CHAPTER 15 - SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

identify the three major factors of attraction

1. proximity: we have to be physically near someone to want to be close to them (they can be in our class, in our neighborhood, or in our club after school) 2. similarity: we have to have common interests 3. physical attractiveness: they have to look pretty enough for our standards

describe obedience and how Stanley Milgram studied it

Obedience occurs when we change our behavior, or act in a way that we might not normally act, because we have been ordered to do so by an authority figure. Milgram conducted a series of studies examining how far people would go when urged by an authority figure to inflict punishment on others. During an early experiment, the goal was for the confederate (learner) to memorize a set of paired words. The participant (teacher) sat at a table, which held a control panel for administering electrical "shocks." The teacher was told to administer a shock each time the learner made a mistake, and the shock was to increase by 15 volts for every mistake. Milgram was surprised that so many people obeyed the experimenter and continued to administer "shocks," even when they hesitated or were uncomfortable, simply because an authority figure had instructed them to do so.

what influences the bystander effect

When a person is in trouble, bystanders have the tendency to assume that someone else will help—and therefore stand by and do nothing. This bystander effect is more likely to occur when there are many other people present. By contrast, individuals are more inclined to aid a person in distress if no one else is around.

demonstrate an understanding of aggression and identify some of its causes

aggression is defined as intimidating or threatening behavior or attitudes intended to hurt someone. Research on aggression suggests that it has a biological basis (for instance, high levels of testosterone and low levels of serotonin). In addition, the frustration—aggression hypothesis suggests that in a frustrating situation, we can all show aggressive behavior.

fundamental attribution error

an error where we think someone is messing up because of internal causes, not external ex: when a waiter trips on something at work, we think "oh the waiter is such a clumsy person" instead of realizing the floor was dirty. we blame the waiter for tripping instead of realizing what the situation really was.

proximity

an important attraction factor proximity means closeness ex: according to the attraction factors, we are attracted to people that are near us (in our class, our neighbor, our coworker). it is harder to connect to people far away (across countries, online, etc).

describe prosocial behavior and altruism

behavior aimed at benefiting others is known as prosocial behavior. Altruism is a desire or motivation to help others with no expectation of anything in return. Empathy, or the ability to understand and recognize another's emotional perspective, is a major component of altruism.

attributions

beliefs that someone develops to explain human behaviors and characteristics, as well as situations ex: an attribution is an explanation for why someone acts a certain way. an example is that i think that people lash out at others because they are insecure with themselves. this is an attribution because i am coming up with an explanation for why people act a certain way.

obedience

changing behavior because we have been ordered to do so by an authority figure ex: we are obedient and follow the law because the government told us to. if we are not obedient, the authority will arrest us.

compliance

changing your behavior because someone (or some group) asked you to change ex: if someone told me to stop talking so loud all the time, i would COMPLY by lowering my voice when talking. the key thing about compliance is that the person commanding me does not have real authority over me. they are just telling me they want me to do something, and i'm just agreeing to obey them.

identify the factors that influence the likelihood of someone conforming

changing yourself to fit in with others is called conforming. There are three major reasons we conform. Most people want approval, to be liked and accepted by others. A second reason to conform is that we want to be correct. Finally, we may conform to others because they belong to a certain group we respect, admire, or long to join.

define compliance and list some factors used to gain it

compliance occurs when someone voluntarily changes her behavior at the request of another person or group, who in general does not have any true authority over her. A common method to gain compliance is the foot-in-the-door technique, which occurs when a small request is followed by a larger one. Another method is the door-in-the-face technique, which involves making a large request, followed by a smaller one.

altruism

desire or motivation to help others without wanting anything in return ex: someone just helping someone for the sake of helping. they don't want a reward for it.

deindividuation

feeling like you have no responsibility or need to act according to society because you are part of a large group of people losing your sense of self ex: a large group of angry protesters may cause a riot. they act violent and burn down things. the people in this large group wouldn't normally act so violent and angry. however, since they are in this large group, each person feels like no one will blame JUST them for burning something down, the media will only blame the LARGE GROUP. because of this, each person doesn't feel guilty or bad for being violent, because they think they will face no consequences. this is DEINDIVIDUATION.

prejudice

holding hostile or negative attitudes toward an individual or group ex: conservative old men have prejudice towards working women because they think women can't think for themselves and are too focused on having kids

frustration-aggression hypothesis

hypothesis that suggests that aggression may occur in response to frustration ex: we lash out at others because we are frustrated

persuasion

intentionally trying to make people change their attitudes and beliefs, which may lead to changes in their behaviors ex: i will try to persuade people that metal music is good, which may lead to them liking metal music and listening to it more often

conformity

modifying behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and opinions to fit in with others ex: i CONFORM to society by switching my music taste to pop music so i can fit in with the other kids.

bystander effect

people tend to avoid getting involved in an emergency they witness because they assume someone else will help ex: if i see someone being bullied, i wont help them because i assume someone stronger and braver will come and save them

diffusion of responsibility

sharing of duties and responsibilities among all group members that can lead to feelings of decreased accountability and motivation ex: when i am in a group for a group project, i won't care if i mess up a certain part of forget to complete a part. this is because i'll just think, "oh someone else in the group will cover for me and do it". this lowered sense of responsibility is called a DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY.

discrimination

showing favoritism or hostility to others because they are part of some group ex: some companies won't hire muslims because they discriminate against them and think they are all terrorists.

describe social cognition and how we use attributions to explain behavior

social cognition is the way we think about others. attributions are beliefs we develop to explain human behavior. our attributions determine how we act. for example, we will avoid popular kids if they used to bully us, because we now have a negative attribution about them.

explain the meaning of social influence and recognize factors associated with persuasion

social influence refers to how one person affects other people and their opinions. there are 3 factors associated with persuasion: 1. the source (the person persuading others) 2. the message (the thing they are trying to persuade about) 3. the audience (the people they are trying to persuade)

define social psychology and explain how it is different from sociology

social psychology studies how one individual acts in a group. sociology studies how the group ITSELF acts. social psychology focuses on the individual while sociology focuses on the entire group of people.

outline how attributions lead to mistakes in our behaviors

sometimes, we can have the wrong perspective about someone, leading us to act wrong towards them. there are three forms of this: 1. fundamental attribution error: where we think that the person is at fault for their mess up when in reality the situation is unfair 2. the just-world hypothesis: when we think the world is fair and that if someone experiences something bad, it is THEIR fault. 3. self-serving bias: a bias where we think the world is unfair when we mess up when in reality, it is OUR fault.

social psychology

study of human cognition, emotion, and behavior in relation to others

group polarization

tendency for a group to take a more extreme stance than originally held after deliberations and discussion ex: a group of desi girls talk about how they don't like this one girl. as they talk more and more about it, they end up hating her more and it turns into extreme bitch hate

groupthink

tendency for group members to maintain agreement in their decision making, failing to consider possible alternatives ex: a clique of girls: each girl wants to fit in the group, so they all agree to hate some girl, even if one of them thinks that girl might be nice.

social facilitation

tendency for the presence of others to improve personal performance when the task or event is fairly uncomplicated and a person is adequately prepared ex: if my friends are around me when I have to do something stressful, like make a phone call, their support and presence gives me confidence to make the phone call.

social loafing

tendency that people will put in less effort when they are in a group, because they think that someone else in the group will do all the work ex: when I am working in a group, I think that the other smart person will do all the work, so I do less work and hope that they do it instead.

just-world hypothesis

tendency to believe the world is a fair place and individuals generally get what they deserve. not a good thing because it allows victim shaming ex: when a girl gets raped, people will say "you got what you deserved since you went out wearing such a slutty dress" instead of saying "there's something wrong with our society bc we teach men that it's okay to rape a girl"

norms

the "mainstream" thing ex: it is a social norm to wear all black at funerals

social cognition

the way that people think about others, attend to social information, and use this information in their lives, both consciously and unconsciously ex: my social cognition is that I think all boys are gross, so I avoid boys and don't talk to them

attitudes

thoughts and feelings one has toward people, situations, ideas, and things ex: my attitude towards donald trump is that he sucks.

ethnocentricism

to see the world only from the perspective of one's own group ex: white people think they are better than everyone else because Europe and America developed first before all the other countries.

recognize how group affiliation influences the development of stereotypes

we tend to see the world in terms of the in-group (the group to which we belong) and the out-group (those outside our group). Seeing the world from the narrow perspective of our own group may lead to ethnocentrism, discrimination, or prejudice.