Social Influence, Aggression, and Altruism in Psychology

Conformity

Changing behavior to match group norms.

Compliance

Agreeing to a request from someone without authority.

Obedience

Following a direct order from an authority figure.

Informational social influence

Conforming to be correct in ambiguous situations.

Normative social influence

Conforming to be liked or accepted in unambiguous situations.

Internalization

Adopting others' beliefs as your own; it happens when informational social influence leads to a genuine change in beliefs.

Sherif's conformity study

Involved ambiguous tasks and informational influence.

Asch's conformity study

Involved clear tasks and normative influence.

Factors influencing conformity

Group size, unanimity, group status, and cultural background increase conformity; anonymity and individualism decrease it.

Door-in-the-face technique

Starts with a large request followed by a smaller one.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Starts with a small request followed by a larger one.

Negative state relief hypothesis

Suggests people help others to reduce their own negative emotions.

Descriptive norms

Describe what people do.

Prescriptive norms

Describe what people should do.

Milgram's obedience studies

Factors that can decrease obedience include proximity to the learner, absence of authority, presence of dissenting peers, and conflicting commands.

Harlow's wire/cloth monkey study

Shows that comfort and security are more important for attachment than food alone.

Communal relationships

Involve mutual care without expecting direct returns.

Exchange relationships

Involve reciprocity and equality in give and take.

Social exchange theory

Sees relationships as a cost-benefit analysis.

Equity theory

Focuses on fairness in the ratio of inputs and outputs.

Attachment styles

Secure (trusting), anxious (clingy), and avoidant (distant). Children and adults show similar relational patterns based on their style.

Functional distance

How often people encounter each other; it increases attraction and was strongest in the Westgate West study where people near stairwells had more friends.

Mere Exposure Effect

The more we are exposed to someone or something, the more we tend to like it.

Similarity influence on attraction

Similarity increases attraction due to shared values and predictability; couples are more likely to be similar.

Halo effect

Assuming someone has other positive traits because they are attractive; cultures differ in which traits they associate with attractiveness.

Benefits of being attractive

Attractive people are seen as more competent and sociable; attractiveness matters more for women.

Evolution

Men seek fertility and women seek resources; socialization says preferences come from cultural roles and expectations.

Investment model of commitment

Commitment is based on satisfaction, quality of alternatives, and investment in the relationship.

Four horsemen of the apocalypse in relationships

Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling — all predictors of relationship failure.

Stereotypes

Beliefs about a group.

Prejudice

Negative feelings toward a group.

Discrimination

Negative behavior toward individuals based on their group.

Economic perspective

Competition for resources.

Motivational perspective

Boost self-esteem and identity.

Cognitive perspective

Simplify the world.

Modern racism

Subtle, indirect, and more socially acceptable.

Traditional racism

Overt and explicit.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Tools that reveal unconscious biases that individuals may not report or be aware of.

Realistic group conflict theory

Intergroup hostility arises from competition over limited resources; it occurs during direct competition.

Robbers Cave study

Introducing superordinate goals that required cooperation between the groups successfully reversed intergroup conflict.

Self-esteem and discrimination

People may discriminate to protect or boost self-esteem.

Social Identity Theory

Group memberships are part of our self-concept.

Minimal Group Paradigm

Yes, people show ingroup favoritism even with arbitrary group assignments.

Cognitive perspective on stereotyping

It simplifies information processing, saving mental resources.

Attributions for stereotype-consistent behavior

We make dispositional attributions for consistent behavior.

Attributions for stereotype-inconsistent behavior

We make situational attributions for inconsistent behavior.

Outgroup homogeneity effect

The tendency to see members of outgroups as more similar to each other than members of one's ingroup.

Police Officer's Dilemma study

Participants were more likely to mistakenly shoot unarmed Black targets than White ones, reflecting implicit racial bias.

Subtyping

Explaining away exceptions to stereotypes by labeling them as exceptions that don't represent the group.

Stereotype threat

Fear of confirming a negative stereotype, which leads to worse performance.

Attributional ambiguity

Uncertainty about whether one's treatment is due to personal characteristics or group membership.

Presence of others and performance

Helps on simple or well-learned tasks; hurts on complex or unfamiliar tasks.

Social facilitation

Improved performance in the presence of others due to arousal, evaluation apprehension, or distraction.

Social loafing

People put in less effort in groups when individual contributions aren't monitored; more common in men and individualist cultures.

Group decision-making

Groups do not always make better decisions than individuals.

Groupthink

Faulty decision-making due to group pressure.

Conditions leading to groupthink

High cohesion, isolation, and directive leaders.

Prevention of groupthink

Encouraging dissent and critical evaluation.

Group polarization

The tendency for group decisions to be more extreme.

Reasons for group polarization

Persuasive arguments and social comparison.

Approach-inhibition theory of power

High power leads to action and less inhibition; low power leads to constraint and more cautious behavior.

Stereotyping in powerful people

More likely to stereotype, less likely to take others' perspectives.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness in groups.

Conditions leading to deindividuation

Anonymity, arousal, and group size.

Behavioral effects of deindividuation

Leads to impulsive, deviant acts.

Self-awareness

Attention to self.

Individuation

Increases self-control.

Spotlight effect

Overestimating how much others notice you.

Hostile aggression

Driven by anger.

Instrumental aggression

Goal-directed and used as a means to an end.

Effect of heat on aggression

High temperatures increase aggression due to discomfort.

Violent media and aggression

Violent media and games can increase aggression, especially in already aggressive individuals.

Social rejection and physical pain

Social rejection activates brain regions linked to physical pain, increasing the likelihood of aggressive responses.

Income inequality and aggression

Higher income inequality is linked to more violence due to feelings of social exclusion and competition.

Presence of guns and aggression

Weapons increase aggressive behavior.

Types of dehumanization

Denying human nature (emotions) and denying human uniqueness (civility, culture).

Reducing feelings of anger

By viewing situations from a third-person perspective or practicing self-distancing.

Culture of honor

Values reputation and retaliation.

Reactions to insults

Southern men react more strongly to insults than Northern men.

Increased violence in stepfamilies

Lack of biological connection reduces natural inhibitions against harm.

Gender differences in aggression

Men engage in more physical aggression; women use more relational aggression.

Socialized gender differences

Gender norms teach boys to be aggressive.

Precarious manhood hypothesis

Manhood is unstable and must be proven through aggression.

Reactive devaluation

Devaluing proposals from opposing groups simply because they come from an adversary.

Strategies for peacemaking

Face-to-face communication, shared goals, perspective-taking, and third-party mediation.

Face-to-face communication

A form of communication where individuals interact directly with each other.

Three motives for prosocial behavior

Social rewards (praise, status), personal distress (reduce own discomfort), and empathic concern (genuine concern for others).

Role of empathy on altruism

Empathy increases the likelihood of helping even when there's no personal gain.

Situational determinants of helping

Presence of others (decrease), being in a good mood or seeing someone else help (increase).

Effect of a large crowd on helping

Large crowds reduce helping due to diffusion of responsibility (others will help) and pluralistic ignorance (no one else is reacting, so maybe it's not an emergency).

Bystander effect

People are less likely to help in groups due to diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and evaluation apprehension.

Avoiding the bystander effect

Singling someone out to help can reduce the bystander effect.

Rural-urban difference in helping rates

Urban overload hypothesis (too much stimulation), diversity hypothesis (less similarity), and diffusion of responsibility.

Effect of social class on helping

Lower social class individuals tend to help more.

Effect of religion on helping

Religious people help more when helping aligns with their values or is public.

Reciprocal altruism

Helping others with the expectation that they'll help you later.

Prisoner's dilemma game

A game illustrating cooperation vs. betrayal; best mutual outcome is both cooperate, but betrayal gives individual advantage.

Effect of construal on altruism and cooperation

People were more likely to cooperate when it was called the 'Community' game; construal shapes expectations and behavior.

Sherif's Autokinetic Effect study

People conform to group norms in ambiguous situations due to informational social influence.

Asch's Line Judgment study

People conform even when the correct answer is clear due to normative social influence.