Chapter 12
groupthink
NASA's decision in 1986 to launch the Challenger into space due to intense pressure from the public/government agencies, and its failure, is an example of ___
outgroup homogeneity effect
Once people categorize into ingroup/outgroup members, they treat others accordingly. This concept is the tendency is view outgroup members as less varied than ingroup members
Abu Ghraid prison
The series of actions taken by American soldiers at this prison were filthy: U.S. soldiers raped, beat, and humiliated Iraqi detainees, demonstrating the horrible abuse of power by the American military
norms
___ indicate which behavior is appropriate in a given situation and also how people will respond to those who violate them
social faciliation
____ _____ can either enhance or impair performance
women
____ show a much greater automatic ingroup bias toward other ____ than that of the other gender
culture of honor
a belief system in which men are primed to protect their reputations through physical aggression
deindividuation
a state of reduced individuality, reduced self-awareness, and reduced attention to personal standards; occurs when people are acting as part of a group
social brain hypothesis
according to this theory, the size of a primate species' standard social group is related to the size of that species' outer cerebral cortex, called the neocortex
prosocial behavior
actions that tend to benefit others, such as doing favors or helping
rejected
aggression is more likely when people feel socially ____
aroused
all animals are genetically predisposed to become ___ by the presence of others of their own species
normative influence
an example of this influence is when adolescents conform to peer pressure, jury members go along with the group, and when you stand in line to wait for something
informational influence
an example of this type of influence is the time in class when someone left the room to use the bathroom, and when he came back everyone was standing up, so he stood up as well
aggression
any behavior that involves the intention to harm another
amygdala/fusiform face acrea
areas of the brain that get activated when considering ingroup/outgroup
implicit attitudes
attitudes that influence a person's feelings and behavior at a subconscious level
security, hunting/gathering
banding together in groups provides numerous advantages, such as __ from predators and assistance in ___
identity
defining yourself by your group status is part of your social ___
social norms
expected standards of conduct
negative
generally, people develop ___ about new things more quickly
more
if a person is in good mood, they are ___ likely to comply
more
if a person is paying less attention, they are ___ likely to comply
reciprocity
if person A helps/harms person B, then person B will help/harm person A
rules
normative influence relies on the societal need for ___
reciprocal helping
one animal helps another so that the other may return the favor in the future
kin selection
people are altruistic toward those with whoem they share genes
anonymity
people are less likely to help unless they are specifically told to do so
deindividuated
people are likely to become ___ when they are aroused and anonymous and the responsibility is diffused
ingroup, outgroup
people are more likely to distribute resources to ___ members than to ___ members
transitivity
people generally share their friends' opinions of other people
observational
people learn to be aggressive though this type of leanring
ingroups, outgroups
people readily see human minds in __ than in ___
attitude
people's evaluations of objects, events, or ideas
group members
people's thoughts/emotions/actions are influenced by their desire to be good ___ ____
attention, understand, convincing
persuasion is most likely to occur when people pay ___ to the message, ____ it, and find it ____
altruism
providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so
ingroups/outgroups
the Gary and collegues experiment (2014) was a demonstration of how ___ and ___ can be formed based on minimal rules of social interaction
persuasion
the active and conscious effort to change an attitude through the transmission of a message
conformity
the altering of one's behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people's expectations
attitude accessibility
the ease/difficulty that a person has in retrieving an attitude from memory
bystander intervention effect
the failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present
MAOA
the gene that controls the amount of MAO, an enzyme that regulates the activity of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and norepinephrine
diffusion of responsibilty
the idea that bystanders expect that other bystanders will help
"foot in the door" effect
the idea that if people agree to a small request, they become more likely to comply with a large and undesirable request
lack of unanimity
the idea that if there is not total agreement within a group, conformity will be less likely
mere exposure effect
the idea that if we are constantly exposed to something, we will like it more
social identity theory
the idea that ingroups consist of individuals who perceive themselves to be members of the same social category and experience pride through their membership
fear of making social blunders
the idea that people may worry that they would look foolish if they sought help that was not needed
elaboration likelihood model
the idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in two ways: the central route and the peripheral route
social faciliation
the idea that the presence of others generally enhances performance
justifying effort
the idea that when people put themselves through pain/embarrassment/discomfort to join a group, they experience dissonance and must inflate the importance of the group
group polarization
the process by which initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time
more
the stronger the attitude, the __ likely it will predict behavior
normative influence
the tendency for people to conform in order to fit in with the group
informational influence
the tendency for people to conform when they assume that the behavior of others represents the correct way to respond
ingroup favoritism
the tendency for people to evaluate and privilege members of the ingroup than members of the outgroup
social loafing
the tendency for people to not work as hard in a group than when working alone
groupthink
the tendency of groups to make bad decisions when the group is under pressure, facing external threats, and is biased
compliance
the tendency to agree to do things requested by others
"pain regions"
these regions are activated when someone sees an ingroup member being harmed
amygdala
this brain region is activated when there is a deviance from social norms and nonconformity takes place
prefrontal cortex
this brain region is important for controlling emotional and behavioral reactions; when this region does not function in response to signals from the amygdala, aggression occurs
amygdala
this brain region regulate the fear/emotion response; if there are fluctuations in serotonin, the response in this brain region will increase
minimal group paradigm
this experiment assigned people to groups randomly and gave subjects the task of distributing money; it demonstrated ingroup favoritism
insufficient justification experiment
this experiment paid people to lie about how great their experience was doing a boring task; while everyone lied, those who were paid more didn't have to change their attitude, while those who were paid less had to change their attitude to lie
stanford prison experiment
this experiment randomly assigned the role of prisoners and guards in a mock prison; within days, guards became brutal and sadistic; it demonstrated how people react when there are defined social roles
Milgram's experiment
this experiment sought to explain why normal people would commit heinous crimes (such as the holocaust) if ordered to do so by authorities
group size
this idea that the amount of people you are around makes you more likely to conform
testosterone
this is a hormone that may increase the likelihood of aggression because it reduces the activity of brain circuits involved in impulse control
post-decisional dissonance
this is a type of dissonance that can arise when a person hold positive attitudes about different options but has to choose one of the options (ex: deciding which school to go to out of many great schools)
"risky-shift" effect
this is the concept that groups often make riskier decisions than individuals do
medial prefrontal cortex
this is the part of the brain that is most associated with ingroup bias
serotonin
this neurotransmitter is important in the control of aggressive behavior; less of it leads to more hostility, impulsivity, and disruptive behavior
medial prefrontal cortex
this part of the brain is especially important for thinking abou tother people, generally or specifically, and if they are part of the ingroup or outgroup
learning principle
this principles states that arousal leads animals to emit a dominant response-the response most likely to be performed in that situation (ex: when sitting in front of food, the dominant response to eat the food)
normative
this type of influence works because people feel embarrassed when they violate social norms and they worry about what others think of them
explicit attitudes
those attitudes that can be stated/reported by a person; those attitudes that are known
ingroups
those groups to which particular people belong
outgroups
those groups to which people don't belong
obedience
when a person follows the orders of a person of authority
peripheral route
when a person is impulsive, not paying close attention
group polarization
when groups choose the course of action that was initially favored by the majority of individuals in the group, this is an example of __ ____
central route
when people are motivated/paying attention to the information, so the information sticks and leads to a stronger attitude and longer impact
dehumanization
when people consider members of extreme outgroups such as the homeless/drug addicts and there is a reduction in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex
cognitive dissonance
when you do something even though you know it's bad; an uncomfortable mental state resulting from a contradiction between two attitudes and a behavior (ex: continuing to smoke even you know it will kill you)
cooperation
working together toward a shared goal