Chapter 12

groupthink

NASA's decision in 1986 to launch the Challenger into space due to intense pressure from the public/government agencies, and its failure, is an example of ___

outgroup homogeneity effect

Once people categorize into ingroup/outgroup members, they treat others accordingly. This concept is the tendency is view outgroup members as less varied than ingroup members

Abu Ghraid prison

The series of actions taken by American soldiers at this prison were filthy: U.S. soldiers raped, beat, and humiliated Iraqi detainees, demonstrating the horrible abuse of power by the American military

norms

___ indicate which behavior is appropriate in a given situation and also how people will respond to those who violate them

social faciliation

____ _____ can either enhance or impair performance

women

____ show a much greater automatic ingroup bias toward other ____ than that of the other gender

culture of honor

a belief system in which men are primed to protect their reputations through physical aggression

deindividuation

a state of reduced individuality, reduced self-awareness, and reduced attention to personal standards; occurs when people are acting as part of a group

social brain hypothesis

according to this theory, the size of a primate species' standard social group is related to the size of that species' outer cerebral cortex, called the neocortex

prosocial behavior

actions that tend to benefit others, such as doing favors or helping

rejected

aggression is more likely when people feel socially ____

aroused

all animals are genetically predisposed to become ___ by the presence of others of their own species

normative influence

an example of this influence is when adolescents conform to peer pressure, jury members go along with the group, and when you stand in line to wait for something

informational influence

an example of this type of influence is the time in class when someone left the room to use the bathroom, and when he came back everyone was standing up, so he stood up as well

aggression

any behavior that involves the intention to harm another

amygdala/fusiform face acrea

areas of the brain that get activated when considering ingroup/outgroup

implicit attitudes

attitudes that influence a person's feelings and behavior at a subconscious level

security, hunting/gathering

banding together in groups provides numerous advantages, such as __ from predators and assistance in ___

identity

defining yourself by your group status is part of your social ___

social norms

expected standards of conduct

negative

generally, people develop ___ about new things more quickly

more

if a person is in good mood, they are ___ likely to comply

more

if a person is paying less attention, they are ___ likely to comply

reciprocity

if person A helps/harms person B, then person B will help/harm person A

rules

normative influence relies on the societal need for ___

reciprocal helping

one animal helps another so that the other may return the favor in the future

kin selection

people are altruistic toward those with whoem they share genes

anonymity

people are less likely to help unless they are specifically told to do so

deindividuated

people are likely to become ___ when they are aroused and anonymous and the responsibility is diffused

ingroup, outgroup

people are more likely to distribute resources to ___ members than to ___ members

transitivity

people generally share their friends' opinions of other people

observational

people learn to be aggressive though this type of leanring

ingroups, outgroups

people readily see human minds in __ than in ___

attitude

people's evaluations of objects, events, or ideas

group members

people's thoughts/emotions/actions are influenced by their desire to be good ___ ____

attention, understand, convincing

persuasion is most likely to occur when people pay ___ to the message, ____ it, and find it ____

altruism

providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so

ingroups/outgroups

the Gary and collegues experiment (2014) was a demonstration of how ___ and ___ can be formed based on minimal rules of social interaction

persuasion

the active and conscious effort to change an attitude through the transmission of a message

conformity

the altering of one's behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people's expectations

attitude accessibility

the ease/difficulty that a person has in retrieving an attitude from memory

bystander intervention effect

the failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present

MAOA

the gene that controls the amount of MAO, an enzyme that regulates the activity of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and norepinephrine

diffusion of responsibilty

the idea that bystanders expect that other bystanders will help

"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

lack of unanimity

the idea that if there is not total agreement within a group, conformity will be less likely

mere exposure effect

the idea that if we are constantly exposed to something, we will like it more

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 membership

fear of making social blunders

the idea that people may worry that they would look foolish if they sought help that was not needed

elaboration likelihood model

the idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in two ways: the central route and the peripheral route

social faciliation

the idea that the presence of others generally enhances performance

justifying effort

the idea that when people put themselves through pain/embarrassment/discomfort to join a group, they experience dissonance and must inflate the importance of the group

group polarization

the process by which initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time

more

the stronger the attitude, the __ likely it will predict behavior

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 and privilege members of the ingroup than members of the outgroup

social loafing

the tendency for people to not work as hard in a group than when working alone

groupthink

the tendency of groups to make bad decisions when the group is under pressure, facing external threats, and is biased

compliance

the tendency to agree to do things requested by others

"pain regions"

these regions are activated when someone sees an ingroup member being harmed

amygdala

this brain region is activated when there is a deviance from social norms and nonconformity takes place

prefrontal cortex

this brain region is important for controlling emotional and behavioral reactions; when this region does not function in response to signals from the amygdala, aggression occurs

amygdala

this brain region regulate the fear/emotion response; if there are fluctuations in serotonin, the response in this brain region will increase

minimal group paradigm

this experiment assigned people to groups randomly and gave subjects the task of distributing money; it demonstrated ingroup favoritism

insufficient justification experiment

this experiment paid people to lie about how great their experience was doing a boring task; while everyone lied, those who were paid more didn't have to change their attitude, while those who were paid less had to change their attitude to lie

stanford prison experiment

this experiment randomly assigned the role of prisoners and guards in a mock prison; within days, guards became brutal and sadistic; it demonstrated how people react when there are defined social roles

Milgram's experiment

this experiment sought to explain why normal people would commit heinous crimes (such as the holocaust) if ordered to do so by authorities

group size

this idea that the amount of people you are around makes you more likely to conform

testosterone

this is a hormone that may increase the likelihood of aggression because it reduces the activity of brain circuits involved in impulse control

post-decisional dissonance

this is a type of dissonance that can arise when a person hold positive attitudes about different options but has to choose one of the options (ex: deciding which school to go to out of many great schools)

"risky-shift" effect

this is the concept that groups often make riskier decisions than individuals do

medial prefrontal cortex

this is the part of the brain that is most associated with ingroup bias

serotonin

this neurotransmitter is important in the control of aggressive behavior; less of it leads to more hostility, impulsivity, and disruptive behavior

medial prefrontal cortex

this part of the brain is especially important for thinking abou tother people, generally or specifically, and if they are part of the ingroup or outgroup

learning principle

this principles states that arousal leads animals to emit a dominant response-the response most likely to be performed in that situation (ex: when sitting in front of food, the dominant response to eat the food)

normative

this type of influence works because people feel embarrassed when they violate social norms and they worry about what others think of them

explicit attitudes

those attitudes that can be stated/reported by a person; those attitudes that are known

ingroups

those groups to which particular people belong

outgroups

those groups to which people don't belong

obedience

when a person follows the orders of a person of authority

peripheral route

when a person is impulsive, not paying close attention

group polarization

when groups choose the course of action that was initially favored by the majority of individuals in the group, this is an example of __ ____

central route

when people are motivated/paying attention to the information, so the information sticks and leads to a stronger attitude and longer impact

dehumanization

when people consider members of extreme outgroups such as the homeless/drug addicts and there is a reduction in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex

cognitive dissonance

when you do something even though you know it's bad; an uncomfortable mental state resulting from a contradiction between two attitudes and a behavior (ex: continuing to smoke even you know it will kill you)

cooperation

working together toward a shared goal