Social Psychology Flashcards
What is social psychology
how people influence other peoples thoughts, feelings and actions
Social Brain Hypothesis
primates have large brains (prefrontal cortex’s) because they live in complex social groups
What are the biological and evolutionary benefits of GROUPING
increases security from predators ;and hunting and gathering
What is the downside of GROUPING
Outgroups are competing for the same resources
Ingroup
particular people within same group
Outgroup
Those who do not belong to the ingroup
When does ingroup and outgroup behavior begin
Infancy
Define Reciprocity
person A, helps person B
You scratch my back, I scratch yours
Define Transitivity
People share their friends’ opinions of other people
Outgroup homogeneity effect
View outgroup members as less varied than ingroup members
Social Identity Theory
Ingroups consist of individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category and experience pride through their group membership
What defines the ability to have pride in school, ethnicity, and country: defining yourself by those groups
Social Identity
Ingroup favoritism
Favoritism to peope in the same group
Women and ingroup bias
Female friends tend to be comfortable expressing affection for each other
Important for thinking of other people in group bias’, after minimal group paradign
Prefrontal Cortex
Active when people see ingroup member is harmed, less in outgroups
Pain regions
The presence of others facilitates enhanced behavior
Social Facilitation
The idea that the presence of others generally enhances performance
Social Facilitation
People lack self-awareness and therefore do not pay attention to their personal standards (looters, rioters, cheering violent behavior)_
DeIndividuation
Group Decision making
Groups that make riskier decisions, than individual decisions
Risky-shift effect
Initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time
Group Polarization
Tendency of a group to make a bad decision as a result of preserving the group
maintaining its cohesiveness
increased likeliness when a group is under pressure, facing external threats and is biased in a particular direction
Group think
Leaders must refrain from expressing their opinions too strongly at beginning of discussions , carefully go through alternatives and weigh pros and cons
Prevention of group think
People who work less hard in a group than working alone
Social Loafing
Altered behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people’s expectations
Conformity
Reasons why people conform:
Normative Influence
People conform in order to fit in with the group, avoid looking foolish
Reasons why people conform:
Informational Influence
Assumption that the behavior of the crowd represents the correct way to respond
Social Norms
Expected standards of conduct, appropriate behavior in an appropriate situation,
Autokinetic Effect
first part
Stationary point of light appears to move when viewed in a totally dark environment
Occurs bc people have no frame of reference and cannot correct for small eye movement
Tendency to agree to do things requested by others
To comply
Factors that influence Compliance
Mood
failure to pay attention
conflict avoidance
simply given a reason
Techniques of Compliance
1. foot in the door
Agree to small request, comply to a larger one
Compliance Technique
2. Door in the Face
Refuse a large request, likely to comply with a smaller request
Compliance Technique
3. Low-Balling
Agree to buy a product for a certain price, likely to comply with a request to pay more for the product
Does social norms marketing reduce binge drinking
NO, light drinkers try to drink more to keep up with heavy drinker
Define obediance
When a person follows the orders of a person or authority
Define Aggression
Behavior that involves the intention to harm another
situational factors that affect aggression
- observational learning
- social rejection
- ostracized or rejection
- desire to retaliate
- heat
- negative emotions
Biological factors that effect aggression
MAOA gene
Serotonine
Testosterone
Social and Cultural factors that effect aggression
Honor culture,
Drives people to commit violent acts
Prosocial behaviors
Actions that tend to benefit others, such as doing favors or helping
Why are humans prosocial
selflessness
biological
motivated by empathy
empathetic response
Define Altruism
providing help when it is needed without any apparent reward
Inclusive Fitness
Explains Altruism,
focuses on adaptive benefit of transmitting genes
Kin selection, rather than individual survival
Reciprical helping
One may help another because the other may return the favor
benefits must outweigh the cost
Bystander-intervention effect
Failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present
4 reasons for Bystander Intervention effect
- Diffusion of responsibility
- fear of social blunders
- Anonymous
- People who weigh two factors
harm risk
benefit risk
Attitude
Peoples evaluation of objects, events, or of ideas
Mere exposure effect
Idea that greater exposure to a stimulus
leads to greater liking for it
Used to seeing self in a mirror
Attitudes are shaped by…..
Classical conditioning: advertising
Operant conditioning: good grades each time you study
Socialization: Caregivers, peers, teachers and religious leaders.
Attitude Accessibility
Ease or difficulty that a person has in retrieving an attitude
Explicit Attitude
you know about and can report to other people
Implicit Attitude
Influence their feelings and behaviors at an unconscious level
form memory faster
Nonverbal behavior
facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms and movements by which one communicates with others
Attributions
Peoples explanation for why events of actions occur
Personal Attributions
Explanations of peoples behavior that refer to their internal characteristics, abilities, traits, moods or efforts
Situational Attributions
Explanation of peoples behavior that refer to external events, such as weather, luck, accidents or other peoples actions
Fundamental attribution error
other peoples behaviors, the tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors.
Actor/observer discrepancy
People focus on situations to explain their own behavior while focusing on dispositions to explain other peoples behavior
Prejudice
Negative feelings, opinions and beliefs associated with a stereotype.
Discrimination
Inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people as a result of prejudice
Modern Racism
subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with the rejection of racist beliefs. Tend to believe that discrimination is no longer a serious problem
Perspective taking
Involves people actively contemplating the psychological experiences of other people
Perspective Giving
People share their experiences of being targets of discrimination
