Week 1 Flashcards
Social comparison types
temporal comparison
social comparison
reference groups
relative deprivation
temporal comparison
we consider the way we are now in relation to how we were in the past
social comparison
evaluate ourselves in relation to others
reference groups
categories of people to which people compare themselves
relative deprivation
the belief that, in comparison to a reference group, one is getting less than is deserved
reciprocity
tendency to respond to others as they have acted towards you
social facilitation
mere presence of other people can improve performance
social interference
presence of other people hurts performance
social loafing
exerting less effort when performing a group task than when performing the same task alone
social identity
the beliefs we hold about the groups to which we belong
social perception
process through which people interpret information about others, draw inferences about them and develop mental representations of them
schemas
influence what we pay attention to and what we ignore (pay more attention to characteristics consistent with schema and ignore those inconsistent)
influence what we remember about people
affect our judgement about other people’s behaviour
self-fulfilling prophecy
our expectations about another person causes us to act in ways that lead the person to behave as we expected
Attribution
explaining the causes of people’s behaviour, including our own
Kelley’s sources of attribution
consensus
consistency
distinctiveness
people are most likely to make internal attributions about an ‘actor’ ‘s behaviour when there is
low consensus, high consistency, low distinctiveness
fundamental attribution error
bias towards over attributing the behaviour of others to internal causes
ultimate attribution error
when out group does something positive we attribute to external factors and negative we attribute to internal
when in group, we do opposite
actor-observer effect
tendency to attribute other people’s behaviour to internal causes while attributing own negative behaviour to external causes
self serving bias
tendency to attribute our successes to internal characteristics while blaming our failures on external causes
success in changing attitude depends on
person communicating the message
content of the message
audience receiving it
elaboration likelihood model
attitude change can be via central or peripheral route
central route
carefully processing and evaluating the content of a message
high elaboration
peripheral route
low elaboration, or processing, of the message and relying on persuasion cues like attractiveness of advertiser
Cognitive dissonance theory
attitude change is driven by efforts to reduce tensions caused by inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviours
Bem’s self perception theory
attitudes can change as people consider their behaviour in certain situations and then infer what their attitude must be
Motivational theories
prejudice against certain groups enhances their sense of secuirty and helps them meet certain personal needs
prejudice especially likely
for people with authoritarianism
Altemeyer: authoritarianism elements
acceptance of conventional or traditional values
willingness to unquestioningly follow the orders of authority figures
inclination to act aggressively towards individuals or groups identified by these authority figures as threatening the values held by one’s in group
cognitive theories
we use schemas and other cognitive shortcuts to organise and make sense out of our social world
learning theories
children pick up prejudices by wathcing others
biopreparedness
kids especially likely to learn to fear people who are strangers or look different from us
conditions for reducing prejudice through contact
members of the two gorups must be of roughly equal social and economic status
school authorities had to promote cooperation
contact had to occur one on one basis
keys to attraction
physical proximity- mere exposure effect
similarity
physical attractiveness- matching hypothesis
Stenberg’s triangular theory
three basic components of love are passion, intimacy and committment
different combinations, different types of love
romantic love
high passion
high intimacy
low commitment
companionate love
high intimacy
high commitment
low passion
consummate love
high all three
most complete and satisfying
duplex theory
stenberg combined his triangular thoery with a new second theory:
love also influenced by degree to which those characteristics fit each partner’s ideal story of love
3 influential factors of conformity
people want to be correct
people want other to like and accept them
conformity may increase a person’s sense of self worth, especially if the group is valued or prestigious
when do people conform?
ambiguity unanimity size of majority Latane's social impact theory minority influence gender
foot in door technique
getting a person to agree to a small request and then gradually presenting larger ones
door in the face technique
begins with a request for a favour that is likely to be denied, then concedes that asking for the initial favour was excessive and substitutes a lesser alternative, which was what the person really wanted in the first place
low ball technique
first obtain a person’s oral commitment, then the cost of fulfilling it is increased
degree of obedience affected by several factors
experimenter status and prestige- expert power and legitimate power
behaviour of other people
behaviour of the learner
personality characteristics
Dollard’s frustration-aggression hypothesis
frustration always leads to some form of aggressive behaviour
Berkowitz’ aversively stimulated aggression theory
stress, rather than frustration, can produce a readiness to act aggressively
then cues in environment associated with aggression will lead to aggressive behaviour
excitation transfer
arousal from one experience like exercise may carry over to an independent situation and cause aggression
environmental psychology
study of the relationship between behaviour and the physical environment
arousal cost-reward theory
attributes people’s behaviour to their efforts to reduce the unpleasant arousal they feel in the face of someone’s needs or suffering
first evaluate the costs associated with helping and not helping
empathy-altruism helping theory
people help others because of empathy with their needs, regardless of costs associated
inclusive fitness
survival of one’s genes in future generations
kin selection
helping a relative survive increases the likelihood that at least some of our genetic characteristics will be passed on to the next generation through the beneficiary’s future reproduction
coaction effect
presence of another individual doing the same task increases task performance
Hovland’s 3 features of attitude change
source
content
characteristics of the audience
hostile aggression
driven by anger and an intent to cause pain
instrumental aggression
goal directed aggression
evolutionary theory
people inherit altruism by inclusive fitness, then kin selection to help others
adaptive conservatism
distrust towards people who are different
in group bias
tendency to favour individuals inside our group relative to members outside out group
out group homogeneity
tendency to view all people outside out group as highly similar and easy to dismiss
pluralistic ignorance
part of bystander effect
assuming that no one in the group perceives things as we do
do not help
fatuous love
high passion
high commitment
low intimacy
