AOS 4 - personal perception and social influence Flashcards
What is personal perception and give an example
Person perceptionrefers to the mental processes we use to think about and evaluate other people.
An example of personal perception is our first impressions we make on other
What is Attrubutions
Attribution is the process by which we evaluate and explain the cause of our own or another person’s behaviour.
these can be personal or situational
What is the diffrence between an ingroup vs and out group
Ingroup described any group that you belong to or identify with
Outgroupis any group you do not belong to or identify with.
Define internal and external attrubitions
Internal attrubitions are the process of assuming that personal factors are the cause of an individual’s behavior or the cause of an event.
(charastrics of a person)
External attrubitions interpreting an event or behavior as being caused by the situation that the person is in, such as their social or physical environment.
(assosiated with situation / environment)
Define Attitudes
An attitude is an evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issue.
Explain the tricompoment model using an example
For something to be considered an attuide the tricomponent model states that all components must be consistant. The three componets are affective, behavoural and cogntive.
An example of this may be that an indivual may not like spiders. The Affective is the feelings towards the object, (that I am scared of spiders and do not like them) the behavioural componet is what you do about this, (I aviod spiders) and the cognitive is what you think or belive, ( I think spiders are gross and scary)
What is a stereotype outline one limitation and one benfits of sterotyping
Stereotype is a generalisation about the personal characteristics of the members of a social group.
A benifit of steroytypes is they can be made to simplify people efficentley
A limitiation of sterotypes is that they can be innaccurate and offensive
Define cognitive dissonacnce
Cognitive dissonance occurs when people experience discomfort because they have conflicting beliefs, or because their behaviours contradict their beliefs.
Why is cognitive dissonace considered a systematic error
It can lead to flawed thinking to the person who thinks in bias ways
It can occur naturally without concious awreness
Occurs consistantly and predictably under certain circumstances
How can we reduce the dissionant cognition?
Change our dissonance cognition
Change the behaviour to suit the dissonant cognition
Add new cognitions or supportive elements to outweigh the dissonant cognition
Define heuristsics
Heuristicsare mental shortcuts that allow us to make quick decisions on limited information.
The 3 types of huristics include Avalalibity,
Representitaveness and
Affect
What is an Avalibility heuristic and an give example
Availability heuristic involves making a judgment based on how easy or difficult it is to bring specific examples to mind.
For example, plane crashes can make people afraid of flying. However, the likelihood of dying in a car accident is far higher than dying as a passenger on an airplane
What is a representivness heuristic and give an example
Representativeness heuristic involves categorising a person, object, event or anything else by judging how closely it matches our idea of a typical member of the category.
An example of a representativeness heuristic is thinking that because someone is wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase, that they must be a lawyer, because they look like the stereotype of a lawyer
What is Affect heuristic and give an example
Affect heuristic involves making a judgment that is influenced by the emotion being experienced at the time.
Affect heuristic in everyday life You are judging the risk or benefit of going around the city on rollerblades
What is Predjudice?
Predjudice is an attitude towards another person or social group that is formed in advance of any experince with that person or group.
The 4 types of perdjudice inculde Old fashioned predjudice, Modern predjudice, Explicit predjudice and Implict predjudice
What is an example of old fashioned predjudice?
Non-indigenous Australian people believing that they are superior to Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples .
People once believed that races should be segregated. They believe this should be in all aspects of life.
What is an example of modern predjudice?
Non- indigenous Australian people believing that Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island peoples have the right to opportunities available to all members of society but thinking that they want more rights that they do not deserve. (real issue of fairness)
Outline Explicit predudice
Predudice that is conciously held and dilaberatly thought about, for example dilabrate racism and racist comments towards someone
Outline Implicit predudice
Predjudice that is unconsisley held by indivials for example when most people hear the word “kindergarten teacher,” they are more likely to picture a female.
What is dicrimination?
Discrimination occurs when a person or a social group is treated differently than others
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice refers to biased thinking and discrimination consists of actions against a group of people
What is direct discrimination and give an example
Direct discrimination happens when someone is treated unfavourably because of a personal characteristic protected by the law.
For example, direct discrimination would occur if someone was overlooked for a job specifically on the basis of their age, sex, or some other relevant personal characteristic.
What is Indirect discrimination and give an example
Indirect discrimination happens when there is an unreasonable requirement, condition or practice that disadvantages a person, or a group of people, because of a personal characteristic.
For example, if an employer refuses to allow employees to wear any head covering in the workplace, this may be indirect discrimination against employees whose cultural or religious background requires that they wear a particular type of head covering.
What is a facor that that may reduce prejudice?
- Sustained contact or the contact hypothesis
Suggests that prolonged contact of a direct nature leads to a re-evaluation of incorrect stereotypes about the group and its members.
How can a superordinate goal reduce predjuice?
Superordinate goals are goals that cannot be achived by any one group alone and overides existing goals that each group may have (for example having both groups consider themselves part of one larger superordinate group to achive something)
How can mutal independence reduce predjuice?
When two groups realize that they have a common issue that can only be solved by pooling their resources together. They put their judements aside and depend on each other.
How can equality of status reduce predjuice?
When groups are of equal status one group doesnt feel ore values or more important from the other, making everyone equal
What is the three step process in cognitive intervention?
The individual must decide that their prejudice attitude and behavior are wrong and consciously reject their thinking
They must hold fast to their non prejudiced beliefs and make it part of their self concept
Must learn to suppress or block their prejudicial reactions that may occur and replace them with non-prejudice responses.
Define social influence
Social influence is defined as the effects of the presence or actions of others (real or imagined) on the way people think, feel and behave.
What is a social group
Social group is any collection of two or more people who interact with and influence one another and who share a common purpose.
What is aggergation
Aggregation is a collection of people in one location who have no obvious social structure or organisation, and who have minimal shared purpose, interdependence or direct interaction.
What is the diffrence between and aggergation and social group?
A social group is a group of 2 or more people who intercate and have a common purpose.
An aggeration is a collective of people who have been grouped together without a common purpose.
What is status?
Status refers to the importance of an individual’s position in the group, as perceived by members of the group.
What is power?
Power refers to an individual’s (or group’s) ability to control or influence another person (or group), even when they try to resist this influence.
What are the 6 types of power?
Legimate
Coercive
Expert
Reward
Referant
Information
Explain the relationship between status and power within groups
A persons status within a group can determine the amount of power they have. Power referes to the individual/groups ability to control or influnce a person/group.
High staus=High power
Define obedince
Obedience occurs when we follow the commands of someone with authority, or the rules or laws of our society.
What are 2 types of obedince?
Constructive obedience -
occurs when obedience results in a positive outcome.
Destructive obedience-
occurs when obedience results in a negative outcome.
What are 3 factors that can impact obedince
Status of the authority figure
Social proximity
Group pressure
What is proximity?
Proximity refers to the closeness between an individual and an authority figure
What is physical promxity? and give an example
Physical Proximity refers to the physical distance between individuals.
The less distance (closer) between the individual and the authority figure, the greater the likelihood of obedience.
Eg- For example, more likely to obey a teacher who is standing next to you than across the room.
What is relationship proximity? and give an example
Relationship Proximity refers to the closeness of the relationship between two individuals.
The stronger the relationship the greater likelihood of obedience
Eg - For example, you are more likely to obey a parent than your teacher.
What is group pressure
Group pressure: Involves the indivuals acting or feeling in a certain way to align with behaviours of others, individuals are more likley to obey an authority figures when they observe others obeying the commands of authority figure.
Define conformity
Conformityis the tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings or behaviour so that they become more consistent with those of other people, or with accepted standards about how a person should behave in certain situations (i.e. social norms).
What are the 6 factors that affect confomity
Normative influnce
Culture
Informational Influnce
Unamity
Group Size
Social Loafing
Deindividualisation
How does Normative influnce affect conformity?
Normative influnce states that we conform with others because we want to be liked.
Social norms guide behaviours within group
Example of normative influnce- mean girls “on wednesdays we wear pink”
How does culture affect conformity?
Cultural variations can influence conformity and obedience is through the presence of social norms.
Social norms are unwritten rules that govern behaviour within a particular culture. These norms can vary widely between cultures, and can influence whether individuals conform or disobey.
How does informational influence affect conformity?
Involes people conformin because they want to be correct.
When a person lacks experites they will conform with the group because they assume others are more informed
How does Unamity affect conformity?
A person is more likely to conform when all members of the group agree and give the same answer
How does group size affect conformity?
Safety in numbers can make a person feel support if they have the same belifes and point of veiw.
As more people express the same view the indivual feels like an outsider and follow like mindless sheep (Acsh experiment)
How does social loafing affect confomity?
Is refered to persons tendency to reduce thier effort when working in a group, as oppsed to working alone
When a task requires some effort, an individual may conform with the majority simply to avoid the effort involved in making a personal judgement.
How does deindvidualisation affect confomity?
Deindividuation is described as the loss of individuality and the gained sense of anonymity that can occur in a group situation.
If an individual is anonymous or no social status, then likely to absolve themselves of any responsibility for having to provide a correct answer and therefore more likely to conform
