Chapter 13: Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology
the study of the causes and consequences of sociality
Aggression
behavior whose purpose is to harm another
- a strategy used by just about every animal on the planet
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
animals aggress when annd only when their goals are frustrated
- The chimp wants a banana (goal), but the pelican is about to take it (frustration), so the chimp threatens the pelican with his fist (aggression)
- The robber wants the money (goal) but the teller has t locked up (frustration), so the robber threatens the teller with a gun (aggression)
Cooperation
behavior by two or more individuals that leads to mutual benefit
Group
A collection of people who have something in common that distinguishes them from others
Prejudice
a positive or negative evaluation of another person vased on their group membership
Discrimination
a postivie or negative behavior toward another person based on their group membership
Deindividuation
Occurs when Immersion in a group causes people to become less concerned with their personal values
Diffusion of Responsibility
Occurs when individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions because they are surrounded by others who are acting the same way
Altruism
behavior that benefits another without benefiting oneself
Kin Selection
the process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives
- this means that cooperating with relatives is not really altruistic
Reciprocal Altruism
behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future
- Really isn’t altruistic at all
Mere Exposure Effect
the tendency for the frequency of exposure to a stimulus to increase liking
- For instance: in some experiments, geometric shapes, faces, or alphabetical characters were flashed on a computuer screen so quickly that participants were unaware of having seen them
- These participants were then shown some of the “old” stimuli that had been flashed across the screen as well as some “new stimuli that had not.
- Although they could not reliably tell which stimuli were old and which were new, participants tended to like the old stimuli better than the new ones
Passionate Love
an experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy, and intense sexual attraction
Companionate Love
an experience involving affection, trust, and concern for a partner’s well-being
Social Exchange
the hypothesis that people remain in relationships only as long as they perceive a favorable ratio of costs to benefits
- For example: a relationship that provides an acceptable level of benefits at a reasonable cost will probably be maintained, and one that doesn’t won’t
Comparison Level
the cost-benefit ratio that people believe they deserve or could attain in another relationship
Equity
a state of affairs in which the cost-benefit ratios of two partners are roughly equal
- ex. spouses are more distressed when their respective cost-benefit ratios are unfavorable - and this is true even when their cost-benefit ratio is more favorable than their partner’s
Social Influence
the ability to control another person’s behavior
Norms
customary standards for behavior
- Face forward in elevator
- Don’t talk in elevator
- Walk on the right side
Normative Influence
another person’s behavior provides information about what is appropriate
- ex. every human culture has a **norm of reciprocity **
- the unwritten rule that people should benefit those who have benefited them
Norm of Reciprocity
the unwritten rule that people should benefit those who have benefited them
- When a friend buys you lunch, you return the favor; and if you don’t, your friend gets miffed
Door-in-the-face Technique
a strategy that uses reciprocating concessions to influence behavior
- Ask someone something outrageous first and then ask them what you really want and the chances of them saying yes go up
Conformity
The tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it
Obedience
the tendency to do what powerful people tell us to do
Attitude
an enduring positive or negative evaluation of an object or event
Belief
an enduring piece of knowledge about an object or event
Information Influence
another person’s behavior provides information about what is good or right
Persuasion
occurs when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person
Systematic Persuasion
the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason
Heuristic Persuasion
the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habit or emotion
- people will often use shortcuts or “rules of thumb” to help them decide whether to believe a communication
Foot-in-the-door Technique
a technique that involves a small request followed by a larger request
- Asked to sign a petition urging the state legislature to promote safe driving
- Then asked to install the ugly sign
- Many more people said yes
Cognitivie Dissonance
an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes the inconsistency of his or her actions, attitudes or beliefs
- Causses anxiety and motivation to reduce by changing attitude or behavior
Social Cognition
the processes by which people come to understand others
Stereotyping
the process by which we draw inferences about others based on knowledge of the categories to which they belong
- cognitive schemas that organized information about people based on their membership in certain groups
- Impacts perception ==> Diallo Case
Perceptual Confirmation
the tendency for people to see what they expect to see
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
the tendency for people to cause what they expect to see
- The test scores of black students went down when they had to list their ethnicity in the beginning of the test
Subtyping
the tendency for people who are faced with disconfirming evidence to modify their stereotypes rather than abandon them
- for example, people tend to believe that public relations agents are socialbe
- In one study participants learned about a PR agent who was slightly unsocialbe, and the results showed that their stereotypes about the PR agents shifted a bit to accommodate this new information
- But when participants learned about a PR agent who was extremely unsociable, their stereotypes did not change at all
Attributions
inferences about the caues of people’s behaviors
The Covariation Model of Attribution
Harold Kelley’s covariation model tells us how to use information to make an attribution for another person’s action, such as his failure to mow the lawn last week. If the person’s action is consistent (he often fails to mow the lawn) but not distinctive (he avoids other kinds of work) and not consensual (other people did mow their lawns last week), then the model tells us to make a dispositional attribution. If the person’s action is not consistent (he usually mows his lawn) but is distinctive (he doesn’t avoid other kinds of work) and consensual (other people didn’t mow their lawns last week), the model tells us to make a situational attribution.
Correspondence Bias
the tendency to make a dispositional attribution even when a person’s behavior was caused by the situation
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Actor-Observer Effect
the tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behavior of others
Elaboration Likelihood Model
model of how attitudes are formed and changed
Two Important Themes of Social Psychology
- We tend to vastly underestimate the power of situations in shaping our own and other people’s behaviors
- A great deal of mental activity occurs automatically and without conscious awareness or intent (implicit schemas, attitudes, etc.)
Core Concepts in Social Psychology
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Social Comparison (better than average)
- Attitudes (implicit and explicit)
- Persuasion
- Self-fulfilling Prophecy
- Confirmation Biases
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Deindividuation
- Dehumanization
- Bystander Apathy
- Obedience
- Conformity e
Fundamental Attribution Error
tend to over emphasize the importance of personality traits and underestimate the importance of the situation
- A person acting badly in a situation thinks they are a good person that is in a bad situation
- Observer will automatically assume the person is bad
- ex. “It was the situation, not me.”
“Just World” Hypothesis
victims must have deserved whatever bad thing happened to them; must have done something to provoke the situation
The Mere Exposure Effect
the tendency for liking to increase wit hthe frequency of exposure
- Explains why people prefer mirror images of themselves, wheras others prefer normal images of the person
Confirmation Bias
the tendency for people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses
- Reinforce stereotypes
Central Route Processing
uses rational cognitive processes. Stronger attitudes, less resistant to change
Peripheral Route Processing
not as strong as central route processing
Leon Festinger
proposed that cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a contradiction between two attitudes or between an attitude and a behavior
- $1 vs. $20 study: students participated in a very boring study and afterwards were given either $1 or $20 to go tell the next group of participants that the study was very interesting
- People who were given $1 later said they enjoyed the experiment because there was a cognitive dissonance between how they really felt about the experiment and why they lied to the other students
- People who were given $20 later said they dislike the experiment because $20 was justification enough to have lied to other students
In-group/Out-group Bias
refers to the phenomenon of in-group favoritism, a preference and affinity for one’s in-group over the out-group, or anyone viewed as outisde the in-group
- observe someone in an out-group something negative and then associated the negative action with all people in that group
- Prejudice against mentally ill –> thinking they are all dangerous and a threat to society
Social Loafing
people work less hard in a group when no one person’se efforts are identified
Risky Shift Effect
In situations where they decision is to be risky or safe, groups are more likely to make the risky decision
Diffusion of responsibility
the tendency for individuals to feel diminished rsponsibilty when for their actions when they are surrounded by others who are acting the same way
Group Polarization
tendency in a group to go to one extreme or the other
Jiigsaw Classrooms
Assign students to work in groups instead of having them work with their in-group. Each student is able to teach a certain researched topic to the group. Improves classrooms so they are more inclusive, and people can work together well.
