Chapter 8: Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behavior Flashcards
Social action.
Actions and behaviors that individuals are performing or modulating because others are around. Humans will behave in different ways based on their social environment and how their behavior will affect those around them. Consider just the individual that is surrounded by others.
Social Facilitation.
People tend to perform better on simple tasks when they in the presence of others. People naturally exhibit a performance response when they know they are being watched. reflects the idea that performance is not solely influenced by individuals ability, but also by social environment and awareness of that environment.
Yerkes-Dodson Law of social facilitation.
Being in the presence of others will significantly raise arousal, which enhances the ability to perform tasks one is already good at (or simple tasks), and hinders the performance of less familiar tasks (or complex tasks).
Deindividuation.
Describes the loss of one’s self-awareness in a group setting and the associated adoption of a more group oriented identity. Individuals of the group lose their own sense of morals and judgment and follow along with the actions of the group. Psychologists have cited group cohesion and individual anonymity as factors impacting deindividuation. If an individual can relate to the group, then the likelihood of that person adopting the group’s identity increases, that is group cohesion. Group settings increase Anonymity and thus diffused the sense of individual responsibility for the actions of the group.
Antinormative behavior.
Behavior not socially acceptable in most social circumstances.
Bystander effect.
Phenomenon that occurs in social groups where individuals do not intervene to assist those who are in perceived need when other people are around. The more people standing by, the less likely any of those people is to help. The degree of emergency or the perceived danger plays a role in response. In Group made-up of strangers, the likelihood of response and the speed of that response is much slower than in a group of well acquainted individuals.
Social loafing.
Tendency of individuals to reduce effort when in a group setting. It could be physical effort, mental effort, or initiative.
Peer pressure.
Refer to the social influence placed on an individual by one’s peers. It can be positive or negative. In children’s, social acceptance is associated with being most like the social norm of the group, regardless of positive or negative connotation. Stress in the presence of peers can lead to poor choices and potentially facilitate risky behaviors such as binge eating and violent activities.
Peers
Individuals who are regarded as equals within a social group.
Identity shift effect.
Changes in beliefs or behaviors due to peer pressure. The individual begin to experience internal conflict because the behaviors outside the normal character of the individual.
Cognitive dissonance.
Simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions. This generally leads to an internal state of discomfort, which may manifest as anxiety, fear, anger or confusion.
Solomon’s Arch Conformity experiment.
Experiments showed that individuals will often conform to an opinion held by the group. They urged door to conformity could outweigh the desire to provide the correct answer.
Social interaction.
Explores the way in which two or more individuals can both shape each other’s behavior.
Group polarization.
Describes the tendency of a group to collaborative make decisions that are more extreme than the individual ideas and inclinations of the members within the group. Can lead to riskier or more cautious decisions based on the initial tendencies of the group members towards risk or caution. Individuals and groups will form opinions that are more extreme than the opinions they would reach in isolation. It can explain many real life scenarios including policy making, violence and terrorism.
Choice shift.
Refer specifically to measured changes in decisions before and after group interactions.
Groupthink
Desire for harmony or conformity results in a group of people coming to an incorrect report decision. In an attempt to eliminate or minimize conflict among the group members, consensus decisions are reached without alternative ideas being assessed.
What influences groupthink?
Group cohesiveness, group structure, leadership, and situational context.
Eight factors that are indicative of groupthink.
Illusion of invulnerability: Members encourage risk, ignore possible pitfalls, and are too optimistic.
Collective rationalizations: Members ignore expressed concerns about group approved ideas.
Illusions of morality: Members believe ideas produced by the group are morally correct.
Excessive stereotyping: Members construct stereotypes of those expressing outside opinions.
Pressure for conformity: members feel pressured not to express opinions that disagree with the group
Self-censorship: members withhold ideas and opinions that disagree with the group
Illusion of unanimity: members believe the decision and judgement of the group to be without disagreement
Mindguards: some members may decide to take on a role protecting the group against opposing views.
Fad
Behavior that is transiently viewed as popular and desirable by a large community.
Mass hysteria.
Shared and Dean’s concern about the threats to society. One example is the witches in Salem trials.
Culture.
Can be defined as beliefs, behaviors, actions, and characteristics of a group or Society of people. Culture is learned by living within a society, observing behaviors and traits, and adopting them.
Culture shock.
When travelling outside one’s own society, these cultural differences can seem quite dramatic.
Assimilation.
Process by which an individual groups behavior and culture begin to resemble that another of group. Four primary factors are sometimes used to access the degree of assimilation immigrant communities: Socioeconomic status, geographic distribution, language attainment, and intermarriage.
Ethnic enclaves.
Location usually neighborhoods with a high concentration of one specific thing, the city. For example, Chinatown.
Multiculturalism.
Also known as cultural diversity, refers to communities or societies containing multiple cultures or ethnic groups. Multiculturalism encourages respect and celebrates cultural differences. While multiculturalism is often described as creating a cultural mosaic or mixture of cultures and ethnic groups that coexistence society, assimilation is described as creating a melting pot or melting together of different elements of culture into one homogeneous culture.
Subcultures.
Groups of people within a culture that distinguished themselves from the primary culture to which they belong.
Counterculture.
The subculture group gravitates towards an identity that is at odds with the majority culture, and deliiberately opposes the prevailing social mores.
Socialization.
Discussing the process of developing, inheriting and spreading arms, customs and beliefs.
Cultural transmission or cultural learning
Beliefs, customs, and cultural norms are often passed down from one generation to another within a society.
