13.2 obedience to authority and social cognition Flashcards
the power of authority figures
from an early age, we are taught to obey people in positions of authority. our bias to obey authority figures tends to make for a more stable and organized society but this bias has also allowed govs to commit incomprehensibly vicious crimes against humanity
stanley milgram
participants signed up for a study about the effect of punishment on memory
when they arrived to take part, the experimenter introduced them to another participant who was actually a paid actor
the courage to oppose atrocities is rare,
but even in the worst cases ppl have stepped foreword
racism
us vs them thinking
essentializing
social cognition
how ppl mentally process, perceive and think about other people
Ta nehisi coates
racism is not merely a simplistic hatred it is more often broad sympathy toward some and a broader skepticism toward others
predjudice
an assumption ppl make about another individual bc of the social group that they belong to
stereotypes
a persons beliefs about the characteristics possessed by members of some social group
discrimination
behaviours that place members of a social group at a disadvantage over members of another social group
explicit processes of discriminiation
hatred and discrimination arising from conscious beliefs about the superiority of on group over another
but discrimination can also be polite and subtle arising from unconscious assumptions and biases
bc we have always relied on working within groups, we have a natural tendency to favour members of our own groups over members of other groups
implicit processes of discriminiation
biases against members of groups that we dont belong to that are unconscious, but can influence our behaviour quickly and with out our awareness
Implicit association test
white ppl respond mor quickly to negative words black faces and positive words white faces
implicit negative attitudes
have real consequences
dual process models of social cognition
deliberate conscious (or explicit) and unconscious automatic (or imiplicit) mental processes combine to control our thoughts and behaviour
person perception
attitudes and judgement we form about other ppl
superficial characteristics are used to develop attitudes and beliefs about ppl
thin slices of behaviour
making long term judgments when only getting a short brief interview or picture
often quite accurate
self fulfilling prophesies
in a study involving elementary school children, teachers were told that some of their students were exceptionally bright, even though the researchers selected those children at random
at the end of the year, that actual IQ of those children were significantly higher
false consensus effect
another source of bias for an against others derives from all of the time we spend thinking about ourselves
the bias to think that more ppl are similar to us than actually are
naive realism
the bias to think that our interpretation of events is the accurate one and that those who disagree are out of touch with reality
self serving biases
biases that support confidence in our own beliefs and natural abilities
better than average effect
no matter what you ask ppl , most ppl think they are above average
self vs other attributions
we tend to take personal credit for our successes but generate excuses based on external factors for our failures
we do well-this is an internal (or dispositional) attribution
blaming others when bad external (situational) attribution
fundamental attribution error
attributing other ppls positive or negative actions as reflecting their stable personality traits
reflects mechanisms for supporting our own confidence and mojo, sometimes at the expense of others
in groups
groups that we favour and perceive ourselves as members
out groups
groups for which we don’t consider ourselves to be members
in groups bias
the tendency to view out groups as inferior
minimal group paradigm
researchers divide ppl into groups based on an irrelevant feature, such as whether ppl preferred one or another painting or based on a coin flip
when given the opportunity to distribute money between members of the two groups, participants gave more money to in group that to out group members
in group biases emerge from important psychological needs
like self esteem
and our need to maintain close social relationships
also the origin of group conflict and discrimination
contact hypothesis
the idea that deliberately exposing members of different social groups to one another can reduce prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination
broadening our concept of in group would be another solution
