Ch 8: Behaviour in Social and Cultural Context

Question 1

Norms (social)

Answer 1

Rules that regulate social life, including explicit laws and implicit cultural conventions

Question 2

Role (social)

Answer 2

A given social position that is governed by a set of norms for proper behaviour

Question 3

Culture

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Why people obey in social settings

Answer 4

1. Obvious consequences of disobedience; suspension from school, getting fired from a job, or getting arrested
2. Hope to gain advantages, promotions, or gain knowledge/experience
3. Respect for an authority’s legitimacy
4. Fear of appearing to doubt experts, be rude, or be disliked

Question 5

Entrapment

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Social cognition

Answer 6

An area in social psychology concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perception, and belief

Question 7

Attribution theory

Answer 7

People are motivated to explain their own and other people’s behaviour by attributing causes of that behaviour to a situation or a disposition

Question 8

Situation attribution

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Dispositional attribution

Answer 9

When we identify the cause of an action as something within the person

Ex: Joe stole the money because he is a thief

Question 10

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Self-serving bias

Answer 11

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)

Question 12

Group-serving bias

Answer 12

The tendency to favourably view groups to which we belong, or to favourably view individuals within the groups to which we belong

Question 13

Attitude

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Familiarity effect

Answer 15

The tendency of people to feel more positively toward a person, item, product, or other stimulus the more familiar they are with it

Question 16

Validity effect

Answer 16

The tendency of people to believe that a statement is true or valid simply because it has been repeated many times

Question 17

Brainwashing

Answer 17

Implies that a person has had a sudden change of mind without being aware of what’s happening

Question 18

Just-world hypothesis

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Key processes of coersive persuasion

Answer 19

1. The person is subjected to entrapment
2. The person’s problems, personal and political, are explained by one simple attribution (such as to blame another person/group)
3. The person is offered a new identity and is promised salvation
4. The person’s access to disconfirming (dissonant) information is severely controlled

Question 20

How to increase resistance to coersive persuasion

Answer 20

1. Dispel people’s illusion of invulnerability to these tactics
2. Teach people how to articulate and defend their own positions, and to think critically

Question 21

Primary motives for conformity

Answer 21

1. Need for social acceptance
2. 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

Question 22

Groupthink

Answer 22

The tendency for all members of a group to think alike for the sake of harmony, and to suppress disagreement

Question 23

Symptoms of groupthink

Answer 23

1. An illusion of invulnerability; group believes it can do no wrong
2. Self-censorship; dissenters keep quiet
3. Pressure on dissenters to conform, particularly from the leader
4. 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

Question 24

How to avoid groupthink

Answer 24

1. Reward expression of doubt and dissent (critical thinking)
2. Protect and encourage minority views
3. Create a group identity of open minded problem solvers

Question 25

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 25

In groups, the tendency of members to avoid taking action because they assume others will

Responsibility for the outcome is diffused

Question 26

Deindividuation

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Altruism and dissent

Answer 27

Partially a matter of personal convictions and conscience; partially due to external influences

Question 28

Situational factors of courageous behaviour

Answer 28

1. 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)
2. 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

3. 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
4. You become entrapped; once having taken the initial step of getting involved, most people will increase their commitment

Question 29

Social identity

Answer 29

The part of a person’s self-concept based on their identification with a nation, religious or political group, occupation, or other social affiliation

Question 30

Ethnic identity

Answer 30

A person’s identification with a racial or ethnic group

Question 31

Acculturation

Answer 31

The process by which members of a minority group come to identify with and feel part of the mainstream culture

Question 32

Ethnocentrism

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Stereotypes

Answer 33

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:

1. be useful tools, energy saving devices that allow us to make efficient decisions
2. exaggerate differences between groups
3. produce selective perception
4. underestimate differences within the stereotyped group

Question 34

Prejudice

Answer 34

A strong, unreasonable dislike or hatred for a group, based on a negative stereotype

Question 35

Psychological causes of prejudice

Answer 35

1. Ward off feelings of doubt, fear, and insecurity
2. Use target group as a scapegoat, to displace anger and cope with feelings of powerlessness
3. Terror management theory: defend against existential terror of death

Question 36

Social causes of prejudice

Answer 36

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”

Question 37

Economic causes of prejudice

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Cultural and national causes of prejudice

Answer 38

1. Bonds people to their own ethnic/national group
2. Strengthens us vs them mentality
3. War causes prejudice; people are the enemy, are less than human, and deserve to be exterminated

Question 39

Defining and measuring prejudice

Answer 39

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

Question 40

How to measure implicit attitudes

Answer 40

1. Measures of social distance; a reluctance to get too close to another group
2. Measures of what people do when stressed or angry

Ex: aggression increases in those who are angered by derogatory comments

3. 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

4. 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

Question 41

Situations to reduce conflict and prejudice

Answer 41

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

1. Both sides must have equal legal status, economic opportunities, and power

Ex: change laws that permit discrimination

2. 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)

3. Both sides must have many opportunities to work and socialize together, both formally and informally; the application of contact hypothesis
4. 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

Question 42

Contact hypothesis

Answer 42

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