PSYC100_Chapter 12

Pain regions

"Pain regions" are more active when people see an ingroup member being harmed than when they see the same harm inflicted on an outgroup member

Kitty Genovese

1964 from a bar. She may not have been very reliable to a lot of other adults She was attacked three times and rapped in the process 38-39 people had heard her and chose to not do anything. They recognised that it was between a man and a women and they thought it was just a "domestic dispute"

Implicit attitudes

At an unconscious level, they influence feelings and behavior. People access these attitudes more quickly from memory with little effort or control. They function similar to implicit memories. Implicit attitudes involve brain regions associated with implicit rather than explicit memory

Low-balling strategy

A salesperson offers a product for a low price and the person agrees, but then prices are added and the person still agrees.

Prosocial

Actions that tend to benefit others, such as doing favors or helping Promote positive interpersonal relationships. This is central to human survival strategies Motivated by empathy, some argue that they have selfish motives while others say that people have an inborn tendency to help others. But we know that prosocial behavior is hardwired in humans

Conformity

Altering one's beliefs/behaviors to match those of other people Factors that decrease chances of conformity: group size, lack of unanimity Normative influence: desire to fit in - You are conforming because of social norms. You are trying to blend in with the crowd - Examples: style trends, facing forward in the elevator Informational influence: assume that there is a really good reason for -why people are doing what they are doing - Believe that others know something you don't - Example: you look up at the sky because you come across a group who are looking at the sky

Kin selection

Altruistic actions towards those who share the same genes

Inclusive fitness

An explanation for altruism that focuses on the adaptive benefit of transmitting genes, such as through kin selection, rather than focusing on individual survival

Cognitive dissonance

An uncomfortable mental state resulting from a contradiction between two attitudes or between an attitude and a behavior. Has insufficient justification and has postdecisional dissonance Contradiction between two attitudes or between an attitude and a behavior causes anxiety and tension. This causes displeasure. Displeasure motivates people to reduce dissonance. People reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes or behaviors. Sometimes they will rationalize or trivialize the discrepancies One way of to change people's attitudes is to change their behavior first by using as few incentives as possible Introverts are more bothered by cognitive dissonance. They have higher levels of arousal so when they are in states of stress, they are very uncomfortable by any added stress Extraverts are less bothered by cognitive dissonance

Aggression

Any behavior that involves the intention to harm another Tension between our aggressive and altruistic sides is at the core of who we are as a species Physical aggression is more common in young children Adults use words, symbols to threaten, intimidate or emotionally harm others Aggression is likely when someone feels socially rejected. Signs of rejection can activate defensive mechanisms that include lashing out - Or any kind of negative emotions Emotional states can disrupt the functioning of brain regions involved in controlling behavior Heat: more crimes occur in the summer and in hotter regions

The court system

Attributional biases in how victims and defendants are treated: cause of the behaviour is due to the person or the situation or context How we feel about the victim or the perpetrator highly impacts the events of their trails With rape and sexual assault trials they tend to have mock-trials and they study the results of these trials. They are given essays explaining the situation where they manipulate the information Not guilty higher when: - The attacker is intoxicated (the person was not in sound mind so they cannot be blamed for their behaviour) - If the victim is intoxicated: In long term couples, if male gets the female intoxicated, then they are judged much more harshly - People vary in their endorsement of rape myths. People who score higher, will score much higher Guilty is higher: - Victim sympathy is higher. How you feel about the victim matters. If you see the person as a victim then you are much more likely to ignore the other factors

The Asch and Sherif studies

Autokinetic effect: is a subjective visual illusion. If perceptions were objective, Asch thought, participants would not conform Groups enforce conformity, and those who fail to go along can be rejected. People conformed because they did not want to look foolish by going against the group Brought in 1 real participants and then had a bunch of people brought in who was in on the experiment Look at the reference line and look at the comparison lines, and choose the ones that respond to the reference line The confederates deliberately give the wrong answers but then he starts to go along with the groups obviously wrong answer There is no added pressure to the situation, the only pressure is what others have said What Asch found: - 75% of the participants conformed at least once - About 1/3 of the total responses were conforming to the wrong answer - Once they started to conform, it was easier to conform to questions later so they continued to do so after Conformity is lower when: - Fewer people to conform to (1 or 2) - At least one person dissents. It is much easier to not conform when one other person doesn't conform

Explicit attitudes

Because we know we hold them, we can report them to other people.

Risky-shift effect

Being in a group influences decision making. Groups often make risker decisions than individuals. Sometimes groups are more cautious. Initial attitudes of group members determine if the group becomes risker or more cautious

Diffusion of responsibility

Bystanders expect others to help so the greater amount of people around, the less likely people will step in to help Cognitive level When there is more than one bystander, the responsibility gets diffuses across to all the people If you are the only witness, you will most likely help If there are even 2 people there, they are much less likely to help. If there is more than one witness, the likelihood of getting help is very small

Perceiving people as victims

How do we perceive the victim: how much do you relate to them? Do you feel sorry for them? Did they bring it upon themselves?

Benefits do not outweigh the cost

Cost: it may be dangerous to help, don't have enough time, feeling embarrassed Benefits: social recognition Mothers are more likely to help children in distress, medical health professional, Reciprocal helping: helping others with the hope that someone will help you in the future

Milgram's study

Demonstrated the tendency to follow the directions of authority. Wanted to find out which factors influence people to follow orders given by an authority Almost all the participants tried to quite. Nearly two-thirds completely obeyed all the experimenter's directives. Ordinary people can be coerced into obedience by insistent authorities. Not all people are equally obedient Some situations produced less obedience Study looking at obedience Obedience: you don't need to know the consequences are if you say no, but just imagining that there will be consequences leads the person to be obedient He ran an add in a local paper to recruit men as participants (told that it was going to involve memorising word pairs), would you do better if you were shocked when trying to learn, there is an actor in the study and have trained him to look like a participant (learner vs. teacher). The actually participants are the teachers and the confederate is always the learner. The learner is attached to the shocking machinery and then the participant is put in another room and then the teacher asks the learner a question. For each wrong answer, the teacher shocks the learner. For each wrong answer, the shock increases. The confederate says things in protests but the instructor says things to the participant like: "the experiment must continue." From these instructions, the participants keeps shocking the confederate but at one point the confederate goes completely silent but the shocks still continue - They were not expecting this Hypothesis: fewer than .001% would complete the experiment to the highest level of shock - Most of the people would contribute the shocks There were a few people who did drop out, but 2/3 went all the way to the highest shock intensity. Even though the instructions weren't that strong and they were able to leave at anytime they wanted Factors decreasing obedience: - Increased distance from person giving orders - The proximity makes it much harder to stand up to the authority figure - Less perceived authority in person giving orders - Increased proximity to person being harmed: If you are closer to the person you are harming, then you are less likely to administer the shocks - The presence of rebels: If other people are rebels, then you are more likely not to conform The brought in females and they got the same results They did the experiment in the modern age and it had similar results

Postdecisional dissonance

Dissonance can arise when a person hold positive attitudes about different options but has to choose one of the options. postdecisional dissonance motivates people to focus on one thing. This effect is automatic and happens with little cognitive processing and without awareness. Patients will long-term memory loss may show postdecisional effects for past choices

Culture and actor/observer discrepancy

Eastern cultures: use much more information when making attributions than do people in Western cultures, and they are more likely to believe that human behavior is the outcome of both personal and situational factors Western culture: take situational forces into account but they tend to favor personal information over situational information when making attributes about other

Medial prefrontal cortex

Especially important for thinking about other people. Also associated with ingroup bias that emerges after assignment through the minimal group paradigm

Serotonin and aggression

Especially important in the control of aggressive behavior. It has been associated with impulsive aggressiveness in adults and hostility and disruptive behavior in children. It increases the amygdala response to threat and interferes with the prefrontal cortex's control over aggressive impulses

Social norms

Expected standards of conduct influence behavior People feel embarrassed when they violate social norms and they worry about what others think of them

Situational attributions

Explanations of people's behavior that refer to external events, such as the weather, luck, accidents, or other people's actions Looks at the situation around them. The physical environment, another person, anything that is in the environment. Objects, situations, contexts, or other person. It wasn't because of their actions or who they are, it was just the situation

Personal attributions

Explanations of people's behavior that refer to their internal characteristics, such as abilities, traits, moods, or efforts You are assuming the cause of someones behaviour is from within. Has to do with their abilities (intelligence, talent or skill), work ethic, personality traits, it is some characteristic of the individual that relatively permeant

Neophobia

Fear of anything novel

Fundamental attribution error

Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overemphasize personality and underestimate situation People tend to be systematically biased when they process social information People tend to overemphasize the importance of personality traits and underestimate the importance of situations

Biological factors with aggression

Genetic research has identified the role of the MAOA gene in aggression MAOA is not a "violence gene: controls the amount of MAO, an enzyme that regulates the activity of a number of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and norepinephrine. It is involved with aggressive violence. Referred to as the "warrior gene" Particular form of the gene appears to make individuals susceptible to environmental risk factors associated with antisocial behavior Regulates serotonin

Zajonc's model

Genetically predisposed to become aroused by the presence of others of their own species. Others are associated with most of life's rewards and punishments. Arousal leads animals to emit a dominant response (the response most likely to be performed in the situation). Predicts that social facilitation can either enhance or impair performance. The change depends on whether the response required is the individuals dominate response If the required response is easy/well learned so the dominate response is good performance, the presence of others will enhance the performance If the response is novel so the dominate response is poor, the presence of others will further impair the performance

Mere exposure effect

Greater exposure leads to familiarity and therefore more positive attitudes

Group impairing performance

Group impair performance occurs when the was is hard or unfamiliar, and when the most practiced way is the wrong way Heightened arousal—>enhanced tendency to perform dominate responses—>if dominant responses are incorrect in the present situations—>performance is impaired You will revert to your old mistakes even if you have worked really hard to overcome them. In low-pressure environments it is much easier to overcome these bad habits but in high-pressure environments you are unable to overcome these bad habits

Physical attractiveness

How people rate attractiveness is generally consistent across all cultures. Men are attracted to signs of youth and fertility to maximize passing along their genes, whereas women are motivated to find partners who can provide resources for them and their offspring Men with the highest level of testosterone had faces with a higher width-to-height ratio were more attractive Symmetrical faces are more attractive Lack of symmetry could indicate poor health or genetic defect There are no racial differences in face symmetry. Biracial people tend to have more-symmetrical facial features and correspondingly are rated as more attractive than those who are uniracial When more faces are combined the faces were seen as more attractive Averaged faces may be more familiar than unusual faces Attractiveness can bring many social benefits: less likely to be seen as criminals, typically happier, more intelligent, more sociable, more capable, more gifted, more successful, less socially deviant, are paid more for the same work, have greater career opportunities

Social brain hypothesis

Humans have an overriding motivation to fit in with the group Interpersonal attachment is a fundamental motive that has evolved for adaptive purposes Contemporary humans have inherited genes that coded for the successful behaviors, and one of the successful strategies that human evolved was to live in social groups People are motivated to maintain good relationships Social brain hypothesis: challenges in the context of brain size. - Primates have large brains because they live in dynamic and complex social groups that change over time. Good group member: understand complex and subtle social rules, recognize when actions might offend others, and control desires to engage in behaviors that might violate group norms

Prefrontal cortex and aggression

Important for controlling emotional and behavioral reactions. Aggressive responses appear to result when the prefrontal cortical region do not function in response to subcortical threat signals produced by the amygdala

Reduce prejudice

In everyday life, inhibiting stereotyped thinking is difficult and requires self-control. Imagining positive social interactions with outgroup members can reduce prejudice and increase prosocial behaviors toward outgroup members, bilingual instruction in school lessens ingroup favoritisms, explicit efforts to train people about stereotypical associations People can override the stereotypes they hold and act in nondiscriminatory ways Some stereotypes alter how people perceive and understand the behavior of those they stereotype, simply categorizing people does not necessarily lead to mistreating them People can consciously alter their automatic stereotyping Training people to respond counter-stereotypically led to reduced automatic stereotyping in subsequent tasks Inhibiting stereotyped thinking is difficult and requires self-control. The challenge comes from the need for the frontal lobes to override the emotional responses associated with amygdala activity

Actor/observer discrepancy

In interpreting our own behavior, we focus on situation. In interpreting others' behavior, we focus on personality. People generally fail to take into account that other people are influenced by social circumstances When people make attributions about themselves, they tend to focus on situations rather than on their personal disposition Effect is not large and happens mainly for negative events or when people explain the behavior of people they know well

Discrimination

Inappropriate, unjustified treatment of people based on prejudice

Ingroup/outgroup bias

Ingroup/outgroup bias is the tendency to positively evaluate groups we belong to and negatively evaluate groups different from ours

Passionate love

Intense longing and sexual desire People fall head over heels for each other. They feel an overwhelming urge to be together. When they are together, they are continually aroused sexually Dopamine reward Generally happens early in relationships

Formation of attitudes

Negative attitudes develop more rapidly than positive attitudes Sensitivity to learning about danger would have been adaptive. Bad is generally a stronger motivating force than good Attitudes can be conditioned. Advertisers often use classical conditioning Operant conditioning also shapes attitudes Attitudes are also shaped through socialization. Society instills many basic attitudes, including which things are edible

First impressions

Long-term evaluations of people are heavily influenced by first impressions. Facts that affect first impressions can lead to perceptual biases First thing people notice is the face. Faces communicate information: emotional state, interest, competence, trustworthiness. Has been crucial to identify others who are trustworthy. Amygdala is important for judging trustworthiness

Modern Racism Scale

Measure subtle prejudices

Implicit Association Test

Measures how quickly a person associates concepts or objects with positive or negative words. IAT is better at predicting behavior than explicit self-reports are. However, it may not be effective in predicting racial and ethnic discrimination

Stereotypes

Mental shortcuts for rapid processing of social information, often outside awareness. They are cognitive schemas that help in the organization of information about people on the basis of their membership in certain groups They are neutral, reflect efficient cognitive processes, they can contain information that is negative and positive Many of these statements are true on average Create these categories for 2 reasons: 1) steamline the formation of impressions and to deal with the limitations inherent in mental processing (instead of seeing people as unique and unpredictable, we categorize them into groups. They hold these groups in long-term memory), 2) stereotypes affect the formation of impressions which can be positive or negative Stereotypes guide attention toward information that confirm the stereotypes and away from disconfirming evidence. Memories can become biased to match stereotypes As a result of directed attention and memory biases, people may see illusory correlations (seeing relationships that do not exist, people believe false relationships because they notice only information that confirms their stereotypes) Stereotypes can be negative, positive, or neutral Stereotypes can affect attention so they can influence basic perceptual processes

Peripheral route

Minimal attention to information leads to impulsivity. Attitudes developed through the peripheral route are weaker and more likely to change over time When the percipient is not interested Superficial reasons, appeals to emotion Doesn't really have anything to do with the product, it is telling people to do things for superficial reasons: celebrities, animals. It doesn't' have much to do with what they are trying to sell. When we don't care about it then this is the best way to get the person to change their minds

Matching principle

Most successful romantic couples tend to be the most physically similar

Prejudice

Negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype Only certain types of people are prejudiced, that people treat others as scapegoats to relieve the tensions of daily living, and that people discriminate against others to protect their own self-esteem Two processes that produce prejudice and discrimination: 1) people tend to favor their own groups over other groups, 2) people tend to stigmatize those who pose threats to their group

Influence

Normative influence and informational influences

Reciprocal helping

One animal helps another because the other may return the favor in the future Benefits must outweigh the cost

Central route

Paying attention to the information presented Information based. The person has to be interested, motivated and willing to change When we want to change we want information to support why we want to change The central route cannot be forced upon someone. The person has to be open in requiring a new attitude Motivated to process information and are able to process that information, persuasion takes the central route Leads to strong attitudes that last over time and that people actively defend

Wish to be anonymous

People are less likely to help when they are anonymous and can remain so If you feel like you can remain anonymous, than you are more likely to help If the person knows you, or you are more easily identify than you are more likely to help

Door in the face

People are more likely to agree to a small request after they refused a large one. The compliant person feels compelled to compromise because the requested has compromised

Stanford prison study

People are willing to do when put in situations with defined social roles Zimbardo: social psychologist and has always been interested in people doing bad things Set up a mock prison in the basement of the psychology building He recruited a group of young men at Stanford and screened them for depression and anxiety and they were then assigned to be guards or prisoners. About 24 people participated. There is no difference between the guards and prisoners. - Guards: given a uniform and sunglasses. Gave them a sense of superiority - Prisoners: given a gown with numbers on them and had a chain put on their foot to remind them of their lack of freedom The prisoners were arrested as they would be in real life. They were given a number and they were only talked to as a number. They were not given a lot of instruction. They were mostly told to just keep the prisoners in the prison. They were told not to harm one another There was one guard who decided to be as horrible as possible The guards authority was put in jeopardy and therefore the guards had to decide how to respond. They became more harsh and horrible. The first evening, the prisoners held a revolution. The guards began to think of them as dangerous prisoners. The guard then removed the revolution through physical means. The experiment showed how human nature can change Rumours started to circulate that prisoners could not remove, and the guards got progressively worse. Both the prisoners and the guards took this very seriously People who seem normal and adjusted do things that we can't imagine There are a set of social psychological variables that make people perform certain actions A female grad student told Zimbardo that he had to stop the experiment and then he did Deindividuated: you are not you anymore, and your individuality is taken away

Social blunders

People are worried they will look foolish if they sought help that was not needed. People feel less constrained from seeking help as the need for help becomes clearer Worried about social judgment and embarrassment Fear of doing it wrong, that the person didn't need help

Similarity

People similar in attitudes, values, interests, backgrounds and personalities tend to like each other

Personal characteristics

People tend especially to like those who have admirable personality characteristics and who are physically attractive. The least likeable characteristics are related to dishonesty, insincerity, and lack of personal warmth. People really like those who are kind, dependable, and trustworthy, those people have characteristics valuable to the group

Attitudes

People's evaluations of objects, of events, or of ideas Shaped by social context, play an important role in how we evaluate and interact with other people. Some attitudes are conscious while other are not More specific the attitude, the more predictive it is Access to mental processes is limited and that unconscious processes can influence behavior. Desire to believe they hold positive attitudes about certain racial groups, but their actions can reveal their less positive attitudes Attitudes guide behavior Not very genetically influenced Largely socialised - Your politically attitudes to your likes and dislikes We acquire attitudes through exposure - Proximity breeds liking in relationships: We tend to like or fall in love with people who we spend more time with or see more. The repeated exposure build friendships and romances - We acquire attitudes through classical conditioning: Emotions are attached to a stimuli (people or situations). They try to attach emotions to particular things How consistent are attitudes? - Many cases our attitudes are not stable - To develop a stable attitudes: you must have a strong attitude, it must be specific, the attitude must also be easily accessible - The stronger you feel about something, the more likely you are to sustain that attitude - If you have a general feeling that this is good or bad, then it not as strong - If you are recently reminded of an attitude, you are more likely to sustain that attitude - We change our attitudes to resolve "cognitive dissonance" - Cognitive dissonance: We do something that conflicts with our beliefs and it puts us in a state of stress. We need to change something, and it is easier to change our attitudes than to change our behaviour

Attributions

People's explanations for why events or actions occur. Basic need for both order and predictability. People prefer to think things happen for a reason so that we can anticipate future events Vary on other dimensions. Attributions can be stable over time (permanent) or unstable (temporary). They can be controllable and uncontrollable. Mostly people use situational attributions to blame their mistakes We have background knowledge on ourselves and we tend to believe that we are good people and are doing our bests so we tend to use situational attributions Most people use perusal attributions when describing other people's behaviour We assume that the person is bad and that is why they did what they did. These differences are due to the amount of information we have about the situation

Group influences behavior

People's thoughts, emotions, and actions are strongly influenced by their desire to be good group members Most people are easily influenced by others, conform to group norms, and obey commands made by authorities When you are performing a task, you either have an audience or don't

Harley and Latane experiment

They stage some sort of crisis and saw how people responded and then asked them questions They would have people come in and take a test and started to pipe in smoke - Alone: in less than 6 minutes most people went to go see what was going in - More than 1: dramatically decreases the chance that you will seek help Women in distress: one person will most likely help, having more people will less likely help Student having seizure: one person will most likely help, having more people are less likely to help, but they are more likely to help than with the women in distress

Jigsaw classroom

Person-to-person interaction Children in jigsaw classrooms grow to like each other more and develop higher self-esteem than do children in traditional classrooms. Each group member cooperates outside the group and within the group. Leads to more positive treatment of other ethnicities and that students learn the material better and perform at higher levels. Children in these classrooms grow to like one another more, and develop higher self-esteem Broadening in-groups. This is key in cooperative work Helps reduce stereotypes and prejudicial behaviour You hand pick the kids in the group and give them a task. These kids don't usually work together or spend time together, they could even have some tension. Through working together and cooperating, they tend to have better interactions. Then, the individuals are put into another new group and therefore the prejudice is reduced again. In the final group, each member has a particular speciality and they must use their knowledge to help the overall group. Key: people need to WORK together, not just sit near each other. They have to collaborate

Perspective giving

Perspective giving, in which people share their experiences of being targets of discrimination Critical roles, in reducing prejudice, of being heard for minority group members and listening for majority group members Disempowered groups may resent having to consider the perspectives of empowered groups

Perspective taking

Perspective taking involves people actively contemplating the psychological experiences of other people. Such contemplation can reduce racial bias and help to smooth potentially awkward interracial interactions Taking another groups perspective appears to reduce negative or positive stereotypes Value of perspective taking for reducing prejudice may depend on whether the person is a member of the majority group or the minority group

Persuasion

Persuasion is active and conscious effort to change attitude through transmission of message. Persuasion is most likely to occur when people pay attention to a message, understand it and find it convicting as well as memorable so its impact lasts over time Various factors impact persuasion: source, content, and receiver Sources that are attractive and credible are the most persuasive. Credibility and persuasiveness may also be heightened when the receiver perceives the source as similar to himself or herself. Arguments in the messager are important. Strong arguments: appeal to emotion, multiple exposures One-sided arguments work if the audience is gullible. With more skeptical crowds, acknowledging both sides is more persuasive

Creation of groups

Pros for groups: Security from predators and assistance in hunting and gathering food, mating opportunities Negative for groups: may have to compete Other groups may be able to supply needed resources, critical for groups to identify other groups as friends Humans automatically and pervasively form groups. People are powerfully connected to the groups they belong to

Altruistic behavior

Providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so Survival depends on cooperation. When an animal acts altruistically it may increase the changes that its genes will be transmitted. The animal may also increase the likelihood that other members of the group will reciprocate when needed

Modern racism

Subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with the rejection of racist beliefs Even people who believe themselves to be egalitarian may hold negative implicit attitudes about certain groups of people Discrimination is no longer a serious problem and that minority groups are demanding too much societal change, as in too many changes to traditional values Often leaks out more through indifference to the concerns of minority groups than through overt negativity Equal treatment of minorities can challenge traditions associated with the majority

Deindividuation

Reduced attention to personal standards when part of a group Lose their individuality when they become part of a group When self-awareness disappears, so do restraints Likely to become deindividuated when they are aroused and anonymous and when responsibility is diffused. Some are more serious and others are less

Attitude accessibility

Refers to the ease or difficulty that a person has in retrieving an attitude from memory. Ease of attitude accessibility predicts behavior resistant to change.

Relationships

Relationships are promoted by proximity and familiarity, similarity, personal characteristics, physical attractiveness

Reward areas

Reward areas are active when outgroup members lose, and our pain centers are active when ingroup members suffer. - Less active when people consider members of outgroups. The reduction could be because people dehumanize some outgroups Dehumanization has been used in propaganda to justify inhuman acts

Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment

Shared superordinate goals — goals that require people to cooperate — reduce hostility between groups. Among strangers, competition and isolation created enemies. Among enemies, cooperation created friends Superordiante goals: goals that require people to cooperate reduce hostility between groups. When people work together to achieve a common goal, they break down subgroup distinctions as they become a larger group

Subtyping

Someone who does not fit a stereotype, they put that person in a special category rather than alter the stereotype

Attitudes impact on behavior

Stronger and more personally relevant the attitude, the more likely it is to predict behavior. The strong and personally relevant nature of the attitude will lead the person to act the same across situations related to that attitude. Also leads the person to defend the attitude Attitudes formed through direct experience tend to predict behavior better

Testosterone and aggression

Testosterone also appears to have a modest correlation with aggression. may increase aggression because it reduces the activity of brain circuits that control impulses

"What is beautiful is good" stereotype

The belief that attractive people are superior in most ways Attractive people tend to be more popular, more socially skilled, and healthier but are not necessarily smarter or happier. Research did not find any relationship between appearance and grades, number of personal relationships, financial resources, or just about anything. Attractive people are similar to less attractive people in intelligence, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. Good things happen to them primarily because they are good-looking, attractive people may come to feel insecure

Nonverbal behavior

The facial expressions, gestures, mannerisms, and movements by which one communicates with others. They can form accurate judgments based on brief observations. Facial expressions and body movements influence impressions. Eye contact is important in social situations, but it can depend on culture. Western culture: seek eye contact when speaking. If they don't, people may assume they are embarrassed, ashamed, or lying but if they make eye contact they are truthful and friendly. In native American cultures: eye contact is disrespectful Thin slices of behavior: are powerful cues for impression formation

Bystander intervention effect

The failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present. People are less likely to help when others are around Two main factors: How much harm do they risk to themselves by helping? What are the benefits?

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. Once people commit, they behave in ways consistent with that commitment

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 group membership People value the group with which they identify and in doing so also experience pride through their group membership Identity is very important and we are social creatures therefore it is important to have social identity. So we need this in-group membership to help us function "I belong to this group" this social group is a huge part of who we are These groups are incredibly important because they supply support We are so dedicated to these in-group and outgroup characteristics that it impacts our brains -When we look at in-group members our medial prefrontal cortex or "social awareness" areas are activated - When we watch our in-group members in pain, we are more responsive to their suffering We can still be disappointed by our in-group members and this is very stressful event - When there is one person who does something that is not approved of, it is hard to leave the whole group, but you may want to remove that one person - Even people who don't know each other but see each other as part of the same group, can be impacted by one another

Elaboration likelihood model

The idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in two ways: via the central route or via the peripheral route Which advertisement or persuasion technique will be most effective getting us to change our attitudes You have to know how much the recipient cares about changing their attitude to pick the technique Smoking example: Option 1: Convince yourself of something so that your behaviour doesn't conflict with your attitude so much Option 2: you quite because of conformity, obedience, or influence through the peripheral route. This is from an external behaviour - Both option 1 and 2 are superficial and it isn't likely to last - It is not coming solely from you and it isn't an intrinsic route Option 3: quite through the "central route" - You begin to look online and you get evidence to support your change in attitude - This is much more durable behaviour change and attitude change because it is information based and intrinsically motivated

Proximity and familiarity

The more people come into contact, the more likely they are to become friends. People's social networks tend to form with individuals they regularly come into contact with. Familiarity can sometimes breed contempt rather than liking

Social facilitation

The presence of others enhances performance The presence of a group increases our arousal levels. This demonstrates that we are social creatures and we want to do well When you do better at something when there is somewhere there Heightened arousal—> enhanced tendency to perform dominate responses—if dominate response are correct in the present situation—>performance is enhanced There is an increase in arousal The task is easy Social facilitation occurs when the most practiced way is the right way - Pressure will bring out good performance if you have nailed the activity and don't have a bad habit you have to overcome - The dominate response is the right response

Group polarization

The process by which initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time. Usually choose the course of action that was initially favored by the majority of individuals

Social psychology

The study of how people influence other people's thoughts, feelings, and actions.

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 favorably and privilege members of the ingroup more than members of the outgroup. We are interested in them We assume that we have things in common with them We give them the benefit of the doubt Willing to do favors, forgive mistakes or errors Favoritism even if he groups are determined by arbitrary means Those who work together to keep resources within their group and deny resources to outgroup members have a selective advantage over those who are willing to share with the outgroup

Groupthink

The tendency of groups to make bad decisions when the group is under pressure, facing external threats, and is biased Sake of cordiality, the group may end up making bad decisions Typically occurs when people are under pressure, facing threats, and is biased in a particular direction. The group does not carefully process all the information available to them, dissent is discouraged and group members assure each other they are doing the right thing Group members sometimes go along with bad decisions to protect harmony

Compliance

The tendency to do things requested by others: Good mood more likely to comply. People often comply because they fall to pay attention, they want to avoid conflict. If you give a simple reason for a request, they will much more likely comply

Outgroup homogeneity effect

The tendency to view outgroup members as less varied than ingroup members. You take less interest in these individuals Can be harmless but it can also be really detrimental when it involves other cultures, religions, belief systems, or people who are hurt

Social loafing

The tendency to work less hard in a group than when alone Occurs when people's efforts are pooled so that individuals do not feel personally responsible for the groups outcome When people know that their individuals efforts can be monitored, they do not engage in social loafing

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)

They bought their paripants into the lab and do something really boring and pointless tasks for an hour The experimenter asked the participants to lie to the next participant about how interesting the task was by paying them no money, 1$ or 20$ - Rate how enjoyable the task was: 0$ did not enjoy the task, 20$ did not enjoy the task, while the 1$ group stated that they really enjoyed the task. - The 1$ group had to justify their lie by stating that the task was more enjoyable because they didn't have the money to justify their lying

Creation of ingroups and outgroups

Two conditions appear to be critical for group formation: reciprocity and transitivity: 1. Reciprocity means that if Person A helps (or harms) Person B, then Person B will help (or harm) Person A. 2. Transitivity means that people generally share their friends' opinions of other people. Ingroups and outgroups can be formed based on minimal rules of social interaction and thus may help explain the pervasive nature of groups throughout history Women show a much greater automatic ingroup biases than men Men and women depend on women for nurturing and that both are threatened by male violence. Women can freely express their affection for their female friends

Brain regions relations with ingroup and outgroups

Various brain regions (including the fusiform face area, the nucleus accumbens, the insula, and the amygdala) are differentially active when we consider ingroup versus outgroup members

Social and cultural factors impacting aggression

Violence varies across cultures and within cultures at different times Aggression may be part of human nature and influenced by situational factors, but society and culture influence people's tendencies to commit violent acts Culture of honor: men are primed to protect their reputation through physical aggression

Obedience

When a person follows the orders of a person of authority

Justifying effort

When people put themselves through pain, embarrassment, or discomfort to join a group, they experience a great deal of dissonance. They resolve the dissonance by inflating the importance of the group and their commitment to it. This justification helps explain why people are willing to subject themselves to humiliating experiences. Cognitive dissonance can explain our low-reward behaviours When there is something challenging, we tell ourselves that it is worth it which makes it easier to complete. I must love this work or else I wouldn't do this

Ferry story

Women typically comes in second or first interchangeably with Highwayman Past studies have found that as many as 50% of people will rank the woman most to blame Changing the story: she is an innocent person and greatest blame drops down to 21% Belief in a Just World: They believe that things happen for a reason. Bad things will come back to hurt bad people

Pluralisitic ignorance

You have to have more than one witness to some crisis The witnesses doubt whether or not the crisis is a crisis Social exchange of doubt (eye darting, watching others, not knowing whether or not they should help)