Psychology Chapter 10: Behavior in Social and Cultural Context
Role
A given social position that is governed by a set of norms for proper behavior.
Entrapment
A gradual process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort.
Bicultural
A person has strong ties both to their ethnicity and to the larger culture, can easily alternate between two cultures
Ethnic Identity
A person's identification with a racial or ethnic group.
Culture
A program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members of a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and customs shared by most members of that community.
Prejudice
A strong, unreasonable dislike or hatred of a group, based on a negative stereotype.
Stereotype
A summary impression of a group, in which a person believes that all members of the group share a common trait or traits (positive, negative, or neutral).
Routinization
Actions are routine duties and roles, behavior becomes normal-just a job, busywork distracts from ethical questions
Attitude
Belief about people, groups, ideas, or activities.
Self-censorship
Control of what you say or do to avoid annoying or offending others
Social Cognition
Examines how people's perceptions of themselves and others affect their relationships and how the social environment influences thoughts, beliefs, and values
Asch
Experiment on Conformity, students are all seated in a room with a question and answers, answers were obvious but confederates answered wrongly, Did students conform to the wrong answers?, 20% were independent completely
Deindividuation
In groups or crowds, the loss of awareness of one's own individuality.
Diffusion of Responsibility
In groups, the tendency of members to avoid taking action because they assume that others will.
Blaming the Victim
Making up reasons that the victim must have done something to deserve what happened or to provoke it.
Milgram
The Obedience study, authority, random people shocking what seemed to be real people
Assimilation
People have weak feelings of ethnicity but a strong sense of acculturation ("I'm an American, period.")
Zimbardo
The Prison Study, students fell into their roles, power went into their heads
Social Norms
Rules that regulate social life, including explicit laws and implicit cultural conventions.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own ethnic group, nation, or religion is superior to all others.
Self-Serving Biases
The bias that takes credit for good actions but letting the situation account for failures, embarrassing mistakes, or harmful actions.
Individualist Culture
The individual is put before the group
Just-World Hypothesis
The notion that many people need to believe that the world is fair and that justice is served, that bad people are punished and good people rewarded.
Social Identity
The part of a person's self-concept that is based on his or her identification with a nation, religious or political group, occupation, or other social affiliation.
Acculturation
The process by which members or minority groups come to identify with and feel part of the mainstream culture.
Groupthink
The tendency for all members of a group to think alike for the sake of harmony and to suppress disagreement.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency, in explaining other people's behavior, to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the influence of the situation.
Altruism
The willingness to take selfless or dangerous action on behalf of others, are in part a matter of personal convictions and conscience.
Collectivist Culture
Value conformity and the sense of group harmony
