AP Psych: UNIT 12 (LAST UNIT WOOOO!)

informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

social psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

cognitive dissonance

an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes the inconsistency of his or her actions, attitudes, or beliefs

chameleon effect

unconsciously mimicking others expressions, postures, and voice tones to help us feel what they are feeling

mood linkage

the tendency for people to unconsiously immitate others emotions (monkey see, monkey do)

attribution error/theory

error made in attributing the causes for someone's behavior to their membership in a particular group, such as a racial group

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition (personality)

example of fundamental attribution error

ex. thinking a cashier is lazy/bad at his job, when in reality, he could just be sick/tired because he is a student

situational attribution (external)

attributing behavior to the environment

dispositional attribution (internal)

attributing behavior to the person's disposition/personality and traits

attitudes

beliefs and feelings about people, objects, and ideas/events that guide our behavior and remain stable overtime

behavior

observable actions of human beings and nonhuman animals

do attitudes influence behavior? or does behavior influence attitude?

Both! It's a two-way street

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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

door-in-the-face phenomenon

tendency for people who won't agree to a large task, but then agree when a smaller request is made

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

an experiment in which people were assigned to be guards or prisoners- studied how drastically behaviors can change under certain circumstances

Milgram's Obedience Study

An experiment in which Stanley Milgram found that people will usually obey an authority, even if they might think what they are doing is wrong.

Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The conflict that you feel when your attitudes are not in sync with your behaviors. often solved by rationalizing/changing our attitude instead of our behavior

central route to persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts (works well for ppl with a higher IQ)

peripheral route to persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness (works well for children and ppl with a low IQ)

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

asch line study

Soloman Asch ran a study in which participants were shown 4 lines and asked which two were the same size. Actors who were in on the study, would lie and give the incorrect answer. 75% of participants gave at least one wrong answer and in 37% of the trials, the subject chose the wrong line. This shows that people are very susceptible to peer pressure/conformity.

deindividualization

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

example of deindividualization

ex. You're at a concert and everyone is jumping up and down, screaming loudly, so you join in. Or you're in a group of people who are becoming aggressive and screaming obscenities at another group, so you join in.

group polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

example of group polarization

ex. After a discussion about communism, members of the group who are communist will defend their attitudes far more strongly than they would have beforehand.

groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

example of groupthink

ex. President JFK and his advisors decision to launch an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

norm(s)

rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members

prejuidice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members; generally involves stereotype beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to descriminition (negative attitude)

stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members (negative behavior)

In-group(s)

"us" - people who share a common identity

in-group bias

the tendency to favor one's own group

example of in-group bias

ex. thinking your school is better than others

ethnocentrism

belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group.

out-group(s)

social groups with whom a person does not identify; "them"

out-group bias

tendency to view all individuals outside our group as highly similar

scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races

reasons for aggression

• Instinct

• Learned behavior (social learning)

Perceptions of behaviors in a situation (cognitive)

Principles of Attraction

proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity

Proximity

(geographic nearness); provides opportunities for friendship and aggression

Physical Attractiveness

once proximity affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance

Similarity

when two things/people have something in common = longer, happier relationship

mere exposure effect

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

two-factor theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

norm of reciprocity

the expectation that helping others will increase the likelihood that they will help us in the future

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

social trap

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

example of a social trap

ex. continued fossil fuel use though it may effect future generations negatively

social facilitation

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

social inhibitation

a decrease in performance in front of a crowd

just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

example of the just-world phenomenon

ex. that homeless person deserves what has come to him

frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration, the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal, creates anger which can generate aggression

social scripts

culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

social learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished (modeling and reinforcement)

superordinate goals

peacemaking; shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

examples of subordinate goals

ex. jigsaw classroom or Robbers Cave Experiment

GRIT (Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction)

a strategy designed to decrease international tensions; "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"

Soloman Asch

a social psychologist that studied conformity through their famous line experiment

Stanley Milgram

conducted "shocking" (Ha!) experiments on obedience

Philip Zimbardo

made the Stanford Prison Study, which studied power of social roles to influence people's behavior; proved that peoples behavior depends to a large extent on the roles they are asked to play

Muzafer Sherif

a founder of social psychology, studied social norms, conducted Robber's Cave experiment

Robert Cialdini

studied psychology of persuasion, concluded that fear tactics are unsucessful in persuasion

John Darley and Bibb Latane

conducted the smokey room experiment; discovered the bystander effect/diffusion of responsibility

Irving Janis

studied group dynamics, responsible for theory of "groupthink"

Rosenthal and Jacobson

conducted studies in schools, found that kids labeled intelligent and would succeed scored higher due to teacher higher expectations (pygmalion effect)

pygmalion effect

higher expectations lead to an increase in performance

prejudice vs discrimination

negative ATTITUDE vs negative BEHAVIOR