Week 23: Social Thinking and People in Groups Flashcards
Groups
3+ people
- shared goals + needs
- permenant - familyy
- temporary - school team
- natural - family
- deliberate - employees
specific social norms in groups
- unwritten rules governing behaviour
- enhance survival/reproduction
- Can facilitate or inhibit various processes
Social Facilitation
Happens when people are working alone
* but in the presence of an audience
Performance is enhanced on simple, well-learned tasks
Diminished on novel, complex tasks
Triplett (1898)
Co-action effect
Cycling: Individual times slower than group times
He observed same thing with kids
reeling in fishing lines
*When people doing the same thing, most people perform faster
Limitation:
Sometimes we do worse in groups than alone
Zajonc (1965)
Dominant Response
Reformulation in terms of facilitation of one’s dominant response
Dominant Response Strong
- anything practiced and really well learned is a dominant response
Dominant Response Weak
- first time learner or less practiced
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Arousal due to mere presence of others affects performance
Dominant Response Strong will make us perform really well in presence of others
Dominant Response Weak will make us even more stressed and perform not well
*Optimal arousal is medium
* high will cause anxiety, stress
* low will cause boredom, sleepiness
Zajonc’s modified Yerkes-
Dodson Law
- Different types of tasks have
different optimal levels of arousal
ORIGINAL YERKES-DODSON LAW
- Optimal arousal actually on lower end when less practiced
- Optimal arousal actually on higher end when more practiced
Ex. Pool players example
- good players got better with audience
- bad players got worse with audience
Evaluation Apprehension - arousal
worried about other people judging our performance
Distraction - arousal
less focus on task, due to other stimuli
Competition - arousal
others doing same task effect our performance
Social Loafing
&
Diminished Performance
Happens when people are working together towards some goal
- The more people in the group, the less each individual contributes
Ringelmann’s (1880s)
research on pulling strength and diminished performance
Mechanism Question
- Coordination loss vs. loss of motivation?
participant pulling rope by themselves
IV - researchers would either be present not pulling rope (pretending to pull) or not present at all
DV - pulling power diminished
Diffusion of evaluation
people think their one individual self has less impact
How to deal with social loafing
monitor each individual output in the group
stats on who aloafs
men more than women
boring less than interesting tasks
strangers more than friends
individualistic cultures vs. collective cultures
Group think
Social cohesion is favoured over factual information
“Go along to get along”
Occurs when group is
- Homogenous
- Isolated from contradictory opinion
- Lead by directive leader
- High stress
- Poor procedures
Results in
- Perception of invulnerability
- Belief in correctness
- Elimination of dissenters
▪ Creates illusion of unanimity
- Self-censorship
- Mindguarding the leader
Titanic Situation
“Even God Himself would not sink this ship”
- Illusion of invulnerability
- Belief in correctness
- Elimination of dissenters (binocular guy continued his job without tool)
- Self-censorship
- Mindguards (people didn’t warn captain of shit going on)
Avoiding group think
- Impartial leadership
- Consulting outside sources
- Creating sub-committees
E.g. “red teaming” - Soliciting anonymous feedback
Group Polarization
“risky shift” phenomenon
- individuals after consulting with group would make more risky or extreme choices
- Enhancement of individual members’ initial
position
Positive (on its own) or negative
E.g. judges took extreme action in 30% of cases
when alone vs. in 65% when in group of 3
Myers & Bishop 1970
Test on Racial prejudice for group polarization
All students filled out racial attitude survey
First time: on their own
Then grouped together with similar scoring people
Second time: racial attitudes measured again
Less prejudice people became EVEN LESS so
More prejudice people became EVEN MORE so
Learning Objectives:
Define social psychology.
Review the history of the field of social psychology and the topics that social psychologists study.
Summarize the principles of social psychology.
Describe and provide examples of the person-situation interaction.
Review the concepts of (a) social norms and (b) cultures.
Kurt Lewin
Father of Social Psychology
*systematically and formally measure the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of human beings
Leon Festinger
Wrote: Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences
stressed the need to measure variables and to use laboratory experiments to systematically test research hypotheses about social behavior.
Adolf Hitler’s role in Social Psychology
Researchers wanted to understand how such extreme obedience and horrendous behaviors in his followers during the Second World War
Philip Zimbardo
Standford Prison Experiment
found that ordinary male college students who were recruited to play the roles of guards and prisoners in a simulated prison became so involved in their assignments, and their interaction became so violent, that the study had to be terminated early
*powerful role of the social situation on human behavior
John Darley and Bibb Latané
model that helped explain when people do and do not help others in need
Leonard Berkowitz
pioneered the study of human aggression.
Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case
helped end racial segregation in U.S. public schools
Leon Festinger’s (1957) important cognitive dissonance theory
when two beliefs are inconsistent, individuals experience negatively arousing cognitive conflict (called dissonance). Because the dissonance is aversive, the individuals try to reduce it by changing one or the other beliefs.
Social Cognition
The study of how people think about the social world.
Social Neuroscience
The study of how our social behavior both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain
Social Psychology
study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them
Define one’s Social Situation
The people with whom we interact every day
Social influence
The process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and through which we change theirs
Person-situation interaction
Kert Lewin
The joint influence of person variables and situational variables
Behavior = f (person, social situation).
Lewin’s equation indicates that the behavior of a given person at any given time is a function of (depends on) both the characteristics of the person and the influence of the social situation.
Social Support
The perception or actuality that we have a social network that can help us in times of need and provide us with a variety of useful resources (e.g., advice, love, money).
social norms
The ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate
culture
A pattern of shared meaning and behavior among a group of people that is passed from one generation to the next.
individualism
Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values.
Western Cuture
Collectivism
Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has toward others.
East Asian Culture
Key take aways of Social Psychology
The history of social psychology includes the study of attitudes, group behavior, altruism and aggression, culture, prejudice, and many other topics.
Social psychologists study real-world problems using a scientific approach.
Thinking about your own interpersonal interactions from the point of view of social psychology can help you better understand and respond to them.
Social psychologists study the person-situation interaction: how characteristics of the person and characteristics of the social situation interact to determine behavior.
Many human social behaviors have been selected by evolutionary adaptation.
The social situation creates social norms—shared ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Cultural differences—for instance, in individualistic versus collectivistic orientations—guide our everyday behavior.
In Social Psychology, the relationship between people and the situation is considered to be:
a. dynamic
b. constant
c. unchanging
d. stable
a. dynamic
Learning Objectives:
Define the concept of attitude and explain why it is of such interest to social psychologists.
Review the variables that determine attitude strength.
Outline the factors affect the strength of the attitude-behavior relationship.
attitude (in social psychology context)
A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.
*Attitudes are evaluations
Ex. your attitude towards something can be either negative or positive
attitude object
A person, a product, or a social group
Heritability of Some Attitudes
Attitude Heritability
Abortion on demand 0.54
Roller coaster rides 0.52
Death penalty for murder 0.5
Open-door immigration 0.46
Organized religion 0.45
Doing athletic activities 0.44
Voluntary euthanasia 0.44
Capitalism 0.39
Playing chess 0.38
Reading books 0.37
Exercising 0.36
Education 0.32
Big parties 0.32
Smoking 0.31
Being the center of attention 0.28
Getting along well with other people 0.28
Wearing clothes that draw attention 0.24
Sweets 0.22
Public speaking 0.2
Castration as punishment for sex crimes 0.17
Loud music 0.11
Looking my best at all times 0.1
Doing crossword puzzles 0.02
Separate roles for men and women 0
Making racial discrimination illegal 0
Playing organized sports 0
Playing bingo 0
Easy access to birth control 0
Being the leader of groups 0
Being assertive 0
Our attitudes are made up of cognitive, affective, and behavioral components.
Example using ice cream
In terms of affect:
I LOVE it!
In terms of behavior:
I frequently eat chocolate ice cream.
In terms of cognitions:
Chocolate ice cream has a smooth texture and a rich, strong taste.
Attitude Strength
The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind
Different components of attitude and individual component contributes to attitude strength
My affect toward chocolate ice cream is positive—I like it a lot. On the other hand, my cognitions are more negative—I know that eating too much ice cream can make me fat and that it is bad for my coronary arteries. And even though I love chocolate ice cream, I don’t eat some every time I get a chance. These inconsistencies among the components of my attitude make it less strong than it would be if all the components lined up together.
ABC’s Affect
Social psychology is based on the ABCs of affect, behavior, and cognition (Figure 1.2 “The ABCs of Affect, Behavior, and Cognition”). In order to effectively maintain and enhance our own lives through successful interaction with others, we rely on these three basic and interrelated human capacities:
Affect (feelings)
Behavior (interactions)
Cognition (thought)
attitude consistancy
For any given attitude object, the ABCs of affect, behavior, and cognition are normally in line with each other
Theory of planned behaviour
Martin Fishbein and Izek Ajzen
The relationship between attitudes and behavior is stronger in certain situations, for certain people and for certain attitudes
BASICALLY, the stronger your attitudes the more predicatable your behaviour when…
When attitudes are strong, rather than weak
When we have a strong intention to perform the behavior
When the attitude and the behavior both occur in similar social situations
When the same components of the attitude (either affect or cognition) are accessible when the attitude is assessed and when the behavior is performed
When the attitudes are measured at a specific, rather than a general, level
For low self-monitors (rather than for high self-monitors)
Attitude-Behavior Consistency
Current cognitive accessibility of the underlying affective and cognitive components of the attitude.
Self- monitoring
Individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust one’s behavior to one’s social environment
high self-monitors
Those who tend to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked
low self-monitors
Those who are less likely to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked
Attitude key take aways
The term attitude refers to our relatively enduring evaluation of an attitude object.
Our attitudes are inherited and also learned through direct and indirect experiences with the attitude objects.
Some attitudes are more likely to be based on beliefs, some more likely to be based on feelings, and some more likely to be based on behaviors.
Strong attitudes are important in the sense that we hold them with confidence, we do not change them very much, and we use them frequently to guide our actions.
Although there is a general consistency between attitudes and behavior, the relationship is stronger in some situations than in others, for some measurements than for others, and for some people than for others.
Learning Objectives
Outline how persuasion is determined by the choice of effective communicators and effective messages.
Review the conditions under which attitudes are best changed using spontaneous versus thoughtful strategies.
Summarize the variables that make us more or less resistant to persuasive appeals.
Being a good persuader
We must first get people’s attention, then send an effective message to them, and then ensure that they process the message in the way we would like them to. Furthermore, to accomplish these goals, persuaders must take into consideration the cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of their methods. Persuaders also must understand how the communication they are presenting relates to the message recipient—his or her motivations, desires, and goals.
*more effective when they help their recipients feel good about themselves—that is, by appealing to self-concern.
Expert communicators
Perceived as trustworthy because they know a lot about the product they are selling
Ex.
- Micheal jordon in basket ball shoes ad
- Race car drivers selling cars
what can make a communicator seem more like an expert?
Taking regular speech and speeding it up by deleting very small segments of it, so that it sounds the same but actually goes faster, makes the same communication more persuasive
the sleeper effect
Attitude change that occurs over time
Ex.
When we first hear that person’s communication we appropriately discount it and it therefore has little influence on our opinions. However, over time there is a tendency to remember the content of a communication to a greater extent than we remember the source of the communication. As a result, we may forget over time to discount the remembered message.
**You know when you tell your friends a fun fact but don’t remember where you got that fact, then later you remember where, and the source was not reliable? yeah same…
Spontaneous attitude change (direct affective response)
vs.
Thoughtful attitude change
Spontaneous attitude change steps:
1. Message
2. Happy listener
3. Attitude change
Thoughtful attitude change steps:
1. Message
2. Cognitive Elaboration
3. Attitude change
Spontaneous processing
Direct, quick, and often involves affective responses to the message
Thougthful processing
Controlled and involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message
Spontaneous message processing
When we accept a persuasion attempt because we focus on whatever is most obvious or enjoyable, without much attention to the message itself.
*More focus on provoking emotion; less on actual content
- Successful advertisers tailor their messages to fit the expected characteristics of their audiences.
Thoughtful message processing
When we think about how the message relates to our own beliefs and goals and involves our careful consideration of whether the persuasion attempt is valid or invalid
*If we can get the listener to process these strong arguments thoughtfully, then the attitude change will likely be strong and long lasting.
Cacioppo, and Goldman (1981)
Message Strength
Source Expertise
Personal Relevance
Message strength. The message contained either strong arguments (persuasive data and statistics about the positive effects of the exams at other universities) or weak arguments(relying only on individual quotations and personal opinions).
Source expertise. The message was supposedly prepared either by an expert source (the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, which was chaired by a professor of education at Princeton University) or by a nonexpert source (a class at a local high school).
Personal relevance. The students were told either that the new exam would begin before they graduated (high personal relevance) or that it would not begin until after they had already graduated (low personal relevance).
Findings:
- high personal relevance less influenced by expertise (i dont care who you are)
- low personal relevance more influenced by expertise (ok, so you’re smort, idc… sure)
- high personal relevance more influenced by message strength (oh shit you kinda valid)
- low personal relevance less influenced by message strength (I DONT GIVE AF bro, I’m already living it up)
Avoiding Persuasion - Forewarning
Giving people a chance to develop a resistance to persuasion by reminding them that they might someday receive a persuasive message, and allowing them to practice how they will respond to influence attempts
Avoiding Persuasion - Inoculation
Building up defenses against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position
Psychological reactance
When persuading to make someone’s attitude stronger be careful; they might rebel; boomerang
A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms.
Ex.
Perhaps you can remember a time when you felt like your parents or someone else who had some power over you put too much pressure on you, and you rebelled against them.
Subliminal Advertising
Occurs when a message, such as an advertisement or another image of a brand, is presented to the consumer without the person being aware that a message has been presented
Persuasion key take aways:
Advertising is effective in changing attitudes, and principles of social psychology can help us understand when and how advertising works.
Social psychologists study which communicators can deliver the most effective messages to which types of message recipients.
Communicators are more effective when they help their recipients feel good about themselves. Attractive, similar, trustworthy, and expert communicators are examples of effective communicators.
Attitude change that occurs over time, particularly when we no longer discount the impact of a low-credibility communicator, is known as the sleeper effect.
The messages that we deliver may be processed either spontaneously or thoughtfully. When we are processing messages only spontaneously, our feelings are more likely to be important, but when we process the message thoughtfully, cognition prevails.
Both thoughtful and spontaneous messages can be effective, in different situations and for different people.
One approach to improving an individual’s ability to resist persuasion is to help the person create a strong attitude. Procedures such as forewarning and inoculation can help increase attitude strength and thus reduce subsequent persuasion.
Taken together, the evidence for the effectiveness of subliminal advertising is weak, and its effects may be limited to only some people and only some conditions.
Although we might use the term in a different way in our everyday life (“Hey, he’s really got an attitude!”), social psychologists reserve the term attitude to refer to our relatively enduring evaluation of something, where the something is called the attitude object. The attitude object might be a person, a product, or a social group (Albarracín, Johnson, & Zanna, 2005; Wood, 2000). In this section we will consider the nature and strength of attitudes and the conditions under which attitudes best predict our behaviors.
Attitudes are:
a. generally positive or negative dispositions.
b. a special type of personality traits.
c. relatively enduring evaluation of something.
d. individual differences in outlooks on life
c. relatively enduring evaluation of something.
“I love dogs!” This statement demonstrates which component of attitudes?
a. Affective.
b. Behavioural.
c. Cognitive.
d. Social
a. Affective.
Jo has a positive attitude toward getting up early to exercise. Even though this attitude is positive, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, unless Jo also has the following, they are less likely to follow through on getting up early to exercise.
a. habits
b. concrete plan for action.
c. intentions.
d. social support
c. intentions.
Which question framing below is likely to elicit a measurement that is most likely to predict behaviour?
a. Do you like eating broccoli?.
b. Do you like eating broccoli for lunch?.
c. Do you like eating broccoli for lunch on a regular basis?.
d. Do you like broccoli?
c. Do you like eating broccoli for lunch on a regular basis?.
Persuasive communicators may have the following characteristics, except:
a. they give gifts.
b. they speak slowly.
c. they are attractive.
d. they make recipients feel good about themselves
b. they speak slowly.
____________ message processing is associated with long lasting attitude change.
thoughtful
Learning Objectives:
Review the evidence that suggests humans have a fundamental need to belong to groups.
Compare the sociometer model of self-esteem to a more traditional view of self-esteem.
Use theories of social facilitation to predict when a group will perform tasks slowly or quickly (e.g., students eating a meal as a group, workers on an assembly line, or a study group).
Summarize the methods used by Latané, Williams, and Harkins to identify the relative impact of social loafing and coordination problems on group performance.
Describe how groups change over time.
Apply the theory of groupthink to a well-known decision-making group, such as the group of advisors responsible for planning the Bay of Pigs operation.
List and discuss the factors that facilitate and impede group performance and decision making.
Develop a list of recommendations that, if followed, would minimize the possibility of groupthink developing in a group.
ostracism
Being excluded and ignored by others.
Ostracism Impacts on these two specific areas of the brain
- dorsal anterior cingulate cortex
- the anterior insula
Areas of the brain are associated with the experience of physical pain sensations
*it literally hurts to be left out of a group
social comparison
Leon Festinger
The process of contrasting one’s personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those of other people.
downward social comparison
In some cases, we also prefer to join with others who are even worse off than we are.
Your test is marked 85%. Do you want to affiliate with a friend who got a 95% or a friend who got a 78%? To maintain a sense of self-worth, people seek out and compare themselves to the less fortunate.
Social Identity Theory
A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’ self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with the group.
Collective self-esteem
Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others and membership in social groups.
Sociometer model
Mark Leary
A conceptual analysis of self-evaluation processes that theorizes self-esteem functions to psychologically monitor of one’s degree of inclusion and exclusion in social groups.
*self-esteem is part of a sociometer that monitors peoples’ relational value in other people’s eyes
Evolutionary Advantages of Group Living
individuals in groups can secure advantages and avoid disadvantages that would plague the lone individuals.
*individuals who carried genes that promoted solitude-seeking were less likely to survive and procreate compared to those with genes that prompted them to join groups
Joiners vs. loners
Norman Triplett - cyclists & group performance
Reel study - competition between children
Social Facilitation
Noticed Cyclists were faster when they competed against other racers than when they raced alone against the clock.
*measured how quickly children turned a fishing reel, he confirmed that children performed slightly better when they played the game in pairs compared to when they played alone
Social Facilitation:
Improvement in task performance that occurs when people work in the presence of other people.
When Solcial facilitation exists and when it doesn’t
Depends on the task: other people facilitate performance when the task is so simple that it requires only dominant responses (something we can do with ease)
But others interfere when the task requires nondominant responses. (something we cannot do with ease)
evaluation apprehension
we feel that our individual performance will be known to others, and those others might judge it negatively
*oh shit I’m being watched
Watchers as a negative distraction
we can lose our ability to concentrate and process information
Social Loafing
Groups, though, tend to be underachievers.
*People carrying out all sorts of physical and mental tasks expend less effort when working in groups, and the larger the group, the more they loaf
coordination loss in social loafing
three-person group is stronger than a single person, but not three times as strong.
teamwork
The process by which members of the team combine their knowledge, skills, abilities, and other resources through a coordinated series of actions to produce an outcome.
two key ingredients to effective teamwork
- Shared mental representation of the task
- Group unity
shared mental model
Knowledge, expectations, conceptualizations, and other cognitive representations that members of a group have in common pertaining to the group and its members, tasks, procedures, and resources.
Group Cohesion
The solidarity or unity of a group resulting from the development of strong and mutual interpersonal bonds among members and group-level forces that unify the group, such as shared commitment to group goals.
Note: performance quality influences cohesion more than cohesion influences performance
Phases of a functioning group (SIMPLE)
Forming phase - the members become oriented toward one another.
Storming phase - the group members find themselves in conflict, and some solution is sought to improve the group environment.
Norming phase - standards for behavior and roles develop that regulate behavior.
Performing phase - the group has reached a point where it can work as a unit to achieve desired goals
Adjourning phase ends the sequence of development; the group disbands.
Group Development Stages and Characteristics
Stage 1 – “Forming”. Members expose information about themselves in polite but tentative interactions. They explore the purposes of the group and gather information about each other’s interests, skills, and personal tendencies.
Stage 2 – “Storming”. Disagreements about procedures and purposes surface, so criticism and conflict increase. Much of the conflict stems from challenges between members who are seeking to increase their status and control in the group.
Stage 3 – “Norming”. Once the group agrees on its goals, procedures, and leadership, norms, roles, and social relationships develop that increase the group’s stability and cohesiveness.
Stage 4 – “Performing”. The group focuses its energies and attention on its goals, displaying higher rates of task-orientation, decision-making, and problem-solving.
Stage 5 – “Adjourning”. The group prepares to disband by completing its tasks, reduces levels of dependency among members, and dealing with any unresolved issues.
Making Decisions in Groups
Groups not only generate more ideas and possible solutions by discussing the problem, but they can also more objectively evaluate the options that they generate during discussion. Before accepting a solution, a group may require that a certain number of people favor it, or that it meets some other standard of acceptability. People generally feel that a group’s decision will be superior to an individual’s decision.
group polarization
The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average of the members’ predeliberation preferences.
Common Knowledge Effect
The tendency for groups to spend more time discussing information that all members know (shared information) and less time examining information that only a few members know (unshared).
hidden profile task
only select members know information for better option but the majority of members will discuss a worse option because of Common Knowledge Effect
Groupthink
Irving Janis (1982)
A set of negative group-level processes, including illusions of invulnerability, self-censorship, and pressures to conform, that occur when highly cohesive groups seek concurrence when making a decision.
*To Janis, groupthink is a disease that infects healthy groups, rendering them inefficient and unproductive.
Irving Janis (1982) four group-level factors that cause groupthink
Cohesion: Groupthink only occurs in cohesive groups. Such groups have many advantages over groups that lack unity. People enjoy their membership much more in cohesive groups, they are less likely to abandon the group, and they work harder in pursuit of the group’s goals. But extreme cohesiveness can be dangerous. When cohesiveness intensifies, members become more likely to accept the goals, decisions, and norms of the group without reservation. Conformity pressures also rise as members become reluctant to say or do anything that goes against the grain of the group, and the number of internal disagreements—necessary for good decision making—decreases.
Isolation. Groupthink groups too often work behind closed doors, keeping out of the limelight. They isolate themselves from outsiders and refuse to modify their beliefs to bring them into line with society’s beliefs. They avoid leaks by maintaining strict confidentiality and working only with people who are members of their group.
Biased leadership. A biased leader who exerts too much authority over group members can increase conformity pressures and railroad decisions. In groupthink groups, the leader determines the agenda for each meeting, sets limits on discussion, and can even decide who will be heard.
Decisional stress. Groupthink becomes more likely when the group is stressed, particularly by time pressures. When groups are stressed they minimize their discomfort by quickly choosing a plan of action with little argument or dissension. Then, through collective discussion, the group members can rationalize their choice by exaggerating the positive consequences, minimizing the possibility of negative outcomes, concentrating on minor details, and overlooking larger issues.
Avoiding group polarization, Common Knowledge effect & groupthink
To avoid polarization, the common knowledge effect, and groupthink, groups should strive to emphasize open inquiry of all sides of the issue while admitting the possibility of failure. The leaders of the group can also do much to limit groupthink by requiring full discussion of pros and cons, appointing devil’s advocates, and breaking the group up into small discussion groups.
To increase his self-esteem Sam chooses to play in a tennis league with players who are less skilled them himself. This is an example of:
Downward Social Comparison
When golfing, Jill plays better when her teammates are watching than when she is by herself. This is an example of:
Social Facilitation
The manager at the movie theater notices that a crew of 4 cleans a theater as quickly as a crew of 6. This is possibly due to ______.
social loafing
fMRI brain scans of people who were excluded from groups showed:
Responses similar to physical pain
An executive board makes a risky decision based on the CEO’s recommendation. ______ occurred because members did not speak out about their concerns.
groupthink
Most of those attending pro-environment rally came away from the rally with an even stronger view on restricting garbage amounts due to the concept:
group polarization
Learning Objectives:
Distinguish prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination.
Distinguish old-fashioned, blatant biases from contemporary, subtle biases.
Understand old-fashioned biases such as social dominance orientation and right-wing. authoritarianism.
Understand subtle, unexamined biases that are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent.
Understand 21st century biases that may break down as identities get more complicated.
emotional prejudice
Prejudice is an evaluation or emotion toward people merely based on their group membership.
mental stereotypes
Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.
behavioural discrimination
Discrimination is behavior that advantages or disadvantages people merely based on their group membership.
Blatant Bias
Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favor their own group.
Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)
Old-Fashioned bias 1
A belief that group hierarchies are inevitable in all societies and are even a good idea to maintain order and stability.
People with a social dominance orientation are more likely to be attracted to certain types of careers, such as law enforcement, that maintain group hierarchies.
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)
Old-Fashioned bias 2
Endorses respect for obedience and authority in the service of group conformity
RWA respects group unity over individual preferences, wanting to maintain group values in the face of differing opinions.
subtle biases
Subtle biases are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, but real in their consequences.
automatic biases
A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient.
Implicit Association Test
An implicit attitude task that assesses a person’s automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.
Social Identity Theory
A theoretical analysis of group processes and intergroup relations that assumes groups influence their members’ self-concepts and self-esteem, particularly when individuals categorize themselves as group members and identify with the group.
For example, if two classes of children want to play on the same soccer field, the classes will come to dislike each other not because of any real, objectionable traits about the other group. The dislike originates from each class’s favoritism toward itself and the fact that only one group can play on the soccer field at a time.
self-categorization theory
Self-categorization theory develops social identity theory’s point that people categorize themselves, along with each other into groups, favoring their own group.
*we tend to favor the groups with people like us and incidentally disfavor the others.
Aversive racism
Aversive racism is unexamined racial bias that the person does not intend and would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact.
stereotype content model
Stereotype Content Model shows that social groups are viewed according to their perceived warmth and competence.
Warmth we feel towards group:
When people learn about a new group, they first want to know if its intentions of the people in this group are for good or ill.
Competence of that group:
After learning the group’s intentions, though, we also want to know whether they are competent enough to act on them
stereotypes and their associated emotional prejudices
High Warmth + Low Competence
Paternalistic & Pity
Ex. Disabled people
Low Warmth + Low Competence
Contemptuous & Disgust
Ex. Homeless people
High Warmth + High Competence
Admiration & Pride
Ex. Students & ingroup members
Low Warmth + High Competence
Envy
Ex. Successful outsiders & wealthy
______is a term for an emotional bias that involves an evaluation of people based merely on their membership in a given group.
a. prejudice
b. discrimination
Prejudice
Bertram is a taxi driver in New York. He feels that businessmen are the biggest tippers. As a result, he does not stop to pick up casually dressed people. Bertram’s behaviors demonstrate ______.
a. social dominance
b. class stratification
a. social dominance
A person who ranks high in ______would emphasize the importance of obedience to authority in the service of group conformity.
RWA - right-wing authoritarianism
______biases are those that are unintended, immediate, and irresistible.
automatic
