Social Psych Test 3

Group

A collection of people who interact and share a common identity or goal

Minimal groups

Groups created by trivial or arbitrary distinctions between people

Social facilitation effect

Having people watch us do an easy task feels good and helps us while them watching us do a diffucult task makes it harder and more stressful

Evaluation apprehension

Arousal caused by concern that others are evaluating or judging our performance

Mere presence explanation

The idea that simply having other people nearby increases arousal, even when they are not interacting with or evaluating us

Free-riders

Group members who benefit from the group's work while contributing little or no effort themselves

Combating social loafing

Make individual contributions identifiable, assign specific responsibilities, keep groups small, increase commitment to the goal, and emphasize the importance of each member's contribution

Social loafing in everyday life

People may exert less effort in group projects, crowds, or shared tasks when their individual contributions are difficult to identify

Factors contributing to deindividuation

Anonymity, group size, arousal, reduced self-awareness, diminished accountability, and attention focused away from personal standards

Causes of group polarization

Informational influence introduces persuasive arguments supporting the initial view, while normative influence encourages people to conform to or exceed the group's expectations

Informational vs normative reasoning

Informational influence involves accepting arguments as evidence. Normative influence involves adjusting opinions to gain approval or avoid rejection

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Political discussions, online communities, and like-minded groups can reinforce shared beliefs and move members toward more extreme positions

Minority influence

The process by which a smaller or less powerful group influences the beliefs or behavior of the majority, especially through consistent and confident advocacy

Task leadership

Leadership focused on accomplishing goals, organizing work, assigning responsibilities, and solving problems

Social leadership

Leadership focused on maintaining relationships, supporting members, resolving conflict, and promoting group harmony

Stereotyping vs prejudice vs discrimination

Stereotyping is a belief about a group — Prejudice is an attitude or feeling toward a group — Discrimination is behavior that treats people differently because of group membership

Dual attitude system

The idea that people can have both automatic, implicit attitudes and deliberate, explicit attitudes toward the same target

Implicit association tests

Seeing what people implicitly associate to read implict thoughts

Overt racism vs implicit racial bias

Overt racism is conciously being racist and taking actions, meanwhile implicit racial bias involves automatic associations which happen without thinking

Modern racism

Overt racism has gone down, but implicit is still there

Cornell weapon identification experiments

Implict association test, more likely to assume black people had the WEAPON

Change in sexist attitudes over time

Similar to racism, less overt but still implicit

Religion and prejudice

FUNDIEmentally religious people are MORE discriminate

SPIRITually religious people are LESS discriminate

Stereotype formation

How people form steroyping beliefs: socialization, learning, etc

Ways to reduce prejudice

Promote equal status, cooperation, shared goals, and education

Contact hypothesis

People of different groups are more accepting after meaningful contact

Aggression

Behavior intended to harm another person who (phsycial or verbal)

Hostile vs instrumental aggression

Aggression to harm or aggression as a means to an end

Amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Amydala creates anger and fear, Prenfrontal cotrex controls it

Genetic influences of aggression

Genetic differences can contribute to individual variation in aggressive tendencies, but genes interact with environmental experiences and do not determine behavior

Contact hypothesis

The proposal that intergroup contact can reduce prejudice when it involves equal status, common goals, cooperation, and support from authorities or social norms

Four conditions of contact hypothesis

Equal status between groups, common goals, intergroup cooperation, and support from authorities, laws, or social institutions

Aggression and biochemistry

Neurotransmitters and hormones influence aggression by affecting emotional reactivity, impulse control, and responses to threats

Testosterone

A hormone associated with dominance and status-seeking that may be related to aggression in some contexts, but does not directly or inevitably cause aggressive behavior

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter involved in mood and impulse regulation. Lower serotonin functioning has been associated with increased impulsive aggression

Alcohol

Alcohol can reduce self-control, narrow attention to immediate cues, and increase aggression in situations involving provocation

Frustration

An obstacle that prevents someone from reaching a goal or obtaining something desired

Frustration-aggression theory

The theory that frustration can create anger and increase the likelihood of aggression, especially when aggressive cues or other provoking conditions are present

Outward/inward aggression

Outward aggression directs harm toward other people or objects. Inward aggression directs hostility or harm toward oneself

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Redirecting aggression from its original source toward a less threatening or more accessible target

Relative deprivation

The perception that one has less than others or less than one deserves, which can produce resentment and hostility

Social learning theory

The theory that aggression can be learned by observing others, imitating their behavior, and experiencing rewards or consequences

Bobo doll study

Albert Bandura's experiments showed that children who observed adults behaving aggressively toward an inflatable doll were more likely to imitate aggressive actions

Aggression as a reward

Aggression can be reinforced when it produces desired outcomes, such as gaining resources, status, control, or compliance

Influences on aggression

Aversive experiences, frustration, heat, pain, arousal, aggressive cues, media exposure, alcohol, and group settings can increase aggression

Two-factor theory of emotion

The theory that emotion involves physiological arousal and a cognitive label explaining that arousal

Excitation transfer

Arousal from one situation can carry over into another situation and intensify an emotional reaction, including anger and aggression

Media influences on aggression

Exposure to violent media can increase aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior by modeling aggression, desensitizing viewers, and teaching aggressive scripts

Correlational evidence

Evidence showing that exposure to violent media is associated with aggression, but correlation alone cannot establish that media exposure causes aggression

Experimental evidence

Studies that manipulate media exposure and measure subsequent behavior can support causal conclusions about short-term effects, although laboratory aggression measures have limitations

Social scripts

Learned mental guidelines for how to behave in particular situations. Violent media can teach scripts that make aggressive responses seem appropriate

Guns as cues of aggression

The weapons effect: the presence of a gun or other weapon can increase aggressive thoughts or behavior by activating aggression-related associations

How to reduce aggression

Reduce provocation and aggressive cues, teach nonviolent conflict resolution, model prosocial behavior, reinforce cooperation, regulate violent media exposure, and promote empathy

Group

Two or more people who interact together and may develop an us-versus-them mentality

Minimal groups

People categorized into groups based on trivial distinctions, such as early versus late arrivals or birth months

Social facilitation

The strengthening of dominant responses in the presence of others. Arousal improves performance on easy or well-practiced tasks but hinders performance on new or difficult tasks

Evaluation apprehension

Concern about how other people are evaluating or judging us

Driven to distraction

The presence of an audience creates competing demands for attention, potentially causing cognitive overload and impairing performance

Mere presence theory

The idea that simply being near other people causes physiological arousal, even without interaction or evaluation

Working in groups: positives

Groups provide different perspectives, divide work among members, and allow people to contribute different strengths

Working in groups: negatives

Groups may have slackers, conflicting goals, and difficulties coordinating schedules or meeting together

Social loafing

The tendency for people to put in less individual effort when working in a group, sometimes assuming others will pick up the slack

Reducing social loafing

People loaf less when tasks are appealing or meaningful, challenging, incentivized, or completed with friends or cohesive group members

Deindividuation

Losing a sense of individual identity and becoming caught up in group behavior, often reducing evaluation apprehension

Factors contributing to deindividuation

Group size, anonymity, and distracting experiences such as loud noises or chanting

Group polarization

The tendency for group discussion to strengthen people's initial opinions, causing group members to adopt more extreme positions

Informational reasons for group polarization

People focus on arguments supporting their side, learn new arguments from others, and rehearse or repeat supporting ideas during discussion

Normative reasons for group polarization

People compare their opinions with others in their group and adjust their beliefs to fit in or gain approval, creating a bandwagon effect

Group polarization in communities

Increased mobility allows people to self-segregate among like-minded individuals, reinforcing existing opinions and increasing polarization

Stereotype

A belief that members of a group possess certain traits or attributes

Prejudice

A preconceived negative attitude, feeling, or judgment toward a group and its members

Racism

Prejudice and discrimination based on race, often involving both prejudice and power

Explicit attitudes

Attitudes and feelings that people consciously recognize and can deliberately express to others

Implicit attitudes

Attitudes and associations that operate automatically, sometimes without conscious awareness, and may influence behavior

Sources of implicit associations

Associations can develop through upbringing, childhood experiences, socialization, and exposure to media

Weapon identification results

Research found racial bias in weapon identification and shooting decisions, with Black targets more likely to be mistakenly perceived as armed or shot

Is racism disappearing?

Overt racism has declined, but implicit racial associations and biases can continue to influence behavior

Gender stereotypes

Generalizations about the traits or behaviors of men and women that may be accurate, inaccurate, or contain a kernel of truth

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Men and women may differ on average in social connectedness and competition, although individuals vary considerably

Gender differences: social power

Gender differences in social power reflect patterns of unequal status and influence

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Men tend to show higher levels of physical aggression on average

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Men and women may differ on average in sexual initiative, but social norms and individual differences also matter

Hostile sexism

Negative, resentful, or antagonistic attitudes toward women

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Chivalrous but patronizing attitudes that portray women as deserving protection while reinforcing traditional gender roles

Ambivalent sexism

The combination of hostile and benevolent sexism toward women

Effects of benevolent sexism

Benevolent sexism can be harmful because it reinforces gender stereotypes and restricts women's independence, even when it appears positive

Is sexism disappearing?

Overt sexism has declined in some settings, but subtle sexism and gender inequality remain

Sources of prejudice

Social inequalities, unequal status, justifications for power, and beliefs such as Social Darwinism can contribute to prejudice

Social Darwinism

The application of survival-of-the-fittest ideas to human society to justify inequality and dominance

Socialization of prejudice

Children can learn prejudice through parents' explicit attitudes, observed behavior, and the social norms around them

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one's own cultural group is superior to other cultural groups

Conformity and prejudice

When prejudice and inequality are accepted as normal social norms, people may conform to and reinforce those attitudes

Institutional support for prejudice

Institutions can reinforce discrimination through policies or practices, such as unequal access to loans

Realistic group conflict theory

The idea that competition between groups for limited resources can produce conflict and prejudice

Realistic group conflict examples

Groups may blame one another for competition over jobs, scholarships, grants, or other scarce resources

Social identity theory

The idea that people favor their in-groups over out-groups to maintain or enhance self-esteem

Personal identity

Individual characteristics that distinguish a person, such as height, intelligence, or being extroverted or introverted

Social identity

The part of a person's identity derived from group memberships, such as family, religion, or sports teams

Social identity and self-esteem

Achievements and positive characteristics of one's social groups can increase personal self-esteem

Religion and prejudice

Religiosity may correlate with prejudice when it reflects strong group membership or exclusionary attitudes, while spirituality and living out compassionate religious values may be associated with less prejudice