Chapter 6: Study Guide: Social Thinking And Social Influence

Front 1

cognitive social psychology

Back 1

cognitive psychology proposes that we construct the world rather than simply see it (eg Neisser 1966) – and once constructed we organize it into manageable categories and patterns – most of our attitudes, judgments and behaviors follow from these simplified networks and associations – through ‘top down’ processing

Front 2

‘top down’ processing

Back 2

your beliefs, cognitions, and expectations in part drive the pattern recognition process. If you expect to come across a certain pattern then you are focusing your attention on looking for evidence consistent with that pattern, and not just automatically processing whatever is in view.

Front 3

attributions

Back 3

Thoughts about why people behave the way they do

Front 4

fundamental attribution error

Back 4

the person bias – we tend towards personal rather than situational explanations - Ross (1977) refers to this as the fundamental attribution error.

The tendency for observers to overestimate the importance of a person's traits and underestimate the importance of situations when they seek to explain someone's behavior.

Front 5

attitudes

Back 5

Evaluations of people, objects and ideas.

a belief our opinion that has an evaluative component – our most central attitudes are referred to as values

Front 6

impression management

Back 6

the process of acting in a way that presents a desired image.

Front 7

self-monitoring

Back 7

Paying attention to the impressions you make on others and the degree to which you fine-tune your performances accordingly

Front 8

elaboration likelihood model

Back 8

a model that attempts to explain the relation between emotional and rational appeals through routes: a central route and a peripheral route.

elaboration likelihood (Petty and Cacioppo 1986) depends on personal relevance

Front 9

cognitive dissonance

Back 9

rationalizations – soothing the discomfort of dissonance (Festinger 1957) - may lead to avoidance of contradictory information; setting aside doubt; and changing an attitude to explain an inexplicable low-incentive behavior.

Front 10

social pressure

Back 10

“…the entire set of psychological forces that are exerted on us by others’ examples, judgments, expectations, and demands, whether real or imagined.”
Gray,

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conformity

Back 11

Involves a change in a person's behavior to coincide more closely with a group standard.

Front 12

normative social influence

Back 12

normative influence – work through a desire be part of a group.

Because we seek the groups approval and avoid their disapproval.

Front 13

informational social influence

Back 13

social pressure that operates through providing useful information. Because we want to be right

Front 14

obedience

Back 14

Behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority.
– “…those cases of compliance where the requester is perceived as an authority figure or leader and the request is perceived as an order.” (Gray, 2007, p 517)

Front 15

compliance

Back 15

how to make a sale – the norm of reciprocation; the foot-in-the-door techniques work largely on the principles of cognitive dissonance (Cialdini 1987, 2000); social proof requires that we check out the behavior of others first; liking; authority; and the appearance of scarcity

Front 16

door-in-the-face strategy

Back 16

Illustrates the principle of reciprocation; the strategy begins with an extreme request that is bound to be rejected, then the person retreats to a smaller request- the one that was desired all a long.

Front 17

foot-in-the-door strategy

Back 17

Obtaining compliance with a small request in order to obtain compliance later with a larger request.

Front 18

bystander effect

Back 18

The tendency for an individual who observes an emergency to help less when other people are present than when the observer is alone

Front 19

stereotype

Back 19

a generalization about a group's characteristics hat does not account for the variations of from one individual to another.

stereotype - a belief (sometimes positive, but mostly negative) about the personal attributes of a group of people – an overgeneralization, usually inaccurate, and often resistant to new information
Plous (2003)

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explicit stereotype

Back 20

explicit stereotypes – what we say (public) and consciously feel (private) about a group

Front 21

implicit stereotype

Back 21

implicit stereotypes – a set of mental associations that guide our judgment of a group without our conscious awareness

Front 22

prejudice

Back 22

An unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership of a group.

“an avertive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to the group.”
(Allport, 1954, p 7)

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social identity

Back 23

Refers to the way you define yourself in terms of your group membership.

individuals strive to achieve or maintain a positive social identity


a positive social identity is based to a large extent on favorable comparisons between in-groups and out-groups
Tajfel and Turner 1986

Front 24

social identity theory

Back 24

Tajfel's theory that we can improve our self-image by enhancing our social identity; this occurs by favoring our in-group and disparaging the out-group.

Front 25

ethnocentrism

Back 25

The tendency to favor one's own group and believe it is superior to other groups.

Front 27

benevolent/modern prejudice

Back 27

it is complex and ambivalent – often operating along ‘explanatory’ dimensions of warmth and competence

Front 28

implicit stereotype

Back 28

implicit stereotypes – a set of mental associations that guide our judgment of a group without our conscious awareness

Front 29

prejudice

Back 29

An unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership of a group.

“an avertive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because he belongs to that group, and is therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to the group.”
(Allport, 1954, p 7)

Front 30

social identity

Back 30

Refers to the way you define yourself in terms of your group membership.

individuals strive to achieve or maintain a positive social identity


a positive social identity is based to a large extent on favorable comparisons between in-groups and out-groups
Tajfel and Turner 1986

Front 31

social identity theory

Back 31

Tajfel's theory that we can improve our self-image by enhancing our social identity; this occurs by favoring our in-group and disparaging the out-group.

Front 32

ethnocentrism

Back 32

The tendency to favor one's own group and believe it is superior to other groups.

Front 33

discrimination

Back 33

An unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group

Front 34

benevolent/modern prejudice

Back 34

it is complex and ambivalent – often operating along ‘explanatory’ dimensions of warmth and competence