Chapter 13: Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology
Study of how people influence each other’s behaviours
Biological Perspective of Social Psychology (3)
Humans are social beings with the need to belong
Our brain structures and functions make us experience psychological damage in isolation
These processes have been naturally selected because they’ve served us well over the course of evolution
Social Contagion
Looking to others to see how to react, which influences our perception
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency for observers to underestimate situational factors & overestimate dispositional influences on other’s behaviour
Attribution
A cause for behaviour
Disposition
Personal characteristics / quality of character
When are we less likely to commit the Fundamental Attribution Error (2)?
When we’ve been in the same situation ourselves
Collective cultures tend to commit it less than individualistic cultures
Beliefs
Conclusions regarding factual evidence
Attitudes
Beliefs with an emotional component
Attitudes don’t always predict behaviour example
The polls coming out influences the rest of Canada’s choices
Attitudes are more likely to predict behaviour when…
The attitude is firmly held and stable over time
Origin of Attitudes (2)
Recognition heuristic: we’re more likely to believe something we’ve heard many times
Personality: Attitudes are associated with our personality traits
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
We alter our attitudes or our behaviour when experiencing tension between two or more conflicting thoughts
Ex: You want to be healthy but don’t eat well. We will resort to either eating better (behaviour) or think differently about our habits (attitude)
Alternatives to the Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Self perception theory: Attitudes are acquired through observing our behaviours (“I must love rice because I order it a lot”)
Impression Management Theory: We don’t change our attitudes but we say we do to sustain our impressions socially
Dual Process Model of Persuasion
Central Route -> Attitudes stick because it’s analytical & motivated
Peripheral Route -> Attitude does not stick because it’s emotion based or born from triggers
Persuasion Techniques
Foot in the door
Door in the face
Low ball
But you are free
Characteristics of the Messenger
- Attractiveness
- Similarity (Implicit Egotism Effect)
- Scarcity of product/sale
- Consensus/bandwagoning
Who’s most affected by conformity? (2)
People with low self-esteem
Collectivist cultures
Deindividuation
Lost of restraint and awareness in groups.
Caused by anonymity & lack of sense of responsibility
Conformity in the Asch Paradigm is caused by… (3)
-Unanimity
-Difference in the wrong answer
-Size
Groupthink
People tend to conform to group decisions because we want to belong like in cults
How do cults collect their members? (5)
Illusion of invulnerability
Illusion of unanimity
Unquestioned moral correctness
Pressure to conform
Stereotyping the out-group
Self-censorship
Tendency to censor ones self even when having doubts
Mindguards
Self-appointed people who prevent contrarian views from circulating
