Felicia McCaw
Social Psychology

Describe the major theories within the field of social psychology.

•Attribution Theory- The process by which people use information to make inferences about the causes of behavior or events.

•Balance Theory – A theory that people desire cognitive consistency or balance in their thoughts, feelings, and social relationships.

•Bystander Intervention Model – A theory that whether bystanders intervene in an emergency is a function of a five-step decision-making process.

•Cognitive Dissonance - A feeling of discomfort caused by performing an action that is inconsistent with one’s attitudes.

•Cognitive-Neoassociationist Model – A theory of impulsive aggression that aversive events produce negative affect, which stimulates the inclination to aggress.

•Control Theory of Self-Regulation - A contending that, through self-awareness, people compare their behavior to a standard, and if there is a discrepancy, they work to reduce it.

•Distraction-Conflict Theory – According to the distraction conflict theory, when one is working on a task, the presence of others or the presence of novel stimuli is distracting. This distraction produces a conflict between paying attention to the task and paying attention to these stimuli. This conflict causes arousal to increase, which leads to the social facilitation effects previously discussed.

•Dual-Process Theories - Theories of social cognition that describe two basic ways of thinking about social stimuli, one involving automatic, effortless thinking and the other involving more deliberate, effortful thinking.

•Elaboration Likelihood Model - A theory that persuasive messages can cause attitude change in two ways, each differing in the amount of cognitive effort or elaboration it requires.

•Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis – A theory proposing that experiencing empathy for someone in need produces an altruistic motive for helping.

•Evolutionary Psychology - An approach to psychology based on the principle of natural selection.

•Expectation States Theory – A theory that states that the development of group status is based on members’ expectations of others’ probable contributions to the achievement of group goals.

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•Implicit Personality Theory - Assumptions or naive belief systems people make about which personality traits and behaviors go together.

•Negative State Relief Model – A theory suggesting that for those in a bad mood, helping others may be a way to lift their own spirits if the perceived benefits for helping are high and the cost are low.

•Observational learning (social learning) - A theory that social behavior is primarily learned by observing and imitating the actions of others, and secondarily by being directly rewarded and punished for our own actions.

•Self-Perception Theory - The theory that we often infer our internal states, such as our attitudes, by observing our behavior.

•Self-Verification Theory - The process of seeking out and interpreting situations so as to confirm one’s self-concept.

•Social Comparison Theory - The theory that proposes that we evaluate our thoughts and actions by comparing them to those of others.

•Social Dominance Theory – A theory contending that societal groups can be organized in a power hierarchy in which the dominant groups enjoy a disproportionate share of the society’s assets and the subordinate groups receive most of its liabilities.

•Social Exchange Theory - The theory that proposes that we seek out and maintain those relationships in which the rewards exceed the costs.

•Social Learning Theory – A theory that social behavior is primarily learned by observing and imitating the actions of others, and secondarily by being directly reward and punished for our own actions.

•Social Identity Theory - A theory suggesting that people week to enhance their self-esteem by identifying with specific social groups and perceiving these groups as being better tan other groups.

•Social Impact Theory - The theory that the amount of social influence others have depends on their number, strength, and immediacy to those they are trying to influence.

•Social Penetration Theory - A theory that describes the development of close relationships in terms of increasing self-disclosure.

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•System Justification Theory - A theory proposing that members of disadvantaged groups often adopt belief endorsing the legitimacy and fairness of the unequal group status hierarchy in society.

•Theory of Planned Behavior - The theory that people’s decisions to engage in specific actions are determined by their attitudes toward the behavior, the relevant subjective norms, and their perceived behavioral control.

•Theory of Psychological Reactance - The theory that people believe they possess specific behavioral freedoms, and that they will react against and resit attempts to limit this sense of freedom.

•Threat-to-Self-Esteem Model – A theory stating that if receiving help contains negative self-messages, recipients are likely to feel threatened and respond negatively.

What is “Social Influence” and what are the three consequences?

Social Influence is the ability to have social status in the world to cause people to change attitudes, behavioral patterns in a particular direction or to perform a desired act (actions).

Three consequences of Social Influence are:

•Conformity – A yielding to perceived group pressure by copying the behavior and beliefs of others.
•Compliance – Publicly acting in accord with a direct request.
•Obedience –The performance of an action in response to a direct order .

What is “Conformity”? and how does it develop?

Conformity is a yielding to perceived group pressure by copying the behavior and beliefs of others (emulating). It develops by feeling the need to fit in and not wanting to be left out and in order to travel with the pack …it is necessary to do all acts like them or be left out or left behind with the door closed in face.

What factors influence Conformity?

Factors that influence conformity is ease of life, acceptance in the group or gang, camaraderie, no troubling incidents, no stress and shallow acceptance.

What is “Compliance/Obedience?” What increases and decreases them?

Compliance is the act of publicly accepting a direct request and acting upon it.

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External compliance – is the act of performing to a direct request even if the act causes some discomfit or if the request is something that is disagreed upon.

Internal Compliance – involves both acting and believing in accord with a request (it cause no discomfit).

Obedience is performance in response to a direct order.

What increases and decreases them?

Compliance

Increases
Positive Feedback
Monetary Compensation
Ease of Life
Habit
Cultural
Ritual

Decreases
Negative Feedback
Non-Monetary Gain
Object to idea or behavior
Rebellion
Non=Cultural
Non-Ritual

Obedience

Increases
Direct Order
Respect
Feelings of Being Helpful
Duty
Honor
Cultural
Freedom to choose

Decreases
Lack of Authority
Non-Respect
Selfishness
Not their responsibility
No Honor
Non-Cultural
Resentment of Restrictions

The Nature of Groups and their influence.

The nature of groups is that it consists of several interdependent people who have emotional ties and who interact on a regular basis. These people depend on one another to achieve group goals, but events that affect one member affect others as well.

A group’s influence allows a lot of input from several to accomplish a set goal that might allow the compiling or initiating of a new plan of action to be done. Being part of a group allows everyone to get their kudos even if only one stands out and pushes the others in the right direction. The closer knit the group the better the communication and allowance of goals to be obtained quickly and easier.

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How do groups impact decision making?

Groups allow the ability to be used for decision making because all are instrumental in accomplishing a task that affects decision making, policy changes, task-oriented needs which cannot be obtained alone and need input from several and not just one.

What is Leadership?

Leadership is the ability to take charge and ensure a task is done by organizing subordinates efficiently to get the task done.

How do Leaders impact others?

Further as the leader this person has to exert the most influence and provides direction and energy to the group to help keep them motivated and inspired. Also, as the leader this person has to allow input as well as ingenious ideas to be explored and utilized if streamlining is possible and renovations are needed to affect changes.

What happens when group interest conflict with personal interests?

If personal interests are the sole interest in a participant in a group then this negatively affect the entire group and upset the cohesiveness of the group. If the group interest conflicts detrimentally with the personal interests this may cause lack of cohesion and an inability to be effective and may signal the need for the group to be dismantled.

Discuss how obedience works. How is it helpful? Hurtful? Discuss the “Social Impact Theory”.

Obedience is a behavioral pattern that reacts to direct stimuli that request or demands a certain response. Since most of us are taught from an early age to obey authority figure this has instilled behavioral training that is transcended through the years of aging.

How is it helpful?

It is helpful because it allows societal and legalistic norms to stay in place and keep the path of learning to follow and obey orders.

Hurtful?

Blind obedience is a fault in itself – a person is not free unless individual thought is allowed as well as the ability to consent or deny. Being a puppet requires no great thought. Does it?

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Discuss the “Social Impact Theory”.

According to the text, the Social Impact Theory states that the amount of influence others have in a given situation (their Social Impact) is a function of three factors: their numbers, strength and immediacy.

Furthermore, the more people involved the more influential they are and this allows their objectives to become easier to access. If the would-be-influencers have status, expertise, money and power this affects their objective and that is to influence and change.

Discussion the three factors that foster compliance in society

The three factors that foster compliance in society is to install a positive mood, indicate reciprocity (one favor deserves one back) and giving reasons to comply.

Installing a positive mood is necessary if you want compliance in any aspect of life. Being in a good mood enhances the chances of compliance and success. Further, knowing that reciprocity is forthcoming allows and ensures the possibility of getting a desired act accomplished and is a great strategic tool. Also, giving reasons for compliance is a logical approach to granting a request because it allows positive interaction, feedback and possible returned interaction and compliance.
Leadership

Do you think leaders are born or created?

In my opinion, I believe that leaders are created and to me in order to be effective as a leader you have to have the ability to take charge and ensure a task is done by organizing subordinates efficiently to get the task done.

What makes for a great leader?

To be a great leader this person has to exert the most influence and provides direction and energy to the group to help keep them motivated and inspired. Also, as the leader this person has to allow input as well as ingenious ideas to be explored and utilized if streamlining is possible and renovations are needed to affect changes.