Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behaviour Flashcards
Social facilitation
Describes the tendency of people to perform better at simple tasks when others are around
Deinviduation
The loss of self-awareness in large groups, which can lead to drastic changes in behaviour
Bystander effect
Describes the observation that when in a group, individuals are less likely to respond to a person in need
Peer Pressure
Refers to the social influence placed on individuals by others they consider equals.
Group polarization
The tendency towards making decisions in a group that are more extreme than the thoughts of the individual group members
Groupthink
Desire for harmony or conformity results in a group of people coming to an incorrect or poor decision
Culture
Describes the beliefs, ideas, behaviours, actions, and characteristics of a group or society of people
Assimilation
The process by which a group or individual’s culture begins to melt into another culture (usually uneven influence)
Multiculturalism
Refers to the encouragement of multiple cultures within a community to enhance diversity
Subcultures
Refer to a group of people within a culture that distinguish themselves from the primary culture to which they belong
Socialization
The process of developing and spreading norms, customs, and beliefs
Norms
What determine the boundaries of acceptable behaviour within society
Stigma
The extreme disapproval or dislike of a person or group based on perceived differences from the rest of society
Deviance
Refers to any violation of norms, rules, or expectations within a society
Conformity
Changing beliefs or behaviours in order to fit into a group or society
Compliance
Occurs when individuals change their behaviour based on the requests of others
Methods of gaining compliance
Include foot-in-the-door technique, door-in-the-face technique, lowball technique, and that’s-not-all-technique
Obedience
A change in behaviour based on a command from someone seen as an authority figure
Attitudes
An enduring positive or negative evaluation of an object or event
Functional Attitudes Theory
States that there are 4 functional areas of attitudes that serve individuals in life: knowledge, ego expression (allowing us to communicate and solidify our self-identity), adaptability (one will be accepted if socially acceptable attitudes are expressed), and ego defense (protect self-esteems/justify wrong actions)
Learning Theory
States that attitudes are developed through forms of learning: direct contact, direct interaction, direct instruction, and conditioning
Elaboration likelihood model
States that attitudes are formed and changed through different routes of information processing based on the degree of elaboration (central route processing, peripheral route processing)
Central route processing
high elaboration – scrutinizing and analyzing the content of persuasive information
Peripheral route processing
low elaboration – Occurs when someone evaluates a message, such as an advertisement, on the basis of physical attractiveness, background music, or other surface-level characteristics rather than the actual content of the message.
Works best when people are not that interested in the topic or product or when their understanding of it is low.
Social cognitive theory
States that attitudes are formed through observation of behaviour, personal factors, and environment
Social Action
Idea posed by Max Weber: defined as actions and behaviours that individuals are conscious of and performing because others are around
Yerkes-Dodson law of social facilitation
Being in the presence of others will significantly raise arousal, which enhances the ability to perform tasks one is already good at (simple tasks), and hinders the performance of less familiar or complex tasks.
Antinormative behaviour
Can be a result of deindividuation, and is behaviour against the norm
Social loafing
Refers to the tendency of individuals to put in less effort when in a group setting than individually
Identity Shift Effect
When an individual’s state of harmony is disrupted by a threat of social rejection, the individual will often conform to the norms of the group; this causes internal conflict which the individual alleviates by adopting the group’s standards as his/her own.
Social interaction
Explores the ways in which 2 or more individuals can both shape each other’s behaviour
Illusion of invulnerability
Creation of optimism and encouragement of risk-taking
Collective rationalization
Ignoring warnings against the ideas of the group
Illusion of morality
The belief that the group’s decisions are morally correct
Excessive stereotyping
Construction of stereotypes against outside opinions
Pressure for conformity
Pressure put on anyone in the group who expresses opinions against the group, viewing the opposition as disloyal
Self-censorship
Withholding of opposing views
Illusion of unanimity
False sense of agreement within the group
Mindguards
Appointment of members to the role of protecting against opposing views
Primary socialization
Occurs during childhood when we initially learn acceptable actions and attitudes in our society, primarily through observation of our parents and adults in close proximity
Secondary socialization
The process of learning appropriate behaviour within smaller sections of the larger society
Anticipatory socialization
The process by which a person prepares for future changes in occupations, living situations, or relationships
Resocialization
One discards old behaviours in favor of new ones to make a life change, and can have positive or negative connotations
Mores
Widely observed social norms
Sanctions
Penalties for misconduct or rewards for appropriate behaviour
Folkways
Norms that refer to behavior that is considered polite in particular social interactions, e.g. shaking hands after a sports match
Labeling theory
Posits that the labels given to people affect not only how others respond to that person, but also the person’s self-image
Differential association theory
Deviance can be learned through interaction with others, occurs when one is surrounded by deviant behaviours more numerous or intense than normative behaviour.
Strain theory
Attempts to explain deviance as a natural reaction to the disconnect between social goals and social structure, e.g. obtaining American Dream
normative conformity
The desire to fit into a group because of fear of rejection
Internalization
Changing one’s behavior to fit with a group while also privately agreeing with the ideas of the group
Identification
The outward acceptance of others’ ideas without personally taking on these ideas.
Foot-in-the-door technique
A small request is made, and after gaining compliance, a larger request is made.
Door-in-the-face-technique
A large request is made at first and, if refused, a second, smaller request is made.
Lowball technique
The requestor will get an initial commitment from an individual, and then raise the cost of the commitment
Thats-not-all-technique
An individual is made an offer, but before making a decision, is told the deal is even better than she expected.
Social cognition
Focuses on the ways in which people think about others and how these ideas impact behaviour
the 3 primary components of attitude
Affective, behavioural, and cognitive (ABC)
Affective is the way a person feels toward something (emotional component)
Behavioural is the way a person acts with respect to something
Cognitive is the way an individual thinks about something, usually justifying the first 2
