Chapter 13: Social Psychology

Social Comparison and Social Contagion

Social psychology examines how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts. Two important concepts are social comparison and social contagion.

• Social Comparison: The process of evaluating oneself in relation to others. There are two types:

  • Upward social comparison: Comparing ourselves to people who are better off, which can inspire self-improvement or lead to feelings of inadequacy.

  • Downward social comparison: Comparing ourselves to those worse off, which can boost self-esteem.

• Social Contagion: The spread of behaviors, emotions, or ideas through a group. For example, laughter or panic can spread rapidly in crowds.

• Mass Hysteria: A form of social contagion involving widespread, intense fear or irrational behavior within a group.

Attributions and Attribution Errors

Attribution theory explores how people explain the causes of behavior.

• Attributions: Explanations for why people behave as they do, which can be internal (dispositional) or external (situational).

• Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior.

• Ultimate Attribution Error: Attributing negative behaviors of out-group members to their disposition, while attributing positive behaviors to external factors.

Conformity, Obedience, and Deindividuation

• Conformity: Adjusting behavior or thinking to align with group norms. Asch's studies demonstrated that people often conform to group pressure, even when the group is clearly wrong. Factors that decrease conformity include the presence of an ally, private responses, and smaller group size.

• Obedience: Following orders from an authority figure. Milgram's study showed that people are surprisingly likely to obey authority, even when it involves harming others.

• Deindividuation: Loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in groups, leading to atypical behavior. Zimbardo's prison study illustrated how roles and anonymity can foster deindividuation.

Group Processes and Bystander Effect

• Pluralistic Ignorance: When individuals in a group mistakenly believe their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are different from those of the group.

• Diffusion of Responsibility: The tendency for individuals to feel less personal responsibility when others are present.

• Bystander Non-Intervention: The phenomenon where people are less likely to help in emergencies when others are present.

• Social Loafing: The tendency for people to exert less effort when working in groups compared to working alone.

• Enlightenment Effect: Learning about psychological research can change real-world behavior, such as increasing the likelihood of helping others.

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Persuasion

• Attitudes: Evaluations of people, objects, or ideas.

• Beliefs: Enduring pieces of knowledge about an object or event.

• Cognitive Dissonance Theory: The discomfort experienced when holding conflicting attitudes or beliefs, often leading to attitude change.

• Self-Perception Theory: People infer their attitudes from their behavior.

• Impression Management Theory: People adjust their attitudes to appear consistent to others.

• Central Route to Persuasion: Involves careful, thoughtful consideration of arguments (leads to lasting attitude change).

• Peripheral Route to Persuasion: Involves superficial cues (e.g., attractiveness of speaker), leading to temporary attitude change.

• Persuasion Techniques:

  • Foot-in-the-door: Start with a small request, then follow with a larger one.

  • Door-in-the-face: Start with a large request, then retreat to a smaller one.

  • Low-ball: Get agreement, then reveal hidden costs.

  • "But you are free": Emphasize the person's freedom to choose.

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination

• Prejudice: Negative attitude toward a group.

• Stereotype: Generalized belief about a group.

• Discrimination: Negative behavior toward a group.

• Illusory Correlations: Perceiving a relationship between variables (often people and behaviors) when none exists.

• In-group Bias: Favoring one's own group.

• Out-group Homogeneity: Perceiving members of other groups as more similar to each other than they really are.

• Scapegoat Hypothesis: Blaming out-groups for problems.

Combating Prejudice

• Robber’s Cave Study: Demonstrated that intergroup conflict can be reduced through cooperative goals.

• Jigsaw Classrooms: Cooperative learning technique that reduces prejudice by having students work together toward common goals.

Chapter 14: Personality

Genetic and Environmental Influences

• Genetic Factors: Heritable influences on personality.

• Shared Environmental Factors: Environmental influences that make individuals in a family more alike.

• Nonshared Environmental Factors: Environmental influences that make individuals in a family less alike.

• Twin and Adoption Studies: Used to disentangle genetic and environmental contributions to personality.

Freud’s Structural Model of Personality

• Id: Primitive, instinctual part of the mind; operates on the pleasure principle.

• Ego: Rational part; mediates between id and superego; operates on the reality principle.

• Superego: Moral conscience; internalizes societal rules.

Defense Mechanisms

• Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious strategies used by the ego to reduce anxiety by distorting reality.

• Examples include repression, denial, projection, etc. (not required to know all types for this exam).

Major Perspectives on Personality

• Psychoanalytic: Emphasizes unconscious processes and early childhood experiences.

• Humanist: Focuses on free will, self-actualization, and personal growth.

• Behaviourist: Emphasizes observable behavior and environmental influences.

• These perspectives differ in their emphasis on internal vs. external factors and conscious vs. unconscious processes.

Self-Actualization and Conditions of Worth

• Self-Actualization: The drive to realize one's full potential.

• Conditions of Worth: Expectations we place on ourselves for receiving approval from others.

The Big Five Personality Traits

• Conscientiousness: Organized, dependable.

• Agreeableness: Compassionate, cooperative.

• Neuroticism: Tendency toward negative emotions.

• Openness: Imaginative, open to new experiences.

• Extraversion: Outgoing, energetic.

Personality Assessment

• Reliability: Consistency of a test.

• Validity: Whether a test measures what it claims to measure.

• Structured Tests: Standardized questionnaires (e.g., MMPI); high reliability, variable validity.

• Projective Tests: Ambiguous stimuli (e.g., Rorschach Inkblot Test); lower reliability and validity.

Chapter 15: Psychological Disorders

Defining Abnormality

• Statistical Rarity: Uncommon in the population.

• Subjective Distress: Causes emotional pain.

• Impairment: Interferes with daily functioning.

• Biological Dysfunction: Breakdown in physiological systems.

DSM-5 and Diagnosis

• DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition; standard classification system.

• Comorbidity: Co-occurrence of two or more disorders.

• Categorical vs. Dimensional: Disorders as distinct categories vs. existing on a continuum.

• Medicalizing Normality: Risk of labeling normal behavior as pathological.

Anxiety Disorders

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Chronic, excessive worry.

• Panic Disorder: Recurrent, unexpected panic attacks.

• Panic Attack: Sudden, intense fear with physical symptoms.

• Phobias: Intense, irrational fears of specific objects or situations.

• Agoraphobia: Fear of situations where escape is difficult.

• PTSD: Persistent distress after a traumatic event.

• OCD: Obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors).

Mood Disorders

• Major Depression: Persistent sadness, loss of interest.

• Bipolar I: At least one manic episode, often with depressive episodes.

• Bipolar II: At least one hypomanic episode and one major depressive episode.

• Mood Episodes: Distinct periods of mood disturbance (manic, hypomanic, depressive).

Personality and Dissociative Disorders

• Borderline Personality Disorder: Instability in mood, relationships, and self-image.

• Psychopathic Personality: Superficial charm, lack of empathy, manipulativeness.

• Dissociative Amnesia: Inability to recall important personal information.

• Dissociative Fugue: Sudden travel away from home with amnesia for identity.

• Dissociative Identity Disorder: Two or more distinct identities.

• Posttraumatic Model: DID results from severe trauma.

• Sociocognitive Model: DID arises from social and cultural influences.

Schizophrenia

• Delusions: False beliefs.

• Hallucinations: False sensory perceptions.

• Disorganized Speech: Incoherent or illogical speech.

• Catatonic Symptoms: Motor problems, such as rigidity or stupor.

• Positive Symptoms: Excesses (e.g., hallucinations, delusions).

• Negative Symptoms: Deficits (e.g., flat affect, social withdrawal).

• Enlarged Ventricles: Brain abnormality seen in some patients.

• Diathesis-Stress Model: Disorders result from genetic vulnerability and environmental stress.

Chapter 16: Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Insight Therapies

• Psychodynamic Therapy: Focuses on unconscious processes and past experiences. Techniques include free association and working through unresolved conflicts.

• Humanistic Therapy: Emphasizes personal growth and self-acceptance. Techniques include unconditional positive regard and reflection.

Behavioral Therapies

• Systematic Desensitization: Gradual exposure to feared stimuli while practicing relaxation. Involves creating an anxiety hierarchy and using reciprocal inhibition (relaxation inhibits anxiety).

• Flooding: Immediate, intense exposure to feared stimuli without gradual buildup.

• In Vivo: Real-life exposure to feared situations.

• Response Prevention: Preventing avoidance or compulsive behaviors during exposure.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• CBT: Combines cognitive restructuring (changing maladaptive thoughts) with behavioral techniques. Effective for anxiety, depression, and more.

• Behavioral and CBT approaches are often more effective than insight therapies for specific symptoms (e.g., phobias, OCD).

Meta-Analysis

• Meta-Analysis: Statistical technique that combines results from multiple studies to determine overall effectiveness of treatments.

Biomedical Treatments

• Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): Electrical stimulation of the brain to treat severe depression; may cause memory loss.

• Psychopharmacotherapy: Use of medications to treat psychological disorders.

• Psychosurgery: Surgical procedures on the brain; rarely used due to risks (e.g., memory loss).

Medications and Side Effects

• Tardive Dyskinesia: Involuntary movements, often from long-term antipsychotic use.

• Memory Loss: Possible side effect of ECT and psychosurgery.

Short-Answer Sample Topics

• Prejudice vs. Discrimination: Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is behavior. Example: Disliking a group (prejudice) vs. refusing to hire them (discrimination).

• Out-group Homogeneity and Ultimate Attribution Error: Seeing out-group members as all alike can lead to attributing their negative actions to their character (illusory correlations reinforce this).

• Group Work and Social Psychology: Social loafing, deindividuation, pluralistic ignorance, and diffusion of responsibility can reduce individual effort in group tasks.

• Big Five Trait Example: Someone low in extraversion, high in agreeableness, average in neuroticism, low in conscientiousness, and high in openness may be creative and kind but disorganized and introverted.

• Structured vs. Projective Tests: Structured: MMPI (reliable, objective); Projective: Rorschach (less reliable, subjective).

• Trait Approach vs. Other Approaches: Trait approach focuses on measurable traits; others focus on unconscious, learned, or growth processes. Trait approach allows for comparison across individuals.

• Criteria for Abnormality: Apply statistical rarity, distress, impairment, and dysfunction to case studies.

• Diathesis-Stress Model: Genetic vulnerability plus stress leads to disorder; e.g., two people with similar genes may differ if only one experiences major stress.

• Schizophrenia Symptoms: Positive (hallucinations, delusions) vs. negative (flat affect, withdrawal); negative symptoms often lead to greater impairment.

• Treatment Effectiveness: Some disorders respond best to medication (e.g., schizophrenia), others to therapy (e.g., phobias), and some to both (e.g., depression).

• CBT for Non-Disorders: CBT techniques (e.g., challenging negative thoughts) can help with everyday stress or habits.

• Systematic Desensitization Session: Client creates an anxiety hierarchy, learns relaxation (reciprocal inhibition), and is gradually exposed to feared stimuli while preventing avoidance (response prevention).