Social Psychology Flashcards
What was Roussaeu’s perspective on the nature of mankind?
People are born decent but it is society which screws them up
What was Hobbe’s perspective on the nature of humankind?
People start out nasty - if laws etc weren’t round we would all do bad things
Intra-personal level
Inside the person
Interpersonal level
2 people
Inter-group level
Group level behaviour
Societal level
Nature of society
Freud’s perspective on human nature was…
Like a modern Hobbs
Said that basic human condition is a cauldron of pleasure seeking instincts.
We are all bad in our core
Freud said the post primitive part of the psyche is the…
ID
ID subsystem conflict =
The basic urges
Driven by the pleasure principle and the need for sexual pleasure.
EGO subsystem conflict =
Reality principle
What is socially acceptable and what it not
SUPEREGO subsystem conflict =
Moral policeman
Rules of society
If rules are broken it leads to anxiety etc
Displacement defence mechanisim
Redirecting impulses to a more socially acceptable channel
Reaction formation defence mechanisim
Original wish is supplanted with a wish of the opposite nature
Projection defence mechanisim
Projecting urges onto others
Isolation defence mechanisim
Awareness of memories but not emotions
Dissociating from emotions
Freuds oral stage
0-2
Thumb sucking, smoking etc
Freud said that unconcious conflicts are a result of…
Childhood experiences
Freud’s anal stage
2-4
Won’t spend money, anal retentiveness, likes painting
Freud’s Phallic stage
4-6
Castration anxeity following a son wanting to sexually possess mother.
Freuds Latency Stage
6-12
Freud’s genital stage
12+
How do Phallic stage and Electra complex relate
Phallic stage = boys identifying with mothers
Electra complex = girls identifying with mothers
Problems with Freud’s theories are:
Never studied children
Ideas not falsifiable
Little experimental evidence to support
Likert Scales
Rating sentences on agreement
Depend on honesty
What measurement of attitude is unobtrusive
Likert scales
The Bogus Pipeline
Fake measuring machine
Electromyography (EMG)
Measures activity of facial muscles
LaPire found
A racist attitude doesn’t always lead people to show racist behaviour
What are the reasons for attitudes to change?
Cognitive Dissonance = changing behaviour which changes attitude
Credible, trustworthy, attractive or likable source
Emotional appeals = using emotions
What emotion can work with emotional appeal and only if what…
Fear
ONLY IF;
Moderate to strong fear
A feasable, low cost way to reduce threat - doable
Optimistic style
Not blaming self
Pessimistic style
Blaming self
People with Pessimist styles…
Whereas people with optimistic styles…
Live shorter
Live longer
Actor-observer effect =
Making internal attributions for others failures
But external attributions for our failures
ETC
Self serving bias =
People taking credit for their success but not failures
The more people are exposed to faces, photos, languages and tunes….
The more they like them
Increased exposure = increase liking
In terms of repeated exposure…Reis found
Proximity doesn’t always work if there are personality differences etc
People who are emotional aroused…
Find others more attractive
Walsters blind date study found;
People rated highly for attractiveness by independant observers were more liked by date
People can often be more attracted to someone if they are…
Similar to them.
Social Facilisation
How the physical presence of others influences our behaviour
Zajonc found…
The presence of others leads to increased arousal which strengthens the display of our dominant response/ the things we are good at.
Diffusion of responsiibility
As group size increases, individual responsibility decreases
Deindividuation
Presence of others leads to people loosing self awareness and feeling anonymous
Stanford prison experiment overall found…
People don’t automatically take on roles, they need to identify with them.
Obedience is greater when…
The learner is out of sight
Authority figure was close by and legit
Authoritarian personality =
Hostile to people who are perceived as inferior but fond of those who have power/authority
Realistic conflict theory
If there is a conflict of interests between 2 groups the relations will be hostile
But if there is no conflict they will be harmonnious
What brings out the worst in people?
Competition
Minimal Group Paradigm
Attempt to make the envrionment ‘empty’ with no competition of resources
