Class 3- Self Identity and Social Interaction

Question 1

Describe the difference between personal identity and social identity.

Answer 1

Personal identity consists of personal attributes that you consider integral to the description of who you are.

Social identity consists of all of the socially defined attributes defining who you are, including age, race, gender, religion, occupation, etc.

Question 2

What is the difference between self-concept and self-schema?

Answer 2

Self-concept includes all of your beliefs about who you are as an individual.

Also known as self-identity, self-construction, or self-perspective.

Self-schema is the beliefs and ideas you have about yourself; used to guide and organize the processing of information that is relevant to you. Helps to develop your self-concepts.

Question 3

What is self-efficacy?

Answer 3

Self-efficacy is how good you think you are at something?

High self-efficacy means that you believe you are pretty good at something.

Question 4

What is a locus of control?

What is the difference of an internal vs external locus?

Answer 4

A locus of control is whether or not you think you have control over what happens (to you).

And internal locus means that you believe you have control over events.

An external locus means you don’t believe you have control.

Question 5

What is Social Learning Theory?

Answer 5

Social Learning Theory suggests that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in social contexts and can occur purely through observation.

This is known as social learning, modeling, or vicarious learning.

Albert Bandura is the father of this.

Question 6

What is the looking glass self?

Answer 6

An individual’s self is shaped by interactions with others and the perceptions of others. Individuals also shape themselves based on what others perceive, and in doing so end up confirming other people’s opinions.

Charles Cooley is the father.

Question 7

Define role-taking.

Answer 7

Role-taking involves understanding the cognitive and affective aspects of another person’s point of view. (Also called social perspective taking)

As cognitive development occurs during childhood, children are better able to understand the feelings and perspectives of others.

Ages 3-6: Egocentric Role Taking

Ages 6-8: Subjective Role Taking

Ages 8-10: Self-reflective Role Taking

Ages 10-12: Mutual Role Taking

Ages 12-15+: Societal Role Taking

Question 8

What is a reference group?

Answer 8

A reference group is a group that we relate or aspire to relate ourselves to; any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.

Question 9

_______ _______ ______ states that we all have a drive to gain accurate self-evaluations by comparing ourselves to others.

Answer 9

Social comparison theory

Therefore, our identity will be in some way shaped by the comparisons we make and the types of reference groups we have.

Question 10

What is impression management?

Answer 10

Impression management is the conscious or unconcious process whereby we attempt to manage our own image by influencing the perceptions of others.

Also known as self-presentation.

Question 11

Which sociological theory does the dramaturgical perspective stem from?

Answer 11

The dramaturgical perspective stems from the theory of symbolic interactionism and posits that we imagine ourselves as playing certain roles when interacting with others.

Question 12

What are social norms? What is a sanction?

How are norms different than folkways, mores, and taboos?

Answer 12

Norms are either implicit or explicit rules specifying acceptable behaviors within a society, norms define expected or acceptable behavior in various situations.

Sanctions are penalties for disobeying formal norms (laws or rules) that help to enforce these social norms.

Folkways are standards of behaviors that are socially approved but not morally significant, for everyday behavior.

Mores are more strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior, violating them results in disapproval.

Taboos are norms that are vehemently prohibited because the behavior is considered morally or ethically reprehensible by almost everyone, violation results in extreme disgust.

Question 13

Define deviance.

What can deviance result in?

Answer 13

Deviance is a violation of society’s standards of conduct or expectations.

Deviant behavior often violates social norms, both formal and information.

Deviance results in social sanctions:

1. Legal sanction: formal deviance
2. Stigmatization: informal deviance (social stigma)
3. Preference for one behavior over another: preference rather than stigmatization

Question 14

What is it called when the presence of other improves our performance on simple, well-ingrained tasks?

Answer 14

Social facilitation occurs when the presence of others improves our performance on simple, well-ingrained tasks.

Question 15

What is deindividuation?

What is the bystander effect?

Answer 15

Deindividuation is a mob mentality, whereby we lose our sense of restraint and individual identity in situations with high arousal and low personal responsibility.

The bystander effect predicts we are less likely to help a victim when others are present, dur to a diffusion of responsibility.

Question 16

What is the difference between social loafing, groupthink, and group polarization?

Answer 16

Social loafing predicts that when people are working in a group, each person has a tendency to exert less individual effort than if they were working independently.

Groupthink occurs within a group when the desire for harmony results in members trying to minimize conflict and reach a consensus without critical evaluation or alternative viewpoints.

Group polarization occurs when groups tend to intensify the preexisting views of their members. It is NOT when a group becomes more divided on an issue.

Question 17

What are some consequences of groupthink?

When does groupthink more likely occur?

Answer 17

Groupthink occurs within a group when the desire for harmony results in members trying to minimize conflict and reach a consensus without critical evaluation or alternative viewpoints.

Groupthink may lead to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making.

It is most likely to occur when:

1. Group is overly optimistic
2. Group justifies its own opinion and demonizes others
3. Mindguarding (preventing opposing information from permeating the group)
4. Individuals feel pressured to conform, creating an illusion of group unanimity

Question 18

What is the difference between conformity and obedience?

Answer 18

Conformity occurs when you adjust your behavior or thinking based on the behavior or thinking of others.

Solomon Asch performed famous conformity experiments.

Obedience occurs when you yield to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure.

Stanley Milgram’s famous obedience experiments.

Question 19

What is persuasion?

What are the three key elements to it?

Answer 19

Persuasion is a way to influence what others think and do.

There are three elements to persuasion:

1. Message characteristics: features of the message itself (logic and key points, etc)
2. Source characteristics: characteristics of the person or venue delivering the message
3. Target characteristics: characteristics of the person receiving the message

Question 20

Explain the Elaboration-Likelihood Model.

Answer 20

The Elaboration-Likelihood Model proposes there are two cognitive routes of persuasion:

1. Central route- persuaded by content of arguement itself
2. Peripheral route- people focus on superficial/ secondary characteristics of the speech or orator

Question 21

What are the 5 techniques of compliance?

Answer 21

1. Foot-in-the-door technique: asking for small request first, then much larger
2. Door-in-the-face technique: Asking for large request first, then much smaller request
3. Low-ball technique: getting someone to agree to something at a low cost, then increasing the cost
4. Ingratiation technique: gaining compliance through gaining approval from an individual first
5. Norm of reciprocity: more likely to comply with a request from someone who has done us a favor in the past

Question 22

What are three things that foster attraction in humans?

Answer 22

1. Proximity: like people closer to us

Mere exposure effect- tend to develop a preference for things we’re familiar with

2. Similarity: similar in age, race/ethnicity, religion, social class, etc
3. Physical attractiveness: attribute positive characteristics to people physically attractive (known as physical attractiveness stereotype)

Question 23

What are the two main types of aggression?

What are the three major factors that influence aggression?

Answer 23

Aggression is any behavior meant to hurt or intimidate others.

Two main types of aggression:

1. Hostile aggression (strong emotions, unplanned)
2. Instrumental aggression (goal-oriented, harm to obtain something else)

Three major factors that influence aggression:

1. Environmental
2. Biological
3. Cultural

Question 24

Who did the monkey studies of attachment?

Who did the baby “strange situation experiments” to study attachment?

Answer 24

Harry and Margaret Harlow- Monkeys

Mary Ainsworth- Babies

Question 25

What are the 4 main types of attachment seen in children?

As explained in the Mary Ainsworth “strange situation” baby experiments?

Answer 25

1. Secure attachment: happy while mother present, cry when she leaves, consoled upon return
2. Insecure Ambivalent attachment: cry when mother leaves, remain upset upon return (may cling, or push her away, may be inconsolable)
3. Insecure Avoidant attachment: seeming indifference to mother’s depature and return, though show phsiological signs of stress
4. Insecure disorganized attachment: fluctuation between ambivalent and avoidant attachment styles

Question 26

What is the Attribution Theory?

How do we attribute behavior to others?

Answer 26

The Attribution Theory explains how we understand our own behavior and the behavior of others.

We tend to attribute behavior to:

1. Internal causes (dispositional attribution)
2. External causes (situational attribution)

We attribute behavior to internal or external causes based on the following:

1. Distinctiveness: behave same way in similar situations?
2. Consensus: behaving similarly to other individuals?
3. Consistency: behave similarly every time situation occurs?

Question 27

What are 5 attribution biases?

Answer 27

1. Fundamental attribution error: attribute other’s behavior to personalities
2. Actor/ observer bias: attribute own actions to situation
3. Self-serving bias: attribute own successes to ourselves, but failures to others
4. Optimism bias: believe bad things happen to other people, not ourselves
5. Just world belief: believe bad thngs happen to others due to their own actions

Question 28

When forming a perception/ impression of others what information do we use?

Answer 28

1. Physical cues
2. Salience
3. Social categorizations
4. Other biases
   a. Halo Effect- impression of someone impacts our assumption of character
   b. Physical attractiveness stereotype- individual is attractive, more likely to assume smart, funny, good, etc.

Question 29

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 29

The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when an individual unknowingly and unintentionally causes something to happen, due to their expectation of it to happen, or when an individual unwittingly confirms a stereotype about themselves.

Question 30

What is the difference between stereotype threat and stereotype boost?

Answer 30

Stereotype threat occurs when people are in situations where they are at risk of confirming negative stereotypes about their own social group.

Stereotype boost occurs when people perform better than they otherwise would have, because of exposure to positive stereotypes about their social group.

Question 31

What is the difference between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism?

Answer 31

Ethnocentrism is the belief that your way of doing things is the best or the correct way to do things.

Cultural relativism views cultural differences as neither superior nor inferior, but attempts to examine things within the cultural context.