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Based on Notes
Social interaction
A basic human need
Social isolation
Shares similar risks of death with obesity and a sedentary lifestyle and is positively correlated with risk of suicide
First impressions
Formed "rapidly" - in some cases, less than a minute - also persistent
"Thin slices of behaviour"
Exposure lasting less than 30 seconds - initial impressions did not change much after longer periods of exposure
Speed-dating
A way to observe the accuracy of these thin-slice impressions - Ex. 3 min social exchanges - people accurately predicted their compatibility with a potential partner - (CQ)
Compatibility quotient (CQ)
Reliable instrument that predicts compatibility between two people
Behaviour can be seen as
a combination of dispositional attribution (internal) factors and situational attribution (external) factors
Fundamental attribution error
People do not underestimate situational variables as proposed by correspondence bias, but instead completely fail to consider situational variables while making attributions - leads to a reliance on dispositional contributions to explain the resulting observed behaviour
Self-serving bias
we view our successes differently than our failures
success - dispositional variables, failing - situational factors
Group-serving bias
an organization tends to attribute success to its dispositional characteristics but blames failures on the situation
Members of collectivistic cultures
tend to place more emphasis on situation than on disposition - group-serving bias
Members of individualistic cultures
more likely to use defensive attributions - self-serving bias
Eastern cultures
focus on context or situations and relationships
Western cultures
more likely to focus on objects than on situations
Attitudes
can be positive and negative - share three basic elements: affect (ex. emotion), behaviour, and cognition (the ABCs)
Operant conditioning suggests
approval or disapproval shapes a person's attitudes
Observational learning
can be a powerful mechanism for learning attitudes
Addiction
includes attitudes and preferences that are not in the best interests of anybody concerned
Cognitive dissonance
uncomfortable state that occurs when our outward behaviour doesn't match our attitudes - tool for producing attitude change
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
organizes and predicts our responses to persuasive messages - two major pathways leading to changes in attitudes - Central route and Peripheral route
Central route to persuasion
occurs when a person considers persuasive arguments carefully and thoughtfully - Ex. educated on a topic, pre-existing attitude
Peripheral route to persuasion
occurs when a person responds to peripheral cues - Ex. heuristics, emotional appeals
Persuasion
influenced by the medium, crediblity, and age and intelligence of audience, used to communicate a message - typically we find face-to-face contact the most effective
Perceptions
generalizations that we form about other people based on factors such as race, gender, age, socioeconomic status etc
Prejudice
is an attitude (usually negative) about others - usually formed by stereotypes - can lead to discriminatory behaviour
Contact
particularly beneficial in reducing prejudice when groups participate in cooperative activities
The jigsaw classroom (1970s)
Children in cooperative groups were assigned a part of the answer that their group needed to learn - children helped their teammates by listening to and teaching each other - overall helped with prejudice
Social norms
Unspoken rules for behaviour - constitutes conformity
Conformity
Matching your behaviour and appearance to the perceived social norms of a group - can be useful in ambiguous situations, reduces the risk of rejection
Compliance
Occurs when we simply agree to do something because another person asks us to do it
Reciprocation
Feeling obligated to give something back to people who have given something to us - powerful tool of social influence
Obedience
defined as compliance with the request of an authority figure
Stanley Milgram
Attempted to demonstrate the power of authority over personal ethics
Milgram Experiment
Participant (teacher) believed they were in a study of the effects of punishment on learning - other "participant" was learning words that the teacher would give - punishment for failing to learn pairs of words was an electric shock - administered by the teacher to the learner using an intimidating piece of equipment - the shocks were not being inflicted and were prerecorded - rates of obedience dropped to about 30 percent
Informed consent
participants are fully debriefed about the deception and informed of the true nature of the experiment after the study is complete - asked for their consent again
Voluntariness
the ability to opt out of a research study
Social facilitation
occurs when the presence of other people changes individual performance
Social loafing
the reduced motivation and effort shown by individuals working in a group as opposed to working alone
Deindividuation
refers to the immersion of the individual within a group, which makes the individual relatively anonymous
Common sense
suggests that discussion with others who express different opinions should produce more moderate attitudes for everyone in the group
Group polarization
appears to be even more powerful in online discussions - people are exposed to many more arguments on issues than they might generate on their own
Groupthink
especially likely in cohesive groups with high morale whose members already share similar attitude
Attraction
refers to our attitudes about other people and can vary along a continuum from strong liking to strong disliking
Mere exposure effect
regular exposure to neutral or positive stimuli generally leads to increased liking
People tend to choose friends and romantic partners
who are similar in race, ethnicity, religion, values, education, and age + have preferred physical appearance
Cultures
frequently have their own definitions of physical beauty, but we appear to have some underlying, biological preferences
More than one-third of female homicides worldwide are committed by
intimate partners
Cooperation
working together toward common goals
Competition
where we struggle with one another to obtain limited resources
Tit-for-tat (TFT) strategy
you make cooperation your first move and then repeat your partner's successive moves
Heroism
Altruism in which the helper is exposed to risk or experiences harm
Reciprocal altruism
expectations that a favour might someday be returned by those you have helped
Aggression
the conscious intent to harm others - it can take several forms
Instrumental aggression
is the intentional harm, usually physical, done to others to obtain a goal, such as attacking a person to steal a wallet or purse
Relational aggression
harms another person's social standing through behaviours such as ignoring, excluding, and gossiping
Defensive aggression
in which the person may do harm to others in self-defence
Passive aggression
in which people who aren't comfortable being openly aggressive get what they want under the guise of still trying to please others
Maternal aggression
a rather common phenomenon in the animal world in which sickly or unwanted offspring are killed
Biological explanations of aggression point to several possible sources of human aggression
genetics, high testosterone levels, and nervous system structure and activity
Human twin and adoption studies imply that aggressive tendencies
at least partly influenced by genetics
Prenatal exposure to high levels of androgens
increases the aggressive play of both male and female preschoolers
Psychoactive substances affect the likelihood that a person will behave aggressively
Ex. alcohol - Silences higher cortical areas responsible for impulse control, often leading to behaviour that is normally actively suppressed, including aggression
Abused kids vs non abused kids
nonabused individuals showed an unusually reduced level of activity in the frontal lobes
