Social Psych Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Social Psych

A

Not clinical, but research based to understand why people behave in certain ways in given social situations
*Concern is the social situation and not so much the person (how we think about, relate to, and influence others)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
1
Q

Attribution theory

A

created by Heider in 1958

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

2 routes to explain behavior according to attribution theory

A

1.) Think about traits
2.) Think about situation

Ex. On way to Mercyhurst and late to work, going speed limit but someone speeds past you and cuts you off… in your mind, you are thinking this person is an asshole, but what if they were swerving because they were trying to get their dying child to the hospital
- We tend to lean toward judging based on traits without understanding full story

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR: to explain other people’s behavior, we tend to lean on trait and do not value or consider the situation (cutoff on highway example)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Attitudes impact action and vice versa

A

Ex. you eat more at a restaurant you like

Ex. hair in food can be such an awful experience that you never eat at that restaurant again

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Cognitive dissonance theory

A

Engage in behaviors that aren’t good for us but we still do it
- we make explanations for our behavior all the time lol

Ex. smoking: we engage in this behavior even when we know it is not the best for us and then justify it by saying things like “it feels good,” “only ten dollars a week,” “research doesn’t apply to me,” etc.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Dissonance

A

Is what you feel (uncomfortable feeling) when you know your behavior is “not best for you”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

2 routes to getting rid of dissonance

A

1.) Change your thoughts about it
- “calms my nerves”
- “not as expensive as people think”
- “my family does it”
- “research isn’t that backed up”
This is more common since it is easier to change thoughts in a social setting rather than change behavior

2.) Change your behavior
- don’t smoke example
This is harder to do in social settings and just in general

*Something has to give in this scenario

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Persuasion

A

Change an attitude

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

2 routes to persuasion

A

1.) Peripheral route
2.) Central route

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Peripheral route to persuasion

A

*Outside stuff (ex. visual fluff that draws people in)
- celebrity
- music
- perfectly made burger
- pretty colors

*Quick, speedy, flashy aids/arguments

Works quicker for people who don’t want to think a lot about it but other people will prefer central and the logistics of the product itself; it just DEPENDS on who you are trying to persuade

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Central route to persuasion

A

Convince because product is cheap; data suggests people benefit from it
- statistics and other data
*more rational and logical

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Why do people conform?

A
  • Social pressure (we don’t want to be excluded)

person driving the conformity is seen as powerful and knows what they are talking about

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Norms

A

*Prescribed behavior (what society deems acceptable and expected)
- “rules”
- society deems acceptable, important, proper

*Differs depending on situation and social context

*Inherently connected to conformity since people tend to conform to norm

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Conformity rules (2 routes)

A

1.) social
2.) informational

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Solomon Asch

A

Early conformity studies
- had a group of people and a reference line… shows the group three lines of differing lengths labeled A, B, C (with B closest length to reference line)
- everyone else says A, but you know it is B but you ay A because majority of people are saying A and you are following everyone else (more likely that people will conform in groups because they don’t want to face rejection; people just want to fit in)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Confederate

A

Actor who is on/part of a study

16
Q

What makes conformity more likely?

A

Key findings from Asch’s studies and those after:
- If a person is made to feel insecure or incompetent

  • 3+ people, an individual will conform more
  • admiration for the group (based on attractiveness, power, influence, etc.)
  • on the fence/no prior commitment made (can go either way)
  • if others are observing (rest of groups sees the answer so you feel more pressure to please them)
    *Significantly decreases if you write down answer/don’t share answer directly
  • culture that promotes respect/adherence to the standard
17
Q

Milgram “Shock box” experiment

A

Basis surrounds World Wars and how we can explain good people doing such bad things…

Participants were told it was a study about “memory”

Major players:
- researcher (in on it)
- learner (in on it)
- teacher (male participants at first)

Room is divided with shock box in the middle; teacher and learner can’t see each other but testing how far teacher will go to “shock” the learner to stay obedient to the researcher

Blind obedience to authority (despite going against conscious… and what is believed to be good)

If learner makes a mistake, he has to shock her at increasing voltage to see how far he will go (experiment says you have to go on even if you don’t want to)

**60-70% of participants went the whole way to last voltage
- People following orders, thinking it is not their responsibility

Goes back to change your action or change your thought… in this case, a lot of people changed their thoughts to the “researcher will take the fall if something happens” and everyone else got up and walked away

18
Q

Conditions that increase obedience

A
  • proximity matters (is researcher close?)
  • person in charge must be seen as a legitimate authority figure (perception matters)
  • Institution is perceived as more prestigious (ex. Yale)
  • Victim is at a distance (not seeing person getting shocked example as opposed to being in the same room and harder to detach from victim)
  • No deviance from others, such as role models
19
Q

Social thinking and influence

A

Group behavior (especially in presence of others)

1898: Tripplett (fishing rod example)

Would the presence of others change someone’s performance?

*Social facilitation
*Social loafing phenomenon
*Deindividuation
*Group think

20
Q

Social facilitation

A

reel in fishing rod faster when other people are around (broadly)

*Easy tasks: presence of others actually increases performance

*Complex tasks: presence of others actually reduces performance

21
Q

Social loafing phenomenon

A

Not doing anything=loafing

In group settings, people loaf or slack because they believe someone else will do the work or that their work is not going to add much to the project so why bother
- tends to happen in bigger groups where you can hide

22
Q

Deindividuation

A

“Individua” means individual

  • We tend to lose ourselves in large groups (extreme situations) of people and do things we normally wouldn’t do if we were alone

*High levels of nervous system arousal

*Can we be anonymous (less likely to get caught)

23
Q

Group think

A

Group with people who think like you, more like to pull those thoughts together and strengthen them

24
Q

Variables that attract you to others?

A
  • personality traits
  • interests
  • physical appearances
  • sheer proximity
  • attraction leads to love
25
Q

2 types of love

A

1.) Passionate Love
2.) Companionate Love

26
Q

Passionate love

A

“honeymoon stage” of a relationship
- highly absorbed
- overlook flaws

*When you enter a romantic relationship, increase in dopamine, boost of adrenaline, increase in testosterone, increase in oxytocin (hormone that relates to social bonding)

27
Q

Oxytocin

A

hormone that relates to social bonding
- floods in relationships– especially mothers who have just given birth

28
Q

Companionate love

A

If love is strong enough, passionate love turns into this
- essentially best friend
- deep stage of love and companionship
- linked to survival (we “need” a companion to live)

*Dopamine drops, adrenaline drops, testosterone drops, BUT oxytocin remains

29
Q

Altruism

A

Unselfish concern for someone else/helping others (no concern for getting something back)
- no motivation to help somebody
- 1964

Kitty Genovese
- stabbed in New York City and no bystander intervention despite people being around

30
Q

Bystander intervention is more likely under these conditions:

A

1.) Person themselves has traits that would lead them to be more likely to intervene

2.) Situation/setting
- more likely to help somebody broke down on a country road rather than a city because in a country, there are less people around and you don’t know who else will come around and help so you step in; in a city, there are more people around so it is easier to believe someone else will step in to help

3.) internal states (emotion)

31
Q

Why do we help?

A
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • Norms (reciprocity and social responsibility)
32
Q

Reciprocity norm

A

Doing something for someone and they give something back to you; helping people who have helped us; owe them a favor per say)

33
Q

Social responsibility norm

A

Ex. dad providing food for his baby
Ex. doing things for the elderly
Ex. advocating for people who can’t advocate for themselves

  • we help people because it’s the right thing to do
34
Q

Prejudice key factors

A
  • negative emotion such as hostility and fear
  • stereotyping
  • predisposition to discriminate
35
Q

Just-world phenomenon (just=fair)

A

Believe the world to be “fair”
- people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
- we are biased toward “in/us” group (ex. common race, gender, beliefs, etc.)
- outgroup=them
- ingroup=us

36
Q

Cognitive part to prejudice

A

Heuristic
- quick cognitive judgment based on what you’ve seen in the past; shortcut BUT error prone

  • Representativeness is the basis of stereotyping behavior
37
Q

Aggression

A

Nature vs. nurture
1.) Genetic contributions
- MAOA gene known as “warrior gene” (plays with neurotransmitters that make people more aggressive)
- brain structures include the amygdala and frontal lobe

2.) Environment
- Bobo doll experiment (seeing people around you exhibit aggressive behavior)