PSY351 EXAM@
NOTES:
Chp.5
Definitions: Prejudice involves negative attitudes and discrimination based on group membership (e.g., racism, sexism). Stereotypes are beliefs about group attributes.
Contemporary Prejudice: Modern racism exists alongside the rejection of explicit racist beliefs. Benevolent prejudice involves seemingly positive stereotypes.
Measuring Prejudice: Priming techniques can reveal implicit biases.
Perspectives on Prejudice:
Economic: Prejudice arises from competition over scarce resources (Realistic Group Conflict Theory), leading to ethnocentrism. The Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated how competition increases hostility and how superordinate goals can reduce conflict.
Motivational: Prejudice stems from the desire to favor one's ingroup (Social Identity Theory), leading to ingroup favoritism and basking in reflected glory. Minimal group paradigm shows preference for ingroup even with meaningless distinctions.
Cognitive: Prejudice results from biases in social cognition and stereotypes as mental shortcuts. Illusory correlations and paired distinctiveness can maintain false beliefs.
Stereotypes and Their Effects: Self-fulfilling prophecies reinforce stereotypes. Subtyping explains away exceptions. The outgroup homogeneity effect leads to perceiving outgroups as more similar than ingroups. Own-race identification bias affects face recognition.
Automatic vs. Controlled Processing: Shooter bias demonstrates how stereotypes can influence automatic reactions.
Being a Member of a Stigmatized Group:
Attributional Ambiguity: Uncertainty about whether treatment is due to personal qualities or group membership.
Stereotype Threat: Fear of confirming negative stereotypes.
Cost of Concealment: The burden of hiding one's group membership.
Reducing Prejudice: Requires equal status, shared goals, supportive social norms, and individual-level interactions. Responsibility lies with each individual to interact with others and diminish group boundaries.
Core Concept
The text explores the nature of prejudice, its various forms (racism, sexism, modern racism, benevolent prejudice), and the psychological mechanisms that contribute to its persistence, including economic competition, motivational factors, cognitive biases, and the burdens faced by members of stigmatized groups. It also discusses strategies for reducing prejudice, emphasizing the importance of intergroup contact and individual responsibility.
Takeaway
Prejudice, a pervasive social issue, manifests in various forms, including racism and sexism, which involve prejudice and discrimination based on race and sex, respectively. "Prejudice [is] an emotion-based (negative or positive) attitude toward a group and its members," while discrimination is "unfair treatment of individuals based on their membership in a particular group." Modern racism exists alongside the rejection of explicitly racist beliefs. Stereotypes, defined as "the belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group," can be both negative and benevolent. The economic perspective argues that prejudice arises from competition over scarce resources, as highlighted by the realistic group conflict theory, which posits that "group conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are likely to arise over competition between groups for limited resources." The motivational perspective suggests that prejudice stems from the desire to favor one's ingroup, demonstrated by the minimal group paradigm where individuals show preference for the ingroup even when group distinctions are meaningless. Social identity theory further explains this by stating that "a person’s self-concept and self-esteem derive not only from personal identity and accomplishments but also from the status and accomplishments of the various groups to which the person belongs." The cognitive perspective attributes prejudice to biases in social cognition, where "stereotypes are schemas" that influence attention, perception, and memory. These stereotypes can lead to illusory correlations and self-fulfilling prophecies. Members of stigmatized groups face burdens such as attributional ambiguity, stereotype threat ("the fear of confirming the stereotypes others have about one’s group"), and the cost of concealment. Reducing prejudice requires equal status, shared goals, supportive social norms, and individual-level interactions, emphasizing that "the capacity to stereotype, harbor prejudice, and act in a discriminatory fashion is present in all of us, and the responsibility for reducing intergroup hostility and conflict lies with each of us as well."
Bullets
Prejudice includes racism and sexism, involving discrimination based on race and sex.
Stereotypes are beliefs about group attributes and can be positive or negative.
Modern racism exists alongside the rejection of explicit racist beliefs.
The economic perspective links prejudice to competition for resources.
Realistic group conflict theory explains prejudice as arising from competition.
The motivational perspective attributes prejudice to ingroup favoritism.
Social identity theory connects self-esteem to group status.
The cognitive perspective views stereotypes as schemas causing biases.
Stigmatized groups face attributional ambiguity and stereotype threat.
Reducing prejudice requires equal status, shared goals, and individual interactions
Chp.6
Overview of Attitudes
Definition: Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects, or ideas that can be positive, negative, or mixed.
Components: Attitudes involve affective (emotional), cognitive (beliefs), and behavioral (actions) components.
The Study of Attitudes
Measurement: Attitudes can be measured through self-reports, covert measures (like facial EMG), and implicit measures (like the Implicit Association Test).
Formation: Attitudes are shaped by genetic predispositions, social learning, and evaluative conditioning.
Attitude-Behavior Link
Theory of Planned Behavior: Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence intentions and behaviors.
Strength of Attitudes: Strong attitudes, which are personally relevant and based on direct experience, are more likely to predict behavior.
Persuasion
Dual-Process Models: The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) describes two routes to persuasion: central (focused on argument quality) and peripheral (focused on superficial cues).
Source Factors: Credibility and likability of the source can significantly impact persuasion.
Message Factors: Message length, order, discrepancy, emotional appeals, and subliminal messages can influence persuasion.
Audience Factors: Individual differences like need for cognition, self-monitoring, and regulatory fit affect how messages are received.
Cognitive Dissonance
Theory: Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors, leading to discomfort and a motivation to reduce the inconsistency.
Applications: Dissonance can explain attitude change in response to insufficient justification, effort justification, and difficult decisions.
Ethical Dissonance
Behavioral Ethics: Examines how people justify unethical behavior to maintain a positive self-concept.
Moral Licensing: Past good deeds can justify future unethical behavior.
Cultural Influences
Cultural Context: Cognitive dissonance and persuasion processes can vary across cultures, with individualistic cultures emphasizing personal consistency and collectivistic cultures emphasizing social harmony.
This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of how attitudes are formed, measured, and changed, highlighting the complexity and interplay of various psychological factors. If you have any specific questions or need further details on any section, feel free to ask!
Core Concept
The text explores the nature of attitudes, how they are formed and changed, and their influence on behavior, focusing on persuasion techniques and the cognitive processes involved. It examines both conscious and unconscious influences on attitudes, as well as theories explaining how our own actions can lead to self-persuasion.
Takeaway
Attitudes, defined as positive, negative, or mixed reactions to persons, objects, or ideas, are a central focus. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) reveals implicit attitudes, such as prejudice, that individuals may not be aware of holding. The theory of planned behavior posits that attitudes, subjective norms (beliefs about what others think we should do), and perceived control influence actions. "Attitudes give rise to behavior only when we perceive the behavior to be within our control." The strength of an attitude is determined by its relevance to self-interests, deeply held values, and concerns of close social groups. Persuasion can occur through two routes: the central route, involving careful thought about the message, and the peripheral route, influenced by superficial cues. Credibility is crucial for communicators, requiring expertise, competence, and trustworthiness. The sleeper effect describes a delayed increase in persuasion from a non-credible source, occurring when people forget the source-information link. The need for cognition (NC) distinguishes individuals based on their enjoyment of effortful cognitive activities. Psychological reactance explains how threats to freedom can lead to negative attitude change, known as the boomerang effect. Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that inconsistent cognitions create psychological tension, motivating individuals to reduce it. "Cognitions include everything we know about our own beliefs, attitudes, and behavior." Insufficient justification, where individuals perform attitude-discrepant behavior without a large reward, can lead to attitude change. Self-perception theory suggests that attitude change occurs as people infer their feelings from observing their own behavior, while self-affirmation theory attributes the change to threats to the self-concept.
Bullets
Attitudes are positive, negative, or mixed reactions to people, objects, or ideas.
The IAT measures implicit attitudes.
The theory of planned behavior links attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control to behavior.
Attitude strength depends on self-interest, values, and social group concerns.
Persuasion occurs via central (thoughtful) or peripheral (superficial) routes.
Credibility requires expertise, competence, and trustworthiness.
The sleeper effect is a delayed persuasive impact from non-credible sources.
Need for cognition (NC) reflects enjoyment of cognitive effort.
Psychological reactance can cause a boomerang effect.
Cognitive dissonance arises from inconsistent cognitions.
Insufficient justification can lead to attitude change.
Self-perception and self-affirmation theories explain attitude change.
Chap 7
Social Influence: A Summary
Social influence encompasses the various ways individuals affect each other' Social Influence: A Summary
Social influence encompasses the various ways individuals affect each other's attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. This influence can manifest in several forms, includings attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. This influence can manifest in several forms, including automatic mimicry, informational social influence, and normative social influence.
Automatic Mimicry: Unconscious imitation of others' behaviors, driven by ideomotor action automatic mimicry, informational social influence, and normative social influence.
Automatic Mimicry: Unconscious imitation of others' behaviors, driven by ideomotor action and a desire to affiliate. Cultural differences exist in the tendency and expectation of mimicry.
Informational Social Influence: Relying on others' and a desire to affiliate. Cultural differences exist in the tendency and expectation of mimicry.
Informational Social Influence: Relying on others' comments or actions as a source of information, especially in ambiguous or difficult situations, or when feeling incompetent. Sherif's autokinetic illusion study demonstrates this, where individuals' judgments converged over time.
Normative Social Influence: Con comments or actions as a source of information, especially in ambiguous or difficult situations, or when feeling incompetent. Sherif's autokinetic illusion study demonstrates this, where individuals' judgments converged over time.
Normative Social Influence: Conforming to avoid disapproval or social sanctions. Asch's line judgment study illustrates this, where participants often conformed to incorrect answers given by a majority. Conformity pressure is affected by group size (up to a point), unanimity (decreforming to avoid disapproval or social sanctions. Asch's line judgment study illustrates this, where participants often conformed to incorrect answers given by a majority. Conformity pressure is affected by group size (up to a point), unanimity (decreases with dissent), anonymity (reduces conformity), expertise/status (higher influence), and culture (higher in interdependent cultures). Normative influence leads to public compliance, not necessarily private acceptance.
Minority Influence: A consistent minority opinion can influence the majority, primarily through informational social influence.
ases with dissent), anonymity (reduces conformity), expertise/status (higher influence), and culture (higher in interdependent cultures). Normative influence leads to public compliance, not necessarily private acceptance.
Minority Influence: A consistent minority opinion can influence the majority, primarily through informational social influence.
Compliance: Agreeing to a request, influenced by reason-based (norm of reciprocity, door-in-the-face, that's-not-all, foot-in-the-door), emotion-based (positive/negative moods), and norm-based approaches.
ObedienceCompliance:** Agreeing to a request, influenced by reason-based (norm of reciprocity, door-in-the-face, that's-not-all, foot-in-the-door), emotion-based (positive/negative moods), and norm-based approaches.
Obedience to Authority: Milgram's experiments demonstrated the power of authority, with a high percentage of participants administering potentially harmful shocks. Obedience is affected by the proximity of the learner and the experimenter's social power. Factors contributing to obedience include blocked attempts to leave, transfer of responsibility, and a step-by-step escalation to Authority:** Milgram's experiments demonstrated the power of authority, with a high percentage of participants administering potentially harmful shocks. Obedience is affected by the proximity of the learner and the experimenter's social power. Factors contributing to obedience include blocked attempts to leave, transfer of responsibility, and a step-by-step escalation of demands (slippery slope). of demands (slippery slope).
Core Concept
Social influence encompasses the various ways individuals affect one another's attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and this influence can manifest through automatic mimicry, conformity, compliance, and obedience. Understanding the factors that drive these social behaviors, such as informational and normative influences, group dynamics, and authority, is crucial for comprehending human interaction and its potential consequences.
Takeaway
Social influence, defined as the ways people affect one another, manifests in changes in attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behavior resulting from the comments, actions, or even the mere presence of others. Automatic mimicry, a form of unconscious conformity, occurs when individuals imitate the behaviors of others, potentially due to ideomotor action, where merely thinking about a behavior makes performing it more likely. This mimicry is stronger for those with a drive to affiliate and can vary across cultures. Informational social influence arises from taking others' comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct, proper, or effective, as demonstrated in Sherif's autokinetic illusion study where judgments about light movement converged over time, especially when the situation was ambiguous or individuals felt incompetent. Normative social influence stems from the desire to avoid disapproval and social sanctions, illustrated by Asch's line judgment study where participants conformed to incorrect answers given by a group of confederates about 33 percent of the time. Conformity pressure is affected by group size, unanimity, anonymity, expertise, status, and culture, with interdependent cultures showing higher rates of conformity. Compliance, agreeing to the request of another person, can be achieved through reason-based approaches like the norm of reciprocity, door-in-the-face technique, that's-not-all technique, and foot-in-the-door technique, as well as emotion-based approaches that leverage positive or negative moods. Obedience to authority, famously studied by Milgram, reveals the power of social influence, with 62.5 percent of participants completing the experiment despite potential harm to another person, influenced by factors like proximity to the learner, the experimenter's authority, release from responsibility, and a step-by-step escalation of demands.
Bullets
Social influence changes attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors.
Automatic mimicry involves unconsciously imitating others' behaviors.
Informational social influence uses others' actions as a source of information.
Normative social influence avoids disapproval and social sanctions.
Conformity increases with group size and unanimity, and decreases with anonymity.
Expertise and status enhance social influence.
Interdependent cultures show higher conformity rates.
Compliance involves agreeing to requests, using techniques like reciprocity and foot-in-the-door.
Moods affect compliance rates.
Milgram's experiment demonstrated high levels of obedience to authority.
Obedience is affected by proximity to the victim and authority figure.
Release from responsibility and step-by-step escalation increase obedience.
Chp.8
Group Dynamics: A group is defined by interdependent individuals. Social facilitation describes how the presence of others impacts performance, either positively or negatively. The dominant response, the most likely reaction in a situation, is often correct for easy tasks but incorrect for difficult ones.
Social Influence: Social loafing is the tendency to exert less effort in group tasks where individual contributions are not monitored. Groupthink occurs in cohesive groups when the desire for consensus overrides critical thinking, leading to faulty decisions. Group polarization describes how group discussions can lead to more extreme decisions than individuals would make alone.
Power Dynamics: Power is the ability to control outcomes. The approach/inhibition theory suggests high-power individuals pursue goals quickly, while low-power individuals are more cautious.
Deindividuation: Deindividuation is a reduced sense of individual identity in a group, leading to decreased self-regulation and conformity to group norms. This can result from anonymity and a lack of accountability. Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrated the powerful effects of deindividuation, where participants quickly adopted roles and exhibited extreme behaviors. Deindividuation can also contribute to harmful online behavior and brutality in war.
Self-Awareness: Individuation, an enhanced sense of individual identity, promotes careful and deliberate action. Self-awareness theory suggests that focusing inward leads to self-evaluation and adherence to internal standards. The spotlight effect is the belief that others are paying more attention to us than they actually are.
Core Concept
This text explores the influence of groups on individual behavior, covering topics such as social facilitation, social loafing, groupthink, group polarization, power dynamics, deindividuation, and self-awareness. It argues that group settings can both enhance and diminish individual performance and moral behavior, depending on factors like evaluation apprehension, anonymity, and power structures.
Takeaway
Social psychology examines how groups influence individual behavior, encompassing phenomena like social facilitation, where the presence of others can enhance or hinder performance. Initially defined as enhanced performance in the presence of others, social facilitation now broadly refers to the positive or negative effect of others on performance. The dominant response, the most likely reaction in a given context, is often correct for easy tasks but incorrect for difficult ones. Evaluation apprehension, or concern about being judged, plays a significant role in social facilitation. Conversely, social loafing describes the tendency to exert less effort on group tasks when individual contributions are unmonitored. Groupthink, characterized by faulty thinking in cohesive groups, occurs when social pressures subvert critical scrutiny, leading to consensus at the expense of sound judgment. Self-censorship, withholding dissenting opinions, is a symptom of groupthink. Group polarization, the tendency for group decisions to become more extreme than individual ones, is fueled by persuasive arguments and social comparison. Power, the ability to control outcomes, and status, the respect and prominence within a group, also shape behavior. High-power individuals may make rash judgments, while low-power individuals are more cautious. Deindividuation, a reduced sense of individual identity in large groups, can lead to diminished self-regulation and conformity to group norms, potentially encouraging brutality. Conversely, individuation, an enhanced sense of individual identity, promotes careful and deliberate action aligned with personal values. Self-awareness theory suggests that focusing inward leads to self-evaluation and conformity to internal standards. The spotlight effect highlights the tendency to overestimate how much others notice our appearance and behavior.
Bullets
Social facilitation: Presence of others can enhance or hinder performance.
Dominant response: Most likely reaction; correct for easy tasks, incorrect for difficult ones.
Evaluation apprehension: Concern about being judged influences performance.
Social loafing: Reduced effort on unmonitored group tasks.
Groupthink: Faulty thinking in cohesive groups due to social pressures.
Group polarization: Group decisions become more extreme than individual ones.
Power and status: Influence behavior within groups.
Deindividuation: Reduced individual identity leading to diminished self-regulation.
Individuation: Enhanced individual identity promoting deliberate action.
Self-awareness theory: Focusing inward leads to self-evaluation.
Spotlight effect: Overestimating how much others notice us.
Study Guide:
Chapter 5: Prejudice and Discrimination
Implicit Racism/Color-Blind Mentality: Modern racism exists alongside the rejection of explicit racist beliefs. Implicit biases can be revealed through priming techniques.
Benevolent Sexism: Involves seemingly positive stereotypes that still reinforce gender inequality.
Hostile Sexism: Involves overtly negative attitudes towards women.
Impact of Concealable Stigmas: The burden of hiding one's group membership can lead to psychological stress.
Ingroup Favoritism: Preference for one's own group, often demonstrated in minimal group paradigm experiments.
Outgroup Homogeneity Effect: Perceiving outgroups as more similar to each other than ingroups.
Realistic Conflict Theory: Prejudice arises from competition over scarce resources, as demonstrated by the Robbers Cave experiment.
Social Identity Theory: Self-concept and self-esteem derive from personal identity and group membership, leading to ingroup favoritism.
Subtyping: Explaining away exceptions to stereotypes.
Shooter Bias: Stereotypes can influence automatic reactions, such as in simulated shooting tasks.
Contact Hypothesis: Reducing prejudice requires equal status, shared goals, supportive social norms, and individual-level interactions.
Limitation of Self-Report Measures: Self-reports can be biased; covert measures like facial EMGs can provide more accurate data.
Facial Electromyographs (EMGs) and Measures of Attitudes: EMGs can detect subtle facial muscle movements that reveal attitudes.
Chapter 6: Attitudes and Persuasion
How Does the Implicit Association Test (IAT) Measure Implicit Attitudes?: The IAT reveals implicit biases by measuring reaction times to different pairings of concepts.
Attitude Embodiment Effect: Physical actions can influence attitudes.
Central and Peripheral Routes of Persuasion: Central route involves careful thought about the message; peripheral route involves superficial cues.
Self-Monitoring: High self-monitors adjust their behavior to fit social situations.
Psychological Reactance: Negative attitude change occurs when freedom is threatened.
Insufficient Deterrence/Justification: Performing an attitude-discrepant behavior without a large reward can lead to attitude change.
Effort Justification: Greater effort leads to greater appreciation of outcomes.
According to Dissonance Theory, When Making Difficult Decisions What Do People Tend to Do?: People tend to justify their choices to reduce cognitive dissonance.
Self-Perception Theory vs. Cognitive Dissonance: Self-perception theory suggests attitude change occurs as people infer their feelings from observing their behavior; cognitive dissonance theory suggests inconsistency creates psychological tension.
Impression-Management Theory: People change their attitudes to appear consistent to others.
Chapter 7: Social Influence
Social Benefits of Mimicry: Mimicry can enhance social bonds and affiliation.
How Does the Presence of an Ally in Dissent Affect Conformity?: An ally can reduce conformity pressure.
Minority Influence: A consistent minority opinion can influence the majority through informational social influence.
Informational Influence: Relying on others' comments or actions as a source of information.
Normative Influence: Conforming to avoid disapproval or social sanctions.
Private Conformity: Genuine acceptance of group norms.
Norm of Reciprocity: The expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefits.
Door-in-the-Face: Making a large request followed by a smaller one.
Foot-in-the-Door: Making a small request followed by a larger one.
That's-Not-All: Adding additional benefits to a request to increase compliance.
What Was the Baseline Level of Obedience in Milgram's Experiments?: 62.5% of participants administered the highest shock level.
Variations on Milgram’s Experiments and the Findings: Factors like proximity to the learner and authority figure affected obedience rates.
Why Did People Obey in Milgram’s Experiments?: Factors included blocked attempts to leave, transfer of responsibility, and step-by-step escalation of demands.
Chapter 8: Group Dynamics
Cross-Cultural Rates of Conformity: Higher in interdependent cultures.
Why Do People Have a Need to Belong in Groups?: Groups provide social support, identity, and a sense of belonging.
Group Cohesion: The strength of bonds among group members.
Evaluation-Apprehension Theory: Concern about being judged influences performance.
Social Facilitation: Presence of others can enhance or hinder performance.
Mere Presence: Simply being around others can affect performance.
Zajonc: Proposed that the presence of others increases arousal, which enhances dominant responses.
Distraction-Conflict: Presence of others can be distracting, affecting performance.
Social Loafing: Reduced effort in group tasks when individual contributions are not monitored.
Factors in Groupthink: Cohesiveness, isolation, and directive leadership can lead to poor decision-making.
Group Polarization: Group discussions can lead to more extreme decisions.
Approach/Inhibition Theory and Power: High-power individuals pursue goals quickly; low-power individuals are more cautious.
Factors in Deindividuation: Anonymity and lack of accountability can lead to reduced self-regulation and conformity to group norms
Social Identity Theory
A person's self-concept and self-esteem derive from personal identity and accomplishments as well as the status and accomplishments of their various group memberships
In-group favoritism
in-group members are evaluated more favorably
Out-group homogeneity effect
tendency for people to assume that within-group similarity is much stronger for out-groups than for in-groups
Subtyping
explaining away exceptions to a given stereotype by creating a subcategory of the stereotyped group that can be expected to differ from the group as a whole
Shooter bias
both white and black participants in study were more likely to accidentally shoot unarmed black targets than unarmed white targets
Implicit racism
Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally
Color-blind mentality
acting—or trying to act—as if race is so unimportant to them that they don't even notice and certainly don't care about it. This attempt may be sincere and with the best of intentions, but research reveals that this approach often backfires and makes members of racial minority groups more rather than less uncomfortable.
Hostile sexism
negative, resentful feelings about women's abilities, value, and challenge to men's power
benevolent sexism
affectionate, chivalrous feelings founded on the potentially patronizing belief that women need and deserve protection
realistic conflict theory
The theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources
Contact hypothesis
The theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce intergroup prejudice under certain conditions
Limitation of self-report measures
responses to attitude questions can be influenced by their wording, the order and context in which they are asked, and other extraneous factors
Facial EMGs and measure of attitudes
agreeable messages increased activity in the cheek muscles (happiness.) The disagreeable message increased activity in the forehead and brow area (sadness and distress)
Implicit Association Test
measures speed in which people associate pairs of concepts (black-bad/white-good pairings)
implicit attitude
an attitude, such as prejudice, that one is not aware of having
attitude embodiment effect
influence by factors that are not relevant to attitudes; cues from their own body movements; peripheral route
central route of persuasion
the process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments
peripheral route of persuasion
the process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues
self-monitoring
The tendency to change behavior in response to the self-presentation concerns of the situation
psychological reactance
theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive
insufficient deterrence/justification
a condition in which people freely perform an attitude-discrepant behavior without receiving a large reward
effort justification
alter attitudes to justify suffering
cognitive dissonance theory
theory that inconsistent cognitions arouse psychological tension that people then become motivated to reduce
self-perception theory
theory that people infer how they feel by observing their own behavior
impression-management theory
theory that claims that attitude change is spurred by concerns about self-presentation; motivation to appear consistent
social benefits of mimicry
-smoother interactions with other people
-high motivation for affiliation
-people respond favorably to mimicry
presence of an ally in dissent
one person in a group is likely to conform, but if there is at least one ally who breaks unanimity, then conformity rates decrease dramatically
minority influence
-the process by which dissenters produce change within a group; greatest influence when minority opinion is consistent
informational influence
influence that produces conformity when a person believes others are correct in their judgements
normative influence
influence that produces conformity when a person fears the negative social consequences of appearing deviant; public compliance but not necessarily private acceptance
private conformity
The change of beliefs that occurs when a person privately accepts the position taken by others
norm of reciprocity
a norm dictating that people should provide benefits to those who benefit them
door-in-the-face
make a large request that is refused, followed by a smaller request
foot-in-the-door
a compliance approach that involves making an initial small request with which nearly everyone complies, followed by a larger request involving the real behavior of interest
that's-not-all
a compliance approach that involves adding something to the original offer, thus creating some pressure to reciprocate
baseline of obedience in Milgram's experiment
62.5% of participants completed the experiment; participants of different ages and social classes all obeyed
baseline: mean level of shock was 400 volts
cross-cultural rates of conformity
higher rates of conformity in interdependent cultures
why do people need to belong in groups?
humans have an innate need to belong to groups stemming from evolutionary pressures in which survival and reproduction depended on living in groups rather than in isolation.
group cohesion
a group's degree of unity
evaluation-apprehension theory
A theory that the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others are seen as potential evaluators.
social facilitation
the effect, positive or negative, of the presence of others on performance
mere presence
The proposition that the mere presence of others is sufficient to produce social facilitation effects.
Zajonc's model of social facilitation
The mere presence of others increases arousal which then increases dominant response tendencies. In simple or well learned tasks, the dominant response is correct and performance is facilitated. In difficult or novel tasks, the dominant response is incorrect and performance is impaired.
distraction-conflict
A theory that the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others distract from the task and create attentional conflict.
social loafing
the tendency to exert less effort when working on a group task in which individual contributions cannot be monitored
factors in group think
group polarization
the tendency for group decisions to be more extreme than those made by individuals; whichever way the individuals are leaning, group discussion tends to make them lean further in that direction
approach/inhibition theory
This theory maintains that high-power individuals are inclined to go after their goals and make quick judgements, whereas low-power people are more likely to constrain their behavior and pay careful attention to others
de-individuation
a reduced sense of individual identity accompanied by diminished self-regulation that can come over people when they are in a large group
factors of de-individuation
feelings of anonymity, lack of accountability, energizing effect of being lost in a crowd