Social Psych Midterm #2

group

two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as us

different groups help to meet different human needs

to affiliate, to achieve, to gain a social identity

social facilitation

we are affected by the presence of others, we are also affected by crowing (presence of many others), why are we aroused in the presence of others?

original meaning vs current meaning of arousal from others

the tendency of people to perform simple or well learned tasks better when others are present vs. the strengthening of dominant responses in the presence of others

social facilitation advantage in sports

home teams will win approximately 6 in 10 games, advantage is larger for teamwork focused sports, and amazingly constant over time across sports

crowding

effect of others presence increases with their number. Large audiences can interfere with even well learned automatic behaviors. Being in a crows also intensifies positive or negative reactions.

why are we aroused in the presence of others?

enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people think they are being evaluated. we are also driven by distraction; when we wonder how co actors are doing or how an audience is reacting, we become distracted which causes arousal. Mere presence of others can be arousing even when we are not evaluated or distracted, there may be an innate social arousal mechanism.

social loafing

social facilitation usually occurs when people work toward individual goals and when effort can be individually evaluated.

collective effort is often less than the sum of individual efforts

group members may be less motivated in additive tasks.

social loafing p2

the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their effort toward a common goal than when they are individually acountable

free riders

people who benefit from the group but give little in return

social loafing in everyday life

in workplace group environments, employees produced more when their individual performance was posted. Social loafing is also evident in varied cultures. People in groups loaf less when the task is challenging, appealing, or involving

when arousal and diffused responsibility combine

people may commit acts that range from a mild lessening of restraint to impulsive self gratification to destructive social explosions

deindividuation

loss of self awareness and evaluation apprehension. occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad

group size is significant

larger the group, the more its members lose self awareness and become willing to commit atrocities

anonymity may lessen inhibitions

makes one less self conscious, more group conscious, and more responsive to cues present in the situation whether negative or positive

arousing and distracting peoples attention

increases the likelihood of aggressive outbursts by large groups

when we act in impulsive ways as a group

we are not thinking about our values; we are reacting to the immediate situation

self awareness

a self conscious state in which attention focusses on oneself and makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions. Those who are self aware exhibit increased self control and are less likely to cheat. Circumstances that decrease self awareness increase deindividuation; and deindividuation decreases in circumstances that increase self awareness

group polarization

group produced enhancement of members preexisting tendencies. strengthening of the members average tendency not a split within the group

risky shift phenomenon

group and individual decisions tend to be riskier after group discussion. Occurs not only when a group decides by consensus: After a brief discussion, individuals too, will alter their decisions.

group polarization occurs in everyday life

where people mostly associate with others whose attitudes are similar to their own. In schools the accentuation effect, in communities as people self segregate, in politics where like minded communities serve as political echo chambers etc

informational influences results from accepting evidence about reality

arguments matter in and of themselves, active participation produces more attitude change

social comparison

evaluating ones own opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others

pluristic ignorance

a false impression of what most other people are thinking or feeling, or how they are responding

follow-ups have supported aspects of group think theory

directive leadership is associated with poorer decisions, groups do prefer supporting over challenging information, when members do look to a group for acceptance they suppress disagreeable thoughts

three ways to enhance group brainstorming

combine group and solitary brainstorming, have group members interact by writing, incorporate electronic brainstorming

determinants of minority include

consistency, self confidence, and detection

minority slowness effect

a tendency for people with minority views to express those views less quickly than those in the majority

leadership

the process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group

task leadership

organizes work, sets standards, and focuses on goals

social leadership

builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support

transformational leadership

enabled by a leaders vision and inspiration, exerts significant influence

prejudice comes in many forms

for our own group and against some other group: religion, obesity, age, immigrants, politics

prejudice

a preconcieved negative judgement of a group and its individual members. Prejudiced people may dislike those that are different from themselves and behave toward them in a discriminatory manner.

stereotypes

beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people. these are often sometimes overgeneralized, innacurate, and resistant to new information

discrimination

unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members.

prejudice illustrates our dual attitude system

we can have different explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) attitudes toward the same target. Even when explicit attitudes change dramatically with education implicit attitudes may linger

patronization

overpraising accomplishments, over criticizing mistakes, bending over backward to seem unprejudiced

automatic prejudice matters

in some situations, it can have life or death consequences. Braain activity in the amygdala facilitates this atuomatic responding.

sexism can take both

benevolent and hostile forms

social dominance orientation

a motivation to have one’s own group dominate other social groups

those with which type of personality may be prone to prejudice

authoritarian, personality is disposed to favor obedience to authority and intolerance of outgroups, and those lower in status

displaced aggression/scapegoat theory

when the cause is intimidating or unkown, we often redirect this hostility

realistic group conflict theory

the theory that prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources

social identity

the we aspect of our self concept, the part of our answer to who am I that comes from our group memberships

Turner and Tajfels social identity theory

we categorize people, we identify or associate with certain groups and gain self esteem by doing so. We compare our groups favorably to other groups

ingroup

us, a group of people who share a sense of belonging, a feeling of common identity

outgroup

them, a group that people perceive as distinctively different from or apart from their ingroup

ingroup bias

the tendency to favor ones own group, which supports a positive self concept and feeds favoritisim

prejudicial reactions are not inevitable

the motivation to avoid prejudice can lead people to modify their thoughts and actions

for our categories, we often rely on stereotypes

especially when we are pressed for time, preoccupied, tired, or emotionally aroused, ethnicity and gender are powerful ways of categorizing people

outgroup homogeneity effect

perception of outgroup members as more similar to one another than are ingroup members

own-race bias

the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race

distinctive people and or vivid or extreme occurences

capture attention and distort judgements. when someone in a group is conspicuous we tend to see that person as causing whatever happens. They also foster illusory correlations.

just world phenomena

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

self perpetuating pre judgements

prejudice involves prejudgements; and these prejudgements guide our attention and memories. Whenever a member of a group behaves as expected, we duly note the fact that our prior belief has been confirmed.

subtyping

accomodating individuals who deviate from ones stereotype by thinking of them as exceptions to the rule.

subgrouping

accomodating individuals who deviate from ones stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group

discrimination as self fulfilling prophecy

attitudes may coincide with the social hierarchy in part because of how discrimination affects its victims.

The link between violent media and amplifying aggression is especially strong when

viewers themselves have aggressive tendencies, program depicts an attractive person committing justified, realistic violence that goes unpunished and shows no pain or harm

why does media viewing affect behavior?

violence produces arousal; and one type of arousal energizes other behaviors, violence disinhibits, media portrayals evoke imitation

cognitive effects of viewing violence

desensitization is one effect, with regular viewers showing a lessened response and decreased feelings of empathy. Perceptions of the real world are altered: heavy viewers exaggerate the frequency of violence in the world and have greater fear of personal assauly

catharsis hypothesis

aggressive drive is reduced when aggressive energy is released. Unfortunately, this idea is one of the main draws of violent video games for angry people.

through social contagions

groups magnify and amplify aggressive tendencies

Increased aggression is predicted by

being male, aggressive or anger prone personalities, alcohol use, violence viewing, anonymity, provocation, presence of weapons, group interaction

can counteract the factors that influence aggression

reward cooperative, nonaggressive behavior, teach non aggressive conflict resolution strategies

altruism

a motive to increase anothers welfare without conscious regard for one’s own self-interests

social exchange theory

the theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs

do-good/feel-good effects

helping boosts self worth

benefits of helping also include reducing or avoiding negative emotions

near someone in distress, we may feel distress, guilt is a painful emotion that people seek to relieve, emotions like anger and grief tend to not produce compassion

social reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them. helps define the social capital - the mutual support and cooperation enabled by a social network that keeps a community healthy

social responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those needing help

gender differences in help

women offer help equally to males and females, whereas men offer more help when the person in need are females. Men more frequently help attractive than unattractive women. women receive more offers of help in certain situations and also seek more help

kin selection

the idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one’s close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes

reciprocity

which works best in small isolated groups

group selection

operating at both individual and group levels: sacrificing to support us sometimes against them

each view of altruism proposes two types of prosocial behavior

tit for tat reciprocal exchange, more unconditional helpfulness

as the number of bystanders increases, any given bystander is less likely to

notice an incident, interpret the incident as a problem or an emergency and assume responsibility for taking action

bystander effect

the finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders

bystander experiments raise an ethical issue

it is not possible to get informed consent because it would blow the cover of the experiment

social psychologists have a two fold ethical obligation

protect the participants, enhance human welfare by discovering influences upon human behavior. -alerting us to unwanted influences and showing us how we might exert psitive influenes

because similarity is conducive to liking, and liking is conducive to helping

we are more empathetic and helpful towards those who are similar to us. Where racial similarity is concerned, reactions may be affected by the desire not to appear prejudiced

network of traits and self eficacy

positive emotionality, empathy, and self efficacy predisopses a person to helpfulness

when faced with potentially dangerous situations

men help more often

in safer situations

women are slightly more likely to help. more likely to describe themselves as helpful. Faced with a friends problem, women respond with greater empathy and spend more time helping, women tend to be more generous

one way to promote altruism is to reverse those factors that inhibit it

reduce ambiguity, increase responsibility, awaken peoples guilt and concern for their self image, socialize altruism

personal appeals are much more effective

verbal and nonverbal appeals, reducing anonymity, anticipation of interaction

people who feel guilty will act to reduce guilt and restore their self worth

guilt inducing messages on signs, asking for contributions so small that people cannot say no

moral exclusion

the perception of certain individuals or groups as outsides the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness

moral inclusion

regarding others as within ones circle of moral concern

peace

a condition marked by low levels of hostility and aggression and mutually beneficial relationships

conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions or goals

social trap

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

prisoners dilemma

two subjects, jointly guilty, are questioned separately and each given an incentive to confess privately

tragedy of the commons

when individuals consume more than their share of a resource, with the cost of their doing so dispersed among all, causing the ultimate collapse - the tragedy of the commons (commons = any shared resource)

both of the games explain the fundamental attribution error

both tempt people to explain their own behavior situationally but their partners behavior dispositionally

non-zero sum games

games in which outcomes need not sum to zero. with cooperation, both can win; with competition, both can lose

people perceive justice as equity

distribution of rewards in proportion to individuals contributions. if you contribute more and benefit less, you feel exploited