Unit 1 Flashcards
What is a group?
bold
A minimum of 2 people who share time and space
(collection of individuals occupying the same space)
What does a social group refer to?
underlined AND bold
a set of individuals who are not only together but who interact with one another in a meaningful way, share common goals, and feel a sense of belonging
What are the 3 key elements of a social group?
Italics
- Social interaction
- common goals
- sense of belonging
-> all of it has to be fulfilled
What is Social interaction?
What does it form?
italics
an actual physical proximity begins to form a web of familiarity
Social Interaction
What is Proximity?
underlined
distance but together
-> we are in same space, we learn about people and become familiar with them
Social interaction
What happens in familiarity?
individuals interact with people they encounter frequently and become familiar with their habits, likes and dislikes
Social interaction
What is the “mere exposure effect”?
people tend to feel more comfortable around those they see regularly
What do Common goals refer to?
italics
people are drawn together not just by coincidence but by a mutual objective that aligns their actions, expectations, and motivations
Common goals
What does a common goal entail for the group?
a psychological contract among the members
-> an understanding that they are working together toward something meaningful
underlined
Common goals
What is particularly interesting in how common goals affect people in groups?
how the groups tend to self-select based on shared values and interest
Common goals
What are people naturally inclined to?
What does it explain?
to associate with those who see the world in a similar way
-> explains why ideological, professional or social groups oten develop strong bonds
Common goals
What do we seek consciously or unconsciously?
What is it known as?
underlined
confirmation, validation and reinforcement from those who align with out perspectives
-> known as similarity
What is a sense of belonging?
italics
perhaps the most essential feature
Sense of belonging
when can a group not thrive even if it has frequent interactions and clear objectives?
bold
when the members do not feel like they are truly part of something bigger than themselves
Sense of belonging
What is the sense of belonging?
deeply emotional
-> difference between feeling like an outsider and feeling at home
Sense of belonging
What does the feeling of unity creates?
loyalty, commitment, emotional investment
Sense of belonging
What is the psychological term for the feeling of unity that creates loyalty, commitment and emotional investments?
underlined
entitativity
underlined
Sense of belonging
What does entitativity refer to?
the extent to which a group is perceived as a single, cohesive entity rather than just a collection of individuals
Explanation in class
What is entitativity?
the degree a group is perceived as cohesive, distinct and unified
-> how much do we belong to a group
-> exam: entitativity is based on…
explainable through members and observers (has to be both)
Sense of belonging
What does entitativity lead to in group dynamics?
to intense connections of an individual to their group, sometimes even prioritizing it over the personal interest of the individual
-> e.g.: military units, fraternities or religious communities
Sense of belonging
what happens if people feel alienated or disconnected from a group?
their motivation to participate declines and they may eventually leave
-> lack of belonging weakens the group structure
What can the history of group psychology be tracked back to (before it was recognized as a science?
philosophy
history of group psychology
who debated fundamental ideas framed within politics and governance about society?
bold
philosophers such as Plato and Aritotle
history of group psychology
What did Plato explore in The Republic?
italics
the idea of a structured society in which individuals performed roles based on their abilities
history of group psychology
What did Plato emphasize in The Republic?
italics
collective harmony over individual desires
history of group psychology
How did Aristotle viewed humans?
what did he argue?
as “political animals”
-> argued that social groups are essential for human flourishing
history of group psychology
Who were 3 big thinkers during the enlightenment (17th - 18th centuries)?
bold
John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes
history of group psychology
What did the 3 main thinkers during the enlightenment debate?
fundamental questions:
-> are people naturally good or evil? What role do social contracts play in maintaining order? And how do groups influence cooperation, power, and governance?
history of group psychology
What did Thomas Hobbes argue about human life would be without social structures?
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short
History of group psychology
What did Thomas Hobbes advocate for?
strong governance to regulate societal interactions
History of group psychology
What did Jean-Jacques Rosseau believe about individuals?
that they are naturally good but corrupted by civilization
History of group psychology
When was the Industrial Revolution?
18th - 19th centuries
History of group psychology
What did the Industrial Revolution transform?
What did those changes spark?
social organization, introducing factories, urban communities, and large-scale institutions
-> sparked new questions about how people adapted to group-based work environments and how industrialization influenced social cohesion
History of group psychology
What remained discussions about group behavior until the mid-19th century largely?
philosophical and sociological
History of group psychology
When did researchers begin to quantify and systematically analyse the influence of groups on individual behavior?
as psychology transitioned into a more experimental discipline
The group fallacy
Who published The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1895)?
Gustave Le Bon
Bold
The group fallacy
What did Gustave Le Bon argue in The Crowd?
that individuals behave differently when they are part of a crowd, experiencing a loss of personal responsibility and heightened emotional responses
The group fallacy
What did Gustave Le Bon introduce with the loss of personal responsibilty observed in crowds?
the concept of deindividuation
The group fallacy
What did Gustave Le Bon’s ideas become?
foundational in understanding crowd psychology
-> crowds take on a life of their own, capable of influencing individuals to act irrationally, emotionally and sometimes destructively
underlined
Crowd psychology
What did Gustave Le Bon’s theory implied?
that people within a group surrender to a “group mind”, a collective consciousness
Crowd psychology
What did Gustave Le Bon’s “group mind”, the collective consciousness became known as?
the group fallacy
bold
The group fallacy
Who challenged and refined Gustave Le Bon’s ideas in the early 20th century?
Floyd Allport (1924)
History of group psychology
What did Floyd Allport argue?
that group behavior is simply the sum of individual actions, not that the group could think, feel or act as a unit
History of group psychology
What did Floyd demonstrate in terms of group behavior being the sum of individual actions?
that even in smaller groups, or merely in the presence of others, an individual’s behavior, decisions and performance could change
History of group psychology
What laid the foundation for later research, which then shifted the discipline from philosophical speculation to empirical science?
Who was responsible?
Floyd Allport’s insistence on studying measurable individual behaviors within a social context
-> reason why he is credited with revolutionizing social psychology
History of group psychology
Who was widely regarded as the father of modern social psychology?
Kurt Lewin
bold
History of group psychology
What did Kurt Lewin do?
he was…
he was instrumental in studying leadership styles and decision-making
History of group psychology
What did Kurt Lewin argue about human behavior?
it cannot be fully understood without considering the social environment in which it occurs and so proposed that psychology should not only study behavior but also seek practical solutions for social problems
History of group psychology
What are the three different types of authority in modern leadership revealed in Kurt Lewin’s experiments?
- Autocratic: fostering obedience, resentment and dependency
- Democratic: encouraging participation and creativity
- Laissez-faire: lack of structure, inefficiency and disengagement
What was the origin of Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments?
the shocking reality that ordinary people participated in atrocities during second world war
What experiment did Solomon Asch conduct?
The Asch Conformity Experiments
-> comparing the length of lines on a chart
What study did Stanley Milram design?
a controversial experiment to study obedience to authority
-> electroshocks up to 450 volts (110V to 240V can lead to death), shocks began at 15V
Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
When did Mr. Wallace start complaining about the pain?
after 120V
-> at 150V he cried
-> at 300V he began banging on the wall
-> at 330V only silence
Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
How many percent of the participants continued all the way to 450 volts even after Mr. Wallace had stopped responding entirely?
65%
Group dynamics
What does the term “dynamics” in group dynamics hints as?
as the constant movement and energy within groups
-> much like the push and pull of unseen forces
Group dynamics
What is Socialization?
underlined
the process by which individuals learn and internalize the norms, roles, and behaviors expected in a group
Group Dynamics
What is every group operating and forming within an environment known as?
the **social world **
bold
Group Dynamics
What do we refer to with the term social world?
bold
to any social structure, cultural norms and collective expectations that evolve with societal changes
-> a constant shifting
Group Dynamics
What is an example for the constant shifting of group dynamics nowadays?
change over past decade with the rise of technology and online learning
Group Dynamics
What does Social cognition represensts?
bold
the way individuals perceive, interpret and respond to the social world
Group Dynamics
what does Cognition involve?
italic
the mental processes we use to acquire, store and process information
Group Dynamics
What is Cognition a consequence of?
where is it particularly present?
something we call social perception or the process of forming impressions of and making inferences about others
-> particularly representative of situations where you meet someone for the first time
bold
Group Dynamics
Is the way we form our impressions of situations always accurate?
no
Group Dynamics
What is a stereotype?
bold
a generalized belief or assumption about groups of people
Group Dynamics
What do stereotypes serve as?
mental shortcuts
-> helping us make sense of the world quickly
Group Dynamics
Are stereotypes negative, positive or neutral?
they can be all
-> but rarely reflect the full complexity of individual behavior
Group Dynamics
What influences do stereotypes have on our perception?
they shape the way we see the world
Group Dynamics
What can stereotypes evolve into?
prejudices
-> more harmful
bold
Group Dynamics
What do prejudices carry?
emotional weight
-> involves negative feelings or attitudes towards a group
Group Dynamics
Where do prejudices often come from?
they are often passed down from one generation to the next
-> sometimes so subtly that we do not even notice the influence
Group Dynamics
What happens when prejudices translate into actions?
they become discrimination
Group Dynamics
What is discrimination?
bold
the unfair treatment of people based on preconceived opinions
Group Dynamics
Are people born prejudiced?
no - it is learned behavior (can be unlearned as well)
