Psychology ch 11

Biological influences in aggression

- genetic influences - biochemical influences, such as testosterone and alcohol - neural influences, such as a severe head injury

-Internal and external causes

-Internal attributions include causes inside and specific to the person, such as his or her traits and abilities. -External attributions include causes outside the person, such as situational factors. Ex) Did Beth get an A on the test because she is smart or because the test was easy.

What are some examples that contribute to attraction?

-Similarity -Acquaintance -Proximity

-Agreeableness

-The personality trait most strongly associated with prosocial behaviors -Related to greater volume in the posterior cingulate cortex

-Cognitive Determinants

-aspects of the environment may prime us to behave aggressively -if person perceives something as unfair = can lead to aggression

-Personality

-low levels of agreeableness, low conscientiousness, and high levels of neuroticism -predispose or cold toward others

--What are some examples of aggression?

-physical pain, personal insults, crowding, and unpleasant events

Conformity

A change in a person's behavior to coincide more closely with a group standard

individualistic culture

A culture that values individuality, individual accomplishments, differences, and uniqueness.

Stereotype

A generalization about a group's characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another

Heuristic

A helpful tool for navigating a complex social landscape, but can lead to mistakes

Explicit racism

A person's conscious and openly shared attitude, which might be measured using a questionnaire

Empathy

A person's feelings of oneness with the emotional state of another.

self-fulfilling prophecy

An expectation that causes an individual to act in ways that make their expectations come true.

Stereotype threat

An individual's fast-acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group.

Cognitive dissonance

An individual's psychological discomfort caused by two inconsistent thoughts

Prejudice

An unjustified negative attitude towards an individual based on the individual's membership in a particular group.

Social exchange theory

Based on the idea of social relationships as involving an exchange of goods, the objective of which is minimize cost and maximize benefits.

Obedience

Behavior that complies with the explicit demands of an individual in authority

--Relational aggression

Behavior that is meant to harm the social standing of another person through activities such as gossiping and spreading rumors

-Researchers who take a ______ viewpoint examine the influence of genetics and neurobiological factors on aggression.

Biological

Central route

By engaging the audience thoughtfully with a sound, logical argument

Self-perception theory

Daryl Bem's take on how behavior influences attitudes. Individuals make inferences about their attitudes by observing their behavior.

Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that enable us to make ____________ rapidly

Decisions, judgements, or choices

-_________ can produce altrustic behavior even toward members of rival groups

Empathy

-Reciprocity in relationships with nonfamily members

Essentially the mistaken application of a heuristic that made sense in human evolutionary history- to engage in selfless acts of kindness to one's own family.

The _________ Perspective of reciprocity is to secure the survival of the family's genes, even if the helped individual isnt actually family

Evolutionary or evolution

-When the person shows a strong awareness of his or her attitudes and when the person rehearses and practices them

Ex) a person who has been asked to give a speech about the benefits of recycling is more likely to recycle than is an individual with the same attitude about recycling who has not put the idea into words or defined it in public

Social Cognition

Explores how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information; it's how people think in social situations

The _____ May be explained by the fact that when making attributions about someone, the immediate environment is more stable and less attention-grabbing than the observed person's behavior.

Fundamental Attribution error

Altruism

Giving aid to another person with the ultimate goal of benefiting that person, even if it incurs a cost to oneself

Mood

Happy people are more likely to help others then unhappy people.

Equity

Having both partners feel that each is doing his or her "fair share"

Egoism

Helping another person for personal gain, such as to feel good, or avoid guilt

reciprocity

Helping another person to increase the chances that the person will return the favor.

Sociocultural influences on aggression

How common aggression and violence is in some cultures

Peripheral route

Involves factors such as the attractiveness of the person giving the message or the emotional power of an appeal.

Persuasion

Involves trying to change someone's attitude- and often behavior.

Romantic love or passionate love

Is love with strong components of sexuality and infatuation, and it often predominates in the early part of the love relationship

-Observational learning

Learning aggression through reinforcement and observational learning

Social Facilitation

Occurs when an individual performance improves because of the presence of others

Attitudes

Our opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas- how we feel about the world.

-When the person has a vested interest

People are more likely to act on attitudes when the issue at stake will affect them personally

Discrimination

Refers to an unjustified negative or harmful action towards a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group.

Implicit recism

Refers to attitudes that exist on a deeper, hidden level

--Overt aggression

Refers to physically or verbally harming another person directly.

Groupthink

Refers to the impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony.

Informational social influence

Refers to the influence other people have on us because we want to be right.

Social Identity

Refers to the way individuals define themselves in terms of their group membership.

Attribution theory

Seeks to explain how we decide, on the basis of an individual's behavior, what the specific causes of that person's behavior are.

Lower levels of the neurotransmitter ___________ have been linked to aggressive behavior

Serotonin

-High levels of neurotransmitter ___________ are associated with prosocial behavior

Serotonin or oxytoxcin

Aggression

Social behavior whose objective is to harm someone, either physically or verbally.

--Frustration-aggression hypothesis

States that frustration always leads to aggression.

Social identity theory

States that social identity is a crucial part of self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about oneself.

-Stable and unstable causes

The cause relatively enduring and permanent, or is it temporary? Ex) Did Aaron blow up at his girlfriend because he is a hostile guy or because he was in a bad mood that day?

Physical attractiveness

The combination of characteristics that are evaluated as beautiful or handsome at the positive extreme and as unattractive at the negative extreme.

Self-esteem

The degree to which we have positive or negative feelings about ourselves

How does the brain make a first impression?

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) is involved in the first impression formation.

Normative social influence

The influence others have on us because we want them to like us.

Mere exposure effect

The more one encounters someone or something, the more likely we are to start liking the person or thing even if we do not realize we have seen it before.

--Weapons effect

The presence of firearms enhances aggression

Social comparison

The process by which we evaluate our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and abilities in relation to others

Person perception

The processes by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others

Deindividuation

The reduction in personal identity and erosion of the sense of personal responsibility when one is part of a group.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people.

Group Polarization effect

The solidification and further strengthening of an individual's position as a consequence of a group discussion or interaction.

-When the person's attitudes are stong

The stronger the attitude toward a particular topic, the more likely a person will act on it.

Risky shift

The tendency for a group decision to be riskier than the average decision made by the individual group members

Affectionate love or companionate love

The type of love that occurs when an individual has a deep, caring affection for another person and desires to have that person near.

elaboration likelihood model

Theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route.

Psychological influences on aggression

This includes -personality characteristics -frustrating circumstances -cognitive and learning factors

Collectivistic Cultures

Value the group and group harmony

-Controllable and uncontrollable causes

We perceive that we have power over some causes (for instance, by preparing delicious food for a picnic) but not others (rain on picnic day)

out-group

a group that has special value in comparison with other groups

Confederate

a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated

Personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

-Cultures of honor

cultures in which there are strong norms indicating that aggression is an appropriate response to insults to one's honor

-The genetic basis for aggression states that ____________ are important in understanding the biological basis of aggression

genes

In one study, just a 100-millisecond exposure was long enough for participants to form a ______________ of the unfamiliar individual.

impression

-Priming

involves making something salient to a person, even without the person's awareness.

-Media

lead to believe that it can prompt aggressive or antisocial behavior in children

Social Loafing

refers to each person's tendency to exert effort in a group because of reduced accountability for individual effort.

in-group

the group that which we belong too

The Bystander effect

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

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others' behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of internal traits