Social Psychology Flashcards
Impressions
- People form impressions about others through the process of person perception.
- People’s physical appearance strongly influences the way they are perceived by others.
- People are particularly influenced by physical attractiveness and baby-faced features.
Cognitive Schemas
• When people meet, they form impressions of each other based on their cognitive schemas. People use cognitive schemas to organize information about the world. Cognitive schemas help to access information quickly and easily
Social Schemas
mental models that represent and categorize social events and people. For example, certain social schemas tell people what it means to be a spectator at a baseball game. There are also social schemas for categories of people, such as yuppie or geek. These social schemas affect how people perceive events and others. Once a social schema is activated, it may be difficult to adjust a perception of a person or event.
Stereotypes
- Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group.
- Stereotypes tend to be difficult to change.
- Stereotyping has some important functions, but it can also distort reality in dangerous ways.
- Evolutionary psychologists believe that people evolved the tendency to stereotype because it gave their ancestors an adaptive advantage.
Prejudice
- A prejudice is a negative belief or feeling about a particular group of individuals.
- Prejudice is pervasive because it serves many social and psychological functions.
- Researchers find it difficult to measure prejudice. They often measure implicit rather than explicit prejudice.
- People who identify strongly with their ingroup are more likely to be prejudiced against people in outgroups.
Attributions
are inferences people make about the causes of events and behaviour.
Internal and external attributions
In an internal, or dispositional, attribution, people infer that an event or a person’s behaviour is due to personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings. In an external, or situational, attribution, people infer that a person’s behaviour is due to situational factors.
Stable and unstable attributions
When people make a stable attribution, they infer that an event or behaviour is due to stable, unchanging factors. When making an unstable attribution, they infer that an event or behaviour is due to unstable, temporary factors.
Attribution bias
When people make an attribution, they are guessing about the causes of events or behaviors. These guesses are often wrong. People have systematic biases, which lead them to make incorrect attributions. These biases include the fundamental attribution error, the self-serving bias, and the just world hypothesis.
The fundamental attribution error
the tendency to attribute other people’s behaviour to internal factors such as personality traits, abilities, and feelings. The fundamental attribution error is also called the correspondence bias, because it is assumed that other people’s behaviour corresponds to their personal attributes. When explaining their own behaviour, on the other hand, people tend to attribute it to situational factors.
The self-serving bias
the tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to situational factors. This bias tends to increase as time passes after an event. Therefore, the further in the past an event is, the more likely people are to congratulate themselves for successes and to blame the situation for failures.
the just world hypothesis
the need to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve. The just world hypothesis gives people a sense of security and helps them to find meaning in difficult circumstances.
Cultural values and norms
affect the way people make attributions
Attitudes
evaluations people make about objects, ideas, events, or other people. They can be explicit or implicit and can include beliefs, emotions, and behaviour.
The ABC Model of Attitudes
- Affective component
- Behavioural component
- Cognitive Component
Affective component
this involves a person’s feelings / emotions about the attitude object. For example: “I am scared of spiders”.
Behavioural component
the way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. For example: “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”.
Cognitive Component
this involves a person’s belief / knowledge about an attitude object. For example: “I believe spiders are dangerous”.
Groups
- A group is a social unit composed of two or more people who interact and depend on each other in some way.
- Groups tend to have distinct norms, roles, communication structures, and power structures.
Conformity
- Conformity is the process of giving in to real or imagined pressure from a group.
- Solomon Asch did a famous study (line study) that showed that people often conform and that social roles influence behavior.
- Factors that influence conformity include group size and unanimity, level of competence, liking for the group, and group observation of the behavior.
- People conform because of normative social influence, because of informational social influence, because they want to gain rewards, and because they identify with the group.
Social Loafing
- Deindividuation can lead to social loafing
- When a person puts in less effort due to the feeling of anonymity in a group
Sucker effect
When it seems that others are not pulling their weight – people reduce effort
free rider effect
When it seem that everyone else is putting in enough work and so somebody doesn’t contribute
Group competition
- Within groups lowers group cohesion
- Between groups increases group solidarity; also leads to intergroup hostility
Realistic conflict theory
Intergroup hostility arises when there is competition for scarce but valuable resources
theory of relative deprivation (people are greedy)
Even if resources aren’t scarce people compare what they have to what others have an want the same – PEOPLE ARE ABSOLUTE JERKS
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
Producing an altruistic motive for helping
Bystander intervention
A theory which states that a person (bystander) will intervene in an emergency.
Conformity
– A yielding to group pressure
Norm
An expected standard of behaviour and/or belief established and enforced by a group
Anti-social behaviour
Any behaviour that is likely to cause pain or distress to one or more persons
Competence
If people don’t feel they are competent or qualified, they are less likely to help if there are other people around
Social Responsibility Norm
A norm stating that we should help when others are in need and depend on us.
Audience inhibition
People don’t help because they fear other bystanders will evaluate them negatively if they intervene and the situation is not an emergency.
Diffusion of responsibility
The belief that the presence of another person in a situation makes one less personally responsible for the event that occurred in that situation
pro-social behaviour
Voluntary behaviour that is carried out to benefit another person regardless of motives; can be motivated by self interest
Reciprocity Norm
The expectation that one should return a favour or good deed
Deindividuation
The loss of a sense of individual identity and a changing of normal inhibitions against engaging in behaviour that is inconsistent with internal standards
Cost - benefit analysis
The theory that helping behaviour is a result of an analysis of the costs and rewards of helping
Empathy
A feeling of compassion and tenderness upon the viewing of a victim’s plight
Group
Two or more people who interact with and influence one another over a period of time and who depend upon one another and share common goals and a collective identity
Altruistic behaviour
A form of helping in which the ultimate goal of the helper is to improve the welfare of another, with little thought to self
