social psychology Flashcards
What is attitude
A positive or negative elvaluation of a reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action or object or concept (eg a behaviour like healthy eating)
When do attitudes influence behaviour
More strongly when situational factors that contradict our attitudes are week
To change behaviour have to change attitude – makes the change in behaviour more consistent
Hwo does the theory of planned behaviour fit in with attitudes *
Beliefs about important others’ attitudes towards behaviour forms our subjective expected form, which forms our intention and behaviour
It indicates the importance of exploring social norms in changing health behaviour
Example of how the theory of planned behaviour fits in with attitude – smoking *
think about people’s ideas of smoking and where those ideas have come from
What do your friends think about you smoking
What do they think about smoking in general
Whose opinion is important to you
What are the pros and cons of following that opinion
Explain cognitive dissonance *
Conflict or unease caused by opposing opinions
Eg that you are a smoker, but you know that smoking is bad for you
By exploring beliefs you create cognitive dissonance
Bringing people’s attention to the conflict makes them think how they can change it
Hwo can you resolve dissonance *
Change behaviour – eg quit smoking – difficult so avoided
Acquire new info – such as seeking exceptions – someone lived to 98
Reduce important of cognitions – say that you want to live in the moment
When are messages more effective in changing behaviour *
When they:
Reach recipient
Are attention grabbing
Easily understood
Relevant and important
Easily remembered
What makes messages more persuasive *
Credibility – if given by drs
Come from trustworthy source
From someone who is well presented
Describe the halo effect *
When people are well presented, people assume good things about them
What is framing *
Refers to whether a message emphasises the benefits or losses of behaviour
How the messages are communicated
What type of framing is best when we want people to detect health issues early *
Loss framed
Ie emphasise risk of not
What type of framing is best when we want people to use prevention *
Gain framed
Ie emphasise the benefits
What is stereotype *
Generalisations made about a group of people or members of that group eg race, ethnicity, or gender
Or more specific such as medical specialities
Leads to prejudice
What is prejudice *
To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts usually about a gp or individual members
Leads to discrimination
What is discrimination*
Behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups
Eg of stereotypes – mental health *
Gps reluctant to take on pt with long standing mental health condition than someone with DM
Even though both well controlled
Perhaps predict further difficulties/have less experience with mental health
Suggests prejudice
Eg of stereotype- knee operations *
Identical pt cases assigned male and female randomly
Gps and orthopods were more likely to give male pt surgery than female
Prejudice about how people manage condition/respond to pain
What is social loafing *
The tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a grp than working alone
Eg of social loafing
The amount of force generated when pulling a rope increases as more people pull
Then it levels off as people expend less weight individually
When is social loafing more likely to occur *
Person believes individual performance is not being monitored
The task has less meaning to the individual
They have low motivation to succeed
They expect other members will display high effort
What groups would social loafing occur more in &
All male
Individualistic cultures – western
When will social loafing disappear *
When individual performance monitored
Members value gp or goal
Gps are smaller
Members are of similar competence
What is conformity *
the adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes, and beliefs to a group standard
Eg of conformity *
People asked if lines are the same length – when most of gp answer wrong volunteer will follow gp rather than give the right answer
When students are given models to do knee op – those with marks from previous students follow the marks rather than do it right
What are the factors that affect conformity*
Gp size – increases with gp size (up to 5)
Presence of dissenter – one person disagreeing reduces group conformity
Greater in collectivistic cultures
Cohesion
Status
Public Response
Lack of prior commitment
how to reduce conformity on a ward *
Get someone to play devil’s advocate – allow gp to offer alternative thoughts
Examples where no one helped in emergencies *
When someone stabbed by gang
Child gets run over and people pass by
In emergency room in NY
Describe bystander apathy – case where 37 people saw someone being stabbed and didn’t help, attacker left and came back *
The fact that people knew there were other people witnessing event meant that they didn’t act
If some people think its not an emergency others will follow
Describe the darley and latane experiment *
Pts invited into lab thinking they were talking about personal problems – in separate rooms and communicated via intercom to keep confidentiality
Actor pretended to have seizure to see if people helped
87% helped if they believed it was them and the other student
31% helped when they thought it was a gp of 4 people
Hardly anyone helped if they thought it was more than 4
If people didn’t help in 3mins they wouldn’t at all
Those that didn’t appeared in distress, reporting shame and guilt
They didn’t help because they didn’t want to be embarrassed or ruin the confidentiality of the experiment
This is bystander apathy
What is the 5 step bystander decision process *
1 – notice event
2 – decide if real emergency- social comparison – look to see how others are responding
3 – assuming responsibility to intervene – diffusion of responsibility, believing that someone else will help – more people = less help
4 – self-efficacy in dealing with situation – people think they are unable to help
5 – decision to help – based on cost benefit analysis eg danger
Made by latane and darley
How can we increase helping behaviour *
Reduce restraints on helping
- Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
- Enhance concern for self image
Socialise altruism
- Teaching moral inclusion
- Modelling helping behaviour
- Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives - encourage nobel behaviour
- Education about barriers to helping
Describe the who is my doctor study *(
32 yr old admitted with unexplained rash and renal, hepatic and pul failure
9 specialities and 40drs involved in care
>25 diagnositic tests and 2 imaging procedures done
No diagnosis confirmed
Bystander effect
Describe the francis report &
Poor care in mid-staffordshire trust
Contributed to avoidable deaths
Report presented organisational failure and lack of care
Non-compassionate behaviour
Possiblt from bystander apathy and cognitive dissonance
Describe the milgrim experiment *
One learner and 1 teacher told that experiment studied the effect of punishment on learning and memory
Shock generator used to apply punishment, shocks grew increasingly intense with each mistake
‘learner’ screamed etc
People kept giving shocks as instructed by the person in the white coat, regardless of person’s pain
Factors that influenced obedience in the milgrim study *
Remoteness of victim- closer = less obedient
Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure dissolution of responsibility – obedience increases when someone else gives shocks
Not personal characteristics
What is group think *
The tendency of gp members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement
they just go with any soln
What is gp polarisation *
The tendency of people to make more extreme decisions when in a gp as opposed to a decision being made alone or independently – when alone you lose the safeguard
When is groupthink more likely to occur *
When group:
When under high stress to make a decision
Are insulated from outside input
Has directive leader
Has high cohesiveness
Clinical example of group think – all surgeons vs MDT *
2 panals, all surgeons/MDT looked at appropriateness of carotid surgery
All surgeons thought that majority were appropriate, MDT though a lot less were
Surgeons thought less were inappropriate than MDT – surgical team are more extreme and less cautious
perhaps because MDT was cohesive whereas there is a clear hierarchy in the surgical team
What are the leadership styles *
Autocratic/authoritarian
Participative/democratic
Laissez-faire (free rein)
Describe autocratic leadership *
All decisions are made by leader
They do not get suggestions or initiatives from subordinates
Describe participative leaders *
Decision making by the gp
The leader gives instruction after consulting the group
Describe laissez-faire leaders &
Leaves the gp entirely to itself – allow max freedom to subordinates
They have a free hand in deciding policies and methods
Benefits and disadvantages of autocratic leaders *
+
Quick – good for high stress situation
Hierarchy if responsibility
-
Demotivating
Lead to errors
+ and – of democratic leaders *
+
Win cooperation and motivate team
Improve quality of decision making
-
Time consuming
Can lead to disagreement
+ and - Laissez-faire *
+
Allows autonomous working
Allows expertise to be utilised
-
Lead to lack of direction
Lack of ultimate responsibility holder – diffusion of responsibility
Which leadership style is best *
Depends on the situation
Depends on the person you are
what are the symptom sof group think *
Direct pressure applied to people who express doubt
Mind Guards: people who prevent negative information from reaching the group
Members display self-censorship and withhold their doubts
An illusion of unanimity is created
