Social Behavior Carlie West J.P. Bullen

Discrimination Positive or negative behavior toward another person based on his or her group membership. People tend to discriminate in favor of their own groups. People do things in a group that they would not normally do alone. Reasons for this: Deindividuation Diffusion of responsibility Group Polarization

Group GROUP- A collection of two or more people who believe they have something in common.

Solomon Asch’s Experiment Conformity The tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it. Standard A B C Solomon Asch’s Experiment

Obedience The tendency to do what authorities tell us to do simply because they tell us to do it. Authorities influence is normative.

Cooperation Behavior by two or more individuals that leads to mutual benefit. One of our species’ greatest achievements. The Prisoner’s Dilemma: Both confess: 10 years in prison Both don’t confess: 1 year in prison One confesses and the other doesn’t: One who confessed: go free On who doesn’t confess: 30 years in prison

Persuasion A phenomenon that occurs when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person. Systematic Persuasion: A change in attitudes or beliefs that is brought about by appeals to reason Heuristic Persuasion: A change in attitudes or beliefs that is brought about by appeals to habit or emotion.

Prejudice PREJUDICE- A positive or negative evaluation of another person based on his or her group membership. People are positively prejudice among people in their own groups. Every one of us is a member of many such groups.

Attraction For most of us, there are a very small number of people with whom we are willing to have sex, an even smaller number of people with whom we are willing to have children, and a staggeringly large number of people we are willing to have either.

Stereotype Stereotype- the process by which people draw inferences abut others based on their knowledge of the categories to which others belong.

Stereotypes can be inaccurate The inferences we draw about individuals are only as accurate as our stereotypes about the categories to which they belong.

It can be over used Human categories, are so variable that our stereotypes may offer only the vaguest of clues about the individuals who populate those categories.

Perceptual confirmation- The tendency for observers to perceive what they expect to perceive. Self fulfilling prophecy- A phenomenon whereby observers bring about what they expect to perceive. Subtyping- the process of creating a modification to a stereotype, rather than abandoning it all together, when confronted with evidence that clearly disconfirms that stereotype.

Attribution Attribution- An inference about the cause of a person’s behavior.

Test Question True/False Conformity is the tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it.