Chapter 14: Social Psychology Flashcards
social psychology
field of psychology that seeks to explain and predict how peoples’ thoughts/attitudes/behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others
social influence
how ppl adjust their behaviour to meet the expectations of others in the environment
social cognition
the way in which people perceive and interpret themselves and others in the social world
attitudes
relatively stable and enduring evaluation of people and things
ABC model of attitudes
affective (how we feel) + behavioural (how we behave) + cognitive (what we believe) towards or about an object
cognitive dissonance theory
festinger 1957
state of emotional discomfort ppl experience when they hold two contradictory beliefs or hold a belief which contradicts their behaviour. This is resolved by modifying our existing beliefs. Justifications for a belief or behaviour can reduce the cognitive dissonance (money). This theory is more applied in more out of character situations
self-perception theory
Daryl Bem
when ppl are uncertain of their attitudes they infer what the attitudes are by observing their own behaviour. This theory is more applied in slightly out of character situations
attitude specificity
the more specific an attitude is the highly likelihood it has to predict a behaviour
attitude strength
stronger attitudes predict behaviour more accurately than weak and vague ones
social desirability
ppl often state attitudes that are socially desirable rather than accurate. Use a bogus pipeline technique of a fake lie detector machine to counter
implicit attitudes
an attitude of which the person is unaware themselves
stereotypes
generalized impressions about a person/group based on the social category they occupy
prejudice
negative stereotypical attitudes towards individuals from another group
social identity theory
emphasizes social cognitive factors that come into play in prejudice.
explains group phenomena based on social context, categorization, identity, norms, and status
central route
persuasion that emphasizes the content of a message, facts/logical arguments, requires effort on the receiver end
peripheral route
superficial info/feelings/impressions
attributes
casual explanations of behaviour
dispositional/internal attributions
focus on ppls’ traits as the cause of their behaviour
situational/external attributions
focus on environmental factors as the cause of their behaviour
fundamental attribution error
tendency to use dispositional attributions to explain the behaviour of other ppl
actor-observer effect
discrepancy b/w how we explain other ppls’ behaviour (dispositional) and our own (situational)
self-serving bias
ppl have to attribute their successes to internal causes and their failures to external
norms
social rules about how members of a society are expected to act
descriptive vs injunctive
about what ppl do vs about what ppl ought to do
social role
a set of norms ascribed to a person’s social position, expectation/duties associated with the position
conformity
tendency to yield to social pressure, change of behaviour/attitudes/judgements due to real/imagined pressure
obedience
the act of following direct commands usually given by an authority figure
Milgram’s Experiment (1963)
applied high voltages …..
after hearing the learner’s first cries of pain at 150 volts, 82.5 percent of participants continued administering shocks; of those, 79 percent continued to the shock generator’s end, at 450 volts
Asch’s conformity experiment
78% of ppl conformed
out of 12 trials made 4.4 errors
have to be at least three people against you and if one on your side then does not work
group
an organized, stable collection of individuals in which the members are aware of the influence they have on one another and share a common identity
social facilitation
an effect in which the presence of others enhances preformance
social loafing
phenomenon in which ppl exert less effort on a collective task than they would on a comparable individual task
group polarization
intensification of an initial tendency of individual group members brought about by group discussion
groupthink
form of faulty decision making when group members strive for unanimity and this goal overrides their motivation to realistically appraise alternative ideas
altruism
self-sacrificing behaviour carried our for the benefit of others
bystander apathy
onlookers who do not do anything to help
individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim in presence of other people.
aggression
phsyical/verbal attacks intended to do harm to another
frustration-aggression hypothesis
we become aggressive in response to frustration
triangular theory of love
Robert sternberg: intimacy, passion, commitment and 4 stages: exploration, bargaining, commitment, institutionalization
orbitofrontal cortex
social reasoning, reward emulation, reading other ppl, eliciting emotional state
ventromedial prefrontal cortex
processing rewards/punishments, interpret non-verbal social info, making moral/social assessments, emapthy
insula
beneath frontal cortex, empathy, reading others, activated when observing in others physical or emotional pain
amygdala
identify emotional facial expressions and pay attention to stimuli
social phobia
a disorder involving severe, persistent, irrational fears of social situation in which embarrassment may occur
avoidant personality disorder
involves extreme discomfort/inhibition in social relationships
dependent personality disorder
involves pervasive, excessive need to be taken care and fear of separation
autism
sever disorder marked by extreme unresponsiveness, poor communication skills, very repetitive/rigid behaviours
Asperger’s disorder
form of autism, major social impairments yet maintain normal intellectual, adaptive, language skills
informational social influence
influence based on a group’s capacity to supply info
normative social influence
influence based on a group’s capacity to apply sanctions
public compliance but not private acceptance
Latin and Darley’s decision tree model
Did the person notice the event?
Do they interpret it as an emergency?
Do they feel responsible for helping?
Do they know the appropriate type of help to give?
Do they know how to implement a solution?
Secure attachment
relatively easy to become close to others
Avoidant attachment
uncomfortable being close with others; difficulty trusting and depending
Anxious-ambivalent
worry that lovers are less interested in closeness than they are
