Ch 7.3 Flashcards
6 factors that influence conformity
group size unanimity cohesion status accountability no prior commitment
group size
a group doesn’t have to be very large but a group of 3-5 poeple will elicit more conformity than 1-2 people
unanimity
there is strong pressure not to dissent when everyone else agrees however if one person disagrees, others are more likely to voice their real opinions
cohesion
an individual will more likely be swayed to agree with opinions that come from somone within a group with whom the individual identifies
status
higher status people have stronger influence on opinions
accountability
people tend to conform more when they must respond in front of others rather than in closed formats in which they cannot be held accountable for their opinions
no prior committment
once people have made public commitments , they tend to stick to them ex somoene has taken a pledge to become a fraternity brother he is more likely to follow the norms of that group
social structures are composed of five elements
statuses, social roles, groups , social networsk and organizations
all 5 are developed thru process of socialization
status
broad term in sociology that refers to all the socially defined positons within society
status and people
people can hold multiple statuses at the same time
master status
one that dominates the others and determines that individual’s general position in society
sometimes it is not the one the individual prefers
statuses may
be ascribed or achieved
ascribed status
those that are assigned to person by society regardless of the person’s own efforts
aslo come with role expectations
ex of ascribed status
gender and race
achieved status
considered to be due largely to the individual’s efforts
ex of achieved status
doctor , parent
social roles
expectations for people of a given social status
roles contribute
to society’s stability by making things more predictable
role conflict
happens when there is a conflict in society’s expectations for multiple statuses held by the same person
ex role conflict
male nurse
gay priest
role strain
when a single status results in conflicting expectations
ex role strain
homosexual man may feel pressure to avoide being too gay
role exit
process of disengaging from a role that has become closely tied to one’s self identity to take on another
ex role exit
transition from high school student to more independent college student living on campus with peers
social network
web of social relationships, including those in which a person is directly linked to others as well as those in which people are indirectly connected thru others
often based on groups that individuals belong to
ex of social network
organizations
large more impersonal groups that come together to pursue particular activities and meet goals efficiently
tend to complex and hierarchically structured
organizations serve the purpose
of increasing efficiency, predictability, control and uniformity in society, allow knowledge to be passed down more easily so individual people become more replaceable
ex of organization’s purpose
McDonald’s is an organization one may expect a particular experience and menu options regardless of who is actually working at that particular restaurant
three types of organizations
utilitarian
normative
coercive
utilitarian
those in which members get paid for their efforst
ex business
normative
motivate membership based on morally relevant goals
ex mothers against drunk driving
coercive organizations
those which members do not have a choice in joining ex prison
emotions arise
based on our typically unconscious appraisals of situations
ability of quickly appraise situations using emotion has evolutionary significance
more complex emotions
have important influences on our memories, expectations, and interpretations
detection of emotions in other using clues
body language, tone and pitch in their voices and expression in their faces
people can look at a
face for a mere tenth of a second to accurately judge the emotion that it portrays
areas of the face thta convey the most emotions
eyes and mouth
women’s greater sensitivity to nonverba cues
explain their greater emoional literacy or ability to describe their emotions
capable of describing more complex emotions
mens tend to describe emotions
anger
is considered the most masculine emotion
empathy
ability to identify with others’ emotions , is relatively equal between the sexes
women more likely to express empathy by crying or reporting genuine distress at another’s misfortune
culture
provides an additional filter for interpreting emotion
gestures vary widely between cultures
gestures
movements of hands and body that are used to express emotion
impression management
aka self presentation
concious or unconcious process whereby people attempt to manage their own images by influencing the perceptions of others
achieved by controlling either the amount or type of information or the social interaction
people construct images
of themselves and want others to see them in certain lights
assertive strategies for impression management
use of active behaviors to shape our self presentation such as talking oneself up and showing off flashy status symbols to demonstrate desired image
defensive strategies for impression mangemnet
avoidance and self handicapiing
self handicapping
stratgy in which people create obstacles and excuses to aviod self blame when they do poorly,
easy to erect external hindrance to explain our poor performance or having others consider an internal characteristicto be the cuase of porr performance
ex of self handicaping
student who loudly lets everyone know before an exam that she didn’t study
strategy such that if she receives a poor grade on the exam, it can’t be blamed on her intelligence ( an internal characterstic that is likely an important element of her self esteem) but must rather be blamed on an external factor , the fact that she didn’t study
dramaturgical perspective
socilogy stems from symbolic interactionism and posits that we imagine ourselves as playing certain roles when interacting with otehrs
uses theater as metaphor for the way we present ourselves: we base our presentations on cultural values, norms and expectations with the ultimate goal of presenting an acceptable self to others
dramaturgical perspective suggests
that our identities are not necessarily stable but dependent on our interactions with others; in this way, we constantly remake who we are, depending on the situations are in
social interaction broken into two types
front stage
back stage
front stage
play a role and use impression management to craft the way we come across to other people
back stage
we can let down our guard and be ourselves
nonverbal communication
involves all methods for communication that we use that do not include words
includes, gestures, touch , body language,eye contact , facila expression and a host of finer subtleties
act of communicating verbally
also employs a of nonverbal cues , such as pitch , volume, rate, intonation, and rhythm
nonverbal cues in wrting include use of capitalization , and punctuation and spacing
animals that live in social groups
mus be able to convey info about food, territory, dominance heirarchies , mating, predator
warning colors
bright colors meant to advertise to predators that the organism is toxic or noxious
bright colours such as orange and red are rare in nature, most organisms that are brightly colore are either toxic or mimicking a toxic organism
milk weed and toxins
contains toxins that monarch sequesters( hides away) , making monarch toxic to birds, bird eats monarch and gets sick and often vomits
beneficial to monarch species because vomiting is a form of conditioning that is acquired rather rapidly and is quite resistant to extinction
vomiting
indicates smething is poisonous is ingested
mimicry
similarity of one organism, usually an animal, to another that has evolved because the resemblance is selectively favoured by the behaviour of a shared signal receiver that can respond to both
viceroy mimicks the coloring of the monarch
bright colors ex
red breasted robin use bright colors to attract mates
communicate info to others in their species Carolina anole type of lizard
ex certain bir species
emit a pure tone aarm noise that warns their neighbors of danger
nature makes it difficult for predator to locate bird that made the call
same species can employ a completely different sound for mating purposes , for which it is important to locate the source of the sound
bats
employ a very sophisticated system of echolocation, serves as a form of self communication
chemical signals
may operate on a much slower scale than visual auditory communication , they can last much longer
pheromones
term for chemical messengers employed by animals to communicate with each other
employed within a given species to attract mates
ex of pheromones ants
release alarm pheromones , death pheromones, food pheromones
attraction
between members of the same species is a primary component of love , and explains much about about friendship, romantic relationships and other close social relationships
three characteristics foster attraction
proximity
physical attractiveness
similarity
proximity
geographic nearness
most powerful predator for friendship
people are more inclined to like, befriend and even marry others from sma e class, neghborhood, or office
mere exposure effect
people prefer repeated exposure to same stimuli
familiarity
breeds fondness
partially explains common affinity for celebrities and the fact that many people vote based on name recognition alone , regardless of whether or not they know much about a candidate
tendency to like those in close proximity , evolutionary foundation, familiar faces were likely ones that could be trusted
appearance
powerful impact on attraction
important predictor of attraction
studies show people rate
physical attractive people higher on number of characteristics and traits they are somehow more likeable
aspects of attractiveness
vary across culture
some appear universal such as youthful appearance in women , maturity, dominance, influence i men
also influenced by personality traits
similarity
between poeple ipacts attraction
friends and partners likely to share common values, beliefs, interests and attitudes
more alike poeple are, more their liking for each other endures the passage of time
agression
defined as a behaviors which is forceful, hostile or attacking
sociology: something that is intended to cause harm or promote social dominance within a group
can be communicated verbally or actions or gestures
animals employ agression
as a means for protecting resources such as territory, food and mates
agression is considered
an innate instinct
three types of predictors of agression
genetic, neural, biochemical
identifcal twin studies suggests that thre is
some genetic predisposition towards agressiveness, f one has a temper the other twin will likely have one as well
lobes in brains and agression
no locus in brain that controls agression
certain areas facilitate agression while other ares in frontal lobe inhibit agression
biochemical
alter neural control of agression
alcohol can lower agression inhibition
making someone more agressive while drunk
tend to demonstrate less agression when castrate
frustration agression principle
suggests that when someone is blocked from achieving a goal, frustration can trigger anger and agression
ex of frustrating stimuli
physical pain, unpleasant odors and hot temperatures
agression and prior experience
agression is more likely to occur in situations in whicb prior experience somehow promoted agression
people who are ostracized ( excluded ) and agression
more likely to behave agressively which partially explains some of the mass shootings in schools
fodder for agression
biology, experience and society
social support
is major determinant of health and wellbeing for humans and other animals
famliy relationships provide comfort, close relationships are predictive of health outcomes
poeple who have social support have been show to engage in healthier behaviors, less likely to smoke, more likely to exercise ad a better capacity to cope with adversity ad stress
happily married peopel
live longer, healthier lives, regardless of age, sex, and race
foraging behavior
describes search and exploitation of food resources by animals
secure food can come at a high energetic cost
organisms employ learning behavior in search for food since the environment is constantly changing, it is iortant that foraging behavior is adaptable
mating behavior
pairing of opposite sex organisms for purposes of reporduction and propogation of gens
include courtship rituals, copulation, building of nests and rearing of offspring for specified periods of time
animal mating strategies
random mating, disassortive mating, assortative mating
random mating
all members are equally likely to mate with each other there are no spatial genetic or behavioral limitations to mating
ensues largest amount of genetic diversity and protects against genetic drift and bottle necking
assortative mating
non random mating pattern in which individuals with similar genotypes or phenotypes mate with one another more frequently than would be expected with random mating
in negative assortative mating
aka disassortative mating
individuals with more disparate traits mate more frequently than would be expected with random mating
inclusive fitness
defined by number of offspring org has a, how its upports offspring and how offspring support others in a group
proposes organism can imporve overall genetic sucess thru altruistic scial behaviors
altruistic behavior
one that helps ensure sucess or survival of the rest of a social group , possibly at the expense and survival of the indiviudal
evolutionary game theory use
used to try and predct large complex systems such as overall behavir of population
used to explain may complex and challenging aspects of biology such as how altruistic behaviors work in context of darwinian selection
useful for instance in predicting behavior of a large crowd of people in an enclosed space during a disaster
evolutionary game theory
defines a framework of contests, strategies, and analytics into which Darwinian competition can be modelled
First, the ‘evolution’ treated by evolutionary game theory need not be biological evolution. ‘Evolution’ may, in this context, often be understood as cultural evolution, where this refers to changes in beliefs and norms over time. Second, the rationality assumptions underlying evolutionary game theory are, in many cases, more appropriate for the modelling of social systems than those assumptions underlying the traditional theory of games. Third, evolutionary game theory, as an explicitly dynamic theory, provides an important element missing from the traditional theory
