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Social Psychology Notes (Culture (8 Important things about culture (There…
Social Psychology Notes
Social Psychology
The study of how individuals behave, think, and feel in social situations (that is, in the presents, actual or implied of others).
Social Roles
Patterns of behavior of persons in various positions
Mother/Father
Daughter/Son
Student
Teacher
Friend
Significant other
Some roles are assigned; some are achieved
Positive impact
Streamlining daily interaction, actions can be anticipated
Negative impact
Role Conflict
2 or more roles make conflicting demands on a person
Groups
Group Structure
Network of roles, communication, and power in a group
Group Cohesiveness
Degree of attraction among group members, or strength of desire to be a group
In Groups
Groups that a person strongly identifies with, typically defined by social dimensions like: nationality, ethnicity, age, education, religion, income, political values, gender, sexual orientation
Out Groups
Groups that we do not identify with, we exaggerate differences between members of these groups with our own groups
Norms
A widely accepted (not openly acknowledged) standard for appropriate behavior
Based on how we perceive what others think and do
Created when groups converge (come together) on attitudes, believes and behaviors
Problematic because people do not speak up when tings are wrong
Social Cognition
Thinking about ourselves and others from a social context (comparing, and forming attributes)
Social Comparison Theory
Comparing your own actions, feelings, opinions, or abilities to those of others.
Downward Comparison
When we feel threatened
Contrast self with a person who ranks lower than you
Upward Comparison
Increases dissatisfaction, can be used for self-motivation
Compare ourselves to people who rank higher than you
Attribution Theory
The process of making inferences about the causes of one's own behavior, and that of others
External Causes
A cause of behavior that is assumed to lie outside the person
Internal Causes
A cause of behavior that assumed to lie within a person- for instance, a need, reference, or personality trait.
Fundamental Attribution Error
We attribute behavior of others to internal causes
Actor-Observer Bias
Attributing behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing own behavior to external causes (situations and circumstances)
Self-Hanficapping
Arranging to preform under conditions that usually impair performance, so as to have an excuse for a poor job done
Makes people feel better in situations where they might fail
Obedience
Conformity to the demands of an authority
Milgram's Study Discussion Questions
Is it fair to judge people for being "immoral" when they may have been pressured and psychologically tricked into following orders?
Do you think all people have evil within them, and that under certain, situations it can be brought out?
Where should a person draw the line between following orders from authority and doing something unethical?
Do you think Milgram's study justifies people's unethical actions?
What does this mean for society? Now that society is aware of the implications of the experiment of obedience, do you think society will be more cautious of when obeying authority conflicts with their personal beliefs.
Deviance
Any violation of norms
Ex. Speeding, Murder, Crime
The reaction to the act that makes it deviant (take in point of view)
Deviance changes from culture to culture and community to community
Stigma
A characteristic that discredits something
Crime
Violating of rules that haven been written into law
Laws are relative
Norms
Make social life possible because behavior is predictable
Know what to expect when buying groceries, price fixed
Sanctions
Ways of enforcing compliance with social norms
Negative Sanctions
Disapproval of deviance: frowns, gossip, imprisonment, capital punishment
Positive Sanctions
Rewards for conforming to norms
Why?
Theories
Differential Association Theory
We learn to deviate or conform based on the different groups we associate with.
Nurture plays a role
Delinquents are more likely to come from families that get in trouble with the law
Friends, neighborhood can lead to development of violence
Social Control Theory
Two control systems work against our inner motivation to deviate
Inner Controls
Internalized morality, conscience, religion, principles, ideas of right and wrong, fear of punishment, desire to be a good person
Outer Controls
People who influence us not to deviate
Stronger bonds with sociaty
Labeling Theory
Labels are significant and ones we are given become part of our self-concept
Send us on path that propels us/diverts us from deviance.
Rejecting Labels: most people resist negative lables
Functionalism Theory (deviance)
Deviance is needed in order for society to function (order)
According to functionalism, deviance has 3 purposes
Clarify moral boundaries
Promote social unity
Promote social change
Strain Threory
We achieve these goals through institutionalized means
Not everyone has equal access to institutionalized means
Society creates cultural goals
Culture
The language, beliefs, values, morals, traditions, behaviors, and material objects passed from one generation to the next in a society.
A person's culture defines the perspective of their understanding of the world around us.
Cultural Relativism
Trying to understand another culture on its own terms (not seeing another culture as superior/inferior)
Ethnocentrism
Using ones own group/cultures way of doing things to judge the way other cultures do things
Positives
Cultures Mix, Maintains Loyalty
Negatives
Conflict, Misunderstanding, Potential for Bias, Discrimination
Material Culture
Tangible items in a society
Nonmaterial Culture
A groups way of thinking/doing
Subculture
A smaller culture with in mainstream society with its own values, practices and beliefs, but still goes along with society.
Counterculture
A smaller culture whose values, practices and beliefs clash with or go against society.
8 Important things about culture
There is nothing "natural" about material culture
There is nothing "natural" about nonmaterial culture
Culture is the lens we use to understand the world
The culture we internalize, becomes the "right" way of doing things
Culture gives us the cues for how to act in situations
Coming into a different culture changes the way we see the world
Culture is universal, all people have it
All people are ethnocentric
Diversity
Understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing and accepting those differences
Diffrences
Race
Economic status
Gender
Identity
Political
Religion
Ability
Social Construction
Implicit Bais
Being unaware of the thoughts and feelings one has. Then acting in a way that seems discriminating (but not knowing)
Discrimination
Unjust action toward a social group based on personal bias about that group
Prejudice
Prejudgement before knowing someone, according to stereotypes regarding social groups.
Cultural Perspective
Social Model
Sees disability as an individual experience
focuses on the influence of economic and social structure
Interaction between bodies and environment (physical, social, cultural): Society's job to provide equal access to these things (spaces, places, opportunities), (differences among people are a part of natural human variation
Rejects persumed incompetence
Medical Model
Focuses on "normal", healthy
Sees disability as a problem that needs to be fixed
Giving a label to answer a question, categorize behavior
Results In:
over-classification/assumptions
insecurity
limited understanding
limitations