Chapter 13 Midterm 2 Flashcards
Why did nobody help Kitty Genovese
Before helping, we must first notice the incident, then interpret it as an incident, then feel responsible to help
-everyone said that “they thought someone else phoned”
Factors that increase bystander intervention
- good mood
- feeling guilty
- seeing others who are willing to help
- knowing how to help
- a personalized relationship
- the person is similar to us
- not rushed or in a hurry
Factors that decrease bystander intervention
- the presence of other people
- being in a big city or a very small town
- vague or ambiguous situations
- when personal costs outweigh the benefits of helping
Fundamental attribution error
- when analyzing others’ behaviour, to overestimate the influence of personal traits and underestimate the effects of the situation
- more likely to occur when a stranger acts badly
- students attributed behaviour of others to personal traits, even when they were told that behaviour was part of an experimental situation
Self-serving bias
take credit for our successes by attributing them to traits (personality, skills, intelligence) and distance ourselves from failures by attributing them to the situation.
Ex: "He failed the test in his class because he didn't study well. I failed in my class because the test was unfair" (more likely to blame others to preserve our sense of self esteem if it is our own fault)
Central Route (systematic) Persuasion
- a change in attitude brought about by an appeal to reason and logic
- strong evidence and arguments are presented to trigger thoughtful responses
- works when people are analytic or involved in the issue
Attitudes
Feelings influenced by beliefs, that predispose reactions to objects, people, and events
Peripheral route persuasion
uses incidental cues to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes
Social Thinking
when attitudes do not fit with actions, tensions are often reduced by changing attitudes to match actions (cognitive dissonance theory)
The foot-in-the-door phenomenon
-first ask for something small
-later, make a larger request
-small requests pave the way for compliance with the larger request
(used by car dealerships)
What did the Stanford Prison Experiment discover
the power of the situation can alter our social reality.
-ordinary people can exhibit horrendous behaviours under situational forces
Chameleon Effect
we unconsciously mimic others’ expressions, postures and tones, especially when we like them
Solomon Asch’s line experiment
Demonstrated conformity.
When does conformity increase
- the person is made to feel incompetent
- the group has at least three people and is not a huge crowd
- the rest of the group is unanimous
- the person admires the status and attractiveness of the group
Normative social influence
to gain approval
Informational social influence
to accept others’ opinions as new information
Social facilitation
the tendency for weaknesses or strengths in performance to be magnified when people are watching.
- performer is physiologically aroused in front of an audience
- performer’s most likely response is strengthened
Social loafing
tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
(group projects)
Deindividuation
- happens in a group or a crowd
- diminished self-consciousness
- loss of normal restraints
- lower awareness of individual values
Group Polarization
Enhancement of a groups prevailing tendencies
- this self-amplifying effect in a group can be good - increases the determination and common mission in self-help groups
- polarizing effect can be bad - prejudiced groups
Groupthink
Results when group members try to maintain harmony in a decision-making group and ignore conflicting evidence or opinions
- examining few alternatives
- selective gathering of information
- pressure to conform within the group
- pressure to withhold criticism
- collective rationalization
Perceptual confirmation
- the tendency for people to perceive what they expect to perceive
- stereotypes bias our perception of individuals
- stereotypes lead us to believe those individuals confirm the stereotype when they have not.
Stereotype threat
the fear of confirming an observer’s stereotype
Prejudice
Unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group
- involves stereotyped beliefs
- often involves negative emotions - hostility, envy, or fear
Social roots of prejudice
1) social inequalities: have often developed attitudes that justify status quo
2) just -world phenomenon: good is rewarded and evil is punished
3) stereotypes: rationalize inequalities
Implicit Prejudice
- Implicit racial associations
- implicit association tests results: even people who deny racial prejudice may carry negative associations
- Unconscious patronization
- lower expectations, inflated praise and insufficient criticism for minority student achievement
- Race-influenced perceptions
- automatic racial bias
- Reflexive bodily responses
- unconscious, selective responses when looking at faces
Aggression (biological)
Neural influences may facilitate aggression
- biochemical influences, such as hormones, neurotransmitters (serotonin)
- testosterone
Altruism
Behaviour that benefits others without benefitting oneself
-unselfish regard for the welfare of others
