T5 - Social Influence Flashcards
What is conformity?
A change, either conscious or unconscious, in our opinions or behaviour to fit in with social norms or as the result of perceived group pressure
What is social influence?
A term describing how other people can affect our opinions, feelings and actions. Conformity and obedience are examples of this.
What is informational social influence?
A change in our opinions or behaviour because we think other people have superior knowledge to us. (Conformity because of a need to be right)
What is normative social influence?
A change in our behaviour or opinions because we want to fit in and be accepted by others (Conformity because of a need to be liked by others)
What are social factors?
Explanations in terms of external events, like the world around you, your friends and where you live
What are dispositional factors?
Explanations of behaviour in terms of individual or personal characteristics, like someone’s temperament
What is obedience?
A type of social influence that causes a person to follow orders from a figure with perceived authority
What is agency?
The responsibility we feel for our own actions
What is an agentic state?
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure (i.e. acting as their agent), and so we are freed from the demands of our conscience.
What is an autonomous state?
A mental state where we are aware of the consequences of our own actions and, as a result, take voluntary control of our own behaviour
What is authority?
When a person is perceived to have the right and the power to give orders and expect obedience
What is an authoritarian personality?
An obedient personality type, where people with it are especially susceptible to obeying people in authority
What is prosocial behaviour?
When people act in a way that is beneficial to other people in society
What is bystander behaviour?
The way in which someone responds when they witness someone in need of help
What is bystander intervention?
When a person who witnesses a person in need offers help
What is bystander apathy?
When a person who witnesses a person in need of help does nothing/ doesn’t offer help
What is the diffusion of responsibility?
When we feel less personally responsible to help someone in need due to the number of bystanders present, because of their potential to help as well. More bystanders = responsibility shared between more people
What is collective behaviour?
The way in which people act when they are part of a group
What is a crowd?
A large but temporary gathering of people with a common focus
What is antisocial behaviour?
When people act in a way that is harmful to others or not in a socially acceptable way
What is social loafing?
When people put in less effort into doing something when they are with others doing the same thing at the same time as opposed to when they are doing it themselves
What is deindividuation?
The state of losing our personal sense of individuality, taking on the group identity of the people around us and becoming less aware of our own responsibility for our actions
What is a locus of control? + both types?
The sense we have about what directs events in our lives. There are two kinds: internal (believe they are responsible for and can control what happens to them) and external (believe that factors outside of their control affect what happens to them)
