Psychology: Exam #4: Chapter 9 part 1

What is Social Psychology?

the scientific study of how we influence oneanother's behavior and thinking

How does Social Psychology shape your behavior?

through social influence, perception, and interaction like social norms, roles and group dynamics

What did Sherif and Asch study?

Conformity studies

What was Sherif conformity study?

a stationary point of light moved in a dark room. When individuals did this alone, their estimates varied, but when they were put into a group, their estimates converged

What is Informational influence?

going along with the crowd because you think the crowd knows more than you do

What were the Asch Conformity studies?

single test subject was placed in a room with several confederates (actors working with Asch) and asked to identify which of three lines was the same length as a fourth standard line. The confederates deliberately and unanimously gave the wrong answer, and a significant number of subjects conformed to the wrong answer even when it was obvious to them it was incorrect.

What is normative influence?

"desire to gainthe approval and to avoid disapproval of others", we want to be liked Real world example—Penn State hazing

What is Conformity?

a change in behavior, belief, or both toconform to a group norm as a result of areal or imagined group pressure

What are the factors that affect Conformity?

Unanimity, group size, task difficulty and collectivist cultures

What is foot-in-the-door?

agreement with a small request increases the likelihood of compliance with a larger request later

What door-in-the-face?

a person first makes a large, likely-to-be-rejected request, and then immediately follows up with a smaller, more reasonable request.

What is low-ball?

get an initial commitment form an individual and then change the "deal"

What is That's not all?

where a somewhat inflated request is immediately followed by a decrease in the size of the request through an offer of a discount or bonus

What did Milgram study?

Obedience Studies

How and why did these studies come about?

Attempt to explain the Holocaust, to see if people are obedient to a higher power

Who does Milgram draw inspiration from when developing his study?

Hannah Arendt's and Adolf Eichmann

What reduced obedience in Milgram's program of research?

- Physical presence of person in authority

-status of location

-Disagreement between experimenters

- distance from shock delivery

What did Latane and Darley study?

Prosocial or Helping Behavior studies

How do Latane and Darley relate to responsibility and help behavior?

In cases of emerency, with a big group people feel like others are more oblicated to help then they are (Bystander effect)

What do Latane and Darley draw inspiration from when developing this study?

From the Kitty Genovese murder, 38 witness or heard the murder and failed to intervene

What is diffusion of responsibility?

In groups, the tendency of members to avoid taking action because they assume that others will

What did Haney, Bank and Zimbardo study?

Social Role/ stanford Prison Experiment studies

How does the Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo Study evaluate Social Role?

creating a simulated prison environment and randomly assigning participants to roles as "guards" or "prisoners" to observe how assigned roles would influence behavior.

How does the Stanford University Prison Study showcase the adoption of roles?

It revealed how easily ordinary people can conform to social roles and how situations can strongly shape behavior.

Why did the experiment end after only six days?

It ended because the "guards" became too aggressive to the "prisoners" and was causing actual physical and mental health to both parties