Transcript AP Psychology

AP Psychology
Social Psychology
actor-observer bias
fundamental attribution error
With the actor-observer bias in explaining behavior, actors favor
external explanations (attributions) while observers favor more
internal attributions.
It is further explained thusly. Fundamental attribution error refers to
observers’ bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others’
behavior. The actor and the observer might make totally different
attributions to explain behavior. The observer is likely to point to
internal factors when evaluating an actor’s behavior while looking at
external factors requires much more awareness, thought and effort.
aggression
hostile and instrumental aggression
Aggression, to put it psychologically, is the presenting of negative
stimuli to one not interested or unwilling to accept the same. There
are two types of aggression:
Hostile aggression is the culmination of one striking out at another
person identified as causing the problem. This may or may not be
true but it explains why it is being done. The clerk at the store, upon
your leaving, says “Have a nice day.” You respond angrily, “No. I
don’t want to and you can’t make me.”
Instrumental aggression is acted upon in order to reach a goal or
some type of benefit. Sports is often seen as the proving ground for
instrumental aggression.
altruism
Altruism is a selfless act, gesture or care by one person towards
another. It is typically noted for self-sacrifice. Theorists have been
interested to figure out whether this is a biologically based behavior
or if it is a learned response.
attitudes
Attitudes refer to positive or negative evaluations of objects of
thought (defined as things such as social issues, groups, institutions,
consumer products and people).
Recent studies say that attitudes might have three different
components:
Cognitive component – the beliefs that a person holds.
Affective component – the emotional feelings engendered.
Behavioral component – predispositions to act in certain ways.
The variance of attitudes is measured in three specific ways:
Attitude strength
Accessibility of an attitude (how often one thinks about it)
Ambivalent attitude (conflicted evaluations)
attribution theory
Attributions (also known as dispositional factors) are inferences that
people draw about the causes of events, others’ behavior and their
own behavior. People do this to try to understand, to make sense of
their lives. Fritz Heider (1958), suggested that people attribute based
on from within (attributing behavior to their personal factors) or from
without (attributing behavior to environmental factors).
Internal attributions – ascribe the causes of behavior to personal
dispositions, traits, abilities and feelings.
External attributions – ascribe the causes of behavior to situational
demands and environmental constraints.
bystander intervention
One of the ways in which groups have been studied is the likelihood
that a group will help others when needed. The bystander effect
highlights that people are less likely to provide needed help when they
are in groups than when they are alone.
Psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane (1968) proved that as
groups grow larger, people are less likely to help when needed. One
factor that might explain this is termed diffusion of responsibility,
referring to the likelihood that someone else will help.
The study was spurred on by the famous case of Kitty Genovese, who
was attacked, stabbed and killed by a mugger while she was calling out
to her neighbors, none of whom came to her defense and only one
called a rather unclear message to the police. She later died.
compliance
Compliance refers to doing something at the behest of someone
else.
This can be considered socially acceptable (listening to a teacher or
police officer) or others might see it as a sign of individual weakness
(doing things because your peer group deems it necessary, etc.).
conformity
Conformity is when people yield to real or imagined social pressure.
One of the more famous studies on conformity was conducted by
Solomon Asche. He show two cards – one with one vertical line on it
and another with three vertical lines of various lengths, including one
that matches the length of the first card.
A true subject was put in a room with five other secret experimenters
acting as fellow subjects who, when asked which line matches the line
of the first card, all chose the same, incorrect line. Half of the true
subjects conformed to the predominant opinion over half of the time.
contact theory
The contact theory suggests that if two groups who can’t stand one
another approach each other on an equal footing, it should lower
tension and increase understanding, cooperation and collaboration.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “People fail to get along because they
fear each other; the fear each other because they don’t know each
other; they don’t know each other because they have not
communicated with each other.”
deindividuation
Deindividuation occurs when one loses their identity to a larger
group of which they are a part.
In 2011, the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins were playing
for the Stanley Cup (hockey version of the Super Bowl or World
Series). When the Bruins won the series, Vancouver fans took to the
streets and began rioting. Over the course of the night, many who
might consider themselves law-abiding citizens and decent people
began burning cars and garbage cans as well as throwing beer
bottles into stores and at public screens showing the series. This
process, for those who it could be said of were decent, is an example
of deindividuation.
diffusion of responsibility
Diffusion of responsibility is a term used to explain the bystander
effect. Studies have shown that when in large groups, the individual
is more likely to assume someone else will help when assistance is
required than to do it themselves.
discrimination
Discrimination is acting upon prejudice. When a person treats
another person on the basis of the former’s prejudicial attitudes,
that is discrimination. Discrimination can be done on racial,
ethnic, gender, age, religious and political grounds.
elaboration likelihood model:
central and peripheral routes of persuasion
Originally put forth by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo (1986), the
elaboration likelihood model (ELM) suggests that there are two major
paths to persuasion.
Central route – people carefully ponder and consider the logic of a
straight-forward presented message.
Peripheral route – persuasion depends on nonmessage factors such
as looks and credibility of source.
Studies show that the central route creates more concrete attitudinal
change than the peripheral route.
ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism, also known as nationalism, is a belief system that
suggests that one’s own culture is superior to all others. This
generally requires an us v. them (ingroup v. outgroup) mentality
based on a general lack of knowledge of those in the outgroup.
foot-in-the-door
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon refers to a person willing to do a
large task for someone if previously they did a smaller task.
If the school moocher asked a classmate once for a $1, they likely
will ask later for $5 and the person is likely to do it because they
have consented to the idea once before.
group polarization
Group polarization occurs when group discussion strengthens a
group’s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a
more extreme decision in that direction.
The group dynamic allows for new ideas to be put forth that others
might not have considered and the emergence of shared opinions
could create more strongly argued positions.
groupthink
Groupthink occurs when members of a cohesive group emphasize
concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a
decision. The term emerged in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs
invasion and the fact that of many of Kennedy’s smart advisors, no
one saw the danger of this scenario coming.
Irving Janis (1972) determined that as groups delve into this
practice, individual thinking gives way to a shared group mentality.
This is seen when a group begins to think more along the lines of “us
versus them” as well as the withholding of information unique to
particular members of the group.
in and out groups
An in-group is an exclusive group that requires an intense loyalty.
Such a group might include a small military unit, a sports team or a
gang. Such a group has well-defined boundaries that separate the
in from the out-group members – things such as handshakes or
badges or uniforms could serve as a boundary.
An out-group is one targeted by an in-group as an opposition or
competition.
informational social influence
Informational social influence is a type of behavioral modification
based on what people around you (presumably in the same
situation you are in) are doing.
An American in Japan for the first time might not know what to do
and not do within a Buddhist temple. However, by following how
other, more accustomed visitors are behaving, it can direct the
tourist’s actions.
jigsaw classroom
A form of cooperative learning, the jigsaw classroom has expert
groups teach novice groups in their particular part of the overall
information to be learned. Among other things, it is designed to
increase self-esteem (you are the expert) and the achievement of
lesser academic students.
just-world phenomenon
A product of fundamental attribution error, the just-world
phenomenon is a line of thinking that says people get what they
deserve.
One could connect it to the Hindu/Buddhist concept of karma which
says that the culmination of one’s actions are revisited upon them
(good or bad) either in this life or the next.
mere exposure effect
The mere exposure effect says that the more you are exposed to a
particular stimulus (a person, feeling, locale, etc.) the more you
fond you could grow of it.
The first time eating blood sausage might result in fighting off a gag
reflex but over time, one might grow to like it more and more. Or,
the longer one is in a new town, the more one may grow to like its
traits and quirks.
normative social influence
When you first got to high school, was there a particular group you
fell into? In what way did your behavior or other things you did
change as a result of being in that group? This can be a good or bad
phenomenon.
If you fell in with a group of learners, perhaps your grades improved
because you decided to study more to maintain status in your new
flock of friends. If you fell in with a bunch of hoodlums, to fit in you
perhaps pushed around students smaller than you or took their
lunch money. Fitting into group dynamics by doing certain things to
gain approval is called normative social influence.
norms
Norms are the rules defining appropriate and inappropriate
behavior.
In the United States, the shaking of hands is appropriate as a form
of greeting (a norm) while the slapping of a child for corrective
purposes in public, while previously accepted, is no longer
considered appropriate.
out-group homogeneity
Out-group homogeneity is the idea of lumping all out-groups into
similar categories, exhibiting similar behaviors simply because they
are parts of an out-group.
prejudice
Prejudice is a negative attitude toward an entire group of people,
such as a racial or ethnic minority. Researchers have connected
prejudice to the “fear of the stranger,” religious/nationalist
chauvinism and fear of economic competition and can be reduced
through greater interaction.
reciprocity
A young family moves into a new neighborhood. As they are
moving things into the house, one of the neighbors arrives with a
newly baked apple pie. It smells delicious and after a long day of
moving, the family are grateful for the gift. The neighbor waves
good-bye and returns to her house across the street. Later that
week, the same neighbor knocks on the family’s door and after
some pleasantries, asks if they would be willing to join their
neighborhood association that provides services for those in need.
The new family thinks of the apple pie and feels they cannot
refuse.
This gift giving to get the recipient to do something at a later date is
called reciprocity.
roles
Roles refers to social ranking that is similar to group dynamics.
Consider all the roles you have: daughter/son, brother/sister, friend,
worker, student, adherent to a faith, runner, etc. It can be
depressing to think of how many roles you have but it also shows
the extent and variance of your interaction with others.
scapegoat theory
As the name might suggest, scapegoat theory is the practice of
blaming a personal failing upon someone else.
self-fulfilling prophecy
American automaker Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you
can or can’t, you are right.” This speaks to an internal version of selffulfilling prophecy – the tendency to allow preconceived notions of
another to dominate how the nature of that relationship. The
treatment tends to bring out the “notions” in the other person, ergo
affirming them.
self-serving bias
dispositional and situational attributions
Self-serving bias refers to how people explain successes or failures
so as to save or enhanced our self-esteem.
A student who just finished and aced a test high-fives and chest
bumps his classmates, demanding congratulations for his brilliance
(dispositional attributions). On the next test, the student fails
miserably. Out in the hallway and in conspiratorial tones, he tells a
few students that the teacher hates him and anyway, he did not
sleep that well the night before because he was sick. Therefore, he
could not study (situational attributions).
social cognition
Social cognition refers to the processes we use to understand the
world around us.
If you never attended a Catholic Church before, there are many
things that you are observing and taking in for the purpose of
understanding your surroundings and ensuring you are doing things
“correctly.”
social facilitation
When in front of an audience, there are some people that rise to
the occasion and can perform tasks that are not done nearly as well
alone. This concept is called social facilitation.
Some athletes practice in an almost perfunctory sort of way, not
able to reach an apex of performance. However, once the event is
afoot, these athletes seem to be able to find another “gear” that
allows for an athletic bravura.
social group
A social group is composed of people who have several
characteristics in common and tend to maintain contact with one
another, share thinking or behaving, typically take into account one
behavior and have shared goals and interests.
social loafing
One of the biggest complaints heard about group work is that in
every group, there is one student who does nothing. They are
content to let the rest of the group work. This is called social loafing.
Because group work is often assessed as a group, the slacker is feels
no particular reason to put forth maximum effort but would, if the
situation was reverse.
social psychology
Social psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with the way
individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by
others.
There are six broad topics typically discussed within this discipline:
Person perception
Attribution processes
Interpersonal attraction
Attitudes
Conformity and obedience Behavior in groups
stereotype
A stereotype refers to unreliable generalizations about all members
of a certain group, failing to recognize the individual differences
within a group.
Stereotypes are often used to judge or characterize a group of
people, essential as a part of labeling theory.