PSY 3201 Introduction to Social Psychology  

What are some examples of types of traits?

Week 3  

Feb 1, 2016  

Theory in Social Psychology  

I) Theory  

- Political & used by everyone  

 1) Implicit Personality Theories  

 - Theories that people hold about what kind of traits go with what  other kinds of traits  

 2) Attribution Theories  

 - Theories that we hold about what causes people to behave the  way that they do, or why they experience what they do   (Your professor wont meet you in the office hour, because she don’t like you, -- she is a jerk)  Don't forget about the age old question of How did we figure out how old the earth is?

- Was it something about him? (Internal or personal)  

a) Fundamental Attribution Error  

(The tendency to make personal- rather than situation attributions)  - But not so fundamental after all (culture makes a differences)  - Nonconscious Ideology: If we Westerners do it, surely everyone  will!

What theory explains drivers of human behavior?

b) Consistency, Consensus, Distinctiveness  

- When consistency raise, consensus raise  

- EVT (Extraterrestrial Visitation Theory)  

 . Star Wars Shield (If the theories didn’t exist, there are no all  those kinds of things)  

c) Role of theories in social psychology  

 1) Help us to understand what is; unifies otherwise haphazard &  isolated observation or facts  If you want to learn more check out ­what is a nucleotide sequence in dna to which rna polymerase binds to begin transcription?

 - Cognitive Dissonance Theory  

 . Example: End of semester course questionnaire (Observation)   2) Help us to predict what might be; source of hypotheses we  might not otherwise notice  

 - Justification of error (predictions)  

II) A Brief Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance Theory   A) Inconsistency between cognition ‘hurts’  

What are the 6 principles of influence?

If you want to learn more check out What is the precursor for glycogen synthesis?

 - Cognition 1 & Cognition 2  

 - Cognition & behavior  

 B) Unpleasant arousal results & we are motivated to reduce it   C) We change our cognition or behaviors to reduce the arousal   D) We choose the ‘path of least resistance’  

Feb 3, 2016  

Cognition Dissonance:  

I. Prisoners of War in Korea (1950-1953)

II. Cognitive Dissonance Theory  

 A) A Radial Alternative to Behaviorism  

 Response – Stimulus  

 (Behavior)—(Reward, Punisher)  

 Response—(O) – Stimulus  

 (Attitudes, Knowledge, Beliefs)  

 B) Basic Assumptions of Dissonance Theory  

 1) Humans dislike cognitive inconsistency  

 Example: Knowledge (cognitive) against behavior   2) Inconsistent cognition causes unpleasant arousal: Cognitive  dissonance  

 -- The guy is experiencing unpleasant arousal  

 3) We are motivated to reduce dissonance  

 - He knows driving when drunk kills—but he is still doing it   - He also knows in some case, driving while drunk didn’t kill  anyone

 4) Ways to reduce cognitive dissonance  

 - His friends are even more drunk than he is  

 a) Change one or the other cognition  We also discuss several other topics like Who is the founder of liberalism?
We also discuss several other topics like Why do we need an argument when there is an issue?

 b) Make one cognition is more important  

 c) When cognitive are discrepant with behavior, change behavior   d) When cognitive are dissonance, the person can just change  the cognitions  Don't forget about the age old question of What is an absolute space?

 5) We choose the path of least resistance  

 (Pick the easier one)  

- Pull of the car and call a cab

III) A ‘ Friendly Amendment’ to the Original Theory  

- Feininger: Any 2 inconsistent cognitions can arouse dissonance  . Example: I am walking in the rain. I am not getting wet!  - Aronson: Cognition must implicate the self  

. Cognition must be inconsistent with our positive sense of self as reasonable, decent, smart people  

IV) A Not so friendly amendment: We want our attributes & behaviors  to match our perceptions of reality  

 A) Inconsistent cognitions alone can generate dissonance   B) Why?  

 - We want our experiments & actions to match our perceptions of  reality  

 (We want it to be accurate, wish to be accurate)  - Restoring consistory (between ‘reality’ & our beliefs, decisions…) . Example: Attitudes towards New Heaven Police or Tuition  increase

 (It turns out you are writing positive opinion towards the  situation)  

 When our attitudes or behaviors don’t match our perceptions of  reality, something is got to give, & we change our cognition  

C) Preschoolers & Stickers, Capuchins & Green M&Ms  - Decisions & behaviors match similar reality  

(Monkeys: choose different colors of M&MS)  

(‘I have already rejected this M&Ms, so there must be something  wrong with it..’)

V) Necessary Conditions for ‘Dissonance’ Arousal  

 A) Attitude—discrepant behaviors must have aversive  consequences for us or others  

Aversive Consequences—‘Cognitive Dissonance’—Unpleasant  Arousal  

No Aversive Consequences—No ‘Cognitive Dissonance’—No  Unpleasant Arousal  

Feb 5, 2016  

B) We must take personal responsibility & attitude- discrepant  behaviors  

(role of choice)  

C) We must experience arousal  

 Arousal – ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ effects  

 No Arousal – No ‘Cognitive Dissonance’ effects  

D) We must attribute arousal to attitude-discrepant behaviors   Attribute to Behavior – ‘Cognitive Dissonance effect’   Attribute to something else—No ‘Cognitive Dissonance effect’

VI) Are some people more likely than others to experience cognitive  dissonance?

A) Individual Differences: Self-Esteem & the Self-Standards Model   Aronson: Bad Decisions, wasted effort, lying…

 1) Not all people evaluate themselves positively  

 - High vs. low self-esteem  

 - ‘Bad’ behavior may not be always be dissonant with the self   2) But it also depends on the standards we use to judge our  behaviors  

 - Personal vs. Normative Standards  

 - Personal: Idiosyncratic expectancies; what we expert of  ourselves  

 - Normative: What most people expect of themselves or others;  do I meet most people’s standards?

Bad behavior – Use Personal Standard – Self-Esteem Differences   < > High More Dissonance Low More  

Dissonance  

The Self Standards Model:  

(Why should self-esteem make a difference?)

- High Self Esteem: Positive traits are important & they believe that they process them  

- Low: Positive traits are important but they are not confident that  they process them  

3) An Example: Shooting Free-Throws  

(At the free-throw line, both think about normative—both 40%)  4) Experimental Evidence (Stone 2003)

- Standards with high & low self-esteem write counter-attitudinal  essays in support of tuition increases  

B) Cultural Differences  

1) Independent vs. Interdependent Selves  

Cognitive Dissonance  

Western Individual

Eastern Collection

Independent Selves

Interdependent Selves

Autonomy

Connectedness

Competence

Harmony

Uniqueness

Commonality

Analytic Thinking

Holistic Thinking

Attribution Bias

Less Attribution Bias

Rights

Duties, Obligations

2) Dissonance, The Self & cultural differences  

- The experience is universal  

- What arouses dissonance varies by culture  

3) No one is immune to sting of cognitive dissonance  

- What I think of my decision or what others think of my decisions?  - Am I choosing for myself? Or for a friend?