Final Flashcards
What is animal magnetism?
Intense attraction to someone or invisible natural force possessed by all living things
What are social norms?
Rules or guidelines in a group or culture about what behaviours are appropriate or inappropriate
What is conformity?
People changing their perceptions, opinions and behaviour to be consistent with group norms
- People conform due to information influence or normative influence
What is information influence?
- People conform because they want to be correct, and when everyone else agrees, it is likely they are correct
- More based on information people present/discuss
- More likely to conform when uncertain or ambiguous
What is normative influence?
- People conform because they fear the consequences of appearing deviant (and thus excluded from a group or ridiculed)
- Conforming when wanting to be liked
What is the difference between private and public conformity?
Private: being truly persuaded others are correct
Public: superficial change in behaviour
What is compliance?
- Explicit requests for help
* Our minds are often on autopilot and we respond prior to consideration if request takes normal form of excuse
What is the norm of reciprocity?
If given something, we feel compelled to give back
What is foot-in-the-door?
Small initial request that targets can’t initially refuse
- Larger requests are more likely to be accepted
What is low-balling?
After you’ve agreed to something, coming back and saying the price is a bit higher than originally agreed
- Now you’ve mentally committed to the price/action
What is door-in-the-face?
initial request is very high and unreasonable, so the second then appears more reasonable
What is “that’s not all”?
Offer a price, but immediately offer a discount on price
What is obedience?
explicit requests for conformity from positions of authority
What is the social impact theory?
The impact of social influence is the function of 3 things:
- Strength of source: status, ability, authority
- Distance: proximity on space and time
- Number: how many sources
What is the autokinetic effect?
In darkness, a stationary point of light appears to move, sometimes erratically, in various directions
What is minority influence?
The process by which dissenters produce change within a group
What are idiosyncrasy credits?
Interpersonal “credits” that a person earns by following group norms
What is individualism?
A cultural orientation in which independence, autonomy, and self-reliance the priority over group allegiances
What is collectivism?
A cultural orientation in which interdependence, cooperation, and social harmony take priority over personal goals
What are 3 keys factors to determine whether a culture will become individualistic or collectivist?
- Complexity of the society (industrialization)
- Affluence of a society (wealth)
- Heterogeneity (same language, social customs)
What is reciprocal concession?
Refers to the pressure to respond to changes in a bargaining position
What is engaged followership?
When participants identify with the scientific enterprise and want to both help the experimenter and make a contribution
What is prosocial behaviour?
Behaviour that benefits another person (helping, giving, sharing, cooperating)
• Behaviour independent of its cause that helps other people
What is altruism?
Desire to help another, to improve their welfare, regardless of whether we derive any benefit- helping another without conscious regard for one’s self-interest
• All altruistic behaviour is prosocial behaviour, but not all prosocial behaviour is altruistic behaviour
What is kin selection?
Preferential helping of genetic relatives, which results in the greater likelihood that genes held in common will survive
What is reciprocity?
Obligation to return in kind what another has done for us
- Willingness to request or accept is often predicated on ability to return in kind
- Some suggest this norm is genetically based due to survival value
What is indirect reciprocity?
Help someone; someone different helps you later
• Sometimes norms established by culture can shape how or if you are helped in the future
What does the social exchange theory say about helping?
Helping can actually be rewarding in a number of ways
- Unconscious weighing of costs and rewards
- According to SE theory, true altruism doesn’t exist. People help when the benefits outweigh the risks
What is the empathy-altruism hypothesis?
- When we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help them regardless of what we have to gain
- Help motivated by empathy lasts longer than when there is not empathy
What are the 2 emotional components of empathy?
Personal distress and empathic concern
• Empathic concern –> altruistic motive
• Personal distress (our own discomfort) –> egoistic motive
- Emotion experienced depends on perspective taken
What is the egoism motivation for helping?
Helper wants a return for offering help
- Negative state relief theory- help to reduce your own distress
- If egoistic motive, helping should decline when escape is possible and easy
What is the altruism motivation for helping?
Expects nothing in return for helping
- Motivated by empathy
- If altruistic motive, help is given regardless of ease of escape
What is the bystander effect?
• The greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely it is that any one of them will help
- We are more likely to help when we are alone than with others
What are the steps for intervening in an emergency?
Notice the event (more time = more helping)
- Interpret as emergency (pluralistic ignorance)
- Assume responsibility (diffusion of responsibility)
- Know how to help (“I don’t know how”)
- Decide to help (fear for safety, embarrassment)
What is the urban overload hypothesis?
City-dwellers are bombarded by stimuli, so they keep to themselves to avoid overload or because there are more people present who are likely to help
- Suggests this is why people in cities tend to be less helpful overall
What is residential mobility?
If you have lived in one place for a long time, you are more likely to be prosocial in the community
- Increased attachment, interdependence, concern for personal reputation
Explain how both happiness and sadness can increases the chances of someone helping
Sadness: helping could reduce negative mood
• BUT, those who think their sad mood is fixed are less likely to help compared to those who think their mood can change (perhaps a more conscious decision to help)
Happiness: helping could maintain a positive mood, or simply a side effect
• When happy people help, it is more of a side effect of being happy
What is reciprocal altruism?
Altruism that involves an individual helping another (despite some immediate risk or cost) and becoming more likely to receive help from the other in return
- also called direct reciprocity
What is empathy?
Understanding or vicariously experiencing another individual’s perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual
What is the cognitive and emotional component of empathy?
Cognitive: perspective taking - using the power of imagination to try to see the world through someone else’s eyes
Emotional: empathic concern - other-oriented feelings, such as sympathy, compassion, and tenderness
What is hyper-cooperation?
A key feature in human evolution that was raising offspring cooperatively
What is the negative state relief model?
The proposition that people help others in order to counteract their own feelings of sadness
What is courageous resistance?
Thoughtful helping in the face of potentially enormous costs
What is audience inhibition?
Reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers
What is reluctant altruism?
Altruistic kinds of behaviour that result from pressure fro peers or other sources of direct social influence
What is self-transcendence?
Care for the welfare of others, whether close or distant, and disengagement from self-concerns
What is identity fusion?
A strong sense of “oneness” and shared identity with a group and its individual members
What is the norm of equity?
When people are in a situation in which they feel overbenefited, they should help those who are under benefited
What is the norm of social responsibility?
People should help those who need assistance
What is implicit social support?
Support that comes from just thinking about close others but that does not involve actually seeking or receiving their help in coping with stressful events
What is the need to belong?
Desire to form social relationships is fundamental- we need to be part of stable, healthy bonds with family members, romantic partners, and friends in order to function normally
What is loneliness?
Discrepancy between level of contact one has and level one wants
What are the four main factors of attraction?
- Proximity
- Similarity
- Reciprocity
- Physical attractiveness
What does the self-fulfilling prophecy have to do with attraction?
If we believe another person likes us, we behave in more likeable ways:
- Greater self-disclosure, more agreeable, warmer, more eye contact
What is the what-is-beautiful-is-good hypothesis?
The belief that physically attractive individuals also possess desirable personality characteristics
What is the halo effect?
people who are attractive get the benefit of the doubt on things; smarter, moral, honest
According to the evolutionary perspective, what are the attractive traits of men and women?
- Women: physical signs of fertility, social signs of makeup and revealing clothing
- Men: physical signs of masculinity and power, social signs of wealth and status
What is misattribution of arousal? (also called excitation transfer)
A process in which people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do
- Based on Schacter’s two factor theory of emotion: emotions have two components (physiological arousal and cognition)
What does Sternberg’s triangular theory of love characterize the 3 components of love as?
- Passion = motivational component (romance, sexual attraction, desire)
- Intimacy = emotional component (bond, warmth, sharing)
- Commitment = cognitive component (conscious decision for relationship)
How does the implicit theory of relationships characterize hope people cope with relationship stressors?
- Destiny: distancing behaviour, no efforts to repair
- Growth: active coping, planning, re-interpret event in a more positive light, low denial (best for minor problems)
What does the evolutionary theory say about relationships?
One goal of relationships: reproductive success (passing on genes to next generation)
Which types of infidelity bother women/men more? (according to evolutionary perspective)
- Emotional infidelity: loss of resources (women)
- Physical infidelity: paternal uncertainty (men)
What is the attachment theory?
• Argues that our behaviour in adult relationships is based on our experiences with parents and caregivers
- Expectations about relationships; guide behaviour by allowing a person to anticipate and plan for partner responses
- The kinds of bonds we form early in life with our caregivers influence the kinds of relationships we form as adults
What is the result of the secure attachment style?
Responsive parents result in good self-esteem and high satisfaction is relationships
What is the result of the avoidant attachment style?
Aloof and distant caregivers result in rejecting intimacy, being jealous, and difficulty developing relationships
What is the result of the anxious/ambivalent attachment style?
Inconsistent caregivers result in short-term relationships
What does the social exchange theory have to say about relationships?
• Relationship satisfaction depends on:
- Rewards received from the relationship
- Costs incurred by being in the relationship
- Outcomes one expects to get in a relationship (comparison level)
- Probability that a better relationship is available (comparison level for alternatives)
What is the investment model?
• Critique of social exchange theory: people stay in relationships when there are few rewards and many better alternatives (ex: abusive relationships)
- Commitment to a relationship depends not only on rewards, costs, comparison level, and alternatives, but also on how much a person has invested in a relationship that would be lost by ending it
What is the need for affiliation?
The desire to establish and maintain many rewarding interpersonal relationships
What is hikikomori?
A form of social withdrawal
What is the group attractiveness effect?
The perceived physical attractiveness of a group as a whole is greater than the average attractiveness of its individual members
What is the matching hypothesis?
The proposition that people are attracted to others who are similar in physical attractiveness
What is the complementary hypothesis?
People seek others whose needs “oppose” their own
- Ex: people who need to dominate look for someone submissive
What is the hard-to-get effect?
The tendency to prefer people who are highly selective in their social choices over those who are more readily available
What is conspicuous consumption?
If men flaunt their resources to attract women, then it stands to reason that the more competitive the reproductive landscape is for men, the more likely they are to spend money in conspicuous ways
What is the stimulus-value-role (SVR) theory?
Relationships progress through these stages:
- stimulus stage: attraction is sparked by physical factors
- value stage: attachment is based on similarity of values
- role stage: commitment is based on enactment of husband/wife roles
What is the social exchange theory?
A perspective that views people as motivated to maximize benefits and minimize costs in their relationships with others
What is comparison level?
Average expected outcome in relationships
What is comparison level for alternatives?
People’s expectations about what they would receive in an alternate situation
What is the equity theory?
The theory that people are most satisfied with a relationship when the ratio between benefits and contributions is similar for both partners
What is attachment style?
The way a person typically interacts with significant others
What is passionate love?
Romantic love characterized by high arousal, intense attraction, and fear of rejection
What is companionate love?
A secure, trusting, stable partnership
What is the social penetration theory?
Relationships progress from superficial exchanges to more intimate ones
What is erotic plasticity?
Women are more likely to change sexual preferences over the course of a lifetime
What is negative effect reciprocity?
A tit-for-tat exchange of expressions of negative feelings
What is the demand/withdraw pattern?
The wife demands that the couple discuss the relationship problems, only to become frustrated when her husband withdraws from such discussions
What are relationship-enhancing attributions?
One sees the partner’s undesirable behaviours as caused by situational factors
What are distress maintaining attributions?
The opposite of relationship-enhancing; minimizing the good and maximizing the bad
What is utility in term of affiliation?
Stress sparks the desire to affiliate only when being with others is seen as useful in reducing the negative impact of the stressful situation
