Psych 1010 Exam 4

Social psychology

the scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence and are influenced by social groups; area of psychology that focuses on how human behavior is affected by the presence of other people

Social influence

the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of a person

Conformity

change in behavior as a result of real or imagined group pressure

Public conformity

believe self is correct, but don’t wish to disrupt group

Normative social influence

the need to act in ways that we feel will let us be liked and accepted by others

Informational social influence

we take our cues for how to behave from other people when we are in a situation that is ambiguous

Private acceptance

truly believe that the group is correct

Groupthink

when people within a group feel it is more important to maintain the group’s cohesiveness than to consider the facts realistically

Symptoms of groupthink

invulnerability, rationalization, lack of introspection, stereotyping, pressure, lack of disagreement, self-deception, insularity

Minimize groupthink

leaders should be impartial, entire group should seek the opinions of people outside the group, secret ballots, group members will be held responsible for decisions made by the group

Group polarization

the tendency for members involved in a group discussion to take somewhat more extreme positions and suggest riskier actions when compared to individuals who have not participated in a group discussion

Social facilitation

if a task is perceived as easy, the presence of other people seems to improve performance

Social impairment

if a task is perceived as difficult, the presence of other people seems to have a negative effect on performance

Social loafing

people who are lazy tend not to do as well when other people are also working on the same task, but they can do quite well when working on their own

Deindividuation

the lessening of one’s sense of personal identity and personal responsibility

Compliance

when people change their behavior as a result of another person or group asking or directing them to change

Foot-in-the-door technique

asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment (house sitting -\> watering plants)

Door-in-the-face technique

asking for a large commitment and being refused and then asking for a smaller commitment (pet sitting -\> watering plants)

Lowball technique

getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment (cable company advertising low prices and then adding surcharges)

Obedience

changing one’s behavior at the direct order of an authority figure

Milgram experiment

participants were assigned to either the “teacher” or the “learner” role; the learner was a confederate already aware of the situation; the teacher had a control panel for a shock generator and the shocks increased in intensity as the experiment progressed; an experimenter who acted as an authority said “the experiment requires you to continue;” studied how many participants continued to administer shocks; most went all the way to 450 volts

Social cognition

the ways in which people think about other people and how those cognitions influence behavior toward those other people

Attitude

a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain idea, person, object, or situation; developed through people’s experiences

Components of attitudes

affect (feelings), behavior (actions), cognition (thoughts)

Affective component

the way a person feels toward the object, person, or situation; ex: pop music is fun and uplifting

Behavior component

the action a person takes in regard to the person, object, or situation; ex: a person who feels that pop music is fun is likely to go to a pop music concert

Cognitive component

the way a person thinks about himself or herself, an object, or a situation; includes beliefs and ideas about the focus of the attitude; ex: someone who likes pop music might believe that pop music is superior

Direct contact

attitudes can be formed is by direct contact with the focus of the attitude; ex: a child who tries and dislikes brussels sprouts will for a negative attitude about brussels sprouts

Direct instruction

attitudes can be formed through direct instruction by a parent or other authority; ex: parents telling their children that smoking cigarettes is unhealthy

Interaction with others

attitudes can be formed because the person is around other people with that attitude; ex: if a person’s friends all hold the attitude that smoking is cool, that person is more likely to think that smoking is cool

Vicarious conditioning (observational learning)

attitudes can be formed through the observation of other people’s action and reactions to various objects, people, or situations; ex: a child whose mother shows a fear of dogs may develop a similar fear

Persuasion

the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation

Factors of persuasion

source, message, target audience, and medium

Source

the person who is delivering the message; there is a tendency to give more weight to those who are perceived as trustworthy, attractive, similar to the person receiving the message, and experts

Message

should be clear and well organized; more effective to present both sides of an argument; messages directed at producing fear are more effective if they produce only a moderate amount of fear

Target audience

the characteristics of the people who are the intended audience of the message of persuasion are important to its effectiveness; age plays a role; young adults are more susceptible to persuasion

Medium

the form through which a person receives a message; seeing a politician’s speech on TV may have a different effect than reading about it online

Elaboration likelihood model

people either elaborate based on what they hear (the facts of the message) or they do not elaborate at all, preferring to pay attention to the surface characteristics of the message (length, who delivers it, etc.)

Central-route processing

people attend to the content of the message

Peripheral-route processing

a style of information processing that relies on peripheral cues (cues outside of the message content) such as the expertise of the source, the length of the message, and other factors

Cognitive dissonance

sense of distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does not correspond to that person’s attitudes

Reducing cognitive dissonance

change conflicting behavior to make it match the attitude; change current conflicting cognition to justify their behavior; form new cognitions to justify their behavior

Self-perception theory

challenges cognitive dissonance theory by saying that instead of experiencing negative tension, people look at their own actions and then infer their attitudes from those actions

Impression formation

the forming of the first knowledge a person has about another person

Social categorization

the assignment of a person one has just met to a category based on the characteristics the new person has in common with other people with whom one has had experience with in the past; mostly automatic

Stereotype

a belief that a set of characteristics is shared by all members of a particular social category

Implicit personality theory

sets of assumptions formed in childhood about how different types of people, personality, traits, and actions are all related

Attribution

explaining both one’s own behavior and the behavior of other people

Attribution theory

developed by Heider; theory of how people make attributions

Situational cause

when the cause of behavior is assumed to be from external sources, such as the weather, traffic, educational opportunities, etc.

Dispositional cause

when the cause of behavior is assumed to come from within the individual, such as the person’s internal personality characteristics

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency for people observing someone else’s actions to overestimate the influence of that person’s internal characteristics on behavior and underestimate the influence of the situation

Actor-observer bias

the tendency to use situational attributions in explaining our own behavior

Errors in attribution less likely

if a lot of people are doing it, it is probably caused by an outside factor

Motive attribution asymmetry

each side of a conflict feels that their side was motivated by love more than hate but the other side’s motivating force was hate

Prejudice

when a person holds an unsupported and often negative stereotyped attitude about the members of a particular social group (the attitude)

Discrimination

when prejudicial attitudes cause members of a particular social group to be treated differently than others in situations that call for equal treatment (the behavior)

In-groups

social groups with whom a person identifies, “us”

Out-groups

social groups with whom a person does not identify, “them”

Microaggressions

the seemingly minor insults and negative exchanges that members of the dominant culture often use toward minorities; not very blatant

Scapegoat

a person or a group, typically of an out-group, who serves as the target for frustrations and negative emotions of members of the in-group

Social cognitive theory

using cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world

Realistic conflict theory

increasing prejudice and discrimination are closely tied to an increasing degree of conflict between the in-group and the out

Social identity theory

the formation of a person’s identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison

Social identity

the part of the self-concept that includes the view oneself has as a member of a particular social group within the social category (typically the in-group)

Social comparison

people compare themselves favorably to others to improve their own self-esteem (“At least I’m better off than that person”)

Stereotype vulnerability

the effect that a person’s knowledge of another’s stereotyped opinions can have on that person’s behavior

Self-fulfilling prophecy

the tendency for one’s expectations to affect one’s behavior in such a way as to make the expectations more likely to occur

Stereotype threat

members of a stereotyped group are made anxious and wary of any situation in which their behavior might confirm a stereotype

Equal status contact

contact between groups in which the groups have equal status with neither group having power over the other

Jigsaw classroom

students have to work together to reach a specific goal

Interpersonal attraction

liking or having the desire for a relationship with someone else; physical attractiveness and proximity both play a role

Mere exposure effect

the repeated exposure to new stimuli; the more you experience something, the more you tend to like it

Reciprocity of liking

people have a very strong tendency to like people who like them

Sternberg’s Three Components of Love

intimacy, passion, and commitment

Intimacy

the feelings of closeness that one has for another person or the sense of having close emotional ties to another

Passion

the emotional and sexual arousal a person feels toward the other person

Commitment

the decisions one makes about a relationship

Romantic love

consists of intimacy and passion

Companionate love

consists of intimacy and commitment

Consummate love

the ideal form of love that many people see as the ultimate goal; consists of intimacy, passion, and commitment

Aggression

when one person tries to harm another person deliberately, either physically or psychologically

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

the concept of aggression as a reaction to frustration

Social role

the pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is in a particular social setting

Ecological validity

degree to which results can be applied to the real world

Prosocial behavior

socially desirable behavior that benefits others rather than brings them harm

Altruism

helping someone in trouble with no expectation of reward and often without fear for one’s own safety

Bystander effect

the likelihood of a bystander to help someone in trouble decreases as the number of bystanders increases

Diffusion of responsibility

the phenomenon in which a person fails to take responsibility for either action or inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility

Five decision points

noticing, defining an emergency, taking responsibility, planning a course of action, and taking action

Stress

the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging

Stressors

events that cause a stress reaction; can be internal or external

Distress

the effect of unpleasant and undesirable stressors

Eustress

the effect of positive events that still make demands on a person to adapt or change; the optimal amount of stress that people need to promote health and well-being

Catastrophe

an unpredictable event that happens on a large scale and creates tremendous amounts of stress and feelings of threat

Major life events

significant changes in one’s life, for better or worse, can cause stress

Social Readjustment Rating Scale

assessment with 43 items that measures the amount of stress resulting from major life events over a 1-year period in a person’s life

College Undergraduate Stress Scale

assessment that measures the amount of stress in a college student’s life over a 1-year period resulting from major life changes

Hassles

daily annoyances of everyday life

Pressure

the psychological experience produced by urgent demands or expectations for a person’s behavior that come from an outside source