Ch 12 Groups, 13 Aggression, 14 Altruism Flashcards
social facilitation
the effect of the presence of others on performance, better or worse depends on what you’re doing
social facilitation (+)
having people around enhances performance
social unfacilitation (-)
having people around impedes performance
when does social facilitation happen?
when performing a simple a well learned task
when does social unfacilitation happen?
when performing a difficult or novel (new) task
why were participants performances in Michaels 1982 study affected by the presence of researchers?
evaluation apprehension (evaluate give is increased arousal and we don’t want to look bad), mere presence (make use very alert)
social loafing
exerting less effort when working on a group task where individual contribution can’t be monitored due to the presence of others
When do groups make better decisions?
if the problem is a precise factual answer
groupthink
thinking where maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering facts ina realistic manner
what are the symptoms of groupthink?
illusion of vulnerability, collective rationalization, pressure on dissenters, and illusion of unanimity
Ways to prevent groupthink
impartial leaders, members seek divergent opinions, subgroup that meet beforehand, seek anonymous opinions
Risky shift
when a person alters their decision making to more extreme choices while part of a group
approach inhibition theory of power
power comes with a sense of control and freedom
group polarization
group decisions tend to be more extreme than those made by individuals
deindividuation
reduced sense of individual identity accompanied by increased impulsive behavior that occurs when people are in large groups
self awareness theory
when people focus attention on themselves they become concerned w/ self evaluation and how their current behavior conforms to internal standards and values
individuation
enhanced sense of individual identity produced by focusing attention on the self
spotlight effect
the assumption that our own appearance and behaviors are being carefully scrutinized by others when they are not
aggression
any act with the intent to harm
hostile aggression
motivated by the emotional response of wanting to hurt the other person
instrumental aggression
motivated by something other than hostility, like attention, acquiring resources, or advancing a cause
situation determinants of aggression
hot weather, media violence, social rejection, and income inequality
How does a situation influence aggression?
through construal
dehumanization
tendency to attribute nonhuman characteristics to outgroup members
2 types of dehumanization
human nature, and human uniqueness
catharsis
release of strong emotion to purge oneself of an impulse to behave inappropriately
does catharsis decrease/ release anger?
no, it increases it
culture of honor
members have strong concerns about their own and others reputations leading to hypersensitivity to insult and willingness. use violence to avenge insult or any perceived wrong
misperception of opponents attitudes
participants estimated that their opponent’s attitudes were more extreme than they were
reactive devaluation
when we attach less value to an offer in a negotiation simply bec it was offered
simplistic reasoning in politics
extremists have less complex attitudes/beliefs attitudes than moderates, politicians are simple and more extreme while campaigning and more complex when in office
prosocial behavior
any action that helps another person regardless of motives
altruism
unselfish, selfless, or other other-oriented behavior that benefits others w/out regard for consequences for oneself
selfish motives for prosocial behavior
social rewards, positive attention that they will get from others, seeing other people suffer makes you upset (eliminates personal distress)
Altruistic motives for prosocial behavior
genuinely identifying, feeling/ understanding what they’re experiencing and truly wanting to help others
situational determinant to prosocial behavior
being busy, presence of others, ambiguous situation, and victim characteristics
bystander intervention
when people observing an emergency intervene and help the victim
bystander effect
people are less likely to help other when others are present
diffusion of responsibility
people assume others will help, so they done have to do anything
how does ambiguity of a situation affect altruism
people are more likely to other who clearly need help, bystanders are more likely to help when they are aware the event that led to the victims’ distress
how do the victims characteristics affect altruism
if the victim is more similar tot the bystander the bystander will be more likely to help
how does community type affect altruism
people in rural areas report more empathetic concern then people in urban areas, the smaller the community the larger the effect
why do people in urban areas report fewer empathetic concern?
stimulus overload in bigger cities, greater diversity (people less similar), diffusion of responsibility
how does social class affect altruism?
people making less (~25k) give a greater percentage of money the those who make more (>100k)
religion and prosocial behavior
most religions emphasize prosocial behavior and try to motivate it by increasing empathetic concern for others
kin selection
tendency for natural selection to favor behaviors that increase the chance of survival of genetic relatives
reciprocal altruism
tendency to help other expecting that they will help sometime later in the future
