Social Effects on Behavior Flashcards
Psychological arousal
Alertness and readiness to respond
Social facilitation
People perform tasks better in a group setting where psychological arousal is higher (must be because presence of others)
Social loafing
people tend to work less hard in a group setting due to the belief others will pick up the slack
The bystander effect
People tend not to offer help to someone if other bystanders are present
Deindividuation
Loss of sense of self-awareness in a large group due to high psychological arousal
Three factors that play into Deindividuation
Anonymity
diffused responsibility
group size
Group polarization
A group will arrive at final opinions that are more extreme than the initial positions of the individual members
Factors that contribute to group polarization
people in a group tend to express their opinion to agree with the dominant one
our desire to be socially accepted
Groupthink
Irrational decisions made within a group due to pressures towards harmony and individual conformity
Characteristics of group think
- illusion of invulnerability- belief no serious harm will come
- illusion of morality- ignore consequences
- illusion of unanimity- assume group is unanimous 4. self-censorship- members who disagree don’t speak
pressure of dissenters- members feel pressure to not go against group - pressure on dissenters- members feel pressure to no contradict majority
- collective rationalization- group finds reasons to ignore warnings and avoid reconsidering their actions or assumptions
- excessive stereotyping- outside viewpoints are viewed as negative
- Mind guard- members of group filter out info that could destabilize consensus
Conformity
When someone’s behavior, belief, or thinking changes to line up with perspective of others
Convergence
Someone’s beliefs and behaviors already line up with the group
Congruence
Pre-existing overlap
Compliance (in regards to conformity)
When the person conforms but internally dissents
Identification
A person’s beliefs change only in the presence of the group
Compliance
Responds to requests from someone with no power to enforce that request
foot-in-the-door
making a small request followed by a larger request
Door-in-the face
making a large request you know will be rejected, only to follow up with a smaller, more reasonable request
low-ball
offering a low price, only to raise it at the last minute
Obedience
a change in behavior in response to a direct request from someone with power to enforce that request
Social norms
Unspoken or spoken rules that regulate behavior, beliefs, etc
Social control
the way norms are taught, enforced, and perpetuated
Deviance
not following social norms
Formal norm
Encoded somewhere, with specific penalties for violations
Informal norms
Not written down; no fixed penalty for violating them
Folkways
not important informal norms
Mores
informal norms which incur severe disapproval when violated
EX) cheating
Taboos
Even more restrictive norms
Sanctions
punishment or consequences for violating a social norm for rewards for following
Anomie
refers to a situation where there is a poor match between society’s stated norms and time
Differential association theory
View deviance as a behavior that is learned socially
EX) criminals become that way because they hang out with other criminals
Labeling approach
focuses on how behavior is affected by being labeled as a deviant
Primary deviance
deviant acts committed before being labeled
Secondary deviance
deviants acts are committed after being labels in partial reaction to the label
Strain theory
focuses on role of social and economic pressures towards deviance
Socialization
How we learn informal and formal norms by interacting with other people and institutions
Agents of socialization
Parents, educational system, mass media, peers, workplace
Fads
A new behavior that suddenly becomes extremely popular, then fades
Mass hysteria
Irrational fear of a preceived threat, verging on the point of a collectional illusion
Riots
Spontaneous episodes of civil disorder
Group Deviance
EX) riots or fads
