Chapter 8 - Individual and Group Behaviour Flashcards
Social influence
how people change their behaviour or attitudes due to the direct or indirect influence of others
Group
two or more people who interact with and influence one another and work towards a common goal
Collective
a collection of people who exert minimal influence on each other and don’t interact with every other person in the collection
Status
the level of importance (real or imagined) that group members perceive regarding another group member’s position in that group
Power
an individual’s ability to control or strongly influence the thoughts,
feelings and behaviour of another person or group
Role
the behaviour adopted by an individual or assigned to them that influences how they function or act in different situations
Groupthink
when group members’ desire to maintain group loyalty becomes more important than making the best choices
Group shift
when discussion leads a group to adopt attitudes or actions that are more extreme than the initial attitudes or actions of the individual group members
Deindividuation
when people act a certain way because of the anonymity (loss of identity) that a group provides
Culture
the many characteristics of a group of people, including their attitudes, behaviours, customs and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next
Collectivist cultures
cultures that emphasise the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and desires of each individual
Individualist cultures
cultures that stress the needs of the individual over the needs of the group as a whole
Obedience
the act of people changing their behaviour in response
to direct commands from an authority figure
Confederate
in an experiment, someone who is part of the team of experimenters but pretends to be the subject of the experiment (or neutral)
Social proximity
in the field of psychology, how physically close one or more people are to each other
Legitimacy of the authority figure
a concept referring to an authority figure who has a higher position or
status in a social hierarchy
Group pressure
an occurrence in which other members reveal whether they are obedient to the authority figure or not
Conformity
the process by which people modify their ideas, attitudes, behaviours or perceptions to more closely reflect those held by groups to which they belong or aspire to belong
Normative influence
the occurrence in which we conform with others because we want to
be liked by them – and we assume that our conformity will make them like us more
Informational influence
an occurrence in which a person conforms because they want to be right, so they look
to others they believe might have more information
Unanimity
the complete agreement that group members experience in terms of knowing the answer
Group size
the number of individuals within a group; increase in group size can correspond to a rise in conformity (but only up to a point)
Social loafing
a person’s tendency to reduce their effort when working in a group, as opposed to when working alone
Media
the various broadcasting mediums, such as the internet, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards and smartphones
