chapter 9 Flashcards
what is psychological arousal?
- refers to alertness and readiness to respond
what is social facilitation?
the idea that we perform tasks better in group settings where psycholigcal arousal is higher (only to a certain extent)
what is the Yerkes-Dodson law?
- for complex tasks, we get a Ushape curve with the best performance being somewhere in the middle under conditions of moderate arousal.
what is social loafing?
- idea that you can work less hard, or be less productive in a group setting because other people will pick up the slack
what is the bystander effect?
- it refers to people’s tendency not to offer help to someone in distress if other people, or bystanders, are present
- one reason could be diffusion of responsibility within a crowd
what is deindividuation?
- describes how people tend to lose their sense of self-awareness in a large group setting, due to a high degree of psychological arousal and a low degree of perceived responsibility
what are the 3 main factors that contribute to deindividuation?
- anonymity- the sense that no one will know what you do in a crowd
- diffused responsibility- the sense that you’re not responsible for what happens
- group size which increases the effects if both anonymityand diffused responsibility
what is group polarization?
- refers to the tendency of a group to make decisions or arrive at final opinions that are more extreme than the initial positions of the individual members of the group
- this reflects a dynamic in which initial opinions get amplified over the course of a discussion
what are the 2 main factors tnat contribute to group polarization?
- informational influence- refers to the idea that in a group discussion, people are more likely to express POV’s in line with the dominant viewpoint, and the disproportionate attention paid to such information reinforces individuals pre-existing viewpoints
- normative influence- refers to our desire to be socially accepted, affirmed, or admired within a group
what is group think?
- irrational decisions are made within a group due to pressures towards harmony and individual conformity
what are the 8 specific factors that are characteristic of groupthink?
- illusion of invulnerability- refers to the belief that no serious harm will happen to the group
- illusion of unanimity- refers to the assumption that the majority of opinions in the group are unanimous
- illusion of morality- refers to a rigid, unbending belief in the moral righteousness of the groups cause, which helps blind group members to objections and leads them to overlook possible consequences of their action
- self-censorship- members who do disagree don’t share their opinion
- pressure on dissenters- the members feel pressure to not express opinions contrary to the majority group
- collective rationalization- tendency for group members to find reasons to ignore warning signs and to avoid reconsidering their actions or assumptions
- excessive stereotyping- negative views about outside opinions or viewpoints lead group members not to take their perspective seriously
- mindguards- phenomenon where certain members of the group filter out information that could destabilize the groups consensus
what is conformity?
- describes situations where someone’s behaviours, beliefs, or thinking changes to line up with the perspectives of others or with social norms in the community
- the term for such a situation where someone’s beliefs or behaviours just happen to line up with those of the group is convergence or congurence which emphasizes that this concept refers to pre-existing overlap
what is a genuine change in someone’s beliefs?
- internalization or conversion
if someone just goes along with the group but internally dissents is known as?
- compliance
what happens if someone’s behaviour and beliefs change, but only kind of, and only in the presence of th group?
indentification
what is the Soloman Asch experiment?
- thought-provoking example of the power of conformity
- shown a card with 3 lines and asked which line matched the card in a group setting but the confederate said the wrong answer and most group members would repeat the wrong answer
what is compliance?
- refers to responses to requests from someone who has no power to enforce the reuqest
- ex. marketing adds (request to buy a certain product)
what is the foot-in-the-door technique?
- involves first making a small request of someone and then making a larger request
what is the door-in-the-face technique?
- involves making a large request at first that you know will be rejected only to follow it up with a smaller, more reasonable request
what is the low ball technique
- involves offering something at a low price, only to raise the price at the last minute once the customer is invested in the purchase
what is obedience?
- refers to a change in behaviour in response to a direct request from someone who has power to enforce that request
what is the Milgram experiment?
- an experiment that tested obedience to see how far people would go in terms of inflicting pain on someone in response to direct instructions
- Stanford prison experiment is a similar experiment
what are norms?
- the tules (spoken or unspoken) that regulate the behaviour, beliefs, attitudes, and values of members of society
what is the concept of social control?
- refers to the myraid of ways in which those norms are taught, enforced, and perpetuated
what is deviance?
- occurs when someone doesn’t follow a norm