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Psych 202 Midterm #2

Terms in this set (143)

Rational choice theory
based on the idea that it's always rational to "want more than less"
Rational choices
Those that maximize gains and minimize losses
Determining value according to the rational model
1) access the probability of an option having a certain outcome
2) assess the reward associated with that outcome
3) multiply the probability and the reward to get the final "expected value"
4) choose the option with the highest expected value
Rational Model example
option 1:
- 50% chance of winning $1000
- 50% chance of winning $0
option 2:
- 99% chance of winning $400
- 1% chance of winning $0

Expected value option 1:
50% x $1000 = expected value of $500

Expected value option 2:
(99% x $400) + (1% x $0) = expected value of $396
Avalibility Bias
items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently
serial position effect
our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list
representativeness heuristic
a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event with a prototype of the object or event
"law of small numbers" (not a real law!)
people often believe that small segments of "Random Processes" should "look like:" the average process**

Things that do not appear to have any logical sequence are regarded as representative of randomness and thus more likely to occur
Conjunction Fallacy
an error that occurs when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event
Gambler's fallacy
mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during some period, then it will happen more frequently in the future
hot-hand fallacy
a person who has experienced success with a random event has a greater chance of further success in additional attempts
ignoring the base rate
if presented with related base rate information (i.e. generic, general information) and specific information (information only pertaining to a certain case), the mind tends to ignore the former and focus on the latter
Information bias
people tend to seek information, even that information cannot affect their actions
framing effects
people react to a particular choice in different ways depending on whether it is presented as a loss or as a gain, as positive or negative (neutral)
loss aversion
people's tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains
risk aversion
people's tendency to strongly prefer certain gains to uncertain gains
sunk cost fallacy
people justify increased investment in a decision, based on the cumulative prior investment, despite new evidence suggesting that the cost, starting today, of continuing the decision outweighs the expected benefit
endowment effect
people ascribe more value to things merely because they own them
confirmation bias
tendency to search for, interpret, or prioritize information in a way that confirms one's beliefs or hypotheses
anchoring
the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piecw of information offered (the "anchor") when making decisions
temporal discounting
eventually you find the "indifference point"
Things that cause people to discount more:
- major catastrophes
- sadness
things that cause people to discount less:
- higher blood glucose levels
- feelings of gratification
belief perseverance
"beliefs are remarkably resilient in the face of empirical challenges that seem logically devastating"
overconfidence
the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.
intelligence
the ability to direct one's thinking, adapt to one's circumstances, and learn from one's experiences
Alfred Binet
created a test fro educators to develop remedial programs
- used to measure aptitude independent of achievement
The logic of IQ testing
- intelligence tests do not measure "intelligence," but measure performance on tasks that correlate with such behavior
- today's most widely used include the Stanford-Binet and the WAIS (the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)
Ratio IQ
a statistic obtained by dividing a person's mental age by the person's physical age and then multiplying the quotient by 100
Deviation IQ
a statistic obtained by dividing a person's test score by the average test score of people in the same qge group and then multiplying the quotient by 100
Henry Goddard (1866-1957)
administrated intelligence tests to arriving immigrants at Ellis Island
Charles Spearman (1863-1945)
measured children's perceptual abilities and correlated them with academic performance
Two- factor theory of intelligence
Spearman's theory suggesting that every task requires a combination of a general ability (g) and skills that are specific to the task (s)
Louis Thurstone
argued against g in favor of several primary mental abilities
Is there one "intelligence"?
NO.
Carroll's subtypes of intelligence
Gardner's 8 kinds of intelligence
Robert Sternberg "Triarchic Theory"
- Analytical Intelligence
- Processing information, representing problems appropriately
- Tend to do well on the SAT
- Creative Intelligence
- Create, invent, and discover
- Practical Intelligence
- Tke ideas and put them into practice
Methods: Twin Studies
A common correlational apprach to asses the extent to assess the influence of nature versus nurture
Fraternal (dizygotic) twins
twins who develop from two different eggs that were fertilized by two different sperm
Identical (monozygotic) twins
twins who develop from the splitting of a single egg that was fertilized by a single sperm
Shared environment
those environmental factors that are experienced by all relevant members of a household
Non shared environment
those environmental factors that are not experienced by all relevant members of a household
Where does intelligence come from>
clearly strong genetic component, but experience also matters
Socioeconomic status (SES)
influences intelligence through enriched biological cultural environments
- low SES is associated with overall poorer health
Low SES associated with less mental stimulation: -by age 3 --a high SES child has heard 30 million different words-a low SES child has heard 10 million different words-high SES parents tend to pose questions-low SES tend to give instructions
Environmental Influences on intelligence
intelligence is highly correlated with the amount of formal education one receives
Flynn effect
the average intelligence test score has been rising by about .3% every year
Effects of race on intelligence
group differences do exist in intelligence test performance
Racial trends
whites outscore latinos who outscore blacks
but "genes account for none of the difference in IQ between whites and blacks. Measurable environmental factors plausibly account for all of it." - Richard Nesbitt
stereotype threat
a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
Effects of Sex on Intelligence
Sex trends occur:
- Men and women outperform each other on certain cognitive tests
- male and female average scores for overall intelligence are nearly identical
- gender differences have been demonstrated in specific abilities (females better at verbal memory, males at spatial abilities)
- researchers cite evolutionary, brain-based, cultural explanations for gender differences
Brain Areas: Intelligence
Prefrontal Cortex
Effects of race on intelligence: Measurable environmental factors
Quality of education
- black and latino children more likely to go to poverty schools
Many issues related to SES
- Black children 3x more likely to live in poverty than white children
Attribution
An attribution is an inference about the cause of a person's behavior
Situational attributions
- attribute the external situation as cause
- explanations of people's behavior that refer to external events, such as the weather, luck, accidents, or other people's actions
Dispositional attributions
- attribute someone's internal disposition as cause
- attributions that explain someone's behavior in terms of factors internal to the person, such as traits or preferences
The fundamental attribution error
the tendency to make a dispositional attribution about others even when a person's behavior was largely caused by the situation
When trying to understand the cause of someone's current behavior we tend to:
1) Overestimate the influence of personal traits (honesty, moodiness, laziness)
and
2) underestimate the influence of the situation
actor-observer effect
the tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behavior of others
- we are aware of the situations that caused our behaviors, but not the situations of others
Three types of information influence us to make a dispositional or situational attribution:
1) consensus behavior
2) consistency information
3) distinctiveness
Consensus Behavior
If someone behaves the same way that you believe you/ others would behave in the same place, you make a situational attribution otherwise you make a dispositional attribution
consistency information
- How a person's behavior varies from time to time
- If someone is almost always friendly, you make a dispositional attribution. If it varies, you make a situational attribution
Distinctiveness
- How the person's behavior varies from one situation to the next
- if your friend is friendly to all but one person, you make a situational attribution
The self-serving bias is the tendency to...
take credit for our successes by attributing them to traits (personality, skills, intelligence) and...
- distance ourselves from our failures by attributing them to the situation
Role of culture in Attribution
Generally, individuals from more collectivistic cultures are less likely than those from individualistic cultures to explain behaviors in terms of personality/ disposition
Prejudice
unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group
involves: stereotyped beliefs, often involves negative emotions- hostility, envy or fear, includes predisposition towards discriminatory action
In-group
"Us"; the group with whom we share a common identity
In-Group Bias
the tendency to favor our own group
Out-group
"them"; those perceived as different from our in-group
realistic conflict theory
increasing prejudice and discrimination are closely tied to increasing degree of conflict between in-group and out-group when seeking common resources
Jane Elliot's in-group/ Out-group Experiment
Elliott decided to teach her class a daring lesson in the meaning of discrimination. She wanted to show her pupils what discrimination feels like, and what it can do to people. Elliott divided her class by eye color — those with blue eyes and those with brown.
Stereotyping
the process by which people draw inferences about others based on their knowledge of the categories to which others belong
Perception is an ....
INFERENCE
- Real-world outcomes or false identifications?
Memory is also an inference...
- Memory are reconstructions, not recollections
- more like a historical re-enactment rather than direct historical footage...
suggestibility
others helping construct the narrative of a memory
Bias
how our own beliefs about self, etc, help construct the narrative of a memory
Outcomes of Prejudice/Stereotyping
Participants' ratings of stereotypical "black features" predicted the men's likelihood of being sentenced with the death penalty, but only when the victim was described as white. The men in the photographs who were black had no criminal records but are examples provided by the authors for individuals who were viewed as less stereotypical (white) and more stereotypical (black)
Stereotypes can be inaccurate...
- acquired through hearsay or indirect observation
- heuristics and biases! (e.e., availability heuristic)
- same stereotypes used against various out-groups...
Stereotypes can be overused...
believe there is less variability within a category
because perception and memory are constructions/reconstructions, stereotypes can be self-perpetuating...
- we see and remember what we expect to see and remember
- the presence of stereotypes can cause others to conform to them
The social desirability factor
a person may not be willing to acknowledge having certain beliefs/ attitudes for fear of being judged unfavorably by others
Bogus pipeline technique
a procedure in which research participants are (falsely) led to believe that their responses will be verified by an infallible lie detector
Implicit attitude test
People not always aware that they hold subtle stereotypes/attitudes
Reducing prejudice/stereotyping
- slowing down
- inhibiting stereotypes is possible
Robbers Cave Experiment
Teaches a cooperative goal can bring two hostile groups together, thus reducing the competition and enhancing cooperation
- establishes equal status contact by
equal status contact
contact between groups in which the groups have equal status, with neither group having power over the other
discriminiation
holding stereotypes and harboring prejudice may lead to excluding, avoiding, and biased treatment of group members
social influence
the ability to control other person's behavior
Three basic motivations that make people susceptible to social influence:
- the hedonic motive
- the approval motive
- the accuracy motive
Reasons for conforming:
1) Normative social influence: desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval from the group

2) information social influence: other's opinions and behavior provides information about reality
Conformity
the tendency to dop what others do simply because others are doing it
Solomon Asch's Conformity Study
comparing length of lines; strong tendency for subjects to conform to the incorrect responses of the confederates. no explicit pressure but still conformed
Conformity increases when...
- the person is made to feel incompetent
- the group has at least three people is not a huge crowd
- the rest of the group is unanimous
- the person admires the status and attractiveness of the group
- the person has not made a prior commitment to any response
- group members observe the person's behavior
- the person'a culture encourages respect for social
bystander apathy
cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The probability of help is inversely related to the number of bystanders. In other words, the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that any one of them will help
The murder of Kitty Genovese (1964)
38 witnesses watch without coming to her aid or calling the police
- the story of Kitty Genovese prompted social psychologists Bibb and latane to study why no one came to her aid
- they found that before helping, we must first notice the incident, then interpret it as such, and then feel responsible
Factors that increase bystander intervention
- being in a good mood
- feeling guilty
- seeing others who are willing to help
- perceiving the other person as deserving of help
- knowing how to help
- a personalized relationship
- the person is similar to us
- not rushed or in a hurry
Factors that decrease bystander intervention
- the presence of other people
- being in a. big city or very small town
- vague or ambiguous situations
- when personal costs outweigh the benefits of helping
obedience
the tendency to do what powerful people tell us to do
Stanley Milgram's Obedience Study
study showing a person willingly harming another solely because an authority figure was there telling them to do so- used a shock board
What kinds of situations increase obedience?
- the person giving the orders is close at hand and perceived to be a legitimate authority
- the authority figure is associated with a prestigious institution
- the victim is depersonalized or in another room
- no role models for disobeying the authority figure
Follow-ups to Milgram
- If a confederate served as a "co-teacher" and refused to continue, 90% of real participants also refused
- the salience of suffering matters a lot- many more quit if they could see the "learners" facial expressions of agony
- the proximity of the victim matters- if seated in the same room only 40%, if had to physically put victim's hand on the shock plate only 30%
social facilitation
the tendency for weaknesses or strengths in performance to be magnified when people are watching
Performers responses in social facilitation
- performer is physiologically aroused in front of an audience
- performer's most likely response is strengthened
- better performance if performer is skilled or task is easy, and especially in front of a friendly audience (home field advantage)
- poorer performance if performer is poor or task is hard
Social loafing
less effort exerted by individuals in a group especially when individual contributions are hard to separate from the whole
- people in a group feel less accountable for their actions
- people in a group worry less about what others think
- people in a group may view their own contributions as dispensable
group polarization
- enhancement of a group's prevailing tendencies
- this self-amplifying effect in a group can be good- increases the determination and common mission in self-help groups
- polarizing effect can be bad- prejudiced groups
groupthink
groupthink results when group members try to maintain harmony in a decision-making group and ignore conflicting evidence or options
groupthink behavior includes:
- examining few alternatives
- selective gathering of information
- pressure to conform within the group
- pressure to withhold criticism
- collective rationalization
Attitudes
positive or negative feelings influenced by beliefs that predispose us to respond in certain ways to people, events, objects
ABC Model:
Affective Component (Emotions): The way a person feels toward an object, person or situation

Behavioral (Actions): The actions a person takes in regard to an object, person, or situation

Cognitive (Thoughts): The way a person thinks about the person, object, or situation
where do attitudes come from: Mere exposure effect
the more we are exposed to something, the more we tend to like it
where do attitudes come from: social exposure
influenced by peers' beliefs
where do attitudes come from: conditioning
pair person, object, situation with something we already rate positively
Persuasion
a phenomenon that occurs when a person's attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person
systemic persuasion
the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason
heuristic persuasion
the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habit or emotion, whether an individual weighs evidence and analyzes arguments matters
People evaluate the accuracy of new beliefs by...
assessing their consistency with old beliefs
central route (systematic) persuasion
- a change in attitude brought about by an appeal to reason and logic
- strong evidence and arguments are presented
- works when people are analytical or involved in the issue
peripheral route (heuristic) persuasion
- a change in attitude brought about by appeals to habit and emotion
- incidental cues, such as celebrity endorsements are used
- used when issues don't engage systemic thinking
- people rely on shortcuts (heuristics) to make a decision
cognitive dissonance
occurs when there is a mismatch between two attitudes or though/ feelings and behavior
justification of effort
why people are willing to undergo hazing- not normally willing to be in pain, embarrassed, uncomfortable (or worse), but they made the choice to be. So they overestimate the importance of the group and their commitment to it
Situational factors of attraction
- proximity
- experienced reward
physical factors of attraction
- height
- facial symmetry
- "average" face
people will typically rate the most attractive to have what specific physical features?
- facial symmetry
- "average" face
other factors of attraction:
- skin
- teeth
- grooming
Attraction norms that have changed through time:
- today in western (American in particular) culture, thinner bodies are often rated as being more attractive
- this was less true in the 1940s and 1950s
- while other cultures show many of the same preferences as ours (e.g., in terms of facial symmetry, average faces, etc.) thinness is far less universal
psychological factors of attraction:
- inner qualities- personalities
- similarity to ourselves
Similarity
we tend to like people who are similar to us
- ex: 60:40 blended face with George Bush
The physical attractiveness stereotype
the tendency to perceive attractive people as having positive characteristics
- we make assumptions about traits based upon people's attractiveness
- attractive people are seen as more sociable, altruistic, and intelligent than their unattractive counterparts
Prosocial Behavior
voluntary behavior intended to benefit another person or society as a whole
- helping, sharing, donating, cooperating, and volunteering
- may be motivated by empathy, concern about the welfare and rights of others, or for egoistic or practical concerns
Altruism
"pure form" of prosocial behavior motivated by unselfish interests in helping other people

- behavior by individual "a" that increases the reproductive fitness of individual "b" while decreasing (or keeping constant) the reproductive fitness of individual "a"
reciprocal altruism:
expectation by "A" that "b" will "return the favor"
reciprocity norm
a social norm reminding us that we should follow the principles of reciprocal altruism- if someone helps us, then we should help them in the future, and we should help people now with the expectation that they will help us later if we need it
Purpose of altruism
- humans absolutely engage in reciprocal altruism
- many animals also engage in reciprocal altruism
- birds emit an alarm to nearby birds to warn them of a predator even at a potential cost to themselves
- dolphins may support sick or injured animals by swimming under them and pushing them to the surface so they can breathe
- male baboons threaten predators and guard the rear of the troop as it retreats
- and even bats have a buddy system in which a bat that has had a successful night of feeding will regurgitate food for its less fortunate companion
kin selection
the process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives
hamilton's rule
renes increasse in frequency when...

r x b > c

OR

(r x b) - C > 0

r= genetic relatedness of actor and recipient
b= additional fitness gained by recipient
c= fitness cost to actor
Are we particularly helpful to our kin?
YES.
People are more likely to donate kidneys to relatives than to strangers
purpose of altruism
- positive mood increases helping
- guilt increases helping
gender differences in helping....
no major differences
- those that exist can almost all be tracked back to the "perceived ability to help" (e.g., males are more willing to help in situations that require physical strength)
aggression
an INTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR with the goal of causing hurt or harm
intentional
deliberate, willful
- implies a choice was made to act
behavior
physical actions, but also words, body language, etc
- violence= farthest end of the scale- severe bodily injured!
Emotional or impulsive aggression
refers to aggression that occurs with only a small amount of forethought or intent and that is determined primarily by impulsive emotions
instrumental or cognitive aggression
aggression that is intentional and planned. Instrumental aggression is more cognitive than affective and may be completely cold and calculating
What is the source of aggression?
Nature: we are born with aggressive tendencies
Nurture: aggression is learned via experience (primarily by observing others)
- ex: different cultures express aggression differently (different appropriate targets, different circumstances that provoke aggression)
Why is there aggression?
- useful for propagating the species in many ways: dispersal, gene selection, claim resources for species, twin studies suggest a genetic link
- can also "breed-in" aggression in animals by selectively mating most aggressive animals (pit-bull)
- can be a response to an unpleasant state
- aversive stimuli such as pain, heat, insults, and bad smells can evoke hostility and aggression
Sex differences in aggression:
Males and females don't hugely differ in overall propensity toward aggression
Male: physical
Female: verbal, passive-aggressive
Biopsychosocial understanding of aggression
biological influences, psychological influences, social-cultural influences

bio: genetic influences, biochemical influences such as testosterone and alcohol, neural influences, such as severe head injuries

psycho: dominating behavior (which boosts testosterone levels in the blood), believing you've drunk alcohol (whether you actually have or have not), frustration, aggressive role models, rewards for aggressive behavior

social-cultural influences: deindividuation from being in a crowd, challenging environmental factors, such as crowding heat, and direct provocations, parental models of aggression, minimal father involvement, being rejected from a group, exposure to violent media
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