Social Psychology Unit 2

acceptance

conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure

Wanting to fit into a group, so you start dressing and speaking the way they do, and if you get in starting to believe what they do so you can fit in like a popular group at school

aggression

physical/verbal behavior intended to hurt someone

Someone throwing something at your head, or saying something cruel like “ you’re ugly”

androgynous

the mix of feminine and masculine characteristics/traits

attitude inoculation

exposing people to weak attacks on their attitudes so when stronger attacks come they will be able to refute it

those bullying practice days at school, they say something mean so you learn to ignore it or learn to be confident about it, so when someone says something really mean you are more likely able to say no, or ignore it

attraction

feelings, often influenced by our predispositions, making us to respond favorably or behavior affected unfavorably to objects, people, and events

You like the color red, and see someone wear the color red so you talk to them nicely / You hate people who walk slow, so you push past them

attractiveness

having qualities that appeal to an audience can be physical or characteristic

person has a confident voice so people listen to them

autokinetic phenomenon

apparent movement of stationary point of light in the dark “self-motion”

When you’re looking at the night sky and it starts to move even though it isn’t

central route to persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

you are buying a computer so you research multiple options and organize them by memory, speed, and computing power, and then buy the one with the most memory, speed, and computing power

channel of communication

the way a message is delivered

I know what I’m doing tone, you believe they know what they are doing

cisgender

someone whose assigned sex at birth matches their psychological sense of being/gender matches sex

cohesiveness

to the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as attraction to eachother ( the “we feeling”)

Your friend group all wears pink on wednesdays, or a soccer team having a common goal of winning the game

compliance

conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with a implied/ explicit request (agreeing with something) while privately disagreeing

When you’re hanging out with someone you want to like you so you say you like pineapple on pizza even though you actually really hate it

conformity

change in behavior/belief as the result of a real/imagined group pressure

When a new trend appears so start wearing those clothes to fit in

counterargument

reasons why a persuasive message might be wrong

Initial Argument: The “Blank Slate” (Behaviorism) theory argues that human behavior is entirely shaped by environmental conditioning and upbringing.
Counterargument: Behavioral genetics research (such as twin studies) shows that traits like intelligence, personality, and risk for mental illness have a high degree of heritability (genetic influence), meaning environment alone cannot explain human behavior.

credibility

believability, someone who is considered both an expert and trustworthy

they have a phd in this, they probably know alot about this topic

culture

enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people, and transmitted from one generation to the next

Individualistic : More independent everyone is special, like a talent show
Collective : more “togetherness”, like a multigenerational household where personal and career choices are prioritized less than the need of the family

deindividuation

loss of one’s self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad

Like the Stanford prison experiment, when you take on a role such as a guard, with their uniform, and lose all sense of individual accountability because they are a part of a group

Door in the face phenomenon

Strategy for gaining a concession. “You turn down the big request, but agree to the reasonable one”

can you make me a cake, no okay, can you atleast go to the store to get me the mix then

empathy

vicarious experience of another’s emotions ( wearing someone else’s shoes for a day to feel what they feel)

A friend has a tough day, and you listen to them and console them genuinely

epigenetics

study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without DNA change

How much a mother is affectionate towards her child, the nicer she is the more the child is likely to be less anxious, whereas the less affectionate the mother is the more anxious the child will be in the future

evaluation apprehension

concerns for how others are evaluating us

Making a speech in public and you’re worried about how people are judging how smart you are

evolutionary psychology

study of evolution of cognition and behavior using principles of natural selection

Having a fear of heights because in the past cliffs and such threatened human existence, so now we are scared of heights

Foot in the door phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply with a larger request later

hey can you go to the store for cake mix, comes home, asks them to make the cake

free-riders

people who benefit from the group but give little in return

Working in a group project and putting your name on the project when you really didn’t do much

gender

the characteristics we associate with females/males: biological or socially influenced

gender roles

a set of behavior expectaions/ standards for females/ males ( the norms for your gender)

Women are followers and men are leaders

group

two or more people who for longer than a few moments interact and influence each other and perceive one and another as us

“ family is group because they influence your opinions and perception of the world, and you think of them as a part of your in-group”

group think

the mode of thinking that people engage in when occurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative course of action

The challenger incident, where people could have said something about the rocket not working and didn’t suggest something to change it but since nobody spoke up, they all just agreed, and people unfortunately died

informational influence

Conformity occurs when people accept evidence about reality provided by others

When you are trying to get a new box of plastic forks, because your last brand sucked, so you search up the plastic fork experts advice and buy what they say

leadership

the process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group

In a group project someone takes charge and sets a date for everyone to meet up, sets up the group chat, and says they will bring cookies for the group as motivation

lowball technique

a tactic for getting people to agree to something “initial request agrees, makes a harder request still says yes, but if the first request requires a lot of money, then hesitates”

“ car price is 14k, oh great i agree, after all the add ons and things car price is now 16k, still buys it because oh it was a great deal”

mass hysteria

susceptibility to problems that spread throughout a large group of people ( thinking we have something because a lot of people around us have it)

• The dancing plague, a lady started dancing for no reason in public, and people joined (400 people) , and they kept dancing for weeks for no reason
  the episode

• in a medical tv show ( chicago med?) where a bunch of girls thought they were sick because they thought this one girl was sick and they were in a space together even though they were fine and started showing symptoms

natural selection

the evolutionary process by which traits that helped organisms survive and reproduce get passed down to future generations

How we are able to recognize angry faces mean danger because our ancestors learned that angry face = harm and so they survived and passed it down to you

need for cognition

The motivation to think and analyze “I agree with that, I don’t agree with that”

I agree chocolate strawberries are the best, I disagree that mustard belongs on strawberries

normative influence

conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill other people’s expectations, often to gain acceptance of the group

• Laughing at a NOT funny joke because that person is you boss and maybe if you laugh they will be nice to you ( not always a reward)

• Wearing certain clothes and acting a certain way to fit in with a group

norms

“proper/normal” behavior standardized and accepted by society

How people going up the stairs are on the right and those going down are on the left

obedience

type of compliance involving acting in accordance with a direct order/command

The prison experiment where they ordered the prisoners to comply with what they said and they did

peripheral route to persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness

“oh she looks pretty, let me join the cult”

personal space

“buffer zone” we like to maintain around our bodies; however, the amount of space is determined by our culture/society

Stepping back when someone is too close to you in the elevator

persuasion

the process by which a message induces a change in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors

“ an ad says iphone’s are the best and shows people with only iphone’s so you end up buying an iphone”

pluralistic ignorance

a false impression of what most other people are thinking or feeling, or how they are responding

A professor asks if anyone has a question after a tough chemistry lecture, no one raises their hand even though there are people who are completely lost and don’t know what’s going on

primacy effect

other things being equal, information that has been present first usually has the most influence “remember first things better than the middle”

“ People listen to 2 people’s descriptions: person a starts with positives such as smart, person b starts with negatives such as arrogant. People formed better opinions of person A due to the start being positive”

reactance

a motive to protect/restore one’s sense of freedom: comes out when someone threatens our freedom of action

when someone tries to say protesting is illegal, so people keep protesting

recency effect

information presented last sometimes has the most influence: time between message 1 and 2 “ remember last thing better than the middle “

Remember the last person at the interview because it’s the end of the day

self-awareness

a self-conscious state in which attention benefits focuses more on one’s self “makes people more sensitive towards their own attitudes and dispositions”

• Internal : adjust your schedule because you’re not a morning person, so now you’re not beating yourself up about not being a morning person and accept your best work done in the afternoon

• External : when talking to someone, noticing your tone is kind of mean, so you use a calmer tone to make them feel safe to talk to

sex

two biological categories of female/male

sleeper effect

a delayed impact of a message that occurs when an initially discounted message becomes effective “remembers the message but forgets why is not important”

“read a fake health tip in a tabloid, oh that’s wrong, weeks pass by, remember it but forgot about the trashy tabloid so now you think its a fact”

social comparison

evaluating one’s opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others (upward/ downward)

• Upward: taking a test in 20 minutes and seeing a classmate finish it in 15 minutes, makes you feel envious, and maybe work harder for the next test

• Downward : taking a test in 20 minutes and seeing a classmate finish in 40 minutes, making you feel good about yourself and giving your self esteem a boost

social facilitation

strengthening of dominant (likely) responses “ more likely to perform better on simple, or tasks that are well practiced when others are around”

“ studying faster in the starbucks where people are compared to alone by yourself in your room”

social leadership

leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict and offers support

In a group project someone takes charge and sets a date for everyone to meet up, sets up the group chat, and people are having conflict about their tasks, so the leader has them sit down and talk through the conflict, and offers them support if they feel weird about it later, or they just need someone to listen to them about their problem

task leadership

leadership that organizes work, sets standards, focuses on goals

In a group project someone takes charge and sets a date for everyone to meet up, and gives everyone a task for the project to do and sets a date for them to be finished by

testosterone

hormone that is more prevalent in males than females; linked to aggression and need for dominance

transformational leadership

leadership that, enabled by a leader’s vision or inspiration, exerts significant influence

A politician encouraging people, to stop using plastic, so people make an initiative for people to use less plastic

transgender

someone whose assigned sex at birth does not match their psychological sense of being

two-step flow of communication

The process by which media influence often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others

• Step One – Media to Opinion Leaders:
  Opinion leaders are individuals who consume more media, are better informed, and are socially active in their communities. They interpret and contextualize information for others.

• Step Two – Opinion Leaders to the Public:
  Opinion leaders share, discuss, and recommend ideas, influencing the attitudes and behaviors of less-active media consumers through interpersonal communication.