social situations

Social norms

• expectations and norms that society has for an individual

• can differ for different groups of people (eg men and women)

Social influence theory

• social influences pressure people to behave differently

• Normative social influence

• Informational social influence

Normative social influence

people do something because everyone else is doing it

Informational social influence

people believe something because everyone else believes it

Conformity

adhering to unspoken rules and norms to fit in with everyone else

Obedience

people tend to do what an authority figure tells them to, even if it doesn’t align with their beliefs

Persuasion

• the act of convincing someone of particular ideas, actions, or beliefs

• Central route persuasion:

• Peripheral route persuasion:

  • Halo effect:

Central route persuasion:

using facts and logic to convince someone of an argument

Peripheral route persuasion:

using indirect methods of persuasion, such as emotional cues, to convince someone of an argument

Halo effect:

the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, country, brand, or product to positively influence one’s opinions or feelings

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

agreeing to a small request increases the odds we’ll agree to a large request later

Face-in-the-door phenomenon

agreeing to a large request increases the odds that we’ll agree to additional small requests

Individualism

the idea that individuals should control their own lives, rather than being focused on the collective (most Western countries follow this philosophy)

Collectivism

the idea that the needs of the collective, rather than the individual, are most important (most Eastern countries follow this philosophy)

Multiculturalism

integrating ideas and principles from different cultures

Group polarization

when members of a group who share a common opinion or belief discuss it, the individuals tend to get more radical in their beliefs

Groupthink

a group makes decisions that may not be optimal in order to preserve the harmony of the group, regardless whether individual members of the group believe it’s the best decision or not

Diffusion of responsibility

people are less likely to take action when many other people are around

Social loafing

people tend to do less work in a group than they would have on their own

Social facilitation

people tend to do better at simple/well-learned tasks and worse at complex/poorlylearned tasks when other people are watching

False consensus effect

people tend to overestimate the extent to which other people agree with them

Superordinate goals

goals that unite an entire group to work towards one goal

Social traps

when members of a group individually seek their own self-interests rather than the interests of the group

Altruism

selfless actions to help other people

Social reciprocity norm

social rule that people should return a favor when someone has helped them

Social responsibility norm

social rule that we should help others in need, even when we don’t expect anything in return