POST MIDTERMS Flashcards
What is conformity
good or bad, subjective;
how do east vs west cultures see conformity
Western cultures=individualistic; focus on independence
Eastern cultures=collectivistic; focus on interdependence
Individualistic cultures see conformity as bad; collectivistic cultures see it as good
three kinds of conformity
acceptance, compliance, obedience
explain acceptance conformity
Not only do you agree with behavior, but you can visually see it and believe it is the right thing or norm
ie. rules about personal space, not talking in a library, not staring at a stranger
explain compliance conformity
Sometimes we conform despite disagreeing with behaviour
Go along with group publicly, but privately font gagree or would rather not follow behaviour
Ie. nto wanted to dress formally for a wedding, but you do
explain obedience conformity
Unlike compliance you dont have personal choice, follow orer without considering feelings or preferences
ie. military order form superior
Personal agreement doesn’t matter
Sherif’s autokinetic effect study revealed what aboit ambiguity
Sherif thought way we see world is influenced by others around us
He thought we create our own reality but often look to others for guidance esp in ambig stitches
revealing that when faced with an ambiguous situation, we look to others for social guidance and accepted answers; question your own ideas based on others understandings
Tend to overlook answers to get the right answer; when n clear solution we rely on social influence to shape perceptions of reality
social norms are
accepted ways of thinking feeling, and behaving in a group
Social norms are our rules or standards to guide our behaviour in a group (cialdini and trost 1998); not enforced by authority; powerful bc they tell us what we should do
social norms are most noticeable when_____
violated
reactions to norm violations are
disapproval, punishment, exclusion
social norms are learned through
groups we belong to like family, school, community
deutsch and gerard 1955 said 2 main motivation for conformity
- Normative influence (conform for social acceptance)
- Informational influence: conform bc we think its right thing to do
Through acceptance
We genuinely believe something
Solomon asch line judgement
When we learn about famous studies we think so obvious
He thought that conformity in sherif’s exp was due to ambig sitch
Predicted that in a situation with an obvious answer, people would confidently stick to the correct answer; people often conformed to the obvious but incorrect answer
hindsight bias
belief that once we know results, we could have predicted them all along
explain motivation to conform through compliance
In solomons study, thought they were privately right but went along with group answer bc wanted to be part on in group
some people may have though they were genuinely wrong; questioned their perception, etc
Even if they think they’re right, don’t want to be part of the outgroup[
informational influence
people conform bc they believe group has more accurate info than they do
Most people confirmed bc social pressure, wanted approval from others
normative influence
conforming to be liked or accepted by others even if we don’t agree
what is compliance
We publicly agree but privately disagree; to gain social acceptance and conform
why do we comply with strangers? burger et al said we rely on 4_____ to decide how to act
heuristics; liking, similarity, reciprocity, high cognitive load
compliance heuristics: liking
Liking: were more likely to go along w people we like
compliance heruistics: similarity
Similarity: tend to conform to people who are similar to us
compliance heuristics: reciprocity
Reciprocity: if women does is a favour we feel more inclined tio agree with theme
compliance heuristics: high cognitive load
High cognitive load: reliance on heuristics and conform without thinking, peripheral route
2 ways to create cohesion
to create cohesion
Common goals: group has to work gto common goal, more dependence an conformity
similarity : conform more to people like us; more similarities pointed out
what is unanimity
increased conformity; difficult to go against groups esp when everyines on same page; when you disagree with majority, causes stress and maybe -ive reactions so it feels easier to agree
what is self monitoring
how much attention we pay to our surroundings and adjust to fit in them
someone high in self monitoring behaviours will
be looking for social cues, expressing fake attitudes
Obedience factors
closeness of authority, dissent form others, legitimacy of authority
obedience factors: closeness of authority
physical presence or proximity of figure
obedience factors: dissent form others
when others disagree with authority figure, can make a big diff
obedience factors: legitimacy of authority
people more likely to obey when believe authority figure is legitimate
psychological reactance theory (PRT)
When freedoms threatened, we feel discomfort and want to regain freedoms; discomfort known as reactance
4 components of psychological reactance theory (PRT)
Presence of freedom; having freedoms, subjective
Threat or elimination of freedoms; feeling like you are or may be losing a freedom; more you value a freedom, stronger reaction will be
Arousal from reactance: third component arousal you feel from reactance; if you perceive string threat to your freedom, reaction stronger; observing someone else freedom being removed can trigger reactance
Restoration of freedom; restoring freedom you feel has been taken away; engaging in behavior being restricted;
boomerang effect
when strong takeaway of freedoms, strong resistance
Need for ______ explains why some choose not to conform
uniqueness; Culture that value individualism can motivate people to want to stand out
tripartite model of attitudes (TRI)
affective: emotional; our feelings toward a group or person
Cognitive; thoughts; our beliefs or ideas about them
Behavioural: actions we take based on those feelings and thoughts
how doe tripartite attitudes apply to attitudes of others; prejudices rep which components
affective: positive or negative feelings towards others
cognitive: thoughts or stereotypes about other groups characteristics
behavioural: behaviours that either support or go against those thoughts and feelings
prejudices are emotional (affective0 and thoughts (cognitive)
stereotypes are
Mental shortcut or belief about people in a particular group; cognitive component of an attitude (beliefs)
Can be positive (assuming elderly are wise); or negative (like thinking certain people are unfriendly)
stereotype threat
anxiety exp when you’re aware others may have a negative stereotype about your group, eps when they are doing something that might reinforce the stereotype
- can affect anyone if a relevant negative stereotype is brought to their attention
Worry of confirming a stereotype can affect performance and lead to self fulfilling prophecy; fear of stereotype causes individual to act in ways that seem to conform it
avoid stereotype threat leading to fulfilment by
Teaching people that intelligence is malleable can help ppl focus on their own potential rather than worrying about stereotypes
prejudice is
affective component of the tripartite model of attitudes, meaning it involves emotions or feelings about a groups
Prejudice is when someone feels negatively about a group without necessarily acting on it
Feelings might be dislike, fear, hate but they stay internal
discrimination is
behavioural component of tripartite model, refers to actions taken based on those feelings and thoughts
When prejudice lease ti actions that harm, exclude,m or disadvantage members of a group
Unfair hiring practices, etc
prejudice and discrimination go hand in hand and are ____ always together
not always together; Many people have prejudiced thought sor feelings but dont act on hem bc social norms
Sometimes discrimination happens not bc if personal prejudice, but bc if specific requirements or standards(ie school society only accepts people with a certain GPA; won’t get hired if you dont have required experience)
explicit vs implicit attitudes
Explicit attitudes: attitudes were consciously aware of anc can express; i hate horror movies
Implicit attitudes; hidden, automatic, and often unconscious attitudes taht we may not be able to recognize or easily admit
prejudice vs discrimination
Holding negative thoughts or feelings (prejudices) isn’t illegal altho can be considered immoral: acting on these thoughts (discrimination) is illegal
racism in the workplace
treating someone unfairly due to their race or racialized features
Not hiring, firing, unequal pay, denying promotions, skipping training or laying off someone
four forms of racism
old fashioned, modern, aversive, symbolic
old fashioned racism
belief one racial group, usually white people, are superior to others leading to openly discriminatory practices
modern racism, 3 parts
subtler, only appears when feels socially acceptable, 3 parts
- Anti-black effect: underlying hostility to black people
- Resistance to african americans political demands: op to policies that aim to improve equality
- Denial of racisms existence: belief tat racism no longer impacts the ability of black people to succeed
aversive racism
denying personal prejudice while holding unconscious negative feelings toward another group; feel uneasy uncomfortable, or fearful around certain groups; people show more +ive reactions to members of their own groups
symbolic racism
ombines negative views of another group with values like individualism, prejudice is expressed in abstract terms rather than direct behaviour
4 parts to symbolic racism
Denial of continuing discrimination: believing racial discrim is no longer a problem
Belief in strong work ethic: people resp for own individual success; blaming inequality on people
Excessive demands: viewing civil rights efforts as too demanding
Underserved advantage: belief that certain groups get unearned benefits in attempts to provide equity
sexism is
sex based discrimination that occurs when someone is treated unfairly as a result of their sex/gender
Can be sexual harassment, offensive comments about a opersons sex or gender
ageism is
age based discrimination
Treating someone unfairly because of their age; in us teh age Discrimination employment act prevents employers from discriminating against those 40 plus
weight discrimination is
when someone is treated unfairly due to their weight or size; treatment in workplace, on social media, by healthcare professionals
disability discrimination is
when applicant or employee is treated poorly because they have a disability, history of disability or are believed to have a physical or mental impairment
stigma is
negative attitudes or unfair treatment people may experience bc they belong to certain social groups or have particular characteristics
Eg. face stigma bc they belong to ethnic group, belong to a subculture, etc
3 types of stigma
public, self, courtesy
public stigma and label avoidance
when society as a whole holds negative stereotypes about a particular group and discriminates against them
Label avoidance: sometimes people avoid seeking help or care because they want to avoid being negatively labelled (ie. i don’t want people to think i’m crazy)
self stigma and why try effect
when people internalise society’s negative views about their group, which can harm their self esteem, confidence and ability to cope
Why try effect: a person may feel despair, or why should i even try i’m not good enough
courtesy stigma
affects family members or others associated with someone who has a stigmatised characteristic
Eg. families of people with mental illness
mental illness stigma
stigma against mental illness leading to serious consequences
3 ways mental illness stigma manifests
Workplace discrimination: people with mental illness face hiring discrimination
Decreased help-seeking: many people avoid seeking mental health care bc of stigma
Increased social distance: stigma increases with age, which suggests anti-stigma efforts might be most effective if aimed at older adults
mental illness stigma can be combatted in 3 ways
Educational interventions: direct interaction with people who have mental illnesses, and education reduces stigma among medical students
Portraying treatment success: when mental health conditions like depression or schizophrenia are shown as treatable, public attitudes improve
The role of hope in recovery: for people with serious mental illnesses, stigma can lower self esteem and reduce hope, affecting their quality of life; replace -ive myths with facts about recovery with hope to build self esteem
social identity theory
Suggest people haven nat tendency to simply their social world by categorising people into groups
This process helps us make sense of complex social environments by creating prototypes for different groups
role of prototype sea categorization processes in social identity theory/building
Prototypes consist of general ideas about what constitutes a group based on a set of common features
In this process, we form in groups (those we belong to) and out groups (groups we don’t belong to); then start to see similarities within our ingroups and differences between our in group and out groups
Categorization affect shoe we see ourselves, as we tend to adopt the characteristics and behaviours assoc with our in group
in group favouritism
we generally prefer our in groups ove rout groups; helps us feel good about ourselves and boats our self esteem
outgroup homogeneity effect
we see members of out groups as more similar to each other, while viewing out in group as more diverse
We don’t know as much about out groups so we don’t notice individual differences; but we have more contact with out group member , were less likely to see them as all the same
tajfel et al 1979 research in in-group vs outgroup found…
that we compare our in groups to out groups as a way of evaluating our social ID; when our group stands put in a +ive way it boosts self esteem
socialization is
the ways we learn the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours of our culture from a young age
Stereotypes and prejudice can be passed thru socialisation in 3 ways
observational learning, respondedt conditioning, operant conditioning
observational learning
People learn behaviours and attitudes by watching others
Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment; children imitate aggressive adult behaviour
If a kid sees parent or important adult treating others poorly, they may adopt these negative beliefs and behaviours
Transmission occurs without explicit teaching, kids absorb these cues and may dev similar biases
respondent learning (3 stages)
Explains how we might link a neutral group to -ive qualities over time ans consists of 3 stages
Preconditioning
Conditioning
Post-conditioning
operant conditioning
involves learning thru the consequences of our actions; if we do something a specific outcome will follow
Outcome will either increase or decrease likelihood of repeating that behaviour
Reinforcement: strengthens or makes behaviour more likely in future
Punishment; weakens or makes a behaviour les slieklu in the future
four types of conditioning
Positive punishment; someoneting unpleasant is added after a behaviour, decreasing the likelihood itll be repeated
Negative punishment”: something pleasant is taken away after behaviour, ma=king it less likely in the future
Positive reinforcement: something pleasant is introduced after behaviour, to increase its likelihood of repetition
Negative reinforcement: something unpleasant is taken away as a result of a behaviour, making the behaviour more likely to be repeated
do prejudiced emotions or or thoughts predict prejudiced behaviours more often
Research suggests that intolerance towards certain groups is linked to -uve stereotypes; emotions like pity, envy, disgust and pride may actually be
Emotions predict behaviours related to prejudice twice as effectively as negative stereotypes; how we feel about a group can be more important than what we think about them
fiscke et al 2022 argued stereotypes can be understood thru 2 main dimensions
Warmth: how friendly or a approachable a group is perceived to b e
Competence: how capable or skills a group is perceived
They noted +ive and -ive stereotype scan coexist (ie. a group might seem warm, but incompetent or vice versa)
Different combinations of warmth and competence lead to unique emotional responses:
Pity: evoked when group seems warm but incompetent
Roel of status and competition
Subordinate groups may be seen as warm but lacking incompetence, giving advantage to privileged groups
Competitive out-groups may be viewed as competent but nor warm, leading to resentment from the ingroup
Social dominance orientation; methods
members of dominant groups often wish to maintain superior status over subordinate groups leading to
Intolerance towards outgroups
Lack of empathy or altruism
Support for conservative and nationalist policies
Resistance to social change
Higher prevalence of SDO in males compared to females
attribution theory and 2 types
explains how people understand the causes behind their own and others behaviour
dispositional, situational
attribution theory; situational
involved attributing behaviour to external factors, such as the environment or circumstances affecting the person
attribution theory dispositional
involves attributing behaviour to internal factors such as personality traits or characteristics of the person
fundamental attribution error
Occurs when we assume that someone’s behaviour is caused by their disposition rather than considering situational factors
group serving bias
we evaluate the behaviour of ingroup and outgroup members differently
Ignores +ive actions of out groups, and attribute -ive aspects to their character
attributional ambiguity
confusion people may feel about whether they are being treated unfairly bc of their group membership
One experiment showed that attributing -ive feedback to prejudice can provide some emotional relief
how can prejudice and dicsrimmiantion be reduced?
Teaching tolerance is a way to reduce prejudice and discrimination by promoting respect, acceptance and appreciation for diversity
The teaching tolerance movement founded by the southern poverty law centre in 1991
by providing educators w resources
Intergroup contact theory
suggests that bringing conditioning groups together can help reduce bias and promote acceptance
contact hypothesis/intergroup contact theory proposed by who; 4 conditions required
gordon allport in the 1950s, known as contact hypothesis; for contact between groups to reduce prejudice, 4 conditions must be met;
Equal status
Common goals
Intergroup cooperation
Institutional support
pettigrew and trop 2006; intergroup contact
Found that intergroup contact is linked to lower levels of prejudice
+ive attitudes formed during intergroup interactions not only benefit the individuals directly involved but also extend to broader perception of the entire outgroup
aggression
any behaviour meant to harm another
Physical harm like hitting
Verbal harm like insults
Key to aggression is intent, acting with goal to harm
violence
using force to cause injury death or psychological harm
Can happen towards yourself, to others, to groups
Can take many forms; physical attack, emotional harm, neglect or deprivation
3 main types of aggression
instrumental, hostile, relational,
instrumental aggression
about getting something, not necessarily hurting someone
Ie. child grabs toy forcefully, to get toy not to harm other kid
Aggression as means to an end
hostile aggression
when someone wants to cause direct harm to another person
Can include physical threats and actions
Main goal is harm itself
Relational aggression
relational aggression
Damaging someone’s social life; damaging relationships, spreading rumours, exclusion from groups, name calling
Lasting effects on person social standing and seen often in teens
cyberbullying
aggression online or through tech liek social media, texting, video games
Embarrassing photos or harassment online
Can be anonymous reaching large audiences; hard for adults to monitor/fix
Severe effects due to persistent visibilty to many and hard to escape
crime
behaviour that are against rules of society and come with consequences or punishment
Range from cyber crimes online to violent acts like robberies or assault
Federal authorities ID diff types of crime each with specific harms/risks
types of crime
cyber crimes, civil rights violations, public corruption, organized crime, white collar crime, violent crime