Final Exam Flashcards
intergroup relations from the social psychological perspective (L1)
scientific study of how our thoughts (cognition), feelings (affect), and behaviours are influenced by the groups we belong to and how people from different groups relate to one another.
What is wrong with most popular discussions of intergroup relations? (L1)
- excessive focus on only negative intergroup relations (they are not always negative and extreme)
- overemphasis on broad social categories
- overemphasis on the stability of intergroup relations
- failure to properly define concepts
- failure to distinguish correlation and cause
- often lack of complexity (there is more than one cause)
Examples of sources of complexities in intergroup relations (L2)
- multiple group identities (many categories)
- dynamic agents (people are agents and perceivers, and we change over time)
- levels of analysis (often discussions focus on only one level of analysis)
What are the 3 levels of analysis of complexities in intergroup relations? (L2)
- Micro Level: intrapersonal processes
- Meso Level: face-to-face interpersonal interactions, interacting with individuals from the other group, dictated by group memberships we belong
- Macro Level: structural/societal level processes, the level at which we create meaningful social structures that control the ways people experience the world based on which groups they belong to
What is a self-concept/identity? (L2)
who you think you are - your self-description, the total content of your identity
what are self-aspects in terms of self-concepts? (L2)
self-aspects are sets of specific self-descriptors describing who you are, that make up your self-concept. One way to think about the self-concept is as a set of specific self-descriptors - self-aspects
Is your current self-concept what it will always be? (L2)
your current self-concept is constructed from a pool of potential selves (one of the many possible combinations of our many self aspects) as we carry around a pool of self-aspects
Salient vs Non-salient as a characteristic of self-aspect (L2)
degree to which a particular self-aspect is currently relevant/noticeable/important. this depends on our goals and motives
Central vs peripheral as a characteristic of self-aspect (L2)
the level of persistent personal attachment to a self-aspect, which determines the strength, frequency, and degree
what are the 3 levels of the self-concept? (L2)
- Personal Level: what makes me me, the aspects that make us different from everyone else
- Relational Level: our connections to specific others (interpersonal relationships and our roles), this makes us who we are, and feeling like part of us is gone when we lose someone
- Collective Level: aspects of the self that connect us to collections of others (our group memberships), share this identity, give us similarity, something bigger than me
*can’t know your personal self until you know your collective self
*levels are not independent of each other, you need to know who you are at each level
intergroup relations in terms of collective identities (L2)
how collective identities determine our interactions
ingroup vs outgroup definition (L2)
- ingroup - group you believe you belong to (psychologically belong to), always relevant to the speaker
- outgroup - opposite, you don’t identify with or associate value to a group
what is an ingroup? (importance/effects) (L3)
- self-stereotyping: seeing oneself as typical
- solidarity/belonging: feeling connected and sharing values
- meaning: personal meaningfulness in a larger context in the world)
- satisfaction/pride: positively self-evaluation
why do we do it? (ingroup) - there are multiple motives pulling us towards groups? (L3)
- belonging/inclusion
- subjective uncertainty
- optimal distinctiveness
- self-enhancement
- self-expansion
what happens when we identify with an ingroup? (L3)
- the group becomes basis for self-evaluation
- personal self-sacrifice in order to benefit the category
- the group becomes the basis for attraction, who is valued/liked, and interpersonal qualities become less important
- the group becomes basis for influence, conformity to norms because of self-representation
- the group norms become the basis for our cross-group interactions, interpersonal = less important and intergroup behaviour matters
are collective identities bad? (L3)
Yes they can be at the heart of some of the worst atrocities, but that is not the whole story. they also:
- create the psychological basis for cooperation within groups
- encourage positive behaviour toward outgroups
- serve valuable functions for individual people
- are essential to social change and to resistance against oppression and tyranny
how do we categorize people? (L3)
- we use shared characteristics/actions/functions of the individuals
- we use situational cues
what is a consequence of categorization? (L3)
Depersonalization: individuals are now seen as interchangeable representatives of the category and we tend to see greater similarity within groups (within-group homogeneity)
how are groups social in 2 senses? (L3)
- they require at least one other person to see themselves as a member (shared self-categorization)
- they need to be recognized by non-members to be meaningful (socially shared categorization)
what are the psychological building blocks for intergroup relations? (L3)
- a social self (the relevant “me”)
- a collective identity (“me” becomes “we”)
- intergroup identification (“we” becomes important)
- categorization (individuals as group members)
- social groups (shared understanding of meaningful groups)
- intergroup relations (“us” and “them”, not “me” and “you”)
- stereotypes (allow us to fill in the blanks)
definition of stereotypes (L3)
stereotypes are socially shared beliefs about shared characteristics of members of a group
- they are normal
- they can lead to evaluations that are positive, negative or neutral
- can be held about the ingroup and ourselves
- are like any other group norms so they can be good or bad
why can stereotypes be functional? (L3)
- functional for the holder (allow us to “know things” and “fill in the blanks”
- functional for interpersonal interactions across groups
- functional for intergroup relations (can’t have multiculturalism without stereotypes)