Social Thinking and Social Influence

Social Psychology

The study of how people behave in social situations

Culture

An ongoing pattern of life, characterizing a society at a given point in history

What do social groups do?

They help us define who we are, gives us a sense of identity.

What 2 things do social groups provide us with?

Norms and rules to follow

What are the two main types of social groups?

Ingroups and Outgroups

What are ingroups?

Ingroups are groups you personally identify with

What are 3 characteristics that help us define someones ingroup

1. Political Values
3. Age
3. Ethnicity

What is meant by ingroup favouritism (ingroup bias)?

the idea that we behave in ways that will improve the circumstances of our ingroup

What are outgroups?

Outgroups are groups which a person does not identify with

Social Roles

expectations for how people who hold certain positions in a group ought to behave

Social Norms

A widely accepted standard of conduct for appropriate behaviour that is typically unspoken

What are the main 3 different characteristics of groups?

1. Group structure
2. Group Cohesion
3. Norms

Describe the characteristic of Group structure

- the network of roles
- communication pathways
- power in a group

Describe the characteristic of group cohesion

- often stick together
- show more signs of mutual affection
- pay more attention to one another

Describe the characteristic of norms

- set of norms a group adopts
- widely accepted
- standard for appropriate behaviour

Social Cognition

the process of thinking about ourselves and others in a social context

What are the two main types of social cognition?

1. Social comparison
2. Attributions

social comparison

The process of evaluating our abilities, achievements, and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people

What are the 3 main motives for engaging in social comparison?

Provide information
self-protection OR self-enhancement
self-improvement

What are the three kinds of social comparison?

1. Downward comparisons
2. upward comparisons
3. Internal comparisons

Downward comparisons

comparing yourself with a person who ranks LOWER than you on some dimensions

Upward Comparisons

comparing yourself with someone who ranks HIGHER than you on some dimensions.

Internal Comparisons

comparing yourself to your own internal standards rather than looking to others

Who are we most likely to use as a comparison when we engage in social comparison?

We are most likely to compare ourselves to people of similar backgrounds, abilities, and circumstances

Which of the 3 comparisons can be motivational, but also degrading

Upward Comparisons

The happiest people use which of the 3 comparisons

Internal Comparisons

Attributions

The act of assigning a cause to a behaviour

Attributions about what caused the things to happen in our day-to-day lives can be 1 of what 2 kinds of causes?

Internal or External

What are some examples of internal causes (internal attribution)

Ongoing needs or personality traits, lie within a person and are stable overtime

What are some examples of external causes? (external attribution)

Lies outside a person and reflects something about a situation or environment

When deciding whether an internal or external attribution is warranted, what three factors are taken into consideration?

1. Consistency
2. Distinctiveness
3. Consensus

What are the main 3 kinds of attributions?

1. Disposition Attributions
2. Situational Attributions
3. Self-serving Attributions

Disposition Attribution

explaining a person's behaviour as being the product of their personality (under the persons control)

Situational Attributions

Explaining a person's behaviour as being the product of their situation (not under the persons control)

Self-Serving Attributions

people are quick to take credit for their success and quick to point to situations for their failure

Fundemantal Attribution Error

The tendency to attribute the behaviour of others to dispositional causes, without regard for situational influences.

actor-observer bias

The tendency to make dispositional attributions for the behaviour of others and situation attributions for your own.

What is the main factor that can affect attributions?

Self-Handicapping

Self-Handicapping

placing obstacles in the way of one's own success to protect self-esteem

Attitude

Positive or negative perception of people, objects, or issues

What are the main 3 components of attitude?

1. Cognitions (or beliefs)
2. Emotions (or affects)
3. Behaviour

What 4 different ways can attitude be formed?

1. Direct Contact
2. Chance conditioning
3. Interactions with others
4. Media

What are the 3 different ways psychological scientists can measure attitudes?

1. Open-ended interview
2. Social distance scale
3. Attitude scale

What is a reference group?

A group a person uses as a standard for social comparison. people tend to shift their attitudes to the attitudes of the groups they are surrounded by most.

What is cognitive dissonance?

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.

What are the 6 methods of reducing cognitive dissonance?

1. Change your behaviour
2. Change your belief
3. De-emphasize dissonant thoughts
4. Focus on constant thoughts
5. Reduce the amount of perceived choices
6. Attribute the belief-behaviour mismatch to external cause

What is social influence?

Changes in a person's behaviour induced by the presence or actions of others.

What are the 2 things that social influence can result in?

1. Social Facilitation
2. Social Interference

Social Facilitation

Tendency to perform better when in the presence of others

social interference

Tendency to perform more poorly in the presence of others

What are the 5 forms of social influence?

1. Mere Presence
2. Conformity
3. Compliance & persuasion
4. Coercion
5. Obedience

What is meant by the term mere presence?

Mere presence refers to the tendency for people to change their behaviour just because other people are around

Mere presence can lead to what 3 things?

1. Social Facilitation
2. Social Interference
3. Self Loafing

What is self loafing

when a person exerts less effort knowing that their individual performance will be hidden in a group project

What is meant by conformity?

When we change our behaviours or opinions to be in agreement with others

Name 2 reasons why people conform

1. Others can serve as a useful source of information
2. Humans have a strong need to be accepted

What are group sanctions and how are they relevant to conformity?

Group sanctions are rewards and punishments administered by groups to enforce conformity among members.

What are the 5 factors that contribute to the likelihood that people will be susceptible to group pressure or sanctions?

1. Personal Traits
2. Cultures that emphasize group cooperation
3. When group membership is important to them
4. Size of group
5. Unanimity of the group

What is groupthink?

Groupthink is a term applied to conformity in real-life situations in which poor decision-making results in negative consequences. Groupthink is defined as a misguided need to conform and maintain other group members approval

What is compliance?

Bending to the requests of a person who has little or no authority over them

What is persuasion?

A deliberate attempt to change beliefs or behaviour with information or arguments

What are the 3 factors that influence the effectiveness of efforts to persuade others?

1. Communicators
2. Message
3. Audience

What are the 4 techniques of compliance?

1. Foot-in-door
2. Door-in-face
3. Lowball
4. Nudges

foot-in-the-door technique

A person who complies with a small request is more likely to comply with a larger demand later

door-in-the-face technique

People are more likely to comply with a moderate request after they have first refused a much larger request.

low-balling technique

You get a person committed to an act, then once they are committed, make the terms less desirable. The person tends to remain committed.

Nudges

Creating gentle pressure that pushes people to act in accordance with your wishes.

What is obedience

when we comply with the requests of someone in a position of authority

What is the Milgram experiment?

Study on Obedience;

Measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.

Teacher vs Learner.

What is Coercion?

Being forced to change your beliefs or your behaviour against your will.

What is brainwashing?

A specific type of coercion that involves engineered or forced attitude involving a captive audience

What group of people are often associated with brainwashing?

Cults

What is self-assertation?

Standing up for the right to refuse, request, and right a wrong. It is a direct and honest expression of feelings and desires and is not exclusively self-serving.

What is Agression?

Aggression involves hurting another person or achieving one's goal at the expense of another and does not take other's feelings or rights into account.