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Unit 3- Social Psychology

Terms in this set (29)

Social Psychology
the field that investigates how individuals affect each other
Social Psychologists
try to understand behaviour within its social context
Main goal of research in social psychology
to investigate the power of social situations
to control human behavior
Situationism
assumes that the external environment, or the behavioral context, can have influence people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Dispositionism
the ideas that our personality traits, genes, and character qualities is affected by what is inside our brain(internal factors)
Situationism vs. Dispositionism
Both interact to shape the final behavior that we observe and want to understand (interaction between biology and environment)
Social Roles
Definition: one of several socially defined patterns of behavior that are expected of persons in a given setting or group
-roles result from interest, abilities, and goals, or imposed by groups or cultural, economic, or biological conditions beyond our control
ex. gender roles
-prescribe our behaviour by making obvious how we should do it, when where and why
ex. being a college student
->study for class and more
->opportunities for job discovery
->self improvement with time
Social Roles...
...imply social norms
Social Norms
Definition: group's expectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for its members' attitudes and behaviors
-most social norms are unwritten: schemas and scripts
Chameleon Effect
tendency to mimic other people (at concerts or sports games people are dressed a certain way)
Social Reality
-our subjective interpretations of other people and of our relationships
-determines whom we find attractive, whom we find threatening, whom we seek out, and whom we avoid.
Interpersonal attraction
1. we usually prefer rewarding relationships
2. proximity
3. similarity
4. self disclosure (listen to secrets, what we like, the more they know about us the more we like them)
5. physical attractiveness
Causes of prejudice
1. dissimilarity and social distance
2. economic competition
3. scapegoating (finding someone to blame)
4. conformity to social norms
5. media stereotyping
Social influence
the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behavior
Attribution
process how we explain the behavior of ourselves and others
-2 types: internal and external attributions
External Attribution
explaining behaviour in terms of a person's circumstances/situation
-Situationism: assumes that the external environment, or the behavioral context, can have both subtle and forceful effects on people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior ->Tolerant Reaction
Internal Attribution
explaining behavior in terms of a person's personal characteristics/disposition
-Dispositionism: the tendency to attribute behavior to internal factors such as genes, personality traits, and character qualities ->Unfavorable Reaction
Fundamental Attribution Error
tendency as an observer to overestimate internal dispositional influences and underestimate external situational influences upon others' behavior
(why a person behaves in a certain way in a certain context)
Old Lady vs Young Lady Optical Illusion
Our expectations can change even the nature of the social world
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
-Definition: our expectations of a persona elicit behavior from the person that confirms our expectations
-ex. if person A doesn't like person B and is rude at first, then person B is going to be rude back, therefore person A's belief is confirmed
-Case Study: Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) found that a teacher who expects certain students to do well may cause those students to do better
Conformity
-change in behavior to conform to a group norm as a result of real or imagined group pressure
-can be negative and positive dependent on culture
-ex. conformity good in military but bad in connotations in Western cultures (group pressure)
Social Loafing
tendency for people to work less when working in a group, avoiding to do work as other people in group (reason? diffusion of responsibility)
Diffusions of Responsibility
presuming that other people will take responsibility so individual accountability if lessened
Compliance
acting in accordance to a direct request from another person or group
3 techniques:
1. Foot-in-the-Door-Technique
2. Door-in-the-Face Technique
3. That's not all Technique
Foot-in-the-Door-Technique
compliance to a large request gained by prefacing with it a very small, almost mindless request
ex. can i borrow $10 bucks, yes, can i borrow $100 bucks, aw hell nah
Door-in-the-Face-Technique
-opposite of foot in the door
-following up an extravagant request with a reasonable one such that the guilty subjects complies
ex. can i borrow $100 bucks, No, can i borrow $10 bucks, Yes #successs
That's not all Technique
-more likely to comply to a request after a build-up to make the request sound "better"
-think of infomercials- "But wait... there's more"
Resisting Social Pressure
Ex. Tank Man
Minority Influence
-minorities influence others through their own behavioral style
-ex. 12 Angry Men, where 1 person can influence a majority
-they are few in numbers, no normative control, perceived as "weirdos"
-they must follow 4 main claims
1. must be clear
2. remain fixed on original proposition
3. withstand majority influence
4. be consistent
-assumptions
1. minority can create conflict
2. create uncertainty
3. solution: cognitive change
4. influence is reciprocal
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