Chapter 13; Social Psychology Flashcards
what is social psychology?
how people influence our thoughts, feelings and actions, and how we in turn influence peoples thoughts feelings and actions
Need-to-belong theory
humans have such a strong motivate to belong it can be considered a need, social isolation has many negative impacts
social contagion
emotions, behaviours or conditions spreading through a group or network of people
social comparison
we evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others, includes:
upward social comparison: comparing ourselves with people who seem superior when we have a goal of improvement
downwards social comparison:
comparing ourselves to people who seem inferior when we have a goal of enhancement
mass hysteria
a contagious outbreak of irrational behaviour that spreads like a flu or epidemic
fundamental attribution error
tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people’s behaviour and underestimating the impact of situational influences
conformity
a change in behaviour as a result of real or imagined group pressure, horizontal influence
obedience
adherence to instructions from those of a higher authority, vertical influence
Asch studies
Line studies, tested for conformity, concluded conformity was influenced by:
1. unanimity
2. difference in the wrong answer
3. size
Milgram studies
electrocution studies studies, tested for obedience, concluded obedience is influenced by:
1. The greater the psychological distance between the experimenter and participant the less obedience
2. the greater the distance between participant and confederate the greater the obedience
-62% obedience
deindividuation
the tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behaviour when they are stripped of their usual identities, ex. Stanford prison experiment
groupthink
when the unanimity of a group is emphasized at the expense of critical thinking
heavily related to conformity
preventing groupthink
encouraging dissent, including a devils advocate, inoculation
inoculation effect
approach to convincing people to change their minds about something by first introducing reasons why the perspective might be correct and then debunking those reasons
Bystander non-intervention effect
the more people present at an emergency the less likely someone will help someone in distress, has 2 main factors:
1. pluralistic ignorance: error of assuming no one in a group perceives things as we do
2. diffusion of responsibility: more people equals less responsibility on each individuals part
Model of helping
we must go through 4 steps and 4 challenges before actually providing help
1. notice the event, challenges: not noticing or stimulus overload
2. interpret is as an emergency, challenge: pluralistic ignorance
3. assume responsibility, challenge: diffusion of responsibility
4. know appropriate form of assistance, challenge: no skills/knowledge
enlightenment effect
learning about psychological research such as the bystander effect can change behaviour and make us likely to help in the future
social loafing
individuals are less productive in groups as a product of diffusion of responsibility
aggression situation and cultural influences
- exposure to media violence
- influence of alcohol/myopia
- warmer temperatures
- cultures of honour
- high level of negative emotions/ a lack of closeness to others
cognitive dissonance theory
our attitudes change through cognitive dissonance: the unpleasant tension that arises when we have conflicting thoughts or beliefs, 3 options to ease cognitive dissonance :
1. alter first belief
2. alter second belief
3. introduce another belief
dual process models of persuasion
there are 2 pathways to persuading others:
1. central route: analytical and motivated, long last and strong
2. peripheral route: superficial, uninvolved, temporary, weak
foot-in-the-door technique
making a small request, followed by a bigger request (works because of cognitive dissonance)
door-in-the-face technique
making a big request, followed by a smaller request
lowball techniques
quoting a lower price then mentioning you need all the add ons
