Psychology in society lecture 1 Flashcards
Power and obedience
What is a harsh base of power? (3)
- Use economic and physical outcomes.
- Work with outcomes that are more tangible and explicit
- rely on more obvious power differentials
When are harsh bases of power more likely to exist and what do they require?
- when power is illegitimate
- require surveillance - have to keep demonstrating power to have an influence
What are soft bases of power? (3)
- use social outcomes
- Work with outcomes that are more subjective and intangible
- rely on less obvious power differentials
- produce self-sustaining influence
What are two harsh types of power?
- coercive - threaten punishment
- reward - reward for compliance
What are 3 soft types of power?
- informational - influencer has more information than you
- expert - influencer is an expert
- referent - identify with or attracted to the source
What type of power is both harsh and soft?
legitimate
When are people approach motivated?
When they have high power
What does it mean to be approach motivated? (5)
- attention to rewards
- positive emotions
- automatic cognition
- disinhibition
- state/trait driven behaviour
When are people inhibition motivated?
When they have low power
What does it mean to be inhibition motivated?
- attention to threats
- negative emotions
- systematic, controlled cognition
- inhibition
- situationally constrained behaviour
In which state will people have lower basal cortisol levels and lower cortisol reactivity to stressors?
When feeling powerful - less generally stressed and less stressed in reaction to something stressful
In the study by Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee (2003) into how power changes the likelihood to take action, who took more cards when playing blackjack? (have to add to 21)
People in a high power position when building a lego structure as a group
In the study by Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee (2003) into how power changes the likelihood to take action, who dealt with an annoying fan?
People with high power in allocating lottery tickets
In the study by Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee (2003) into how power changes the likelihood to take action, who took more and returned more money from a pool that would be multiplied?
People with high power in allocating lottery tickets
What is dominance as a motivation for power?
The degree of deference, respect, and attention one receives as a consequence of the perceived ability to coerce, intimidate and impose costs and benefits.
What is prestige as a motivation for power?
The degree of deference, respect, and attention an individual receives as consequence of the perceived attractiveness as a cultural model or coalition partner.
Which of dominance and prestige each relates to soft and harsh power?
Dominance = harsh
Prestige = soft
What did Cheng et al (2013) find when looking into impression as dominant and/or prestigious leading to social influence within small groups?
- Both dominance and prestige independently predict influence.
- Both independently predict visual attention toward the dominant or prestigious target.
How did Cheng et al (2013) measure dominance and prestige from the Lunar Landing task?
- Group member evaluations of each other
- Third party evaluations of each group member
How did Cheng et al (2013) measure social influence from the Lunar Landing task?
- behavioural change of the group towards an individual
- third party eye gaze
What did Cassidy & Lynn (1989) suggest are motives for dominance individuals?
- “I like to give orders and get things going.”
- “I would enjoy having authority over people.”
- “I enjoy planning things and deciding what other people should do.”
What did Cassidy & Lynn (1989) suggest are motives for prestige individuals?
- “I like to have people come to me for advice.”
- “I like to be admired for my achievements.”
- “I would like an important job where people look up to me.”
What key conflict can occur when power is unstable?
the leader’s interest in keeping power may be more important to them than group interests
What did Maner and Mead (2010) find when looking into the effect of power type and stable and unstable leadership on the quality of clues to help others?
- unstable leaders high in dominance gave lower quality clues
- high dominance generally gave lower quality clues than low dominance
What did Maner and Mead (2010) find when they suggested that there were too many players and one needed to be voted to leave and they told the participant that one had a particularly high score?
Unstable dominant participants were more likely to exclude the skilled player, even though they would be helpful
Group-based dominance occurs across many societies based on… (3)
- ethnicity
- religion
- gender
- etc.
Group-based dominance exerts itself via… (3)
- force
- outgroup derogation
- ingroup bias
Which theories try to account for group-based dominance?
- social identity theory
- social dominance theory
- system justification theory
What do groups provide us with according to the social identity approach?
An identity of who we are and who we ostensibly should be
What does group identity increase (negative things)? (3)
- self/stereotyping
- depersonalisation
- perceived group difference
What are 3 ways in which we can strive for positive distinctiveness?
- Individual mobility
- Social creativity
- Social competition
What do minimal group paradigms provide support for?
The social identity approach
What happens in a minimal group paradigm?
- Gather participants that have never met and give them a new group identity
- They begin to show ingroup favouritism, even when the categories are ridiculous
What does social dominance theory focus on that earlier theories don’t?
Hierarchies of groups within a society and how they are treated
How is discrimination coordinated?
Legitimising myths - endorse the myth so you maintain your higher power status
What is social dominance orientation?
An individual orientation toward group-based dominance
What does social dominance orientation correlate positively with? (4)
- sexism
- racism
- nationalism
- support for the US invasion of Iraq
What does social dominance orientation correlate negatively with? (4)
- tolerance
- egalitarianism
- support for human rights
- support for the military intervention in the Yugoslavian civil war
What is system justification theory?
System justification is the process by which existing social arrangements are legitimised, even at the expense of personal and group interest.
What does the system justification theory argue? (3)
- people have a general motive to justify the existing social order
- this is mostly at an implicit level
- it is sometimes strongest in people most harmed by it
What did Jost, Banaji and Nosek (2004) find when looking at ingroup and outgroup favouritism in gay and straight participants?
Gay participants showed a high level of outgroup favouritism but only implicitly
What was found when looking into political conservatism for gay and straight participants implicitly and explicitly?
As conservatism increases, straight increase ingroup favouritism and gay increase outgroup favouritism, especially implicitly
What is the difference between obedience, conformity and persuasion?
- Obedience - response to a direct powerful request - doesn’t require internalisation
- Conformity - response to social norms - doesn’t require internalisation
- Persuasion - response to direct messages - requires internalisation
How many participants delivered shocks all the way until the end of Milgram’s study?
65%
What other factors increased disobedience in Milgram’s variations? (6)
- No explicit direction to increase shocks
- Confederates pressure them to disobey
- The teacher was proximal (closer) to the learner
- The experimenter was not there
- They were friends/relatives of the learner
- Experimenter instructions were inconsistent
What variation increased obedience in Milgram’s study?
When the teacher simply read the words and someone else did the shocking
What are some explanations for Milgram’s results? (5)
- Blind obedience to power
- Diffusion of responsibility
- Psychology of sunk costs
- Conformity to group norms
- Persuasion (by the experimenter)
