a lot, mainly because the media creates the story to be vivid and distinct. Covariation/illusionary correlations- usually because people are influenced by prior schemas/look for schema consistent information. Ie, “blondes have more fun”, will find it easier to think of blondes having fun if already has this schema. Chapman (1976)- illusionary correlations- presented words equal number of times ie (bacon/eggs, lion/eggs, blossom/notebook), found that students overestimated the pairings of those who “should” go together and the words that were longer than the other words (blossom/notebook- two longer= distinct) , based on prior experience. They have associated meaning (based on experience) and paired distinctiveness (share a unusual feature). IRL- distinct minority group (as people have little contact with them) + associated event = over estimate Representiveness heuristic – inferring when ignoring base rate, sample size, information quality, and normative principles. – usually right Tversky and Kahneman 1974- “steve is shy, withdrawn, tidy, needs order, and has a passion for detail” more likely to guess as a librarian over farmer surgeon or trapeze artist Availability heuristic – does not account for idiosyncratic exposure to bias samples...