Social Psychology - Basic Concepts

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Test your knowledge of fundamental concepts in social psychology. Includes; definitions, factors affecting psychological phenomena, and examples based on real experiments.
ejayne.arkell
Flashcards by ejayne.arkell, updated more than 1 year ago
ejayne.arkell
Created by ejayne.arkell about 9 years ago
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Question Answer
What is Social Influence? How the presence of others, or thought of their presence affects our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
What is Social Facilitation? Arousal facilitating the performance of the dominant response- when the presence of others improves our performance of tasks that are easy or well-practised.
What is Social Interference/Inhibition? When the presence of others decreases our performance in a task, usually when the task is unfamiliar or difficult.
If you compared good and bad pool players' performances when alone vs. when observed, what social effect would you expect to act upon them in the second condition, and why? Good players - Social Facilitation, because pool is a dominant response for them. Bad players - Social Interference/Inhibition, because pool is a difficult task for them.
What does Distraction Conflict Theory say about Social Facilitation and Social Interference? That the arousal is caused not by the people themselves but by the fact that the people are a distraction from the task you are performing.
What does Evaluation Apprehension Theory say about Social Facilitation and Social Interference? That the awareness of being judged by the observers causes the arousal.
What does Mere Presence Theory say about Social Facilitation and Interference? That the mere presence of others causes the arousal.
Participants memorised nonsense syllables until they became a dominant response, then had to recite them in front of an audience that was either blindfolded (Mere Presence) or observing keenly (Evaluation Apprehension). Which group performed best? The Evaluation Apprehension group. Social Facilitation also acted upon the Mere Presence group, but not to the same extent. Thus an attentive audience will increase the effect of Social Facilitation and Interference.
What is Social Loafing? When people don't put in as much effort in a group as they would individually.
Why do people Socially Loaf? - Less scrutiny in a group than as an individual - Dispensibility of effort; our contribution is not as integral for a successful outcome - Individual effort is attributed to the group - Matching of effort; the tendency of group members to put in commensurate amounts of effort
In general, are men or women more likely to Socially Loaf, and why? Men - because women are generally more socially minded and tend to take on the responsibility of ensuring social situations run smoothly.
In general, are people from Western or Eastern cultures more likely to Socially Loaf? Western - because Western cultures tend to value individual recognition over collective success, which is typically valued by Eastern cultures. Thus people from Western cultures are more likely to socially loaf because their individual effort won't be recognised.
Are you more likely to Socially Loaf if you are in a group of friends or strangers, andy why? Strangers - because you are more invested in the happiness of your friends than the happiness of strangers. It is also harder to call out a loafing stranger than a loafing friend.
What steps can you take to reduce Social Loafing? - Make tasks sufficiently complex - Give sub-tasks to each member (people will put in more effort because they know their input can be assessed) - Provide incentive to try by giving a standard of evaluation - Ensure individual feel their input is valued
What is Conformity? When we adhere to or adjust our thoughts, feelings, or actions to match that of the group.
Why do we Conform? - Informative Social Influence; we accept that the group generally knows better than we do. Most powerful when we're not sure how to behave - Normative Social Influence; the desire to gain approval or avoid disapprobation of others.
How is Conformity useful to society? Humans are reliant on one another for survival and thriving. Conformity allows us to get along in large groups, which is generally conducive to our survival.
Factors increasing Conformity - Feeling inadequate or incompetent - The group has 3 or more members - Admiration for group's attractiveness or status - Others in group observing your behaviour - Cultures that value social standards - If no prior commitment has been made to a certain response
When can we "safely" diverge from the group's influence? When the group is divided.
What is the Bystander Effect? The more people who witness an emergency, the less likely they are to help. That is to say that the probability of someone helping is inversely related to the number of witnesses.
What is the most significant reason for the Bystander Effect? As emergencies don't happen often, we look to others to guide our response. So if everyone is monitoring each others' reactions, they will misinterpret the severity of the situation because they assume that others know better than they do.
What factors affect our likelihood of helping in an emergency? - Diffusion of Responsibility; the less people present, the more likely you are to help - Time pressure - A positive mood or feeling of guilt will increase likelihood of helping - More likely to help victims who are attractive, empathetic, or female
How to reduce the Bystander Effect? - Disambiguate the situation by making it clear there is an emergency - Make people feel identified by singling them out for specific tasks - Take the initiative; sometimes it just takes one person to act for others to follow
What is Deindividuation? When the presence of others causes arousal and we have a feeling of being anonymous. It is effectively a combination of Social Facilitation and Social Loafing. Deindividuation often results in people behaving contrary to their usual nature.
If some participants wore masks and sat in the dark, whilst others wore name tags and sat in the light, and both groups were told the shock a confederate on a certain cue, for a period that the participants could choose, which group would give the longest shocks? The group wearing masks and sitting in the dark anonymity + group participation = deindividuation
What factor needs to be increased to decrease the effect of Deindividuation? Self-Awareness, as it combats the anonymity of the group that provides the feeling of "safety" that allows them to behave in a manner that they wouldn't as an individual.
If you commented on either the costume or real identity of trick-or-treating children, and told them they could only take one lolly, then left them alone, which children would be more likely to only take one piece? The real identity group - by drawing attention to their real identity, you have increased their self-awareness
What is Obedience? A behavioural change based on the commands of authority.
In Milgram's infamous Obedience studies, what factors decreased the likelihood of participants delivering all the shocks up to 450v? - If the "victim" was in the same room - When the participant had to hold the victim's hand on the shock plate - When experimenter delivered instructions by phone - When it was done at an inferior university - When a second confederate in the room refused to proceed
What factor in Milgram's Obedience studies made 92% of participants deliver all shocks up to 450v? When a second confederate in the room with the participant obeyed the experimenter without question
What is Attribution Theory? The tendency to give a causal explanation for a person's behaviour based on either internal or external factors
What does Covariation Theory say about behaviour? For a factor to cause a certain behaviour it must be present for the behaviour to occur and absent for it not to occur
What do Consensus, Consistency, and Distinctiveness mean in the context of behaviour? Consensus - extent to which others behave in same way under same circumstances Consistency - extent to which the individual behaves in the same way in response to the same stimulus across time Distinctiveness - extent to which the individual behaves in the same way in response to different stimuli
Which combination indicates likelihood of internal, external, or mixed causes: 1. Consensus low, Consistency high, Distinctiveness low 2. Consensus high, Consistency high, Distinctiveness high 3. Consensus low, Consistency high, Distinctiveness high 1.Internal 2.External 3.Mixed
What is Fundamental Attribution Error? The tendency for observers, when analysing another’s behaviour, to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition
What is Actor-Observer Bias? The tendency to attribute our own behaviour to mainly external factors, and the behaviour of others to mainly internal factors
Why does the Actor-Observer Bias occur? Because we are aware of how external factors affect us, but when we observe others we only see the person
What is a Stereotype? A belief that associates a group of people with certain traits. Stereotypes are a cognitive heuristic - a mental shortcut that allows us to make complex judgments quickly
What is the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy / Pygmalion Effect? When person A believes that person B possesses a certain characteristic, and person A acts accordingly, thus eliciting the assumed characteristic from person B.
If participants in a study had to teach rats to run through a maze, and one group of participants was told they had super genius rats, and the other told they had dumb rats, which rats would run the maze better? The "super genius rats", because their trainers would put more effort into teaching them. They believed their rats had the potential to do well, so if the rats weren't doing well they would attribute it to their methods. Whereas the group with "dumb" rats would attribute failure to the rats themselves.
What is an Attitude? A belief or feeling that predisposes our reactions to people, objects and events. Attitudes consist of; affect (feelings), behaviour (actions you take) and cognition (thoughts and beliefs) - ABC
What is Cognitive Dissonance, and when does it occur? A state of internal tension that occurs when our attitudes do not match our actions
When do Attitudes guide our behaviour? - When there are minimal outside influences - When the attitude is relevant to the behaviour - When we are aware of our attitude
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