Situational Factors Flashcards
How would being a minority cause us to change our behaviour?
A desire belong influences us. However, we may still retain our personal opinions.
What is deindividuation?
Loss of a sense of individual identity when we are surrounded by a group of people.
Why does our behaviour change when in a group?
We become less conscious of what we say or do, we don’t monitor our behaviour as much, we feel less guilt and shame, loss of responsibility.
Define culture.
Ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular group of people.
What does it mean to be collectivist?
When we are more community-minded and consider others in decision making.
How do collectivist cultures affect our behaviour?
Collectivist cultures such as China and Japan are more pro-social as they tend to do things for the society, not for themselves.
What does it mean to be individualistic?
When we make decisions that suit our own interests.
How do individualistic cultures affect our behaviour?
Individualistic cultures like the USA and the UK are more anti-social.
How do authority figures affect our behaviour?
The more authority a person has, the more obedience they can command as they have the ability to punish us.
What is an autonomous state?
Where individuals feel responsible for their actions.
What is an agentic state?
When individuals feel they’re simply following orders from another who’s responsible so we lose our own sense of right and wrong.
How do we feel when being instructed by an authority figure?
We move from an autonomous state to an agentic state.
What are some criticisms of situational factors?
Seen as deterministic, they over-generalise as no-one behaves them same in every situation, testing situational factors can be artificial and unethical.
