chapter 14- social psych Flashcards
social psychology
study of the ways that individuals thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others
social interaction is…
adaptive, were evolved to be social
social psych vs sociology
psych is of a person, sociology is of a group
attitudes
an attitude is a mixture of belief and emotion that predisposes a person to respond to other ppl, objects, or groups in a positive or negative way
attitudes- three component model
ABC
A- affect- how you feel
B-behavior- what you do, how you act
C-cognition- what you think, what you believe
does exposure change our attitudes?(mere exposure effect)
We like things (or people) better the more we encounter them
Cognitive Dissonance
People want their behaviors to be consistent with their beliefs and feelings
an uncomfortable state that we feel when our behaviors don’t match the rest of our attitudes
how to resolve cognitive dissonance
change your thinking or beliefs
change your feelings
change your behavior
Attitude Change: Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)
attitudes can be changed through one of two routes of cognitive processing that differ in how much we “elaborate on” the messages we’re hearing – CENTRAL vs. PERIPHERAL routes
Features of communicator, message, and audience affect processing
Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Communicator
attractive/likeable, credible/trustworthy, authoritative/expert
Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Message
doesn’t seem like an attempt to persuade us; appears to present both sides of an issue
Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Audience
some people are more easily persuaded; mood affects how critical we are
Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model) central route
high motivational state, high knowledge needed to evaluate message, and high elaboration likelihood
Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model) peripheral route
low motivational state, low knowledge needed to evaluate message, and low elaboration likelihood
Social Roles
what position(s) someone occupies in society and the behaviors that are expected from him or her because of those roles
Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo)
assigned roles to college students: “prisoner” and “guard”
guards -abusive in demonstrating power/authority; prisoners-submissive
had to stop after 6 days (instead of 14)
internal attributions
personal causes (e.g., traits, emotions, ability, motivations)
external attributions
environmental causes (e.g., circumstances, task difficulty, luck)
Fundamental Attribution Error
attributing others’ behavior to internal causes (something about them, rather than the situation)
Actor-Observer Bias
attributing our own behavior to external causes (we are actors) and others’ behavior to internal causes (we are observing them)
Self-Serving Bias
attributing our successes to internal factors (e.g., I have good study strategies) but our failures to external factors (e.g., my roommate kept me from studying)
Availability Heuristic
we base our judgments on the most readily available information (the first thing that comes to mind)
Representativeness Heuristic
we assume people in a certain category have all the characteristics we associate with members of that category; ignores individual variation (e.g., librarians)
Anchoring
we use ourselves as the basis (anchor) for judging others; leads to bias when we don’t take individual variation into account
Stereotypes
A simplified set of traits that are associated with group membership
Can lead to biased judgments of others
Can lead us to ignore individual characteristics or differences
Broadest = in group vs. out group (us vs. them)
Prejudice
A preconceived opinion or attitude about an issue, person, or group
Discrimination
involves treating members of various social groups differently in circumstances where their rights or treatment should be identical
Reducing Prejudice
Increase contact in cooperative activities
Increased exposure to differences in positive contexts (friendship, collaboration) leads to less prejudice
Why? You see individual people and their traits; look beyond stereotypes
Foot in the Door Technique
make small request first (get initial agreement), then big (more desired) one
Reciprocity
(if you do something for someone, they feel like they should do something in return)
Door in the Face Technique
make large, unreasonable request first (refused), then small request (actually desired one)
Obedience
Complying with instructions given by an authority figure
Social Facilitation
Occurs when the presence of other people changes individual performance; not always effective (e.g., complex tasks)
Social Loafing
Reduced motivation and effort by individuals who work in a group as opposed to work alone
e.g. Have you ever had someone not do their part on group work?
Deindividuation
Immersion of the individual within a group, making the individual relatively anonymous
Groupthink
A type of flawed decision making in which a group does not question its decisions critically
Aggression
An action done with the intent to harm others
Several contributing factors:
Biology
Frustration
Learning
Altruism
Engaging in helping behaviors without the expectation of any personal gain
Bystander Apathy
People’s willingness to lend help decreases when others are around.
