Social Influence : Key Vocabulary Flashcards
Define what it means to be in an ‘agentic state’
When an individual carries out the orders of another person, acting as their agent with little personal responsibility.
Explain what it means when someone is described as having an ‘authoritarian personality’
A person who has extreme respect for authority and is obedient to those who have power over them.
Define ‘autonomous state’
Where individuals are seen as personally responsible for their actions.
Define ‘cognitive dissonance’
An unpleasant feeling of anxiety created when simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas.
Define ‘conformity’
Changing what we do, think or say in response to others.
Define ‘dehumanisation’
Degrading people by lessening their human qualities.
Define ‘deindividuation’
When a person moves into a group and as a result looses some individual identity.
Define ‘dispositional attribution’
An explanation of individual behaviour as a result caused by internal characteristics that reside within the individual.
Define ‘identifcation’
Where people change their beliefs (sometimes temporarily) to fit in with a group.
Define what ‘individual variables’ are
Personal characteristics that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures.
Define ‘internalisation’
Where people change their beliefs permanently.
When does ‘ironic deviance’ take place?
It takes place when we believe that the behaviour of the majority is the result of unreasonable pressure from authority.
Define ‘locus of control’
The extent to which individuals believe they can control events in their lives.
What is ‘majority influence’ an alternative term for?
Conformity
What is a Milgram paradigm?
An experimental procedure for measuring obedience rates.
