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16: Social Thinking and Social Influence
16.1 The Fundamentals of Social Groups
Social psychology: Study of how individuals think and behave in social situations.
Culture: An ongoing pattern of life, characterizing a society at a given point in history.
Social Groups
Ingroup: A group with which a person identifies.
Outgroup: A group with which a person does not identify.
Characteristics of Groups
Group structure: The network of roles, communication pathways, and power in a group.
Group cohesiveness: The degree of attraction among group members or their commitment to remaining in the group.
Norm: A widely accepted (but often unspoken) standard of conduct for appropriate behavior.
Characteristics of Individuals Within Groups
Social role: Expected behavior patterns associated with particular social positions (such as daughter, worker, or student).
Role conflict: Trying to occupy two or more roles that make conflicting demands on behavior.
Social status: The degree of prestige, admiration, and respect accorded to a member of a group.
Social power: The degree to which a group member can control, alter or influence the behavior of another group member.
Social Cognition: Thinking About Group Members
Social cognition: The process of thinking about ourselves and others in a social context.
Social Comparison
Social comparison: Making judgements about ourselves through comparison with others.
Downward comparison: Comparing yourself with a person who ranks lower than you on some dimension.
Upward comparison: Comparing yourself with a person who ranks higher than you on some dimension.
Attribution: The act of assigning cause to behavior.
Situational demands: Unstated expectations that define desirable or appropriate behavior in various settings and social situations.
Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to attribute behavior to internal causes without regard to situational influences.
Actor-observer bias: The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes while attributing one’s own behavior to external causes (situations and circumstances).
Self-handicapping: Arranging to perform under conditions that usually impair performance, so as to have an excuse for a poor showing.
16.2 Attitudes
Attitude: Positive or negative perception of people, objects, or issues.
Measuring Attitudes
Open-ended interview: An interview in which persons are allowed to freely state their views.
Social distance scale: A rating of the degree to which a person would be willing to have contact with a member of another group.
Attitude scale: A collection of attitudinal statements with which respondents indicate agreement or disagreement.
Attitude Change
Reference group: Any group that an individual uses as a standard for social comparison.
Cognitive dissonance: Psychological state of having related ideas or perceptions that are inconsistent.
16.3 Social Influence
Social influence: Changes in a person’s behavior induced by the presence or actions of others.
Social facilitation: Tendency to perform better when in the presence of others.
Social interference: Tendency to perform more poorly when in the presence of others.
Mere Presence
Mere presence: The tendency for people to change their behavior just because they are in the presence of people.
Social loafing: Exerting less effort when performing a specific task with a group of people than when alone.
Conformity
Conformity: Matching behavior and appearance to perceived social norms.
Group sanctions: Rewards and punishments (such as approval or disapproval) administered by groups to enforce conformity among members.
Groupthink: Flawed decision-making in which a collection of individuals favors conformity over critical analysis.
Compliance and Persuasion
Compliance: Bending to the requests of a person who has little or no authority or other form of social power.
Persuasion: A deliberate attempt to change beliefs or behavior with information and arguments.
Foot-in-the-door effect: The tendency for a person who has first complied with a small request to be more likely later to fulfill a larger request.
Door-in-the-face effect: The tendency for a person who has refused a major request to subsequently be more likely to comply with a minor request.
Lowball technique: A strategy in which commitment is gained first to reasonable or desirable terms, which are then more less reasonable or desirable.
Obedience: Compliance with Authority Figures
Obedience: Compliance with a request from an authority figure.
Coercion: Being forced to change your beliefs or your behavior against your will.
Brainwashing: Engineered or forced attitude change involving a captive audience.
Cult: A group that professes great devotion to some person and follows that person almost without question; cult members are typically victimized by their leaders in various ways.
Self-assertion: A direct, honest expression of feelings and desires.
16.4 Psychology and Your Skill Set: Teamwork
Becoming a Team Player
Four Contributions to Be A Team Player
Help create ground rules
Ensure that everyone participates in discussions and activities
Never assume that everyone knows what you do
Model the behavior you want to see in others
Chapter in Review
16.1 The Fundamentals of Social Groups
16.1.1 Distinguish between ingroups and outgroups, and define ingroup favoritism
For social psychologists, an ingroup is any group to which you feel a sense of belonging; conversely, an outgroup is one to which you do not belong. Ingroup favoritism (or ingroup bias) refers to the fact that we behave in ways that will improve the circumstances of our ingroup, sometimes at the expense of the outgroup.
16.1.2 Define what is meant by the term group structure, group cohesiveness, norms, social roles, social status, and social power
Group structure refers to the organization of roles, communication pathways, and power within a group. Group cohesiveness is the degree of attraction among group members. Norms are standards of conduct enforced (formally or informally) by groups. Social roles define one’s position in groups and the behavior patterns associated with those social roles. Social status refers to the extent to which other group members respect or admire a person, while social power is the degree to which a person can control the behavior of group members.
16.1.3 Explain how social comparisons are typically carried out
Social comparison refers to the fact that we evaluate our own characteristics and abilities by comparing ourselves with others. Typically, it is most useful to compare ourselves with similar others. In some cases, we make downward comparisons (comparing ourselves to people who are worse off) in order to serve the goal of self-enhancement or self-protection. In others, we may engage in upward comparisons (comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are) to prompt self-improvement.
16.1.4 Discriminate between internal and external attributions and the three factors that define which type is made
Attribution theory is concerned with how we make inferences about behavior. Internal attributions are those that ascribe behavior to stable needs or characteristics of a person. External attributions ascribe behavior to something about the environment or circumstances or parentheses other people, being tired, feeling ill, having too much to do). A variety of factors affect distribution, including consistency (the extent to which the behavior is seen regularly under similar conditions), distinctiveness (the extent to which the behavior happens in other circumstances), and consensus (the extent to which others respond the same way under similar conditions).
16.1.5 Contrast the fundamental attribution error and the actor-observer bias
The fundamental attribution error (FAE) refers to a human tendency to ascribe the actions of others to internal causes. The actor-observer difference refers to the fact that when we make king and attribution for the same behavior, we tend to attribute others' behavior to internal causes (the FAE) but our own behavior to external causes.
16.2 Attitudes
16.2.1 Define the term attitude, and outline four ways in which attitudes are formed
Attitudes are learned dispositions made-up of a belief component, an emotional component, and an action component. Attitudes will be formed by the right contact, chance conditioning, interaction with others, and interaction with the media.
16.2.2 Describe three ways to measure attitudes
Attitudes are typically measured with techniques such as open-ended interviews, social distance skills, attitude skills. Attitudes expressed in these ways do not always correspond to actual behavior.
16.2.3 Outline two factors that may prompt people to change their attitudes
Attitudes may change as a result of exposure to a reference group with whom you identify. Attitudes can also change as a result of cognitive dissonance.
16.2.4 Define cognitive dissonance and outline six ways to minimize dissonance between our beliefs and behaviors
Cognitive dissonance refers to the state of which attitudes conflict in which another, or when our cognitions about an issue or inconsistent with our behavior on that issue. Social psychologists have identified at least six ways to reduce dissonance, including: changing behaviors to match the cognition, changing the belief to match the cognition, diminishing the importance of dissonant cognitions, focusing on consonant thoughts, reducing the amount of perceived choice, and attributing the belief behavior mismatched to an external cause.
16.3 Social Influence
16.3.1 Distinguish between mere presence, conformity, compliance, obedience, and coercion as methods of social influence
Social influence refers to alterations and behavior brought about by the behaviors of others. Social influence ranges from milder (mere presence, conformity, and compliance) to stronger open refuses obedience and coercion). The mere presence (that is, other people simply being perceived as close) of others can cause changes in behavior. Conformity refers to situations in which we bring our behavior into line with perceived social norms. Compliance refers to situations in which we go along with direct requests from another person. In some cases, the person has little or no authority. Obedience is a special type of compliance that takes place when we go along with the demands of an authority figure. Coercion involves forcing people to change their beliefs or behavior against their will.
16.3.2 Explain how the mere presence of others can influence behavior
The presence of others may facilitate or inhibit performance. The extent to which behavior is improved or impaired depends to some extent on self-confidence. The presence of others may also result in social loafing (the tendency to do less work when working with others on a task).
16.3.3 Describe the reason why people conform, and the conditions under which conformity is most likely
People conform when they feel uncertain about a situation because others are perceived to be a valuable source of information about the correct way to behave. In addition, people conform to address the need to be accepted by the group. Conformity is most likely when people possess certain possesses personal traits (high needs for structure certainty, high levels of anxiety and concern about the approval of others, and low levels of self-confidence), living cultures that emphasize group collaboration (such as many Asian cultures), when group membership is important, when the size of the group is large, when the size of the majority is large, and when there is unanimity of the group.
16.3.4 Outline the three factors that impact the persuasiveness of messages intended to elicit compliance
Effective persuasion occurs when characteristics of the communicator, the message, and the audience are well matched. In general, a likable and believable communicator who repeats a credible message that arouses emotion (particularly fear) in the audience and states clear cut conclusions will be persuasive, though persuasiveness also depends on the extent to which the audience is motivated and able to think carefully about the message.
16.3.5 Compare the foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face, lowball, and nudge techniques as methods of gaining compliance
The foot-in-the-door effect refers to situations in which a person who first degrees to a smaller quest is, to be consistent, later more likely to comply with a larger demand. The door-in-the-face effect describes the tendency for a person who refused the major request to agree to a smaller request. The lowball technique consists of getting a person committed to an act and then making the terms of acting less desirable. Nudges involve creating a gentle pressure that push people to act in accordance with their wishes.
16.3.6 Explain what we can learn about obedience from Stanley Milgram’s studies
Milgram’s studies help us to understand the conditions under which obedience to authority is most likely. In general, his studies did not reveal that obedience was always “blind,” but rather that it was more likely under conditions when we identify authority figures and see ourselves as associated with their ingroup.
16.3.7 Describe how captivity facilitates the brainwashing techniques that are used in coercion
Captivity places people at the mercy of their captors, who have control of their environment and can therefore engage in psychological manipulation that would not be possible in a normal setting.
16.3.8 Describe three strategies that facilitate self-assertion
Three strategies that facilitate self-assertion are rehearsing the actions you want to engage in, role-playing (or practicing those actions) with someone else, and overlearning (continuing to practice even after you have mastered those actions).
16.4 Psychology and Your Skill Set: Teamwork
16.4.1 Create a plan that will allow you to improve your teamwork skills
Working as an effective member of a team requires that we think carefully about several things, including creating ground rules, ensuring that everyone participates, providing important information to all members of the team, and modeling the behavior that you want to see from others. We hope that after reading this section, you'll be better able to think about how you can use these components to help when you are working with diverse others in your everyday life.