Individuals and Groups Flashcards
What is Freuds model of personality?
Id
Ego
Superego
What is Freuds topographical model?
Conscious (accessible contents of brain)
Pre-conscious ( contents that can be brought into the conscious)
Unconscious (contains motivations and cannot be accessed consciously)
What are Freuds 4 types of energy?
Psyche energy (stems from instincts and states of excitement) Eros energy (life/ego instinct, aim of self preservation) Libido energy (sexual instinct, aim of species preservation) Thanatos energy (death instinct, aim of all life is death)
What does Freud claim the root of all problems are?
Trauma - instinct expression is threatening to the self (can be real or perceived)
Anxiety - reminders of previous trauma
What are defence mechanisms?
Psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts/feelings.
What is repression?
Primary repression- unwanted thoughts are turned away before entering awareness
Repression proper - unwanted material in consciousness is moved into unconscious
Both forms are to prevent the highly emotional reaction the threatening thoughts can cause.
What is denial?
An individuals Inability to recognise the fact that they saw, thought or acted an event.
What is projection?
A characteristic of oneself is threatening to the self and so it is attributed to others.
What is rationalisation?
Accepts instinct, but justifies reasons behind them.
What is displacement?
Directing an impulse against someone or something towards something else.
What is reaction formation?
Denying an impulse and displaying the opposite
What is Sublimation?
Satisfying an impulse with a substitute object in a socially acceptable way
What is altruism ( the defence mechanism)?
Seeking pleasure from giving others what they need and derive satisfaction from it.
What is the authoritarian personality?
A type of personality that is characterised by submission to legitimate authorities, aggression in the name of those authorities and conventionalism.
What is a trait?
A dimension of personality in which an individual can vary.
What are Eysenks 3 traits of personality?
Psychoticism
Extraversion
Introversion
What are Costa & McCrae’s Five factor model?
Opennes (seeking/tolerant) Conscientiousness (ordered/persistent) Extraversion (exuberant/sociable) Agreeableness (caring/considerate) Neuroticism
Why does individual personality change over time?
Context effects (family/friends etc) Life changing events (trauma, dementia etc) Dissociative identity disorder
What si the DSM-V view of personality?
A hybrid of types and traits with 6 personality disorders (antisocial, avoidant, borderline, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, schizotypal)
What is obedience?
Complying with orders from a person of higher social status within a defined hierarchy
What were the problems with Milgrams shock experiment?
Demand characteristics Ethical issues (lack of informed consent, lack of explicit right to withdraw, use of deception, lack of protection from psychological harm)
What did Packers meta analysis conclude?
Disobedience was most likely at 150v sue to a critical decision point at which pps acknowledged that the learners right to terminate the experiment should override obedience.
What safeguards did Burger put in place for her replication of Milgrams experiment?
2 step screening process to exclude pps that could have negative reactions to the experience
Explicit right to withdraw (twice in writing, 3 times in total)
Debriefing
A trained clinical psychologist as ‘experimenter’ that could end the experiment at signs of excessive stress.
What 4 situational factors were identified by burger?
Legitimacy of authority
Gradual increase in demands
Novelty of scenario
Responsibility assigned to experimenter
What 2 dispositional factors were identified by burger?
Empathy
Motivation to control events
What are descriptive norms?
Patterns of behaviour (most effective norm for persuasion)
What are prescriptive/injunctive norms?
Behavioural norms or expectations
What are social norms?
Rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide/constrain social behaviour without the force of laws
Why are norms effective?
When norms are internalised, they are followed even when violation would be unobserved.
What is pluralistic ignorance?
Where every member of a group privately rejects a belief, opinion or practice, yet believes that every other member privately accepts it.
What are Cialdini’s 3 reasons why social influence is underestimated?
People ignore the extent to which their actions are determined by similar actions of others
People ignore the persuasive impact that others behaviour can have in the choices of a target audience
People ignore the extent to which others can improve their decisions when they are an expert
What are Cialdini’s principles of influence?
Principle of liking (people like those who like them)
Principle of reciprocity (people repay in kindness)
Principle of social proof (people follow the lead of similar others)
Principle of consistency (people align with their clear commitments)
Principle of authority (people defer to experts)
Principle of scarcity (people want more of what they have less of)
What is the low ball technique?
Inducing someone to make a decision about an action and then making a change to the request
What is group polarisation?
Tendency to make decisions that are more extreme than the average of group members initial positions, in the direction already favoured by the group
What is social comparison theory of group polarisation?
Group members tend to compare themselves with other members and have the need to view themselves positively to gain the approval of others. Therefore, they highlight the values of the group and gravitate towards the perceived desirable view rather than the group mean
What is self categorisation ?
The group norm can be more extreme than the average position of the entire population, and polarisation reflects the movement towards that norm which is enhanced by reference to an outside group.
What is groupthink?
A syndrome of poor decision making in which members of a cohesive group strive for unanimity and the expense of seeking the best solution
How can groupthink be overcome?
Agree on a procedure for debate Use external experts Reduce pressure to reach consensus Reduce pressure to reach a decision Increase cohesiveness to avoid spirals of silence
What is Steiners theory of group productivity?
Actual productivity=potential productivity-losses incurred in group process
Losses include social loafing (loss of motivation) or imperfect coordination of group effort.
What makes groups more productive?
Group cohesion, e.g given a uniform, team name, etc.
Worchel et al.
What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis (Dollard et al)?
Intergroup conflict is a natural response to the frustrations of social life as aggression is displaced to socially approved targets. E.g economic depression in germany corresponded with the rise in antisemitism
What is relative deprivation theory? (Runciman)
Intergroup conflict results from the negative feelings created when a perceived gap between what the group has and what the group expects. Discontent and anger by those experiencing it may express itself as collective protest or prejudice against the groups that in relation they feel deprived. High status groups can also experience it if they perceive their superiority is under threat.
What is realistic group conflict theory? (Sherif)
Determinants of intergroup conflict lie in the objective intergroup situation (not intrapsychic processes). Intergroup behaviour is rational and goal directed with goals of competition, cooperation and friendliness, but hostility arises as a result of competition of scarce resources.
What is symbolic racism theory? (Henry & Sears)
Racial discrimination is a thinking of the past, continuing disadvantage of groups is due to a lack of will to work hard, resentment relating to minority efforts for equality, perception of undeserved advantages that give minorities more than they deserve. Groups with these values are hostile to outgroups.
What is the obama effect? (Lybarger)
Exposure to black role models did not reduce pps implicit prejudice, but did increase white pps agreement with the tents of symbolic racism.
What is social identity theory? (Tajfel & Turner)
Social categories add to our identity, people strive to maintain a positive identity, positive identity is based on favourable intergroup comparison, threats to identity can cause people to leave their group or make it more distinctive.
What are the ways of overcoming prejudice?
Dual identity
Creating common ingroup identity by increasing intergroup contact
Both can be achieved via multiculturalism
What is prejudice?
A preconcieved negative judgement of a group and its individual members
What is terror management theory? (Hirchberger)
People are motivated to subdue the terror stemming from Human awareness of mortality. To cope with the inevitability of death people adhere to cultural and religious world-views in order to gain self esteem to suppress death related thoughts.
