SOC Chp. 8 Social process, Attitudes & Behaviors Flashcards
What is Max Weber’s description of social action?
actions and behaviors that individuals are conscious of and performing because others are around
What is sofical facilicaiton?
the phenomenon that people perform better when they know they are being watched
What is Dodson’s law of Social facilitation?
In the presence of others, you perform better at a task you are already good at, and worse at a task you aren’t.
What is deindividuation?
being in the presence of a group causes one to lose their individuality and become an anonymous part of the group
What can deindividuation lead to?
antinormative behavior - anonymity makes one act in a manner inconsistent with his normal self as seen in riots.
What is social loafing?
an individual is less likely to put in effort when in a group setting
What is the standard for peer pressure?
people are equal within the social group - there is no imbalance of power
What can peer pressure lead to?
Identity shift and Cognitive dissonance
What is Cognitive dissonance?
A simultaneous discomfort of 2 opposing thoughts or opinions that leads to an internal state of discomfort which can lead to anxiety, fear, confusion, or anger
Describe Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment.
a group of male college students were shown a card with 3 lines and asked to match the length of the lines to another card with lines A, B, and C
What did Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment illustrate?
His experiment showed that individuals will often conform to the opinion held by a group even if they know it is untrue. the urge toward conformity outweighs the desire to provide the correct answer
What is group polarization?
the tendency of a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the ideas of the individual members
What 2 decisions could come from group polarization?
Risky shift - a shift toward more riskier decisions and behaviors
Choice shift - a shift towards more cautious decisions of behaviors
What is Irving Janis Groupthink?
the desire for harmony or conformity in a group leads to them making an incorrect or poor decision
What are Irving Janis’s 8 factors of Groupthink?
I1. illusion of invulnerability - the creation of optimism and encouragement of risk-taking
2. Collective rationalization - ignoring warnings against the ideas of the group
3. The illusion of morality - the belief that the group’s decision is moral
4. Excessive stereotyping - construction of stereotypes against outside opinions
5. Pressure for conformity - pressure to put on anyone who expresses opinions against the group, viewing the opposition as disloyal.
6. Self-censorship - the withholding of opposing views
7. Illusion of unanimity - a false sense of agreement within the group
8. Mindguards - the appointment of members to the role of protecting against opposing views
What is the difference between informative and normative influence?
informative influence - look to the group for guidance when you don’t know what to do, and ask what to do.
Normative influence - even if you know what’s right, do what the group does to avoid social rejection
What is the diff b/w cultural assimilation and multiculturalism?
assimilation is usually an uneven merging of cultures; a melting point. multiculturalism is a celebration of coexisting cultures; a mosaic
What is subculture?
groups of people within a culture that distinguish themselves from the primary culture to which they belong
What is Cultural learning/transmission?
how society socializes its members
What is Cultural diffusion?
the spread of norms, customs, and beliefs throughout the culture
What is the diff b/w primary and secondary socialization?
Primary socialization occurs during childhood when we learn acceptable actions and attitudes in our society by watching our parents and other adults around us. Secondary socialization occurs outside of the home and is based on learning the rules of specific social environments
What is the diff b/w anticpiatry socialization and resocialization?
Anticipatory socialization - the process by which a person prepares for future changes in occupation, living situation, or relationship
Resocialization - when one discards old behaviors in favor of a new one to make a life change. Can be a positive or negative change
What is a folkway?
normas that refer to behaviors that are considered polite in particular social interactions
What are the diff b/w differential association and strain theory of deviance
Differential association theory - Deviance can be learned through interactions with others
Strain theory - deviance is a natural reaction to the disconnect between social goals and social structure.
What is the diff b/w internalization and identification?
internalization is accepting others’ ideas and changing internal thoughts to agree with the ideas, and identification is acceptance of the idea on the surface level without personally taking on these ideas
What did Asch’s Experiment On Normative Conformity demonstrate?
the desire to fit into a group because of fear of rejection
What is the diff b/w compliance and obedience?
Compliance - behavior change based on the direct request from a person with no power or authority
Obedience - changing behavior at the direct request of an authoritative figure
What did the Stanley Milgram Electric Shock Experiment demonstrate?
- “just world phenomenon” – the belief good things happen to good people, and vice versa. Some people use this to justify their actions.
- self-serving bias – that we could never commit acts like this
- Fundamental attribution error – the tendency to believe that others in out-groups behave a certain way based on inherent personalities/flaws.
What did Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment on Internalization Experiment demonstrate?
- Showed us how the influence situations can affect our behavior, and how internalizing our role can influence our behavior
- Showed us that it becomes much easier to behave badly towards individuals who suffer from deindividualization (loss of self)
- Showed that bad behavior can result from cognitive dissonance
What is Social Cognition?
how people think about others and how these ideas impact behavior
What influences our attitude?
the expression of feelings towards a person usually from the experience of the effect of others’ opinions and behaviors
The effective - emotional component
Behavioral - a way a person acts concerning something
Cognitive - the way an individual thinks about something
What are the 4 functions attitude serves according to the functional attitude theory?
- Knowledge - knowing the attitudes of others helps predict their behavior
- Ego-expression - allows us to communicate and solidify our self-identity
- Adaptive - the idea that one will be accepted if socially acceptable attitudes are expressed
- Ego-defense - helps protect our self-esteem or justify the actions that we know are wrong
What does the Social cognitive theory on atttidue state?
people learn how to behave and shape attitudes by directly observing the behavior of others
What does the Learning theory on attitude state?
attitudes are developed through forms of learning such as direct contact instruction and conditioning
What does the Elaboration likelihood model on attitude state?
attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of information processing based on the degree of elaboration.
What is the diff b/w central route processing?
Central (deep thinking) - scrutinizing and analyzing the content of persuasive information
peripheral (low elaboration) - focusing on superficial details of persuasive information such as appearance, catchphrases, credibility, and slogans
What are the 3 interactive factors of Bandura’s Triadic reciprocal causation?
behavioral, personal, and environmental
What does Bandura’s Triadic reciprocal causation state?
behavior is developed through direct observation and replication of the actions of others, and in tandem with the influence of personal factors, and the environment in which we observe the behavior
