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Social Psychology-3

Terms in this set (48)

social norms
explicit or implicit rules specifying acceptable behaviors within a society; norms define the expected or accepted behavior in various situations
folkways
norms for everyday behavior that people follow for the sake of tradition or convenience; breaking a folkway does not usually have serious consequences
mores
morally significant norms based on definitions of right and wrong; people feel strongly about them and violating them typically results in disapproval
taboos
norms that society holds so strongly that violation results in extreme disgust, often the violator is considered unfit for society
deviance
a violation of society's standards of conduct or expectation
both formal (law) and informal
social sanction
a reaction or measure intended to enforce norms and punish their violation

1. legal sanction: formal deviance results in criminal action initiated by state

2. stigmatization: informal deviance or violation of unwritten social rules of behavior

3. preference for one behavior over another: lesser degrees of social violation result in preference rather than stigmatization
aggression
any behavior meant to hurt or intimidate others

1. hostile aggression: strong emotions, impulsive

2. instrumental aggression: planned, controlled
attraction
we tend to like people who are closer to us (proximity)
--> mere exposure effect

similarity: age/race/ethnicity/religion

physical attractiveness
impression management
aka self presentation

conscious or unconscious process where by we attempt to manage our own image by influencing the perceptions of others
dramaturgical perspective
stems from symbolic interaction theory

imagine ourselves as playing certain roles when interacting with others; base our presentations on cultural values, norms and expectations with ultimate goal of presenting an acceptable self to others
social identity
all socially defined attributes defining who you are, including age, race, religion, occupation
learned helplessness
all individual possess low self efficacy and external locus of control
social stigma
extreme disapproval of a person of group on socially characteristics grounds that distinguish them from other members of a society
may arise from deviant behaviors
self schema
beliefs and ideas we have about ourselves; used to guide and organize the processing of information that is relevant to ourselves
self efficacy
belief in our abilities, competence and effectiveness; high self-efficacy means that we believe we can affect a situation or outcome while low self efficacy means that we do not believe we can affect a situation or outcome (our self efficacy varies from task to task)
locus of control
our belief in whether or not we can influence the events that impact us
internal: we believe we have control over these events
external: we do not believe we have control
aversive control
behavior is motivated by the reality or threat of something unpleasant happening

escape and avoidance
escape behavior
termination of an unpredicted, unpleasant stimulus that has already occurred

ex: take aspirin to relieve a headache
avoidance behavior
avoidance of a predictable, unpleasant stimulus before it is initiated

ex: faking to be sick before having to take a test
social learning theory
emphasizes the fact that learning takes place in social contexts and can occur purely through observation even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement
social comparison theory
we all have a drive to gain accurate self evaluations by comparing ourselves to others
Our identity will be in some way shaped by the comparisons we make and the types of reference groups we have
role taking
aka social perspective thinking

involves understanding the cognitive and affective aspects of another persons point of view

infant (self centered)--> 15+ consider others
social facilitation effect
occurs when the presence of others improves our performance; this tends to only occur with simple, well ingrained tasks
deindividuation
in situations where there is a high degree of arousal and low degree of personal responsibility, we may lose their sense of restraint and their individual identity in exchange for identifying with a mob mentality
bystander effect
predicts that we are less likely to help a victim when other people are present
--> diffusion of responsibility
social loafing
when people work in a group each person is likely to exert less individual effort than if they were working independently
peer pressure
refers to situation in which individuals feel directly or indirectly pressures to change their behavior to match that of their peers
groupthink
when desire to achieve harmony and reach a consensus decision causes group to not critically evaluate alternative viewpoints and leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision making
group polarization
when group agreement causes the preexisting views of group members to intensity, average view of a member of the group is accentuated or moves toward ONE pole
obedience
when individuals yield to explicit instructions or order form an authority figure
conformity
adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
attribution theory
a way of explaining others' behavior by either one's disposition or one's situation
just world belief
good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people
optimism bias
The belief that bad things happen to other people but not to us
self serving bias
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
observer bias
attribute our own actions to the situation
fundamental attribution error
attribute another persons behavior to their personality
self-fulfilling prophecy
the tendency for people to behave as they are expected to behave
persuasion
A kind of speaking or writing that is intended to influence people's actions.
1) message characteristics
2) source characteristics
3) target characteristics
elaboration likelihood model
theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route
compliance techniques
Foot-in-the-door
Door-in-the-face
Low-ball
ingratiation
norm of reciprocity
Ainsworth
Infant attachment styles
securely attached: happy with mom, cry when she leaves, happy when man returns

insecurely attached: insensitive and inconsistent caregivers
Harlow's Monkeys
monkeys preferred contact with the comfortable cloth mother than the one with the food
Stanley Milgram Experiment
obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments
Soloman Asch Experiment
comparing line length alone, then with people convincing otherwise

conformity
disorganized attachment
toddler cannot predict moms behavior
avoidant attachment
toddler indifferent to mom
ambivalent attachement
mother leaves, toddler cries, mother returns toddler still cries
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