Final Flashcards
branch of
psychology that studies how a person’s
thoughts, feelings, and behavior are
influenced by the presence of other
people and by the social and physical
environment.
Social psychology
Who you are in relation to others,
which is influenced by social, cultural, and
psychological experiences.
Sense of self
refers to the mental
processes we use to form judgments and draw
conclusions about the characteristics of other
people. Happens with minimal interaction, basically our
first impressions. Can be a tenth of a second and
evaluations are made.
Person perception
Four key components that influence decisions.
- Your reactions to others are determined by your
perceptions of them, not by who they really are. - Your self-perception also influences how you
perceive others and how you act on your
perceptions. - Your goals in a particular situation determine
the amount and kinds of information you collect
about others. - In every situation, you evaluate people partly in
terms of how you expect them to act. This
comes from Social Norms.
Remember….first impressions are often wrong
The result, the halo effect. Once there, difficult
to allow new information (if given the
opportunity to received new information) to
provide a more accurate view.
the “rules” or
expectations for appropriate
behavior in a particular social
situation.
Social norms
the mental process of
categorizing people into groups based on their
shared characteristics.
Often use superficial cues that are easily
observable such as clothing, age, gender, etc.
Can be conscious or unconscious.
Social categorization
deliberate, conscious mental
processes involved in perceptions, judgments,
decisions, and reasoning
Explicit cognition
automatic, unconscious
mental processes that influence perceptions,
judgments, decisions, and reasoning.
Usually triggered automatically by prior
experiences or beliefs and can be both positive
and negative.
Implicit cognition
a network of
assumptions or beliefs about the relationships
among various types of people, traits, and
behaviors.
Based on previous social and cultural
experiences that influence cognitive schemas or
mental frameworks you hold about traits and
behaviors associated with different “types” of
people.
Physical appearance is particularly influential.
Implicit personality theory
the mental process of inferring the
causes of people’s behavior, including one’s own
Attribution
suggests how we explain someone’s behavior is
the result of either the situation or the person’s
disposition/internal characteristics.
Fritz Heider proposed the Attribution Theory
focus blame on the
situation (environment, economy, traffic)
Situational attribution:
focus blame on the person or the person’s
characteristics or personality.
Internal attribution (Dispositional attribution):
We
overestimate the impact of the
personal disposition and
underestimate the impact of the
situation.
Fundamental attribution error:
feelings, based on our beliefs, that
predispose our reactions to objects, people, and
events.
Attitudes
Attitudes consist of three(3) components:
Emotions, Behaviors, and Cognitions.
As a result, attitudes can affect actions, though
actions can affect attitudes as well.
unpleasant state of
psychological tension (dissonance) resulting from
two inconsistent thoughts or perceptions
(cognitions).
Typically results from the awareness that attitudes
and behavior conflict
Cognitive Dissonance
is the main reason why we
rationalize things because we want to reduce the
discomfort we feel when our thoughts
are inconsistent with our actions. Ex:
“Sour grapes” rationalization.
Therefore, our actions can lead us to change our
attitudes.
Cognitive Dissonance
Social influence can be seen in our
conformity, our compliance, and
our group behavior.
adjusting opinions, judgments, and
behaviors so that they match those of others or
the norms of a social group or situation.
Conformity
Reasons why we conform:
- You are strongly attracted to a group and
want to be a member of it. - Your opinion is not the majority. (Involves at
least 4 or 5 who are in agreement.) - It is difficult to speak out in front of a group.
influence resulting
from a person’s desire to gain social acceptance
and approval or avoid disapproval.
Normative Social Influence
influence
resulting from a person’s willingness to accept
other’s opinions about reality because we want
to be correct but are uncertain or doubt our
own judgment.
Informational Social Influence
famous research on conformity.
His research was designed to answer a
straightforward question:
Would people still conform to the group if the
group opinion was clearly wrong?
Objective task: are simple lines the same size.
Results: participants will conform even when the
group judgment was clearly incorrect.
Solomon Asch
Obedience (Compliance)
Milgram’s famous shock experiments.
Results:
- Most complied to the very last shock.
- People seemed to comply because orders
were given by a legitimate authority figure. - Some did stop but only when teachers
observed others refusal. - More likely to give shocks when teachers and
learner were in separate rooms.
Ultimately two-thirds of the subjects continued
to administer shocks all the way to the full 450-
volt level despite hearing protests from the
learner in another room.
In Milgram’s obedience experiments, all of the
following had a strong influence on the
participants willingness to obey the
experimenter:
- A previously well-established framework to
obey - Gradual, repetitive escalation of the task
- Experimenter’s behavior and/or reassurance
- Physical and psychological separation
if you
first agreed to a small request, you would later
comply with a larger request.
A great deal of conformity and obedience begins
with the foot-in-the-door phenomenon
first persuader makes a
large request that you’re certain to refuse. Later
makes a much smaller request and you feel obliged
or more likely to comply
Door-in-the-face technique:
make a request and before
they can refuse, lower the request or add an
incentive.
That’s not all technique:
the persuader gets a person to
commit to a low-ball offer they have no intention of
keeping, then the price is suddenly increased
Low-ball technique
stronger performance on easy
or well learned tasks in the presence of others
(as well as poorer performance on difficult
tasks.)
Social facilitation
Phenomenon when people in a
group exert less effort than they would if
working independently.
Social Loafing
Phenomenon when people tend
to work harder when they are in groups than
when they are alone.
Social Striving
abandon self-awareness and
self-restraint in anonymous group situations.
Key is feeling both aroused and anonymous.
Deindividuation
groups that share opinions,
ideas and attitudes become more extreme over
time.
Group polarization
when desire for harmony in a
decision-making group overrides a realistic
discussion of alternatives
Group think
means “prejudgment” a negative
attitude toward a specific social group.
Prejudice
