Social Processes, Attitude and Behavior Flashcards
Describe the Michelangelo phenomenon
Taken from Michaelangelo’s quote about the sculptur simply releasing and uncovering the ideal figures hdden within the stone, psychologists and sociologists have described self as being made up of both the intrapersonal and the interpersonal self.
- Analogous to what Michelangelo believed, the ideal self can thus be sculpted with help from others
Define the Intrapersonal Self
This is the ideas an individual has regarding his or her own abilities, traits and beliefs.
Define the Interpersonal Self
The manner in which others influence creation of the ideal self
Explain social action as defined by Max Weber
The actions and behaviors that individuals are conscious of and performing because others are around
- The idea is that humans will behave in different ways based on their social environment, and how their behavior will affect those around them
– ie) if individuals predict a negative raction from those around them, they will often modify their behavior
Social action is different from social interaction
How is social interaction different from social action?
Social action considers just the individual that is surrounded by others while social interaction looks at the behavior and actions of two or more individuals who take one another into account
Define social facilitation
The tendency of individuals to perform better at simple tasks when being observed by others
- supports the idea that people natually exhibit a performance response when they know they are being watched
– this theory suggests that performance sparls a perceived evaluation in the individuals performance, thus improving it
— social facilitation reflects idea that performance is not solely influenced by individual ability, but also by social environment and awareness of that environment
Explain the Yerkes-Dodson Law of social facilitation
This law states that being in the presence of other will significantly raise arousal, which enhances the ability to perform tasks one is already good at (or simple tasks), and hinders the performance of less familiar tasks (or complex tasks)
- ie) expert pianist may perform better in concert than when alone in practice sessions, but someone with limited muscial knowledge would perform worse
– It also shows that people perform best on complex tasks (like MCAT) when at a moderate state of arousal. Once arousal becomes too high, performance drastically decreases
Explain deindividuation
A social phenomenon where individual behavior is dramatically different in social environments
- This is thought to be due to the presence of a large group which provides anonymity, and causes a loss of individual identity
– Deindividuation can also lead to antinormative behavior
What is antinormative behavior?
Simply defined as behavior against the norm
- This aspect of deinidividuation attempts to provide an explanation for violent behavior seen in crowds and riots: in group settings, the individual loses his sense of individualtiy and becomes an anonymous part of a group
– With anonymity, they are more likely to acty in a manner that is inconsistent with their normal self
— this is enhanced when the group is in uniform or masked, disguising the individual within the group and increasing anonymity.
Describe the bystander effect
Social phenomenon occurring in social groups wherein individuals don’t intervent to help victims when others are present
- it’s been shown that the liklihood and timeliness of response is inversely related tot he number of bystanders (the more people standing by, the less likely any one of those people is to help.)
- ie) Kitty Genovese was killed outside her home in 1964 and out of the 38 witnesses, not one called the police
What are some of the factors contributing to the bystander effect?
1) When in groups, people are less likely to notice danger or anything out of the ordinary
- thought to be attributed to social etiquette (rude to watch other and surroundings)
2) When in groups, human take cues from others
- if others are not responding to a situation, and individual is less likely to perceive the situation as a threat or emergency
3) The degree of responsibility felt by the bystander
- their relationship to the victim, and whether they consider the victim to be deserving of aid
4) Cohesiveness of the group has been shown to influence the responsiveness of bystanders
- in groups of stangers, the likelihood of response and speed of response is much slower than a group of well acquainted individuals
Explain social loafing
This is the tendency of individuals to put less effort when in a groupe setting than individually
- this may apply in many contexts such as physical effort (lifting a heavy object), mental efforts (group project), or intitiatve (coming up with solutions to problems)
What is peer pressure
This refers to the social influence placed on an individual by a group of people or another individual
- peers is defined has individuals who are equals within a social group
– in adolescence, peers play an extremely important role in determining lifestyle, appearance and social activities
— peer pressure can cause drastic change in behavior, attitudes or beliefs to conform to the norms of the group
Peer pressure can exist in many forms and exists at all ages (it can be positive or negative)
- religious ideals, appearance, values, drug use and sexual behavior
What is the identity shift effect
This is when an individual’s state of harmonty is disrupted by a threat of social rejection, the individual will often conform to the norms of the group
- upon doing so, the individual will begin to experience internal conflict because the behavior is outside the normal character of the individual
– to eliminate the sense of internal conflict, the individual experiences an identity shift to adopt the standards of the group as their own
What is cognitive dissonance
This is the simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions leading to an internal state of discomfort
- this discomfort can manifest as anxiety, fear, anger or confusion
– people will typically try to reduce this discomfort by changing, adding to or minimizing one of these dissonant thoughts
Provide a brief synopsis of Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment
Experiment showing that individuals will often conform to an opinion held by the group
In the experiment, male college students participated in simple tasks of perception.
One individual would make observations in the presence of confederates who were actors pretending to be part of the experiment (goal was to see if behavior was influenced by the group)
Participants were shown two cards with lines, and asked to identify which line on card 1 matched the line on card two
the actors were instructed to either be truthful, or lie
- when being truthful, the participants’ error rate was less than 1%, but when actors lied, the error rate went up to 33%
– Asch concluded that individuals will sometimes provide answers they know to be untrue if it avoids going against the group
Explain group polarization
This is the tendency for groups to make decision that are more extreme than the individual ideas and inclinations of the individual members within the group
- thus, polarization can lead to riskier or more cautious decisions based on the initial tendencies of the group members toward risk or caution
– this explains many real-life scenarios from policy-making, violence and terrorism
What is choice shift as it relates to group polarization
Choice shift is the tendency of a group to change their average behavior following a meeting (can be positive or negative)
- Choice shift and group polarization refer to the same idea, but polarization is used to describe behavior at the individual level while choice shift describes group behavior
Explain groupthink
This refers to a social phenomenon in which desire for harmony or conformity results in a group of people coming to an incorrect or poor decision in an attempt to eliminate or minimize conflict among group members
- consensus decision are reached without alternate ideas being assessed
– the group also begins to isolate and ignore external viewpoints, seeing their own ideas as correct without question
What are the eight factors indicative of groupthink
1) Illusion of invulnerability
2) Collective rationalization
3) Illusion of morality
4) Excessive stereotyping
5) Pressure for conformity
6) Self-censorship
7) Illusion of unanimity
8) Mindguards
What is a fad?
Behavior that is transiently viewed as a popular and desirable by a large community
- ie) pogs in the 1990’s
What is mass hysteria?
This refers to a shared, intense concern about the threats to society
- many features of groupthink are present in mass hysteria, such as collective rationalization, illusion of morality, excessive stereotyping and pressure for conformity
– these lease to a shared delusion that is augmented by distrust, rumors, propaganda and fear mongering
ie) Salem Witch Trials
Define culture
Culture can be defined as the beliefs, behaviors, actions and characteristics of a group or society of people
- It is learned by living within a society, observing behaviors and traits, and adopting them
– it is passed down from generation to generation
Define culture shock
Being surprised at the dramatic difference between the cultures of others, and yours, especially while traveling abroad
- cultural differences include everyting from typical jobs, common dwellings and diet, to what time of day one eats and where one travels while on vacation
What is cultural assimilation
This is the process by which an individual’s or group’s behavior and culture begin to resemble that of another group
- this can also mean that groups with different cultures begin to merge into one
– assimilation integrates new aspects of a society and culture with old ones, transforming the culture itself
Assimilation is usually not an even blend; one group will generally have more power and influence than the other, resulting in more traits of that culture being displayed after transformation
What are the four primary factors that can be used to assess the completeness of the assimilation of immigrants?
1) Socioeconomic status
2) Geographic distribution
3) Language attainment
4) Intermarriage
What are ethnic enclaves?
These are locations (usually neighborhoods) with a high concentration of one specific ethnicity and are most common in urban areas
- ie) Chinatown and Little Italy
– these tend to slow assimilation
What is multiculturalism?
This refers to communities or societies containing multiple cultures. From a sociological perspective, multiculturalism encourages, respects and celebrates cultural differences
- this can enhance cultural diversity and acceptance within society, which contrasts with the concept of assimilation
What are subcultures?
Subcultures refer to groups of people within a culture that distinguish themselves from the primary culture to which the belong
- symbolic attachment to things such as clothing or music can differentiate the group from the majority
– subcultures can be formed based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and other differentiating factors from the whole of society
— subcultures can be perceived as negative when the subvert the majority culture’s definitions of normalcy (such as countercultures)
Define counterculture
When a subculture group gravitates toward an identity that is at odds with the majority culture and deliberately opposes the prevailing social mores
What is socialization as defined by psychologists and sociologists, and its 4 sub-categories?
Socialization of the process of developing, inheriting, and spreading norms, customs and beliefs
- Individuals gain the knowledge and habits that are necessary for inclusion in society (well, most of us anyhow)
1) Primary socialization
2) Secondary socialization
3) Anticipatory socialization
4) Resocialization
