3 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY - TEXTBOOK Flashcards
According to the evolutionary perspective, what determines the nature of human interaction?
Tasks of survival and reproduction
What are the two ends of the spectrum of human interaction?
Helping to hurting
What is aggression?
Behaviour whose purpose is to harm another
What is the nativist view of the origin of aggression?
Instinct shaped by natural selection
<p>What is the term given to purging/releasing pent-up emotions through activities that redirect focus onto other sources?</p>
<p>Catharsis</p>
What are the two types of aggression?
Instrumental and hostile aggression
What is instrumental aggression?
Premeditated acts of aggression for personal gain
What is hostile aggression?
Spontaneous and impulsive aggression in response to unpleasant internal states
What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis?
People aggress when their goals are thwarted
What is the term given to directing aggression towards an innocent or more easily accessible target?
Aggression displacement
For what reason is it plausible that impulsive aggression evolved?
Aggression to eliminate sources of pain
What factors contribute to aggressive behaviour?
Biological, individual and situational factors
What is the best predictor of aggressive behaviour?
Gender
Which gender is most commonly the aggressor and the victim?
Males
Which neurotransmitter is correlated with aggression?
Serotonin
What is the effect of drugs which increase serotonin activity?
Reduction of retaliation in people with history of aggression if provoked
Which hormone is correlated with aggression?
Testosterone
What is the effect of high testosterone levels?
Feeling of confidence and power but easily irritated/frustrated
What type of aggression is more common in women?
Instrumental aggression and causing social harm (ostracism)
What is eugenics?
Selective breeding of humans to increase prevalence of desired characteristics
What uncomfortable internal states may promote aggression?
Temperature, pain, triggers
How may culture influence aggression?
Exemplification of behaviour causes that behaviour to become more prevalent in the population (both aggression and peace)
What is the culture of honour phenomenon?
Aggression linked to ‘tough’ reputation, machismo or willingness to avenge wrongness/insult
What is the WHO’s ecological model of aggression?
4 embedded levels of different factors that contribute to aggression
What are the 4 levels of the WHO model?
Individual, relationship, community, societal
What is included in the WHO individual level?
Genetic disposition, effect of early environment, age, substance abuse
What is included in the WHO relationship level?
Effect of friends, family and peers
What is included in the WHO community level?
Economic environment, population density
What is included in the WHO societal level?
Cultural norms, political instability, gun availability
What is cooperation?
Behaviour by two or more individuals that leads to mutual benefit
What is the prisoner’s dilemma?
Choice between cooperation and non-cooperation - cooperation is risky
What is the function of gossip in society?
Establish cooperative allegiances/ostracize those willing to exploit trust
What is the public goods dilemma?
Situation where individuals are better off not cooperating but group as a whole is worse off
What is hypothesis-confirming bias?
Systematic error of inductive reasoning - preference for confirmation over falsification
What is deception? (aka to lie)
Attempt to generate a false belief in order to manipulate a situation
What are the two ways to deceive?
Implant false information or withhold important information
What are the most common lies?
Feelings and opinions; actions, plans and whereabouts; knowledge, achievements and failings; explanations for behaviours; facts and personal possessions
Why do people lie?
Avoid upsetting someone else; enhance self-esteem, social status and respect; avoid punishment/negative judgement
What helps us to better deceive others?
Self-deception
What is self-deception?
Capacity to convince ourselves that a falsehood is true
When does self-deception occur?
When we display bias to ignore, underrepresent, forget or misinterpret to favour welcome information
What is altruism?
Behaviour that benefits another without benefitting oneself
What is the bystander effect?
When numerous people fail to help strangers in an emergency situation
What are the five steps in the five-step model of bystander effect?
Notice incident, interpretation as emergency, assume responsibility, know how to help, make decision to help
What is diffusion of responsibility?
Individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions because they are surrounded by others who are acting in the same way
What is pluralistic ignorance?
Where people fail to accurately evaluate others’ behaviour (i.e. inaction of others = action not required)
What is kin selection?
Process by which evolution selects for genes that cause individuals to provide benefits to their relatives
What is reciprocal altruism?
Behaviour that benefits another with the expectation that benefits will be returned in future
What is the identifiable victim effect (IVE)?
Tendency to offer greater assistance to individual rather than group
Which gender is more likely to display altruism in situations where heroism and bravery are involved?
Males
Which gender is more likely to display altruism in long-term care and volunteering?
Females
Which personality trait is the willingness to exploit and manipulate others?
Machiavellianism
What is empathetic concern?
The disposition to take the perspective of others and resonate with their emotions
What is extensivity?
Obligation felt by individuals to others beyond immediate friends and family
What is the just world hypothesis?
The belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
What is the effect if we witness someone else displaying altruistic behaviour?
We are more likely to demonstrate altruistic behaviour ourselves
What calculation affects our own displays of altruism?
Perceived cost to us as result
What is the term for inferences about causes of people’s behaviour?
Attribution
What are the two types of attribution we can make?
Dispositional and situational
What is situational attribution?
Decision that behaviour was result of temporary aspect of situation
What is dispositional attribution?
Decision that behaviour was result of enduring tendency to think/feel/act in certain way
What is Harold Kelley’s covariation model?
Dispositional and situational attributions are based on three kinds of information
What are the three types of information in the covariation model?
Consistency, distinctiveness and consensus (aka regularity, generality, typicality)
What is the correspondence bias?
Tendency to make a dispositional attribution even when behaviour was caused by situation
What is the actor-observer effect?
Tendency to make situational attribution for ourselves but dispositional attributions for others
What is nonverbal communication?
Sending and receiving of thoughts and feelings without using language
What are the five basic functions of nonverbal communication?
Express intimacy; establish dominance and status; express inner states; regulate verbal conversation; direct others’ behaviour
What is the term given to contradiction between verbal and nonverbal communication?
Nonverbal leakage
What is the difference between micro- and macro- levels of nonverbal behaviour?
Micro-: individual behaviours, cues, emotional expression; Macro-: constellations of behaviour imbued with broader psychological meaning
What is the purpose of physical contact in intimate relationships?
Maintains and strengthens close bonds
What may be the purpose of physical contact in non-intimate relationships?
To express dominance and compliance
What is interpersonal space?
Preferred distance maintained by individuals
What are the four zones of interpersonal space?
Intimate, personal, social, public
What is the function of facial expressions?
To express emotion
What did Darwin believe to be true of facial expressions?
They are universal
Is Darwin’s theory of universal expressions accurate?
Evidence of universal primary emotions but culturally varied secondary emotions
What is the effect of gaze in social interaction?
We seek out others’ gaze and attention when interpreting complex social interactions
What is behavioural mimicry?
Tendency to copy the behaviour of in-group members that we identify with
Why do we mimic others’ behaviour?
Act of affiliation - signals allegiance
What is the chameleon effect?
Them mimicking of postures, expressions, gestures and patterns of behaviour (e.g. speech or mood) to blend in with our surroundings
What is emotional contagion?
Tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures and movements of another person so as to converge emotionally
What is emotional contagion linked to?
The mirror neuron system
What is the mirror neuron system?
Mimic motor responses of others to trigger experience of emotions through facial feedback hypothesis
What is the facial feedback hypothesis?
Facial movement can influence emotional experience
What is thin slicing?
Ability to interpret nonverbal communications from only a brief observation
How does age affect our ability to decode nonverbal behaviour?
Improves with age and experience
Which gender is better at thin slicing?
Females (although males maybe better at detecting nonverbal signals of aggression in other males)
Which gender is more selective in choosing sexual partners?
Females
How may reproductive biology affect selectivity?
Males produce billions of sperm and face low reproductive costs whereas women produce a small number of eggs and face high reproductive costs - i.e. males are not affected by making a ‘mating’ mistake
How does culture affect sexual selectivity?
Playboys/Sluts’ vs contraception, financial independence and communal child-rearing
What three factors affect attraction?
Situational, physical and psychological
What situational factors affect attraction?
Proximity, arousal and similarity
What is the effect of proximity on attraction?
Opportunity, motivation, mere exposure effect, familiarity
What is the mere exposure effect?
Tendency for liking to increase with frequency of exposure
What is the effect of arousal on attraction?
Physiological (fear) arousal may be mistaken for attraction arousal
What is the effect of similarity on attraction?
Tendency to like others that are similar to ourselves
What is concordance rate?
Degree of statistical similarity based on co-occurrence
What physical/biological factors affect attraction?
Attractiveness’ determined by physical characteristics that are beneficial for reproduction
What psychological factors affect attraction?
Similarity - we like to interact with people on the same ‘level’ as us
Why is similarity attractive?
Agreement on wide range of issues, increased confidence when attitudes and beliefs are shared, expectation that they will like us for the same reason that we like them
What is likely to be the reason that humans favour long-term relationships?
Human offspring are completely helpless at birth
What is similar between relationships of songbirds and those of humans?
Long term relationships favoured because offspring are helpless and require more food than can be provided by one parent
What is notable about marriage for love?
It is a recent invention - served economic function in past
What are the two basic kinds of love?
Passionate and companionate love
What is passionate love?
Experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy and intense sexual attraction
What is companionate love?
Experience involving affection, trust and concern for partner’s wellbeing
How does passionate love change over time?
Rapid onset, peaks quickly, diminishes within a few months
How does companionate love change over time?
Grows slowly and steadily and need never stop
What is the social exchange hypothesis?
People remain in relationships as long as they perceive a favourable ratio of costs to benefits
What are some benefits and costs of relationships?
Love, sex, financial security vs increased responsibility/conflict and loss of freedom
What are the three important additions to the social exchange hypothesis?
Comparison level, equity and level of investment
What is comparison level?
The cost
