NaimExplain

How does role-playing influence the attitude-behaviour relationship? Now you should have a good understanding of when and why attitudes predict behaviour, but can our behaviour predict our attitudes? There has been a significant amount of research that looked at how role-playing (that is playing a particular role) can influence our behaviour. In particular researchers have been looking at how the actions expected of those who occupy a particular social position influence their attitudes. Perhaps the most famous of these studies is Zimbardo's Prison Experiment. Philip Zimbardo created a mock prison in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University in the 1970s. In this study, healthy young men who were psychologically normal on all tested dimensions were randomly assigned to act as "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock jail study. Over the course of 6 days, the behaviour of prisoners to the guards became so aggressive that the study had to be e...

When do attitudes predict behaviour? Attitude Strength: It turns out that not all attitudes are created equally. Some attitudes are stronger than others. They have features that make them more impactful in our lives that others are missing. For example, some attitudes are based on a lot of compelling knowledge, whereas others aren't. Some attitudes are based on direct experience which allows us to have a much more reliable evaluation than attitudes that are not based on direct experience. Some attitudes are held with confidence, whereas others are not. Having insights into the features of attitude strength has allowed researchers in this field to create much more accurate and nuanced predictions about when attitudes will predict behaviour.

Describe one of the three studies discussed in class suggesting that attitudes do not predict behaviour. Do attitudes predict behaviour? Although you might think the answer is obviously "yes". There are researchers who would disagree. For example in 1930, LaPierre published a now classic study on racial attitudes and behaviours. LaPierre wanted to see if people's attitude towards Chinese immigrants (who had been brought over en masse to work on the railroads across Canada and the US) translated into behaviours. In general, it would be fair to say that Chinese immigrants were viewed very negatively by the American population. LaPierre visited hundreds of establishments in his travels, accompanied by a young and well-dressed Chinese couple. LaPierre, a 50-ish man who was a university professor, went with this couple to restaurants and hotels and asked to be served. They were served in all but one establishment. Later, LaPierre sent letters to the same establishm...

Define and give an example of each of the following: Behavioural confirmation. A similar effect is called behavioural confirmation -- a type of self-fulfilling prophecy where people social expectations need them to act in ways that cause others to confirm those expectations. Also known as self-fulfilling prophecies, it can be a series of learned behaviors that people use to elicit expected reactions is social situations. For example: A person learns that flattery or good manners can deflect anger in some people.

Define and give an example of each of the following: llusion of control. Our bias is to assume that two things that co-occur cause one another, and this leads us to another cognitive heuristic. We have what is called an illusion of control -- we believe that events that are outside our control can actually be influenced by us. This again comes from the covariance principle -- when two things happen at the same time one must have caused the other. Perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one's control or as more controllable than they are.

Define and give an example of each of the following: Self-fulfilling prophecy. You have probably heard the term self-fulfilling prophecy before. A self-fulfilling prophecy is the tendency for your expectations to evoke behaviour in others that confirm those expectations. Think about a person you hate. How do you feel when you see them? Do you get angry, frustrated, or upset? Are you just waiting for the snarky, rude or obnoxious thing they are going to say or do? Have you considered that your negativity may actually be causing their behaviour? Here is how that can happen: Whenyou see that person, it evokes negative feelings in you. Your feelings and negative emotions change your demeanor as well as the way you speak, think, and act. That person sees that you are cranky or seem otherwise upset, and will likely react in a similar fashion. Then, you act cranky; being rude to them or at the very least non-communicative. Because they see that you are cranky, they are cranky to you...

Define and give an example of each of the following: Regression toward the average. The statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behaviours to return toward one's average - Example: Exam scores A final heuristic we will discuss in this section is called regression toward the average -- this is reflected in the tendency for extreme scores or extreme behaviours to return toward the average over time. From your life experience this is probably easiest to explain in terms of exam scores. Have you ever done very well on an exam at the beginning of a course only to do badly on the next one in the same course? If you have, you may have experienced regression toward the average. As you can imagine, when someone does very well at a task they attribute this performance to their skills (internal attribution!). So when they do poorly on the next exam, they do not understand why. I try to warn my students about this fact, and this is one reason why regression towards the aver...

Define and give an example of each of the following: Illusory correlation. Perception of a relationship where none exists, or perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists Part of the problem of illusory correlations comes from how we process distinctive events. A good example of illusory correlations is crime rates and ethnic groups. Being Aboriginal is distinctive in Canada; most people are not aboriginal. So is being a criminal -- most people are not criminals. However if we were to ask someone how likely it is that a given Aboriginal is a criminal the estimate we would likely get would be substantially higher than the true percentage in society. When we see two things that are distinctive happening together (being an Aboriginal; being a criminal) people can assume the link between the two is much stronger than it really is. Although part of the assumed correlation may be based on reality (it is true that Aboriginals are over-represented in the criminal justi...

Define and give an example of each of the following: Hostile media bias. Hostile Media Bias: : Opposite groups, such as at football matches, will both perceive balanced and neutral views as hostile to their side. This is why referees are universally disliked. We see the world through the eyes of our own side and thus have very biased view of anything about situations where we compete.

Describe some factors that affect the occurrence of the Fundamental attribution error. Differing Perspectives: Perhaps not surprisingly this has been a focus of a substantial amount of social psychological research. Researchers have discovered that perspective and situational awareness are important elements to how we react to the behaviour of others. Our perspective differs when we observe others relative to when we act ourselves. This is called the actor-observer bias. When we are the actor, we tend to attribute behaviour to the environment, whereas when we observe others, we tend to underestimate the impact of the environment. There is also a fact which has been called the correspondence bias: this is a tendency for people to view behaviour as coming from inner dispositions. Because of this natural disposition, it takes some effort to overcome our pre-existing tendencies. Therefore, it is easier to make dispositional inferences particularly when we are less motivated to find ...

What is the fundamental attribution error? How is it different and how is it the same as the actor-observer bias? Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behaviour We tend to take credit for our successes and avoid blame for our failures. In the language of attribution, we make dispositional attributions for our successes but situational attributions for our failure (I failed my psych exam because the prof is horrible, but I did well on my sociology exam because I'm smart). Another consistent finding is that when we are observing the behaviour of others we tend to overestimate the dispositional influences on them and underestimate the situational influences. This is called the fundamental attribution error. Actor-Observer: When we are the actor, we tend to attribute behaviour to the environment, whereas when we observe others, we tend to underestimate the i...

What is learned helplessness? Give two examples. You may use a picture if it helps. The hopelessness and resignation learned by humans or animals who perceive themselves as having no control over repeated bad events Examples: 1)For some of the dogs, in the middle of the cage there was a low barrier. Seligman would turn on the electricity on one side of the cage and watch the dog's reaction. Of course, the dog jumped over the barrier to escape the pain and landed on the safe side. For some dogs however the barrier was too high to jump. These dogs were simply electrocuted and suffered through the pain. There was nothing they could do to escape, although they did try for some time. Eventually they gave up. For dogs who learn that there was no opportunity to escape, if they were subsequently placed in a cage with a low barrier, they did not even try jump over it. They had learned that there was no escaping the electric current. 2)An elderly woman, a beloved Grandma, no long...

What is self-efficacy? How is it related to locus of control? Self-efficacy is how competent you feel to do something. Some people have high self-efficacy whereas others do not. If your level of self-efficacy is high, you tend to be more persistent when presented with difficult tasks (in other words you try harder); you will also tend to be less anxious and depressed than someone with low self-efficacy; and you will tend to be more academically successful (in other words you will get higher grades and be more likely to graduate). Locus of control is the extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions (internal locus of control), or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces (external Locus of control) How many times have you said after some negative event: "I've got back luck"? What you are saying here is that you believe that chance or fate controlled what happened to you. Think back to that car acci...

Self-serving biases can be both adaptive and maladaptive. Why? Give examples. Adaptive behavior is behavior that is positive and functional to the individual. It allows the individual to relieve anxiety. Maladaptive behavior is quite different from adaptive behavior. This usually entails behavioral patterns that are dysfunctional to the individual. Self-Serving Bias as Adaptive: Self-serving bias can be adaptive in that they promote good feelings about ourselves, they reduce our anxiety about the world and to some extent they can ward off depression. Indeed, as noted in the text, Jeff Greenberg and his colleagues have argued that self-serving biases even ward off our fears about death. Let's take a second to consider how self-esteem is discussed in the popular media. Many people discuss the importance of having positive self-esteem. Is positive self-esteem the secret to successful, happy living? One might certainly think so given the number of self-help books, seminar...

Describe and give examples of four self-serving biases we regularly exhibit. The tendency to perceive and present oneself favourably. Fundamentally, in "western" cultures, we take credit for our successes, but we are less likely to take the blame for our failures. Examples: 1) In what can be considered a textbook example of self-serving bias in the classroom, those students who get an 'A' grade consider themselves smart, while those who get an 'F' grade blame the teacher, even accusing her of giving them such a grade because she doesn't like them. 2) A sales representative takes the credit for completing his targets for five months in a row, but when he fails in the sixth month, he blames external factors like market trends, recession, change in company's policy, etc. 3) In sports, when a team wins, the captain is all praise for the team's efforts. However, when the team loses, he simply states that it was just not their day, or worse,...

Describe two types of self-presentational styles, and two self-presentational biases. How are they related? Self Presentation: Wanting to present a desired image both to an external audience (other people) and an internal audience (ourselves) We are motivated to present ourselves in the best light, and use of several different techniques to present ourselves in the most positive light possible Role Playing: A role is a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave. Fake it 'til you make it! The first week on a job can feel awkward, but we put on a brave face and do our best to act appropriately. Soon, it doesn't feel so faked! What is not real can evolve to be real. False Modesty: Presenting ourselves in a more negative light. We sometimes present ourselves in a more negative light than is warranted. For example, "I know I failed that test!" Why might we do this? It can actually be self-serving: the person we are talking wit...

Define and distinguish between interdependent and independent selves as they relate to individualism and collectivism. You may use a picture to clarify your argument. The independent self acknowledges relationships with others, but the interdependent self is more deeply embedded in others. Individualism: The concept of giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defending one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications Collectivism: Giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly Researchers looking at how self-concept differs across cultures have explored how different cultures define and influence the place of the individual within that culture. Early work identified cultures as being more individualistic or more collectivist. Most Western cultures, such as Western Europe, Canada, and the US are seen as individualistic. On the oth...

What are some consequences of the self-concept? If we have a negative self-concept (in other words if we don't like ourselves, or some major elements of ourselves) this can have a distinctly negative impact. Self-Concept has the ability to backfire, Prison example: There are several to choose from. One of the best examples is the Scared Straight program, in which at-risk teens are taken to prisons and harangued by hardened inmates to avoid a life of crime. Many communities adopted this program before it was properly tested. It turns out that not only do Scared Straight programs not work, they backfire: Teens who participate are more likely to commit crimes than a randomly assigned control group of kids who do not participate. The kids seem to be getting the message that they must be at risk of becoming criminals if convicts are going to such extreme measures to talk them out of it. And indeed, in a cheating study I did with college students, I found that strong external thre...

Define a self-schema. We play many roles in our life. You for example, are a student. But you are also a man or a woman, a son or daughter, a friend, sibling, and many other things. All of these function as the elements of our self-schemas. A self-schema is a set of beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self relevant information. It is interesting to note that when information is relevant to our self-concepts, we process it more quickly and remember it better. For example, if you are telling someone a story about a party you attended, you will tend to see yourself as playing a central role in any event you are describing. And if the event centres on you, you will tend to remember it better than an event that centred on someone else. Our sense of self is at the centre of our worlds; we see ourselves on centre stage. Because of this, we tend to experience the hindsight bias in our own lives as well: we tend to overestimate the amount of control we have i...

Define the self-concept. What are some sources of the self-concept? Our self-concept, which we can define as how we perceive ourselves, plays a central role in our lives. Our self-concept has a significant impact on how we interact with others, how we interact with our families, and our overall health and well-being. If we have a positive view of ourselves, these relationships are impacted positively. But if we have a negative self-concept (in other words if we don't like ourselves, or some major elements of ourselves) this can have a distinctly negative impact.