AP psychology 4.3 (psychology of social situations)

Social Norms

Are the implicit or explicit rules that govern the behavior of individuals within a group or society.

Social Influence Theory

Examines HOW individual’s thoughts, feelings, & behaviors are shaped by the presence, opinions, and actions of others.

Normative Social Influence

Conforming to fit in with the group because you don’t want to appear foolish or be left out.

Informational Social Influence

Where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right and look to others who they believe may have more information.

Persuasion

Involves changing someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors through argument, reasoning, or appeal.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Suggests that efforts to persuade someone generally take two forms: the central route or the peripheral route.

Central Route Persuasion

Is logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument’s worthiness.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Occurs when someone evaluates an argument based on surface-level cues rather than the actual content of the message.

Halo Effect

Occurs when positive impressions of a person in one area leads to positive impressions or opinions of them in other areas. (An example of Peripheral Route)

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first completed a small request to later comply with a larger request.

Door-in-the-Face Phenomenon

The tendency for people to comply with a smaller request after first denying a larger request.

Conformity

a change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from another person or group of people

Chameleon Effect

Our tendency to mimic the mannerisms, gestures, or facial expressions of the people we interact with

The Solomon Asch Experiment

Demonstrated the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could cause a person to conform.

Obedience

following orders, typically given by an authority figure

Culture

The behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Individualism

Giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Collectivism

Giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly.

Multiculturalism

Is a societal approach that values & promotes the coexistence of diverse cultural groups.

Group Polarization

The beliefs and attitudes we bring to a group grow stronger as we discuss them with like-minded others.

Groupthink

Faulty thinking / defective decision-making that occurs in highly cohesive groups.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Occurs when individuals in a group feel less personally accountable for their actions because responsibility is shared among all members.

Social Loafing

The tendency for a person to exert less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone.

Deindividuation

Phenomenon in which people engage in seemingly impulsive, deviant, and sometimes violent acts in situations in which they believe they cannot be personally identified

Social Facilitation

Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Social Inhibition

Diminished performance on difficult or poorly-learned tasks in the presence of others.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Superordinate goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Social trap

a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains, which in the long run leads to a loss for the group as a whole

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychologists

Apply psychological principles and research methods to the workplace to improve productivity, work quality, & the well-being of employees.

Prosocial Behavior

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

Altruism

 unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard for consequences for oneself

Bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present or the extent to which people help can be affected by context

Situational Variables

the environment (perceived severity of the situation, number of bystanders)

Attentional Variables

the mental state of the observer (has a bystander noticed, are they preoccupied with their own thoughts, or is the situation ambiguous)

Diffusion of Responsibility

a reduction in the sense of urgency to help someone involved in an emergency or dangerous situation because you assume others observing the situation will help

Social exchange theory

 the theory that social behavior is an exchange process with the purpose of maximizing benefits and minimizing costs

Reciprocity norm

the expectation that we will repay in kind what another person has done for us

Return the favor

Social responsibility norm

an expectation that we should try to help others who need assistance, even if the costs outweigh the benefits