Psych exam 2 part 1!

Social Influence

The influence that other people’s comments, actions or mere presence have on our beliefs, attitudes, feelings and behavior

Three types of social influence

conformity, compliance, obedience

Conformity

The tendency to change our perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with the group

Norms

Learned social rules that indicate what is typical, expected, or valued in a group

Descriptive Norms

How people actually behave

Injunctive Norms

How people should/shouldn’t behave

Informational Social Influence

we conform to the norm because it provides information about what is right, effective, or valued in that context

Normative social influence

We conform to the norm to avoid others’ disapproval, judgment, or social sanctions; to be accepted

factors that influence conformity

Group size, unanimity, cohesion, culture, individual differences

Pluralistic ignorance

People disagree with a perceived norm, but go along with it anyway because they assume, incorrectly, that most other people accept it

Compliance

Changing perceptions, opinions or behavior based on direct requests

“tight” (collectivist) vs “loose” (individualist) cultures conformity

tight = more conformity, loose = less conformity

Cialdini’s 6 principles of persuasion

Reciprocity, commitment & consistency, social proof, liking, authority (obedience), scarcity

Door-in-the-face principle

The influencer starts with an extreme request that is sure to be rejected, and then retreats to a smaller request (the one wanted all along), which is granted

how to prevent reciprocity

avoid the situations, identify it, call the person out

Commitment & Consistency

Once a person takes a stand, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are consistent with the stand

Foot-in-the Door

The influencer starts with a small request in order to gain eventual compliance with a related larger request

why commitment & consistency works

Good personal consistency is highly valued by society, people like to be consistent because they are mentally lazy, people like to avoid feelings of cognitive dissonance

how to prevent commitment & consistency

If you were tricked, don’t behave consistently with the commitment, if it is not clear if you were tricked, ask yourself: “Knowing what I know, if I could go back in time, would I make the same commitment?’

Social Proof

We view a behavior as correct to the extent that we see other people engaging in the behavior

why social proof works

following the lead of others doesn’t take much thinking, we will make fewer mistakes by paying attention to social evidence, when a lot of people are doing something it is usually the best thing to do

how to prevent social proof

Be sensitive to fake social proof, recognize that the actions of others should not form the sole basis for our decisions

Liking

We prefer to comply with the requests of people who like us, are similar to us and/or share our values

why liking works

People who like us are less likely to take advantage of us than are people who don’t like us

how to prevent liking

Be suspicious if you really like someone you haven’t known very long, mentally separate the requester from the request

Authority (obedience)

We are more likely to comply when the person making the request has authority over us

why authority works

We are socialized to obey authority figures, authority figures usually possess high levels of knowledge, wisdom and power, there can be negative consequences for not obeying

how to prevent authority

Is this authority truly an expert?, how truthful is this expert likely to be?, does what they’re asking me to do conflict with my morals or values?

Scarcity

Opportunities seem more valuable to us when they are less available

why scarcity works

Things that are difficult to attain are generally more valuable, as things become less available we lose freedom, elicits physiological arousal

how to prevent scarcity

Be alert to a rush of arousal in situations involving scarcity, once alerted, try to calm the arousal and assess the merits of the opportunity in terms of why you want it

Obedience

Changing perceptions, opinions or behavior by submitting to the demands of the more powerful person

Group

A collection of individuals who are interdependent to some degree

minimal groups paradigm

Even arbitrary and virtually meaningless distinctions between groups can trigger a tendency to favor one’s own group at the expense of others

Social facilitation effect

The mere presence of others facilitates (helps) performance

Zajonc’s mere presence theory

Presence of others produces arousal (physiological state), Arousal increases the likelihood of ‘dominant responses’. With easy or well-learned tasks, the dominant response is usually correct, With difficult or novel tasks, the dominant response is not necessarily correct

Social Inhibition

The mere presence of others harms performance

Evaluation apprehension

Concern for how others are viewing us.

Distraction-conflict hypothesis

Conflict between paying attention to others and paying attention to the task overloads our cognitive resources and leads to arousal

Risky shifts

The tendency for consensus decisions made by groups to be “riskier” than decisions made by individuals prior to group discussion

Group polarization

The tendency for group decisions to be more extreme than those made by individuals.

why does group polarization happen?

Persuasion (informational social influence), Social comparison, Active participation solidifies views, Diffusion of personal responsibility

Groupthink

The deterioration of group judgment wherein issues are not evaluated critically because of social pressures to reach consensus

how to reduce groupthink

have a devil’s advocate, Subdivide the group and create opportunities for dissent and open dialogue, Encourage criticisms from outsiders, Before implementing call a second-chance meeting, Build a team with diverse perspectives, Remove leader from deliberation stage

Social loafing

A group-produced reduction in individual output on easy tasks where contributions are pooled

Deindividuation

A reduced sense of personal identity and decrease in self-regulation that occurs when people are in large groups

Prejudice

Affective component, Negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group, based solely on their group membership

Discrimination

Behavioral component, Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members

Stereotype

Cognitive component, A generalization about a group of people, where certain traits are assumed to apply to everyone, regardless of actual variation among the members

Bias

Reacting to a person based on their perceived membership in a group, while ignoring all other parts of their identity or personal traits

role of socialization in bias

bias comes from socialization, being exposed to stereotypes and norms

role of cognition in bias

bias comes from cognition, we have a tendency to categorize and rely on heuristics, when we’re distracted or overwhelmed we stereotype more

Schema theory

we have a tendency to categorize and rely on heuristics, but this can cause stereotypes

Dissociation Model of Prejudice

Stereotypes are automatically triggered but we control whether or not we accept the stereotype

Social Essentialism

the belief that members of categories share an innate and underlying “essence”

Outgroup homogeneity effect

Perception of out-group members as being more similar to one another than in-group members

Perceptual narrowing

reduces infants’ sensitivity to classes of stimuli which the infants do not encounter in their environment

role of motivation in bias

motivation causes bias,shaping, directing, and distorting information processing to align with personal goals, desires, or self-interest

Realistic Group Conflict Theory

Actual or perceived competition for resources or competing goals between groups leads to conflict that then fosters stereotyping and prejudice