Social Behaviour II

Question 1

A group

Answer 1

• two or more people who interact with each other and are interdependent
• their shared goals cause them to rely on each other

Question 2

Social facilitation

Answer 2

• occurs when the mere presence of others affects our performance
• if a task is easy, the presence of others tends to improve performance
• if a task is difficult the presence of other worsens performance
• knowing our behaviour is being evaluated by others creates arousal and this is responsible for social facilitation

Question 3

Social loafing

Answer 3

• occurs when the presence of others causes individuals to relax their standard and slack off
• one is not solely responsible for the actions, so the diffusion of responsibility alters behaviour

Question 4

Social norms

Answer 4

• vary by culture

- society imposes rules about acceptable behaviour

Question 5

Conformity

Answer 5

• when people adjust their behaviour to what others are doing or adhere to the norms of their culture
• reasons vary depending on the situation

Question 6

Informational social influence

Answer 6

-when people conform to the behaviour of others because they view them as a source of knowledge about what they are supposed to do

Question 7

Normative social influence

Answer 7

• when people go along with the behaviour of others in order to be accepted by them
• when we do things that go against our better judgement in an effort to preserve group membership
• not always aware of how other people shape our behaviours and beliefs

Question 8

Solomon Asch

Answer 8

• power of normative social influence
• study of perception
• experiment where a group of individuals were shown lines on a paper and had to decide which of the 3 looked most like the normal line. Group consisted of confederates and a control
• found that 76% went along with what confederates said even if their choice was obviously wrong

Question 9

Group think

Answer 9

• occurs when the thinking of the group takes over so much so that group members forgo logic or critical analysis in the service of reaching a decision
• most likely to occur when the group is
  
  • close-knit
  • insulated from outside influences
  • under the direction of a strong, directive leader,
  • under pressure to reach a decision

Question 10

Cultures and conformity

Answer 10

-in collectivist cultures, groups matter more than the individual, so any group=persevering behaviour would be valued

Question 11

Neuroscience and conformity

Answer 11

• when made aware that their beliefs differ from those of most other people in a group, a brain region activated in reinforcement learning when we make an error becomes activated
• baring signals as though we’ve made a mistake when we deviate from the group opinion

Question 12

Obedience

Answer 12

• another kind of conformity
• occurs when people yield to the social pressure of an authority figure
• Milgram’s obedience study with teacher shocking learner for wrong answer
• 65% of teachers administered shocks all the way up scale because the researcher told them to

Question 13

Stanford prison study

Answer 13

• locked regular student in “prison” and assigned them as prisoners or guards
• the guards increasingly mistreated prisoners calling into question the ethics of the study
• study showed that role-playing can profoundly guide behaviour and that good people can commit evil acts when faced with powerful social situations to the point that the situation can override individual personality and morality