Intro To Psychology-Chapter 13
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
states that our social identities are a crucial part o four self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about ourselves *TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT OURSELVES: need to feel good about group we're involved in
Social Psychology
study of how people think about, influence and relate to people (includes perceptions, cognition and emotion)
RISKY SHIFT (group decision)
tendency for a group decision to be riskier than the average decision made by the individual group members
PRIMACY EFFECT (first impressions)
tendency to attend to and remember what they learned first
ETHNOCENTRISM
tendency to favor one's own ethnic group over other groups -INVOLVES ASSERTING GROUP'S SUPERIORITY OVER OTHER GROUPS *ENCOURAGES IN/OUT GROUPS -implies that ethnic out groups are not just different but WORSE UNDERLIES PREJUDICE
SELF-OBJECTIFICATION
tendency to see oneself as an object in others' eyes *CHRONIC FEELINGS OF OBJECTIFICATION: associated with lower self-esteem/higher levels of depression
NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE
the influence others have on us because we want hem to like us
MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT (proximity)
the phenomenon that the more we encounter someone or something, the more probable it is that we will start liking the person or thing even if you do not realize we have seen it before
GROUP POLARIZATION (group think) (group decision)
the solidification/ further strengthening of an individual's position as a consequence of a group discussion or interaction
Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobsen's self-fulfilling prophecy experiment
told teachers that a select few (randomly selected students<--teachers were unaware) had high abilities to shine forth over time and were just "late bloomers". A year later, researchers found that the teachers' expectations for the "late bloomers" were reflected in the students in that their academic performance had significantly surpassed other students
AFFECTIONATE LOVE (COMPANIONATE LOVE)
type of love that occurs when individuals desire to have the other person near and have a deep, caring affection for the person - AS LOVE PROGRESSSES, PASSIONATE LOVE TENDS TO TURN INTO AFFECTIONATE LOVE
PREDJUICE
unjustifiable negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership in a particular group
DISCRIMINATION
unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group
ATTRIBUTION THEORY
views people as motivated to discover the underlying causes of behavior as part of their effort to make sense of the behavior
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY
we feel uneasy when we notice an inconsistency between what we believe and what we do
SIMILARITY (factors playing role in dynamic of attraction)
we like to associate with people who are similar to us -friends/lovers are much more like us than unlike us (share similar attitudes, behavior patterns, taste in clothes, intelligence, personality, other friends, values, lifestyle and physical attractiveness)
TASK-ORIENTED COOPERATION
working together on a shared goal reduces stereotypical feelings of one group vs. another
CENTRAL ROUTE:
works by engaging audience thoughtfully with a sound, logical argument
Controllable/Uncontrollable Causes
*Controllable attributions: the perception that people have power over a cause (such as preparing food for the picnic) *Uncontrollable attributions: perception that people don't have control over the cause (rain on the picnic day) RAINSTORM SPOILS HENRY'S PICNIC, WE WONT HOLD IT AGAINST HIM
Internal/External Causes
*Internal attributions: causes inside and specific to the person, such as his/her traits and abilities *External attributions: causes caused outside the person such as social pressure, aspect of the social situation, the weather and luck. EXAMPLE QUESTION: DID BETH GET A GOOD GRADE ON THE TEST BECAUSE SHE IS SMART OR BECASUE THE TEST IS EASY
Stable/Unstable Causes
*Stable attributions: cause of the behavior is relatively enduring and permanent *Unstable attributions: cause of the behavior is temporary DID AARON BLOW UP AT HIS GIRLFRIEND BECAUSE HE IS A HOSTILE GUY OR BECAUSE HE WAS IN A BAD MOOD FOR THAT DAY
WAYS TO REDUCE PREJUDICE (promoting intergroup relations)
*group members think that they are of equal status *group members feel that an authority figure sanctions their positive relationships *group members believe that friendship might emerge from the interaction *group members engage in cooperative tasks in which everyone has something to contribute
ROBBER'S CAVE EXPERIMENT (proved the power of task oriented cooperation)
- assigned 11-year old boys to two competitive groups in a summer camp called ROBBERS CAVE -disguised as a janitor so he could observe the boys arranged for game of baseball, tug of war and football -RELATIONS BETWEEN GROUPS DETERIORATED AND MEMEBRS OF BOTH GROUPS DEVELOPED NEGATIVE OPINIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE OTHER GROUP BROUGHT CLASHING GROUPS TOGETHER BY: -creating tasks that required the joint efforts of both groups (groups required to work together developed more positive relationships)
MILGRAM'S EXPERIMENT 1965, 1974 (obedience)
-individuals ("teacher") were asked to deliver a series of electric shocks to another person ("learner"). Each time the learner made a mistake, you are to increase intensity of the shock * cant see learner (learner isn't actually receiving shocks but is acting as if he were-in on experiment) *voltage goes from 15-450 volts *trial proceed--> learner continuously gives wrong answers in which you are told to administer shock. *learner complains of chest pains, screams and eventually stops responding BUT YOU ARE TOLD TO CONTINUE BY A MAN WHO APPEARS TO BE IN AUTHORITY "you must go on"
SUCCESS BASED ON INVESTMENT MODEL IDEOLOGY
-long term relationships continue when both partners are committed to the relationship/ have invested a great deal -relationships are more enduring when there a few tempting alternatives for the partners
WAYS TO DECREASE SOCIAL LOAFING
-making individual's contributions more identifiable/unique -simplifying the evaluation of these contributions -making group task more attractive
STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT 1970s (obedience)
-students paid to participate and were tested/concluded as mentally sound -assigned roles as "guard" or "prisoner" -prisoners arrested at homes -guards were able to leave and told THEY HAD ALL THE POWER IN THE PRISON *things got ugly quick: prisoners went crazy and guards behaved extremely sadistic STUDY CUT SHORT AFTER 6 DAYS DUE TO CONCERN FOR PARTICIPANT SAFETY *CONCLUSION: situational factors powerfully affect human behavior (prisoners internalized their role)
TWO WAYS TO REDUCE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE WHEN ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR CONFLICT
1.) Change our behavior to fit our attitudes 2.) Change our attitudes to fit our behavior
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN CONFORMITY
1.) INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE 2.) NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE
FACTORS PLAYING A ROLE IN THE DYNAMIC OF ATTRACTION
1.) PROXIMITY 2.) CONSENSUAL VALIDATION 3.) SIMILARITY
THREE ASPECTS OF GROUP DECISION
1.) RISKY SHIFT 2.) GROUP POLARIZATION (group think) 3.) MAJORITY/MINORITY INFLUENCE
ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION
1.) THE COMMUNICATOR (source) 2.) THE MEDIUM 3.) THE TARGET (audience) 4.) THE MESSAGE
HOW ATTITUDES GUIDE ACTIONS
1.) When a person's attitudes are strong 2.) When the person shows a strong awareness of an attitude and rehearses and practices it 3.) When the person has a vested interest
3 DIMENSIONS OF THE ATTRIBUTION THEORY
1.) internal/external causes 2.) stable/unstable causes 3.) controllable/uncontrollable causes
REASONS FOR PREJUDICE
COMPETITION BETWEEN GROUPS CULTURAL LEARNING LIMITS ON OUR INFORMATION PROCESSING ABILITY
MOST IMPORTANT PREDICTOR OF A RELATIONSHIP'S SUCCESS (explained by social exchange theory)
EQUITY: feeling on the part of the individuals in the relationship that each is doing his/her "fair share" OVER TIME, THE DEMAND FOR EQUITY IN A RELATIONSHIP DIMINISHES
STANFORD STUDY DRAWS FROM MILGRAM STUDY
GOOD PEOPLE WILL DO EVIL THINGS TO OTHER GOOD PEOPLE IF THE SITUATION SUPPORTS THOSE DEEDS
MAJORITY/MINORITY INFLUENCE (group decision)
MOST GROUPS MAKE DECISIONS BY VOTING -MAJORITY: usually wins vote (exerts influence on group decision making through informational influence and normative influence) THOSE WHO DONT GO ALONG MAY BE IGNORED OR EVEN BOOTED MINORITY: cant win through normative pressure. Must provide a logical point of view in order to influence majority holders
PROXIMITY (factors playing role in dynamic of attraction)
PHYSICAL CLOSENESS IS A STRONG PREDICTOR OF ATTRACTION * you are more likely to be attracted to someone you pass in the hall every day than to a person you rarely see *MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT
GROUP INFLUENCE
THREE TYPES OF GROUP INFLUENCE 1.) DEINDIVIDUALIZATION 2.) SOCIAL CONTAGION 3.) SOCIAL LOAFING
EXPLICIT RACISM (prejudice)
a person's conscious and openly shared attitude *(might be measures using a questionnaire)
social cognition
area of psychology that explores how people select, interpret, remember and use social information
THE TARGET (audience)
audience plays a role in effectiveness of persuasion *YOUNGER PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO CHANGE ATTITUDE THAN OLDER PEOPLE * PEOPLE WITH WEAK ATTITUDES MORE SUSCEPTIBEL THAN STRONG
SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY
based on the notion of social relationships as involving an exchange of goods, the objective of which is to minimize costs and maximize benefits. LOOKS AT HUMAN RELATIONS AS AN EXCHANGE OF REWARDS BETWEEN ACTORS -focuses on equity: partners keep a balance sheet (tally the plusses and minuses associated with each other)
OBEDIENCE
behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority. WE ARE OBEDIENT WHEN AN AUTHORITY FIGURE DEMANDS THAT WE DO SOMETHING AND WE DO IT
physical attractiveness proven by studies
being average (along with variables such as symmetry and youthfulness) are essential components of facial attractiveness
CONFORMITY
change in a person's behavior to coincide more closely with a group standard *POSITIVE: following rules and regulations *NEGATIVE: coming to college and drinking heavily due to the pressure to conform
EFFORT JUSTIFICATION (DISSONANCE REDUCTION)
coming up with rationale foe the amount of work we put into getting something, typically by increasing the value associated with things that are difficult to attain. * WORKING HARD TO GET INTO A GROUP CAN CHANGE OUR ATTITUDES ABOUT THAT GROUP (initiation for Greek organizations)
self-esteem
degree to which wee have positive/negative feelings about ourselves
THE MESSAGE
establishing what kind of message is more persuasive for the circumstance EX: logical arguments or emotional approach
INVESTMENT MODEL
examines ways that commitment, investment and the availability of attractive alternative partners predict satisfaction and stability in relationships
self-fulfilling prophecy
expectations cause an individual to act in ways that serve to make the expectations come true (shows the potential power of stereotypes/other sources of expectations on human behavior)
CONSENSUAL VALIDATION (factors playing role in dynamic of attraction)
explains why people are attracted to others who are similar to us. OUR OWN ATTITUDES/BEHAVIORS ARE SUPPORTED WHEN SOMEONE ELSE'S ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS ARE FAMILIAR
stereotype (heuristics: mental shortcut)
generalization about a groups' characteristics that doesn't consider any variations from one individual to another *natural extension of the limits on human cognitive processing/our reliance on concepts in cognitive processing WE SIMPLIFY THE TASK OF UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE BY CLASSIFYING THEM AS MEMBERS OF GROUPS/CATEGORIES WITH WHICH WE ARE FAMILIAR
ARCH'S EXPERIMENT 1951 (conformity)
given an obvious line to identify and then shown cards in which one must match to the standard line (ANSWER IS OBVIOUS) -other people in room are confederates working with experiment * each trial, everyone agrees about which line matches the standard, then on the fourth trial, each of the others picks the same INCORRECT line. -as the last person to make a choice, you have the dilemma of responding as your eyes tell you or conforming to what the others said 35% of the time PEOPLE CONFORMED
IN-GROUP (social identity theory)
group that has special value in comparison with other groups
ELABORATION LIKELIHOOD MODEL
identifies 2 pathways of persuasion: *CENTRAL ROUTE *PERIPHERAL ROUTE
1.) When a person's attitudes are strong
if you're very passionate about recycling, you're less likely to pitch that soda can in the trash compared to someone with a weak attitude
SOCIAL CONTAGION (group influence)
imitative behavior involving the spread of actions, emotions and ideas EXAMPLE: laughing more when others laugh regardless of how funny you find something
DOWNWARD SOCIAL COMPARISONS
individuals comparisons with people whom they consider inferior to themselves *people under stereotype threat tend to compare themselves with less fortunate people to make themselves feel better)
SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY (Daryl Bem's take of behavior influencing attitudes)
individuals make inferences about their attitudes by observing their behavior (behaviors can cause attitudes)
PERIPHERAL ROUTE
involves factors such as the source's attractiveness/emotional power of an appeal WORKS BEST WHEN PEOPLE AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION COMPLETELY
FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR TECHNIQUE (persuasion)
involves making a smaller requests at the beginning, saving the biggest demand for last. -relies on the notion that in agreeing to a smaller offer, the customer has created a relationship with the seller, expressing a level of trust
DOOR-IN-THE-FACE TECHNIQUE (persuasion)
involves making the biggest pitch first which the customer will probably reject, and then making a smaller, "concessionary" demand. *relies on fact that the customer feels OBLIGATED: you let them off the hook with the big request and GAVE THEM A DEAL
PERSUASION (route to attitude change)
involves trying to change someone's attitude (and often behavior as well)
STEREOTYPE THREAT
is the individual's fast acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group. -individual is well aware of the stereotypical expectations for him/her as result of being member of a group
ROMANTIC LOVE (PASSIONATE LOVE)
love with strong components of sexuality and infatuation -often predominates in the early part of a love relationship SEXUALLY CHARGED FEELINGS WE USUALLY MEAN WHEN WE SAY WE ARE "IN LOVE"
FALSE CONSENSUS EFFECT
means overestimating the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way we do *what you think other people think typically depends on what you think even though you don't realize it
OXYTOCIN
neurotransmitter/hormone causes people to be more likely to conform
SOCIAL FACILITATION (effect of group performance)
occurs when an individual's performance improves because of the presence of others *presence of others arouses us *AROUSAL IS TOO HIGH: unable to learn new/difficult tasks efficiently
DEINDIVIDUALIZATION (group influence)
occurs when being part of a group reduces personal identity and erodes the sense of personal responsibility EX: wild street celebrations that erupt after team's victory in world series/super bowl WE ACT THIS WAY DUE TO ANONYMITY: don't think that people can identify us -->(EX: KKK)
OUT-GROUP (social identity theory)
other groups that lack special value in comparison to other groups
ATTITUDES
our opinions and beliefs about people, objects and ideas- how we feel about the world
3.) When the person has a vested interest
people are more likely to act on attitudes when an issue at stake is something that will affect them personally
TO SIMPLIFY CHALLENGE OF UNDERSTANDING OTHERS BEAVIOR
people use categories (stereotypes) *powerful force in developing/maintaining prejudicial attitudes
POSITIVE ILLUSIONS
people with high self-esteem often poses rosy views of themselves that are not necessarily rooted in reality *many think of themselves as "above average" on valued characteristics (trustworthy, objective, capable)
2.) When the person shows a strong awareness of an attitude and rehearses and practices it
person asked to give a speech about the benefits of recycling is more likely to recycle than individual with the same attitude about recycling as someone who has not done so
THE COMMUNICATOR (source)
person doing the persuading -are they viewed as credible (believable) -trustworthiness, expertise, power, attractiveness, likability and similarity=credible characteristics WHEN A SOURCE HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN THE MESSAGE-->ATTEMPTS AT PERSUASION MAY BE MORE DIFFICULT
THE MEDIUM
persuasion factor: medium/technology used to get the message across -message presented on tv is generally more powerful than print sources for changing attitudes *MEDIUMS CAN BE MORE/LESS EFFECTIVE BASED ON THE AUDIENCE TRYING TO BE REACHED
powerful social cues (beautiful is good stereotype)
physical attractiveness generally causes people to assume an individual has positive characteristics: including being better adjusted, socially skilled, friendly, likeable, extraverted and likely to achieve superior job performance
attribution
process by which we come to understand the causes of others' behavior and form impressions of them as individuals
SOCIAL COMPARISON
process by which we evaluate our thoughts, feelings, behaviors and abilities in relation to others. TELLS US WHAT OUR DISTINCT CHARACTERISTICS ARE AND AIDS US IN BUILDING AN IDENTITY
person perception
processes by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others
Cognitive dissonance:
psychological discomfort caused by two inconsistent thoughts.
IMPLICIT RACISM (prejudice)
refers to attitudes that exist on a deeper, hidden, level *(must be measured with a method that doesn't require awareness) MEASURED WITH IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS TEST: computerized survey assessing the ease with which a person can associate black or white persons with good or bad things
SOCIAL LOAFING (group performance)
refers to each person's tendency to exert less effort in a group because of reduced accountability for individual effort. *EFFECT: LOWERED GROUP PERFORMANCE THE LARGER THE GROUP, THE MORE LIKELY IT IS THAT AN IDIVIDUAL CAN LOAF WITHOUT DETECTION
GROUP THINK
refers to the impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony OCCURS WHEN GROUP VALUES CONFORMITY OVER ACCURACY
INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE
refers to the influence other people have on us because we want to be right *group may provide information we didn't know- may help us see things in way that hadn't occurred to us ^ MAY CONFORM BECAUSE WE HAVE COME TO AGREE WITH GROUP DEPENDS ON TWO FACTORS: 1.) how confident we are in our judgement 2.) how well informed we perceive the group to be
REACTANCE
refers to the motivation to reject attempts to control us (happens when we feel someone is trying to take away our choice)
FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
refers to the tendency of observers to overestimate the importance of internal traits and underestimate the importance of external factors when they explain an actor's behavior EXAMPLE: actor says she honked car cause person in front of her was slow to move when light turned green and she was in a hurry to get to the hospital to see her ill father but observer (person in the other car) may just think she is rude.
SELF-SERVING BIAS
refers to the tendency to take credit for our successes and to deny responsibility for our failures when we make attributions about our own behavior EX: do good on an exam=you take credit (internal attribution) do bad on exam=blame the test for being too hard (external attribution)
SOCIAL IDENTITY
refers to the way we define ourselves in terms of our groups membership (identifying with religious group or political party)