Chapter 14: Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology
seeks to understand, explain, and predict how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.
Social Cognition
the way in which people perceive and interpret themselves and others in their world
Attitudes
relatively stable and enduring evaluations of things and people
ABC model of attitude
propose that attitudes have three components: affective, behavioral, and cognitive
affective- how we feel towards an object (emotions)
behavioral- how we behave toward an object (actions)
cognitive- what we believe about an object (belief/idea)
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
we experience emotional discomfort when we hold contradictory beliefs or hold a belief that contradicts our behavior
we are motivated to change our attitudes to reduce cognitive dissonance
this theory warns of parents giving extrinsic reward to children for doing homework/chores
Self-Perception Theory
suggests that when people are uncertain of their attitude, they infer what the attitude are by observing their own behavior
Factors that affect the extent to which attitude predicts behavior
attitude specificity- more specific the attitude, the more likely it is to predict behavior
attitude strength- stronger attitudes predict behavior more accurately than weak attitudes
Halloween story
(1938) 85 years ago, broadcast of war of the world
The mercury theater
Implicit Attitude
an attitude of which the person is unaware
Stereotypes
generalized impressions about people or groups of people based on the social category they occupy
Prejudice
negative stereotypical attitudes towards individuals from another group
Social Identity Theory
emphasizes social-cognitive factors in the onset of prejudice
prejudice emerges through three processes:
- social categorization (person affiliates with a particular group as a way of figuring out how to act and react in the world)
- social identity (person forms an identity within the group)
- social comparison ( group member compares the group favorably with other groups and in turn derives a sense of positive well-being from looking at himself as superior in some way)
Dual Processing Model of Persuasion
Central route vs. Peripheral route (for persuasion)
central- emphasizes the content of message and the facts. more lasting impact
peripheral- superficial info, feelings, impressions. quick rules of them (heuristic)
“ has lots of argument”
“seem to know what they are talking about”
“makes me feel good”
Foot-in-the-door technique
getting someone to agree to a small request and then following up with a larger request
the person will be inclined to grant the second request because he granted the first one
Door-in-the-face Technique
making absurd first request that will obviously be turned down then following with a more moderate request
Appeals to Fear
make people believe that something bad will happen if they don’t comply with requests
Attributions
causal explanations of behavior
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency to use disposition attributions to explain the behavior of other people
Dispositional Attributions
internal attributions
focus on peoples’ traits as the cause of their behavior
Situational Attributions
external attributions
focus on environmental factors as the cause of behavior
Actor-Observer Effect
discrepancy between how we explain the other people’s behavior (dispositionally) and how we explain our own behavior (situationally)
actors tend to make situational attributions about our own behavior
observers tend to make dispositional attributions about others
Self-serving Bias
tendency people have to attribute their successes to internal causes and their failures to external causes
Norms
social rules about how members of a society are expected to act
Social Role
set of norms ascribed to a person’s social position, expectations and duties related to the role
Conformity
the tendency to yield to social pressure
Asch experiments (informative & normative social influence)
Obedience
act of following direct commands, usually given by an authority figure
Milgram’s experiment
Group
organized, stable collection of individuals in which the members are aware of and influence one another and share an common identity
Group Productivity (optimal group size for different tasks)
for additive tasks (members each perform their part)- group productivity increases with group size
for conjunctive task (as productive as weakest member)- bigger group does not necessarily increase productivity
for disjunctive task (one solution/most competent person can provide solution)- bigger group is more likely to have the superstar
for divisible task (simultaneous performance of several different activities)- larger group tend to be more productive. can complement each other
Social Facilitation
an effect in which the presence of others enhances performance
Social Loafing
phenomenon in which people exert less effort on a collective task than they would on on a comparable individual task. (free riding)
Group Polarization
intensification of an initial tendency of individual group members brought about by group discussion
Groupthink
form of faulty group decision making that occurs when group members strive for unanimity and this goal overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative course of actions
Altruism
self-sacrificing behavior carried out for the benefit of others
Bystander apathy
more likely to be a bystander when there are more people around.
we are more likely to intervene when we are alone
Frustration-aggression Hypothesis
we become aggressive in response to frustration
Liking
fondness and affection for another person
5 Key factors that leads to Liking someone
similarity- more likely to be fond of people similar to us
proximity- more likely to be fond of people we encounter frequently
self-disclosure- will initially like people who disclose personal info. also tend to disclose more to people we initially like
situational factors- situations we encounter people affect how much we like them
physical attractiveness- prefer to look at and be near attractive ppl
3 types of lover based on attachment model
secure- find it relatively easy to become close to others and feel comfortable with depending and being depended on. no scared of becoming too close or being abandoned
avoidant- difficulty trusting others and depending on them. nervous when others want to become closer
anxious-ambivalent- preoccupied with concerns that partners do not love them.
Key brain regions in social functioning
orbitofrontal- involved in social reasoning, reward evaluations, reading others, and eliciting emotional states
ventromedial prefrontal cortex- role in processing of rewards and punishments, interpreting non verbal social info, feeling empathy
insula- beneath frontal cortex. role in empathy and in reading others
amygdala- identify emotional facial expressions and pay attention to stimuli that may be unpredictable, potentially rewarding, or potentially punishing
Social Anxiety Disorder
involving severe, persistent, and irrational fear of social situations in which embarrassment may occur
Avoidant Personality Disorder
involving extreme discomfort and inhibition in social relationships
Dependent Personality Disorder
involving a pervasive, excessive need to be taken care of and a fear of separation
Autism
severe disorder marked by extreme unresponsiveness, poor communication skills, and very repetitive and rigid behavior
Asperger’s disorder
person has major social impairment, yet maintain relatively normal intellectual, adaptive and language skills
