Week 15 Flashcards
Need to belong theory
Biologically based need for interpersonal connection
Social comparison theory
We seek to evaluate our abilities & beliefs by comparing them with those of others
Upwards (superiors) and downard (inferiors) social comparison
Fundamental attribution error
When we look at others bahviour, we :
Overestimate the impact of dispositional influences
Underestimate impact of situational influences
When it comes to evaluating our own behaviour, we do the opposite
Just a world hypothesis
belief that people get the outcomes they deserve
- based on the belief that the world is a fair place & therefore good
people experience positive outcomes, and bad people experience
negative outcomes - Helps people feel safe
Conformity
Tendence of people to alter behaviour as a result of group pressure
Social influences on conformity
* Unanimity
* Difference in the wrong answer
* Size of group (5 or 6 is ideal )
Deindividuation
The loss of a persons sense of individuality and the reduction of normal constraints against deviant behaviour
Groupthink
A group decision making style characterized by an excessive tendency among group members to seek concurrence
Emphasis on group unanimity at expense of critical thinking
Name some symptoms of groupthink + treatment
- Illusion of group’s invulnerability = “We can’t possibly fail!”
- Self-censorship –> “I suspect the group leader’s idea is stupid, but I’d better not say anything”
- Mindguards – “oh, you think you know better than the rest of us?”
- Stereotyping of outgroup = they’re all morons”
Treatment: encourage active dissent, appoint a devil’s advocate, consult independent experts, hold follow up meetings
Compliance : Submitting to direct social pressure
Its a behaviour that occurs in response to direct social pressure.
Techniques that are likely to lead to compliance are often used in sales & marketing include
-Foot in the door technique
-Door in the face technique
-Low ball technique
Foot in the door
Door in the face
Foot-in-the-door starts with a small request and moves to a larger one
Door-in-the-face starts with big but then backs off
Agression is..
Any physical or verbal behavior – or deliberate failure to act – that is intended to harm another person or persons (or any
living thing).
Hostile vs. instrumental aggression
Intention is important!
Low ball technique in sales
Starts with low price, then adds on all desirable technique
Obedience : following direct orders
Adherence to instructions from those of higher authority
Essential ingredient in daily lives. for example ; stop lights, parking signs
Problematic when people stop asking why they are behaving as others want them to
Prosocial behaviour defined
Behaviour that benefits another person
Helping : situational influences
People are more likely to help in certain situations
* They cant easily escape
* Victim characteristics
* Good mood
* Positive role models
Why does the bystander effect happen
Five steps to helping in an emergency:
* Notice the event
* Understand that it is an emergency
* Take responsibility
* Know how to help
* Help
Frustration aggression theory and evolutionary theory
Frustration aggression theory: when humans are preventing from achieving an important goal, they become frustrated & aggressive
Evolutionary theory: aggression serves evolutionary function
* Media influences
* Aggressive cues (e.g., aggressive stimuli like a weapon, an aggressive
person’s name…)
* Arousal
* Alcohol & other drugs
* Temperature
culture of honour
A man has the right to kill in order to defend his family and friends
IV: (1) bumped and insulted by a confederate or
(2) passed without incident
DV: testosterone levels, handshake
ABC model of attitudes
Affective, behavioural, cognitive
What does the dual process model say about persuasion
Dual process model says there are 2 pathways to persuading others
* Central route = focuses on
informational content
* Peripheral route = focuses on surface aspects
Peripheral cues
- Perceived credibility
- Attractiveness
- Source expertise
- Humor
- Good ratings
- Endorsement (influencers!!)
What determines route selection ?
Mostly motivation & ability, but also the source, the message and the audience
For example…
* Source speaks clearly + important message + motivated audience à central route
- Source speaks very quickly (too quickly to understand) + message is trivial OR too complex / audience is distracted, in a rush, uninterested
à peripheral route
Source credibility
Appearance of expertise and
trustworthiness can encourage peripheral processing of message
Message characteristics
two sided messages, anecdotes vs statistical evidence
Two-sided messages are more effective than one-sided
**Anecdotes vs. Statistical evidence:
**
Vivid description of a case can have a stronger influence on attitudes than statistics (even when its not representative)
Message characteristics, emotional appeals
- Any type of appeal or
persuasive message that tries to
arouse a specific emotion - Make the consumer feel good,
secure, excited OR fearful,
threatened, guilty - Fear appeals effective when
they provide the audience with
a means to reduce the fear! - Too much fear will evoke a
defense mechanism
Audience characteristics
Who is most easily persuaded?
* Between 18 to 25 in age
* Low self-esteem
* Normal to low intelligence
* Low in NFC
* People trying to make a good impression (self-monitoring)
cognitive dissonance
Unpleasant mental
experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs
* Motivated to reduce or
eliminate it
* Measures of performance
study
prejudice, vs stereotype vs discrmination
Prejudice – a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group. “I hate people who own small white dogs, they make me angry”
- Stereotype – a specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group. “people who own small white dogs are arrogant and obnoxious”
- Discrimination – a negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group. “I would never hire nor become friends with a person if I knew he or she owned a small white dog”
Prejudice (explicit prejudice, implicit prejudice)
A negative evaluation or prejudgement of a group and its members (e.g., racism,sexism, homophobia, ageism, classism, islamophobia, antisemitism…)
Explicit prejudice: negative feelings openly admitted – prejudice that individuals are aware of, can openly express biased beliefs (but can be difficult to measure… why?)
Implicit prejudice: automatic, unconscious in-group preferences – biases that people hold without being fully aware of them! Shaped by socialization & past experiences, making them harder to control
- Measured using tools like Implicit Association Test -
Implicit associations test
IAT detects automatic associations between concepts, like linking “bad” with a specific group
- Uses reaction time in answering as a proxy for strength of association
Dr. Jennifer Eberthardt research on implicit
bias & policing
Black faces are more often associated with criminality,
influencing police decisions.
Shooter Bias: Officers are more likely to mistakenly shoot unarmed Black suspects due to unconscious associations between Black individuals and threats.
Racial disparities – bodycam footage studies
Training and Exposure: Exposure to counter- stereotypical imagery can reduce bias; awareness of
bias can improve police response, but biases often
remain at the unconscious level.
Race-Neutral Policies: “Colorblind” policies can reinforce racial inequalities by failing to address underlying biases.
Impact on Community Trust: Racial disparities in policing erode trust between law enforcement and communities, undermining effectiveness.
Foundations of prejudice
Prejudice is a learned behaviour - stereotypes are learned via parents, school, & mass media!
Observational learning approaches: people’s feelings about members of various groups are shaped by behaviour of their parents, other adults, and peers!
- 3-year-old children already show preferences for members of own race
- Mass media provides information about stereotypes (e.g., Italians as mobsters, Jewish characters as greedy bankers, etc.)
Social identity theory
We use group membership as a source of pride & self-worth
- Groups we belong to furnish us with a sense of self-respect
- Sometimes, to maximize self-esteem, positive aspects of ingroup are inflated, outgroups devalued
- View members of outgroups as inferior to ingroup
- Results in prejudice toward members of groups which we are not a part of
Other explanations… social identiy theory
Neither learning nor social identity theory provide full explanation for stereotyping and prejudice
- Scarce societal resources hypothesis
- when competition exists for jobs, housing, members of majority group may believe that minority groups are hindering their efforts to attain goals, can lead to prejudice
- Human cognitive limitations?
- Scapegoat hypothesis: claim that prejudice arises from a need to blame other groups for our misfortunes
Covert racism
Rainville football broadcast study
* Analyzed live broadcasts of professional football games White players were more often: recipients of sympathy, positive focus, play-related
praise
- Described as perpetrators of aggression and credited with positive cognitive & physical attributes (active, causal agents)
- Black players more often described as: being recipients of aggressive & having a negative, nonprofessional record (e.g., problems in college OR w/ police) (passive objects)
Reducing consequences of prejudice &
discrimination
Increasing contact between the target of stereotyping and the
holder of the stereotype.
1
Making positive values and norms against prejudice more
conspicuous.
2
Providing information about the
objects of stereotyping.
3
Robber’s cave study
Purpose: Studied intergroup conflict & cooperation
Participants: 22 boys (11 years old) at Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma
* Phase 1 – Group Formation: Boys split into two groups (Rattlers & Eagles),
bonded separately
* Phase 2 – Conflict: Competition led to hostility, fights, & in-group favoritism
* Phase 3 – Resolution: Superordinate goals (shared problems) reduced tension & united groups
Key Findings: competition leads to hostility, working together to achieve a common goal promotes friendship!
