AP Psych: Unit 14: Social Psychology

14-75 What helps explain why we feel happier around happy people than around depressed people?

automatic mimicry helps us empathize (to feel what others are feeling); the same goes for mood linkage (sharing up and down moods)

14-76 When you do something well, you are likely to do even *better/worse* in front of an audience, especially a friendly audience. What you normally find difficult may seem all but impossible when you are being watched

better

14-77 Ingroup

"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity

14-75 How did Milgram's shock experiment demonstrate that strong social influences can make people conform to falsehoods or capitulate to cruelty?

"Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their. part, can become agents in a terrible restructure process"

14-77 Outgroup

"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

14-77 Ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group

14-76 Describe the three causes of social loafing.

- People acting as part of a group feel less accountable - Group members may view their individual contributions as dispensable - Unless highly motivated and strongly identified with the group, people may free ride on other's efforts

14-74 What do social psychologists study? How do we tend to explain others' behavior and our own?

- Social psychologists focus on how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. They study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations - When explaining others' behavior, we may commit the fundamental attribution error (underestimating the influence of the situation and overestimating the effects of personality). When explaining our own behavior, we more readily attribute it to the influence of the situation

14-75 What did Milgram's obedience experiments teach us about the power of social influence?

- Stanley Milgram's experiments—in which people obeyed orders even when they thought they were harming another person—demonstrated that strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or give in to cruelty - Obedience was highest when (a) the person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as a legitimate authority figure ; (b) the research was supported by a prestigious institution; (c) the victim was depersonalized or at a distance; and (d) there were no role models for defiance

14-74 Explain the fundamental attribution error.

- The fundamental attribution error occurs when we are analyzing someone's behavior - In order for the fundamental attribution error to occur, the person analyzing must underestimate the role of the situation and overestimate the disposition of the person whose behavior is being analyzed

14-76 How do cultural norms affect our behavior?

- A culture is a set of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group and transmitted from one generation to the next - Cultural norms are understood rules that inform members of a culture about accepted and expected behaviors - Cultures differ across time and space

14-74 George Goethals's fundamental attribution error experiment

- At Williams College, they had students talk, one at a time, with a young women who acted either cold and critical or warm and friendly - Researchers told half the students that the women's behavior would be spontaneous, and the other half that she was instructed to act in such a way -------RESULTS - Hearing the truth did NOT affect students' impressions of the woman - If the woman acted friendly, both groups decided she was a warm person, whereas if the woman acted unfriendly, both decided she was a hold person - They attributed her behavior to her personal disposition even when told that her behavior was situational--that she was merely acting that way for purposes of the experiment

14-74 Does what we think affect what we do, or does what we do affect what we think?

- Attitudes are feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in certain ways - Peripheral route persuasion uses incidental cues (such as celebrity endorsement) to try to produce fast by relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes - Central route persuasion offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses - When other influences are minimal, attitudes that are stable, specific, and easily recalled can affect our actions - Actions can modify attitudes, as in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon (complying with a large request after having agreed to a small request) and role playing (acting a social part by following guidelines for expected behavior) - When our attitudes don't fit with our actions, cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we will reduce tension by changing our attitudes to match our actions

14-75 What is automatic mimicry, and how do conformity experiments reveal the power of social influence?

- Automatic mimicry (the chameleon effect), our tendency to unconsciously imitate others' expressions, postures, and voice tones, is a form of conformity - Solomon Asch and others have found that we are most likely tot adjust our behavior of thinking to coincide with a group standard when (a) we feel incompetent or insecure, (b) our group has at least three people, (c) everyone else agrees, (d) we admire the group's status and attractiveness, (e) we have not already committed to another response, (f) we know we are being observed, and (g) our culture encourages respect for social standards - We may conform tot gain approval (normative social influence) or because we are willing to accept others' opinions as new information (informational social influence)

14-76 What are group polarization and groupthink, and how much power do we have as individuals?

- In group polarization, group discussions with like-minded others strengthen members' prevailing beliefs and attitudes. Internet communication magnifies this effect, for better or for worse - Groupthink is driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives - The power of the individual and hate power of the situation interact. A small minority that consistently expresses its views may sway the majority

14-76 How is our behavior affected by the presence of others?

- In social facilitation, the mere presence of others arouses us, improving our performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing it on difficult ones - In social loafing, participating in na group project makes us feel less responsible, and we may free ride on others' efforts - When the presence of others both arouses us and makes us feel anonymous, we may experience deindividuation—loss of self-awareness and self-restraint

14-76 What three things cause social loafing?

1) People acting as part of a group feel less accountable, and therefore worry less about what others think 2) Group members may view their individual contributions as dispensable 3) When group members share equally in the benefits, regardless of how much they contribute., some may slack off (as you perhaps have observed on group assignments). Unless highly motivated and strongly identified with the group, people may free ride on others' efforts

14-74 Persuasion efforts generally take what two forms?

1) Peripheral route persuasion 2) Central route persuasion

14-77 Three-part mixture of prejudice

1) beliefs (in this case, called stereotypes) 2) emotions (for example, hostility or fear) 3) predispositions to action (to discriminate)

14-75 Milgram, in later experiments, discovered. some things that do influence people's behavior. When he varied the situation, the percentage of participants who fully obeyed ranged from 0 to 93 percent. Obedience was highest in what 4 cases?

1) when the person giving the orders was close at hand and was perceived to be a legitimate authority figure 2) when the authority figure was supported by a prestigious institution 3) when the victim was depersonalized or at a distance, even in another room 4) when there were no role models for defiance (teachers didn't see any other participant disobey the experimenter)

14-75 Explain how Milgram used the foot-in-the-door effect in his experiment.

450 volts wasn't from the start; they started in small increments until eventually getting too 450 volts; those who resisted usually did so early; after the first acts of compliance or resistance, attitudes began to follow and justify behavior

14-75 How did Jerry Burger's more recent shock study (2009) results differ from Milgram's?

70% of participants obeyed up to 150-volts, a slight reduction from Milgram's result

14-74 Explain, in context of foot-in-the-door phenomenon, the phrase "doing becomes believing."

After giving in to a request to harm an innocent victim--by making nasty comments or delivering electric shocks--people begin to disparage their victim. After speaking or writing on behalf of a position they have qualms about, they begin to believe their own words

14-76 Explain the effect of crowding according to social facilitation.

Comedians know that a "good house" is a full one. Crowding triggers arousal which, as we have seen, strengthens other reactions, too. Comedy routines that are mildly amusing to people in an uncrowded room seem funnier in a densely packed room. And in experiments, when participants have been seated close to one another, they liked a friendly person even more, an unfriendly person even less. So, for an energetic class or event, choose a room or set up seating that will just barely accommodate everyone

14-77 Prejudice spring from what three things?

Culture's divisions, heart's passions, and mind's natural workings

14-74 Describe how role playing can train torturers.

In early 1970s Greek military government eased men into roles; first trainee stood guard outside interrogation cell; after this "foot-in-the-door" step, he stood guard inside; then, he would actively become involved in questioning and torture

14-77 Explain how ingroup bias explains the cognitive power of partisanship.

In the US in the late 1980s, most Democrats believed inflation had risen under Republican president Ronald Reagan (it had dropped). In 2010, most Republicans believed that taxes had increased under Democrat president Barack Obama (for most, they had decreased)

14-74 Explain, in context of foot-in-the-door phenomenon, how moral action strengthens moral convictions

In years following the introduction of school desegregation in US and passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, white Americans expressed diminished racial prejudice. As Americans in regions acted more alike, they began to think more alike

14-74 Explain the phrase "attitudes follow behavior"

Not only will people stand up for what they believe, they also will believe more strongly in what they have stood up for

14-76 What did Norman Triplett study?

Social facilitation: found that adolescents would wind a fishing reel faster in the presence of someone doing the same thing; he and later social psychologists studied how others' presence affects our behavior; group influences operate in such simple groups—one person in the presence of another—and in more complex groups

14-74 Describe Stanford simulated prison study.

Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo morphed role playing into real life; male college students volunteered to spend time in a simulated prison; randomly assigned some volunteers to be guards; at first the volunteers "played" their roles, but after a few days the simulation became too real and most guards developed disparaging attitudes, and were mean and cruel; after only 6 days Zimbardo called off study

14-74 What is the basic principle behind foot-in-the-door phenomenon?

To get people to agree to something big, start small and build. A trivial act makes the next act easier. Succumb to a temptation ,and you will find the next temptation harder to resist

14-77 Explain how negative emotions nourish prejudice.

When facing death, fearing threat, or experiencing frustration, people cling more tightly to their ingroup and their friends; as the terror of death heightens patriotism, it also produces loathing and aggression toward "them"—those who threaten our world; the few individuals who lack fear and its associated amygdala activity—such as children with the genetic disorder Williams syndrome—also display a notable lack of racial stereotypes and prejudice

14-77 Stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people

14-74 Role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave; when you adopt a role, you strive to follow the social prescriptions; at first your behaviors may feel phony because you are *acting* a role; before long, what began as playacting in the theater of life becomes you

14-75 Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard (to coincide with a group standard); suggestibility and mimicry are subtle types of conformity

14-76 Gender differences tend to widen over time; girls talk more intimately than boys do and play and fantasize less aggressively; these differences will be *amplified/minimized* as boys and girls interact mostly with their own gender

amplified

14-76 Norms

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior; norms prescribe "proper" behavior

14-77 Prejudice ("prejudgement")

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members; prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action; three-part mixture of: beliefs, emotions, and predisposition to action

14-75 Describe Solomon Asch's test to study conformity?

as a participant in what you believe is a study of visual perception, you arrive in time to take a seat at a table with 5 other people; experimenter asks group to state, one by one, which of three comparison lines is identical to a standard line; clearly see that line 2 is the answer, and you wait for your turn; boredom shows when the next set of lines is equally easy; third trial's correct answer seems clear-cut, but the first person gives what seems as a wrong answer... the other 3 people agree and you're the only one that disagrees; when the experimenter asks you what the answer is, you hesitate, wondering whether to be the oddball or not ---------RESULTS - college students, when answering alone, erred less than 1% of the time - when with confederates who answered incorrectly, 1/3 of college students went along with the group ------WHEN WE CONFORM 1) are made to feel incompetent or insecure 2) are in a group with at least 3 people 3) are in a group in which everyone else agrees (if just one other person disagrees, the odds of our disagreeing greatly increases) 4) admire the group's status and attractiveness 5) have not made a prior commitment to any response 6) know that others in the group will observe our behavior 7) are from a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards

14-77 Ethnocentrism

assuming the superiority of one's ethnic group; one example of prejudice; to believe that a person of another ethnicity is somehow inferior or threatening, to feel dislike for that person, and to be hesitant to hire or date that person is to be prejudiced

14-77 Prejudice is a negative _______. Discrimination is a negative ______

attitude; behavior

14-75 Chameleon effect

discovered by Tanya Chartrand and John Bargh; had students work in room alongside another person, who was actually a confederate working for experimenters; sometimes confederates rubbed their face, sometimes shook foot, and the students tended to rub and shake when the confederate did so

14-75 Describe Stanley Milgram's shock experiment.

draw a slip from a hat to see who's "teacher" and who is the "learner"; draw "teacher" and asked to sit down in front of machine, which has series of labeled switches; learner is led to adjoining room and strapped into a chair; wires run from the chair into your machine; your task as teachers is to teach and test learner on list of word pairs... if learner gives wrong answer, flip a switch to deliver brief electric shock; for each succeeding error, move to next higher voltage ---------RESULTS - 60% men aged 20-50 complied fully right up to last switch - 65% of new teachers obeyed every one of experimenter's commands right up to 450 volts

14-76 Polarization in virtual groups

electronic communication and social networking have created virtual town halls where people can space themselves from those who perspective differs; people read. blogs that reinforce their views, and those blogs link to kindred blogs; as the internet connects the like-minded and pools their ideas, climate-change skeptics, those who believe they've been abducted by aliens, and conspiracy theorists find support for their shared ideas and suspicions; separation + conversation = polarization

14-77 What can we do to assess prejudice?

observe what people say and what they do

14-74 Peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness; doesn't engage systematic thinking, but does produce fast results as people respond to incidental cues (such as endorsements by respected people) and make snap judgments. A perfume ad may lure us with images of beautiful or famous people in love

14-74 Attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events; if we *believe* someone is threatening us, we may *feel* fear and anger toward the person and *act* defensively; the traffic between our attitudes and our actions is two-way... our attitudes affect our actions... our actions affect our attitudes

14-74 Personality psychologists

focus on the person; study the personal traits and dynamics that explain why different people may act differently in a *given situation* such as the Dirk Willem's (would you have helped the jailer out of the icy water?)

14-74 Social psychologists

focus on the situation; study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in *different situations*; might the jailer have acted differently--opting not to march Willems back to jail--under differing circumstances

14-76 Over time, initial differences between groups of college students tend to grow; if the first-year students at College X tend to be artistic and those at College Y tend to be business-savvy, those differences will probably be *greater/less* by the time they graduate

greater

14-74 Central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts; offers evidence and arguments that aim to trigger favorable thoughts. It occurs mostly when people are naturally analytical or involved in the issue. Environmental advocates may show us evidence of rising temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas, and northward shifts in vegetation and animal life. Because it is more thoughtful and less superficial, it is more durable and more likely to influence behavior

14-76 Social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others; strengthened performance in others' presence; Triplett's study; on tougher tasks (learning nonsense syllables or solving complex multiplication problems), people perform worse when observers or others working on the same task are present ex) home field advantage in sports (home teams will 6 in 10 games

14-75 Western Europeans and people in most English-speaking countries tend to prize _________. People in many Asian, African, and Latin American countries place a higher value on honoring ________________; in general, Americans conform *less/more*

individualism; group standards; less

14-75 Normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval; in cases when we confirm to avoid rejection or gain social approval; we are sensitive to social norms (understood rules for accepted and expected behavior) because the price we pay for being different can be severe

14-75 Informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality; we conform because we want to be accurate; can be a good thing considering Rebecca Denton's occasion driving on the wrong side of the road on British highway

14-74 Attitudes are especially likely to affect behavior when external influences are *minimized/maximized*, and when the attitude is *stable/unstable*, specific to behavior, and easily recalled

minimal; stable

14-76 Whether in a mob, at a rock concert, at a ballgame, or at worship, when we shed self-awareness and self-restraint, we become *more/less* responsive to the group experience—bad or good

more

14-75 Did Milgram's findings reflect some aspect of gender behavior found only in males?

no, 10 later studies, women obeyed at rates similar to men's

14-75 With kindness obedience on a collision course, *kindness/obedience* usually won

obedience (Milgram shock experiment)

14-74 In roll-call votes, politicians will sometimes vote what their supporters demand, despite privately disagreeing with those demands. In these cases, external pressure *supports/overrides* the attitude-behavior link

overrides

14-77 The urge to distinguish enemies from friends predisposes _________ against strangers

prejudice

14-74 Our social behavior arises from our ________

social cognition

14-77 Through our ________ we associate ourselves with certain groups and contrast ourselves with others

social identities

14-76 Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of propel and transmitted from one generation to the next;

14-76 Group polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group; the beliefs and attitudes we bring to a group grow stronger as we discuss. them with like-minded others; ideological separation + deliberation = polarization between groups

14-75 What is social psychology's great lesson?

the enormous power of social influence; this influence can be seen in our conformity, our obedience to authority, and our group behavior

14-76 Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity; often occurs when group participation makes people both aroused and anonymous; the presence of others that can both cause social facilitation and social loafing ex) online telling people "you're so fake" when they wouldn't in person ex) tribal warriors with face paints and masks are more likely to kill, torture, and mutilate captured enemies

14-76 Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives ex) JFK's Bay of Pigs invasion

14-77 Prejudice spring not only from the divisions of society but also from...

the passions of the heart

14-76 Minority influence

the power of one or two individuals to sway majorities; in studies in which one or two individuals consistently express a controversial attitude or an unusual perceptual judgement, one finding repeatedly stands out: when you are the minority, you are far more likely to sway the majority if you hold firmly to your position and don't waffle; won't make you popular, but may make you influential, especially if you're self-confidence stimulates others to consider why you react as you do; even when a minority's influence is not yet visible, people may privately develop sympathy for the minority position and rethink their views; the powers of social influence are enormous, but so are the powers of the committed individual

14-76 Personal control

the power of the individual

14-76 Social control

the power of the situation

14-76 Thanks to our mastery of language, we humans enjoy...

the preservation of innovation

14-74 Social psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

14-74 Fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others' behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition; we overestimate the influence of personality and underestimate the influence of situations ex) In class, Juliette rarely talks. At the game, Jack talks nonstop. That must be the sort of people they are, we decide. Juliette must be shy and Jack outgoing. Such attributions--to their dispositions--can be valid, because people do have enduring personality traits. But sometimes we fall prey to the fundamental attribution error. In class, Jack may be as quiet as Juliette, and maybe Juliette is loud and outgoing in her high school musical

14-76 Social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

14-77 Just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the. world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get; when some people have money, power, and prestige and others do not, the "haves" usually develop attitudes that justify things as they are; reflects the idea that good is rewarded and evil is punished

14-74 Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request; people who agreed to a small request would find it easier to comply later with a larger one ex) The Chinese in the Korean war, to the US POWs, began with harmless requests, such as copying a trivial statement, but gradually escalated their demands. The next statement to be copied might list flaws of capitalism. Then, to gain privileges, the prisoners participated in group discussions, wrote self-criticisms, or uttered public confessions. After, they often adjusted their beliefs to be more consistent with their public acts

14-77 Scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame; notes that when things go wrong, finding someone to blame can provide a target for anger

14-74 Cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes; when we become aware that our attitudes and actions don't coincide, we experience tension (cognitive dissonance); to relieve this tension, Leon Festinger said we often bring our attitudes into line with our actions

14-74 Attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition; after studying how people explain others' behavior, Fritz Heider proposed an attribution theory: we can attribute the behavior to the person's stable, enduring traits (a dispositional attribution), or we can attribute it to the situation (a situational attribution)

14-77 Blame-the-victim dynamic

victims of discrimination may react with either self-blame or anger; either reaction can feed prejudice through blame-the-victim dynamic; do the circumstances of poverty breed a higher crime rate? if so, that higher crime rate can be used to justify discrimination against those who live in poverty

14-76 Explain UMass's social loafing experiments.

wanted to answer what happens to performance when people perform a task as a group; blindfolded students and told them to pull as hard as they could; when they were fooled into believing. they had 3 others pulling, they only exerted 82% as much effort as when they thought they were pulling alone; when blindfolded people were told to clap or shout as loud as they could, and heard other people clapping or shouting (through headphones), they produced about 1/3 noise than when clapping or shouting "alone"

14-74 What is the heartening implication of the attitudes-follow-behavior principle?

we can't directly control all our feelings, but we can influence them by altering our behavior

14-74 Strong social pressures can *strengthen/weaken* the attitude-behavior connection

weaken

14-76 How can groupthink be prevented?

when a leader welcomes various opinions, invites experts' critiques of developing plans, and assigns people to identify possible problems

14-76 How do social control and personal control interact?

when feeling coerced, we may react by doing the opposite of what is expected, thereby reasserting our sense of freedom

14-76 Studies (Guerin & Zajonc) have revealed that the presence of others sometimes helps and sometimes hinders performance. Why?

when others observe us, we become aroused, and this arousal amplifies our other reactions; it strengthens our most likely response—the correct one on an easy taks, an incorrect one on a difficult task

14-76 Culture shock

when we don't understand what's expected or accepted in a different culture