PSYC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Random Assignment, Fundamental Attribution Error, When Prophecy Fails
PSYC104 Lecture 4 Notes 4/23/18
- Groups change how much risk people tolerate
oShifting in the cautious direction
Ex: thinking of getting married, but not agreeing on having children
In these scenarios, people initially inclined to favor caution
oShifting in the risky direction
Ex: potentially winning car race
In these scenarios, people initially think of taking a riskier position, so it moves
people towards taking risk
Likewise, in a jury, if you initially think someone is guilty, being part of the debate
causes you to think they are guiltier
With attitudes, there’s a pressure to homogenize thoughts
With opinions, want to surround yourself with similar people, but people who aren’t
as good as you. There’s a pressure to be better. Therefore, you want to be slightly
better (riskier) in your opinions compared to the average person. However, if you
think this way in a group, other people think this way as well, making you average.
Therefore, the opinions shift in a riskier direction as people try to be even riskier
Constant pressure in the riskier direction because you want to have the better
opinion in the admired direction
oExperiment: can ask group of people their opinions on an issue
People’s opinions can be plot out as a bell curve
If you divide the groups of people in 2: those in favor and those not in favor…
Those in favor will be polarized to favor the issue even more
Those not in favor will be polarized to not favor the issue even more
After split, the bell curve splits into 2 polarized curves
- MIDTERM
oMultiple choice, 50-60 questions
oDuring the 2nd half of class
oScantron provided
Cognitive dissonance: Leon Festinger
- End of the World story: When prophecy fails
oHigher being Sanandas said the world was going to end and sent messages about this to
certain people. These people joined together and believed that the world was ending,
but a space ship would arrive to pick them up at a specific time to save humanity.
However, when they met at the location at the right time, no spaceship came.
oSo many people believe the story for so long. When the story fails, what do you do?
People responded with renewed faith. Didn’t take it as disconfirmation of beliefs,
but as Sanandas saving the world because of them believing
Massive failure of prediction increased people’s belief in the prediction
Cognitive dissonance theory: if there is dissonance in your beliefs, slightly change
the story so it is sound
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Does this occur in experimental participants as well?
oParticipants given line of 100 pegs. Told to rotate each peg a quarter turn, and continue
to do so again and again
oTold participant (for compensation) to explain that the experiment is important and
fascinating to the next participant (even though it wasn’t; lie)
Experimental factor was how much the participant was compensated: small vs. large
amount of money ($1 vs. $10)
oThen participants asked to fill out survey to determine how fascinating the task was.
People who were paid small amount thought the tasks was more fascinating than
people who were paid a large amount
oIf you are paid more, you feel like you can tell a lie and justify it with compensation
while still being a good person, so you still believe the task is not fascinating
oIf you aren’t paid a lot, you feel like you’re a bad person, because it’s not justified to lie
for such a small amount of money. Instead, they start to change their attitudes to
reconcile the behavior, by thinking the task was fascinating
- Experiment: told people to write an essay to praise Castro (against their beliefs)
oOne condition: experimenter is mean and just tells the participants to write the essay
o2nd condition: experimenter is nice and persuades participants why it is good to write
the essay; justifies the essay writing
o1st condition is the one in which participants shift their opinions more to justify behavior
reduce dissonance by shifting attitudes to be more parallel to behavior. Justify the
fact that you’re writing a positive essay on someone you hate just because someone
told you to by saying you realize you like the person
- Experiment: can you get people to eat and like grasshoppers?
oOne condition: Participants told to eat grasshopper without reason. Most people don’t
want to eat grasshoppers, but still eat them
When asked to eat a 2nd grasshopper, still eats it
Asks themselves, “am I someone who just eats grasshoppers when someone tells me
to?” Don’t think so, so adjust their attitudes by saying they like grasshoppers
o2nd condition: participants told story about how soldiers need to forage for food to
survive. And they need to determine how people handle eating grasshoppers, so ask
participants to eat the grasshoppers for the cause
participants still don’t like grasshoppers after being asked to eat another
- Experiment: asked to choose to do 3 of 5 different tasks that are stressful
oTasks: do math problem, take electric shock, eat a worm, find hidden figures, listen to
high-pitched violin
oAfter picking 3 stressors (math, hidden figures, violin), experimenter told participants
that they needed more people in the electric shock group, so participants willing to get
electric shock
oThen, experimenter told participants they could choose the 3 stressors again, and more
people will still pick electric shock
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Groups change how much risk people tolerate: shifting in the cautious direction. Ex: thinking of getting married, but not agreeing on having children. In these scenarios, people initially inclined to favor caution: shifting in the risky direction. In these scenarios, people initially think of taking a riskier position, so it moves people towards taking risk. Likewise, in a jury, if you initially think someone is guilty, being part of the debate causes you to think they are guiltier. With attitudes, there"s a pressure to homogenize thoughts. With opinions, want to surround yourself with similar people, but people who aren"t as good as you. Therefore, you want to be slightly better (riskier) in your opinions compared to the average person. However, if you think this way in a group, other people think this way as well, making you average. Therefore, the opinions shift in a riskier direction as people try to be even riskier.
