Ch 8: Behaviour in Social and Cultural Context Flashcards
Norms (social)
Rules that regulate social life, including explicit laws and implicit cultural conventions
Role (social)
A given social position that is governed by a set of norms for proper behaviour
Culture
A program of shared rules that govern the behaviour of people in a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and customs shared by most members of that community
Why people obey in social settings
- Obvious consequences of disobedience; suspension from school, getting fired from a job, or getting arrested
- Hope to gain advantages, promotions, or gain knowledge/experience
- Respect for an authority’s legitimacy
- Fear of appearing to doubt experts, be rude, or be disliked
Entrapment
A gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort
A way people become more disengaged from the consequences of their actions
Social cognition
An area in social psychology concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perception, and belief
Attribution theory
People are motivated to explain their own and other people’s behaviour by attributing causes of that behaviour to a situation or a disposition
Situation attribution
When we identify the cause of an action as something in the situation or environment
Ex: Joe stole the money because his family is starving
Dispositional attribution
When we identify the cause of an action as something within the person
Ex: Joe stole the money because he is a thief
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency, in explaining other people’s behaviour, to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the influence of the situation
Ex: The tendency in western nations for middle-class people to believe that individuals are responsible for their own actions and dislike the idea that the situation has much influence over them
Ex: When individuals believe that they would have behaved differently than others in the same situation
Ex: We assess our own actions by introspecting about our feelings and intentions, but when we observe the actions of others, we only have their behaviour to guide our interpretations
Self-serving bias
The bias to choose the most flattering and forgiving attributes of our own lapses
Ex: Take credit for our “good” actions (dispositional attribute) while blaming the situation for our failures (situational attribute)
Group-serving bias
The tendency to favourably view groups to which we belong, or to favourably view individuals within the groups to which we belong
Attitude
A belief about people, groups, ideas or activities
Explicit attitudes: we are aware of them, they shape our conscious decisions/actions, and can be measured (self-reported)
Implicit attitudes: We are unaware of them, they may influence our behaviour in ways we do not recognize, and they are measured in indirect ways
Cognitive dissonance
A state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent, or when a person’s belief is incongruent with their behaviour
People can restore cognitive consistency by dismissing evidence that might otherwise through their fundamental beliefs into question
Familiarity effect
The tendency of people to feel more positively toward a person, item, product, or other stimulus the more familiar they are with it
Validity effect
The tendency of people to believe that a statement is true or valid simply because it has been repeated many times
Brainwashing
Implies that a person has had a sudden change of mind without being aware of what’s happening
Just-world hypothesis
The notion that many people need to believe that the world is fair and the justice is served, that pad people are punished and good people are rewarded
Key processes of coersive persuasion
- The person is subjected to entrapment
- The person’s problems, personal and political, are explained by one simple attribution (such as to blame another person/group)
- The person is offered a new identity and is promised salvation
- The person’s access to disconfirming (dissonant) information is severely controlled
How to increase resistance to coersive persuasion
- Dispel people’s illusion of invulnerability to these tactics
- Teach people how to articulate and defend their own positions, and to think critically
Primary motives for conformity
- Need for social acceptance
- Need for information; to decide the “right” thing to do
Has both positive and negative aspects/applications
Ex: develop programs to stop smoking; power to suppress critical thinking and creativity
Groupthink
The tendency for all members of a group to think alike for the sake of harmony, and to suppress disagreement
Symptoms of groupthink
- An illusion of invulnerability; group believes it can do no wrong
- Self-censorship; dissenters keep quiet
- Pressure on dissenters to conform, particularly from the leader
- An illusion of unanimity, by discouraging dissent and failing to consider different actions; leaders and group members create illusion of consensus, and may explicitly order dissenters to keep quiet
How to avoid groupthink
- Reward expression of doubt and dissent (critical thinking)
- Protect and encourage minority views
- Create a group identity of open minded problem solvers
Diffusion of responsibility
In groups, the tendency of members to avoid taking action because they assume others will
Responsibility for the outcome is diffused
Deindividuation
In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of one’s own individuality; when individuals become disinhibited and are more likely to conform to the norms of a specific situation
Ex: living in a large city vs a small town
Ex: being rowdy in a crowd of sports fans
Some organizations promote it to enhance conformity.
Altruism and dissent
Partially a matter of personal convictions and conscience; partially due to external influences
Situational factors of courageous behaviour
- You perceive the need for intervention or help; must have awareness of need to take action (whereas some can be willfully blind to that need)
- Cultural norms encourage you to take action; cultural norms are more important for predicting helpfulness than population density
Ex: tell a passerby they dropped their bus pass
- You have an ally to reassure you of the rightness of your protest; one person dissenting is a trouble-maker, but 2 or 3 are a coalition
- You become entrapped; once having taken the initial step of getting involved, most people will increase their commitment
Social identity
The part of a person’s self-concept based on their identification with a nation, religious or political group, occupation, or other social affiliation
Ethnic identity
A person’s identification with a racial or ethnic group
Acculturation
The process by which members of a minority group come to identify with and feel part of the mainstream culture
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own ethnic group, nation, or religion is superior to all others
Can be reduced when us vs them groups rely on interdependence to reach a mutual goal
Stereotypes
A summary impression of a group, in which a person believes that all members of the group share a common trait (can be positive, negative, or neutral)
They can:
- be useful tools, energy saving devices that allow us to make efficient decisions
- exaggerate differences between groups
- produce selective perception
- underestimate differences within the stereotyped group
Prejudice
A strong, unreasonable dislike or hatred for a group, based on a negative stereotype
Psychological causes of prejudice
- Ward off feelings of doubt, fear, and insecurity
- Use target group as a scapegoat, to displace anger and cope with feelings of powerlessness
- Terror management theory: defend against existential terror of death
Social causes of prejudice
Acquired through pressures to conform and fear of rejection
Ex: parents pass down prejudices to children by saying “we don’t associate with people like that”
Economic causes of prejudice
Justify majority group’s dominance, status, or wealth which legitimizes official forms of discrimination
Ex: when a majority group systematically discriminates against a minority to preserve its economic power; increases when 2 groups are in direct competition for jobs
Cultural and national causes of prejudice
- Bonds people to their own ethnic/national group
- Strengthens us vs them mentality
- War causes prejudice; people are the enemy, are less than human, and deserve to be exterminated
Defining and measuring prejudice
Gordon Allport says, “defeated intellectually, prejudice lingers emotionally”
Prejudices may lie dormant during good times, only to be easily aroused during bad times
Implicit attitudes (unconscious negative feelings that are automatic and unintentional) keep prejudice alive below the surface
How to measure implicit attitudes
- Measures of social distance; a reluctance to get too close to another group
- Measures of what people do when stressed or angry
Ex: aggression increases in those who are angered by derogatory comments
- Measures of brain activity, to determine which parts of the brain are involved in forming stereotypes
Ex: brain may be designed to register differences, but any negative associations with those differences depend on context and learning
- Measures of implicit attitudes
Ex: Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures spread of people’s positive and negative associations to a target group; this is controversial, as many believe it doesn’t measure a stable prejudice
Situations to reduce conflict and prejudice
Appealing to moral or intellectual arguments is not enough; must also touch people’s deeper insecurities, fears, or negative associations with a group
The following 4 situations must be met simultaneously to effectively reduce prejudice; on their own, each situation creates greater harmony between groups
- Both sides must have equal legal status, economic opportunities, and power
Ex: change laws that permit discrimination
- Authorities and community institutions must provide moral, legal, and economic support for both sides
Ex: society must establish norms of equality and support them in actions of officials (teachers, employers, government officials, etc)
- Both sides must have many opportunities to work and socialize together, both formally and informally; the application of contact hypothesis
- Both sides must cooperate, working together for a common goal; forced contact makes each side more resentful
Ex: “jigsaw” method of building cooperation requires engagement from both sides to complete a task and provides motivation to do so
Contact hypothesis
Argues that prejudice declines as contact between groups increases because people can discover shared interests and humanity
Works best for most intolerant and mentally rigid people by reducing feelings of threat and anxiety and increasing feelings of empathy and trust
