Stage 2 Psychology - Social Influence

Deindividuation

When an individual seems to lose himself or herself in the group's identity

Compliance

Publicly, but not privately, going along with majority influence to gain approval.

Identification

Public and private acceptance of majority influence in order to gain a specific group's acceptance.

Internalisation

Public and private acceptance of majority influence, through adoption of the majority group's belief system.

Normative social influence

When a person conforms to be accepted or belong to a group. A person conforms because it is socially rewarding, or to avoid social punishment i.e. being ridiculed for not 'fitting in'.

Informational social influence

When a person conforms to gain knowledge, or because they believe that someone else is 'right.'

Ethnocentric bias

When an individual is culturally biased towards their own culture. Inability to examine other ethnic groups without comparing their own cultural practices and by doing so, make negative or bias judgements regarding differing cultures.

Attitude

A learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way.

Affective component of attitudes

Refers to the emotional reactions or feelings an individual has towards an object, person, group, event or issue.

Direct experience

Attitudes that are formed through experiencing something yourself.

Indirect experience

Attitudes are formed due to being exposed to a topic, person, issue, etc. that is less personal.

The norm of reciprocity

Based on the social 'norm' that people will return a favour when one is granted to them.

Door-in-the-face technique

Begins with an initial large and unreasonable request, suggestion to do something or purchase something. Then followed by a smaller more reasonable request.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Begins with small reasonable request i.e. a small favour or buy a small item, only to later request a larger favour or purchase a bigger item.

Bi-directional relationship

Concept whereby attitudes can influence behaviour, and behaviour can influence attitudes.

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviours or cognitions. Simply, when the structure of the attitude is inconsistent.

Self-monitoring

Refers to individual differences in the tendency to attend to social cues and to adjust our behaviour to the social environment.

Stereotypes

A specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics.

Prejudice

A negative attitude (both cognitions and feelings) toward an individual based solely on someone's membership in a particular social group.

Discrimination

An action toward an individual because they belong to a particular group.

Stereotype threat

A situation in which people are or feel themselves to be at risk of conforming to stereotypes about their social group.

Reluctance to help

Reluctance to help other groups achieve equal success or access or improve their position in society by passively or actively not providing assistance.

Reverse discrimination

Creating prejudice in favour of a minority group.

Tokenism

Deliberately giving trivial assistance to a minority group to be seen as inclusive or avoid accusations of prejudice and discrimination.

Self-presentation

Refers to how people attempt to present themselves to control or shape how others (called the audience) view them.

High self-monitor

Worry about their image and how they present to others. Strive to be the best version of themselves in any given situation. This means they change their behaviour based on others around them and have a stronger need to fit in and be accepted.

Low self-monitor

Concerned with genuineness, even if it means being the odd person in the room or standing out from the crowd. Guided by their own true feelings and beliefs in any social situation, even when it sets them apart from the crowd.

Impression management

Managing our own impression of ourselves to others.

Verbal communication

Content of what a person says to manage impression.

Non-verbal communication

The methods we use to present information without using spoken words.

Primacy effect

Refers to the phenomenon where information received at the beginning carries more weight than the information that follows.

Recency effect

Refers to the phenomenon where the most recent information received carries more weight than information received prior.

Schemas

Refers to our internal template of what we know and what to expect in any given situation.

Obedience

Performing an action under the orders of an authority figure. Changing your behaviour at the request of another.

Dispositional factors

Internal factors and personal qualities of a person i.e. genetics, personality traits, intelligence, self-esteem levels etc.

Situational factors

Elements in the environment that influence behaviour i.e. work, school, others around us etc.

Conformity

A change in behaviour or belief to go along with the crowd.

Behavioural component of attitudes

Refers to the actions or behaviours that we do in response to an object, person, group, event or issue.

Cognitive component of attitudes

Refers to the beliefs or thoughts we have about an object, person, group, event or issue.

Persuasion

Process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication from other people.

Yale Communication Approach

The conditions and circumstances under which people are most likely to change their attitude in response to persuasive messages. Includes the source, message and audience.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Considers the variables of the Yale Communication Approach. Two main routes that play a role in delivering a persuasive message.

Central route of persuasion

Makes the audience think carefully about the message to evaluate the information. Driven by logic, and uses data and facts to convince people.

Peripheral route of persuasion

Relies on association with positive characteristics such as positive emotions, celebrity endorsement, or images of beauty and pleasure. Audience does not need the message to be strong, and advertisements often have very low elaboration or information.