Q8: Social Flashcards
social psychology
field of psychology concerned with how others influence the affect, behavior, and cognitions of the individual.
- how do we perceive others? How do we relate to others? How are we influenced by them?
Social perception
process by which we form impressions, make judgements, and develop attitudes about the people and events that constitute our social world
-impressions, attributions, attitudes
impression formation
process by which we form an opinion or impression of another person
-influenced by personal disclosure, social schemas, self-fulfilling prophecies
personal disclosure
generally, we form more favorable impressions of people who are willing to disclose some but not too much personal information
social schemas
mental image or representation that we use to understand environment
stereotype
preconceived ideas about groups of people, can exist on two levels: explicit and implicit.
explicit stereotype
conscious
implicit stereotype
unconscious
attribution
explanation that we form about the causes of behavior or events we observe.
-internal and external
internal attribution
explains a person’s behavior in terms of characteristics of that person
external attribution
explains a person’s behavior in terms of something out of their control.
fundamental attribution error
tendency to favor internal attributions rather than external situational explanations
self-serving bias
attribute success to internal sources, and failures to external ones.
actor-observer bias
tendency to use external attributions for our own behaviors, and internal attributions for others’ behaviors.
self-fulfilling prophecy
an expectation that helps bring about the outcome that is expected
attitude
relatively stable disposition used to evaluate a person, object, or event.
-explicit, implicit.
explicit attitude
conscious
implicit attitude
unconscious
components of attitudes
cognitions: sets of belief
affect: feelings of liking/disliking
behavior: predispositions to act positively/negatively
formation of attitudes
observational learning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, direct personal experience.
mere exposure phenomenon
when first exposed to something you don’t like it, but after being exposed to it more and more, you like it.
-ex: music, people.
agenda setting
media’s role in attitude formation
-what’s covered and how is it covered?
changing attitudes
persuasion and cognitive dissonance theory
persuasion
deliberate attempt to change attitudes or beliefs with information and arguments. someone else.
-elaboration likelihood model
cognitive dissonance theory
changing attitudes to reduce inconsistency between attitude and cognitions/behaviors.
elaboration likelihood model
says theres two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral.
central route
audience is motivated and analytical. processing is high effort and focused on content. persuasion is long lasting.
peripheral route
audience isnt motivated or analytical. processing is low effort and focus is on peripheral details. change is short lived
variables influencing persuasion
source: credibility, likeability, similarity
message: one vs two sided arguments. repetition
recipient: intelligence, self confidence, mood
cognitive dissonance theory
attitudes change to reduce attitude inconsistency.
reduce by: changing attitude, thoughts, behavior. reducing amount of perceived choice.
bystander intervention
decision model: 1- recognize need for help. 2- interpret as an emergency. 3- assume personal responsibility. 4- choose a way to help. 5- implement decision.
yes to all = assurance
no to one = no helping
bystander effect
social inhibition of helping.
due to: audience inhibition, pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility, category relationship
audience inhibition
tendency to be hesitant to do anything in front of others, especially strangers
pluralistic ignorance
group becomes paralyzed by conformity of inaction of others
diffusion of responsibility
the greater the number of people present, the smaller is each persons perceived obligation to help.
category relationship
belief that parties involved belong together in some way, which reduces bystander intervention. (ex child screaming is throwing a tantrum, not being kidnapped)
prejudice
attitude that represents a biased (often negative) deposition toward groups of people. thought
discrimination
biased, often negative, behavior directed at a member of a social group simply because of that persons group membership. action
contact hypothesis
belief that under certain conditions, increased inter group contact helps reduce prejudice.
needs: social and institutional support, acquaintance potential, equal status, inter group cooperation.
aggression
any behavior carried out with the intention of harming another person
causes of aggression
instincts: “killer instincts” (not in everyone).
biology: testosterone increases, hypoglycemia, alcohol and drug use.
frustration: aggressive stimuli.
social learning
personal identity
individual identity. part of psychological makeup that distinguishes you.
social identity
group identity. refers to sense of yourself as member of various groups.
conformity
when we modify our behavior under perceived pressure to do so, to make it consistent with the behavior of others.
Asch’s conformity experiment
subjects asked to judge line lengths, answering after hearing multiple incorrect answers. subjects conformed to the group.
influenced by: competency of the majority, level of ambiguity, and gender
obedience
when we yield to pressure of perceived authority figures
Milgram’s experiment
subjects had to shock a “learner” for answering questions wrong, increasing voltage each time. even when learners cried for help or became unresponsive the subject continued due to influence of an authority figure.
Zimbardo’s stanford prison experiment
“normal” subjects were randomly assigned prisoner or guard and then were sent to live as such for two weeks. after two days things went downhill, showing that social roles and evil places can make a person act out of typical character, or evilly. links to prison abuse. was shut down after five full days.
social loafing
tendency to work less as the size of a group in which one is working becomes larger.
it increases when work cannot be identified, is anonymous in the group, or person is fatigued.
it decreases when it is from a collectivist perspective, or the task is interesting or judged to be important.
Social facilitation
when others watch you perform a task, you will do better at it. occurs with simple, well-learned tasks.
social interference
when presence of others leads to poor performance. occurs with complex, not well-learned tasks.
groupthink
a type of conformity. making less logical decisions as a group.
