Ch. 12 Social Psychology Flashcards
Internal Attributions (dispositional)
personal dispositions, traits, abilities, feelings
External Attributions (situational)
situational demands/constraints
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency for observers to overestimate impact of personal disposition & underestimate impact of situation
Actor/ Observer Difference
tendency to see others’ behavior as internally caused (FAE), but yours as influenced by the situation
ex: car honk situation
1 behavior, 2 people
Self-Serving Bias
attributions about our own behavior
- Internal, dispositional attributions for success
- External, situational attributions for failure
- increases self-esteem
How does Castro study show FAE?
despite writers being assigned a side, people still attributed choice to an internal factor (dis/liking of Castro)
Normative Social Influence
influence resulting from a person’s desires to gain approval or avoid disapproval
- No change in internal belief
Informational Social Influence
influence resulting from ones’ willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality
-change in internal belief
Asch’s Line Study
Normative Social Influence
-subject conforms even tho they know answer is incorrect
When are normative and informational social influence most likely to occur?
- at least 3 people
- group is unanimous
- behavior is public
- feel incompetent or insecure
- group is high in status/ attractive
- culture encourages respect for social harmony (collectivistic)
- when decision is:
- unimportant: normative
- important: informational
Milgram Disobedience Study
“teacher” shocks “learner”, experimenter prompts to continue, most obeyed
When is obedience more likely?
- authority is present
- authority is legitimate
- authority is prestigious
- victim not present or removed
- no role models for defiance
Critiques of Milgram’s study
unethical, experimenter went off script & treated participants differently, some skeptical whether shocks were real, dichotomous “obeyed” vs. “disobeyed”
What did Zimbardo’s prison study show?
they developed role-appropriated attitudes/behaviors
-deindividuation
Deindividuation
loss of self awareness & self restraint in group situations that foster anonymity