Social Thinking Flashcards
Interpersonal Attraction
what makes people like each other –> is influenced by multiple factors, including physical attractiveness, similarities, self-disclosure, reciprocity, and proximity
What increases physical attractiveness?
Symmetry and proportions close to the golden ratio (when a women’s waist is about 70% the size of her hips)
Self-diclosure
Includes sharing fears, thoughts, and goals with another person and being met with empathy and nonjudgment
Reciprocal liking
We like people who we think like us
Proximity
Being physically close to someone
Attachment
An emotional bond to another person; usually refers to the bond between a child and a caregiver. There are 4 types
What are the 4 types of attachment
Secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized
Secure attachment
Requires a consistent caregiver; the child will show strong preference for the caregiver. Child will be upset at departure of caregiver and will be comforted by the return of the caregiver
Ambivalent attachment
Occurs when a caregiver has an inconsistent response to a child’s distress, sometimes responding appropriately, sometimes neglectful; the child will become distressed when caregiver leaves and is ambivalent when he or she returns
Avoidant Attachment
Occurs when a caregiver has little or no response to a distressed, crying child; the child shows no preference for the caregiver compared to strangers. Child shows little or no distress when caregiver leaves and little or no relief when caregiver returns
Disorganized attachment
Occurs when a caregiver is erratic or abusive; the child shows no clear pattern of behaviour in response to the caregiver’s absence or presence.
Social Support
The perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network
Emotional Support
Includes listening to, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings
Esteem support
Affirms the qualities and skills of the person
Material support
Providing physical or monetary resources to aid a person
Informational support
Providing useful information to a person
Network support
Providing a sense of belonging to a person
Mating System
Describes the way in which a group is organized in terms of sexual behaviour
Monogamy
Consists of exclusive mating relationships
Polygamy
Consists of one member of a sex having multiple exclusive relationships with members of the opposite sex
Promiscuity
Allows a member of one sex to mate with any member of the opposite sex without exclusivity
Mate choice/intersexual selection
The selection of a mate based on attraction and traits
Altruism
A form of helping behaviour in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some personal cost
Inclusive fitness
A measure of an organism’s success in the population –> based on the number of offspring, success in supporting offspring, and ability of offspring to support others
Social perception/social cognition
The way by which we generate impressions about people in our social environment; contains a perceiver, a target, and the situation or social context of the scenario
Implicit personality theory
States that people make assumptions about how different types of people, their traits, and their behaviour are related
Primacy Effect
Refers to when first impressions are more important than subsequent impressions
Recency Effect
When the most recent information we have about an individual is most important in forming our impressions
Reliance on central traits
The tendency to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics that matter to the perceiver
Halo Effect
Cognitive bias in which judgments of an individual’s character can be affected by the overall impression of the individual
Just-world Hypothesis
The tendency of individuals to believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
Self-serving bias/self-serving attributional bias
Individuals will view their own successes as being based on internal factors, while viewing failures as being based on external factors
Attribution theory
Focuses on the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behaviour
Dispositional (internal) causes
Those that relate to the features of the person whose behaviour is being considered, including his or her beliefs, attitudes, and personality characteristics
Situational (external) causes
Related to features of the surroundings or social context, such as threats, money, social norms, and peer pressure.
Fundamental attribution error
The bias towards making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions in regard to the actions of others, especially in negative contexts
Attribute substitution
Occurs when individuals must make judgments that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or heuristic. Attributions are highly influenced by the culture in which one resides
Stereotypes
Occurs when attitudes and impressions are made based on limited and superficial information about a person or a group of individuals
Self-fulfilling prophecy
When stereotypes lead to expectation which creates conditions that lead to confirmation of a stereotype
Stereotype threat
Concern or anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group. THhs may hinder performance, which may actually create a self-fulfilling prophecy
Prejudice
Defined as an irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing prior to an actual experience with that entity
Ethnocentrism
The practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture
Cultural relativism
Refers to the recognition that social groups and cultures should be studied on their own terms
Discrimination
When prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently from others
Individual discrimination
Refers to one person discriminating against a particular person or group
Institutional discrimination
Refers to the discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire institution
Game theory
Attempts to explain decision-making behaviour
Empathy-altruism hypothesis
One explanation for the relationship between empathy and helping behaviour; one individual helps another person when he or she feels empathy for the other person, regardless of the cost
Cooperation
Both the donor and recipient benefit by cooperating
Spite
both the donor and recipient are negatively impacted
Selfishness
Donor benefits while recipient is negatively impacted
Mere exposure/familiarity effect
Says that people prefer stimuli that they have been exposed to more frequently
Cognitive neoassociation model
States that we are more likely to respond to others aggressively whenever we are feeling negative emotions, such as being tired, sick, frustrated, or in pain.
Mate bias
Refers to how choosy members of the species are while choosing a mate; an evolutionary mechanism aimed at increasing the fitness of the species, and include direct and indirect benefits
Direct benefits of mate bias.
Provides advantages to the mate, e.g. material advantages, protection, or emotional support
Indirect benefits of mate bias
Provide advantages to the offspring
5 recognized mechanisms of mate choice
Phenotypic benefits, sensory bias, fisherian/runaway selection, indicator traits, and genetic compatability
Phenotypic benefits
Observable traits that make a potential mate more attractive to the opposite sex
Sensory bias
Development of a trait to match a preexisting preference that exists in the population
Fisherian/runaway selection
A positive feedback mechanism in which a particular trait that has no effect or negative effect on survival becomes more and more exaggerated over time.
Indicator traits
Traits that signify overall good health and well-being of an organism, increasing its attractiveness to mates
Genetic compatability
Creation of mate pairs, that, when combined, have complementary genetics
Evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)
When an ESS is adopted by a given population in a specific environment, natural selection will prevent alternative strategies from arising; object is to become more fit than competitors.
Consistency cues
Refer to the consistent behavior of a person over time. The more regular the behavior, the more we associate that behavior with the motives of the person
Consensus cues
Relate to the extent to which a person’s behavior differs from others. If someone deviates from socially expected behavior, we are likely to form a dispositional attribution about the person’s behavior.
Distinctiveness Cues
Refers to the extent to which a person engages in similar behavior across a series of scenarios. If one’s behaviour varies in different scenarios, we are more likely to form a situational attribution to explain it.
Correspondent inference theory
When an individual unexpectedly performs a behavior that helps or hurts us, we tend to explain the behavior by dispositional attribution.
Actor-observer asymmetry (or bias)
Tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviours while making dispositional attributions for the identical behaviour of others. Results from the self-serving bias (by the actor) and the fundamental attribution error (by the observer).
Do individualist or collectivist cultures tend to make more fundamental attribution errors
Individualist cultures
Match the following:
stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination
with
affective, behavioral, cognitive
Stereotypes are cognitive
Prejudices are affective
Discrimination is behavioral
Stereotype Content Model
Attempts to classify stereotypes with respect to a hypothetical in-group using 2 dimensions: warmth and competence.
Warm groups are those that are not in direct competition with the in-group for resources
Competent groups are those that have high status within society
Paternalistic stereotypes
Those in which the group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed, or ignored. Low status and not competitive
Contemptuous stereotypes
Those in which the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger. Low status and competitive
Envious stereotypes
Those in which the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness, or anger. High status and competitive
Admiration stereotypes
Those in which the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings. High status, not competitive
Propaganda
Common way by which large organizations and political groups attempt to create prejudices in others.
Power
The ability of people or groups to achieve their goals despite any obstacles, and their ability to control resources
Prestige
The level of respect shown to a person by others
Class
Refers to socioeconomic status
