Social Influence and Collective Behavior Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, theories, and studies in social influence, conformity, obedience, prosocial behavior, and collective behavior from the provided lecture transcript.

Group Size (Ash Variation)

A variation in Ash's line study where conformity dropped to 3% with 1 confederate, 13.6% with 2 confederates, and 33% with 3 confederates, before leveling off even up to 15 confederates.

Anonymity (Ash Variation)

A condition in Ash's study where participants gave responses in secret, causing conformity to drop far lower due to reduced desire to fit in with the group.

Task Difficulty (Ash Variation)

A study variation where Ash reduced differences between comparison lines, making correct answers less clear and increasing conformity.

Demand Characteristics

A methodological issue where participants guess the setup of a study and alter their behavior to go along with what they think is expected of them.

Temperability

A criticism of Ash's research questioning whether findings apply strictly to the 1950s rather than modern times.

Locus of Control

An aspect of personality defined as where an individual feels the power to control their life comes from, either inside or outside of themselves.

External Locus of Control

The personality trait of feeling controlled by outside forces without the ability to change outcomes, leading to higher levels of conformity.

Internal Locus of Control

The personality trait of feeling in control of one's own fate, enabling individuals to resist social pressure and authority.

Perrin and Spencer

Researchers who replicated Ash's line study with engineering students and found only 1 participant conformed across 396 trials.

Obedience

Behavior that occurs as a direct result of orders or demands from an individual perceived as an authority figure.

Stanley Milgram

A psychologist who investigated obedience using electric shocks, demonstrating that 100% of participants administered up to 300 volts and 65% administered a potentially lethal maximum voltage.

Agency Theory

Milgram's theory proposing that individuals shift between autonomous and agentic states when obeying authority figures.

Autonomous State

A state of mind where individuals feel in charge of and personally responsible for their own decisions and actions.

Agentic Shift

The mental shift from an autonomous state to an agentic state when taking orders from an authority figure.

Agentic State

A state where an individual obeys orders, allowing the authority figure to make decisions and transferring personal responsibility to that figure.

Legitimate Authority

An authority figure whose position in the social hierarchy is learned through socialization and often recognized by status symbols like uniforms.

Proximity (Milgram Variation)

A situational variation where placing the participant and victim in the same room increased personal responsibility and reduced obedience from 65% to 40%.

Eichmann

A high-ranking Nazi who claimed at his trial that he felt no responsibility for organizing the Holocaust because he was following Hitler's orders.

Authoritarian Personality

Adorno's theory that excessive obedience stems from childhood trauma and strict parental discipline, manifesting as a condition similar to a mental health disorder.

Displacement (Adorno)

A Freudian concept where individuals redirect hostility toward strict parents onto socially inferior or weaker targets, such as minority groups.

f scale

A questionnaire created by Adorno (where 'f' stands for fascism) measuring obedience, respect for authority, rigid cognitive style, and dislike for minorities.

Bystander Behavior

The actions people take or fail to take when witnessing an emergency situation.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The social phenomenon where individuals feel less personal responsibility to act in an emergency as the number of witnesses increases.

Cost of Helping

The cognitive evaluation balancing helping risks (danger, time, embarrassment) and costs of not helping (guilt, public criticism) against rewards.

Similarity to Victim

A dispositional factor where sharing characteristics such as age, race, or sports team with a victim increases empathy and helping behavior.

Pilivin Subway Study

A field experiment on New York City subway carriages examining bystander help given to an actor appearing either disabled (with cane) or drunk (with alcohol bottle).

Mundane Realism

The extent to which an experimental task or situation mirrors believable, real-world events.

Collective Behavior

The actions individuals perform when operating as part of a group, which can be prosocial or antisocial.

Prosocial Group Behavior

Constructive and helpful group actions, such as peaceful protests, disaster assistance, or gatherings at music festivals.

Antisocial Group Behavior

Disruptive group actions, including vandalism, rioting, and aggression toward police officers.

Deindividuation

The loss of individual identity and personal responsibility in a large crowd, leading to anonymity and breaking of social norms.

Social Loafing

The reduction of effort by individuals when working in a group because individual contribution is less visible.

Collectivist Culture

A cultural background (often Eastern) where individuals prioritize playing a positive role within the group.

Individualistic Culture

A cultural background (often Western) where individuals treat personal success and individual needs as primary.

Convergence Theory

An explanation for violent crowds stating that individuals with weak personal morals are drawn to violent crowds.