Chapter 12 Flashcards
(45 cards)
Social Psychology
Thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence and are influenced by social groups
social cognition
Mental processes people use to make sense of the social world around them.
Attitudes
a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation. Out attitudes predict our behavior imperfectly because other factors (like external situations) also influence our behavior
Components of Attitudes: Cognition
” I think country music is better than any other music genre”
Components of Attitudes: Affect
” I like country music; it’s fun!”
Components of Attitudes: Behavior
“I buy country music every chance I get”
The Mere Exposure Effect
The more we are exposed to something, the more likely we are to like it.
Persuasion
Attempt to change another’s attitude via argument, explanation, etc.
What are the key elements of Persuasion?
the source of the message, the message itself, and the target audience
Elaboration Likelihood Method
Central route: content
Peripheral route: appearance and length of message
Actions Affect Attitudes: Foot-In-The-Door Phenomenon
Aims at getting a person to agree to a large request by having them agree to a minor request first.
Cognitive Dissonance
Discomfort arises when one’s thoughts and behaviors do not correspond.
Festinger’s Study
Sanford students were paid either large or small amounts to express enjoyment of a boring activity. Then many of the students changed their attitudes about the activity.
how to lessen cognitive dissonance
- Change the conflicting behavior
- Change the conflicting attitude
- Form a new attitude to justify the behavior
Justifying Effort
Hazing rituals are an example of justifying effort.
Attribution
the process of explaining one’s own behavior and the behavior of others
Attribution: Dispositional (Internal)
“He’s such a careless driver. He never watches out for other cars.”
Attribution: Situational (External)
“He probably got caught in some bad traffic, and then he was late for a meeting.”
fundamental attribution error
the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Social influence
Real or implied presence of others
Conformity
changing behavior to match that of other people
Asch Study
Participants were asked to select the line closest in line to length X. When cohorts gave obviously wrong answers, more than 1/3 of the subjects conformed and agreed with the incorrect choices. Depends on group size: 7 is optimal.
Normative Social Influence
influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Informational Social Influence
conforming because we want to be accurate
