Chapter 10: Social Thinking Flashcards
What is interpersonal attraction influenced by?
Physical characteristics, similarity, self-disclosure, reciprocity, and proximity
What is the Golden Ratio?
1.6:1
Humans are attracted to individuals with these proportions
Define self-disclosure.
Sharing one’s fears, thoughts, and goals with another person and being met with non-judgmental empathy, which deepens attraction and friendship
Why must self-disclosure be a reciprocal behavior?
Revealing one’s innermost secrets creates a sense of vulnerability that, if not met by the other person, can be interpreted as being taken advantage of
What is reciprocal liking?
The phenomenon whereby people like others better when they believe the other person likes them
What does the mere exposure/familiarity effect state?
People prefer stimuli that they have been exposed to more frequently
Define aggression.
Behavior that intends to cause harm or increase social dominance; can be physical or verbal or nonverbal
What is the purpose of aggression from an evolutionary perspective?
Evolutionarily, aggression offers protection against perceived and real threats, fight off predators, gain access to resources
What part of the brain increases aggression in response to a threat?
Amygdala; tells us whether something is a threat
If it is activated, it increases aggression
Which higher-order brain structures can place brakes on a revved-up aggressive amygdala? What will damage to this area cause?
- Prefrontal cortex
- Damage to the prefrontal cortex is linked to increased aggressive behavior
Aggressive is also under hormonal control. Which hormone has been shown to increase aggressive behaviors?
Testosterone
What does the cognitive neoassociation model state?
We are more likely to respond to others aggressively whenever we are feeling negative emotions (tired, sick, frustrated, in pain, hungry)
Provide examples of the cognitive neoassociation model on a larger scale.
- Riots are more likely to happen on hot days
- Drivers without air conditioning are more likely to honk at other drivers
In terms of attachment, define a secure base.
A caregiver who is consistent, available, comforting, and responsive
Define attachment.
An emotional bond between a caregiver and a child
What are the 4 main types of attachment styles?
- Secure
- Avoidant
- Ambivalent
- Disorganized
What does secure attachment require? What does this provide the child?
- Requires a consistent caregiver
- The child is able to go out and explore knowing he or she has a secure base to return to
When does avoidant attachment occur? How does the child feel about their caregiver in comparison to strangers?
- When a caregiver has little or no response to a distressed, crying child
- The child shows no preference for the caregiver compared to strangers
When does ambivalent attachment occur? What happens when the caregiver leaves and returns?
- When a caregiver has an inconsistent response to a child’s distress, sometimes appropriate, other times neglectful
- Distressed when the caregiver leaves
- Ambivalent when the caregiver returns
When does disorganized attachment occur? There is a mix of behaviors in response to the caregivers absence or presence, what are they?
- When a caregiver is erratic or abusive
- Avoidance, resistance, seeming dazed, frozen, confused, repetitive behaviors (rocking)
Children with avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized attachment can result in what?
Deficits in social skills
Which attachment is also known as anxious-ambivalent attachment?
Ambivalent; child is always anxious about the reliability of the caregiver
Define social support.
The perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network
What is emotional support? Give examples.
Listening, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings
ex: Condolence card, visit to the hospital to see a sick relative
What is esteem support?
Affirming the qualities and skills of a person to bolster their confidence
What is material support? Give examples.
Any type of financial or material contribution to another person
ex: Making a meal for a friend, donating money
What social support category is also called tangible support?
Material support
What is informational support?
Providing information that will help someone
What is network support? Give examples.
Gives a person a sense of belonging
ex: Group hugs, gestures, group activities, shared experiences
What are the 5 types of social support?
- Emotional support
- Esteem support
- Material support
- Informational support
- Network support
Define foraging.
Seeking out and eating food
How is foraging driven biologically?
Sensation of hunger is controlled by the hypothalamus
How does the hypothalamus control hunger specifically?
- Lateral hypothalamus: promotes hunger
- Ventromedial hypothalamus: responds to cues that we are full and promotes satiety
What will happen if an individual suffers damage to the lateral hypothalamus?
Cause a person to lose all interest in eating
What will happen if an individual suffers damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus?
Will result in obesity; individual will never feel satiety
Which cognitive skills play a role in foraging?
Spatial awareness, memory, decision-making
Define monogamy.
Refers to an exclusive mating relationship
Differentiate polygyny and polyandry.
- Both are examples of polygamy
- Polygyny: male with multiple females
- Polyandry: female with multiple males
Define promiscuity.
Refers to a member of one sex mating with any member of the opposite sex, without exclusivity
Define a mating system. What are the three mating systems commonly seen among animals?
- Organization of a group’s sexual behaviour
- Monogamy, polygamy, promiscuity
Define mate choice. What is it also called?
- Intersexual selection
- The selection of a mate based on attraction
Define mate bias.
Refers to how choosy members of the species are while choosing a mate
What is the aim of the mate bias?
Evolutionary mechanism aimed at increasing the fitness advantage of the species
What are the direct benefits of mate bias?
- Benefits to the mate
- Providing material advantages, protection, or emotional support
What are the indirect benefits of mate bias?
- Benefits to the offspring
- Promoting better survival in offspring
What are the 5 recognized mechanisms of mate choice?
- Phenotypic benefits
- Sensory bias
- Fisherian or runaway selection
- Indicator traits
- Genetic compatibility
In terms of mate choice, what are the phenotypic benefits?
- Observable traits that make a potential mate more attractive to the opposite sex
- Indicate increased production and survival of offspring
In terms of mate choice, what is sensory bias?
Development of a trait to match a preexisting preference that exists in a population
In terms of mate choice, which mechanism does the following text illustrate:
Fiddler crabs are naturally attracted to structures that break up the horizontal level because they may indicate a food source. Male crabs take advantage of this and build pillars to attract mates
Sensory bias
In terms of mate choice, which mechanism does the following text illustrate:
Males that appear more nurturing are more likely to care for their offspring
Phenotypic benefits
In terms of mate choice, what is the Fisherian or runaway selection?
Positive feedback mechanism in which a particular trait that has no effect on survival becomes more and more exaggerated over time; increases sexuality and attractiveness
In terms of mate choice, which mechanism does the following text illustrate:
The bright plumage of a peacock
Fisherian or runaway selection
In terms of mate choice, what are indicator traits?
Trait that signifies overall good health and well-being of an organism, increasing its attractiveness to mates; may or may not be genetic
In terms of mate choice, which mechanism does the following text illustrate:
Female cats are more attracted to male cats with clean and shiny coats; a dirty and dull coat may be related to an underlying genetic problem, malnutrition, or infection
Indicator traits
In terms of mate choice, what is genetic compatibility?
The creation of mate pairs that, when combined, have complementary genetics
Which theory provides a mechanism for the reduced frequency of recessive genetic disorders in the population? How?
- Genetic compatibility
- Attraction to others who have starkly different genes reduces the probability of offspring being homozygotic for a disease-carrying allele
Define altruism.
A form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to him- or herself
What can helping behavior be motivated by?
Selflessness, egoism, ulterior motives
Define empathy.
The ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another
What does the empathy-altruism hypothesis state?
One individual helps another person when he or she feels empathy for the other person, regardless of the cost
What does game theory attempt to explain?
Attempts to explain decision-making between individuals as if they are participating in a game
What are the four possible alternatives for competitors when dealing with strategic interactions?
- Altruism
- Spite
- Cooperation
- Selfishness
What is altruism?
The donor provides a benefit to the recipient at a cost to him or herself (+-)
What is spite?
Both the donor and recipient are negatively impacted (–)
What is cooperation?
Both the donor and recipient benefit by cooperating (++)
What is selfishness?
The donor benefits while the recipient is negatively impacted (-+)
Define inclusive fitness.
A measure of an organism’s success in a population based on the number of offspring, success in supporting offspring, and the ability of the offspring to then support others
How does altruism create a problem for the traditional Darwinist model of evolution?
Why would an organism sacrifice its own fitness for the fitness of another?
Define social perception. What is it also called?
- Social cognition
- Provides the tools to make judgments and impressions regarding other people
What are the 3 primary components of social perception?
- Perceiver
- Target
- Situation
In terms of social perception, what is the perceiver influenced by?
Experience, motives, emotions
In terms of social perception, what is the target?
Refers to the person about which the perception is made
What is the primacy effect?
- First impressions are often more important than subsequent impressions
- Cues have already been categorized
What is the recency effect?
The most recent information we have about an individual is the most important in forming our impressions
What is the reliance on central traits?
Individuals tend to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics of the target that are the most relevant to the perceiver
What does the implicit personality theory state?
There are sets of assumptions people make about how different types of people, their traits, and their behavior are related
What is the halo effect?
- Cognitive bias in which judgments about a specific aspect of an individual can be affected by one’s overall impression of the individual
- General impression will influence other more specific evaluations of a person
Individuals perceiving attractive people as being trustworthy and friendly is an example of which concept?
The halo effect
What is the just-world hypothesis?
The tendency of individuals to believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
Define the self-serving bias.
Refers to the fact that individuals will view their own successes as being based on internal factors, while viewing failures as being based on external factors
What does the self-serving bias protect? Who is most likely to exhibit self-serving bias?
- Our self-esteem
- Individuals with high self-esteem
What is self-enhancement?
Focuses on the need to maintain self-worth and can be done through internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures
What does attribution theory focus on?
Focuses on the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior
What kind of individual would exhibit reversed attributional bias?
People with depression (“Oh, I got lucky this time”) (“It was all my fault”)
Attribution can be subdivided into two categories. What are they?
- Dispositional (internal)
- Situational (external)
According to the attribution theory, what are dispositional causes?
- Internal
- Causes that relate to the features of the person whose behavior is being considered
- ex: beliefs, attitudes, personality
According to the attribution theory, what are situational causes?
- External
- Causes are related to features of the surroundings or social context
- ex: threats, money, social norms, peer pressure
Define consistency cues.
Refer to the consistent behavior of a person over time. The more regular the behavior, the more we associate that behavior with the motives of the person.
Define consensus cues.
Relate to the extent to which a person’s behavior differs from others.
Define distinctiveness cues.
Refer to the extent to which a person engages in similar behavior across a series of scenarios.
If a person deviates from socially expected behavior, we are likely to form what kind of attribution?
Dispositional attribution
If a person’s behavior varies in different scenarios, we are more likely to form what kind of attribution?
Situational attribution
What does the correspondent inference theory state?
States that people pay closer attention to intentional behavior than accidental behavior when making attributions, especially if the behavior is unexpected
What does the fundamental attribution error state?
We are generally biased toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions, especially in negative contexts
When does attribute substitution occur?
When individuals must make judgments that are complex, but instead they substitute a simpler solution or apply a heuristic
What are the views of individualist cultures?
- Anglo-American, Anglo-Saxon European
- High value on the individual, personal goals, and independence
What are the views of collectivist cultures?
- Asian and African societies
- Individuals as members of a group and place high value on conformity and interdependence
What kind of culture (individualist or collectivist) tends to make more fundamental attribution errors?
Individualists make more fundamental attribution errors
Individualists are more likely to attribute behavior to ______ factors, whereas collectivists are more likely to attribute behavior to ________ factors.
Individualists: dispositional factors
Collectivists: situational factors
Define stereotypes.
Occur when attitudes and impressions are made based on limited and superficial information about a person or a group of individuals
Define prejudice.
An irrational negative, or occasionally positive, attitude toward a person, group, or thing, which is formed prior to an actual experience
Define discrimination.
When prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently than others
Match the letters with the numbers:
1) Prejudice
2) Stereotypes
3) Discrimination
A) Cognitive
B) Behavioral
C) Affective
1) Prejudice C) Affective
2) Stereotypes A) Cognitive
3) Discrimination B) Behavioral
Why are stereotypes useful?
Useful in defining categories and determining what does or does not fit into that category
In terms of the stereotype content model, what are warm groups?
Those that are not in direct competition with the in-group for resources
In terms of the stereotype content model, what are competent groups?
Those that have high status within society
In terms of the stereotype content model, what is the paternalistic stereotype?
- High warmth
- Low competence
- The group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed, or ignored
- Low status, not competitive
Housewives, elderly people, and disabled people are examples of which stereotype?
Paternalistic
In terms of the stereotype content model, what is the admiration stereotype?
- High warmth
- High competence
- Those in which the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings
- High status, not competitive
In-group and close allies are examples of which stereotype?
Admiration stereotype
In terms of the stereotype content model, what is the contemptuous stereotype?
- Low warmth
- Low competence
- Those in which the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger
- Low status, competitive
Welfare recipients and poor people are examples of which stereotype?
Contemptuous stereotype
In terms of the stereotype content model, what is the envious stereotype?
- Low warmth
- High competence
- Those in which the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness, or distrust
- High status, competitive
Asians, Jews, rich people, and feminists are examples of which stereotype?
Envious stereotype
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
The phenomenon of a stereotype creating an expectation of a particular group, which creates conditions that lead to confirmation of this stereotype
What is stereotype threat?
- Refers to the concept of people being concerned or anxious about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group
- May perform worse, or avoid performance altogether
White males in sports, women driving, and homosexual couples providing childcare are examples of what concept?
Stereotype threat
How does propaganda relate to prejudice?
Common way by which large organizations or political groups attempt to create prejudice in others
What are the three most important social factors that influence prejudice?
Power, prestige and class
What is power?
Refers to the ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite any obstacles, and their ability to control resources
What is prestige?
The level of respect shown to a person by others
What is class?
Refers to socioeconomic status
Define ethnocentrism.
Refers to the practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture, especially when it comes to language, customs, and religion
In terms of ethnocentrism, differentiate the in-group and the out-group.
In-group: social group with which a person experiences a sense of belonging or identifies as a member
Out-group: refers to a social group with which an individual does not identify
Define cultural relativism.
- The perception of another culture as different from one’s own, but with the recognition that the cultural values, mores, and rules of a culture fit into that culture itself
- A group may follow a given set of rules, but that group does not perceive those rules as superior to other cultures, just different
What is the similarity and the difference between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism?
In both cases, an individual perceives another group to which he or she does not belong; however, it is the reaction to that other group that determines which paradigm is being used
Does prejudice always result from discrimination?
No, while a person might have strong feelings against a particular race (prejudice), they may not express those feelings or act on them
What is individual discrimination?
Refers to one person discriminating against a particular person or group
What is institutional discrimination?
Refers to the discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire institution
Which type of discrimination is harder to extricate?
Institutional discrimination, because it is part of society
