Final Exam Flashcards
Group
a collection of three or more people who interact with each other and are interdependent, in the sense that their needs and goals cause them to rely on one another; assembled together for a common purpose
Social Norms
the implicit or explicit roles a group has for the acceptable behaviours, values and beliefs of its members
Social roles
shared expectations by group members about how particular people in the group are supposed to behave, determines who should occupy certain positions
Gender roles
influence role expectations (occupational aspirations, unequal treatment, changing family)
Group Cohesiveness
qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking between them; influences behaviour and involvement; may impede decision making
Social Facilitation
happens when people are working alone but in the presence of an audience; performance is enhanced on simple, well-learned tasks, and diminished on novel, complex tasks; when individual performance can be evaluated
Evaluation apprehension
concern about being judged, evaluated; not just the presence of real people
Why the Presence of Others causes Arousal
- Other people cause us to be particularly alert and vilgilant
- They make us apprehensive about how we are being evaluated
- They distract us from the task at hand
Triplett (1898) - Cycling
individual times were slower than group times
Triplett (1898) - Children’s Fishing Lines
individuals performed faster in front of other children.
Zajonc on Arousal
Facilitation in terms of one’s dominant response: The presence of others increases physiological arousal; when such arousal exists it is easier to do something simple but more difficult when the task is new or complex; different types of tasks have different optimal levels of arousal
Yerkes-Dodson Law
arousal due to mere presence of others affects performance
Michaels et al (1982) - Pool Hall
in a pool hall, watch people play pool and take notes on performance to determine initial skill level. Second time, blatantly watched the others play pool (obvious audience); found that good players played well in front of an audience, bad players performed worse
Occam’s Razor
difficult to disentangle mere presence theory from other explanations, so are the other explanations really necessary?
Social Loafing
happens when people are working together towards the same goal; the more people in the group the less each individual contributes; diminished response; do worse on simple tasks and better on complex tasks in the presence of others when individual performance cannot be evaluated
Ringlemann’s Rope
found that when individuals worked in a group they did not perform as well as they did when they were alone; workers pulled loads across a field, individuals did better than groups
Ringlemann’s Theory
Coordination loss or loss of motivation? there may be a diffusion of power in a group setting
Ingham et al (1974) - Tug of War study
randomly assigned men to 1 of 4 groups; played a tug of war game where the opponent is on the other side of a wall, and the force is measured. Interestingly, none of the confederates are actually pulling, only the subject. This rules out coordination loss. found that pulling power decreases as number of people increases
Diffusion of Evalutation
when an individual is in a group, no one can really tell what they are doing/not doing, so they get lost in the crowd; taking a break when they think they can; may not be doing this consciously
How to stop people from loafing
Ease of Evaluation, Gender, Group Makeup, Importance of Task, Culture
Ease of Evaluation
increase the ease of which each person in the group is evaluated; make them all identifiable (make each person responsible for something different)
Gender
males tend to loaf more than females (women are higher in relational interdependence); this changes in co-ed groups
Group Makeup
more likely to work hard with friends than with strangers (do not want to let friends down, friends know what you are capable of)
Importance of Task
if the task is important you will be more motivated to do well, may even pick up the slack for others (social compensation)
Culture
individualized cultures loaf more than collectivistic cultures (collectivists more likely to have interdependent view of self)
Social Compensation
If we are motivated to perform well on a task, we might compensate for the loafing of other members and pick up the slack
William and Karan - Butter Knife
asked participants to come up with as many uses as they can for a butter knife, either in a group or alone; tested level of teammates effort on performance (either the confederate was super motivated for the reward or he was not)
William and Karan - Butter Knife Results
If the confederate was highly motivated, they were more likely to loaf if they knew they could get away with it
If the confederate was not motivated, they compensated for the group member
Subjects always think they are performing their best in every situation
Deindividuation
the loosening of normal constraints on behaviour when people are in a group, leading to an increase in impulsive and deviant acts (often with anonymous disguises); people feel less accountable for their actions; lower self awareness and shift away from moral standards, increases extent to which group norms are obeyed
Process loss
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving; focus on what members know in common, ignore unique information known only to one or a few; make sure discussions last long enough, assign people to different tasks, transactive memory
Transactive memory
the combined memory of two people that is more efficient than them memory of either individual
Groupthink
a kind of thinking in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts i realistic manner
When groupthink takes place
when group is highly cohesive, isolated from counter opinions, ruled by a decisive leader; feel invulnerable, will not voice contrary ideas; not all conditions required
How to avoid groupthink
remain impartial, seek outside opinions, create subgroups, seek anonymous opinions
Group Polarization
the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of its members; risky shift; member bring a greater number of supportive arguments, supports the groups values to be liked
great person theory
the theory that certain key personality traits make a person a good leader, regardless of the situation the leader faces; weak theory
Integrative Complexity
the ability to recognize more than one perspective on an issue and to be able to integrate these various perspectives; correlated with greatness
Transactional leaders
leaders who set clear, short term goals and reward people who meet them
Transformational leaders
leaders who inspire followers to focus on common, long-term goals
Contingency theory of leadership
the theory that leadership effectiveness depends both on how task-oriented or relationship-oriented the leader is, and on the amount of control and influence the leader has over the group
Task-oriented leader
a leader who is concerned more with getting the job done than with the feelings of and relationships among the workers
Relationship-oriented leader
a leader who is concerned with the feelings of and relationships among the workers
Social Dilemmas
a conflict in which the most beneficial action for an individual, if chosen by most people, will have harmful effects on everyone; prisoner’s dilemma
tit-for-tat strategy
a means of encouraging cooperation by at first acting cooperatively but then always responding the way your opponent did, on the previous trial
Increase cooperation
tit-for-tat strategy, trust individual, cooperation strategy, consistent contributors (free-loader problem); threats are not effective
Negotiation
a form of communication between opposing sides in a conflict, in which offers and counter-offers are made and a solution occurs only when both parties agree (assume wants are obvious, bias towards opponent)
Integrative solution
a solution to a conflict whereby the parties make trade-offs on issues according to their different interests; each side concedes the most on issues that are unimportant to it but are important to the other side
Reward model of attraction
we are attracted to things we find rewarding
Propinquity effect
the finding that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends; physical and functional distance, mere exposure effect; can also increase dislike (if you already dislike them)
Familiarity
attracted to those we are familiar with; when they go from neutral to positive they are more attractive, more attractive with mere exposure
Moreland and Beach (1992) - Woman in Classroom
had a female confederate attend a class either 0, 5, 10, or 15 times; attractiveness level increased as exposure to individual increased
Alphabet example
more attracted to commonly used letters
Similarity
we like people who are of similar social status and characteristics because it is comforting; couples tend to be alike; attitudes and values, activity preferences, personality, interpersonal & communication style; attraction can lead to illusion of similarity; over complementarity
Reciprocal Liking
when you like someone and that person also likes you; can make up for the absence of similarity, self-fulfilling prophecy, need to like yourself first
Beauty
we like people who are good looking; good looks equals good genes, visible beauty is nice to look at; often overcomes other conditions of attraction, consciously and unconsciously; influence first impressions, strongest predictor of desirable, will not admit how important we think good looks are for fear of sounding superficial
What is attractive?
the media tells us what is attractive; beauty is associated with goodness, share a set of criteria for defining beauty; baby face features (warmth, youth, nurturance), signs of sexual maturity; visual point of view, smiling faces, size of feet, length of legs, 2D:4D ratio; standards of beauty are generally cross-cultural
Beautiful is good stereotype
attractive people receive preferential treatment; takes place across lifespan, large effects on perceptions of social competence; self-fulfilling prophecy
What is not rewarding?
upwards social comparisons are not rewarding; comparing ourselves to those who are too attractive can lower SE
The pratfall effect
when someone goofs, tends to humanize a person who is seemingly perfect, reinforces a ‘doofus’ factor for the not so attractive
Trivia Bowl Experiment (Aronson)
asked subjects to listen to an audio recording of a trivia bowl (answering a trivia question) and manipulated for two variables; the competence of the person answering the question (perfect vs. incompetent); at the end of the interview, there is either just a goodbye or the sounds of the person doing something clumsy; how much would you like to get to know this person?
Trivia Bowl Experiment Results
With no pratfall, the competent person was not significantly more attractive than the incompetent person
With pratfall, the competent person’s attractiveness increases significantly, the incompetent person’s attractiveness decreases significantly so that they are not attractive at all
misattribution of arousal
the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way that they do
Capilano Park Study (Dutton and Aron)
suspension bridge vs. secure bridges - manipulated arousal level (naturally) by having an attractive male or an attractive female approach a potential subject either in the middle of the low bridge (low arousal) or in the middle of the high bridge (high arousal) and asks them if they are willing to participate in a psychology study, where they have to look at a vague image of a man and woman (a TAT) and tell a story about what is happening in the image. The story is coded for sexual imagery to determine level of attraction to the participant. Subject is given the number of the researcher. Test for whether or not the person calls.
Capilano Park Study Results
TAT Stories - Gloria gets more sex talk than Al in both conditions, which increases in the high arousal condition, as opposed to a deacrease for Al in the high arousal condition
Phone Calls - low phone calls for both in low arousal condition; phone call increases significantly for Gloria in high arousal condition
physiological arousal (being on a bridge) is attributed to attraction (to researcher)
White et al (1981) - Unattractive people and arousal
subjects told that they are doing a test on physical activity on perception; told to perform a physical activity (arousal) and then asked to watch a video on a female and give ratings on her characteristics and attractiveness. The same woman’s attractiveness level is manipulated through makeup. How attractive do they find her?
Unattractive people and arousal Results
In no arousal, attractive version is more attractive than the unattractive version; this gap significantly widens (in both directions) in arousal condition; Response Facilitation Theory - initial response is strengthened by arousal
Passionate Love
the feelings of intense longing, accompanied by physiological arousal, we feel for another person; when our love is reciprocated, we feel great fulfillment and ecstasy; but, when it is not, we feel sadness and dispair; characterized by obsession; passionate love scale
Companionate Love
the feelings of intimacy and affection we feel toward someone with whom our lives are deeply intertwined; can be applied to non-sexual relationships; has more value in collectivist cultures
Evolutionary Approach
an approach derived from evolutionary biology that states that men and women are attracted to different characteristics in each other because this maximizes their reproductive success; preferences survive if they optimize reproductive success; Males seek to propagate widely, women seek to propagate wisely
Parental Investment Theory
gametes are the main determinants of mating choices; expense of the egg will have consequences for how the female chooses to mate; cheapness of the sperm will have consequences for how the male chooses to mate;
females should be choosy because they must consider the expense of the egg; eggs are not as common, a baby takes a lot of internal energy during pregnancy, giving birth is a risk; a long-term investment
males have a minimal initial parental investment; can afford to be more opportunistic; not always opportunistic because they want to ensure that the offspring is raised properly, in which case they might be more choosy because settling down is expensive
Yankelovich Research Group Study
Question: would you prefer a great bargain on clothes or great sex?
evidence suggests that women say that they are not as interested in sex than men; tend to downplay sexuality
Buss & Schmidt (1993) - sexual opportunism
how many sex partners do you want in the next 30 years? - males desire to have more sex with more people than do women
Timing of sexual intercourse; how willing are you to have sex with someone based on how long you have known them? - men, again, are on average significantly more willing
Clarke and Hatfield (1989) - sexual opportunism
recruited good looking researchers and approach members of the opposite sex and ask the subjects if they want to g on a date with the individual, go back to the individuals apartment, or blatantly have sex with the individual
equal on the date; gender gap significantly increases when asked to go to apartment; gap increases greater when asked for sex
generally, men are more likely than women to take the opportunity to have sex
What Women Want
resources (need in evolutionary history to desire a mate that can provide for and shelter; increase survival of offspring); protection (ancestral history requires male protection of offspring; predation, other men); commitment (need to secure in place the things she needs to successfully raise offspring)
What Men Want
Looks (waist-to-hip ratio correlated with fertility, women with more feminine appearance are associated with more frequent ovulation, higher ease of getting and staying pregnant, more sperm-friendly pH balance in uterus); Sexual Faithfulness (if she is having babies you want it to be your baby; sexual infidelity is unviable, female promiscuity is a turn of in terms of mating, assessment of faithfulness when the male is choosy and looking to settle, why females are more likely to understate how many sexual partners they’ve had)
attachment theory
the theory that our behaviour in adult relationships is based on our experiences as infants with our parents as caregivers; relationships generalize to other relationships; insecurity tends to result in a self-fulfilling prophecy
Attachment Styles
the expectations people develop about relationships with others based on the relationships they had with their primary caregiver when they were infants; reflects how people handle conflict, coping strategies; may be seen as schemas
Secure attachment
an attachment style characterized by trust, a lack of concern with being abandoned, and the view that one is worthy and well-liked
Avoidant Style
an attachment style characterized by a suppression of attachment needs, because attempts to be intimate have been rebuffed; people with this style find it difficult to develop intimate relationships
Fearful Avoidant Style
a type of avoidant attachment in which close relationships are avoided because of mistrust and fears of being hurt
Dismissive avoidant style
a type of avoidant attachment in which the person is self-sufficient and claims to not need close relationships
Anxious/Ambivalent attachment style
an attachment style characterized by a concern that others will not reciprocate ones desire for intimacy, resulting in higher-than-usual levels of anxiety
Social Exchange theory
the theory that how people feel about a relationship depends on their perceptions of the rewards and costs of the relationship they deserve, and the probability that they could have a better relationship with someone else
Reward/Cost Ratio
the notion that there is a balance between the rewards that comes from a relationship and the personal cost of maintaining the relationship; if the ratio is not favourable, the result is dissatisfaction with the relationship
Comparison Level
people’s expectations about the levels of rewards and costs that they deserve in a relationship
Comparison Level for Alternatives
people’s expectations about the level of rewards and punishments they would receive in an alternate relationship
Investment Model
the theory that people’s commitment to a relationship depends on their satisfaction with the relationship in terms of rewards, costs, and comparison level; their comparison level for alternatives; and how much they have invested in the relationship that would be lost by leaving it
Equity Theory
the theory that people are happiest with the relationships in which the rewards and costs that a person experiences, and the contributions that he or she makes to the relationship are roughly equal to the rewards, costs and contributions of the other person
exchange relationships
relationships governed by the need for equity
Communal relationships
relationships in which people’s primary concern is being responsive to the other person’s needs
Commitment
relationship maintenance efforts, more forgiveness