Social Psychology Flashcards
(101 cards)
0
Q
What are Social Norms?
A
The uniformities in attitudes and behaviours between people
1
Q
What is Social Influence?
A
A real or implied presence of other people impacting attitudes and behaviours
2
Q
What is the difference between how minority and majority influence affects opinions/behaviours?
A
Majority influence causes conformity but unlike minority influence it does not cause a private change of opinion.
3
Q
What did Asch (1978) find in their classic study on social influence?
A
Half of participants conformed to the majority view and gave an obviously wrong answer. This finding did not apply to participants who were allowed to privately write down their answers.
4
Q
What is Moscovici observe about Asch’s study?
A
The majority in Asch’s studies was actually a minority, therefore the effect found was actually minority influence.
5
Q
What was Moscovici’s model of minority influence?
A
The genetic model; Minorities generate change by provoking conflict.
6
Q
What were the 4 behavioural styles of the genetic model that are needed for a minority success?
A
Consistency; the minority group is consistent and unanimous in their views.
Investment; Commitment to their views e.g financial or personal. Extreme cases are martyrdom
Autonomy; No ulterior motive
Rigidity/flexibility; rigidity is a disadvantage. Minorities perceived as inflexible are considered irrational and less credible
7
Q
What is the dual process model in regards to minority influence?
A
Also known as the conversion theory, it is a modification of the genetic model. Majority view is passive and easy, requires little effort. Minority influence requires time and effort.
8
Q
What are the 2 main components of the Dual Process Model in regards to minority influence?
A
Conversion: a change of private opinion
Validation: takes a while to produce attitude change as minorities must provide effortful consideration over a long time to cause attitude change.
9
Q
How is group identity relevant to minority influence?
A
Individuals are more likely to be affected by a minority group if they can identify with the group.
10
Q
What is social cryptoamnesia?
A
Even if a minority group causes social change this is often forgotten by society.
11
Q
What is persuasion?
A
Change of attitudes through information processing in response to a message about the object
12
Q
Does persuasion include attitude change, attitude formation or both?
A
Both
13
Q
There are 3 factors to the Yale approach to communication & Persuasion; what are they?
A
Source characteristics: Who
Message characteristics: What
Audience characteristics: Whom
14
Q
There are 3 PROCESSES involved in the Yale Approach to communication & persuasion; what are they?
A
Attention
Comprehension
Acceptance
15
Q
what are the 4 outcomes of persuasion according to the Yale Approach?
A
Opinion
Perception
Affect
Action
16
Q
What is the Third Party Effect in the context of persuasion?
A
We all assume that we are less susceptible to persuasion than everyone else
17
Q
What are some characteristics of a powerful communicator? (7)
A
Attractive Popular Likeable Expertise Verbal skills Familiar Powerful
18
Q
What is a 2 sided argumentation in regards to persuasion & what audience is it most effective for?
A
Shows both sides of an argument to come to a conclusion. Is more effective for an audience who is against you & are intelligent.
19
Q
What is a 1 sided argument in regards to persuasion & what audience is it most effective for?
A
Only showing 1 side of the message. Works for an audience who is already on your side and is less intelligent.
20
Q
What kind of relationship does self-esteem and persuasion have?
A
An inverted U - those with moderate self esteem are most persuaded
21
Q
What kind of relationship does intelligence and persuasion have?
A
An inverted U - those with moderate intelligence most easily persuaded
22
Q
What kind of relationship does gender and persuasion have?
A
Women are more easily persuaded for masculine topics
23
Q
What mood causes people to be most easily persuaded
A
A sad mood
24
What are the two routes of persuasion in the Elaboration Likelihood Model? What are they?
Central Route: Results in a long lasting internal acceptance of the message: high likelihood of elaboration. Thinking about arguments in relation to own understanding of the situation.
Peripheral Route: A short term change of opinion; low elaboration likelihood.
25
What is Cognitive Dissonance?
an unpleasant state evoked by two conflicting cognitions
26
What are the assumptions of the Cognitive Dissonance Theory?
We seek harmony & to avoid dissonance (conflicting cognitions)
Selectivity Exposure Hypothesis: we avoid potentially dissonant information & avoid dissonance by changing one of the cognitions
27
What do we do to avoid choices in response to dissonance? What is an example of this?
Justify the choice. For example, if someone is asked to eat something unappealing by a nice person they will justify it as being for that person, but if someone is asked to do it by an unpleasant person they are more likely to say they enjoyed the grasshopper.
28
what is ingratiation in regards to persuasion?
A strategic attempt to get someone to like you in order to make them more compliant to requests. however, obvious flattery does not work well.
29
What is Reciprocity in regards to persuasion?
Doing an expected favour for someone so when a request is made compliance is more likely. e.g covering a shift at work because you need cover & they will be more likely to agree.
30
What is the Foot-In-The-Door approach?
Making a small request that the individual will agree to, and then making a bigger request. After the individual has already complied once, it makes it harder for them to say no to the big request.
An Example: you are asked to give £2 to charity so you do. You are then asked if you could give £2 a month & you agree because you have already agreed to the initial £2.
31
What is the Door-In-The-Face technique of persuasion?
The opposite of the foot in the door - make a big unreasonable request that gets denied, and then make a smaller request. The contrast between the big & small request makes compliance more likely.
32
What is the Multiple requests technique of persuasion?
Asking for low costs & then revealing hidden costs. They will be likely to agree to the more costly option.
33
what is Altercasting in regards to persuasion?
casting the alter ( change in character or composition in a small but significant way) in a particular social role so that the alter is inclined to behave according to that role
34
What is reactance in regards to persuasion?
A psychological stage we experience when we think somebody tries to limit our freedom. Takes place when we realise the persuasion is deliberately intended.
35
What is forewarning in regards to persuasion?
where there is prior knowledge of the persuasive intent, causing resistance to persuasion
36
What is inoculation in regards to persuasion?
exposure to weak counter arguments causing stronger resistance to persuasion.
37
What was Freud's notion of what the 'self' is?
the self is hidden & repressed
38
What is self knowledge/concept?
A complete set of beliefs a person holds about themselves and who they are
39
What is self knowledge?
the complete set of beliefs a person holds about themselves and who they are as a person
40
What does multiple role theory suggest about roles that we hold about ourselves?
Having multiple roles about oneself is beneficial. By having lots of roles you can adjust your roles if one goes wrong, more so than if you feel you only have one or two big roles.
41
What did taylor & brown (1988) suggest about mentally healthy participants & how well they know themselves?
they have a Tendency to overestimate their positive aspects; may serve to maintain psychological wellbeing
42
what is depressive realism?
People with depression are more aware of the reality of themselves & the world, unlike mentally healthy people who tend to be unrealistically positive
43
What is self serving bias?
Retain positives, forget negatives.
44
what are two types of self awareness?
Public self awareness: being aware of the parts of yourself that are public. more likely to conform to social norms so they don't stick out.
Private self awareness: awareness of private aspects of yourself. Good if youre happy with yourself but if youre not being self aware may make it worse.
45
Higgins proposed 3 domains of the self in his self discrepancy theory, what were they? (clue: one is the ideal self)
The actual self
Ideal self - what you COULD become
Ought self - How you feel you SHOULD be
46
what 'self' did markus & nerius add to 'actual' & 'ideal' selves?
The feared self: the person you may become but do not want to. causes self regulation in order to avoid the negative emotions associated with the feared self.
47
Higgins's regulatory focus names 2 ways that we act according to our 'selves' what are they?
Promotion regulation: will seek out ways to achieve their ideal self
Prevention: direct intentions caused by obligations; things they ought to do
48
what does caver & scheier's control theory of self regulation about how we act in terms of our 'self'?
We have private, internal standards and we regulate our behaviour in terms of these standards
49
what is delayed gratification & what is it a good prediction of? what study shows this?
delayed gratification is being able to wait for something good because you know you will get something better if you do. A good predictor of lifespan self-control. The marshmallow by mischel showed this.
50
what does ego depletion suggest?
self-control is a finite resource
51
boumeister et al's strength model of self control suggests what about self control?
It cannot be maintained. we need rest after effortful control before we can effectively engage with it again.
52
what is low self esteem associated with?
Poorer mental & physical health.
53
What differences are there between individualist & collectivist cultures in regards to self esteem?
individualistic: unique identity; feel they are better at doing things but like themselves less.
Collectivist: part of a whole; lower in self confidence but higher in self liking.
54
what should individualistic/collectivist be considered in terms of if not culture?
gender. women are more collectivist than men are.
55
what is the robbers cave study & who did it?
Sherif (1952, 1961). Boys randomly allocated to two groups. In the first phase the two groups did not know of the others existence. They were encouraged to bong through common goals. The groups formed attachments within them & named themselves the eagles & the rattlers. Then there was a competition stage between the two groups. became very intense so the competitions were ended, but by bringing the two groups together the rivalry became worse.
56
How were the eagles & the rattlers brought together in spite of the original rivalry?
Through superordinate goals that they had to cooperate with eachother in order to complete.
57
give 1 positive aspect of the robbers cave study and 2 negatives.
High ecological validity
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Ethical considerations; deceived, not protected from physical & psychological harm
Sample was biased: only young white middle class boys used, no girls/adults/minority groups used
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58
What did henry Tajfel believe about prejudice?
Fundamentally cognitive. trivial group membership is sufficient to create bias
59
Who created the minimal groups paradigm & what are they?
Tajfel.
People randomly allocated to groups of meaningless & trivial labels (e.g underestimators & overestimators)
individuals from each group participate in a task allocating resources to either group
even though the group name is meaningless & trivial the individual will allocate more resources to their own group members.
shows how individuals will favour their own 'group' regardless of how trivial it is
60
What is tajfel's kandinsky/klee experiment? clue: minimal groups design
14-15 year old boys asked whether they prefer the kandisky or the klee painting. they were then told 'oh so you're the type of person who likes Klee' (allocated to meaningless group)
boys favoured & allocated more resources to people in the same group as them
61
Briefly define tajfel & turner's social identity theory
Shows importance of in groups & out groups. Part of our identity is defined by our ingroup. People strive to improve the status of their ingroup in many ways.
62
What is positive distinctiveness in terms of the social identity theory?
Where the individual attempts to improve the status of their ingroup
63
In what ways do individuals improve the status of their ingroup? (Positive distinctiveness)
Social mobility: move to a higher status group. Easy for football fan; if one team does well you can easily decide to support that team. However, it is not so easy for demographic groups; e.g cannot change ingroup from british to irish.
Social Creativity: Enhance status of group by changing ways that positiveness is evaluated e.g 'my football team might not always win but they are good people'
Social competition: compete with/discriminate against other groups to improve status of own group
64
What is the Social Categorisation Theory? (turner et al)
A supplement of the SIT. How do people come to identify themselves as members of groups? Focus on membership salience; so group membership is more obvious in some situations than others. E.g at work your football fandom is not as obvious as it is at a football match.
SUBORDINATE & SUPERORDINATE groups. Superordinate = Human. Subordinate = Man U fan.
65
what are 4 main findings of the social identity approach? (combination of SIT & SCT)
Discrimination towards other outgroups enhances self esteem
Higher status groups display more bias than low status ones
Outgroups are seen as homogenous but people within your ingroup are individuals
group contact reduces stereotyping & conflict
66
What is Deindividuation?
being part of a crowd allows primitive, animalistic impulses. Individuals 'shed' personal identity & values to conform to social norms in unfamiliar settings. They become less individual when in a crowd.
67
Which researcher used Deindividuation to explain their controversial social study?
Zimbardo: Stanford prison study
68
Which theory attempts to apply SIT to large scale groups & crowds? (hint: SIDE)
Social identity of deindividuation (Reicher).
| Explains confrontations with police in identity terms. adjustable normals; individual values subjugated to group norm
69
What are some contributing factors that cause deindividuation?
Crowd size
anonymity
reduction of social cues
self-stereotyping
70
What are some criticisms of the social identity theory?
Essentially a cognitive theory; can ignore the social aspects
hard to generalise lab based minimal group studies
what constitutes as a group is poorly defined
71
What is prejudice
A negative attitude towards members of a group, which is often very strongly held - Brekler et al 2006
72
What is implicit prejudice & how can we test it?
Non obvious or unconscious prejudice.
The Implicit association test by Greenwald et al (1998) tests it in a similar method to the stroop test. A word or name is presented along with the choice white/pleasant, black/unpleasant or the other way around. the longer the response time shows a mismatch between the pairing. for example, if the word Happy came up and the choices were pleasant/black or unpleasant/white, longer response times would show higher prejudice towards black people.
73
What is the ABC model of prejudice? What are the 3 aspects?
Affect: emotion, prejudicial feelings
Behaviour: Discrimination
Cognition: Stereotypes
74
What is an emotional source of Prejudice & what is a relevant theory?
Frustration; Scapegoat theory. People vent their frustrations by lashing out against members of a weak minority group
75
What does the realistic group conflict theory suggest about intergroup relations?
That two groups competing for resources dislike members of groups they are competing with
76
What can stereotyping be understood as?
The cognitive component of prejudice
77
What two components does the stereotype content model say stereotypes have?
Warmth & competence.
A social group is seen as competent if they are high status
a group can be seen as warm if they are not in competition with the ingroup.
78
What is Allport's Contact hypothesis? What does contact with other groups cause?
The more contact we have with outgroups the less conflict will arise.
No contact > lack of informed judgement > Stereotype > Prejudice > Discrimination > Conflict
Contact with other groups: provides information, decreases anxiety, changes social norms about the appropriateness of prejudice.
79
What is Dixon's criticism of the idea contact decreases conflict?
Too many 'optimal conditions'
ignores societal factors & personal evaluations regarding how contact takes place
works from an american perspective
80
what is conformity?
The convergence of ones thoughts, feelings and behaviours in line with an external standard
81
What is compliance?
The process of doing what one is asked, expected or required to do by regulation
82
What is obedience?
Doing as one is told by an authoritative figure
83
What study is relevant to conformity?
Ash's line study
84
What study is relevant to compliance?
Zimbardo's prison study
85
What study is relevant to obedience?
Milgrams obedience study
86
What is The autokinetic effect (sherif)?
An experiment demonstrating how people conform to group norms when in an unclear/ambiguous situation.
Classic lab study.
87
What study did Ash Conduct?
Line study; showed conformity. Individuals shown 3 lines and asked which was the same to a different line shown; when confederates gave incorrect answers the genuine participant conformed and also gave that answer 1/3 of the time. only 1/4 of participants did not conform at all.
88
What did Milgram do & find?
Obedience study. Participants told by authoritative researcher to shock 'learner' if they get a question wrong. Participants did not know the 'learner' was fake. 65% of people reached the highest shock level, & all participants continued to the 'DANGER' 300 volts.
89
What are some factors influencing obedience?
power or authority
| trust & belief in others: presumed expertise, group role as a leader, sales techniques e.g fear, relief
90
what obedience study might be explained by the foot in the door technique?
Milgram; Gradual build up of shocks = foot in the door
91
what is internal & external attribution?
Internal attribution: it was something about the person that caused the outcome
External attribution: it was something about the situation that caused the outcome
92
What does zimbardo's prison experiment demonstrate?
Compliance; guards had creative enthusiasm to perform role
93
what is a pseudo social situation in regards to humour?
Where you laugh alone but at something social in nature
94
In what way is humour an out-of-jail card?
You can say something non-PC or wrong and take it back as just being a 'joke'
95
What kind of psychological components does humour have
Cognitive: humour comprehension
Emotional: positive emotions
Behavioural: laughter
(Pseudo) Social: togetherness
96
What are Martineau's three components of humour?
Actor: person making the joke
Audience: people who are supposed to laugh
Target: People who the joke is about
97
What are two different functions of humour/jokes according to Martineau?
Esteeming; not putting anyone down
| Disparaging; a joke at someone elses expense; racist, sexist
98
what are intragroup, intergroup, & intergroup interactions in terms of humour?
Intragroup: sharing jokes within the group
Intergroup: about another group
Intergroup interactions: 2 groups exchanging jokes
99
What was Freud's view on prejudice in humour?
A socially acceptable means of expressing hostile & aggressive impulses
100
What is disparagement humour (ferguson & ford)
remarks that are intended to elicit amusement through the denigration, derogation or belittlement of a given target
