PSYC 1000 - Tulane - Chapter 14 – Rollins
Exam |34 Q’s and A’s
Social psychology - -The scientific study of how we think about, influence,
and relate to one another
- Attributions - -Inferences about the causes of behaviour
- Dispositional/internal attributions - -Behaviour is caused by personality,
"it's just who they are"
- Situational/external attributions - -Behaviour is caused by what they've
experienced, circumstantial
- Fundamental attribution error - -The tendency for observers, when
analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation
and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
- Actor-observer bias - -The tendency to attribute one's own (bad) behavior
to situational factors but to attribute the behavior of others to dispositional
factors
- Attitudes - -Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to
respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
- Cognitive dissonance theory - -The theory that we act to reduce the
discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are
inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our
actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our
attitudes
- Festinger and Carlsmith - -Conducted the classic experiment about
cognitive dissonance in the 1950's. Asked participants to perform a boring
task and then tell the people behind them that the task was fun, some of the
people in the first group were paid $1 and others were paid $20 to lie. The
people who were paid $1 have significantly more positive attitudes.
- Zimbardo Prison Study - -Half of the subjects were assigned to be guards,
half of the subjects were assigned to be prisoners, "pretend became real",
Prisoners acted like prisoners - Had to stay in prison 24/7, Had nervous break
downs; Gaurds began to crack down - 1/3 became abusive, Could leave after
their shifts; Study had to be terminated after 6 days
Exam |34 Q’s and A’s
Social psychology - -The scientific study of how we think about, influence,
and relate to one another
- Attributions - -Inferences about the causes of behaviour
- Dispositional/internal attributions - -Behaviour is caused by personality,
"it's just who they are"
- Situational/external attributions - -Behaviour is caused by what they've
experienced, circumstantial
- Fundamental attribution error - -The tendency for observers, when
analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation
and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
- Actor-observer bias - -The tendency to attribute one's own (bad) behavior
to situational factors but to attribute the behavior of others to dispositional
factors
- Attitudes - -Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to
respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
- Cognitive dissonance theory - -The theory that we act to reduce the
discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are
inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our
actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our
attitudes
- Festinger and Carlsmith - -Conducted the classic experiment about
cognitive dissonance in the 1950's. Asked participants to perform a boring
task and then tell the people behind them that the task was fun, some of the
people in the first group were paid $1 and others were paid $20 to lie. The
people who were paid $1 have significantly more positive attitudes.
- Zimbardo Prison Study - -Half of the subjects were assigned to be guards,
half of the subjects were assigned to be prisoners, "pretend became real",
Prisoners acted like prisoners - Had to stay in prison 24/7, Had nervous break
downs; Gaurds began to crack down - 1/3 became abusive, Could leave after
their shifts; Study had to be terminated after 6 days
