Ch 13: Social Psychology Flashcards
What do social psychologists focus on?
The social influences explain why the same person acts differently depending on the situation.
What is Heider’s attribution theory?
We can attribute one’s behaviour to stable, enduring traits (DISPOSITIONAL ATTRIBUTION), or to the situation (SITUATIONAL ATTRIBUTION).
What is the fundamental attribution error?
We tend to overestimate the influence of personality, underestimate the influence of situations.
We assume that a person’s behaviour is CAUSED by personality.
What factors affect our attributions?
Our culture!
Individualist westerners more often attribute behaviour to people’s personal traits, whereas East Asian cultures are more situation-sensitive.
The assigned role and the given situation: Professors seem less professorial outside of their assigned roles.
Explaining our own behaviour, and those of people we know well.
In those cases, we seem to put more weight on the situation than on the individual.
What are the consequences of our attributions?
They help us decide how we perceive a person and a situation.
They explain how we view social and economic issues.
What are attitudes?
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose our reactions to objects, people, events.
Attitude and actions form a __-way road.
Two-way road. Attitudes affect our actions; our actions affect our attitudes.
What are the two forms of persuasion?
PERIPHERAL ROUTE PERSUASION
- Doesn’t engage systematic thinking
- Produces fast results: Responsiveness to uninformative cues (celebrity endorsement) = Making snap judgments
CENTRAL ROUTE PERSUASION
- Offers evidence and arguments
- Goal = Trigger favourable thoughts
- Occurs when people are analytical, involved in the issue
- More thoughtful, less superficial
- More durable
What other factors can influence our behaviour and weaken the attitude-behaviour connection?
External pressure – Strong social pressures.
When is the attitude-behaviour connection strongest?
- Minimal external influences
- Stable attitude, specific to the behaviour, easily recalled
What phenomenon displays how actions affect attitudes?
The foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
What is the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
Doing becomes believing!
What effect does role-playing have on our attitudes?
When adopting a new role, you strive to follow the social prescriptions.
At first, it may seem like you are acting the role, but soon enough, it becomes you.
In other words, role-playing morphs into real life.
However, the extent of the effect depends on the individual.
Define: Role
Set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
What is the cognitive dissonance theory?
We act to reduce the dissonance (discomfort) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent.
When we become aware that our attitudes and actions clash, we reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
What is an important implication of the attitudes-follow-behaviour principle?
While we cannot directly control all of our feelings, we can influence them by altering our behaviour. What we do, we become!
Changing behaviour = Changing our thoughts and feelings
What is the chameleon effect?
Humans are natural mimics, unconsciously imitating others’ expressions, postures, voice tones.
Why do humans experience automatic mimicry?
It helps us EMPATHIZE, feel what others are feeling = MOOD LINKAGE, sharing of moods.
What is conformity?
Adjusting our behaviour or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
What are two subtle types of conformity?
Suggestibility and mimicry.
When are we more likely to conform?
- Made to feel incompetent/insecure
- Group with 3+ people
- Group in which everyone else agrees
- Admire group’s status, attractiveness
- No prior commitment to any response
- Know that others in the group will our behaviour
- Culture encouraging respect for social standards
What is normative social influence?
Our tendency to conform to avoid rejection, or to gain social approval.
Our sensitivity to social norms - understood rules for accepted & expected behaviour - because we want to belong.
Why do we conform?
- Avoid rejection
- Gain social approval
- Want to be accuracy
What is informational social influence?
Accepting others’ opinion about reality
Is conformity good or bad?
That depends on our culturally-influenced values!
Westerners prize individualism, while Asian, African, Latin American countries value the honouring of group standards = Higher conformity rates.
What was Milgram’s obedience experiment?
As a teacher, you test the learner on a list of paired words. When the learner gives a wrong answer, you deliver a brief electric shock. With each succeeding error, you move to a higher voltage.
The learner starts crying out, but you still obey the experimenter’s assistance to continue.
In sum, most participants continued to obey to the end.
When is obedience highest?
- The person giving the orders is close at hand and perceived to be a legitimate authority figure.
- The authority figure is supported by a prestigious institution.
- The victim is personalized, at a distance.
- There are no role models for defiance.
What dilemma did participants in Milgram’s obedience experiments face?
Do I adhere to my own standards, or do I respond to others?
What do Milgram’s experiments demonstrate?
Strong social influences can make people conform to falsehoods, or capitulate to cruelty.
Does the foot-in-the-door phenomenon apply to obedience?
Yes! After the initial acts of compliance or resistance, attitudes begin to follow and justify behaviour = People succumbing gradually.
What is social facilitation?
Strengthened performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others, while diminished performance on tougher tasks, in the presence of others.
How does social facilitation work?
When people observe us, we become aroused, which amplifies our most likely response.
What is social loafing?
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal, than when held individually accountable.
What is deindividuation?
The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
What causes social loafing?
- People feel less accountable when part of a group
- Group members view their individual contributions as dispensable
- People may free ride on others’ efforts when they share equally the benefits regardless of their level of contribution
What is group polarization?
The beliefs and attitudes we bring to a group grow stronger as we discuss them with like-minded others.
What are the possibilities within the polarization of virtual groups?
People can virtually isolate themselves from those with different perspectives, which can be more intense than real-life polarization.
Internet-as-a-social-amplifier: It connects and magnifies the inclinations of like-minded people.
What is groupthink?
The mode of thinking occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.
No one speaks strongly against the idea? Everyone supposes the support is unanimous.
What are the two types of control that interact with one another?
Social control - the power of the situation
Personal control - the power of the individual
What is the importance of the power of individuals?
Committed individuals can sway the majority and make social history!
What is minority influence?
The power of one or two individuals to sway majorities.
Why is minority influence important?
Even when not yet visible, people may privately develop sympathy for the minority position, and rethink their views.
What is prejudice?
An unjustifiable and typically negative attitude towards a group and its members.
What are the three parts of prejudice?
Beliefs - Stereotypes
Emotions
Predispositions to action
Are stereotypes fully accurate?
No! They can be partly accurate, however, they can also exaggerate and bias behaviour.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice is a negative ATTITUDE, while discrimination is a negative BEHAVIOUR.
What are the two types of prejudice?
Explicit (overt)
Implicit (automatic)
How has ethnic prejudice changed over time?
While explicit ethnic prejudice wanes, subtle ethnic prejudice lingers.
Prejudice can not only be subtle, but also _______ and ________.
Automatic and unconscious = Unthinking knee-jerk response.
What are implicit racial associations?
People who deny harbouring racial prejudice may still carry negative associations.