Psych Unit 2 AOS1- Social Psychology

Person Perception

mental processes we use to form impressions and draw conclusions about the personal characteristics of other people

Physical Appearance

Observable traits

Body Language

Observable behaviors

Facial expressions

Movement of face muscles

Universal facial expressions

Expressed and understood similarly in everyone

Eye Contact

Movement of your eyes or gaze

Attributions

The process which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behaviours

Internal (Personal)

Explanation based on internal factors within a person

External (situational)

Explanation due to external factors to the person involved

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to overestimate the influence of personal factors on other people's behaviour and underestimate impact of situational factors on other people's behaviour

Attitudes

Evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issue

Tri-component model

Affective (feelings), Behavioral (actions), Cognitive (beliefs/thoughts)

Stereotypes

Collection of beliefs that we have about the people who belong to a certain group regardless of individual differences among members

Cognitive Biases

Systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment

Confirmation Bias

Only research for accepted information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours and ignore contradictory information

Halo Effect

Impressions formed about one quality of a person influences our beliefs and expectations about their other qualities

False consensus bias

Tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share the same ideas and attitudes we do

Self Serving Bias

Attributing our successes to internal factors and attribute failure to external factors

Actor Observer Bias

Attribute own behavior to external or situational causes; Attribute others behavior to internal factors

Cognitive Dissonance

Psychological tension that occurs when our thoughts feelings and/or behaviours don't align with one another

Heuristics

Information processing strategies/mental shortcut that help us form judgements, make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently

Anchoring Heuristics

Forming judgement based on the first information you received, you use that info as an anchor for future judgements relating to same idea

Availability Heuristics

Form a judgment, solve a problem or make a decision based on information that is easily accessible

Representative heuristics

Making categorical judgement about an idea, event or person based on similarity to other items in category

Affect heuristics

Basing judgment based on your emotion

e.g gut feeling

Prejudice

Negative concept held against a certain group

Discrimination

Negative behaviour towards a social group

Stigma

Negative label associated with disapproval or rejection by others who aren't labelled in the same way

Self stigma

Negative attitude towards yourself because of characteristics

Social Stigma

People in society have a negative attitude or disapproval towards someone with a characteristic that sets them apart from what is deemed normal

Cognitive Interventions

Changing the way people think about prejudice

Inter-group Contact

Direct contact between groups with prejudice against each other

The Contact Hypothesis

Certain types of contact between groups can reduce prejudice

Groups

Two or more people who interact and influence each other, share a common purpose or goal

Collective

Gathering of people who have minimal direct interaction with each other

Individualistic Cultures

Value independence and try not to rely on other people

Collective Cultures

Value interdependence and importance of social roles and norms

Status

Importance of your position in the group, perceived by members of the group

Power

Individuals ability to control another person, even when they try to resist

Group think

People strive for consensus within a group so they set aside their own personal beliefs or adapt their opinion to the rest of the group

Group polarisation

Tendency of individual group members, following group discussions, shift their initial views to a more extreme position

Dendividuation

Characterised by reduced self consciousness, inhibition, feelings of personal responsibility and inner restraint that can occur when in a group or crowd

Obedience

Following commands of someone with authority, or the rules or laws of our society

Milgram's Experiments on Obedience

Found that people will/may follow orders to harm others (obey), even if it goes against their values

Factors affecting obedience

Social proximity, Legitimacy of Authority Figures, Group Pressure

Conformity

Tendency to adjust TFB in agreement with someone else, a group of social norms

Asch's experiments on conformity

Line length experiment where most people conformed and said the wrong line like everyone else

Social loafing

Putting in less effort when in a group

Group Size

Group size increases, conformity increases up to a point when the group is large enough that people feel less individually judged

Unanimity

When the entire group agrees, the final person is more likely to conform with the group

Culture

People from collectivist cultures are more likely to conform, than those in individualistic cultures

Media

Forms in which info is communicated

Social Connections

Network of people available for support

Addictive Behaviors

Dependence upon a stimulus despite negative consequences

Attentional bias

Attention is distracted by the addictive stimulus when it is presented

Information Access

How easily info can be accessed by different people

self determination

• To become independent, you must separate yourself from the group through self-determination. 

  • Engaging in behaviours without the influence of others as an external force.

Self-determination theory

People achieve self determination when autonomy, competence and relatedness is met

Intrinsic motivation

Engaging in activities for internal benefits

Extrinsic motivation

Engaging in activities for external benefits

Anti-conformity

Deliberate refusal to comply with social norms

Reactant

State of distress caused by desire to regain freedom.

Social support in weakening conformity

When others hold a similar attitude or perspective

• Can facilitate deviant subgroups (hold values outside the norm)

positive influence of media on social connections on individual behaviour

• increase access to support

• helps people stay in touch

negative influence of media on social connections on individual behaviour

• increase pressure to stay connected

• lead to burn out

• shallow relationships

positive influence of social comparisons on group behaviour

• Can be influenced by influencers 

• Encouraged to perform behaviour they share

negative influence of media on social comparisons in group behaviour

Unrealistic comparisons in advertisements, lead to low self esteem/distress

negative influence on social connections on group behaviour

Bullying due to conformity

positive influence of social connections on group behaviour

Enhances ability to form communities

Individuation in weakening conformity

• Identity and contributions are noticeable, no anonymity, increased sense of responsibility

desire to promote change

• People hold the belief that circumstances are unethical, unfair or incorrect

Personal (internal) attributions

• Explanation based on internal factors within a person 

situational (external) attributions

• Explanation due to external factors to the person involved

influence of prejudice, discrimination and stigma on mental wellbeing

• Feelings of rejection, ignored, devalued, shame, disgrace

• low self esteem

cognitive component

• Beliefs we have about an object, person, group, event or issue

affective component

• Emotional reaction or feelings an individual has towards an object, person, group, event of issue

independance

• Being free from control or influence of others

autonomy

act based on individual choice and intrinsic motivation

relatedness

sense of connection belonging and attachment

competence

feel as though you have the skills required

social proximity

proximity of teacher to learner

obedience decrease the closer teacher is to learner

legitimacy of authority figure

how much perceived power they have

(can be effect by uniform)

Group Pressure

• When exposed to other disobedient people, obedience decreased 

• When exposed to other obedient people obedience increases other

cognitive bias

• unconscious, systematic tendencies to interpret information in a way that is neither rational nor based on objective reality