Bernstein et al., Psychology, 6/e Keyterms

Textbook Site for:

Psychology, Sixth Edition
Douglas A. Bernstein - University of South Florida and University of Southampton
Louis A. Penner - University of South Florida
Alison Clarke-Stewart - University of California, Irvine
Edward J. Roy - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Keyterms
Chapter 18: Social Influence

Norms are learned, socially based rules that dictate correct and incorrect behavior for various situations. Norms vary with the culture, subculture, and situation. (see Social Influence)
Example: Many of your daily behaviors follow the social norms present in our culture. Sometimes it is easier to understand norms by thinking about what would happen if they were broken. Think, for instance, what would happen if you broke the social norm dictating that you may not go shopping wearing only your underwear.
Deindividuation occurs when people in a group temporarily lose their individuality and behave in ways that they would not otherwise. (see Social Influence)
Example: Molly is usually a very quiet individual. However, when in the crowd at a football game, she joined others in jeering and booing the officials.
Social facilitation occurs when the presence of other people improves performance. Usually, the presence of others increases arousal because it indicates to performers that they will be evaluated. (see Linkages: Motivation and the Presence of Others)
Example: Jon doesn't run as fast by himself as he does when in a race.
Social impairment occurs when the presence of other people hinders performance by increasing arousal. Usually, new, complex, or difficult tasks are most vulnerable to social impairment. (see Linkages: Motivation and the Presence of Others)
Example: Tony has practiced the song "Mad Man" on his bongo drums only a few times and is now playing it for his instructor. He is making even more mistakes than he did when he practiced by himself.
Social loafing occurs when an individual working in a group exerts less effort than when working alone because the group "hides" his or her individual performance. (see Linkages: Motivation and the Presence of Others)
Example: Helmut is a bright but lazy individual. In work groups at the office, he goes to all the meetings on his projects but exerts very little effort, knowing that nobody will really be able to measure his personal performance in the group.
Conformity occurs when people change their behavior or beliefs as a result of real or imagined unspoken group pressure. (see Conformity and Compliance)
Example: Jill wears a suit to the office because all her coworkers wear suits.
Compliance occurs when people adjust their behavior because of the directly expressed wishes of an individual or a group. (see Conformity and Compliance)
Example: Carlotta, Cecelia, and Carmen are sisters. Their mother tells them that if they want to go swimming, they must all clean their rooms. Carlotta and Cecelia hurry to straighten their rooms, but Carmen at first refuses to touch the mess in her bedroom. After Carlotta and Cecelia repeatedly ask Carmen to help, Carmen finally complies and cleans her room.
In minority influence a numerical minority in a group influences the behavior or beliefs of the majority. (see When Do People Conform?)
Obedience occurs when people comply with a demand, rather than a request, because they think they must or should do so. (see Obedience)
Example: Carlotta's mother tells her that she must clean her room, and Carlotta obeys.
Aggression is an act intended to harm another person. (see Aggression)
Example: Ned is playing in the sandbox at the playground when other children begin to insult him. He retaliates by throwing sand in their faces with the express purpose of hurting them.
The frustration-aggression hypothesis suggests that stress produces a readiness to act aggressively but that aggression will occur only if there are cues in the environment that are associated with an aggressive response. It also proposes that the direct cause of most aggression is negative affect. (see Frustration and Aggression)
Example: After attempting nine slam dunks of the basketball and missing them all, Kimberly is in a bad mood. She notices a bully shoving her brother around the park. Although not usually violent, she reacts by punching the bully in the stomach.
Environmental psychology is the study of how people's behavior is affected by the environment in which they live. (see Environmental Influences on Aggression)
Example: Heat, air pollution, noise, and overcrowding are environmental factors that contribute to aggression. Bill is a paramedic in Chicago. He hates the summer because the number of violent calls his ambulance receives increases dramatically as the temperature rises in June, July, and August.
Helping behavior is any act that is intended to benefit another person. (see Altruism and Helping Behavior)
Example: Sophie knows that one of her best friends is working extremely hard and has barely enough time to clean, cook, and do laundry. Sophie, an excellent cook, prepares three weeks' worth of dinners for her friend.
Altruism is a desire to help another person rather than benefit oneself. (see Altruism and Helping Behavior)
Example: People who sacrifice their own lives in order to save others' are acting altruistically.
The arousal: cost-reward theory explains that people help if they are distressed by someone's need and if the costs of not helping outweigh the costs of helping. (see Arousal: Cost-Reward Theory)
Example: Juan feels terrible when he sees that Mary's fall on the sidewalk has injured her and scattered her packages everywhere. He knows that he'll be late to work if he helps, but after a moment he decides that his guilt over not helping would be worse than having to explain his late arrival.
The empathy-altruism theory proposes that helping is often a result of empathy with the person in need of help. (see Empathy-Altruism Theory)
Example: Sandeep knows what it feels like to be totally confused about a homework assignment, so he feels badly for his classmate Randy and stays after class to clarify the directions. Other students who don't feel empathy for Randy leave the two to work out the problem together.
Cooperation is any type of behavior in which several people work together to attain a goal. (see Cooperation, Competition, and Conflict)
Example: Claudia and Missy are sisters. Until they were teenagers, they could not stand each other. However, once they realized that they were interested in breaking the same parental rules, they began to cooperate and cover for each other.
Competition exists whenever individuals try to attain a goal for themselves while denying that goal to others. (see Cooperation, Competition, and Conflict)
Example: James is very intelligent. He knows that he can win a scholarship given to the highest-ranking student at the end of the year. He formulates a competitive strategy and stops tutoring his classmates.
Conflict exists when one person believes that another person stands in the way of something of value. (see Cooperation, Competition, and Conflict)
Social dilemmas are situations in which an action that is most rewarding for each individual will, if adopted by all, become disastrous for everyone. (see Social Dilemmas)
Example: If one person in a residence hall chooses to litter the hallway with unwanted papers, the behavior may be rewarded by its ease in ridding the person of garbage. If everyone chooses to litter the hallways, however, the hallways will eventually be too full of garbage to walk through.
The prisoner's dilemma is a game that tests a person's willingness and tendency to cooperate. Pairs of subjects are presented with a choice of behaviors. One choice does nothing for either subject; another choice moderately rewards both subjects; and a third rewards one subject and does nothing for the other subject. (see Social Dilemmas)
Example: Alison's video game gives the greatest number of total points when both players press the "buddies" button. Alison gets more points individually, however, when the other player presses the buddies button and Alison presses the "rivals" button. The risk is that if they both push the rivals button, they lose their points, but neither knows what the other will do. Alison thinks that getting the same number of points as the other player by pressing the buddies button is not very interesting; therefore, she decides to press the rivals button once in a while.
In a resource dilemma people share a common resource, creating conflicts between the individual and the group and between short- and long-term interests. (see Social Dilemmas)
Zero-sum games are situations in which one person must lose so that another may gain. (see Interpersonal Conflict)
Example: At a swim meet, one person is declared the winner of each race. The other swimmers may place second or third in a race, but they cannot win.
Task-oriented leaders are those who provide close supervision, discourage group discussion, and give many directives. (see Group Leadership)
Example: Rebecca knows that to get the construction estimate out by noon, she'll need to give each worker a job. As they work on their separate contributions, she'll track their progress to ensure that each can accomplish her or his part. Rebecca doesn't think it's necessary to get the workers' opinions, especially since there is not much time.
Person-oriented leaders are those who provide loose supervision, ask for group members' ideas and opinions, and demonstrate concern for subordinates' feelings. (see Group Leadership)
Example: Each time his group has a new project, Lorcan first asks group members to contribute ideas without censoring them. Eventually the group works together to choose the best ideas and Lorcan tries to ensure that everyone is in agreement.
Groupthink is the deterioration over time of a small, closely knit group's ability to evaluate realistically the available options and the decisions it makes. (see Groupthink)
Example: The union leaders discussing the latest contract proposal tend to ignore any suggestion that it is fair. The head of the union does not believe they should accept any contract that gives them a cut in pay. The small group discussing it is unaware that some union members are willing to make that sacrifice; therefore, they keep rejecting the company's offers.





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