Social psychology Flashcards
What is the definition of attitude?
A positive or negative evaluative reaction towards a stimulus such as a person, object or concept
What is the definition of prejudice?
To judge often negatively without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members
What is the definition of conformity?
Adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard
Give some examples of influencing factors for conformity?
Group size- increases with group size up to 5 members
Presence of a dissenter- one person disagreeing greatly reduces conformity
Culture- greater in collectivistic cultures
What is the definition of obedience?
Compliance with commands given by an authority figure
What factors influence obedience?
Remoteness of the victim
Closeness and legitimacy of authority figure
Diffusion of responsibility: obedience increases when someone else does dirty work/takes the blame
What was the Asch (1956) study on conformity?
Participants were given very simple vision test comparing line lengths and the subject was in a room with actors who all picked wrong answer and majority of subjects conformed with group consensus
What was the Milgram (1974) study on obedience?
There was one learner and one teacher, an actor was placed in an electric chair and was asked questions to test their memory, participants of study were asked to give electric shocks of increasing intensity as actor got more and more wrong- even when shock levels reached lethal and actor seemed unconscious, they still continued to deliver a shock
What is social loafing?
Tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than alone
When is social loafing more likely to occur?
The person believes that individual performance isn’t being monitored
Task or group has less value or meaning to the person
Person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
Person expects that other group members will display high effort
What effect does gender and culture have on social loafing?
Occurs more strongly in all-male groups
Occurs more often in individualistic cultures
What is group polarisation?
Tendency for people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone
What is group think?
Tendency to suspend critical thinking because they’re striving to seek agreement
What influences group think?
It is more likely to occur when a group: Is under high stress to reach a decision Is insulated from outside input Has a directive leader Has a high cohesiveness
What are the 5 steps in bystander process?
Notice the event
Decide if event is really an emergency
Assuming responsibility to intervene
Self-efficacy in dealing with the situation
Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis)
