A) 1. Self-monitoring is a concept that intrigues me and that I'm glad to know about. As a low self-monitor I will now pay more attention in situations and see how people act differently around me than they do around others.
2. I am also fascinated by social proof, and see it happen nearly every day. I have several friends who are constantly dying for the latest thing. When they got an Ipod for Christmas, they were already ready for the video Ipod three months later. They bought themselves a Cadillac but then had to get the newest acura because that's what everyone else had.
3. Being someone interested and sympathetic to revolutionary causes I was astounded to learn about deindividuation in groups. Mobs make much more sense to me now.
4. The "sexiest" theories of all for me were those involving the "what is good is beautiful" category that says that beautiful treated are looked more highly upon and are treated better than average people. I've seen it happen my whole life and have always wanted to see proof.
5. I've always wondered how such a large portion of the population still believes that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when we invaded them when it has been proven that there was nothing in the country whatsoever. I know understand that those who still believe are victims of perseverence theory, and have rationalized the war based upon their belief of wmds.
B) 1. Zimbardo-His studies are always imaginative and funny. For example the grasshopper study is kind of gross but had funny results, and the prison study took hutspach
2. Zajonc- I like his creativity, such as using the german syllables to mimic facial expressions. His study with social facilitation was also well thought-out. Plus, his name is spelled crazy :)
3. Lewin-he laid a lot of groundwork for future research, and I like that he fleed the nazis rather than helping them. Futhermore, I'm impressed how he was able to persuade people to sacrifice a little for the war.
4. Baumeister-not only did he have intriguing studies, but I am studying and building on many of his theories for my own capstone project involving self-regulation.
5. Gottman- I mean, hello, the guy has a freakin' love lab! His research is absolutely fascinating, and it takes a brilliant mind to analyze so much data to come up with such simple and universal results.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
DAC blog
http://www.youtube.com/v/T0gQWVx4Gko
The Artists' Memo:Let me state for the record that this is my first video project ever, and certainly the first that required me to edit content to create short clips. I edited over 36 minutes of material so this in itself was a great feat! There are very rough transitions, and because I only filmed the screen for one of the participants, sometimes it is difficult to determine which photo they are discussing. Most of the clips start out by showing the participant, but at the end beginning with the girl who says "Partier, knows large groups of people..." the participants are describing the girl in the halloween costume. The pictures that were presented in the powerpoint are placed in the bottom part of this blog.
I adapted a model of Willis and Todorov's 2006 study in which they found that students who were shown pictures of strangers made quick judgments on various measures and that their responses were highly correlated. This phenomenon that we can find the same personality traits by just looking at a person are due to the fact that we are influenced in subtle ways by aspects of peoples appearance. Similarly, the indirect cues such as the setting/environment or props can also affect our judgments (Gosling et al., 2002). I wanted to integrate these two concepts into a similar experiment.
In order to demonstrate this concept that people make snap judgments of personality based on a quick perception, I asked 5 people to observe several photographs and to talk about their impressions of them. I asked leading questions in order for them to elaborate, and also as a way to compare answers on specific aspects of personality. Because I wanted to shape the participants' observations to be more correlational, I picked pictures that were purposefully designed to instill certain images or messages. For example, in one picture a girl is pictured with her dog. In another, the same girl is shown at a party wearing provocative dress and holding the infamous red cup. The participants made completely different assumptions about the same girl because of the setting and indirect cues present in the photograph.
Although many of them felt resisitance because of the social desirability bias, many of them made the same assumptions about people. For example, in the first photograph, 3 people used the exact term "emo" in describing the girls' personality. Also, when asked who they thought a girl (again, the same party/cute dog girl) voted for in the last election all of their answers shifted from McCain when she was pictured with the dog, and for Obama when she was depicted at a party. Similarly, the boy in the hat was described as someone who was funny and used his comedy to fulfill his need to be the center of attention by a few participants, but the same boy when dressed in a sweater was described as someone who was proud and possibly conceited.
References:
Willis, J. & Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. Psychological Science, 17, 592-598.
Gosling, S., Ko, S., Mannarelli, T. & Morris, M. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379-398.
The Artists' Memo:Let me state for the record that this is my first video project ever, and certainly the first that required me to edit content to create short clips. I edited over 36 minutes of material so this in itself was a great feat! There are very rough transitions, and because I only filmed the screen for one of the participants, sometimes it is difficult to determine which photo they are discussing. Most of the clips start out by showing the participant, but at the end beginning with the girl who says "Partier, knows large groups of people..." the participants are describing the girl in the halloween costume. The pictures that were presented in the powerpoint are placed in the bottom part of this blog.
I adapted a model of Willis and Todorov's 2006 study in which they found that students who were shown pictures of strangers made quick judgments on various measures and that their responses were highly correlated. This phenomenon that we can find the same personality traits by just looking at a person are due to the fact that we are influenced in subtle ways by aspects of peoples appearance. Similarly, the indirect cues such as the setting/environment or props can also affect our judgments (Gosling et al., 2002). I wanted to integrate these two concepts into a similar experiment.
In order to demonstrate this concept that people make snap judgments of personality based on a quick perception, I asked 5 people to observe several photographs and to talk about their impressions of them. I asked leading questions in order for them to elaborate, and also as a way to compare answers on specific aspects of personality. Because I wanted to shape the participants' observations to be more correlational, I picked pictures that were purposefully designed to instill certain images or messages. For example, in one picture a girl is pictured with her dog. In another, the same girl is shown at a party wearing provocative dress and holding the infamous red cup. The participants made completely different assumptions about the same girl because of the setting and indirect cues present in the photograph.
Although many of them felt resisitance because of the social desirability bias, many of them made the same assumptions about people. For example, in the first photograph, 3 people used the exact term "emo" in describing the girls' personality. Also, when asked who they thought a girl (again, the same party/cute dog girl) voted for in the last election all of their answers shifted from McCain when she was pictured with the dog, and for Obama when she was depicted at a party. Similarly, the boy in the hat was described as someone who was funny and used his comedy to fulfill his need to be the center of attention by a few participants, but the same boy when dressed in a sweater was described as someone who was proud and possibly conceited.
References:
Willis, J. & Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. Psychological Science, 17, 592-598.
Gosling, S., Ko, S., Mannarelli, T. & Morris, M. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379-398.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Blog 8
A couple of years ago, it was time for me to trade in my old beater Chevy S10 for a new(er), more gas efficient Honda. Smurfette (my sky blue truck) was good to me, and ran just fine, but she was only a two seater and not the most reliable for making the long haul from Denton to Georgetown. She had several add ons as well, which made her a great truck for someone who needed something to get around town but not for long drives.
When I found my car however, the salesman attempted to use the social psychological technique of low-balling. I was very picky about which type of Accord I wanted, I wasn't too concerned about color, although living in Texas I was hoping to find a white car. My main goal was to find a standard transmission Accord without a million miles on it that was within my price range. Because the ratio of standards to automatics for Accords is 1:40 when I found a low mileage white standard I knew I had to have it. Problem was, the salesman knew how badly I wanted it. He gave me a great price on the car, then went to ask his manager how much they could give me for my truck.
Kiesler (1971) predicts that at this point, the salesman knows that now that I have made the decision to buy the car, I am in the seat opposite his desk justifying my purchase to myself by thinking of all the positives of my car. He can then make me a ridiculous offer for my truck (which he did) in the hope that because I am so in love with the car I'll make any offer to have it. Unfortunately for him, my dad and I were ready for his tricks. Instead of thinking about how great the car was while the salesperson talked to his manager, we discussed the minimum price we would accept for the truck. When the salesperson quoted a price about 750 less than we'd agreed to take, we refused to buy the car until he made a more realistic offer. He did, and by the way I LOVE my Honda :)
Reference:
Kiesler, C. (1971). The psychology of commitment. New York: Academic Press.
When I found my car however, the salesman attempted to use the social psychological technique of low-balling. I was very picky about which type of Accord I wanted, I wasn't too concerned about color, although living in Texas I was hoping to find a white car. My main goal was to find a standard transmission Accord without a million miles on it that was within my price range. Because the ratio of standards to automatics for Accords is 1:40 when I found a low mileage white standard I knew I had to have it. Problem was, the salesman knew how badly I wanted it. He gave me a great price on the car, then went to ask his manager how much they could give me for my truck.
Kiesler (1971) predicts that at this point, the salesman knows that now that I have made the decision to buy the car, I am in the seat opposite his desk justifying my purchase to myself by thinking of all the positives of my car. He can then make me a ridiculous offer for my truck (which he did) in the hope that because I am so in love with the car I'll make any offer to have it. Unfortunately for him, my dad and I were ready for his tricks. Instead of thinking about how great the car was while the salesperson talked to his manager, we discussed the minimum price we would accept for the truck. When the salesperson quoted a price about 750 less than we'd agreed to take, we refused to buy the car until he made a more realistic offer. He did, and by the way I LOVE my Honda :)
Reference:
Kiesler, C. (1971). The psychology of commitment. New York: Academic Press.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Blog 7
Do people's pain thresholds change depending on whether or not the pain is perceived as voluntary or not? According to Zimbardo's 1969 study of electric shocks, yes, those who thought they had a choice in the matter reported feeling less pain than those who felt they had less choice. Because of the cognitive dissonance that is created in feeling that they have little external justification for allowing themselves to feel this pain, people turn inward to change their attitudes about the pain. In finding a way to justify the pain they feel that they themselves have allowed to happen, they convince themselves the pain isn't that bad, and their bodies actually believe them. They actually have less galvanic skin conductance than those who believe they have little or no choice in receiving the pain.
From an early age, I have hated getting boosters and other types of shots. I would scream and cry no matter what type of needle I was going to be pricked with, and though the screaming and crying has ceased, I still have a panic attack when I get blood drawn or get an IV. I feel that these things are not really voluntary, as I need them to be well. Therefore, when I'm in a situation in which I need to be stuck with a needle it feels like it hurts immensely. According to Zimbardo et al. this perceived pain is due to the fact that I blame the pain on the external factor that it is medically necessary.
On the other hand, I have three tattoos, including two on my feet, and also have had my lip and navel pierced. While I'll admit that both the tattoos on my feet, and the lip piercing hurt, the other two (the navel and the other tattoo) were very minor in the pain scale. Surprisingly, I did not panic when I got any of these things done. I was very willing in my decision to have these things done. All of these things hurt far worse than getting blood drawn or getting an IV, but they caused me much less physical stress. This is because in knowing that there were no external factors to blame, I had made this choice on my own knowing they would hurt, I actually convinced myself and my body that the pain was not so bad. If tattoos were a medically necessary procedure I think myself and many others would probably pass out during the process. But when tattoos are a choice, such as they were for me, I found myself even watching the needle while it was pricking me (which I wouldn't dream of doing during a blood draw).
References:
Zimbardo, P. (1969) The cognitive control of motivation. Glenview, Ill; Scott Foresman.
Zimbardo, P. , Ebbeson, E. & Maslach, C. (1977) Influencing attitudes and changing behavior (2nd ed.). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
From an early age, I have hated getting boosters and other types of shots. I would scream and cry no matter what type of needle I was going to be pricked with, and though the screaming and crying has ceased, I still have a panic attack when I get blood drawn or get an IV. I feel that these things are not really voluntary, as I need them to be well. Therefore, when I'm in a situation in which I need to be stuck with a needle it feels like it hurts immensely. According to Zimbardo et al. this perceived pain is due to the fact that I blame the pain on the external factor that it is medically necessary.
On the other hand, I have three tattoos, including two on my feet, and also have had my lip and navel pierced. While I'll admit that both the tattoos on my feet, and the lip piercing hurt, the other two (the navel and the other tattoo) were very minor in the pain scale. Surprisingly, I did not panic when I got any of these things done. I was very willing in my decision to have these things done. All of these things hurt far worse than getting blood drawn or getting an IV, but they caused me much less physical stress. This is because in knowing that there were no external factors to blame, I had made this choice on my own knowing they would hurt, I actually convinced myself and my body that the pain was not so bad. If tattoos were a medically necessary procedure I think myself and many others would probably pass out during the process. But when tattoos are a choice, such as they were for me, I found myself even watching the needle while it was pricking me (which I wouldn't dream of doing during a blood draw).
References:
Zimbardo, P. (1969) The cognitive control of motivation. Glenview, Ill; Scott Foresman.
Zimbardo, P. , Ebbeson, E. & Maslach, C. (1977) Influencing attitudes and changing behavior (2nd ed.). Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Blog 6
Miller and Campbell (1959) demonstrated the recency and primacy effects in jury decisions by having the presentations of the defense and prosecution in differing orders, and differing in the time between the argument presentation and the jury's decision. They found that when the decision was delayed a primacy effect was in place. However, when the decision must be made directly after the presentations, that a recency effect occurred.
While there are probably a plethora of examples of this phenomenon, one example is an error that I make on a regular basis. When I walk through a store of any sort, I try my best to spend as little money as possible. I get only the things that I decide that I absolutely must have. However, when I get to the impulse isle at the checkout stand, I am usually ruined if there is a line at all. Looking at the magazine covers, the candy, and often the little gidgets and gadgets is too much!! Even if I have seen the item elsewhere in the store I cannot resist them when I'm in the home stretch. Even if it is a 5 dollar item I can justify it to myself even if when I was in the store far away from checkout I decided that it was not worth it. I guess I feel that it is my last chance to make a change before I checkout.
Reference:
Miller, N. & Campbell, D. (1959). Recency and primacy in persuasion as a function of the timing of speeches and measurements. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 1-9.
While there are probably a plethora of examples of this phenomenon, one example is an error that I make on a regular basis. When I walk through a store of any sort, I try my best to spend as little money as possible. I get only the things that I decide that I absolutely must have. However, when I get to the impulse isle at the checkout stand, I am usually ruined if there is a line at all. Looking at the magazine covers, the candy, and often the little gidgets and gadgets is too much!! Even if I have seen the item elsewhere in the store I cannot resist them when I'm in the home stretch. Even if it is a 5 dollar item I can justify it to myself even if when I was in the store far away from checkout I decided that it was not worth it. I guess I feel that it is my last chance to make a change before I checkout.
Reference:
Miller, N. & Campbell, D. (1959). Recency and primacy in persuasion as a function of the timing of speeches and measurements. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 1-9.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Blog 5
According to Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) our behavior correlates with our held attitudes only when the attitude is very specific toward that behavior. Otherwise, our attitudes toward something are usually not a very good predictor of how will we behave in a given situation. For example, although I am a strong environmentalist and have participated in many many highway cleanups and other types of beach cleanups, I am the only person among all of my friends who has a littering ticket. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that I am the only person I know of who has ever gotten a ticket for littering. While the people in my various volunteer groups would be shocked to know this, and admittedly I am still shocked by it, the situation in which my ticket occurred did not reflect my attitudes toward the environment.
In fact, I think it would be fair to say that most people in my situation would have behaved the same way regardless of their attitudes. I had a car packed full of things because I was going on a camping trip with some friends. Of course, 35 South was stacked and packed with cars as well, and traffic was stop and go for miles. During one run of the highway we began to pick up speed, then all had to slam on our brakes. Unfortunately, when that occurred some cans from the 12 pack of cokes in the back slid out of their packages, hit the side of the dog kennel and exploded all over me and the car. As they were exploding, I threw the cans into the median of the highway, only to find out that a motorcycle cop was just 3 cars behind me.
If my attitude was that littering is immoral no matter the circumstances, and that the earth comes before anything, I probably would have behaved in accord with that attitude and kept the cans exploding all over the place. But, since my attitude is that you should try to throw away your trash in the trashcan and not be lazy and throw it out the window, in this particular situation my behavior did not necessarily line up with my attitudes.
Reference:
Azjen, I. & Fishbein, M. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 888-918.
In fact, I think it would be fair to say that most people in my situation would have behaved the same way regardless of their attitudes. I had a car packed full of things because I was going on a camping trip with some friends. Of course, 35 South was stacked and packed with cars as well, and traffic was stop and go for miles. During one run of the highway we began to pick up speed, then all had to slam on our brakes. Unfortunately, when that occurred some cans from the 12 pack of cokes in the back slid out of their packages, hit the side of the dog kennel and exploded all over me and the car. As they were exploding, I threw the cans into the median of the highway, only to find out that a motorcycle cop was just 3 cars behind me.
If my attitude was that littering is immoral no matter the circumstances, and that the earth comes before anything, I probably would have behaved in accord with that attitude and kept the cans exploding all over the place. But, since my attitude is that you should try to throw away your trash in the trashcan and not be lazy and throw it out the window, in this particular situation my behavior did not necessarily line up with my attitudes.
Reference:
Azjen, I. & Fishbein, M. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 888-918.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Blog 4
When we feel that we are representative a group, or a cause larger than ourself, we often feel pressure to ensure that we are representing that group in a positive fashion. It is important to us that we belong to strong groups. That is why when we feel that when we are representing a group in an area in which stereotypically our group does poorly, we feel added pressure to perform well at the task (Ben-Zeev et al., 2005; Blascovich et al., 2001; O'Brien & Crandall, 2003).
I can remember feeling pressured to represent women in several different areas throughout my life. One example is when I was an athlete the summer before my 6th grade year. I was 12 years old and one of the best female athletes in my school. That summer I took The Althlete's Course, a challenging and rigorous daily morning workout offered at the high school. Only one other girl took the course, a 10th grader at the high school. I felt intimidated by all of the high school football players, and also felt that I was representing not only my sex but also my age. I worked hard every day, and got to the point where I was bench pressing 70 pounds. To this day, I cannot even bench press that amount of weight, but I felt especially pressured to do well, and among guys lift upwards of 100 pounds and much more, I definitely still had a long way to go.
Similarly, I have always been interested in math and science. I've excelled in those subjects as well, passing a year and taking algebra a year earlier than others my age. In my advanced math and science classes, there were usually more boys than girls. One year, I was one of 2 girls in a class of about 15 students in an advanced biology class. I felt added pressure not only to make good grades for myself, but also to break the stereotype that men are better than women in the physical sciences.
References:
Ben-Zeev, T., Fein, S., & Inzlicht, M. (2005). Arousal and stereotype threat. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 44, 170-202.
Blascovich, J., Spencer, S., Quinn, D. & Steele, C. (2001). African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science, 12, 225-229.
O'Brien, L., & Crandall, C. (2003). Stereotype threat and arousal: Effects of women's math performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 782-789.
I can remember feeling pressured to represent women in several different areas throughout my life. One example is when I was an athlete the summer before my 6th grade year. I was 12 years old and one of the best female athletes in my school. That summer I took The Althlete's Course, a challenging and rigorous daily morning workout offered at the high school. Only one other girl took the course, a 10th grader at the high school. I felt intimidated by all of the high school football players, and also felt that I was representing not only my sex but also my age. I worked hard every day, and got to the point where I was bench pressing 70 pounds. To this day, I cannot even bench press that amount of weight, but I felt especially pressured to do well, and among guys lift upwards of 100 pounds and much more, I definitely still had a long way to go.
Similarly, I have always been interested in math and science. I've excelled in those subjects as well, passing a year and taking algebra a year earlier than others my age. In my advanced math and science classes, there were usually more boys than girls. One year, I was one of 2 girls in a class of about 15 students in an advanced biology class. I felt added pressure not only to make good grades for myself, but also to break the stereotype that men are better than women in the physical sciences.
References:
Ben-Zeev, T., Fein, S., & Inzlicht, M. (2005). Arousal and stereotype threat. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 44, 170-202.
Blascovich, J., Spencer, S., Quinn, D. & Steele, C. (2001). African Americans and high blood pressure: The role of stereotype threat. Psychological Science, 12, 225-229.
O'Brien, L., & Crandall, C. (2003). Stereotype threat and arousal: Effects of women's math performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 782-789.
IAT blog
As someone who considers themselves open-minded and accepting of all walks of life, I took the IAT with conceptions in mind already of how I would fare. As someone without any conscious biases I expected the IAT to reflect this lack of biases. I took the tests for the gender/job and the black/white faces.
The first test, the black & white bias test, confirmed my conscious belief that I was not biased one way or the other regarding race. I was categorized as someone who does not favor one race over another. This was not surprising, as my whole life I have been around people of all races. My father was a reggae musician for several years up until I was 3 years old, and as a result had many friends of African American descent who babysat me or came to the house from the time I was very young. Early on I learned that people were all different colors and never thought much about race until middle school when race suddenly became a conscious issue between my peers and I. Despite cultural differences that emerged during middle school, I maintained relationships with my friends of various races and have always supported the idea that ALL men are created equal.
The second test, the gender/job correlation test addressed an issue that I care deeply about. Gender roles for females have always outraged me, as I feel that women have been oppressed and under-advantaged because of their societal roles for centuries. Because of these beliefs, I was extremely surprised by the results that I was moderately biased toward men with scientific professions and women with humanities professions. It was especially stunning because when I came to Southwestern I was a biology major aspiring to become a bio-engineer. Furthermore, I refuse to see male doctors and will only rely on female doctors within the field. I thought for a while after reading my results about why I would receive such results. My first reaction, which may not be completely wrong, was to think that it had to do with the order in which the categories appeared. The intuitive societal beliefs were presented first, followed by the non-traditional roles second. I feel that in all three of the tests I was slower when attempting the second condition than the first. Despite this test-order bias, I strongly believe that my results reflected not a personal bias but rather reflected the well-known societal bias toward these career paths and the personality traits associated with them between the genders. Perhaps because of the stereotypes and proportions of actual men and women in these fields that I have personally encountered I am more likely to associate women with the liberal arts and men with the sciences. I need to re-evaluate my own perceptions and assumptions about these professions and the professionals within them.
In order to test my theory that the tests indicate an influence by the effects of the order presentation, I retook the tests in order to determine whether or not order effects were influencing the results. I retook the gender/career IAT, and this time the counter-intuitive or less societal norm condition was presented first. The results indicated a complete flip, in which I was slightly biased toward men having liberal arts professions and women having more science-based professions. This change in results indicates that I am slower at learning the associations for the second condition, after I already have the old associations learned. I feel like while the IAT is valid to some extent, because of order-effects one would need to retry the test at least 3 times to ensure that the results reflect internal beliefs or biases rather than a reflection of the order effect of the conditions.
The first test, the black & white bias test, confirmed my conscious belief that I was not biased one way or the other regarding race. I was categorized as someone who does not favor one race over another. This was not surprising, as my whole life I have been around people of all races. My father was a reggae musician for several years up until I was 3 years old, and as a result had many friends of African American descent who babysat me or came to the house from the time I was very young. Early on I learned that people were all different colors and never thought much about race until middle school when race suddenly became a conscious issue between my peers and I. Despite cultural differences that emerged during middle school, I maintained relationships with my friends of various races and have always supported the idea that ALL men are created equal.
The second test, the gender/job correlation test addressed an issue that I care deeply about. Gender roles for females have always outraged me, as I feel that women have been oppressed and under-advantaged because of their societal roles for centuries. Because of these beliefs, I was extremely surprised by the results that I was moderately biased toward men with scientific professions and women with humanities professions. It was especially stunning because when I came to Southwestern I was a biology major aspiring to become a bio-engineer. Furthermore, I refuse to see male doctors and will only rely on female doctors within the field. I thought for a while after reading my results about why I would receive such results. My first reaction, which may not be completely wrong, was to think that it had to do with the order in which the categories appeared. The intuitive societal beliefs were presented first, followed by the non-traditional roles second. I feel that in all three of the tests I was slower when attempting the second condition than the first. Despite this test-order bias, I strongly believe that my results reflected not a personal bias but rather reflected the well-known societal bias toward these career paths and the personality traits associated with them between the genders. Perhaps because of the stereotypes and proportions of actual men and women in these fields that I have personally encountered I am more likely to associate women with the liberal arts and men with the sciences. I need to re-evaluate my own perceptions and assumptions about these professions and the professionals within them.
In order to test my theory that the tests indicate an influence by the effects of the order presentation, I retook the tests in order to determine whether or not order effects were influencing the results. I retook the gender/career IAT, and this time the counter-intuitive or less societal norm condition was presented first. The results indicated a complete flip, in which I was slightly biased toward men having liberal arts professions and women having more science-based professions. This change in results indicates that I am slower at learning the associations for the second condition, after I already have the old associations learned. I feel like while the IAT is valid to some extent, because of order-effects one would need to retry the test at least 3 times to ensure that the results reflect internal beliefs or biases rather than a reflection of the order effect of the conditions.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
gotta serve somebody
Self-serving cognitions are a funny thing. We give ourselves the praise when something goes right even if we had no control over the outcome, yet when things go wrong it's everyones fault but ourselves and we don't even notice when we do this (Mezulis et al., 2004; Schlenker et al., 1990; Pronin et al., 2004)! We even go so far as to make predictions about the outcome of an event, and when our predictions are right we think that we influenced that outcome even though it is impossible that we had any impact at all (Pronin et al., 2006). When I think of things that I think that I have some influence over when really I have none at all one bright example comes to mind. I've watched Cowboys football since I was old enough to be set in front of a tv. When the Cowboys start to get down and aren't playing up to par, I put on my Marion Barber jersey and I am fully convinced that because of that jersey their game gets better. Obviously, there is no possible way that me wearing my jersey in Georgetown, TX could effect the play of the players in Irving, TX but I KNOW that if I don't put on that jersey they're going to loose. Of course, when they do start playing better I take the credit and say things like "its a good thing I put my jersey on," and other ridiculous statements. Its funny because the Cowboys are a second half team so the improvement is due to the fact that they get better as the game progresses which is of course a perfectly logical explanation. All I know is I'm still wearing that jersey every game just in case :)
References:
References:
Mezulis, A., Abramson, L., Hyde, J., & Hankin, B. (2004). Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic view of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias. Psychology Bulletin, 130, 711-747.
Pronin, E., Steele, C., & Ross, L. (2004). Objectivity in the eye of the beholder: Divergent perceptions of bias in self versus others. Psychological Review, 111, 781-799.
Pronin, E., Wegner, D., McCarthy, K. & Rodriguez, S. (2006). Everyday magical powers: The role of apparent mental causation in the overestimation of personal influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 218-231.
Schlenker, B., & Trudeau, J. (1990). The impact of self-presentation on private self-beliefs: Effects of prior self-beliefs on misattribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 22-32.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Sibling Rivalry
My sister and I are polar opposites. We were born in completely different worlds being 20 years separated; my sister a child of the 60s and me a child of the 80s. One area we definitely disagree in is in the area of politics. I am a far left liberal and, because of her newfound association with a small country southern baptist church, she is a far right conservative. Normally we are able to put our differences aside, but when she makes attributions to people about being poor and under-insured when it applies to her own family it is hard not to point it out.
For years she and her husband have been harping about the lazy poor and how the government shouldn't step in. Similarly they have been talking about how terrible it would be if there were universal health care, because then (obviously) we would be a socialist country. I see things differently, and know that most poor people aren't lazy but are consistently screwed over by their situations, they get sick and miss work but can't pay to get better to get back to work nor can they afford to wait it out. There are thousands of other reasons those without much get left with absolutely nothing. I know that for most of our country's poor, their poverty is due to their situation, not their personality. Our differences in perspectives are due to the fact that my sister committed the Fundamental Attribution Error. Even though I knew the situations had a strong impact on behavior, my sister overlooked this and focused on the peoples behaviors (Ross, 1977).
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. Advances in Experimental Psychology, 10, 174-221.
For years she and her husband have been harping about the lazy poor and how the government shouldn't step in. Similarly they have been talking about how terrible it would be if there were universal health care, because then (obviously) we would be a socialist country. I see things differently, and know that most poor people aren't lazy but are consistently screwed over by their situations, they get sick and miss work but can't pay to get better to get back to work nor can they afford to wait it out. There are thousands of other reasons those without much get left with absolutely nothing. I know that for most of our country's poor, their poverty is due to their situation, not their personality. Our differences in perspectives are due to the fact that my sister committed the Fundamental Attribution Error. Even though I knew the situations had a strong impact on behavior, my sister overlooked this and focused on the peoples behaviors (Ross, 1977).
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. Advances in Experimental Psychology, 10, 174-221.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
so close and yet so far
During high school, I was a certified overachiever. I played soccer, took Latin, played piano, and participated in many other activities. I hoped that all of these things would help me get in to a good college. When it came time to take my SAT, I wanted to achieve an exceptional score to ensure that I would get into the colleges I wanted to apply to. Because my mom attended Rice during her undergrad days, I had been interested in the school from a very young age. I corresponded with the soccer coach there, who recruited me to come play for the school. My first trial of the SAT proved to not be the grade I wanted at all. I by no means received a grade necessary for the tougher schools like Rice. Because the minimum SAT score for entry into Rice was so far beyond the score I made, I came to the reality that I was not going to get into Rice with only slight disappointment. However, I wanted to improve my scores to allow me entry into some other less prestigious, but still rigorous schools. I took a Kaplan course and tried the SAT one more time. This time, I came within just 20 points of the minimum SAT score required at Rice. When I received these results, I was much more devastated because I was sooo close to achieving my goal.
This phenomenon of feeling much more disappointment when I was closer to my goals is an example of a simulation heuristic, or counterfactual thinking. Neither grade would allow me to be accepted into the schools I wanted, but because I was so close to scoring the appropriate grade the second time I thought back through all the questions in which I'd had to decide between two choices and kicked myself that I hadn't made the right decisions. I thought "if only I had studied a few more vocabulary words, or eaten a slightly better breakfast, or slept an extra hour" I wound be accepted into Rice. Realistically, because I had taken the Kaplan and learned tricks about taking standardized tests, I would probably not have scored a much better grade than the grade I earned the second time. Even if I had, barely making the minimum is not good news for later course success. But because I was able to think so clearly of just doing a little bit better on the test I did take, the news that my grade was not quite up to par was all the more devastating.
Kahneman, D. & Miller, D. (1986). Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93, 136-153.
This phenomenon of feeling much more disappointment when I was closer to my goals is an example of a simulation heuristic, or counterfactual thinking. Neither grade would allow me to be accepted into the schools I wanted, but because I was so close to scoring the appropriate grade the second time I thought back through all the questions in which I'd had to decide between two choices and kicked myself that I hadn't made the right decisions. I thought "if only I had studied a few more vocabulary words, or eaten a slightly better breakfast, or slept an extra hour" I wound be accepted into Rice. Realistically, because I had taken the Kaplan and learned tricks about taking standardized tests, I would probably not have scored a much better grade than the grade I earned the second time. Even if I had, barely making the minimum is not good news for later course success. But because I was able to think so clearly of just doing a little bit better on the test I did take, the news that my grade was not quite up to par was all the more devastating.
Kahneman, D. & Miller, D. (1986). Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93, 136-153.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Intro
Hi everybody, I'm new to the whole blog thing so bare with me. I'm Erika, I'm a senior psych major/sociology minor. I enjoy very loud rock music, kickass jazz fusion, gardening, and playing with my animals. I had probably the most boring summer of anyone. I took classes at ACC and bummed around georgetown **lame**. At least the lake is kinda close. Anyway, I did get to see some cool rock shows...enjoy Cerebro! (sry the vid is bad quality)
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