Social Psychology Flashcards
1
Q
Positionality
A
An individual’s social and political context influences their behaviours, experiences, and expectations.
2
Q
Social Context
A
The implied, real and interpreted presence of others and environments that shape behaviours and thinking patterns of individuals.
3
Q
Replication
A
Repeating a study to determine whether the results have external reliability and whether they get the same results.
4
Q
Conceptual Replications
A
Studies that test the same research question using different methods and populations.
5
Q
Sustainable Development Goals
A
17 Sustainable Development Goals. The UN developed them to try to address things like poverty, climate change and inequality.
6
Q
Persuasion
A
Influencing others to conform to something.
7
Q
Social Norms
A
Perceived appropriate behaviours and ways of thinking. Unwritten rules of behaviour.
8
Q
Culture
A
The shared values, beliefs, and practices of a group.
9
Q
Bystander Effect
A
People are less likely to intervene in a situation or help someone else in a situation where there are others around. Diffusion of responsibility.
10
Q
Attribution Theory
A
A theory that explains how people explain causes of behaviour.
11
Q
Cognitive Dissonance
A
The discomfort when we have conflictng beliefs or attitudes.
12
Q
Obedience
A
Conformity to a certain set of rules or authoritative figure/structure.
13
Q
Conformity
A
Changing and adapting behaviours to align with others.
14
Q
Behavioural change
A
Changing and adaptation of behaviours. Often to achieve desired goals.
15
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Behavioural Intention
A
A conscious decision to engage in a behaviour.
16
Q
Theory of Planned Behaviour
A
Predicts behaviour based on attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural control. Helps us to understand how people make decisions and how intentions lead to behaviours. Intentions are the most important predictors of behaviour. But, these intentions are influenced by 3 key factors: Attitude toward the behaviour, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control.
17
Q
Dual Process Model
A
Idea that behaviour is influenced by both deliberate (reflexive) and automatic (impulsive) processes.
Fast vs Slow thinking
Unconscious vs Conscious thinking
Explicit vs Implicit
Effortless vs Effortful
Biased vs Deliberate
Spontaneous vs Planned
Heuristic vs Systematic
18
Q
Habits
A
Automatic, repeated behaviours.
19
Q
Structural Elements
A
Bodies of rules, policies, environmental conditions that influence behaviour.
20
Q
Goals
A
Specific objectives that guide actions and behaviours.
21
Q
Reproducibility and Generalisability
A
Can research be repeated in other contexts with other populations.
22
Q
Automaticity
A
Mental processes that happen quickly, effortlessly, and without conscious control. It means that we think, feel or act in ways that are automatic, shaped by habits, stereotypes and past experiences.
23
Q
Accessibility
A
The extent to which schemas and concepts are readily available in a person’s mind. They influence a person’s judgements and interpretations.
24
Q
Cognitive Miser
A
A model of social thinking that proposes that people tend to use the simplest and most efficient cognitive strategies to understand the social world due to limited cognitive resources.
25
Conformity
Adapting and changing behaviour to align to that of a social group or social situation.
26
Demand Characteristics
Clues in a research as to what the true aim is. can affect behaviour.
27
Deindividuation
Loss of self identity and individualisation when in a big group. Reduced self-awareness.
28
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that people use to make judgements and solve things quickly.
29
Hawthorne Effect
A bias that occurs where people change their behaviours if they know someone is studying their behaviours.
30
Social Inference
Making assumptions about social situations or social contexts without all the information available. Influenced by schemas, stereotypes and past experiences. Important for quick decisions, but can lead to bias.
31
Motivated Tactitian
Macrae (1993)
People switch between cognitive strategies based on needs and objectives. People are flexible and strategically choose between different cognitive srategies based on motivations and needs.
32
Naive Scientist
People act like little scientists/amateur scientists to try to understand the social world by observing cause and effect.
33
Nuremberg Defense
Individuals are not responsible for their actions or behaviours if they were following a legitimate authority.
34
Priming
Process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept influencing subsequent behaviour. Exposure to one thing influences subsequent behaviour.
35
Pygmalion Effect
Form of self-fulfilling prophecy in which expectations of a person affect how they actually perform.
36
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A belief or expectation leads to its own fulfilment- often subconsciously.
37
Replication Crisis
A lot of groundbreaking research has not been replicated so unsure of its external reliability and reproducibility.
38
Social Cognition
How we perceive, interpret and think about ourselves and others in a social context. Includes attribution, person perception, social influence and moral judgement.
39
Social Construction
Idea that concepts and meanings are created and maintained through social interactions and shared understandings.
40
Social Facilitation
Tendency for the presence of others to imporve an individual's performance on simple, well-learned tasks.
41
Social Inhibition
Others' presence impairs individual performance on complex/unfamiliar tasks.
42
Social Schema
A mental framework or representation of a social situation, event or person which guides expectations and behaviour.
43
Functional Approach
We are social beings and our cognitive systems are shaped by social needs. Social thinking affects performance and behaviour i.e. obedience and conformity.
44
Embodied Cognition
Bodily states can affect thoughts/emotions. William and Bragh (1998) warm cup, warm heart- failed to replicate.
45
Research that does replicate
The Self Reference Effect
The Better than Average Effect
Social Conformity
Milgram's Obedience Studies
46
Cultural Norms
Shared rules among members of a group that guide behaviour in specific situations. Unwritten rules. They can shape both our actions and perception of others.
47
Person Perception
The process by which we form impressions and judgements about other individuals, often influenced by our own values and cultural context.
48
Reciprocity
The expectation that people will respond to each other in kind- returning a favour for a favour, kindness for kindness, hostility for hostility. About mutual exchange.
49
Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias
The tendency to attribute others' behaviour to dispositional (internal) factors rather than situational factors. This tendency is often stronger in individualistic cultures.
50
Situational Attribution
Explanation of behaviours or outcomes based on external, environmental, or contextual factors rather than dispositional ones.
51
Dispositional Attribution
Explanation of behaviours or outcomes based on internal factors, such as personality traits, character and abilities.
52
Agency
Sense of control an individual has over their actions and circumstances. Can vary culturally in terms of norms.
53
Cognitive Load
Amount of mental effort being used in working memory. Often influences the strength of culturally normative tendencies.
54
Social Priming
Activation of certain associations in memory. Can influence subsequence judgements, actions or behaviours. Being exposed to one thing makes you do another.
55
Survivorship Bias
Logical error of focusing on the winners or survivors and overlooking the losers because they are not present or visible.
I.e. WWII deciding on where bombers should be reinforced. Centre for naval analyses.
Abraham Wald- youre only seeing the planes that made it back.
Type of publication bias.
56
Confirmation Bias
Tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that supports one's existing beliefs or values. Often ignores contradictory evidence.
57
Cherry Picking
Selecting only evidence that supports one's position and ignoring or suppressing evidence to the contrary.
58
Attribution Theory
Framework for understand how individuals explain the causes of events and behaviours. Own and others.
59
Locus of Causality
Perceived source of a behaviour or event. Categorised as either internal or external.
60
Actor-Observer Bias
Tendency to attribute our own behaviour to external, situational factors and the behaviour of others to internal, dispositional factors.
61
Perceptual Salience
The extent to which a person or object draws attention due to its characteristics or presence in a given situation.
62
Self-Serving Attributions
Tendency to attribute positive outcomes to internal factors and negative outcomes to external factors to maintain self-esteem.
63
Social Psych in Crisis
Replication Crisis.
About 25% of social experiments replicated.
In general, psychology, about 60%.
64
Bargh, Chen, And Burrows (1996). Social Priming
Participants primed with age-related words walked more slowly after the task. Suggests unconscious priming of elderly stereotypes influenced behaviour. 60 ppts.
Doyen et al. (2012) replicated. But failed to replicate the original effect. 120 ppts.
Replication by O'Donnell et al (2018). Cross cultural.
65
Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998): professor priming effect
Replication by O'Donnell et al 2018. Failed to replicate.
66
Emodied Cognition Williams and Bargh 1998. Warm cup, warm heart.
Those who held warm cup rated the person as warmer. Our abstract concepts are grounded in physical experiences.
Failed to replicate (Chabris et al 2019).
67
Strack, Martin & Stepper (1998) Emodied cognition
Facial feedback. Wagenmakers et al (2016)- multi lab replication, failed to replicate.
Coles et al (2022)- adversarial replication.
68
Basis for Attribution Theory: The Naïve Scientist
Heider(1958)
People are motivated by two primary needs:
- The need to form a coherent view of the world
- The need to gain control over the environment
People have a basic need to attribute causality because this ascribes meaning to our world, making it clear, definable and predictable- reduces uncertainty.
69
Stability and Controllability
Weiner (1982, 1985, 1986)
Two dimensions along which attribution happen:
Stable v Unstable Causes
- Permanent and lasting vs temporary and fluctuating.
Controllable v Uncontrollable causes
- Extent to which causes can be influenced by people vs the extent to which they are random
70
Descriptive Norms
Perceptions about what others actually do in a given situation.
71
Injunctive Norms
Perceptions about what others think should be done in a given situation.
72
Subjective Norms
Perceptions about what important others expect us to do.
73
Informational Social Influence
Conforming because we believe others' interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more correct than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action. The need to know what is right.
74
Normative Social Influence
Conforming in order to be liked and accepted by others.
75
Conformity
Adjusting one's behaviour or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
76
Public Compliance
Conforming to other people's behaviour publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying is right.
77
Reciprocity Norm
The expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.
78
Social Mores
Unwritten rules about morality and ethics.
79
Taboos
Strong prohibitions against certain behaviours, often related to disgust or morality.
80
Ostracism
Exclusion from a group.
81
Social Constructionism
Idea that things that we know or things that we assume, or our ideas about other peoples are constructed from our context.
82
Internalisation
Process through which people assimilate social norms to the point that they become internally driven motivations.
83
Universality in Attribution Theory
People from different cultures are not biased in the same way. Collectivist (biased to situational attributions) vs Individualistic (biased to dispositional attributions) cultures.
84
Norms
Are not:
- Instinctual/biological reactions
- Personal tastes
- Personal habits
- behavioural regularities/aggregation of individuals with similar tastes
Are:
- Social
- Related to behaviour and inform decision making
- Can affect health and wellbeing
- Prescriptive (recommends or encoruages something)
- Proscriptive (something that forbids or restricts certain behaviours, actions, or practices)
85
Why use norms?
- Community
- Inclusive
- Need to belong
- Social pressure
- Uncertainty of how to behave i.e. autistic masking
- Lack of information
- Informational Social Influence (need to know what is right)
- Normative Social Influence (need to be accepted)
86
Autokenetic Effect (Sherif, 1935)
People use others as a reference when the situation is ambiguous
This study demonstrated informational social influence
Showed how group norms can form
87
Private Acceptance
Conforming to other people's behaviour out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right. Informational Social Influence
88
Public Acceptance
Compliance
Conforming to other people's behaviour publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying. Normative Influence could underpin this.
89
Sherif
Ambiguous stimuli
Conformity occurred
Private acceptance: need to know what is right
90
Asch
Unambiguous stimuli
Conformity Occurred
Public compliance: the need to be accepted
91
Universal Norms
Obedience- we are socialised to obey legitimate authority figures. Internalise social norm of obedience.
Reciprocity- cooperative behabiour
92
Norm Violations
Social Offence- i.e. rude behaviour
Social Mores- unwritten rules about morality
Taboos- disgust
Breaking laws- murder
93
Social Facilitation
Tendency for people to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks when in the presence of others.
94
Social Inhibition
Tendency for people to perform worse on complex or unfamiliar tasks when in presence of others.
95
Social Loafing
Tendency for individuals to reduce their individual effort when working on a group task.
96
Mere Presence
Being in the presence of others can affect behaviour even without direct interaction.
97
Evaluation Apprehension
concern about how one is being evaluated by others, leading to arousal and influencing performance.
98
Distraction-Conflict Theory
Presence of others creates attentional conflict, leading to arousal and affecting performance.
99
Diffusion of Responsibility
Feeling of reduced personal accountability in a group setting, leading to reduced individual effort.
100
Arousal
Increase in psychological activation or energy, often due to the presence of others or a perceived challenge.
101
Dominant Response
Most likely or readily available response in a given situation. Enhanced by arousal.
102
Pro-social behaviour
Actions intended to benefit others or society as a whole.
103
Coaction Effects
Changes in behaviour that occur when individuals perform the same task silmultaneously in the presence of others.
104
Audience Effects
Changes in behaviour that occur when individuals perform a task in front of an audience.
105
Impression Management
Deliberate effort to control or influence how others perceive oneself.
106
Spectator Effect
Influence that spectators have on participants in sporting events.
107
Home Audience Advantage
Assumed benefit experienced by athletes when participating in games and events at home venue.
108
Sequential Human Redundancy
System of safety where multiple individuals perform the same task or check in sequence to reduce the likelihood of error. Creates a human safety net. Increases reliability and decreases error rates. Could actually increase social loafind, in turn maybe increasing likelihood of errors.
109
Free-Rider Effect
Loss of motivation in group projects or collective efforts.
110
Neurodiversity
Range of differences in individual brain function and behavioural traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population.
111
Presence of others can affect
The way we act
- Norms
- Conformity
- Deindividuation
How we perform
- Social Facilitation
- Social Inhibition
- Social Loafing
112
Presence
Can be the real or imagined presence of others
113
Triplett- Social Faciliation
Asked children to wind up fishing line on a reel, either by themselves or in the presence of other children. Many of the children did this faster when in the presence of other children than when by themselves.
Temporal validity = low- 1898.
114
Riggleman (1913)- Social Loafing
In teams pulling a rope, everyone did not show maximum effort. Diffusion of responsbility? Social loafing? Free-rider effect?
115
Markus (1978)- Mere presence
Mere presence affects performance, but a watching audience enhances us further- though not significantly
116
Mere Presence Application
Encourages pro-social behaviour
Pro-sociality is a dominant response in most cases
Maybe watching eyes unlock more generosity- want to be perceived in a good light by others- Normative Social Influence could play a role- need to be accepted and liked
117
Mere Presence Experiment at Newcastle Uni
Low contributions to the honest box, but watching eyes increased contributions
118
Mere Presence effect on reducing antisocial behaviour
CCTV reduces crime by 16%
35% reduction in risk of anti social behaviour
119
Theoretical Explanation for how the presence of others affects us- Zajnoc (1965)
Offers an explanation for why the presence of others facilitates a well-learned response but inhibits a less practiced or new response.
1. The presence of others increases physiological arousal
2. When such arousal exists, it is easier to do something this is simple but harder to do something complex or learn something new
120
Explanatory Theories to explain role of arousal in social facilitation- Cottrell's Evaluation Apprehension
Effect is due to a 'learned' drive- evaluation apprehension
But, research does demonstrate that while evaluation apprehension increases arousal, it is not necessary for coaction or audience effects to occur.
Evaluation Apprehension- anxiety or concern people feel when they believe they are being judged or evaluated by others.
Not the mere presence of others, but the presence of others who are evaluating and making judgements of us that causes arousal and subseqeunt social faciliation
121
Attentional Conflict
Mental tension that arises when a person is torn between competing focuses of attention. Torn between focusing on the task and paying attention to the audience. Conflict leads to increased arousal, which can either enhance or impair performance. Distraction-Conflict Theory- arousal facilitates dominant responses and impairs non-dominant ones.
122
Bond (1982)- Impression management as the 3rd explanatory theory to explain presence and arousal
Arousal arises from impression management.
Easy to do when task is easy and failure is unlikely.
Complex task likely to lead to errors, and embarassment, which leads to task impairment.
122
Latané (1979)- Social Loafing
Participants blindfolded in a circle with earphones on. Told to shout as loud as possible. Told they were shouting with one other person vs with a group. Participants who believed they were shouting in a group shouted with less intensity.
123
Prejudice
Attitude towards a group that devalues its members directly or indirectly, often benefitting the self or one's own group. Involves a negative attitude or affective response toward a certain group and its individual members.
124
Discrimination
Unfair treatment of members of a particular group based on their membership in that group. Behavioural manifestation of predjudice.
125
Stereotypes
Beliefs about attributes that are thought to be characteristic of members of particular groups. Cognitive component of prejudice.
126
Categorisation
Process of grouping people based on shared characteristics. Fundamental cognitive process that can contribute to prejudice.
127
Accentuation Principle
Exaggeration of perceived differences between groups and similarities within groups once categorisation has occurred.
128
Illusory Correlation
Tendency to perceive relationships between events or groups that do not actually exist or are weaker than percieved. Cognitive bias.
129
Realistic Conflict Theory
Theory that intergroup conflict arises from competition between groups for scarce resources.
130
Social Identity Theory
Portion of an individual's identity comes from membership in social groups. Individuals strive to enhance their self-esteem through positive distinctiveness of their ingroup compared to outgroups.
131
Minimal Group Paradigm
Experimental procedure where individuals are categorised into groups based on arbitrary and minimal criteria. Despite the lack of meaningful group identity, individuals often show ingroup favouritism.
132
Ingroup Favouritism
Tendency to show favour over one's own group.
133
Intergroup Differentiation
Process of highlighting differences between one's own group and other groups, often in a way that favours ingroup.
134
Ethnocentrism
Belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and using one's own group as a standard of reference.
135
Stereotype Content Model
A model that proposes that stereotypes about social groups are based on 2 fundamental dimensions: warmth (communion, friendliness, trustworthiness) and competence (agency, capability, intelligence). Helps explain why some stereotypes are positive, some negative and how they lead to different emotions and behaviours toward groups.
People automatically judge others based on:
1. Intentions (warmth)
2. Ability (competence) can they act on those intentions
136
ABC Model- Prejudice as an attitude
Attitudes are constructs with 3 components
- Emotional (affect)- persons feelings or emotions
- Behavioural (enactment)- tendency to act in a certain way toward the attitude object
- Cognitive (beliefs)- beliefs, thoughts or knowledge about something
137
Declarative v Non-Declarative Components
Declarative- explicit attitudes, social norms, stereotypes, attributional judgements
Non-Declarative- implicit attitudes, unconscious preferences or biases
138
Personality Approaches to Prejudice
Authoritarian personality- more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes because of deep rooted personality traits rooted in early childhood experiences and upbringing.
Social Dominance Orientation- prejudice as a reflection of people's preference for group-based hierarchies and inequality in society. Motivational, personality based explanation that helps us understand why some individuals support systems of oppression. Degree to which a person wants their in group to dominate and be superior to out groups.
139
Cognitive Approaches to Prejudice
Categorisation
Accentuation Principle- tend to exaggerate differences between categories and minimise differences within categories
Illusory Correlation- perception of a relationship between two variables when no such relationship actually exists, or relationship is much weaker than assumed.
140
Group Level Approaches to Prejudice
How group dynamics and intergroup relations contribute to the formation and perpetuation of prejudice and discrimination.
- Realistic Conflict Theory- Theory that intergroup conflict arises from competition between groups for scarce resources. e.g. migrants taking jobs
- Social Identity Theory
- Stereotype Content Model
141
Tajfel & Wilkes (1963)
Estimate length of lines. Evidence of exaggeration of differences between groups and similarities. Replication issues.
142
Another explanation of prejudice- threats to the ingroup
threats to group existence
threats to resources
threats to group status and esteem
threats to group values
143
Robbers Cave Experiment
3 phases
Group Attachement- Eagles and Rattlers. Group names, shared goals and activities. Emergence of roles. Establishment of group norms.
Intergroup Competition- competition resulted in conflict. Evident even before contact. Name calling, flag burning, vandalism etc. Changing roles.
Reconciliation- contact hypothesis (bringing groups together for meal times), superordinate goals requiring cooperation.
Summary: Realistic Conflict Theory.
144
Components of Social Identity Theory
Categorisation- grouping others based on observable characteristics
Identification- groups that we perceive ourselves to belong to
Comparison- comparing between us and them
Social Identities drive ingroup favouritism, intergroup differentiation, stereotyping and ethnocentrism
145
Stigma
Mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. Directly and indirectly affects the stigmatised through discrimination, expectancy confirmation, automatic stereotype activation, and threats to personal and social identity.
146
Public Stigma
Negative beliefs held by the public about a group (stereotype), agreement with these beliefs and/or negative emotional reactions (prejudice), and discriminatory behaviours resulting from this prejudice (discrimination)
147
Self-Stigma
Internalised negative beliefs about oneself (stereotype), agreement with these beliefs and negative emotional reactions like low self-esteem (prejudice), and behaviours resulting from this, such as avoiding opportunities or healthcare (discrimination).
148
Institutionalised Stigma
Systemic discrimination embedded within societal structures, laws, and policies that disadvantage stigmatised groups.
149
Expectancy Confirmation
Tendency to interpret or seek out information that confirms pre-existing stereotypes or expectations about stigmatised individuals.
150
Automatic Stereotype Activation
Unconscious and unintentional triggering of stereotypes when encountering a member of a stereotyped group.
151
Visible Identity
Aspects of identity that are readily apparent to others.
152
Concealed Identity
Aspects of identity that are not immediately obvious and can be kept private.
153
Controllable Identity
Aspects of identity that are perceived by some as being under an individual's control (though this perception may be inaccurate).
154
Dysphoria
Powerful feeling of discomfort, distress, unease, or generalised dissatisfaction, often associated with feeling othered or a mismatch between one's identity and how one is perceived or treated.
155
Microaggressions
Subtle, often unintentional, and sometimes unconscious expressions of prejudice that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward a marginalised person or group
156
Stigma by Association
Experiencing stigma due to one's connection to a stigmatised individual or group
157
Protective Factors
Resources or coping mechanisms that can mitigate the impacts of stigma on mental and physical health
158
Pascoe & Richman (2009)- Impact of discrimination and stigma
Discrimination and physical and mental health. Directly correlates with illness. Negative health behaviours. Greater stress correlates with illness.
159
Stigma and Self-Esteem
Self esteem is a powerful psychological protective factor. Stigmatised individuals may find ways to protect themselves i.e. externalising stigma rather than internalising it
160
Dysphoria and Mental Illness
Long-term dysphoria often related to mental illness. Puts people at greater risk of suicide. Microaggressions can be a trigger for dysphoria.
161
Intergroup Contact Theory
Theory proposing that intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can reduce prejudice between groups.
162
Jigsaw Classroom
Cooperative learning technique that reduces prejudice and promotes integration by making students dependent on each other to learn the course material.
163
Counter-Attitudinal Advocacy
Stating an opinion or attitude that is contrary to one's own private belief or attitude.
164
Cognitive Dissonance
State of mental discomfort arising from holding two or more conflicting beliefs, values or attitudes.
165
Yale Approach to Persuasion
A communication model that emphasises the source, message, and audience as key factors in determining the effectiveness of persuasive communication.
166
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Dual-process theory describing how attitudes can be changed through 2 different routes: central route (high elaboration) and the peripheral route (low elaboration). How humans process information and how this results in changing attidues and consequently, behaviour.
167
Central Route (ELM)
route to persuasion in which people think carefully and deliberately about the content of a message, attending to its logic and the strength of its arguments.
168
Peripheral Route (ELM)
route to persuasion in which people do not elaborate on arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by more superficial cues.
