Social Psychology Flashcards
Scientific study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social situations
Social psychology
Two social roles
Ascribed role
Achieved role
Assigned to a person or not under personal control (male/female (sex), son, daughter, adolescent)
Ascribed role
Attained voluntarily or by special effort (spouse, teacher, scientist)
Achieved role
When two or more roles make conflicting demands on behavior and on people
Role conflict
Network of roles, communication, pathways, and power in a group (army, athletic team; friends)
Group structure
Degree of attraction/desire among group members or their commitment to remaining in the group
-proximity, attention, mutual affection
Group cohesiveness
-cohesive groups work better together
A group with which one identifies (nationality, ethnicity, age, education, religion, sexual orientation)
In-group (POS CHAR)
A group with which one does not identify (exaggerate differences)
-conflict, prejudice
Out-group (NEG CHAR)
Process of thinking about ourselves and others in a social context
Social cognition
Comparing your own actions, feelings, opinions or abilities to those of others
Not done randomly
Ex. Notes, exam scores, tennis player
Social comparison
Making inferences about the causes of ones own behavior and others’ behavior
Attribution theory
Behavior can be attributed to (2)
External causes (lie outside a person) Internal causes (lie within a person)
Tendency to attribute behavior of others to internal causes (personality, likes, and so on)
We believe this even if behavior really has external causes
Fundamental attribution error
Tendency to attribute behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing the behavior of ourselves to external causes (situations and circumstances)
Actor-observer effect
Mixture of belief and emotion that predisposes a person to respond to other people, objects, or institutions in a positive or negative way
-summarizes your evaluation of objects
Attitude
Attitude components (3)
Belief component
Emotional component
Action component
What a person believes about an object or issue
Belief component
Feelings toward the attitudinal object
Emotional component
Ones actions toward various people, objects, or institutions
Action component
Effects of direct experience with the object of the attitude
Direct contact (psychologists)
Influence of discussions with people holding a particular attitude
Interaction with others
Effects of parental values, beliefs, and practices
Child rearing
Social influences from belonging to certain groups
Group membership
All media that reach large audiences (magazines, television)
Mass media
Contradicting or clashing thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or perceptions that cause discomfort
We need to have consistency in our thoughts, perceptions, and images of ourselves
Cognitive dissonance
Degree to which ones actions are explained by rewards or other circumstances
Justification
Changes in a persons behavior induced by the presence or actions of another person
Social influence
Tendency for people to change their behavior just because of the presence of other people
Mere presence
Tendency to perform better when in the presence of other people
Social facilitation
People tend to work less hard (loaf) when they are part of a group than they do when they are solely responsible for their work
Social loafing
The Asch Experiment
Select the line that most closely matched the standard line
Other six were accomplices and at times all would select the wrong line
In 1/3 of the trials, the real subject conformed to group pressure even when the groups answers were obviously incorrect
Compulsion by decision makers to maintain each other’s approval, even at the cost of critical thinking “rock the boat”
Groupthink
Rewards and punishments administered by groups to enforce conformity
-laughter, staring, social disapproval, complete rejection
Group sanctions
Bending to the requests of one person who has little or no authority or other form of social power (passive or active)
Compliance
Three factors that determine whether a person will comply with a request
The foot in the door effect
The door in the face effect
The low ball technique
A person who has agreed to a small request is more likely later to agree to a larger demand
Foot in the door effect
-once you get a foot in the door, then a sale is almost a sure thing
A person who has refused a major request will be more likely later on to comply with a smaller request
Door in the face technique
After the door has been slammed in your face (major request refused), person may be more likely to agree to a smaller request
Commitment is gained first to reasonable or desirable terms, which are then made less reasonable or desirable
Ex. Henry accepts the price for a new car; then later tille the saleswoman tells Henry, “the business would lose too much money on that price; can’t you take a bit less and add all these options?
Low ball technique
Changing our behavior in direct response to the demands of an authority figure
Obedience
Who studied obedience and what were the results
Milgram
65% obeyed by going all the way to 450 volts on the “shock machine”
Desire to associate with other people
Interpersonal attraction
-basis for most voluntary social relationships
Need to affiliate
Affinity to another person
Interpersonal attraction
Marked by high levels of interpersonal attraction, sexual desire, and heightened arousal
Romantic love
Refers to feelings of connectedness and affection
Intimacy
Refers to deep emotional and/or sexual feelings
Passion
Involves the determination to stay in a long term relationship with another person
Commitment
Study of the evolutionary origins of human behavior patterns
Influences sexual attraction and mate selection
Evolutionary psychology
Men prefer younger, more attractive partners
Women prefer older, higher status, more successful partners
Buss found
Unwillingness of bystanders to offer help during emergencies
Related to number of people present
More potential helpers present, the lower the chances that help will be given
Bystander apathy (bystander effect)
Frustration tends to lead to agression
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Produce discomfort or displeasure and can heighten hostility and aggression (baseball)
Aversive stimuli (insults, temp, pain)
Signals that are associated with aggression
Aggression cues (internal and external)
Combines learning principles with cognitive processes, socialization, and modeling to explain behavior
Aggression must be learned
Aggression begets aggression
Social learning theory
Negative emotional attitude held against members of a particular group of people
-racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism
Prejudice(suspicion, fear, hatred)
Treating members of various social groups differently in circumstances where their rights or treatment should be identical
Discrimination
Blaming a person or group for the actions of others or for conditions not of their making
Scapegoating
Oversimplified images of the traits of individuals who belong to a particular social group (recnecks, billionaires, old people, men, women, etc)
Social stereotypes
The anxiety caused by the fear of being judged in terms of a stereotype
Stereotype threat
