Social Psychology Past Paper PDF

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: JANUARY Social norms: Implicit social rules about how people should behave. Herd mentality: The tendency to blindly follow the direction your group is moving toward. Mass psychogenic illness: A form of social contagion where symptoms of an illness appear...

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: JANUARY Social norms: Implicit social rules about how people should behave. Herd mentality: The tendency to blindly follow the direction your group is moving toward. Mass psychogenic illness: A form of social contagion where symptoms of an illness appear within a group but have no apparent physical cause. Social loafing: occurs when people working in a group reduce their individual level of effort Process loss: Reduction of effort in group settings that comes from a lack of motivation. Coordination loss: When a lack of cooperation and communication weakens a group’s effectiveness or increases social loafing. It’s less likely to happen when: The group is doing something difficult. Your contributions can be identified as coming from you. You believe that what you are doing is valuable. You are working with people you know. Minimal group paradigm – Henri Tajfel: even minor and arbitrary distinctions between groups (eyes colours, type of shirts etc.), can trigger a tendency to favor one’s own at the expense of others. When groups compete we can see that: - as members of one group we overestimate our cleverness, intuition and problem understanding (it is also true for other members of our group);  - as a member of one group we underestimate the second group cleverness, intuition and problem understanding Conformism (Conformity) - individual's tendency to follow the rules or behaviors of the social group to which they belong; Social norms demand conformity Conformity increases with larger groups with difficulty of task (lower clarity) with higher social status of other members (influential, or knowledgeable) Conformity decreases with ensured privacy Group polarization: members of a groups tend to move toward more extreme opinions/decisions than the initial inclination of its member deliberating groups Example: „A group of moderately profeminist women will become more strongly profeminist after discussion.” Social categorization – natural cognitive proces, by which we place individuals into social group, whenever we think about others in terms of their category memberships rather than on the basis of personal information (individual) ▪ social groups - social category memberships is a functional way of dealing with the world ▪ flexibility in social categorization – group and individual level ▪ unfair to individuals that are to be categorized – outgroup homogeneity between vs within - exaggerate between differences and within similarities 1. Overgeneralization: Applying characteristics of a few individuals to an entire group.  2. Inaccuracy: Stereotypes often do not accurately represent the diversity within a group. 3. Persistence: Even when confronted with contrary evidence, stereotypes may persist. Why do we keep stereotypes? it makes our mental life easier strengthen our identity – Ingroup: Any group in which you’re a member. – Outgroup: Any group in which you’re not a member. Prejudice: Emotion-centered judgments or evaluations about people based on their perceived membership in a group. Discrimination: Behaviors toward a people because of their perceived membership in a group. Gender stereotype Beliefs and behavior traits that are characteristic and usually also desirable for each sex Gender stereotypes (usually) are simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups. Beliefs about the personality traits and behaviors, which characterise MW  Positive Stereotypes Negative Stereotypes Consequences can be: INTRApersonal:different self-concept and presentation to others INTERpersonal: different treatment Types of Prosocial Behavior Helping: Providing assistance to someone in need. Sharing: Giving resources to others without expecting anything in return. Volunteering: Offering time or effort to aid others or a cause. Donating: Giving money, goods, or services to those in need Factors Influencing Helping Behavior Situational Factors: The environment and context in which the person is placed (e.g., crowd size, urgency). Personal Factors: Traits like empathy, personality, and mood that influence a person's likelihood to help. Cultural Factors: Cultural norms and values that shape how people view helping others. The Bystander Effect: people are less likely to offer help in an emergency when others are present. Explanation: Diffusion of responsibility, where each bystander assumes someone else will take action. Costs and Benefits of Helping Costs of Helping: Time, resources, energy, or risk. Benefits of Helping: Positive emotions, social approval, and social rewards.  Cost-Benefit Analysis: People weigh the costs and benefits before deciding whether to help Impact of Mood on Helping: Positive Mood: People in a good mood are more likely to help others, as helping enhances their positive emotions. Negative Mood: People who feel guilty may help to alleviate negative feelings, while others may help to boost their mood. Individual Differences in Prosocial Behavior Some people are inherently more helpful due to traits like agreeableness and empathy. Altruism: Some individuals are more inclined toward selflessness and helping others without expecting anything in return.