Social Psychology - Definitions Flashcards
Important Definitions for Social Psychology - AS Level Edexcel Psychology.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Discrimination
An action that occurs because of prejudice.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Compliance
Going along with what someone says although you might not agree.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Agency Theory
Proposed by Milgram (1964).
Our tendency to obey people in authority is a way of maintaining a stable society.
In order to live in complex society we need social rules.
Sticking to these rules means that, at least some of the time, we have to give up some of our free-will.
In order to accomplish this, we have developed 2 psychological states:
- Autonomous State - individuals make decision based on their own free-will.
- Agentic State - individuals give up their own responsibility and conscience, deferring to those of higher status. Serve the society as agents for those in authority.
The diffusion of responsibility means that the person no longer monitors their own behaviour.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Moral Strain
Distress which occurs when you do something you believe to be immoral in order to function as an agent of authority and to benefit society.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Prejudice
A fixed, pre-set attitude (usually negative) applied towards a group which causes formation of an opinion.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Social Identity Theory
Proposed by Tajfel and Turner (1979).
Prejudice comes from the formation of 2 groups. Existence of groups causes conflict.
Social identity comes from how people see themselves in relation to membership in social group.
- Social categorisation - identifying self as a member of a group; take on a group identity, “us.”
- Social identification - a process wherein a person strongly identifies himself/herself as a member of a group that he/she adopts its ideas, beliefs and habits - actions are motivated by in-group (shared attitudes).
- Social comparison - negatively juding out-group helps individual gain self-esteem and superiority; compare with out-group and see your group as better than out-group.
Prejudice and discrimination can arise from genuine competition or can be to release emotional stress.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Stereotyping
Developing an idea about someone and carrying that idea forward to apply it to other similar people.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Conforming
Doing something against your own inclinations by adjusting your own behaviour to match the behaviour of another.
What does it mean? Or what is it?
Obedience
A type of social influence and the tendency to follow rules or orders given by an authority figure.
