Social Norms and Persuasion: Understanding Conformity and Influence - Prof. F. Adair, Study notes of History of Psychology

Download Social Norms and Persuasion: Understanding Conformity and Influence - Prof. F. Adair and more Study notes History of Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Social Psychology 2040 Test 2 Chapter 5 Culture is the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next (our customs, foods, and religions are all part of our culture) Norms are rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper” behavior, what most others do, what is normal (there are certain universal norms such as incest, murder and stealing) 5 factors of personality are stability, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness There are 5 large social beliefs that all effect how people adhere and react to norms. They are: Cynicism (powerful people exploit others), Social complexity (circumstances effect behavior), Reward for application (if you succeed it is because you tried hard), Spirituality (people put faith in something), Fate control (fate determines one’s success and failures) Personal space is the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. Its size depends on our familiarity with whoever is near us (Men prefer more space than women, Northern hemisphere prefers more space) Collectivists have a group orientation, they are interdependent, they maintain connections to fit in, cope through “we” goals, accommodate to reality, morality defined by social networks that are duty based, they have few close enduring relationships, harmony is required, behavior reflects social norms and roles (external attributions) Individualists are independent, discover and express one’s uniqueness, “me” rights and liberties, to cope they change reality, morality is defined by the individual, relationships are many and are often temporary and casual, confrontation is acceptable, Behavior reflects one’s personality and attitudes (internal attributions) Gender in psychology refers to the characteristics, whether biological or socially influenced, by which people define male and female Gender role is a set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females We feel some inconsistency when people do not act their gender Gender typing is the process in which we acquire our gender identity and role Social learning theory says we analyze all of the things we have been rewarded and punished for Observational learning says we have informational cues that we learn to use to behave consistently with our role Gender schema theory says that culture influences our gender schema and our gender schema influences our thinking and behavior about gender Social child development Girl’s value social relationships more in their self-images, females are more empathetic and caring Empathy is the vicarious experience of another’s feelings; putting oneself in another’s shoes Males are more aggressive, less emotional, more self-reliant, and make more sexual advances Aggression is the physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone Evolutionary psychology is the study of behavior using principles of natural selection Evolutionary psychology focuses on the effect of natural selection on human behavior Natural selection is the evolutionary process by which nature selects traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environmental niches David Buss’s comprehensive study of 37 cultures found that mate selection is a process of looking for certain things because we are taught and because of evolutionary processes Alice Eglan looked at gender schemas and studied how cultural expectations define us in our gender; women value men who are ambitious and have resources and men value women who have youth and a good physical appearance Zeitgeist is the spirit of the times Certain times in history gender roles were shook up 1920- women could vote 19th amendment, WW2 females entered the workforce in large numbers, 1960-70 women’s movement for equality Role conflict can be felt when your role changes and you are trying to adjust Gender roles differ from culture to culture Nomadic culture males and females receive similar training and work assignments Agricultural societies there was a strong division of labor, men did the heavy lifting and women had household and farm chores Industrialized societies have a wide variety of roles, more free time, capacity for change, and space to define roles Gender roles interact between person and situation With Gender behaviors 2 factors interact to influence the division of labor: 1) cultural socialization, 2) Biological factors Division of labor effects actual skills and role expectations Interaction is the effect of one factor (such as biology) depends on another factor (such as environment) Chapter 6 Conformity is a change in behavior or belief to accord with others Informational influence is conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people - Behavioral change results from information received by others - The goal is to be accurate - Behavioral change reflects true beliefs - Attitude change is strong and stable Normative influence is conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often to gain acceptance - Behavioral change results from movement towards a social norm - The goal is to be socially accepted and avoid appearing different - Behavioral change does not reflect true beliefs - Attitude change (if any) is weak and unstable