HYS - CH8.1 Group Psychology Flashcards
CH8.1: social processes, attitudes, behaviors (27 cards)
Michelangelo phenomenon
The concept of self is made up of both the intrapersonal self, the ideas that individuals have regarding their own abilities, traits, and beliefs, and the interpersonal self, the manner in which others influence creation of the ideal self. In the Michaelangelo phenomenon, a close relationship between two individuals ‘sculpts’ both individuals’ skills and traits. This development occurs because of each individual’s perceptions of the other, and their behaviors in response to one another.
social action (first studied by Max Weber)
which he defined as actions and behaviors that individuals are performing or modulating because others are around. The idea is that humans will behave in different ways based on their social environment and how their behavior will affect those around them. If individuals predict a negative reaction from those around them, they will often modify their behavior.
social interaction vs social action
social interaction - behavior an actions of two or more in group
social action - behavior of individual in group
social facilitation
it supports the idea that people naturally exhibit a performance response when they know they are being watched
Yerkes–Dodson law of social facilitation
being in the presence of others will significantly raise arousal, which enhances the ability to perform tasks one is already good at (or simple tasks), and hinders the performance of less familiar tasks (or complex tasks). For example, an expert pianist may perform better in concert than when alone in practice sessions. However, someone with very limited knowledge of music would perform worse in a social setting than when alone.
also used to describe the relationship between stress or sympathetic aro
how does moderate levels of arousal affect preformance?
enhances it like with social facilitation when one is good at a task
deinviduation
Deindividuation describes the loss of one’s self-awareness in a group setting and the associated adoption of a more group oriented identity. This phenomenon is sometimes called mob mentality, as the individuals of the group lose their own sense of morals and judgment and follow along with the actions of the group.
If an individual can relate to the group, perhaps through a sports team or political affiliation, then the likelihood of that person adopting the group identity increases. In addition, group settings increase anonymity and thus diffuse the sense of individual responsibility for the actions of the group. Thus, as group anonymity increases, so does the strength of deindividuation
deindividuation and antinormative behavior
deindividuation often leads to antinormative behavior, that is, behavior not socially acceptable in most social circumstances; behavior “against the norm.”
ex . violence seen in crowds and riots. Large, homogenous groups are postulated to increase deindividuation effects, particularly when relative anonymity is a factor due to the group’s size.
bystander effect
The bystander effect is another observed phenomenon that occurs in social groups wherein individuals do not intervene to assist those who are in perceived need when other people are present.
- lower likelihood of response
- slower time of response
increases with more bystanders - . Additionally, when in groups, humans take cues from others. If other people are not responding to a situation, an individual is less likely to perceive the situation as a threat or emergency.
- n low-danger scenarios, bystanders are less likely to provide aid; in high-danger scenarios, bystanders are more likely to intervene.
- degree of responsibility felt by bystanders, compentency, relationship, if they deserve aid, cohesiveness
social loafing
tendency of individuals to reduce effort when in a group setting. This phenomenon may apply in many contexts: physical effort, such as carrying a heavy object; mental effort, such as working on a group project; or initiative, such as coming up with the solution to a problem.
identity shift effect
Changes in beliefs or behavior due to peer pressure can be explained by the identity shift effect. When an individual’s state of harmony is disrupted by a threat of social rejection, the individual will often conform to the norms of the group. Upon doing so, however, the individual will begin to experience internal conflict because the behavior is outside the normal character of the individual. To eliminate the sense of internal conflict, individuals experience an identify shift wherein they adopt the standards of the group as their own.
cognitive dissonance
cognitive dissonance, the simultaneous presence of two opposing thoughts or opinions (as a result of identity shift due to peer pressure) This generally leads to an internal state of discomfort, which may manifest as anxiety, fear, anger, or confusion. Individuals will try to reduce this discomfort by changing, adding to, or minimizing one of these dissonant thoughts.
Solomons Asch conforomity experiment
**Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment showed that individuals will often conform to an opinion held by the group.
In this experiment, male college students participated in simple tasks of perception. **
The study was set up to have one individual who made observations in the presence of confederates, or actors who were pretending to be a part of the experiment.
*The point of the study was to examine if the behavior of the individual was influenced by the confederates.
The participants were shown two cards like those in Figure 8.3. They were then asked to say aloud which line on the second card, labeled A, B, or C, matched the length of the line on the first card.
Prior to the experiment, the confederates (rehearsed actors) were secretly told to unanimously respond correctly or incorrectly to the question.
When the confederates answered correctly, the error rate for the real participants was less than 1 percent.
However, when the confederates answered incorrectly, it was seen that the real participants answered incorrectly up to one-third of the time.
Thus, Asch concluded, individuals will sometimes provide answers they know to be untrue if it avoids going against the group: the urge toward conformity could outweigh the desire to provide the correct answer.
social interaction
explores the ways in which two or more individuals can both shape each other’s behavior. These include group processes and establishment of culture.
group polarization
Group polarization describes the tendency for groups to collaboratively make decisions that are more extreme than the individual ideas and inclinations of the members within the group
Thus, polarization can lead to riskier or more cautious decisions based on the initial tendencies of the group members toward risk or caution. This phenomenon has shown that individuals in groups will form opinions that are more extreme than the opinions they would reach in isolation
choice shift and risky shift in group polarization
risky shift groups tended to make riskier decisions than individuals
choice shift tendency for individual to make a more cautious approach following a group discussion
However, choice shift refers specifically to measured changes in decisions before and after group interaction, whereas group polarization refers more generally to the tendency of a group to move to more extreme conclusions and decisions as a result of interaction.
Groupthink
- Groupthink refers to a social phenomenon in which desire for harmony or conformity results in a group of people coming to an incorrect or poor decision.
-In an attempt to eliminate or minimize conflict among the group members, consensus decisions are reached without alternative ideas being assessed. - In these cases, the desire to agree with the group causes a loss of independent critical thinking.
- The group also begins to isolate and ignore external viewpoints, seeing its own ideas as correct without question.
factors increasing the likelihood
group cohesion, poor leadership, pressure to conform, stress
Irving Janis conducted the first research on the group think in the 1970s
Janis studied the effect of extreme stress on group cohesiveness and its resulting effect on groupthink. Janis further investigated the decision making of groups that had led to disastrous American foreign policy decisions, including the Bay of Pigs invasion. Janis specifically examined eight factors that are indicative of groupthink:
- Illusion of invulnerability: Members encourage risks, ignore possible pitfalls and are too optimistic.
- **Collective rationalization: **Members ignore expressed concerns about group approved ideas.
- **Illusion of morality: **Members believe ideas produced by the group are morally correct, disregarding evidence to the contrary.
- Excessive stereotyping: Members construct stereotypes of those expressing outside opinions.
- **Pressure for conformity: **Members feel pressured not to express opinions that disagree with the group, and view opposition as disloyal.
- Self-censorship: Members withhold ideas and opinions that disagree with the group.
- I**llusion of unanimity: **Members believe the decisions and judgments of the group to be without disagreement, even if it does exist.
- Mindguards: Some members may decide to take on a role protecting the group against opposing views.
fad
A fad is a behavior that is transiently viewed as popular and desirable by a large community. Fads can include owning certain objects (such as pet rocks in the 1970s, Rubik’s cubes in the 1980s, and pogs in the 1990s) or engaging in certain behaviors (using catchphrases, altering clothing in some way, or engaging in particular types of media such as viral videos).
mass hysteria
mass hysteria refers to a shared, intense concern about the threats to society. In mass hysteria, many features of groupthink—collective rationalization, illusion of morality, excessive stereotyping, and pressure for conformity, in particular—lead to a shared delusion that is augmented by distrust, rumors, propaganda, and fear mongering. Perhaps the most notable historical case of mass hysteria was the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts, which led to the execution of twenty individuals for fears of witchcraft.
culture
as the beliefs, behaviors, actions, and characteristics of a group or society of people. Culture is learned by living within a society, observing behaviors and traits, and adopting them. Culture is also passed down from generation to generation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is the process by which an individual’s or group’s behavior and culture begin to resemble that of another group. This can also mean that groups with different cultures begin to merge.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism, also known as cultural diversity, refers to communities or societies containing multiple cultures or ethnic groups. From a sociology perspective, multiculturalism encourages, respects, and celebrates cultural differences,
Subcultures
Subcultures refer to groups of people within a culture that distinguish themselves from the primary culture to which they belong. When studying subcultures, symbolic attachment to things such as clothing or music can differentiate the group from the majority. Subcultures can be formed based on race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and other differentiating factors from the whole of society.
