PSY 101 - CH. 14 (Social Psychology)

outgroup

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

ingroup

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

grit

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction - a strategy designed to decrease international tensions

How do our attitudes and our actions affect each other?

Our attitudes often do influence our actions as we behave in ways consistent with our beliefs. However, our attitudes also follow our actions; we come to believe in what we have done.

What psychological, biological, and social-cultural influences interact to produce aggressive behaviors?

Our biology (our genes, neural systems, and biochemistry - including testosterone and alcohol levels) influences our tendencies to be aggressive. Psychological factors (such as frustration, previous rewards for aggressive acts, and observation of others' aggression) can trigger any aggressive tendencies we may have. Social influences, such as exposure to violent media or being ostracized from a group, and cultural influences, such as whether we've grown up in a "culture of honor" or had a father-absent home, can also affect our aggressive responses.

What are some ways to reconcile conflicts and promote peace?

Peacemakers should encourage equal-status contact, cooperation to achieve superordinate goals (shared goals that override differences), understanding through communication, and reciprocated conciliatory gestures (each side gives a little).

You are organizing a meeting of fiercely competitive political candidates. To add to the fun, friends have suggested handing out masks of the candidates' faces for supporters to wear. What phenomenon might these masks engage?

The anonymity provided by the masks, combined with the arousal of the contentious setting, might create deindividuation (lessened self-awareness and self-restraint).

equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it

stereotype

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

conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

social trap

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

passionate love

an aroused state of intensive positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship

social-responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them

reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them

prejudice

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.

aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

social script

culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

Two vital components for maintaining companionate love are ____ and _____-_____.

equity, self-disclosure

attitude

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept other's opinions about reality

People tend to marry someone who lives or works nearby. This is an example of the ______ _____ ______ in action.

mere exposure effect

mirror-image perceptions

mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive

central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness

self-disclosure

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

When prejudiced causes us to find an undeserving person to blame for a problem, that person is called a

scapegoat

superordinate goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

People tend to exert less effort when working with a group than they would alone, which is called ______ ______.

social lofting

social facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

companionate love

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

group polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

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

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

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group

other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than the faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias.

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

scapegoat

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

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

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members

altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

"Driving to school one snowy day, Marco narrowly misses a car that slides through a red light. "Slow down! What a terrible drive," he thinks to himeself. Moments later, Marco himself slips through an intersection and helps, "Wow! These roads are awful. The city plows need to get out here." What social psychology principle has Marco just demonstrated?

By attributing the other person's behavior to the person ("he's a terrible driver") and his own to the situation ("these roads are awful"), Marco has exhibited the fundamental attribution error.

How does the 2 factor theory of emotion help explain passionate love?

Emotions consist of 1) physical arousal 2) our interpretation of that arousal Researchers have found that any source of arousal (running, fear, laughter) will be interpreted as passion in the presence of a desirable person.

Which of the following strengthens conformity to a group? -finding the group attractive -feeling secure -coming from an individualistic culture -having made a prior commitment

Finding the group attractive.

Psychology's most famous obedience experiements, in which most participants obeyed an authority figure's demands to inflict presumed life-threatening shocks on an innocent other, were conducted by social psychologist ____ _____.

Stanley Milgram (Milgram experiments)

What situations have researchers found to be most likely to encourage obedience in participants?

The Migram studies showed that people were more likely to follow orders when the experimenter was nearby and was a legitimate authority figure, the victim was not nearby, and there were no models for defiance.

What is social facilitation, and is it more likely to occur with a well-learned or a brand-new task? Why?

This improved performance in the presence of others is most likely to occur with a well-learned task, because the added arousal caused by an audience tends to strengthen the most likely response. This also predicts poorer performance on a difficult task in others' presence.

When people act a way that is not keeping with their attitudes, and then change their attitudes to match those actions, ____ _____ theory attempts to explain why.

cognitive dissonance

When like-minded groups discuss a topic, and the result is the strengthening of the prevailing option, this is called _____ _____.

group polarization

When a group's desire for harmony overrides its realistic analysts of other options, ______ has occurred.

groupthink

deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

mere exposure effect

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration - the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal - creates anger, which can generate aggression

social psychology

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

bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present