Fall 2013 PSYC 2000 Sec 001 003 FINAL EXAM Study Outline Chapter 12 Social Psychology Know the three primary areas of social psychology as well as relevant related concepts that fall under each see below 1 Social Influence The ways in which others can affect a person s thoughts feelings and behavior In other words how others influence us The process through which the real world or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts feelings and behavior or an individual o Conformity voluntarily yielding to social norms changing one s own behavior to match that of other people Define and distinguish from compliance and obedience Compliance changing one s behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change Obedience changing one s behavior at the command of an authority figure Be able to correctly label an example In compliance the person group asking for the change in behavior typically doesn t have any real authority In obedience one is changing their behavior at the direct order of an authority figure What was Asch s classic study That we have found the tendency to conformity in our society so strong that reasonably intelligent and well reasoning young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern Solomon Asch Subjects were asked to judge line lengths while working in a group a 7 subjects the 6th was real rest were confederates Confederates consistently gave obviously wrong answers The subject often conformed and gave the same wrong answer Resistance One dissenter can have a disproportionate effect on reducing the compliance of others Name conditions that increase the likelihood of conformity Group size Group is unanimous lack of dissension Group observes one s behavior Culture can encourage respect for social standard a Collectivist cultures tend to show more conformity than individualistic cultures Feelings of incompetence insecurity and self esteem o Compliance when people change their behavior as a result of another person or group asking or directing them to change What are 4 techniques used to get people to comply with a request Be able to correctly label an example of each if given a scenario Foot in the door asking for a small commitment and after gaining compliance asking for a bigger commitment Door in the face asking for a large commitment and being refused and then Lowball getting a commitment from a person and then raiding the cost of that asking for a smaller commitment commitment That s not all a sales technique in which the persuader makes an offer and then adds something extra to make the offer look better before the target person can make a decision o Obedience when one changes his her behavior at the command of an authority Define and distinguish from compliance and conformity Compliance changing one s behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change Conformity changing one s own behavior to match that of other people a Normative Social Influence i A person s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection Respecting normative behavior because price may be severe if not followed b Informational Social Influence i Group may provide valuable information When the task is difficult or you are unsure it makes sense to listen to others What is Milgram s classic study Milgram designed a study that investigated effects of authority on obedience shock tests 3rd of individuals resisted social coercion to go up to the 450 volts Name factors that increase the likelihood of obedience Degree of obedience influenced by a Physical proximity b Status of authority figure c Depersonalization of victim d Lack of defiant role models o What is Zimbardo s Prison Study What did this experiment reveal about social roles What are social roles Subjects played either prisoners or guards Prisoners were arrested fingerprinted dressed and referred to by number Guards were dressed and given control over prisoners Subjects became their social roles in action thoughts and feelings Social roles are widely shared experiences about how people in certain positions are supposed to behave o Group Influence Define what a group is Be able to identify if given an example whether or not the example represents a group Group consists of 2 or more individuals who interact and are interdependent Group Think Define and be able to identify an example Make sure you can name some characteristics associated with groupthink Kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned In other words it occurs when people within a group feel it is more important to maintain the group s cohesiveness than to consider the facts realistically Problems with group think a Members suspend their critical thinking b Members start censoring dissent as the pressure to conform increases c Mind guards try to shield the group from information that contradicts d the group s view If presented with conflicting info members tend to think in us versus them terms oversimplifying things and creating an out group enemy e Member s overestimate in group unanimity Group Polarization Define and be able to identify an example Occurs when group discussion strengthens a group s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction Group polarization does not involve widening the gap between two factions in a group due to 2 characteristics a Social comparison b Informational social influence Social Facilitation Social Impairment Social Loafing Define each and be able to identify examples Make sure you can distinguish between each Social facilitation the tendency for the presence of other people having a positive impact on the performance of an easy task Social impairment the tendency for the presence of other people having a negative impact on the performance of a difficult task Social loafing a reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups compared to when they work by themselves a Reduced efficiency resulting from loss of coordination b Loss of personal responsibility or diffusion of responsibility 2 Social Cognition The mental processes people use to make sense of the world around them In other words how we think about others o Attribution Be able to define Attribution the process of explaining one own behavior and the behavior of others What is Weiner s Model If given an applied example be able to
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