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Year 2 LCRS - Psychology > Social Psychology > Flashcards

Flashcards in Social Psychology Deck (21)
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1
Q

What is social psychology?

A

the study of:

  • Social Thinking (how we think about our social world)
  • Social Influence (how other people influence our behaviour
  • Social Relations (how we relate toward other people)
2
Q

What is an attitude?

A

a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus

this may be a person, action, object, or concept

attitudes influence behaviour strongly when situational factors that contradict our attitudes are weak

3
Q

What is cognitive dissonance?

A

The feeling of discomfort due to holding two opposing opinions

e.g. someone acknowledging that they smoke, whilst accepting that smoking causes cancer

4
Q

How can you resolve dissonance?

A

Change behaviour
- In the case of smoking, this would involve quitting, which might be difficult and thus avoided

Acquire new information
- Such as seeking exceptions e.g. “My grandfather smoked all his life and lived to be 96”

Reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e. beliefs, attitudes)
- A person could convince themself that it is better to “live for the moment”

5
Q

What makes changing attitudes more effective?

A
  • if it reaches the recipient
  • is attention grabbing
  • is easily understood
  • is relevant and important AND is easily remembered
  • More persuasive messengers are:
  • Credible e.g. doctors
  • Trustworthy e.g. objective
  • Attractive e.g. well presented
6
Q

What is framing?

A

Refers to whether a message emphasises the benefits or losses of that behaviour

When we want people to take up behaviours aimed at DETECTION of health problems/illness (e.g. HIV testing), loss-framed messages may be more effective

When we want people to take up behaviours aimed at promoting PREVENTION BEHAVIOURS (e.g. condom use), gain-framed messages may be more effective

How a message is framed to people makes a difference regarding how they behave.

7
Q

Define stereotype, prejudice and discrimination

How can this affects medical care?

A

Stereotype – Generalisations made about a group of people or members of that group, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. Or more specific such as different medical specialisations (e.g. surgeons)

Prejudice – To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members

Discrimination – behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups

  • A study investigated and demonstrated whether GPs were more/less likely to take on mentally ill patients

GPs were reluctant to take on patients with a mental health history despite it being well controlled

This study was further replicated in a sample of over 1000 medical students

8
Q

What is schemas?

A

mental or cognitive structures that contain general expectations and knowledge of the world

schemas help us process information quickly and economically and facilitate memory recall

This means we are more likely to remember details that are consistent with our schema than those that are inconsistent

9
Q

What is social loafing?

A

The tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone

10
Q

When is social loafing more likely to occur/disappear?

A

more likely to occur when:

  • The person believes that individual performance is not being monitored
  • The task (goal) or the group has less value or meaning to the person
  • The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
  • The person expects that other group members will display high effort

may disappear when:

  • Individual performance is monitored
  • Members highly value their group or the task goal

*Occurs more strongly in all-male groups

** Occurs more often in individualistic cultures

11
Q

What is conformity?

A

There have been experiments in which participants have conformed to the beliefs of people around them, despite holding different beliefs themselves

Many factors affect conformity:
- Group size:
> Conformity increases as group size increases
> No increases over five group members
-Presence of a dissenter:
> One person disagreeing with the others greatly reduces group conformity
- Culture:
> Greater in collectivistic cultures

12
Q

What did the Darley & Latane’s experiment?

A
  • Participants were under the pretext they were taking part in a discussion about ‘personal problems’
  • Participants were all in separate rooms in the lab and communicated via an intercom system
  • On the intercom system, one of the participants (actor) acted as if they were having a seizure
  • The idea was for other participants to help this actor, who was having a seizure in another room
  • 87% helped if they believed it was just them and the other student
  • Only 31% helped when they believed they were in a group of 4 people
  • Hardly anyone helped if group was above 4
  • If the participant had not acted within first 3 minutes, they never acted

RESULTS

  • Compared to those who did report the emergency, those that didn’t appeared in distress
  • Many were sweating, and had trembling hands
  • They reported shame and guilt for not helping
  • Reasons given include not wanting to expose themselves to embarrassment or to ruin the experiment, which, they had been told, depended on each participant remaining anonymous from the others
13
Q

What is the bystander effect?

A

presence of multiple bystanders inhibits each person’s tendency to help

This may be due to social comparison or diffusion of responsibility

Conformity may also play a role

Experiments have been conducted that show that, if others don’t help, you are less likely to - the minute someone else helps, others are more likely to join in

14
Q

What is the 5-step bystander decision process?

A
  1. Notice the event
  2. Decide if the event is really an emergency - social comparison: look to see how others are responding
  3. Assuming responsibility to intervene - diffusion of Responsibility: believing that someone else will help
  4. Self-efficacy in dealing with the situation
  5. Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis e.g. danger)
15
Q

How can you increase helping behaviour?

A

Reducing restraints on helping:

  • Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
  • Enhance concern for self image

Socialise altruism:

  • Teaching moral inclusion
  • Modelling helping behaviour
  • Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives
  • Education about barriers to helping
16
Q

What factors influence obedience?

A
  • Remoteness of the victim
  • Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
  • Diffusion of responsibility: obedience increases when someone else does the dirty work
  • Not personal characteristics

*Milgram experiment (shocking patient for wrong answers because figure of authority said so)

17
Q

What is groupthink?

A

the tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement

18
Q

What is group polarisation?

A

the tendency of people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently

19
Q

When is groupthink more likely to occur?

A

when a group:

  • Is under high stress to reach a decision
  • Is insulated from outside input
  • Has a directive leader
  • Has high cohesiveness
20
Q

What are different leadership styles?

A

Autocratic or authoritarian style

  • All decision-making powers are centralized in the leader, as with dictator leaders
  • They do not entertain any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates
  • This is LEADER DOMINATED leadership

Participative or democratic style

  • This favours decision-making by the group, such as leader gives instruction after consulting the group
  • They can win the co-operation of their group and can motivate them effectively and positively
  • This is both LEADER and EMPLOYEE leadership

Laissez-faire or “free rein” style

  • A free-rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself as shown
  • Such a leader allows maximum freedom to subordinates
  • I.e. they are given a free hand in deciding their own policies and methods
  • This is EMPLOYEE DOMINATED leadership
21
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of different leadership styles?

A
autocratic
advantages:
- enables quick decision making
- clear heirarchy of responsibility
disadvantages:
- can be demotivating
- can lead to errors
democratic
advantages:
- can win cooperation and motivate team
- can improve quality of decision making
disadvantages:
- time consuming
- can lead to disagreements
Laissez Faire
advantages:
- allows autonomous working
- allows expertise to be utilised
disadvantages:
- can lead to lack of direction
- lack of ultimate responsibility holder