Chapter 13 Flashcards
What is social psychology?
The area of psychology that focuses on how people think about other people and interact in relationships and groups
what is social cognition?
How people perceive the social world and how they attend to, store, remember, and use information about other people and the social world
what is attitude?
An attitude is “a relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols”
how can attitude help us predict behavior?
Strong, stable, relevant, important, memorable attitudes most predictive if someone is strongly religious we assume they are in church on sunday
how can behavior affect attitude?
Cognitive dissonance tells us that in defending a randomly assigned attitude changes peoples’ attitudes. Why? This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc.
What are the ABC’s of attitude?
Affective component: this involves a person’s feelings / emotions about the attitude object. For example: “I am scared of spiders”. Behavioral component: the way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. For example: “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”. Cognitive component: this involves a person’s belief / knowledge about an attitude object. For example: “I believe spiders are dangerous”.
what knowledge does attitude give us?
Provides meaning for life Allows prediction what / how events might happen Gives structure and organization We know someone is religious, so we can predict that they go to church
What are key characteristics of ego expressive attitude structure?
Helps to communicate who we are Asserts our identity - tattoo, clothing Adaptive behavior - hip hop kids, kids in high school tend to fit into groups Helps assign us to social groups and social acceptance
What are key characteristics of ego defensive attitude structure?
Protects our self-esteem and those behaviors that might otherwise make us feel guilty Also solidifies a position within a social group
what is Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory?
we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). Cognitive dissonance –conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This conflict produces feelings of discomfort Leads one to alteration one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors In turn, this leads to a reduction of discomfort
What are the different methods of reducing dissonance?
Indirect strategies Feeling good about ourselves in other areas of life Direct strategies Change our attitude about what we believe Trivializing an inconsistency
What are stereotypes?
A belief (or set of beliefs) about people from a particular category or group
how can stereotypes be used as cognitive shortcuts?
Assign social information to a category of people
what is prejudice?
An attitude (generally negative) toward members of a group
what are the 2 components of prejudice?
Cognitive—beliefs and expectations about a group Emotional—negative feelings towards a group
what is discrimination?
Negative behavior based on prejudice negative behavior toward individuals from a specific group due to unjustified negative attitudes about that group based on anything that distinguishes groups
Why Does Prejudice Exist?
Realistic conflict theory - Competition for resources - Prejudice reduced when competition is eliminated ie poor whites started competing with blacks for jobs and were the worst offenders of prejudices social learning: Prejudice transmitted through culture
what are the two categories or social prejudice?
Ingroup Outgroup
what does robber’s cave study tell us about prejudice?
when the boys were competing they were violent and prejudice toward each other when they were asked to work together toward a common goal it eliminated the bad behavior
how can people change their prejudice?
Contact hypothesis Re-categorization Mutual interdependence
what is the contact hypothesis?
- When faced with enough inconsistent information or exceptions to the stereotypes, people change the stereotypes that give rise to their prejudice - can shatter the illusion that the outgroup is homogeneous (military teaches soldiers that enemy all has the same face) - Increase awareness of similarities - Information inconsistent with stereotypes
what is Re-categorization as it relates to prejudice?
Shifts from “us” and “them” to less distinct entities
what is the mutual interdependence as it relates to prejudice?
each member’s contribution is a piece of the whole
how can we change our attitude through a central route?
Central route— - paying close attention to the persuasive argument - If you’re already against the premise it is not too useful
how can we change our attitude through a Peripheral route?
Peripheral route - The source of the argument is attractive (Kate Upton) - The source is famous (Bono) - The number of arguments for or against can be swaying - The opinions of others exposed to the argument
how can we change our attitude through a Mere exposure effect?
Mere exposure effect - exposure to other things changes attitude (college?)
how can we change our attitude through Persuasive people?
Identity - Experts or famous people Fast talking - Fast-talkers seem to be most persuasive Seems honest
how can we change our attitude through Persuasive message?
Fear (politicians - if you vote for obama the country will die in 4 yrs) Public service messages (ex-smokers dying on commercials)
what is social cognitive neuroscience?
The area of psychology that attempts to understand social cognition by specifying the cognitive mechanisms that underlie it and by discovering how those mechanisms are rooted in the brain
what is Attribution?
An explanation for the cause of an event or behavior
what is an example of an Internal/Dispositional attribution?
“I did a good job because I’m smart.”
what is an example of an External/Situational attributions?
“I did a good job because the task was easy.”
what are examples of attributional biases?
Fundamental attribution error - AKA the correspondence bias - Bias to attribute internal causes for other people’s behavior Self-serving bias - Attribute external causes for your own failings Belief in a just world - People get what they deserve. (karma)
What does it mean to like someone?
Physical attraction Repeated contact Similarity
What are the two different types of love?
Companionate, passionate
What are characteristics of companionate love?
Altruistic love Spend time, resources and attention
What are characteristics of passionate love?
Being “in love” with someone Sexual attraction, arousal, desire reciprocal love, physical closeness, fear of losing the other person
what are the different attachment styles for love?
secure, avoidant, anxious-ambivalent
what are characteristics of a secure attachment style for love?
Secure Need for closeness and interdependence Not fearful of losing the other 59% in the US
what are characteristics of a avoidant attachment style for love?
Avoidant Uncomfortable with the intimacy 25% in the US
what are characteristics of a Anxious-ambivalent attachment style for love?
Anxious-ambivalent Both want and fear an intimate relationship 11% in the US
Sternberg’s triangular model of love
what are some key traits in the evolutionary theory or mating preferences?
Both Sexes: kindness and intelligence Emotional stability, dependability, good disposition Men: physical attractiveness Women: wealth and power
what are the key characteristics of social organizations?
A Group has -Regular interaction -Emotional connection -Interdependence Norms -Enforcement through sanctions Roles -Expected behavior based on position within group
what did we learn about the stanford prison experiment?
guards and inmate fell into their roles without much effort. behavaiors in the group affects others in their role as well as the opposites and how they reacted
what is conformity?
Change in behavior in order to follow a group’s norms
what is Informational social influence?
is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
what is Normative social influence?
Normative social influence is a type of social influence leading to conformity. It is defined as “the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them”.
what does asch’s study of conformity tell us?
people deny what they see and conform if the person has a partner they tend to answer how they feel person feels they have less pressure to conform if they are able to write their answer
what is compliance?
Change in behavior brought about by a direct request rather than by social norms
what are the six principles of compliance?
Friendship/liking (“you and I are friendly, so ok!”) Commitment/consistency (“well I have already come this far”) Scarcity(“only while the supply lasts!”) Reciprocity (“well you helped me before”) Social validation (“IF they jumped off a bridge would you?”) Authority (“You’re the boss!”)
what are the 3 techniques of getting someone to comply?
Foot-in-the-door - Small request followed by a large request (America heart assoc , asks for $1 then $10) Lowball - Offer something then increasing the cost Door-in-the-face - Make a huge request then make a smaller request (works best)
what were the results of the milgram study?
study where shock was administered to a person that the test subject couldn’t see but hear. Expected: 2% administer maximum shock Observed: 65% administer maximum shock Foot-in-the-door technique (started small and got larger) Authority (if someone else was taking the responsibility for the well being of the shocked patient then the shocker was more likely to comply Other manipulations Physical proximity Physical contact - dr physically touched the person to reassure them it was ok
what are the different areas of group psychology?
Group Decision-making Majority-win vs. truth-win rule Group polarization Opinions become more extreme after group discussion Groupthink: Lack of critical analysis Example: the boardroom of a company with an authoritarian leader Social loafing: Freeloading Has anybody had to do a group project? Social facilitation: Power of an audience (do better in the presence of a group)
what is altruism?
Motivation to increase another person’s welfare
what are characteristics of the helper in prosocial behavior?
Need for approval Takes personal and social responsibility Less concern for one’s own welfare homeless people - more likely to give $$$or help when the person looks like us (we can relate more) more likely to help someone at night vs daytime. daytime we feel there are plenty of other people that can help (feel less pressure/responsible to provide help)
what are characteristics of the helper in prosocial behavior?
They are similar to us They are someone we like Is not responsible for their predicament
what are characteristics of the situation in prosocial behavior?
Cost of helping is low / cost of not helping is high Return is substantial
what does the Bystander Effect tell us about the Death of Kitty Genovese?
if a person is by themselves and witness something (attack) they feel more pressure to help. if several people witness something (attack) and know others witness it, the pressure to react to help is diffused.
what are the 5 choice points in the bystander affect?
if no to any of the below then no help is given, if yes, then proceed to next step until 5 and then he/she intervenes Step 1 Is the emergency noticed by the bystander? Step 2 Does the bystander correctly perceive the event as an emergency? Step 3 Does the bystander assume responsibility to intervene? Step 4 Does the bystander know what to do and how to help? Step 5 Is the bystander motivated enough despite possible negative consequences?
