lesson 14 culture, norms, influence Flashcards
cultural learning
the transmission of acquired information both within and across generations
vectors of cultural transmission
our families
our institutions
other people
cultural learning comes with extreme costs
domestication doesnt come without a cost (psychic pain)
1) we do things the way our parents do (can lead to overimitation)
2) civilization requires we be tamed or broken
overimitation in children
we tend to assume because this is the way we learned it from culture/our family, this is important to the overall outcome
candid camera experiment about group pressure
turning around in elevator if you see everyone else turning around due to group pressure, putting on and taking off hat because everyone else is
conformity
the tendency to do what others do
conformity experiment (asch experiment)
asch experiment: subject surrounded by classmates, say which line matches the control line (they choose the wrong one, so does the subject)
if only one other person gives the wrong answers subject can resist but more people doing it means more pressure to conform
why do we conform
we want to cooperate
we dont want to be socially excluded
kitty genovese
bystander effect
38 people saw her be attacked, no one helped due to human tendency to conform
diffusion of responsibility
individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions when surrounded by others doing the same
youre more likely to get help from one person than multiple because no one will be willing to break conformity to intervene (doesnt feel like you have the same agency, no choice)
defeating diffusion of responsibilty
single out one person and make them responsible
how we are tamed by society
1) conformity
2) obedience to authority
3) institutional expectation
obedience
the tendency to do what authorities tell us to do simply because they tell us to do it
example of obedience to authority
nuremberg trial (obeying orders, not considered viable defense)
stanley milgram obedience experiment
the subject keeps giving shocks to the learner who makes mistakes
people will do anything if they perceive command comes from legitimate authority
how do institutions guide behavior
harvard and finance
st peters architecture
stanford prison experiment
revealed how people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play
students really became sadistic guards
unethical experiments surrounding obedience
milgram shock experiment and zimbardo stanford prison experiments
gradual ratcheting
humans go one half step makes it a little easier to go next half step
your behavior changes over time, from one small uncomfortable thing to more extreme things
occurs when another person’s behavior provides
information about what is good or true
Informational influence
persuasion
occurs when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person. The kind of persuasion the candidates will promise is known as systematic persuasion, which is the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason, but the kind they are most likely to deliver is known is as heuristic persuasion, which is the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habit or emotion
foot-in-the-door
making a small request and then following it with a larger request
prisoner’s dilemma game illustrates
the benefits and costs of cooperation
The prisoner’s dilemma presents a situation where two parties, separated and unable to communicate, must each choose between cooperating with the other or not. The highest reward for each party occurs when both parties choose to co-operate.
What best predicts whether a person will engage in reactive aggression?
the person’s gender
When women aggress, they usually
cause social harm rather than physical harm.
Which of the following is a situational factor that influences attraction?
a. proximity
b. similarity
c. bilateral symmetry
d. personality
proximity
The fact that people in relationships want their cost–benefit ratio to be about the same as their
equity
The fact that people prefer to experience pleasure rather than pain is known as
the hedonic motive
The tendency to do what authorities tell us to do is known as
obedience
What is the process by which people come to understand others
social cognition
