Social Approach Flashcards
What is the social approach?
How thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by their social context
- people. culture and society all influence our behaviour
Conformity
Conformity (normative social influence, informational social influence)
Types of conformity
Types of conformity (internalisation, identification, compliance)
Social categorisation
Formation and effect of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination
Influence on others self-concept
self-esteem. self-image, self-efficacy
Individualist
E.g. UK and USA. Main priority is the needs of the individual
Collectivist
E.g. China and Japan. Prefer to prioritise family and community over themselves
Zimbardo
Prison experiment
set up mock prison in the basement of Stanford University
* observational study – controlled, participant, overt
* emotionally stable volunteers were assigned to roles of either prisoner or guard
* prisoners ‘arrested’, blindfolded, strip searched, etc
* guards given a night stick, dark glasses, uniform etc and told to maintain order
* prisoners’ daily routines were heavily regulated by guards working in shifts
* dehumanisation of prisoners, eg wearing nylon stocking caps and numbered smocks, etc
* the study was planned to run for two weeks, but was stopped early.
conformity
ones beliefs and behaviour are changed to fit into a group
- Jenness (1932) beans in a jar experiment
- elevator experiment
Normative social influence
- The desire to be liked
- Emotional process
-peer pressure
Informational social influence
-desire to be right
-cognitive process
-how to behave in a restaurant
Compliance
May agree in public with other people but privately disagrees. Does not lead to change of beliefs
Identification
Takes on the views of a group they join or admire
- does not necessarily result in change of beliefs privately
Internalisation
Behaves or agrees with a group of people because they have actually accepted the groups point of view or beliefs
Asch (1951)
- If the naive participant gave a wrong answer even if it was obvious then it was clear it was due to group pressure
- Line experiment (vision test)
- 36% conformed with the group
- 25% didnt conform
-75% conformed at least once
Define Intra-group dynamics
psychological process that takes place in any group
Group cohesion?
stick together to pursue common goals
greater when members perceive themselves to be similar
factors impacting group think
Group identity
Leader influence
Low knowledge
Stress
Ingroup vs outgroup
categorise people who share the same characteristics as us as “ingroup” and people who dont are “outgroup”
Roles that increase group cohesion
Task roles
Social roles
Procedural roles - ensure everyone has a say
social facilitation
Physiologically aroused if we believe others are observing our performance so it increases. Doesnt work for complex tasks
Colin MacDougall and Frances Baum (1997)
groupthink can be avoided by assigning a group member to challenge the group consensus to ask awkward questions and offering different opinions
Social Comparison
comparing ourselves to other groups in order to raise our self esteem either by stereotypes or by being bias
stereotype
a fixed view we hold on someone based on their social category
formed by observation and imitation
gender stereotypes
clothes, behaviours, and colours. Fixed view on how different genders should act
self-concept
how you see yourself and perception you hold on your abilities
self-efficacy
extent to which we are confident and can achieve a successful outcome
influence of others on self-efficacy
social modelling - observing someone else who is successful and therefore making you believe you are capable of achieving the same
social persuasion - positive verbal feedback
Key assumptions in the social approach
Behaviour occurs in a social context
People, culture and society’s influence peoples behaviour
Jenness (1932) - beans
First psychologist to study conformity - group pressure
Experiment - Glass bottle filled with beans and asked individuals to estimate how many were there
