Chapter 11 part 2 Flashcards
social cognition, behavior, and influence
what are attitudes?
our feelings or opinions about people, objects, and ideas
are psychologists interested in attitudes?
yes, they are very interested
can attitudes predict behavior?
sometimes
when can attitudes predict behavior?
when the attitude is strong
when the person is made aware of the attitude
when the person has a vested interest
how can a strong attitude predict behavior?
if you have a strong attitude, you are more likely to behave in ways that align with that belief
how can a person being made aware of their attitude predict behavior?
if you say your belief out loud, you are more likely to act in ways that align with that attitude
how can a person having a vested interest predict their behavior?
if you have something to gain in seeing the attitude and the behavior together (if you have skin in the game), you are more likely to do that behavior
can behavior predict attitudes?
sometimes
what is the self-perception theory?
attitudes follow behavior. doing becomes believing
what is the self-perception theory in simple terms?
when we force someone to do behaviors that are the opposite of their attitude, their attitude begins to shift to match their behavior
what is an example of the self-perception theory?
you hate Amazon, but that is the only job you can get and you need to feed your family. A few months later, you dislike Amazon instead of hating it. your attitude is shifting
what is the foot-in-the-door technique?
someone asks you for one little thing and you say yes. when they come back to ask for a larger favor, you are more likely to say yes because you said yes to the first thing
why do we change our beliefs to match our behavior?
it is easier to change our beliefs / attitudes than change our behavior
why are people more likely to change their beliefs after engaging in behaviors that go against them?
cognitive dissonance
everyone experiences a conflict between _________________
who we are and who we want to be
which psychologist developed the theory of cognitive dissonance in 1957?
Leon Festinger
what is cognitive dissonance?
the conflict or anxiety we feel when there is an inconsistency between our beliefs and our actions
what is altruism?
unselfish interest in helping another person
why do people help other people?
reciprocity
egoism
implicit rules of society
what is reprocity?
doing unto others as they will do unto you
what is egoism?
doing unto others because it somehow benefits ourselves or society that in turn benefits us
what is an example of egoism?
I help people learn to read because I believe a literate population benefits everyone
what are implicit rules of society?
rules with morality, we should help people in need and if others are helping I should help too
what are the factors that influence helping behavior?
mood
empathy
the bystander effect
how does mood influence helping behavior?
if someone is in a good mood they are more likely to help
how does empathy influence helping behavior?
if I see someone that needs help and I can see myself as them (put myself in their shoes) I am more likely to help
how does the bystander effect influence helping behavior?
everyone else wants someone else to help, if no one is helping why should I
we tend to help people that are ____________________
perceived as higher status
what is conformity?
changing one’s behavior to align with the group or group standard
when people are free to do as they please _______________
they usually imitate each other
humans have a tendency _________________
to feel pressure to conform
what was Asch’s conformity study?
had 7 people sitting around a table and 6 of them were actors. the 7th person was a participant in the study. Asch showed them exhibit 1 and 2 and goes around the table and asks each person which line matches the first one. On the fourth round, the actors all say the wrong answer and Asch looks to see if the participant says the right or wrong answer
what were the outcomes of the conformity study?
35% of the time the participants conformed and said the wrong answer. when asked why they said the wrong answer the participant said they couldn’t see clearly or they didn’t want the other people see them as weird
why do we conform?
informational social influence
normative social influence
what is informative social influence?
the influence people have on us because we want to be right
what is an example of informative social influence?
everyone gets a different answer on a math problem so you change your answer to conform
what is normative social influence?
the influence people have on us because we want to be liked
what is an example of normative social influence?
we conform to what the group does so we can fit in
what is obedience?
behavior that complies with the specific demands of an authority figure
what was the result of Milgram’s Obedience Study?
two-thirds of participants harmed someone when an authority figure told them to
what is the difference between conformity and obedience?
conformity happens when you do a behavior so you are right or liked, whereas with obedience you feel pressured by an authority figure to do a behavior
in Milgram’s experiment who were the teacher and learner?
teacher was the participant
learner was the actor
actor is another word for ____________
confederate
what happened when Milgram’s experiment was repeated, but participants were told they could stop at any time?
none of the participants “killed” the learner
