Psychology | UNIT 2 | AOS 1: How are people influenced to behave in particular ways?

Social cognition

Social cognition

How we perceive, think about, and use information to understand and make judgments about ourselves and others in social situations.

Direct perception

Provided from the person we are judging, for example through observing them or interacting with them.

Indirect perception

Through hearing about the person we are judging, from another person or source.

Attribution

An evaluation made about the cause of behaviour, and the process of making the evaluation.

Steps of attribution

Step one: Observation of an outward act of behaviour.
Step two: Conscious determination or acknowledgement of the behaviour.
Step three: Attributes causes to this observed behaviour.

Internal attribution

An explanation due to the characteristics of the person involved, such as their personality, attitude or ability.

External attribution

Is an explanation of behaviour due to factors associated with the situation the person is in.

The fundamental attribution error

Refers to our tendency to explain other people’s behaviour in terms of internal factors, while ignoring possible external factors.

The tri-component model of attitudes

Illustrates the relationship between the affective, behavioural, and cognitive components of our attitude.

The affective component

Refers to our emotions and intuitive feelings towards something, reflected in our attitude.

The behavioural component

Describes our outward and observable actions that reflect our point of view about something

The cognitive component

Involves our thoughts and beliefs towards something

Stereotyping

Is a collection of beliefs that we have about people who. belong to a certain group , regardless of individual differences among members of that group.

Cognitive dissonance

An unpleasant psychological state that occurs when people become aware that there is inconsistency among their various beliefs or attitude or that their behaviours conflicts with their cognition.

Cognitive bias

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

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for and accept information that supports our prior beliefs or behaviours and ignore contradictory information.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency to attribute our own actions to external factors and situations while attributing other peoples actions to internal factors.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute positive success to our internal character and actions and attribute failure to external factors or situational cases.

False-consensus bias

The tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people share the same ideas and attributes as we do.

Halo-effect

The tendency for the first impression we form about one quality of a person to influence to our overall belief about the person in other respects.

Heuristics

Enables individuals to form judgments, decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently.

Anchoring (adjustment) heuristic

The first info received about an idea or concept

Availability heuristic

Enables individuals to form a judgment, solve a problem, or make a decisions base on information that is easily accessible.

Representative heuristic

Involves making categorical judgment about an idea, event or person based on their similarity to other items in that category.

Affect heuristic

Involves using emotions to make a judgment or decision

Prejudice

Is an often-negative preconception held against people within a certain group or social category.

Discrimination

The unjust treatment of people due to their membership with a certain social category. This involves excluding or treating people differently based on their social group.

Stigma

The feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by an individual for a characteristic that differentiates them from others.

Social stigma

Characterised by negative stereotypes as they come to define people and prevent them from being seen as an individual leading to widespread discrimination.

Self-stigma

The result of the internalisation. of negative stereotypes and can lead to poor self-efficacy and low self-esteem.

Direct discrimination

Occurs when someone is treated unfairly and is disadvantaged because of a personal characteristic.

Indirect discrimination

Occurs when a specific group is treated with unfair disadvantages because of a personal characteristic.

Methods that may reduce prejudice

1. Educations yourself on other religions.

2. spend time with people from different cultures.

Social group

Two or more people who interact and influence each other and share common objective.

In-group

A group that an individual belongs to and identifies with.

Out-group

A group that an individual does not belong to or identify with.

Social identity theory

Outlines the tendency for people to favour their in-group over an out-group in order to enhance their sense of self-esteem.

Social loafing

Refers to an individual’s reduction in effort when work is performed in a group as compared to individually, due to the belief that others will put in the effort.

Obedience

Involves complying with commands which are often given by a source of authority.

Constructive obedience

Occurs when there is compliance with the orders of an authority that results in a positive outcome.

Destructive obedience

Occurs when there is compliance with the orders of an authority that results in a negative outcome.

Status of authority figure

The individual is more likely to be obedient if the authority figure is perceived as being legitimate and having status and power. 

Proximity

Greater physical proximity or greater relationship proximity between an individual and someone who made a command increases the likelihood of obedience.

Group pressure

Individuals are more likely to obey commands when they observe others obeying the commands.

Conformity

Conformity involves adjusting one’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviours to match those of others, a social group, or social situation

Addictive behaviours

Are behaviours that are associated with a dependence upon a particular stimulus, despite negative consequences.

Anti-conformity

Is the deliberate refusal to comply with accepted standards in a society. It is often accompanied by the expression of ideas, beliefs, or judgments that challenge those standards.

Stanford prison experiment

Shows the effects of social groups. Withdrawal rights were breached as they were unable to leave the experiment at any time unless they were seen medically unfit by a doctor.

Stanley Milgram experiment

Investigates the factors that can influence obedience. The no harm principle was broken as participants suffered from psychological pain because they thought they were actually shocking another person.

Solomon Asch’s experiment

Investigated group pressure to conform.

Factors that influence anti-conformity

Desire to promote a change - When people hold the belief that circumstances are unethical, unfair, or incorrect, they may be encouraged to bring about change in certain contexts.

Reactance - Refers to a motivational state of distress and resistance

Factors that influence conformity

Individuation - This is when an individual’s identity and contributions to a group are noticeable.

Social support - Social support refers to when others hold a similar attitude or perspective to an individual.