Psyc Final 13

Stanley Milgrim

Shocky Shocky Study 65%

Mutual interdependence

You need each other to complete a goal

Attributional biases

are cognitive shortcuts for determining attributions that occur outside our awareness (tendencies to make certain types of attributions). Attributional biases lessen the cognitive load required to make sense of the world, but they can lead to errors.

Attributions

are our explanations for the causes of events or behaviors. They involve judgments that we are very quick to make. Attributions affect how one perceives and treats the self and others.

Social learning theory

explains how a prejudicial attitude can be spread and passed through generations as a learned stereotype. Parents, peers, teachers, television, movies, and other aspects of culture provide models of prejudice and discrimination that children learn and imitate. When prejudice and discrimination are displayed, they may be reinforced

Definition of Social psychology

how people think about other people, interact in relationships and groups, and are affected by their relationships with others.

peripheral route

involves decisions based on the attractiveness and expertise of the source; the number of arguments exposed to (but NOT the strength or quality of the arguments- e.g., a politician with a bigger campaign budget can afford more commercial time); and information about how other people respond to the message (e.g., "people love this product", "1 in 3 doctors recommend this"). The peripheral route takes advantage of the mere exposure effect, which refers to how simply becoming familiar with something or someone can change your attitude toward it (generally to a more favorable view). The person is responding to non-message cues

central route

involves decisions based on the content of the message. Typically this involves appeals to logic and reason. The person considers persuasive arguments carefully and thoughtfully.

Social categorization

is a cognitive operation that leads people to divide the world automatically into categories of "us" and "them," both consciously and unconsciously

attitude

is an overall evaluation (usually positive or negative) about some aspect of the world, such as people, issues, situations, or objects. This evaluation has three components, summarized by the acronym ABC Affective—one's feelings about the object or topic Behavioral—one's predisposition to act in a particular way toward the object or topic Cognitive—what you believe or know about the object or topic

Obedience

is compliance with an order from an authority figure (the tendency to do what authorities tell us to do simply because they tell us to do it).

Companionate love

is marked by very close friendship, mutual caring, liking, respect, and attraction. More valued in Eastern (collectivistic) culture for marriage (why we see many more "arranged" marriages in these cultures).

Passionate love

is the intense, often sudden feeling of being "in love." It involves sexual attraction, a desire for mutual love and physical closeness, arousal, and a fear that the relationship will end. Highly valued in Western (individualistic) culture for marriage.

altruism

is the motivation to increase another person's welfare without expectation of personal gain. Prosocial behavior, acting altruistically to benefit others, includes sharing, cooperating, comforting, and helping. A number of factors affect whether we help someone...

fundamental attribution error

is the strong tendency to interpret other people's behavior as caused by internal rather than external causes, even when the behavior can be completely explained by the situation.

Recategorization

reduces prejudice by shifting the categories of "us" and "them" so that the two groups are no longer distinct entities. Make the outgroup part of the ingroup.

Realistic conflict theory

suggests that competition for scarce resources, such as good housing, jobs, and schools is a reason why prejudice arises. A classic experiment, the Robber's Cave study, showed how prejudice can be created from competition... A set of 11-year-old boys was divided into two groups at an overnight camp called Robber's Cave. The two groups competed for valued prizes over a period of time. Competition led to conflict and quickly escalated into prejudice and discrimination. These effects ended when the two groups no longer competed but cooperated for larger, mutually beneficial goals.

self-serving bias

the inclination to attribute one's failures to external causes and one's own successes to internal factors, but to assume the opposite for others (failures are internal and successes are external). As a result, you consider the negative actions of others as arbitrary and unjustified, but perceive your own negative actions as understandable and justifiable.

contact hypothesis

which says that increased contact between different groups will decrease prejudice between them. Increased contact serves three purposes...