Social Psychology Flashcards
Basic Definition:
The scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to each other. It is the connection between groups and individuals in understanding social behaviour.
Relationships’ Core Ideas
- the need to belong
- the need for intimacy
- the convulgance between S(elf) and O(ther) over time
Influences on Interpersonal Attraction
Similarity
- Common traits, beliefs, interests and attitudes
- western
Proximity
- The closer people are together, the more likely they are to develop stronger relationships
Positive Affect
- Positive feelings at the time of first interaction promotes likeliness
Triangular Theory of Love
Robert Sternberg (1988)
- Three components of Love is intimacy, passion and commitment
- Combine to form 8 types of love
Processes that undermine love
- criticism
- contempt
- defensiveness
- stonewalling, used in predictions of divorce
Prosocial Behaviour
actions intended to help somebody else
Bystander Effect
the presence of others inhibit helping
diffusion of responsibility: as the number of people present increases, individuals feel less personal responsibility
as people know they are the only ones in the conversation they were more likely to help
Emergency Intervention
- Notice the Emergency
- Interpret as Emergency
- Assume Responsibility
- Know What to Do
- Decide to Help
Person Factors that Influence Help
- “helpful personalities”
- religious following
- received help before
- similarity to helper
- witnessed other helpers
Situation Factors that determine Help
- consumption of media (prosocial media promote prosocial behaviour)
- education (understanding and learning increases likability of action)
Attributes
positively or negatively feelings towards objects in our environment
Implicit VS Explicit
Explicit
those that can be thought about, reported on, and controlled
Implicit
those that cannot be consciously accessed, and therefore cannot report on nor control
- more strongly impacted by early, developmental events
- more sensitive to current affective experience
Dimensions of Attitude
Specificity VS Generality
High Vs Low Accessibility
Weak Vs Strong
Principles of Attitude
Specificity, Accessibility, Strength
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
attitude change occurs to address dissonance in attitudes and behaviours
Attributions
efforts to explain why others are behaving in a particular way
- used to sustain a need for cognition and easier opportunity for prediction
Attribution Theory
understand others behaviours to be from:
- Internal dispositions
- External situations
or some combination of the two
- relationship between situational and personal influences
The Sources of Information - Attribution Theory
Consensus: extent to which other people behave in the same way as the person that we are considering
Consistency: extent to which the person behaves in the same way on different occasions in that same situation
Distinctiveness: extent to which the person behaves in the same way in different situations
Attribution Process
perception of situation –> expected behaviour –> perceived behaviour –> attribution
Internal/Dispositional Attribution
low consensus, high consistency and low distinctiveness
External/Situational Attribution
high consensus, low consistency and high distinctiveness
Attribution Errors
correspondence bias, stereotype maintenance
Correspondence Bias
when people make inferences on someones character based on their behaviours in a situation, or due to a situation
Stereotype Maintenance
attributions made in such a way that avoids updating a stereotype
stereotype consistent behaviour - attributions to internal characteristics
stereotype inconsistent behaviour - attributions to situations
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
expectations creating reality by influencing the reality of others or ourselves
Obedience
behaviour change produced by the commands of authority to create social structure, coordination, efficiency and predictability
Variables that Influence Obedience
proximity, legitimacy of authority, the effects of observing a model
there is a greater intensity of obedience with closer people whereas greater reach considers more popular people
Social Brain Hypothesis
brain evolved to manage social relationships, need for belonging, status and identity,
Blank Slate/ Tabula Rasa Illogical Assumptions
wrong and illogical hypothesis due to the understanding of genetic influences, displays limited theories of social engineering as the fail to allow for genetic expectations (fascism and marxism)
Dynamogenic Factor Theory
the presence of others is a stimulus “arousing the competitive instinct”
(social facilitation)
- performance improves around the mere presence of other people
(social inhibition)
- this is only true if it is something that a person does well, only then will they tend to do better around other people
Social Loafing
phenomenon where people exert less effort when they are in a group rather than when they are alone
Norm Formation
the closer people are together the more likely they are to agree and create common ground
The Asch Paradigm
the more difficult the judgement the more conformity occurs
features that promote conformity
- incompetence and insecurity
- admiration for the group
- no prior commitment to a response
- absence of anonymity
- unanimous
- repeated exposures
Groupthink
when collective delusions dominate reality, thinking that is engaged in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group
Mind Guards
filter information, control of dissent, shutdown trains of thought
Deindividuation
the perceived loss of a person’s individuality and personal responsibility that can occur when some participates as part of a group
promoted by
- diffusion of responsibility
- arousal
- anonymity
- moral certainty
Positives and Negatives of Conformity
positives
- structure
- predictability
- comfort
negatives
- tyranny of opinion
- loss of authentic self
The Minimal Group Paradigm
method to investigate the minimal conditions required to understand:
-the in-group bias
- strong social identity
-production of discrimination
The Mere Exposure Effect
unfamiliarity is recognised as dangerous and negative but after no danger occurs after repeated exposure to unfamiliarity there are less negative feelings
