Social psych Flash Cards

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Title: Social psych
Description: final
Number of Cards: 285
Save Count: 0
Author: caileykwagner9
Created: 2011-12-14
Tags: psychology sociology
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    • Question
    • Answer
    • Side 3
    • what is social influence?
    • Refers to the many ways that people affect each other. Involves changes in attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behavior that result from the comments, actions, or even the mere presence of others.
    • 3 types of social influence?
    • conformity, compliance, obedience
    • conformity
    • changing one’s behavior or beliefs in response to some real (or imagined)
      Can be implicit (throwing away jeans that do not fit the latest fashion), or explicit (encouraging members of a peer group to smoke cigarettes)
    • compliance
    • responding favorably to an explicit request by another person. Attempts often come from people who have some power over you.
    • obedience
    • In an unequal power relationship, submitting to the demands of the more powerful person.
    • automatic mimicry
    • mindless imitation of others
    • ideometer action
    • merely thinking about behavior makes its actual performance more likely.
    • what are the 2 reasons for mimicking others?
    • 1. ideometer action
      2. in order to prepare for interaction with others (makes smooth interaction more likely)
    • Results for the study about priming for "elder people"
    • people primed with "elder people" walked slower on their way to the elevator. People with a more positive attitude toward the elderly walked slower than those with a negative view.
    • What did Muzafer Sherif attempt to study?
    • how groups influence the behavior of individuals by shaping how realty is perceived.
      Informational Social influence
    • informational social influence
    • the influence of other people that results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct, proper, or effective.
    • What procedure did Sherif's study use?
    • Autokinetic Illusion - if one is looking at a stationary point of light in a completely darkened environment, that point of light seems to move.
    • Sherif's study had an important aspect, what was it?
    • it included ambiguity
    • the ____ the influence, the ____ certain we are of the answer
    • the greater the influence, the less certain we are of the answer.
    • What were Jacobs and Campbell studying? (conformity)
    • the transmission of false beliefs using the autokinetic illusion effect.
    • What were the results of Jacobs and Campbell's study?
    • The inflated illusion persisted for 5 generations of participants.
    • What was the procedure of the Jacobs and Campbell's study?
    • they had a confederate give an inflated
      estimate of how for the light moved. The confederate then left the experiment and was replaced by another real participant, who was in turn replaced by a still newer member.
    • Mimicry and the Chameleon effect (Chartrand and Bargh) - procedure
    • Participants in pairs were asked to describe various photographs from popular magazines. In fact, one of them was a confederate, who would either frequently rub his face or continuously shake his foot. Participants were videotaped.
    • Werther Effect (David Phillips)
    • iscovered that suicides, as well as fatal car accidents and private airplane crashes (which sometimes disguise suicide) increase after highly publicized suicide.
    • Results of Sherif's study?
    • We want to be right, and opinions of other people are a useful source of information we can draw upon to “get it right”. People would conform to one another.
    • What was Solomon Asch's experiment?
    • The line experiment to study the impact of normative social influence.
    • Normative social influence
    • the influence of other people that comes from the desire to avoid their disapproval, harsh judgements, and other social sanctions.
    • Results of Asch's experiment
    • 75% of the participants conformed to the erroneous majority at least once. Even if the answer was clearly wrong.
    • What are the 9 factors that affect conformity pressure?
    • 1. group size
      2. group unanimity
      3. cohesion
      4. expertise and status
      5. anonymity vs. public response
      6. difficulty or ambiguity of the task
      7. no prior commitment
      8. culture
      9. gender
    • explain the factor of group size on conformity
    • Conformity increases as the size of the group increases, but only to a certain point (after a group size of 3 or 4, the amount of conformity levels off)
    • explain the factor of group unanimity on conformity
    • If just one other person within the group also deviates from the group judgment, you are more likely to stick to your judgment (presence of an ally).
      This other person who breaks the group’s unanimity does not need to share your opinion; he just needs to have a different opinion than the group.
    • explain the factor of cohesion on conformity
    • A minority opinion from someone outside the groups we identify with (e.g. other college or religion) sways us less than the same minority opinion from someone within our group.
    • explain the factor of expertise and status on conformity
    • Informational social influence: experts are more likely assumed to be right, and so their opinions are taken more seriously.

      Normative social influence: the disapproval of high-status individuals can hurt more than the disapproval of people one cares less about.
    • explain the factor of anonymity vs. public response on conformity
    • Many experiments show that conformity levels are much higher when participants have to respond in front of others rather than writing their answers privately.
    • explain the factor of the difficulty or ambiguity of the task on conformity
    • When the judgment at hand is unambiguous and easy to make (such as in Asch’s experiments), informational social influence is virtually eliminated.
      When the “right” thing to do is unclear (such as in Sherif’s studies), we are particularly inclined to rely on others for guidance.
    • explain the factor of no prior commitment in conformity using Asch's study
    • If the real participant in Asch’s studies had given his judgment before hearing that everyone else disagreed, and the experimenter then offered the opportunity to reconsider, almost none of the real participants actually changed their minds. Once having made a public commitment, they stick to it.
    • explain the factor of culture in conformity
    • High levels of conformity in all cultures. In collectivist societies the conformity levels are even higher than in individualist ones. People from interdependent cultures consider the opinions of others as more telling (informational social influence) and the high regard of others as more important (normative social influence).
    • explain the factor of gender in conformity
    • women are socialized to nurture relationships more than men are -> they are more subject to social influence. But: their greater comfort with relationships gives them a more solid foundation from which they can resist social influence.

      Women tend to conform more about stereotypic “male” issues or in “male” domains, such as geography or the periodic table, etc.
      Men tend to conform more about “female” issues or in “female” domains, such as how to make a good dessert or how to raise a child.
    • What did Stanley Milgrim want to study in his experiment?
    • Milgram wanted to study obedience among Germans. ⇒ Milgram wanted to investigate the power of group
      pressure, if the behavior in question would have sever
      consequences.
    • The influence of minority opinion on the majority
    • majority opinion doesn't always prevail. When a minority consistently states its divergent opinion, people might consider the stimulus more carefully. Influence fewer people but do so often on a deeper level.
    • opposing forces for the Milgrim participants
    • Continuing the experiment (felt obliged to finish as they had been payed for the experiment; wanted to help the advancement of science etc.) vs. stopping the experiment
    • What 2 factors did Milgrim manipulate in his experiment?
    • Tuning in the learner and tuning out the experimenter
    • explain the results of Milgrim's "tuning in the learner" factor
    • As the learner became more and more present and „real“, it became more and more difficult for the teachers to deliver the shocks, and obedience rates diminished. The more removed we are from others, the easier it is to hurt them.
    • explain the factor of no prior commitment in conformity using Asch's study
    • If the real participant in Asch’s studies had given his judgment before hearing that everyone else disagreed, and the experimenter then offered the opportunity to reconsider, almost none of the real participants actually changed their minds. Once having made a public commitment, they stick to it.
    • explain the results of Milgrim's "tuning out the experimenter" factor
    • As the experimenter became less of a force of authority in the participants’ minds, it became easier for the participant to defy the experimenter, and so the rate of obedience declined. This was stronger that the "tuning in the learner" effect.
    • explain the factor of culture in conformity
    • High levels of conformity in all cultures. In collectivist societies the conformity levels are even higher than in individualist ones. People from interdependent cultures consider the opinions of others as more telling (informational social influence) and the high regard of others as more important (normative social influence).
    • Exceptionalist Thesis
    • horrible crimes are only committed by exceptionally sadistic, desperate or evil people.
    • explain the factor of gender in conformity
    • women are socialized to nurture relationships more than men are -> they are more subject to social influence. But: their greater comfort with relationships gives them a more solid foundation from which they can resist social influence.

      Women tend to conform more about stereotypic “male” issues or in “male” domains, such as geography or the periodic table, etc.
      Men tend to conform more about “female” issues or in “female” domains, such as how to make a good dessert or how to raise a child.
    • What did Stanley Milgrim want to study in his experiment?
    • Milgram wanted to study obedience among Germans. ⇒ Milgram wanted to investigate the power of group
      pressure, if the behavior in question would have sever
      consequences.
    • The influence of minority opinion on the majority
    • majority opinion doesn't always prevail. When a minority consistently states its divergent opinion, people might consider the stimulus more carefully. Influence fewer people but do so often on a deeper level.
    • opposing forces for the Milgrim participants
    • Continuing the experiment (felt obliged to finish as they had been payed for the experiment; wanted to help the advancement of science etc.) vs. stopping the experiment
    • What 2 factors did Milgrim manipulate in his experiment?
    • Tuning in the learner and tuning out the experimenter
    • explain the results of Milgrim's "tuning in the learner" factor
    • As the learner became more and more present and „real“, it became more and more difficult for the teachers to deliver the shocks, and obedience rates diminished. The more removed we are from others, the easier it is to hurt them.
    • explain the results of Milgrim's "tuning out the experimenter" factor
    • As the experimenter became less of a force of authority in the participants’ minds, it became easier for the participant to defy the experimenter, and so the rate of obedience declined. This was stronger that the "tuning in the learner" effect.
    • Normalist thesis
    • the capacity for such destructive obedience lies in all of us
    • ineffective disobedience
    • Participants in the Milgram study did not mindlessly obey. Many wanted to stop but thought they could not.
    • 3 reasons why the participants obey the experimenters
    • 1. Participants were confused, did not know how to act -> people are unlikely to act decisively when they do not have a solid grasp of the events. 2. Experimenter took responsibility for whatever might happen to the “learner” (decreased stress of the participant). 3. The participants delivered the shocks “Step-by-step” (did not start with the maximum level)
    • what are the 2 approaches of compliance?
    • 1. Reason-Based Approaches, 2. emotion-based approaches
    • Examples of reason based compliance
    • norm of reciprocity, foot-in-door, door-in-face (reciprocal concession), that's-not-all
    • Norm of reciprocity
    • a norm dictating that people should provide benefits to those who benefit them.
    • Normalist thesis
    • the capacity for such destructive obedience lies in all of us
    • Door-in-face technique (reciprocal concession)
    • asking someone for a very large demand that he/she will certainly refuse and then following it up with one for a more modest favor.
    • ineffective disobedience
    • Participants in the Milgram study did not mindlessly obey. Many wanted to stop but thought they could not.
    • That's-not-all technique
    • Adding something to an original offer, which is likely to create some pressure to reciprocate.
    • Foot-in-door technique
    • compliance technique in which one makes an initial small request to which nearly everyone complies, followed by a larger request involving real behavior of interest.
    • Cialdini, et al. 1975 - door-in-face technique
    • asked students if they were willing to chaperone a group of juvenile delinquents on a day trip to the zoo. More compliance if they were first asked to counsel delinquents for 2 hours a week for 2 years?
    • Explain commitment and consistency in compliance
    • Once we make a choice or take a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with that commitment.
    • In the Lowball technique study, what was the procedure for the Lowball condition?
    • participants were asked to make a donation to needy students. After they did, they were told that an incentive for the donation was no longer available. They were asked if they still wanted to donate.
    • In the Lowball technique study, what was the procedure for the interrupt condition?
    • The participants learned that the incentive to donate was no longer available before making the initial commitment to donate.
    • What were the results of the lowball technique study?
    • The participants of the interrupt condition were a lot less likely to donate than those of the lowball condition.
    • Social proof
    • We do what others around us are doing.
    • Scarcity
    • People assign more value to opportunities when they are less available.
    • what is the level of compliance when the person is in a positive mood?
    • They are more likely to agree to requests from others than when they are in a neutral mood. When in a positive mood, people are more likely to comply with requests that sustains that positive mood.
    • what is the level of compliance when the person is in a negative mood?
    • Also likely to increase compliance, for example, when someone feels guilty.
    • Isen, Clark, and Schwartz (1976) - Positive mood study - explain the procedure
    • Participants received a phone-call from someone who claimed to have spent the last dime on this very “misdialed” call, and who asked if the participant would dial the intended number and relay a message.
    • What were the results of the Isen, Clark, and Schwartz study?
    • only 10% agreed to do this
    • What are some ways to induce a positive mood?
    • Telling participants they have done well on a test.
      • Having them think about happy thoughts.
      • Playing cheerful music (often done shops)
      • Giving them cookies.
    • What are some consequences of people in a positive mood?
    • • more likely to help with experiments
      • donate blood
      • tutor students
    • Why does a positive mood have these consequences? 2 reasons.
    • 1. Requests for favors are more likely to be perceived as less intrusive and threatening when we are in positive mood.

      2. Mood maintenance. We typically want the good feeling to last as long as possible.
    • What negative moods increase compliance?
    • Guilt: When people feel guilty, they are often motivated to do what they can to get rid of that awful feeling.

      Witnessing Harm