lecture 4

Question 1

what is the formal definition of intergroup behaviour?

Answer 1

Behaviour among indivisuals that is regulated by those indivisuals awareness of and identification with different social groups

Question 2

what are the two major in-group processes?

Answer 2

• the two major intergroup processes include
  1. intergroup harmony
  2. intergroup disharmony

Question 3

What idea/concept are the exisiting theories that explain intergroup disharmony based on?

Answer 3

• relative deprivation - a sense of having less than what we feel entitled to
• example: when speaking to your friend that goes to a diff university and you discuss what you get from your university/facilities
• if you think the other person has more than you - you immediately feel deprived and you believe you deserve more/better

Question 4

What are the 3 existing theories that explain why intergourp disharmony arises?

Answer 4

1. Berkowitz
2. J-curve hypothesis
3. Runciman hypothesis of egotistic and fraternalistic (group) relative deprivation

Question 5

what is the realistic conflict theory?

Answer 5

• Realistic conflict theory explains that conflict arises from when we make comparisons - we think we should be comparing ourselves to similar others
  
  • i.e. I compare myself with another 21 yr old student studying full time/working part time
• But often we dont compare ourselves to similar others -> we compare with other groups
• It is expected that diff groups will have conflict -> we are competing for scare resources
  
  • Small no. scholarships
  • 2 places in certain leadership roles

Question 6

What are some major studies conducted based on the realistic conflict theory?

Answer 6

• sherifs camp studies
• study involved splitting boys into two groups
• each group had their own name/colours i.e. distinct and very groupy
• two groups became very hostile towards each other

Question 7

According to the study, how d you form groups back together again?

Answer 7

• when the groups have a superordinate goal
• when they are made to work together in order to reach the goal. The only way for both groups to reach the goal is to work together

Question 8

What is social identity theory?

Answer 8

• The role social identity in indivisuals definition of self
• Social vs personal identity -> argued that some things explained better in terms of indivsual identifying themselves in terms of their group
  
  • We are in QUT soccer team
  • We are university students
• Social identity theory wants to focus on these aspects of individuals identifying themselves and what the implications are

Question 9

What are the outcomes of social identity/identifying with a particular group?

Answer 9

• In-group favouritism
• Ethnocentrism: idea that our group is the centre of the universe - we are better, thinks about things better/differently to other groups
• Conformity to group norms - even when other group members are not here
• Leads to stereotyping
• Intergroup accentuation + differentiation

Question 10

does social identity theory assume positive self esteem?

Answer 10

• Social identity theory DOES assume the need for positive self-esteem
• Reason why we join groups is to feel good about ourselves because we are in group X
• Snese of pride that we are in a group
• Happens mostly when dimensions favour the in-group

Question 11

What are some strategies to obtain a positive social identity?

Answer 11

1. Indivisual mobility
   - Indivisual exists current group to go to better/high-status group
   - Example: sports players move to another team because their current team not performing well
   - Not always easy
2. Social creativity
   
   • New dimensions of intergroup comparison
   • Example: QUT will never beat Griffith in test performance but we are QUT and our status/label more important/better than Griffith
   • Redefining value of existing dimensions
   • Example: who cares about assessment - we dont need to do well in it because we have a life and do other things than assessments
   • Comparison with different outgroups
   • When Griffith will beat us in everything we do - we will compare our performance with ACU
3. Social competition
   
   • Civil rights activity, political lobbying, terrorism, revolution, war
     - Happens when the above 2 are not possible (individual mobility or social creativity)

Question 12

what is Self categoriszation theory?

Answer 12

• Categories based on cognitive representations of groups
• Done by memory or on the spot category
• Use these prototypes to
• MINMISE differences within groups
• MAXIMISE differences between groups

Question 13

What is depersonalisation in self-categorisation theory?

Answer 13

• Depersonalisation: when someone depersonalises someone from outgroup to categorise them
• Reducing them down to them being apart of the out group
• Removing all personal factors: their personality, the person themselves
• Bavarian is a shit company and because Rosie works there she must also be a dickhead
• Rosie is actually such a nice person with an awesome personality - but this is disregarded

Question 14

what are the steps involved in referent informational influence that result in group behaviour? How is self-categorisation intertwined?

Answer 14

• referent informational influence starts off with self-categorisation
  1. self categorisation
• when individual categorises themselves in the in-group and differentiates the in-group to the out-group
  2. stereotypic norms
• individual discovers both implicit and explicit norms within his/her in-group
• implicit: norms usually discovered through making errors. Implicit norms are not usually directly told to an individual
• explicit norms: when group members directly tell others in the group what is expected of them/what rules are
  3. assigning these norms to ones self (i.e. self-stereotyping)
  4. results in in-group behaviour

Question 15

what is the referent informational influence an alternative view of?

Answer 15

• This is an alternative view to informative and normative influence
• RII says we can get conformity due to categorising ourselves within our group and from all RII steps we conform to our group behaviour
• NOT due to social approval/reality check -> which is what normative and informative influence is based on
• normative influence: conforming even when knowledge is known that others are wrong
  
  • Solomon ache experiment
  • usually done to avoid conflict
• informative influence: basis that when we do not know how to act, we copy other people for approval
  
  • others act as information sources
  • we assume others know what they are doing

Question 16

what are the three main ideas in social cognition theory?

Answer 16

1. relative homogeneity effect
2. category based person memory effects
   - assign bad behaviour to out group more
3. brewers optimal distinctiveness theory
   - based on the fact that as humans we naturally want to put ourselves into groups
   - but takes into account that in-group and outgrip has similarities

Question 17

How does Lebon’s theory explain crowds behaving badly?

Answer 17

• individuals act irrationally as they come under the hypnotic influence of the crowd
• Based on when you get group - it has high potential to turn very volatile
• We have primal savage instincts when in groups

Question 18

what are the three processes that are produced which result in violent irrational group behaviour?

Answer 18

1. anonymity
   - feeling of irresponsibility and invincibility
2. contagion
   - rapid and unpredictable shift in behaviour
3. suggestibility
   - primitive savage instincts come to the surface

Question 19

what is the important idea in Lebons theory?

Answer 19

• Deindividuation: taking away YOUR individual characteristics
• Loose their sense of individual identity —> not thinking for themselves

Question 20

what is the emergent norm theory?

Answer 20

• Emergent norm theory: based on the idea that aggressive behaviour occurs because we have no idea how to react/what to do in certain situations
• crowd behaviour is guided by unique social norms which is established by members of the crowd
• combination of liked-minded individuals + shared emotion -> results CROWD BEHAVIOUR
• individuals have expectations and norms but crowd interaction -> new expectations can emerge -> behaviour that normally doesn’t take place can occur

Question 21

according to the emergent norm theory, what are the steps which result in collective behaviour?

Answer 21

• No predetermined/set rules on what to do
• Distinctive behaviour is the implicit norm
  
  • i.e when someone starts hitting/bashing wall or acting agressivley towards someone ppl think that is what is expected of them
• Normative influence comes into play bec. Of fear of being left out/isolsted if they dont join in
• Inaction of majority stepping in and stopping the bad behaviour ->
  
  • wthere is an implicit norm that we should be doing it (throwing bottles, fighting the other side) bec, tacit confirmation of the norm
• Results in collective behaviour

Question 22

What theory opposes both emergent norm theory and Lebon’s theory?

Answer 22

• Social identity perspective
• Challenges the other theories by saying most of the time we DO know what to do
• Takes a diff. Approach -> says that other theories ignore the intergroup nature of most crowd behaviour
• We do not lose our identity BUT a SHIFT from our personal to social identity which then leads to identity consistent behaviour
• Example: 1st lecture I went to -> I still knew generally how to act in a lecture
  
  • We do know to be quiet while the lecturer is speaking

Question 23

What are some strategies to create harmony between 2 groups?

Answer 23

• superordinate goal : both group members have a mutual goal which can only be achieved if both groups contribute together
• communication and consiliation
• propaganda and education
• all ports contact hypothesis