Year 12 Groups and Society Revision

Attitude formation

How attitudes are typically formed through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and modeling/observation.

Stereotypes

A generalized and often oversimplified belief about a group of people.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members.

Discrimination

Unjustified negative behavior or actions directed toward a group or its members.

Scapegoating

Blaming a person or group for conditions they are not responsible for, often due to frustration.

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperative effort.

In-groups

A group with which a person identifies and feels a sense of belonging ("us").

Out-groups

A group with which a person does not identify or views as separate ("them").

Robber's Cave experiment

Sherif's study showing intergroup hostility can be created through competition and reduced through superordinate goals.

The Freedom Writers

An example of reducing prejudice through empathetic intergroup contact, sharing stories, and breaking down stereotypes.

A Class Divided

Jane Elliott's experiment demonstrating the arbitrary nature of prejudice by dividing students by eye color.

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Compliance

Changing behavior in response to a direct request, without necessarily changing private opinion.

Obedience

Changing behavior in response to a direct command from an authority figure.

Social power

The ability of an individual or group to influence others to change their behavior.

Asch's experiment setup

Participants judged line lengths in groups of confederates who gave a unanimous wrong answer.

Asch's experiment finding

About 35% of participants conformed to the incorrect group consensus at least once.

Asch's experiment limitation

Low ecological validity; laboratory task of matching line lengths does not reflect real-world social pressure.

Milgram's experiment question

To test how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.

Milgram's experiment finding

65% of participants delivered the maximum 450-volt shock when urged by an authority figure.

Milgram's experiment limitation

Severe psychological distress and deception of participants.

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Stanford Prison Experiment aim

Philip Zimbardo's study to examine psychological effects of perceived power and assigned roles in a simulated prison.

Stanford Prison Experiment finding

Participants quickly absorbed roles (guards brutal, prisoners submissive), leading to early termination.

Stanford Prison Experiment flaw

Lack of a control group and experimenter bias (Zimbardo acted as prison warden).

Holocaust example

Demonstrates extreme obedience to authority and conformity to state-sponsored antisemitic norms.

Abu Ghraib example

Explained by deindividuation, conformity, obedience to authority, and toxic situational forces.

Cronulla riots example

Contributed to by in-group/out-group hostility, ethnocentrism, media amplification, and deindividuation.

Legitimate power

Power derived from a person's formal position or office (e.g., police officer, boss).

Reward power

Power based on the ability to distribute valued rewards or resources.

Coercive power

Power based on the ability to punish or penalize others.

Expert power

Power derived from specialized knowledge, skills, or expertise.

Referent power

Power based on identification with, respect for, or attraction to the power holder (role models).

Compliance vs. Conformity (True/False)

True: Conformity involves implicit social norms, while compliance involves explicit requests.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Securing a small request first, followed by a larger, related request.

Door-in-the-face technique

Making an extreme request that is likely to be refused, followed by a smaller, intended request.

Low-ball technique

Offering an attractive deal, then increasing the cost or terms after commitment has been made.

Lure technique

Enticing people with an attractive offer that is unavailable, substituting it with a less attractive one.

Prosocial behavior

Any action intended to help or benefit another person, group, or society.

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others, performed at a cost to the helper without expectation of reward.

Kitty Genovese case

The murder that prompted extensive research into the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility.

Latane and Darley

Social psychologists who investigated situational factors influencing bystander intervention.

Bystander effect

The phenomenon where an individual is less likely to help in an emergency when other people are present.

Diffusion of responsibility

The tendency to feel less personal responsibility to act when other bystanders are present.

Pluralistic ignorance

Looking to others for cues on how to act in an ambiguous situation, assuming nothing is wrong.

Deindividuation (True/False)

False: Deindividuation typically decreases personal accountability rather than increasing it.

Superordinate goals (True/False)

False: Superordinate goals decrease intergroup hostility, not increase it.

Door-in-the-face (True/False)

True: It involves starting with a large request that gets rejected so a smaller request is accepted.

Milgram's experiment (True/False)

False: Participants in Milgram's experiment were not actually receiving the shocks they administered.

Normative social influence (True/False)

False: Conformity to be liked is normative; informational social influence is based on a desire for accuracy.