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19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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what is social psychology?
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Social psychology is the study of how we feel about, think about and behave toward the other people around us and how those people influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviour.
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What is social cognition?
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The part of human thinking that helps us understand and predict the behaviour of ourselves and others.
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What are attitudes?
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Our enduring evaluations of people or things.
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What are social norms?
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Social norms are the accepted beliefs about what we do or what we should do in particular social situations.
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What is stereotyping?
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Stereotyping is the tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of their external appearance or the social group membership.
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What is prejudice?
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Prejudice is the tendency to dislike people because of their appearance or group memberships.
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What is discrimination?
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Discrimination are negative behaviors toward others based of prejudice.
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What is self-fulfilling prophecy?
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Self-fulfilling prophecy is a situation that occurs when our expectations about personality characteristics of others leads us to behave toward those others in ways that make those beliefs come true.
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What is social identity?
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Social identity are the positive emotions we experience as a result of our group memberships.
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Importance of close relationships...
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Interpersonal attraction: what makes people like or love one another. Factors include perceived similarity in values and beliefs. (I can feel better about myself and my choice of activities if I see that you also enjoy doing the same things that I do).
Self-disclosure: the tendency to communicate frequently w/o fear and in an accepting and empathetic manner. Proximity: the extent to which people are physically near us. Mere exposure: the tendency to prefer stimuli that we have seen more frequently. Mere exposure may have an evolutionary basis as we tend to have a fear of the unknown but as things become more familiar they seem less threatening...(ex also in babies smiling more with people they have seen before) |
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What is Arthur Aron's "The Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale"?
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In the most successful relationships the two people begin to see themselves as a single unit. The more overlap there exists between the "self" and the "other" circles then the closer the relationship.
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About relationships.
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Intimate:
when partners feel that they are close and that their relationship is based on caring, warmth, acceptance and support Interdependent: when partners rely on each other to meet important goals (married couples helping each other raise a family and meet commitments) Commitment: partnership is developed and maintained over time. refers to the feelings and actions that keep partners working together to maintain the relationship. They see their mates as more attractive and cannot imagine themselves w/o their partner Passion: partners must display positive affect toward each other, they should laugh with each other, express approval of one another, enjoy physical contact. People are happier in relationships when they view the other person in a positive or even "idealized" manner Responsiveness: most important characteristic? people are happy and likely to stay in a relationship in which they are sure that they can trust the other person to understand, validate and care for them. This unconditional love (giving and receiving) provides a secure base that allows both partners to thrive. |
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FORMING JUDGEMENTS:
What is casual attribution? What are self-serving attributions? What is fundamental attribution error? |
Casual attribution is the process of trying to determine the causes of other people's behaviors, with the goal of learning about their personalities. (ex, someone leaves a big tip and we try to determine if that person is generous or if the service was simply excellent) We observe people and then draw conclusions.
Self-serving attributions are errors we make when judging ourselves by judging the causes of our behaviors in overly positive ways. (ex, if you do badly on an exam you are more likely to think that the test was particularly difficult or that you had bad luck). Fundamental attribution error is the common tendency to overestimate the role of person factors and overlook the impact of social situations in judging others. ie, we are too quick to attribute behavior to something personal rather than the situation. (ex/ we are more likely to think that a big tipper is generous than that the service was exceptionally good) and we do this b/c it is easier. |
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About ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR
What are attitudes? Why are they important? What is self-monitoring? What is self-perception? What is "foot-in-the-door"? What is cognitive dissonance? |
Attitudes are our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things. They often help predict behavior. Behaviors can influence attitudes (ex/ Charley loves Charlene, proposes marriage, she says yes, he loves her even more)
What is persuasive communication? When wanting to change a behavior, try to change the attitude. Ex of techniques that persuade others: choose effective communicators, consider goals of listeners, use humor, use classical conditioning, use listener's emotions, use listener's behavior to modify attitude. Self-monitoring: some people tend to change their behaviors to match the social situation and thus do not always act on their attitudes. They regulate their behavior. Attitudes help predict behavior for those who are "low self-monitors". (ex, young person on smoking parents vs friends) What is self-perception? Occurs when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings. (ex, study of participants reading newspaper shaking head up or down) Foot-in-the-door technique: is a method of persuasion in which the person is first persuaded to accept a minor task and then asked for a larger one. ie/ people looked at their 1st behavior and inferred they were helpful and agreed to the bigger request. Cognitive dissonance: Behavior can influence our attitudes through a more emotional process. This refers to the discomfort we experience when we choose to behave in ways that we see as inappropriate. We MAY change our attitudes about the behavior to reduce the negative feelings. Ex/ Mohls 2 friends pro-life pro-choice |
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(Interacting with Others)
Altruism Reciprocal Altruism |
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Altruism: refers to any behavior that is designed to increase another person's welfare, and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who performs them (ex/ when we stop to help a stranger, when we volunteer or donate). Altruism is in part a functional adaptation...tendency to help close kin vs distant kin (ie, genes) Why are we altruistic? positive mood, similarity, guilt, empathy, benefits, personal responsibility (we are more likely to help if it is clear that no one else is helping), self-presentation (we help to others we are good people) Reciprocal Altruism: is the principle that if we help other people now, they will return the favor in the future (again, evolutionary component) Altruism is also modeled and reinforced (parents praise a child for sharing toys, children's tv show). Altruism helps us gain high status. When considering reciprocity norm altruism it may not seem like true altruism but we hope that our children internalize altruism...ie, social responsibility. The Latane and Darley Model of helping: based on the idea that a variety of situational factors can influence whether or not people will help. (The influence of noticing with other people around). We may not interpret an emergency as one...we are unsure how to interpret events as we look to others to understand them and vice versa. Perhaps each observer concludes that help is not required, perhaps we are unsure if it is our responsibility. Deffusion of Responsibility: the assumption that others will take action and therefore we do not take action ourselves. Also...people sometimes do not know how to help. |
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(Interacting with Others)
Aggression Testosterone Catharsis Desensitization Culture of Honor Conformity |
Aggression:
Behavior intended to harm another individual. It can be in the heat of the moment, it can be deliberate and planned, it need not be physical (exclusion, name calling, spreading rumors, etc) Why are we aggressive? Evolutionary basis suggests perhaps in order to gain access to resources such as food, territory, mates, or self-protection (survival of our genes). Natural selection has caused us to be aggressive. Biology of aggression: The amygdala plays a large part in controlling aggression. The amygdala is involved in helping us learn ti associate stimuli with rewards and punishments. (Also fear). Hormones also play a part in regulating aggression. Testosterone is associated with aggression in both men and women. We are much more likely to be aggressive when we are experiencing negative emotions, especially frustration. "Displaced aggression" is aggression that is directed at an object or person other than the person who caused the frustration. Pain and heat can also cause increased aggression. What is catharsis? The idea that observing or engaging in less harmful actions will reduce the tendency to aggress later in a more harmful way. BUT psychologists have determined it does not work and may, in fact, increase aggression. Desensitization: TV/aggression. Bandura Bobo doll observational learning. The tendency over time to show weaker emotional responses to emotional stimuli. We become habituated to it and it can make us more distrustful and more prone to behaving aggressively. Who is more prone to aggression? People with inflated or unstable self-esteem; school bullies Culture of honor: A social norm that condones and even encourages responding to insults with aggression. Different cultures worldwide but even in the US southern men more quick to respond aggressively than men from northern states. Conformity: A change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of people around us. (ie, binge drinking). Variables include: number in majority, unanimity, status and authority |
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(Interacting with Others)
Conformity Obedience Minority Influence Psychological Reactance |
Conformity:
A change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of people around us. (ie, binge drinking). Variables include: number in majority, unanimity, status and authority Sometimes conformity is spontaneous and unconscious but not all conformity is passive. Ex/ experiment with lines on cards showed evidence of conformity. Obedience: Is conformity toward those with authority. Ex: Milgram study in which he wanted to understand how the presence of a powerful social situation could produce obedience (Hitler ordering the torture and execution of so many Jews). Participants were teachers who were told to "shock" the students who gave incorrect answers! p451 People with lower self-esteem, people who need approval are more prone to conformity. Minority Influence: Conformity in which it is a smaller number of individuals who influence the opinions and behaviors of the larger group. Psychological Reactance: Is a strong emotional response that leads people to resist conformity. If people feel as if their freedom is being threatened they may react. More responsive to a less threatening message. |
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(Working with Others)
What is Social Facilitation? What is Social Inhibition? |
Social Facilitation
is the tendency to perform tasks better and/or faster when in the presence of others (Triplet study 1900 showed that cyclists performed better when racing against other cyclists vs alone against the clock) Social Inhibition is the tendency to perform tasks more poorly or more slowly in the presence of others (playing the piano, shooting hoops or giving presentations you might do better when alone) ***the concept of physiological arousal is that when we are with others we experience more arousal than when we are alone and this arousal increases likelihood that we will perform the *dominant response* which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how well learned the task |
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(Working with Others, working in groups)
What is social loafing? What is group think? What is illusion of group productivity? |
Group process gain
is when the outcome of group performance is better than we would expect given the individuals in the group Group process loss is the opposite The ability of the group to perform well is determined by the characteristics of the group members as well as the by the *group process* (events that occur while the group is working on the task). Social Loafing a group process loss that occurs when people do not work as hard in a group as they do when they are working alone. Research shows that this type of loss is quite common (group productivity decreases as the size of the group increases) Group think occurs when a group made up of members who are competent nevertheless make poor decisions as a result of flawed group process and conformity pressures. It is more likely to happen when there is a strong leader and when members feel a strong group identity. Some symptoms of group think include: -illusions of invulnerability -illusions of unanimity -little search for new information -belief in morality of the group -pressure on dissenters to conform to group norm Examples of group think include space shuttle launches and Kennedy's Cuba policies. Also note juries and conformity. Illusion of group productivity working in groups has both negative and positive outcomes as they can be both more effective than an individual alone and less effective than an individual alone. there is a tendency for group members to over value the productivity of the groups they work in and this occurs because the productivity of the group is highly accessible and they receive a lot of positive social identity from their group membership...all this positivity leads them to think that the group is performing well when it actually might not be. It is important to keep this in mind so that we recognize both the strengths and weaknesses in group performance. |
