Week 23: Social Thinking and People in Groups Flashcards

Question

Leonard Berkowitz

Answer 1

pioneered the study of human aggression.

Answer 2

helped end racial segregation in U.S. public schools

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

The study of how people think about the social world.

Answer 5

The study of how our social behavior both influences and is influenced by the activities of our brain

Answer 6

study of the dynamic relationship between individuals and the people around them

Answer 7

The people with whom we interact every day

Answer 8

The process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and through which we change theirs

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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).

Answer 11

The ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate

Answer 12

A pattern of shared meaning and behavior among a group of people that is passed from one generation to the next.

Answer 13

Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values. *Western Cuture*

Answer 14

Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has toward others. *East Asian Culture*

Answer 15

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.

Answer 16

a. dynamic

Answer 17

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

Answer 18

A person, a product, or a social group

Answer 19

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

Answer 20

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.

Answer 21

The importance of an attitude, as assessed by how quickly it comes to mind

Answer 22

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.

Answer 23

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)

Answer 24

For any given attitude object, the ABCs of affect, behavior, and cognition are normally in line with each other

Answer 25

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)

Answer 26

Current cognitive accessibility of the underlying affective and cognitive components of the attitude.

Answer 27

Individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust one’s behavior to one’s social environment

Answer 28

Those who tend to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Answer 29

Those who are less likely to attempt to blend into the social situation in order to be liked

Answer 30

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.

Answer 31

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.

Answer 32

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

Answer 33

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

Answer 34

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...

Answer 35

Spontaneous attitude change steps: 1. Message 2. Happy listener 3. Attitude change Thoughtful attitude change steps: 1. Message 2. Cognitive Elaboration 3. Attitude change

Answer 36

Direct, quick, and often involves affective responses to the message

Answer 37

Controlled and involves a more careful cognitive elaboration of the meaning of the message

Answer 38

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.

Answer 39

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.

Answer 40

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)

Answer 41

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

Answer 42

Building up defenses against persuasion by mildly attacking the attitude position

Answer 43

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.

Answer 44

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

Answer 45

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.

Answer 46

c. relatively enduring evaluation of something.

Answer 47

a. Affective.

Answer 48

c. intentions.

Answer 49

c. Do you like eating broccoli for lunch on a regular basis?.

Answer 50

b. they speak slowly.

Answer 51

thoughtful

Answer 52

Being excluded and ignored by others.

Answer 53

1. dorsal anterior cingulate cortex 2. 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

Answer 54

The process of contrasting one’s personal qualities and outcomes, including beliefs, attitudes, values, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences, to those of other people.

Answer 55

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.

Answer 56

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.

Answer 57

Feelings of self-worth that are based on evaluation of relationships with others and membership in social groups.

Answer 58

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

Answer 59

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

Answer 60

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.

Answer 61

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)

Answer 62

we feel that our individual performance will be known to others, and those others might judge it negatively *oh shit I'm being watched

Answer 63

we can lose our ability to concentrate and process information

Answer 64

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

Answer 65

three-person group is stronger than a single person, but not three times as strong.

Answer 66

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.

Answer 67

1. Shared mental representation of the task 2. Group unity

Answer 68

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.

Answer 69

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

Answer 70

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.

Answer 71

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.

Answer 72

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.

Answer 73

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.

Answer 74

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).

Answer 75

only select members know information for better option but the majority of members will discuss a worse option because of Common Knowledge Effect

Answer 76

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.

Answer 77

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.

Answer 78

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.

Answer 79

Downward Social Comparison

Answer 80

Social Facilitation

Answer 81

social loafing

Answer 82

Responses similar to physical pain

Answer 83

groupthink

Answer 84

group polarization

Answer 85

Prejudice is an evaluation or emotion toward people merely based on their group membership.

Answer 86

Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.

Answer 87

Discrimination is behavior that advantages or disadvantages people merely based on their group membership.

Answer 88

Blatant biases are conscious beliefs, feelings, and behavior that people are perfectly willing to admit, are mostly hostile, and openly favor their own group.

Answer 89

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.

Answer 90

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.

Answer 91

Subtle biases are automatic, ambiguous, and ambivalent, but real in their consequences.

Answer 92

A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient.

Answer 93

An implicit attitude task that assesses a person’s automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.

Answer 94

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.

Answer 95

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.

Answer 96

Aversive racism is unexamined racial bias that the person does not intend and would reject, but that avoids inter-racial contact.

Answer 97

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

Answer 98

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

Answer 99

a. social dominance

Answer 100

RWA - right-wing authoritarianism