Socialpsykologi Flashcards
1
Q
Schema
A
A schema is a cognitive structure that allows us to understand and perceive a concept or type of stimulus with only a limited amount of information. It uses previous experience and knowledge to ‘paint a picture’ and is based on concepts and theory; a top-down approach of processing information.
Other definition:
Mental framework that helps us organize and interpret information.
Helps us because:
We remember easier.
Process information faster.
Creates expectations, preparing for what to come.
Facilitates response time and automatic behavior.
Factors that affect schemas:
Salience
Temporary Accessibility
Chronic accessibility
2
Q
Prototype
A
An unspecific abstract representation of a category that captures the essence of said category.
3
Q
Attribution theory
A
A theory regarding how we attribute cause for an event or behavior.
4
Q
Dispositional attribution
A
The cause for a behavior comes from an intrinsic characteristic. A person behaved aggressively because they are intrinsicly aggressive.
5
Q
Situational attribution
A
The cause for a behavior comes from an eliciting trigger in a situation. A person behaved aggressively because they were provoked by something in a situation.
6
Q
Attribution
A
Judgement about the cause of behavior and outcomes
7
Q
Correspondence Bias/ Fundamental attribution error
A
Underestimating the situation’s influence and overattribute the cause to personal charactheristics when explaining people’s behavior.
8
Q
Self-serving bias
A
Tendency to attribute failures or negative behavior to situational factors and success or positive behavior to personal factors.
9
Q
Primacy effect
A
We tend to attach more importance to the initial information we receive about a person.
10
Q
Mental set
A
A readiness to perceive a situation or stimulus in a certain way.
11
Q
Stereotype
A
A generalized belief of a group of people.
12
Q
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A
Based on an erroneous impression, we act a certain way towards others that brings about the expected behavior, effectively confirming our initial impression.
13
Q
Attitude
A
A positive or negative evaluative reaction towards a stimulus, such as a person/object/event
Might have two initial components:
Thought about the object.
Feeling/Affect about the object.
Leads to a mental intention or readiness towards the object.
Third final component is acting on the attitude.
14
Q
Theory of planned behavior
A
Our intention to act in a way is strongest when we have a positive attitude towards the behavior, we feel that norms support that behavior and we feel that behavior is under our control.
15
Q
Factors that affect attitude-guided behavior
A
Whether we are aware of them and whether the attitude and behavior are general or specific.
16
Q
Theory of cognitive dissonance
A
We strive for consistency in our cognitions.
17
Q
Self-perception theory
A
We make inferences about our own attitudes based on our behavior.
18
Q
Persuasion
A
Three factors:
- Communicator - How credibile and believeable we perceive the communicator to be. Two components: expertise and trustworthiness.
- The message: Two-sided refutational approach is better. Makes it seem less biased. Moderate fear provocation with reasonable means to reduce threats is more effective.
- The audience:
Some people appeal to a more direct persuasion route:
Taking in the message and scrutinizing it’s contents.
Others like the peripheral route to persuasion:
Taking in secondary factors such as the communicators qualities and the message’s emotional appeal.
19
Q
Social norms
A
The shared ideas about how we should feel, behave and react. This holds the society together.
20
Q
Social role
A
Consists of a set of rules of how a person should act in social contexts given their social position.
21
Q
Role conflict
A
When our social roles conflict, and we have to act in ways that contradict one role in order to fulfill another.
22
Q
Conformity
A
The adjustment of individual behaviors, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard.
23
Q
Informational social influence
A
Following other’s judgement and behavior because we deem them to be better informed and expert on the issue.
24
Q
Normative social influence
A
Conforming to a group in order to receive the rewards of being accepted and avoiding the consequences of being rejected.
25
Factors that affect conformity
Group size: Increase from 1 to 4/5 members increases conformity. Further increments to group size do not yield more conformity.
Presence of dissenter: If there is someone else that dissents (disagrees) then conformity decreases. This serves as a model to remain independent from the group.
26
Factors that affect obedience
Remoteness of victim. If the victim is further away, obedience is higher.
Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure:
Higher obedience when a perceived expert who is close to us gives us orders.
Diffusion of responsibility: If we experience a lack of responsibility for our actions, we are more obedient.
Personal characteristics: Does not really affect.
27
Norm of reciprocity
When others treat us well, we feel we are expected to do the same.
28
Door in the face technique
Requesting a big favor, then when declined asking for a smaller one.
29
Foot in the door technique
Asking for a small favor and then asking for a bigger on later on.
30
Social loafing / Free Rider effect
The tendency for people to exert less individual effort when working a group compared to alone.
This is because the individuals relax. Also because of diffusion of responsibility. Also because it is unclear what is expected and what the standard is. Also because of different levels of motivation and standard. Also because of anonymity.
Prevented by individual monitoring and by valuing the goals. Also by clearly stating the responsibility, giving roles. Rewarding good contribution clearly. Everyone should know who has done what.
31
Social compensation
Working harder in a group than alone to reach a valued goal in order to compensate for other group member's lower output.
32
Group polarization
When a group of like-minded people discuss an issue their average opinion will be more extreme.
33
Groupthink
Suspending critical thinking in order to strive for agreement. Arises because of a strive for consensus and the evaluation of ideas becomes less important.
Discussing common ideas and further reinforcing them rather than looking for new unique ideas. Meetings reinforce rather than evaluate new ideas.
Isolated
Mindguards
Unity.
Antidotes:
- Impartial leaders
- Discussions and eventual decisions made in subgroups (if all groups come to the same decision, it's a good decision, also smoothes out group polarization)
- Assign an opponent to the group
- Bring in advice from outside experts.
34
Perceiver readiness
What our perception is ready to see. Is based on past experiences, values, goals, memories and needs. The accessibility of our categorization.
If a woman has been around athletics all her life, she might be more prone to make categorizations based on activity level and engage in behavioral processes that align with the category of "physically active woman". If she has had positive experiences with engaging in physical activity with women rather than mixed gender contexts, she might seek out groups of women who are active and also make salient the category of "physically active woman".
35
Mind guards
Self-appointed guards that shield the group from negative incoming information.
36
Deindividuation
People who are in a crowd may experience this phenomena that causes them to lose their sense of individuality and thus leads to disinhibited behavior.
Anonymity to outsiders is a key aspect.
37
Mere exposure effect
Merely seeing a stimulus increases our liking for it.
38
Matching effect
We are more likely to form a relationship with a person that matches our level of attractiveness.
39
Self-disclosure
The sharing of the deepest thoughts and feelings.
40
Social exchange theory
The course of relationships are governed by cost and rewards that the partners experience.
41
Comparison level
The outcome that a person has grown to expect in a relationship. Influences the person's satisfaction with the relationship.
42
Comparison level for alternatives
Focuses on alternatives to the relationship. Affects the person's commitment.
43
Triangular theory of love (Sternberg)
Proposes that love consists of three components:
Passion: Physical attraction and sexual desire
Commitment: Devotion of time and energy
Intimacy: Closeness and sharing
Consummate love is when all three are present.
Nonlove is when all three are absent.
44
Ostracism
Ignoring or excluding someone
45
Prejudice
Refers to a negative attitude towards a person based on their membership of a group.
46
In-group favoritism
Represents the tendency to favor in-group members and attribute more positive qualities to them.
47
Out-group derogation
Tendency to attribute negative qualities to out-group.
48
Self-discrepancy theory
Comparing our actual self to our ideal/ought self. The bigger the difference, the greater the suffering. We are motivated to close this gap.
49
Realistic conflict theory
Competition for scarce resources foster prejudice.
50
Stereotype threat
The fear that we will live up to stereotypes. This fosters a self-consciousness.
51
Kin selection
Organisms are most likely to help others with whom they share the most genes, namely offspring and close relatives.
52
Norm of social responsibility
We should help others and contribute to the welfare of society. Adhering to this norm garners approval, violating the norm leads to disapproval. We eventually internalize and normalize social values and norms as our own.
53
Empathyaltruism hypothesis
We can exhibit true altruism when we empathize with their situation and feel what they are feeling.
54
Diffusion of responsibility
Someone else will assume that responsibility.
55
Bystander effect
The presence of multiple bystanders inhibits our tendency to help, due to social comparison(how are others reacting and responding?)
Also diffusion of responsibility is a cause for bystander effect.
56
Attribution of intentionality
How we react to aggression is partly dependent on whether we perceive the act as something intentional.
57
Looking glass-self
Our knowledge and understanding of our self comes from our ability to gauge how others perceive us. There is a correlation between our self-perception and other's perception of ourselves.
58
Self-concept
Our idea of ourselves constructed from our beliefs and the responses of others towards us.
Includes memories, thoughts, attitudes, social roles and group identities.
59
Elaboration-likelihood model
Ett budskaps effektivitet beror på mottagarens förmåga och motiviation att bearbeta information. (hög: central - låg:perifer)
60
Functions of the self
Organizing function: Stores information about the self and prepares it so that it is ready when needed.
Executive function: The self guides behavior and plans behavior and choices.
A stable self-concept is advantageous as it makes us consistent in our behavior thus enabling social prediction which makes cooperation and social interaction smoother.
61
Self-understanding
Starts at age 2, quite basic at first. Age, gender and interests.
With age our self-concept gets more complex. Through introspection regarding our emotions, attitudes and thoughts we gain deeper knowledge and understanding of who we are and how we function.
Observation of our behavior also aids self-understanding. Important to understand whether our behavior is driven by intrinsic och extrinsic motivators.
Social comparison also aids self-understanding. Aswell as looking at our social network, who we spend time with tells us something about who we are. We compare with our social network.
Attribution model also helps us understand ourselves. If we are consistentently and undistinctively nice to people, we draw the conclusion that we are nice people.
62
Flexibility (self-concept)
We sometimes act a bit different when in a particular context, because we want to act like the people in that context. Not necessarily far from our actual personality, we are just flexible. Some people lack this flexibility.
63
Self-schema and schematic behavior and qualities.
Information and concepts of the self are organized in a self-schema that stores memories about ourselves, our previous experiences and colours future perceptions of the self. The schema then also generalizes our perception of our self on our actions.
There is schematic and non-schematic behavior and quality, that which does and does not characterize us. Some parts of the self are not available to us, other's around us might have those missing pieces.
64
Social identity
The self that is based on societal categories. I am a student, I am a citizen of Sweden etc. Group affiliation is an important aspect of social identities.
Social identity theory and self-categorization theory are central aspects of social psychology.
The social identity is attributed positive and negative qualities depending on which other social group we compare with. The theory claims that we strive for a positive social identity.
65
Self-categorization theory
Describes the cognitions that arise from applying categorization to oneself which in turn results in a process of identifiying with the different groups we categorize ourselves in. Also describes the behaviors that arise as a result of this identification such as conformity, stereotyping, ethnocentricism etc.
According to this theory, we shift between identities based on the social circumstances. Self-perception is partly based on comparisons between our self and our group and other groups. There are different levels of categories, man, woman, student, employed.
Absence of social category results in personal identity. Activation of social category results in categorical behavior. We model our behavior based on other's behavior in category.
66
Ethnocentricism
Evaluating other cultures in comparision with the preconceived notions of what culture should be, based on one self's culture.
67
Social comparison
Comparing the personal identity to other people and social identity with other groups. We find an upper and lower limit in which we fluctuate, sort of like a confidence interval with a mean average in the middle of the interval.
68
Fit
How well a category fits a situation
69
Depersonalization
When we think of ourselves in terms of our social identity.
70
Self-stereotyping
Adopting and internalizing the group stereotype as self-defining.
71
Self-anchoring
Projecting personal charactheristics on the ingroup that we belong to.
72
Dynamic self
Traditionally the self has been considered relatively stable. Although modern research makes a distinction between a stable (core) self and dynamic (superficial) self that is more susceptible to situational effects. The dynamic self might easier be affected by the situation.
73
Self-guide
Mental representations of the ideal self with motivational implications that guide our behavior and are involved in self-regulation.
74
Perceived fit
Corresponds to how well a categorization fits based on the perception of the social circumstances.
Comparative fit: Refers to the difference inside a social category in relation to differences between different social categories. If male and female athletes at a party feel that the category "athlete" is more salient than gender, because non-active males and females are there, they will categorize themselves more as athletes than men and women. This is referred to as a process of meta-contrast.
Normative fit: How well the behaviors displayed of members of a social category align with the stereotype of said category. If they align poorly, the social category may not be salient and thus not activated. If the behavior of the group does however align with the category and one believes themselves to exhibit similar behavior, we might categorize ourselves to that social group.
75
Difference between Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Self-categorization Theory(SCT)
SIT: Is all about "us versus them" (we versus they); including “mechanisms” to increase or stabilize the own status of the in-group --- or to leave it (for a better in-group); hence, "motivational" processes.
SCT: At different times, we perceive ourselves as unique individuals (self-concept) or as members of groups within different levels of abstraction (ingroup-outgroup; superordinate groups). It is this change in self-categorization that determines the individuals’ perceptions, attitudes and behavior. In addition the SCT goes deeper into the cognitive (rather than motivational as within the SIT) processes.
76
Group
Two or more persons that identify with a category and identify interpersonally. Have common goals. Most groups are small 2-6 persons.
Formal and informal groups - workplace and friends are examples of respective classification.
77
Dyad
Two people that interact and identify with each other.
78
Social facilitation
Better performance on automatized and easy tasks when others are present.
Worse performance on unpracticed and harder tasks when others are present. This might be because we feel surveiled and evaluated.
79
Drive
Others presence wakes up up, gives energy, but this might excite us so that we perform worse on harder tasks.
80
Evaluation apprehension
We feel evaluated and we might perform worse.
81
Distraction conflict
Other's presence might distract us and we perform worse.
82
Self-awareness
We become aware of the discrepancy between our actual self and our ideal self. The smaller the discrepancy the better we perform.
83
Group cohesiveness
We stay in groups depending on:
Whether we like the members.
If we feel liked in the group.
Rewards for staying.
Costs of leaving.
Alternatives for the group.
84
Generalized prejudice
If you're prejudent against one group, you tend to be prejudent against other groups, even groups that don't exist.
85
Social dominance theory
Striving for hierarchical group organization.
86
The Authorian Personality
Conventional, authoritive aggression, authoritive submission.
87
Asch's configural model
We evaluate a person based on two central qualities, warmth/coldness and competence This influences our other impressions of the person and our impression of the person in general.
88
Stereotype content model
We evaluate a person based on warmth and competence.
89
Primacy and recency effect
We tend to form impressions of people based on on the first information we receive aswell as the lastest information we received. Primacy is stronger. What we perceive is based on what our current goals are and our perceiver readiness.
90
Actor-Observer Effect
Tillskriva personeffekt till andras beteende och situationseffekt till sitt egna beteende.
91
False consensus effect
Thinking that the own behavior is more common than it is.
92
Ultimate attribution error
Attributing situational effects when outgroups do something positive but person effects when they do something negative.
93
Self-handicapping
Attributing outcome to situational effects when you expect a future failure.
94
Looking glass-self
Our understanding of our self comes from others' perceptions of us.
