Ch 10 Social Thinking Flashcards
Interpersonal attraction
Phenomenon of inds liking each other. Factors include similarity, self-disclosure, reciprocity, and proximity. The more symmetric a face the more attractive.
Also the golden ratio 1.618:1 we find attractive
Self disclosure
Sharing one’s thoughts, fears m, goals with another and being met with nonjudgmental empathy
Reciprocal liking
The phenomenon whereby people like others better when they believe the other person likes them.
Mere exposure effect
Also called familiarity effect - says that people prefer stimuli that they have been exposed to more frequently
Amygdala
Part of the brain responsible for associating stimuli and their corresponding rewards or punishments. If activated it increases aggression. The prefrontal cortex can put brakes in it
Cognitive neoassociation model
States we are more likely to respond to others with aggression when we are feeling negative emotions - tiredness, sick, frustration, pain
John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth
John Bowlby noticed negative effects of isolation of orphans after WWII. Mary Ainsworth expounded to say attachment in first six months to two years is needed from which infants can explore. Four main types of attachment: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, disorganized
Secure attachment
Child has consistent caregiver and is able to go out and explore knowing there is a secure base to return to. Trusts caregiver.
Avoidant attachment
Results when caregiver has little or no response to distressed child. Children show no preference between a stranger and a caregiver. Little or no distress when caregiver leaves. Little or no relief on return
Ambivalent attachment
Occurs when caregiver has an inconsistent response to child’s distress, sometimes responding appropriately sometimes neglectfully. Child has no secure base and cannot rely on caregiver. Child is distressed on separation from caregiver but often has mixed response on caregiver’s return.
Sometimes referred to as anxious-ambivalent attachment because child is always anxious about reliability of caregiver
Disorganized attachment
Children show no clear pattern of behavior in response to caregiver’s absence or presence but show a mix of different behaviors. Can include avoidance or resistance; seeming dazed, frozen or confused, or repetitive behaviors like rocking. Erratic behavior and social withdrawal by caregiver and may be red flag for abuse
Social support
Perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network. Categories include emotional, esteem, material, informational, and network support
Emotional support
Listening, affirming, empathizing with someone’s feelings
Esteem support
Similar to emotional but more directly affirms qualities and skills of a person. Reminding someone of skills they possess to tackle a problem.
Material support
Also called tangible support - Any type of financial or material contribution to another
Informational support
Providing info that will help someone. I.e explanation of diagnoses
Network support
Gives a person a sense of belonging. Physically, accomplished through gestures, group activities or shared experiences
Foraging
Seeking out and eating food - driven by biological, psychological, and social influences.
Sensation of hunger controlled by hypothalamus - lateral promotes hunger. Ventromedial responds to cues that we are full
Mating system
Organization of a group’s sexual behavior - include monogamy, polygamy (polygyny for males with multiple females, polyandry for females with multiple males) and promiscuity
Mate choice
Also called intersexual selection -selection based on attraction
Mate bias
How choosy members of a species are
Direct benefits
Mate bias provides material advantages, protection or emotional support
Indirect benefits
Mate bias promotes better survival in offspring
Five recognized mechanisms of mate choice
Phenotypic benefits - observable attractive traits related to survival
Sensory bias - development of a trait to meet preexisting preference.
Fisherian or runaway selection - sexually desirable traits not related to survival.
Indicator traits - signify good health and well being.
Genetic compatibility - mate pairs that have complementary genetics
Altruism
Helping behavior that costs person doing it
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
Person helps another when he feels empathy for that person regardless of cost
Game theory
Attempts to explain decision making behavior - game is defined by the players. Info and actions available to each at decision points and payoffs associated with outcomes. In biology payoffs refer to fitness
Evolutionary stable strategy
ESS - game theorists developed this to say when ESS is developed in a given population in a specific environment natural selection will prevent alternative strategies from arising. ESS is passed down and object of game is becoming more fit than competitors
Hawk-dove game
Game theory - three outcomes: hawk vs hawk - one will win and one will lose. Hawk vs dove - dove will lose. Dove vs dove - they will share resources. Dove will attempt to avoid a fight. Based on value of reward and cost of fighting
Alternatives for competitors
Altruism - donor gives at cost to himself.
Cooperation - both donor and recipient benefit by cooperating.
Spite - both donor and recipient are negatively impacted
Selfishness - donor benefits while recipient is largely negatively impacted
Inclusive fitness
In evolutionary psych it is a measure of an organism’s success in the population based on number of offspring, success in supporting offspring, etc
Social perception
Also called social cognition - provides tools to make judgments and impressions regarding others.
Three primary components: the perceiver, the target, and the situation
Primacy effect
First impressions are more important than secondary impressions in sociology
Regency effect
In sociology the most recent info we have about an ind that is most important
Reliance on central traits
Inds tend to organize perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics of the target that are most relevant to the perceiver
Implicit personality theory
States that there are sets of assumptions people make about how different types of people, their traits and their behaviors are related
Halo effect
Cognitive bias in which judgments about a specific aspect of an ind can be affected by one’s overall impression of the ind. general impression affects more specific
Just-world hypothesis
Good things happen to good people and bad to bad. Such a world denies possibility of innocent victims
Self-serving bias
Also called self-serving attributional bias - refers to the fact that inds will view their own success based on internal factors while viewing failures based on external factors
Self enhancement
Focuses on need to maintain self worth and can be done through internal attribution of success and external attribution of failure
Attribution theory
Tendency of inds to infer the causes of other people’s behavior
Dispositional causes (attribution theory)
Fritz Heider -
Internal causes that relate to the person whose behavior is being considered including his or her beliefs m, attitudes, and personality characteristics
Situational causes (attribution theory)
Fritz Heider
External causes that relate to features of the surroundings, such as threats, money, social norms, and peer pressure
Consistency cues
The consistent behavior of a person over time. The more regular the more we associate those behaviors with the motives of the person.
Consensus cues
Extent to which a person’s behavior differs from others
Distinctiveness cues
The extent to which a person engages in similar behavior across a series of scenarios
Correspondent inference theory
Focuses on the intentionality of others’ behavior
Fundamental attribution error
We are generally biased toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions, especially in negative contexts
Attribute substitution
Occurs when inds must make judgments that are complex but instead they substitute a simpler solution or apply a heuristic
Stereotypes
Cognitive. Occurs when attitudes and impressions are based on limited and superficial info about a person or group. Content are attributes that people believe define a group. Refer to expectations, impressions, and opinions about the characteristics of members of a group.
Stereotype content model
Attempts to classify stereotypes with respect to hypothetical in-group using two dimensions: warmth and competence. Warmth groups are not in direct competition. Competence are high status in society
Paternalistic stereotype
Group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed or ignored but warmth is high
Contemptuous stereotype
Group that is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger and looked down upon
Envious stereotype
Group viewed with jealousy, bitterness or distrust
Admiration stereotype
Group viewed with pride or other positive feelings. High warmth and high status
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Expectations that lead inds or groups to confirm them
Stereotype threat
Concept of people being concerned or anxious about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group. Effect based on how highly one identifies with the stereotyped group. Could create self fulfilling prophecy
Prejudice
Defined as an irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing, prior to actual experience with the entity
Propaganda
Common way by which a large organizations and political groups attempt to create prejudices in others
Power
Ability of people or group to achieve their goal despite any obstacles and their ability to control resources
Prestige
Level of respect shown to a person by others
Class
Socioeconomic status - haves and have nots.
Haves may develop a negative attitude to justify that they have more
Ethnocentrism
Refers to the practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture especially related to language, custom and religion
Cultural relativism
Adopted by sociologists to compare and understand other cultures - perception of another culture as different from one’s own but with the recognition that the cultural values, mores, and rules of a culture fit into that culture itself
Discrimination
Occurs when prejudicial attitudes cause inds of a particular group to be treated differently from others. This is a behavior. Prejudice is an attitude
Individual discrimination
One person discriminating against a particular person or group.
Conscious and obvious
Institutional discrimination
An entire institution discriminating against an ind or group. Perpetuated by simply maintaining the status quo
