Chapter 12 - Social psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Social brain hypothesis

A

Humans belong to the order primates, which includes great apes and monkeys

According to the social brain hypothesis, brain hypothesis, primates have large brains in particular, large prefrontal cortices because they live in complex social groups that change over time

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2
Q

People are especially likely to organise themselves into groups when two conditions are met. What are they?

A

Reciprocity

Transitivity

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3
Q

Reciprocity

A

Meaning that people treat others as others treat them

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4
Q

Transitivity

A

Pople generally share their friends’ opinions of other people

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5
Q

Outgroup homogeneity effect

A

The tendency to view outgroup members as less varied than in-group members

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6
Q

Social identity theory

A

The idea that in-groups consists of individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category and experience pride through their groups membership

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7
Q

In-group favouritism

A

The tendency for people to evaluate favourably and privilege members of the in-group more than members of the outgroup

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8
Q

Minimal group paradigm example

A

Turner (1979) randomly assigned volunteers to two groups using meaningless criteria such as flipping a coin

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9
Q

Why do people favour members of their own groups?

A

One possibility is that people who work together to keep resources within a group and deny resources to outgroup members have a selective advantage over these two are willing to share with outgroup

Another possibility is that group membership is as important to us that we are willing to hurt people in outgroups as a way of signalling how much we value the people in our in-group

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10
Q

Brain activity associated with thinking about other people

A

The middle region of the prefrontal cortex, called the medial prefrontal cortex, is important for thinking about other people

Thinking about them generally or specifically, whether they are in in-groups or outgroups

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11
Q

When is the medial prefrontal cortex less active?

A

When people consider members of out-groups, at least members of extreme out-groups such as people who are homeless or drug addicts

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12
Q

Explanation for differences in the medial prefrontal cortex brain activity

A

One explanation for these differences in brain activity is that people see in-group members as more human than outgroup members

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13
Q

Risky shift effect

A

Group often make riskier decisions than individuals do

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14
Q

Group polarisation

A

The process by which initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time

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15
Q

Groupthink

A

The tendency of a group to make a bad decision as a result of preserving the group and maintaining its cohesiveness

Especially likely when the group is under intense pressure, is facing external threats, and is biased in a particular direction

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16
Q

How to prevent groupthink

A

Leaders must refrain from expressing their opinions too strongly at the beginning of discussions

The group should be encouraged to consider alternative ideas, either by having someone play devil’s advocate or by purposefully examining outside opinions

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17
Q

What does Zajonc’s model predict?

A

That social facilitation can either improve or impact performance. The change depends on whether the response that is required in a situation is the individual’s dominant response.

If the required response is easy or well learned, so that the dominant reponse is good performance, the presence of others will enhance performance. If the required response is novel or less well learned, so that the dominant response is poor performance, the presence of others will further impair performance

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18
Q

Social facilitation

A

The idea that the presence of others generally enhances performance

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19
Q

Social loafing

A

The tendency for people to work less hard in a group than when working alone

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20
Q

Deindividuation

A

A state of reduced individuality, reduced self awareness, and reduced attention to personal standards

This phenomenon may occur when people are part of a group

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21
Q

Individuated

A

We walk around with a sense of ourselves as individuals who are responsible for our own actions

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22
Q

Conformity

A

The altering of one’s behaviours and opinions to match those of other people or to match other poles expectations

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23
Q

Normative influence

A

The tendency for people to conform in order to fit in with the group

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24
Q

Informational influence

A

The tendency for people to conform when they assume that the behaviour of others presents the correct way to respond

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25
Q

Social norms

A

Expected standards of conduct that influence behaviour

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26
Q

What are the factors that reduce conformity according to Asch and other researchers?

A

When there are only one or two confederates, a naive participant usually does not conform

Asch found that lack of consensus is another factor that diminishes conformity

The social and cultural context also plays a role in conformity

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27
Q

What situations did Milgram find that produced less obedience?

A

If a teacher could see or had to touch the learner, obedience decreased

The the experimenter gave the orders on the telephone and thus was not physically present and visible, obedience dropped dramatically

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28
Q

What situations produced maximum obedience?

A

The the shock level increase slowly and sequentially

When the victim starts protesting later in the study

When the orders help justify continuing with the study

When the study is conducted at a high status school

When experimenters might be viewed as being more authoritative

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29
Q

Aggression

A

Any behaviour that involves the intuition to harm another

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30
Q

When is aggression likely?

A

By observational learning and exposure to media violence

When people feel socially rejected

Heat

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31
Q

Biological factor to aggression

A

One biological factor is the hormone testosterone, which has a modest correlation with aggression

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32
Q

Why might testosterone potentially increase aggression?

A

Because it reduces the activity of brain circuits that control impulses

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33
Q

What have studies found on the role of testosterone on aggression?

A

Testosterone might not play a direct role in aggression but rather might be related to social dominance, the result of having greater power and status

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34
Q

What has evidence shown about serotonin and aggression?

A

That serotonin is especially important in the regulation of aggressive behaviour

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35
Q

What does serotonin do to increase aggression?

A

Alterations in serotonin activity increase the amygdala response to threat and interfere with the prefrontal cortex’s control over aggressive impulses

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36
Q

What has genetic research found affects aggression?

A

MAOA gene

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37
Q

What does the MAOA gene do?

A

Control the amount of MAO, an enzyme that regulates the activity of neurotransmitters including serotonin and norepinephrine

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38
Q

It is important to know that MAOA does not cause violence. What does it do instead?

A

The long running effect of having one form of the gene versus another increases a person’s susceptibility to environmental risk factors associated with impulsive or antisocial behaviours

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39
Q

How can societal and cultural changes affect aggression?

A

By a collective shift in expectations and beliefs about aggression and its consequences

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40
Q

Why might some cultures be violent

A

They have a culture of honour

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41
Q

Phase 1 of sherif’s study of competition and cooperation

A

During Phase 1 of Sherif’s study, boys from the two summer camps were pitted against each other and become hostile

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42
Q

Phase 2 of Sherif’s study

A

During phase 2, the two groups had to work together to achieve common goals.

The shared goals led to cooperation and a reduction of hostility between the groups

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43
Q

What contact between groups can reduce hostility?

A

Superodinate goals

Goals that require people to cooperate and reduce hostility between groups

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44
Q

Prosocial behaviours

A

Actions that benefit others, such as doing favours or helping

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45
Q

Why are humans prosocial?

A

One suggestion is that prosocial behaviours are motivated by empathy, in which people share other people’s emotions

Another suggestion is that most prodigal behaviours have selfish motives such as wanting to manage one’s public image or relieve one’s negative mood

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46
Q

Altruism

A

Providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so

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47
Q

Inclusive fitness

A

An explanation for altruism that focuses on the adaptive benefit of transmitting genes, such as through kin selection, rather than focusing on individual survival

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48
Q

Kin selection

A

When your family members thrive, at least some of our genes survive

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49
Q

Reciprocal helping

A

One animal helps another because the other may return the favour in the future

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50
Q

Bystander intervention effect

A

The failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present

51
Q

Reason for bystander intervention effect

A

Diffusion of responsibility

Social blunders

Anonymous

People weigh two factors: how much harm do they risk to themselves by helping? What benefits might they have to forgo if they help?

52
Q

Attitudes

A

People’s evaluations of other people, objects, events, or ideas

53
Q

Mere exposure effect

A

The idea that greater exposure to a stimulus leads to greater liking for it

54
Q

Advertisers often use classical conditioning. What is it?

A

When people see a celebrity paired with a product they tend to develop more positive attitudes about the product

55
Q

What leads to more predictive behaviour?

A

The stronger and more personally relevant the attitude

The more specific the attitude, the more predictive it is of behaviour

How quickly your attitude come to mind. Attitude accessibility.

56
Q

Attitude accessibility

A

Refers to the ease or difficulty that a person has in retrieving an attitude from memory

57
Q

Explicit attitudes

A

Those you know about and can report to someone else

58
Q

Implicit attitudes

A

Attitudes that influence a person’s feelings and behaviour at an unconscious level

59
Q

How do people access implicit attitudes?

A

With little conscious effort or control

60
Q

What is a method to assess implicit attitudes

A

A reaction time task called the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

61
Q

What does the IAT measure?

A

How quickly a person associates concepts or objects with positive or negative words

62
Q

Why is IAT controversial?

A

Question of reliability and stability of IAT scores

63
Q

How do people reduce dissonance?

A

By changing their attitudes or behaviours

Another option is to rationalise or trivialise the discrepancies

64
Q

Findings of dissonance study

A

One way to get people to change their attitudes is to change their behaviours first, using as few incentives as people

65
Q

What happened when participants were paid only 1$ in dissonance study?

A

Participants who were paid only one dollar to mislead a fellow participant experienced cognitive dissonance. This dissonance led to them to alter their attitudes about how pleasurable the task had been

66
Q

Effect of hazing on dissonance

A

People experience a great deal of dissonance when they put themselves through pain, embarrassment, or discomfort to join a group

67
Q

According to the cognitive dissonance theory, dissonance can arise when

A

A person holds positive attitudes about different options but chooses one of the options anyway

68
Q

Postdecisional dissonance causes what, example?

A

Influences a person to focus on the chosen school’s positive aspects and the other schools’ negative aspects

69
Q

Persuasion

A

The active and conscious effort to change an attitude through the transmission of a message

70
Q

What are the various factors that affect persuasiveness of a message?

A

The source

The content

The receiver

Receivers also find people who are similar to themselves to be more credible and persuasive sources

71
Q

What do advertisers also use for persuasiveness?

A

Use the mere exposure effect

Repeating the message over and over in the hope that multiple exposures will lead to increased persuasiveness

72
Q

Elaboration likelihood model

A

The idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in either of two ways:

Via the central route

Via the peripheral route

73
Q

Central route

A

When people are motivated and able to process information

People are paying attention to the arguments, considering all the information, and using rational cognitive processes

74
Q

Peripheral route

A

When people are tired not motivated to process information or unable to process it

People minimally process the message

75
Q

Compliance

A

The tendency to agree to do things requested by others

76
Q

What are the factors that increase compliance?

A

A person in a good mood

Receiving a request

Comply with a request that is justified by a reason

77
Q

Foot in the door

A

If you agree to a small request, you are more likely to comply with a large request

78
Q

Door in the face

A

If you refuse a large request, you are more likely to comply with a smaller request

79
Q

Low balling

A

When you agree to buy a product for a certain price, you are likely to comply with a request to pay more for the product

80
Q

What is key for us to do as social animals on judging others?

A

Identifying people who are and are not trustworthy is key to our survival as social animals

81
Q

Nonverbal behaviour

A

The facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms, and movements by which one communicates with others

82
Q

Attributions

A

People’s explanations for why events or actions occur

83
Q

Personal attributions

A

Explanations of people’s behaviour that refer to their internal characteristics, such as abilities traits, moods, or efforts.

84
Q

Situational attributions

A

Explanations of people’s behaviour that refer to external events

85
Q

Examples of situational attributions

A

Weather

Luck

Accidents

86
Q

Fundamental attribution error

A

In explaining other people’s behaviour, the tendency to overemphasise personality traits and underestimate situational factors

87
Q

Correspondence bias

A

Focusing on the beliefs and dispositions that correspond with a behaviour while neglecting other factors

88
Q

Actor/observer discrepancy

A

The tendency to focus on situations to explain one’s own behaviour but to focus on dispositions to explain other people’s behaviour

89
Q

Difference between Easterners and Westerners

A

Easterners are more likely than Westerners to take situational forces into account, they do still tend to favour personal information over situational information when making attributions about others

90
Q

Subtyping

A

When people encounter someone who does not fit a stereotype, they put that person in a special category rather than changing the stereotype

91
Q

Illusory correlations

A

Example of the psychological reasoning error of seeing relationships that do not exist

92
Q

Prejudice

A

Negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype

93
Q

Discrimination

A

The differential treatment of people as a result of prejudice against their group

94
Q

Why do stereotypes so often lead to prejudice and discrimination?

A

Together, social identity theory and the idea that individuals’ survival is depends on their group obtaining scarce resources lead to the prediction that people might feel threatened by anything that favours the outgroup at the expense of the ingroup

95
Q

Modern racism

A

Subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with the rejection of racist beliefs

96
Q

When do people discriminate less towards the out group

A

When they have common goals

Explicit training about stereotypes can also reduce prejudice

97
Q

Stereotype threat

A

Fear or concern about confirming negative stereotypes related to one’s own group, which in turn impairs performance on a task

98
Q

Study on stereotype threat findings

A

Demonstrate the power of social and cultural stereotypes to create or alleviate the effects of stereotype threat on individual performance

99
Q

Students are protected from stereotype threat when

A

They engage in self affirmation by writing about important personal values or read about a black role model who is successful in the stereotyped domain

100
Q

What mental strategies can reduce the effect of prejudice

A

Reframing

Self labeling

Can reduce the effects of prejudice by helping the target think about the situation in a different way

101
Q

Reframing

A

Involves taking a negative stereotype and transforming it from a weakness into a strength

102
Q

Self labeling

A

Involves embracing the very slurs used against you.

Taking ownership of the slur can provide a sense of power to those who are stigmatised

103
Q

Perspective taking

A

Means activity contemplating the psychological experiences of other people

Such contemplation can reduce racial bias and stereotyping and help smooth potentially awkward interracial interactions

104
Q

Proximity

A

Simply means how often people come into contact with each other because they are physically nearby

105
Q

Neophobia

A

Because of the mere exposure effect, people tend to like things they are exposed to repeatedly

In fact, humans generally fear anything novel

106
Q

Matching principle

A

The most successful romantic couples also tend to be the most physically similar

107
Q

What are the least desirable characteristics in relationships?

A

Dishonesty

Insincerity

Lack of personal warmth

108
Q

What are the most desirable characteristics in relationships?

A

Kind

Dependable

Trustworthy

109
Q

What are the two fundamental dimensions that characteristics fall along into?

A

Warmth

Competence

110
Q

What might be attractive in trading partners?

A

Trustworthiness

111
Q

What might be attractive in friends?

A

Culturally determined causes of social status or likability

112
Q

What did a study find on the effect of testosterone on a men’s faces?

A

Found that men with the highest levels of testosterone had faces with a higher width to height ratio

113
Q

Why do people find symmetrical faces more attractive than asymmetrical ones?

A

This preference is thought to be adaptive because people use symmetry to evaluate health

114
Q

‘What is beautiful is good’ stereotype

A

The belief that attractive people are superior in most ways

115
Q

Passionate love

A

A state of intense longing and desire

116
Q

Companionate love

A

A strong commitment based on friendship, trust, respect, and intimacy

117
Q

Attachment theory

A

Romantic relationship are likely to vary depending on attachment

118
Q

What are the four interpersonal styles that typically lead couples to discord and dissolution

A

Being overly critical

Holding the partner in contempt (eg: lacking respect)

Being defensive

Mentally withdrawing from the relationship

119
Q

Capitalisation

A

Couples that deliver criticism lightly and with compassion when things go wrong, whereas they revel in each other’s successes when things go right

120
Q

Attributional style

A

How one partner explained the other’s behaviour

121
Q

How do happy couples differ from unhappy couples in attributional styles?

A

They overlook bad behaviour or respond constructively

This is known as accommodation

122
Q

Study on attributional style and accommodation

A

The people with the most positively biased views of their partners were more likely to still be in relationships with their partners several months later than were those people with unbiased views of their partners

123
Q

Social blunders

A

Some degree of ambiguity, and people may be worried that they would look foolish if they sought help that was not needed