Group Dynamics Ch 7

Question 1

Social Influence

Answer 1

Interpersonal processes that change the thoughts, feelings, or behaviours of another person.

Question 2

Majority Influence

Answer 2

Social Pressure exerted by the larger portion of a group (the majority), directed toward individual members and smaller factions within the group (the minority).

Question 3

Minority Influence

Answer 3

Social Pressure exerted by a lone individual or smaller faction of a group (the minority), directed toward members of the majority.

Question 4

Conformity

Answer 4

A change in one’s actions, emotions, opinions, judgements, and so on that reduces their discrepancy with these same types of responses displayed by others.

Question 5

Asch situation

Answer 5

An experimental procedure developed by Solomon Asch in his studies of conformity to group opinion. Participants believed they were making perceptual judgements as part of a group, but the other members were trained to make deliberate errors on certain trials.

Question 6

Compliance (Acquiescence)

Answer 6

Change that occurs when the targets of social influence publicly accept the influencer’s position but privately maintain their original beliefs.

Question 7

Anticonformity (or Counterconfortimity)

Answer 7

Deliberately expressing opinions, making judgments, or acting in ways that are different from those of the other group members or the group’s norms in order to challenge the group and its standards rather than simply for the purpose of expressing one’s personal preference.

Question 8

Crutchfield Situation

Answer 8

An experimental procedure developed by Richard Crutchfield to study conformity. Participants who signaled their responses using an electronic response console believed they were making judgments as a part of a group, but the responses of the other members that appeared on their console’s display were simulated.

Question 9

Social Impact Theory

Answer 9

An analysis of social influence, which proposes that the impact of any source of influence depends upon the strength, the immediacy, and the number of people (sources) present (developed by Bibb Lantane).

Question 10

Conversion Theory

Answer 10

A conceptual analysis of the cognitive and interpersonal processes that mediate the direct and indirect impact of a consistent minority on the majority (Developed by Serge Moscovici).

Question 11

Idiosyncrasy Credit

Answer 11

An explanation for the leniency groups sometimes display toward high-status members who violate group norms; the hypothetical interpersonal credit or bonus that is earned each time an individual makes a contribution to the group but the credit decreases each time the individual influences others, makes errors, or deviates from the group’s norms (proposed by Edwin Hollander).

Question 12

Dynamic Social Impact Theory

Answer 12

An extension of Latane’s social impact theory, which assumes that influence is a function of the strength, the immediacy, and the number of sources present and that this influence results in consolidation, clustering, correlation, and continuing diversity in groups that are spatially distributed and interacting over time (developed by Bibb Lantane).

Question 13

Implicit Influence

Answer 13

Unlike explicit, consciously recognized social influence, unnoticed and largely automatic cognitive, emotional, and behavioural reactions to other people.

Question 14

Mindlessness

Answer 14

A state of reduced cognitive processing characterized by actions based on habit, routine, or previously formed discriminations rather than conscious deliberation.

Question 15

Informational Influence

Answer 15

Change-Promoting interpersonal processes that are based on the informational value of responses of others in the situation.

Question 16

False Consensus Effect

Answer 16

Perceivers’ tendency to assume that their beliefs, attributes, and actions are relatively common and appropriate in any given situation.

Question 17

Dual Process Theories of Influence

Answer 17

In general, any conceptual analysis that identifies two sources or forms of influence: direct (such as persuasion and discussion) and indirect (such as imitation and herding).

Question 18

Heuristic

Answer 18

An inferential principle or rule of thumb that people use to reach conclusions when the amount of available information is limited, ambiguous, or contradictory.

Question 19

Normative Influence

Answer 19

Change promoting interpersonal processes based on social norms, standards, and convention. Because individuals internalize their group’s norms, they strive to act in wats that are consistent with those norms.

Question 20

Focus Theory of Normative Conduct

Answer 20

An explanation of influence that assumes descriptive and injunctive norms influence behaviour when they are made salient and therefore attended to (developed by Robert Cialdini).

Question 21

Interpersonal Influence

Answer 21

Change-promoting interpersonal processes based on group members selectively encouraging conformity and discouraging or even punishing nonconformity.

Question 22

Subjective Group Dynamics

Answer 22

Psychological and interpersonal processes that result from social categorization and identification processes, including members’ desire to sustain the positive distinctiveness of the ingroup and the validity of its shared beliefs.

Question 23

Black-Sheep Effect

Answer 23

The tendency for group members to evaluate a group member who performs an offensive behaviour more harshly than an outgroup member who performs the same offense.

Question 24

Bystander Effect

Answer 24

The tendency for people to help less when they know others are present and capable of helping. The effect was initially thought to be the result of apathy and a selfish unwillingness go get involved, but research suggests a number of cognitive and social processes, including diffusion of responsibility and misinterpretation that help is not needed, contribute to the effect.

Question 25

Diffusion of Responsibility

Answer 25

A reduction of personal responsibility experienced by individuals in groups and social collectives (identified by John Darley and Bibb Latane in their studies of bystanders’ failures to help someone in need).

Question 26

Story Model

Answer 26

A theory of cognitive processing of trial information that suggests jurors mentally organize coherent, credible narratives.

Question 27

Voir Dire

Answer 27

The oral or written questioning of prospective jurors by counsel or the judge.