Chapter 12 - Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology (definition)
Study of how thoughts and behaviors are influenced by the presence of other humans
Social influence
Process of acting under others’ influence
Forms of social influence
Conformity
Compliance
Obedience
Conformity
Change behavior without being asked
E.g., cultural norms
Normative social conformity
Just try to fit in and adhere to the norm
Informational social conformity
Others know more than you, so you follow them because you don’t know what’s going on
Groupthink
When maintaining group consensus is more important than assessing facts
Compliance
Changing behavior because of other people asking for a change
4 ways to gain compliance
Foot-in-the-door
Door-in-the-face
Lowball
That’s-not-all
Foot-in-the-door technique
Traveling salesman
Do small ask of “moment of time”
Then pitch big ask of $$$
Door-in-the-face technique
Salesman asks for large commitment (big ask)
You say no
Then, salesman offers you small commitment
You thus say yes
E.g., salary negotiation
Lowball technique
Person agrees to buy something but cost gets progressively raised
E.g., Netflix subscription, movie theater parking fee, etc.
That’s-not-all technique
Infomercial
Definition in the name
Norm of Reciprocity
Social idea that one is indebted to another for doing them a favor (e.g., one will buy the other person lunch if vice versa was already done, to reciprocate)
Not social compliance - no ask
Obedience
Changing one’s behavior at the command of a perceived authority figure
Social facilitation
Presence of others positively impacts performance on easy task
E.g., easy to run with others outdoors than alone on the treadmill
Social impairment
Presence of others negatively impacts performance on difficult task
E.g., harder to learn stick shift around others
Social loafing
Presence of others makes it more likely one will be a slacker
E.g., deadweight in a group project - the others will do their part, so why bother?
Attitude
Positive or negative response toward a thing
Either + or -, neutral not possible
3 components of attitude
Affective (emotional)
Cognitive
Behavioral
Affective (emotional) component (attitudes)
How one feels about the thing
Cognitive component (attitudes)
How one thinks about the thing
Behavioral component (attitudes)
How one acts toward the thing
Direct contact (attitudes)
Firsthand experience with thing
Best method of forming attitudes
Direct instruction (attitudes)
Secondhand experience with the thing
Not as good unless it’s something dangerous, like crack
Interaction w/ others (attitudes)
Form attitudes based on those of those around you
E.g., you start to like country music because all your friends like country music (also conformity)
Observational learning
E.g., adopt grandparents’ attitudes toward different people by imitating their attitudes
Steps of Persuasion
- Know your audience (smart, dumb, adults, children, etc.)
- Put together message/argument
- Decide who will deliver the argument (source)
Source (persuasion)
Person who delivers the message/argument
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
People either elaborate (think carefully) about a persuasive message or not
Peripheral-route processing
Don’t think about facts or message, distract with other stuff
E.g., Budweiser commercials focus on partying and social aspects, so no one considers the quality of the beer itself
Central-route processing
Appeal to the brain
Persuade with the message itself
E.g., beer commercial that shows exactly what is in the beer
Response to Cognitive Dissonance
- Change the behavior (stop smoking)
- Change the cognition (decide smoking isn’t that bad)
- Form new cognition (rationalize - realize it is bad, but justify it by stating they live healthily)
Social cognition
Mental processes used to make sense of the social world
Schemas
Mental concept of a thing
Stereotypes
Mental picture or assumption of what a thing is
Impression formation
Can be clouded by stereotype one has about a person
Primacy effect
First impression is incredibly strong
Takes a long time to change
Attributions
Process of explaining/attributing behavior
Dispositional attributions
Attribute behavior to their disposition/character/personality
E.g., behavior is due to their generous/cruel character
Situational attributions
Attribute behavior to a situation
E.g., behavior is attributed to an emergency, need to impress somebody nearby, etc.
Fundamental attribution error
Tendency to overestimate internal factors and underestimate external factors in the behaviors of others
E.g., yelling at “bad drivers” who might have a valid excuse
Prejudice
Negative attitude toward members of a social group Always negative (positive version is called bias)
Discrimination
Actual treatment of people different because of prejudice
Not all prejudiced people discriminate
In-groups vs out-groups
Out-groups are the groups that are “othered”
Social cognitive theory
Attitudes are acquired through direct instruction, modeling, and other social influences
E.g., peers, hometowns, etc.
Social identity theory
A person’s identity is formed within a particular social group
E.g., young teen identifies with rock-and-roll
Realistic conflict theory
Conflict between groups over real, tangible things (usually land)
E.g., international land conflicts, immigrants coming to “take your jobs”, etc.
Scapegoating
Can’t taken anger out on individual, as it is too powerful, so scapegoat someone else
E.g., Rodney King riots occurred against Koreans
Interpersonal attraction factors
Physical att**iveness
Proximity (people that surround you grow on you)
Opposite-ness
Reciprocity of liking
Tendency of people to like other people who like them first
Love
Strong affection for another due to kinship, personal ties, se**al attraction, admiration, or common interests
Researcher who studied love
Sternberg
Physical aggression v relational aggression
Done more by males/females, respectively
Microaggression
Indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group
Can by unintentional and well-intentioned
E.g., assuming someone does not speak English, ask where they are really from, etc.
Romantic Love
Passion + intimacy
Infatuation
Passion
Liking
Intimacy
Fatuous Love
Passion + Commitment
Empty Love
Commitment
Companionate
Intimacy + Commitment
Consummate Love
Intimacy + Passion + Commitment
Passion
Liking
Passion + Commitment
Fatuous Love
Passion + Intimacy
Romantic Love
Commitment + Intimacy
Companionate
Commitment
Empty Love
Intimacy
Liking
Intimacy + Passion + Commitment
Consummate Love
Prosocial behavior
Socially desirable behavior that benefits others
Not necessarily altruism
E.g., donate to charity but get tax benefits
Altruism
Prosocial behavior done with no expectation of reward, may involve risk of harm to self
E.g., taking a bullet for a friend, diving into a pool to save a child
Diffusion of responsibility
Person’s failure to take responsibility because of the presence of others who are seen to share this responsibility
Related to bystander effect
Bystander effect (explanation)
Diffusion of responsibility
Cult conversion tactics
Love-bombing, isolation, rituals, etc.
Stop recruit from critical thinking
Love-bombing
Total love and acceptance of everything about the inductee
Isolate
Isolate inductee from family/friends
Characteristics of cult recruits
Under stress, unhappy, gullible, dependent, want to belong
No less able-minded than normal people
Usually possess transient (temporary) characteristics like stress
Cult leader
Singular and all-powerful
E.g., Jim Jones
