AP Psych - Unit 14

ingroup

"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity

outgroup

"them" - those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

7 deadly sins

lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride

Social Trap

A situation where short term gains are repeatedly put ahead of long term dangers (Ex: Deforestation, Environmental concerns, Social Security)

Promote Exclusivity

A company tactic which satisfies people's desires to feel important - like they're part of an exclusive group. (ie: "The Few, The Proud, The...")

Persuasion

A kind of speaking or writing that is intended to influence people's actions.

prejudice

A negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial minority; preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience

conflict

A struggle between opposing forces

Milgram's Obedience Experiment

An experiment to see how far people would go to follow an authoritative figure; Milgram forced people to "shock" actors with increasing voltages, which they knew were dangerous and could kill them. (65 percent of the subjects continued to inflict shocks right up to the 450-volt level)

Why love occurs...

Attachment formations from childhood, evolutionary perspective, chemical changes

Similarity is looked for in...

Attitudes and Beliefs (religion, values, gender roles, politics, etc.), Personality Traits, Personal Habits (smoking, drinking, hygiene, exercise, etc.), Sexual Preferences (intimacy, orientation, etc.)

Discrimination

Behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group; unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members

Prosocial behavior

Behavior that is balancing the needs of others with our own, for the overall benefit of everyone. Humans learned a long time ago that we had safety and effectiveness if we worked together; Actions may benefit others without necessarily providing any direct benefit to the person(s) performing them (i.e. - people think you are nice and want to talk to you)

Culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

Conformity

Changing attitudes or behaviors to fit in; Too uncomfortable not to conform

James Dobson

Christian psychologist who defines marriage as between one man and one woman only and describes this as the central stabilizing institution of society

Solomon Asch

Conducted famous conformity experiment that required subjects to match lines

How do corporations utilize findings of consumer behavior?

Corporations use these findings to determine how best to market products; You can put the information to use in deciding what and when to buy

Antisocial Behavior

Disruptive acts characterized by covert and overt hostility and intentional aggression toward others (i.e. - dealing drugs, vandalism, aggressive yelling, drinking in the street, night time noise, begging, being in a gang); These behaviors exist along a severity continuum and if left unchecked, can grow in severity over time

Ingratiation

Flattery, name dropping, self-proclamation, or self-depreciation to convince another to change behavior (making fun of themselves, etc.)

Central Route Persuasion

Focusing on arguments, facts, and logic to arrive at a decision to change behavior (ex: Environmental movements, Mustang ads sell the idea of being "cool")

GRIT

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (a strategy designed to decrease international tensions)

Social Psychology

Study of how an individual behaves in a group (1 person in a group)

Social Loafing

Individuals who do less when others are around (Ex: group projects)

Evolutionary perspective of love

People look for fertility, fitness, assets, good physical qualities to pass down, etc., Both men and women need desire to have sex, Need interest to protect and feed offspring

Deindividuation

People lose their identities and moral responsibilities in groups (Ex: riots)

Norms of Reciprocity

People tend to respond favorably to requests when benefits are exchanged for reciprocity (Ex: cash back programs, punch-out card, buy one get one free)

Stanford Prison Experiment

Philip Zimbardo's study of the effect of roles on behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to play either prisoners or guards in a mock prison. The study was ended early because of the "guards'" role-induced cruelty. The participants began to believe they were truly a "prisoner" or "guard" and forgot they were subjects in an experiment

Factors which increase attraction

Physical Attraction, Similarity, Propinquity (proximity) or psychical closeness

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Relies on environmental factors other than the argument/facts to change behavior (i.e. - celebrity endorsements, flashy designs, sexual appeal, humor, distraction)

norm

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior

Asch's Line Experiment

Solomon Asch's conformity experiment which required subjects to differentiate between lengths of lines; 5% always conformed, 70% conformed some of the time, 25% remained completely independent

Door-in-the-Face Technique

Starting with a large request and then gradually working down to a smaller request; to make offer appear very reasonable (Ex: used car salesman)

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Starting with a small request and then gradually working up to a larger request (Ex: paying for more features on for a car)

That's Not All Technique

Sweetening a deal by continually adding more benefits before asking for commitment

Factors which increase physical attraction

Symmetry (not perfect symmetry though), Healthy Skin Physique, (associations with reproduction/fertility,Cultural Norms

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to attribute our own successes to dispositional causes and our failures to situational causes to a greater extent than is actually justified; To protect and enhance our self-esteem (Ex: "I got an A" vs. "He gave me a C")

Chemical perspective of love

Testosterone and Estrogen (lust), Oxytocin (bonding hormone, attachments)

Groupthink

The desire for harmony overrides critical thinking and alternative solutions to a problem; a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures (Ex: Bay of Pigs Invasion)

Mere Exposure Effect

The more frequently we are exposed to various stimuli (at least up to a point) the more we tend to like that stimuli

Less Leads to More Effect

The weaker the reasons for engaging in an opposing behavior the stronger the pressure for changing attitudes (and vice versa); The less you know about something, the more likely you are to be defensive about it if you get questioned

situational attribution

attributing behavior to the person's luck. factors beyond control, and environmental factors (external causes)

Attribution

The process for determining the causes of other people's behavior (people make up reasons for their own and other people's behavior)

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to attribute others' behavior to dispositional causes to a greater extent than is actually justified; We can't immediately see others' background causes

Group polarization

Views become more extreme if they are shared by a group (Ex: Political rallies. hate group meetings, etc.)

Halo effect

We assume more attractive people are better and more likable than less attractive people (voting for someone because they are "hot")

Negative State Relief Hypothesis

We feel "bad" when others are in need, to make ourselves feel better when we need help; the idea that people help in order to alleviate their own sadness and distress

dispositional attribution

attributing behavior to the person's traits, intentions, motives (internal causes)

Effects of not helping others

bad mood, bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility

equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it

Romantic/Passionate Love

a form of love in which strong attraction and sexual desire toward another person are dominant (common in younger people)

Companionate Love

a form of love which involves a high degree of commitment, equity, and deep concern for the well-being of the beloved (passion is gone) (common in older people)

Oxytocin

a hormone typically linked to warm, fuzzy feelings and shown in some research to lower stress and anxiety ("hugging hormone")

Consumer Behavior

a hotbed of psychological research as it ties together issues of communication (advertising and marketing), identity (you are what you buy), social status, decision-making, and mental and physical health

role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

Sociology

a study which focuses on the role of the group (the whole group itself) rather than the individual

Introduce Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)

a tactic companies use to make consumers stop, think, and change their behavior (i.e. - a salesperson might push a customer to buy unnecessary software for their computer)

stereotype

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing; A generalized belief about a group of people

self-fulfilling prophecy

an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true

social-responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those needing their help

reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them

Physical attraction

attraction to someone's physical appearance

Reposition Your Competition

changing the position a business occupies in consumers' minds. (i.e. - choosy moms choose Jif)

Fundamental attribution error is less common in...

collectivist cultures (such as East Asia) where the group matters more than the person

attitude

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

Effects of helping others

good mood, negative state relief hypothesis, empathy hypothesis, genetic hypothesis

superordinate goals

higher-level goals taking priority over specific individual or group goals; shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Social Facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others; individuals who perform better in pressurized group situations vs. alone (Ex: elite athletes)

normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

triangular theory of love

model of love based on three components: intimacy, passion, and commitment; several types of love exist, depending on the presence or absence of each of these components

mirror-image perceptions

mutual views often held by conflicting people when one side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive (vice-versa)

Propinquity

nearness (increases attraction); Shared social situation (school, work, clubs, sports, internet, etc.)

Diffusion of Responsibility

people feel less responsible to help when others are present

Leon Festinger

psychologist who developed the cognitive dissonance theory

Robert Sternberg

psychologist who developed the triangular theory of love

Irving Janis

psychologist who studied group dynamics, responsible for his theory of "groupthink"

Phillip Zimbardo

social psychologist who conducted the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment

Stanley Milgram

social psychologist who wanted to see how the German soldiers in WWII fell to obedience, wanted to see how far individuals would go to be obedient; conducted his infamous Obedience Experiment

self-disclosure

the act of revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

personal space

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies; the surrounding area over which a person makes some claim to privacy

Interpersonal Attraction

the extent to which we like or dislike other people

internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate (leads to confidence)

frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration creates anger, which can generate aggression; the principle that frustration- the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger which can generate aggression

just-world phenomenon/bias

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group ("Us")

other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent/conflicting

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

Cognitive Dissonance

unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs; Conflict or anxiety resulting from inconsistency between one's beliefs and one's actions

Dissonance

unpleasant/uncomfortable state; This feeling is not desired so we seek to reduce it as much as possible

altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others (prosocial behavior)

Genetic hypothesis

we help those who are related to us

Empathy hypothesis

we share the feelings of those in need and feel bad for them

Highlight Your Flaws

when companies raise credibility by pointing out their product's shortcomings. (ie - Volkswagen lemon ad highlighted its flaws)

Run Emotional Ideas

when emotional and psychological appeals resonate more with consumers than the actual feature and function appeals

Bystander Effect

when other potential helpers are present, individuals are less likely to help

Similarity

when two things/people have something in common (similarity increases attraction - opposites don't attract)