Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behaviors Flashcards
cognitive dissonance
when opposing thoughts cause physical pain you will want to:
- deny
- modify our cognitions
- trivialize
- add
ex: a person who knows smoking is bad but decides to smoke anyways will deny that it is bad, modify their congitions and say that this brand isn’t that bad for your, say that it is garbage knowledge or use conformation bias, or add that they work out and eat healthy so it offsets the smoking or that the behavior helps them socialize
subcultures
a subgroup of the culture with different opinions but not against the norm
countercultures
opposes normal cultural values
cultural diffusion
spreading of norms, customs, and beliefs throughout the culture
aggregate
when people come together in a common place but not for the same values
utilitarian organizations
compensated for involvement
primary socialization
initially learn acceptable behaviors through observation
secondary socialization
learning appropriate behaviors within smaller sections of larger society; learning through a specific society (ex: school)
anticipatory socialization
preparing for future changes
resocialization
discards old behavior to establish new learned behavior
ex: armed forces trained to obey every command
norms
social rules that define acceptable behavior
mores
widely observed social norms - determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable within a given culture
ex: shows what is right vs wrong -> you don’t shake hands with the queen, you don’t walk around naked
punishment is more than just a slap on the wrist but not enough to be shunned or have formal actions taken on you
sanctions
penalties for misconduct or rewards for good deeds
can be formal (enforced by social institutions) or informal (enforced by social behavior)
taboo
socially unacceptable behavior/actions
ex: murdering someone, marrying your brother or mother
folkways
behavior that is considered polite
ex: shaking hands with your right hand
going against these norms isn’t horrible - but someone might judge you if you eat your dinner with your hands at a nice restaurant
deviance
violation of norms, rules, or expectations of society
stigma
extreme dislike or disapproval of a group based on beliefs, abilities, behaviors,
labeling theory
labels given to people affect how they view themselves and how others view them
when labeled as nerd –> will start acting in that way
ex: when labeled a “hoe” someone will either change that or embrace it
differential association theory
deviations can be learned through social behavior/interactions
ex: I learned how to lie by hanging out with Hayley
strain theory
deviance occurs due to the strain between social goals and social construct
ex: we steal because we are told the American dream is wealth for all parties, except our social structures make it difficult for that to be implemented
conformity
changing yourself to fit better into societal norms
normative conformity
changing in fear of rejection
internalization
when you change but also internalize those values
identification
when you change to fit societal norms but do not internalize those values; only do it for the identification aspect
compliance
changing behavior based on direct request from someone who has no authority over you
foot-in-the-door theory
asking small favors before asking larger favors
door-in-the-face theory
asking for a large favor and getting rejected before asking for the smaller favor you actually want
lowball technique
accepting an initial request but later realizing there is more to the job
ex: becoming manager to manage the band but then it comes with a babysitting job of two idiots who don’t know how to pull their heads out of their butts
that’s-not-all technique
based on infomercials
“And if you buy right now, we will throw in….”
obedience
following to orders of someone who has authority over you
frustration-aggression theory
individuals exhibit violence due to a goal being blocked which causes us to become frustrated and act out
normative organizations
membership based on shared goals and/or values
coercive organizations
membership not freely chosen and/or maintained
ex: inpatient hospital where it has involuntary participation
hawthorne effect
research subjects acting differently knowing they are being observed
in-group
group in which individual identifies with/belongs to
out-group
group that individual doesn’t belong to
isn’t looked favorably upon
reference group
a group that can be used as a comparison
primary group
group that the individual is emotionally close with
high degree of contact
ex: family
secondary group
group that comes together to accomplish something
ex: coworkers
impression management
trying to influence how you are perceived by others by employing certain behaviors
ex: covering up tattoos for an interview
social facilitation
people perform familiar tasks better in the presence of others
ex: when you study better with other people around
this does not apply to complex tasks like public speaking where you might get nervous and mess up with people there
social impairment
occurs when the presence of others hinders performance usually when faced with an unfamiliar task
deindividualism
mob mentality - end up doing things you wouldn’t if you were alone because within a mob you aren’t an individual
loss of individual self awareness when one is part of a large group engaged in an emotionally arousing activity
reduced personal responsibility and increased sense of anonymity
can lead to uncharacteristic behaviors
drive reduction
motivational theory
drive is the state of tension or arousal caused by biological or physiological need
the strength of the drive indicates how likely a person will move to quell that drive
ex: I am thirsty so I drink water. If I am super parched vs a little thirsty will change my drive to get water
cognitive theorist
explain human behavior by understanding thought process
Yerkes-Dodson law
performance of behavior tends to be negatively impacted at high and low stakes
There are optimal levels of psychological and mental arousal
distress
negative stress
perceive situation to be threatening
eustress
positive stress
situation is challenging but motivating
neustress
neutral stress
something stressful that doesn’t directly impact you
ex: a natural disaster on the opposite side of the world
Pathway activation of stress
adrenal medulla released epinephrine and norepinephrine which increase heart rate and breathing rate. This causes the hypothalamus to release CRH which causes the anterior pituitary to release ACTH which will cause the adrenal cortex to release cortisol which increases glucose in the blood to feed the brain.
Elkman’s 6 universal emotions
happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise
Happy Sad FADS
opponent-process theory
color: have 3 opposing systems red vs green blue vs yellow black vs white one color suppresses the other color
emotions: fear vs relief pleasure vs pain sleepiness vs arousal depression vs contentment when you trigger one emotion, you suppress the other; but the other emotion shortly follows
drug addiction is the result of emotional pairing of pleasure and withdrawal symptoms to avoid withdrawal symptoms
expectancy-value theory
amount of motivation a person needs depends on their expectancy to reach their goal and how much that person values reaching that goal
approach-approach
both options are appealing
avoidant-avoidant
neither option is appealing
