Social Psychology Flashcards

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

Define ‘Social Psychology’.

A

The scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations.

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

What is obedience?

A

A type of social influence where a person follows an order from another person who is usually an authority figure.

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

What is agency theory?

A

A theory that suggests people have 2 states of behavior in social situations.

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

Define the ‘autonomous state’.

A

When people direct their own actions and take responsibility for the results of those actions.

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

Define the ‘agentic state’.

A

When people allow others to direct their actions, and then pass of the responsibility for the consequences to the person giving the orders.

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

What is moral strain?

A

Experiencing anxiety, usually because you are asked to do something that goes against your moral judgement

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

Which study supports Agency Theory?

A

Milgram’s study of obedience in 1963

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

What were the 2 aims of Milgram’s study?

A
  • Investigate levels of obedience in the face of legitimate authority even when the command requires destructive behaviour
  • Understand the German holocaust
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What was the procedure of Milgram’s study?

A
  • 40 men aged 20-50 years old from New Haven
  • Drop out at any point
  • Learner strapped to chair and electrodes attached to wrist (supposedly)
  • Test shock 45V
  • Given 4 prods then told they can leave
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What were the findings of Milgram’s study?

A

-65% gave full 450V shock -100% went to 300V -35% = nervous laughter -3 ppts had full seizures

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

What was the conclusion of Milgram’s study?

A

Obediant to legitimate authority

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

What were some strengths of Milgram’s study?

A

-Standardized (same experience for everyone) -Confederates always the same -Learner’s ‘mistakes’ same for all -Tightly scripted responses -Repeatable

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

What were some weaknesses of Milgram’s study?

A

-Gina Perry argued that they deviated from the script -Orne+Holland argued that the experimenter wasn’t concerned so ppts may not believe it -Questions the validity of the results

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

What was variation experiment 7 and what results did it give?

A

Telephonic Instructions, levels fell to 23%

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

What was variation experiment 10 and what results did it give?

A

Rundown office block, levels fell slightly to 48%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What was variation experiment 13 and what results did it give?

A

ordinary man giving orders, levels fell to 20%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is Social Impact Theory?

A

Latene developed the theory in 1981 to describe the effect that certain social situations can have on our behavior.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is the ‘source’ in social impact theory?

A

person doing influencing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

what is the ‘target’ in social impact theory?

A

people who are influenced

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

what is the equation for impact on the target? (SIT)

A

f(SIN)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

what does the S stand for? (SIT)

A

strength

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

what does the I stand for? (SIT)

A

Immediacy

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What does the N stand for? (SIT)

A

number of sources

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is the light bulb analogy of Social Impact Theory?

A

brightness is affected by strength of the bulb, distance from the light source and number of bulbs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

what is the divisional effect in Social Impact Theory?

A

social impact is reduced if there are more targets than sources

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

what is the impact on target equation Social Impact Theory?

A

impact on target = f(1/SIN)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

what is the law of diminishing returns in Social Impact Theory?

A

once source group > , each added person has less of an influencing effect

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What is supporting evidence for Social Impact Theory?

A

OBEDIENCE AT THE ZOO -Sedikides + Jackson (1990) -visitors asked not to lean on railing -confederate either as zoo keeper (58% obedience) or regular person (35% obedience) -61% when in same room, 7% when in adjacent room -obedience greater in groups of 1/2 that 5/6

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What is a competing argument for Social Impact Theory?

A

may not be group size alone that determined deviance -bigger groups = more deviant personality -unable to control group size

30
Q

What is a differing theory for Social Impact Theory?

A

-Immediacy less important than strength -Hofling (1966) - unknown doctor called 22 nurses to administer overdose -95% obeyed despite not present -no comparison with source being present

31
Q

What is an application for Social Impact Theory?

A

political influence: -adopting strong + persuasive style of communication -reach voters face-to-face -address smaller groups rather than crowds

32
Q

Define ‘dissent’ in obedience.

A

Having opinions that differ from those held by others. (disobedience)

33
Q

Define resistance in obedience.

A

Ability to withstand social pressure to obey authority , influenced by both situational and dispositional (personality) factors.

34
Q

What is the ‘authoritarian personality’?

A

hostile to inferior and obedient to superior -strict parents -F scale

35
Q

What is Locus of control (LOC)?

A

persons perception of personal control over their behavior -internal = self responsibility -external = governed by others and chance factors -internal = more likely to disobey authority

36
Q

Evaluate personality factors in influencing obedience.

A

research support (Milgram tested his ppts, obedient ppts scored higher on F scale) -may just be correlational (other factors may impact) -Schurz: ultrasound on female students, fully obedient and resistive ppts had similar LOC on questionnaire -APPLICATION: field of human resources: some jobs require higher obedience levels, using LOC scale to recruit

37
Q

What impact does gender have on obedience?

A

-Women are more obedient than men (Sheridon + King = electric shock puppies, 100% females 54% males obeyed, women more distressed) -Men more obedient than women (Kilham + Mann, replicated Milgram’s study = 40% males, 16% females fully obedient) -Moral Rea

38
Q

Evaluate gender influences on obedience.

A

support from qualitative research, men favored justice, Women favored care (interviewed), may affect decision making in destructive situations -many studies found no significant gender differences

39
Q

How does culture impact obedience?

A

Individualism vs collectivism -individualists = self resilience + personal autonomy -collectivists = loyalty to groups + interdependence -Power Distance Index (PDI) = how accepting people are of order and inequality in society -low PDI = more resistant

40
Q

Evaluate culture as an influence of obedience.

A

+close relationships between obedience and PDI (Kilham + Mann), both low in Australia + high in Poland -very similar levels of obedience between US & rest of world, universal social behavior

41
Q

How do situational factors influence obedience?

A

-Legitimacy: perceived status (Milgrams variation) -Proximity: (Latene) Social Impact Theory -Behavior of others: role models who disobey, Milgram variation 17 (2 peers rebel, obedience = 10%)

42
Q

Evaluate situational factors in influencing obedience.

A

supporting evidence (Social impact Theory, obedience at the zoo) -personality of each individual also impacts -APPLICATION: rule breaking, increased obedience by Immediacy and Legitimacy

43
Q

Who developed Social Identity Theory?

A

Tajfel + Turner (1979,1986)

44
Q

What are the 3 stages of Social Identity Theory?

A
  1. Social categorization - see yourself as part of a group 2. Social identification - identifying with the group and taking on their norms and attitudes 3. Social comparison - see in-group as better than out-group to boost self esteem
45
Q

Evaluate strengths of Social Identity theory.

A

-minimal group experiment -64 15-16yr old boys from same school -divided into groups by behavior, allocate points to ingroup

46
Q

Evaluate an opposing weakness of Social Identity Theory

A

not realistic -just a game, no consequences

47
Q

Evaluate a differing theory of Social Identity theory.

A

-may only explain western societies -repeated with 8yr

48
Q

Application for Social identity theory

A

attempting to reduce prejudice by increasing self-esteem -policies that target lower self esteemed people

49
Q

What is Realistic Conflict Theory?

A

Prejudice arises due to groups competing for resources. There has to be competition present.

50
Q

Who proposed and experimented Realistic Conflict Theory?

A

Sherif et al (Robbers Cave)

51
Q

realistic conflict theory?

A

supporting study (Sherif et al) -created intergroup sporting competition with winner (negative interdependence) = violence, hostility and prejudice

52
Q

What is an opposing argument for Realistic Conflict Theory?

A

-boys needed serious provocation to trigger discrimination -had to secretly raid one group’s cabin

53
Q

What is a differing theory for Realistic Conflict Theory?

A

-competition may not be necessary for prejudice -Tajfel’s minimal group experiment = discrimination from perceiving someone as “less” than you -more about self worth and social grouping

54
Q

What is an application of Realistic Conflict theory?

A

-reducing prejudice and discrimination in society -intergroup relations enhanced by super-ordinate goals -2 of most important issues faced in modern world

55
Q

Who proposed the Right Wing Authoritarian personality type?

A

Altemeyer

56
Q

What leads to a Right Wing Authoritarian personality?

A

Social learning -learned set of beliefs about the world -reaction to fear and uncertainty

57
Q

Who proposed a Social Dominance Orientation personality?

A

Pratto et al

58
Q

What leads to a Social Dominance Orientation personality?

A

socialization -role models -seeing the world as a competitive jungle, fight for resources

59
Q

What factors impact prejudice?

A

personality -culture -situation

60
Q

What is a strength of Factors affecting Prejudice?

A

Cohrs et al = RWA and SDO both correlated positively with prejudice behavior and negatively with openness to experience -levels of prejudice can be accurately predicted by personality types

61
Q

What is an opposing argument of factors affecting prejudice?

A

-can’t expect SDO and RWA to generalize -influenced by social factors so harder to predict in real world

62
Q

What is a differing theory for Factors affecting prejudice?

A

problem with approach, ignores Social norms and situational factors

63
Q

What is an application for Factors affecting Prejudice?

A

reducing prejudice -learned through specific world views -greater regulations of media sources

64
Q

What are the 2 subtopics within social psychology?

A

Prejudice and Obedience

65
Q

What were the aims of Burger’s 2009 study?

A

-see if Milgram’s findings were era-bound -see if obedience is impacted by gender or personality traits (empathetic concern and desire for control)

66
Q

What was the procedure of Burger’s 2009 study?

A

-29 men + 41 women aged 20-81 -flyers, ads, newspapers + online -6 ethical safeguards

67
Q

What were Burger’s findings?

A

-70% obedient compared to 82.5 in Milgram’s study -no significant gender differences -no differences linked to empathetic concern -higher desire for control = more defiant

68
Q

What is a conclusion to Burger’s study?

A

-Milgram’s findings not era-bound -desire for control has impact on obedience

69
Q

Evaluate Burger’s study.

A

-GENERALISABILITY: poor, 38% deselected after screening, may have lead to lower obedience levels -RELIABILITY + VALIDITY: none knew Milgrams research, excluded if took 2+ psychology classes, enhanced internal validity of study -APPLICATION: limited to rea

70
Q

What was the aim of our practical?

A

To investigate perceptions of gender differences in obedience.

71
Q

What results did our practical give?

A

-significant number of people believe that although it shouldn’t impact, females tend to be more obedient, and males tend to have more authority