Student Chapter 10

Social perception is the process of knowing and evaluating other persons.

Social facilitation is the tendency for the presence of others to enhance performance on simple tasks and impair performance on complex tasks.

Attribution is an explanation we create to explain a person's behavior.

Attribution Theory describes how people explain the causes of behavior, which can be categorized as either situational or personal.

The Fundamental Attribution Error is a tendency to overestimate the impact of personal causes of behavior while overlooking the role of situational factors.

In individualistic cultures, there is an overestimation of personal factors and an underestimation of situational factors when making attributions about behavior.

Collectivistic cultures tend to take a holistic view that emphasizes the relationship between individuals and their social roles, leading to more situational attributions. In contrast, individualistic cultures often focus on personal attributions.

The Primacy Effect refers to the tendency for impressions of others to be heavily influenced by information that appears early in an interaction. This occurs due to:

1. Less attention to evidence after forming an impression.
2. The Change-of-Meaning Hypothesis, where inconsistent information is interpreted in light of the initial impression.

Behavioral confirmation bias refers to the tendency to interpret new information based on existing beliefs and preferences, which can lead to the creation of support for those beliefs. This can result in altered behaviors that reinforce the initial beliefs.

The study demonstrated that when teachers were given positive or negative expectations about a student, they altered their behavior towards that student, which set into motion a self-fulfilling prophecy. This means that the expectations influenced the students' performance, confirming the teachers' initial beliefs.

1. Opinion formed of a target person
2. Perceiver behaves consistently with the first impression
3. Behavior adjustment from the target person

The mere-exposure effect is the attraction to a stimulus that results from increased exposure to it, suggesting that familiarity can lead to increased fondness.

The most powerful factors in determining how much we like someone are similarity and attractiveness.

People prefer to associate with others who are similar to themselves, avoiding those who are very different. Friends and couples tend to share common attitudes, interests, and demographic characteristics such as age, race, religion, education level, intelligence, height, and economic status.

The more similar two individuals are, the better the chances that the relationship will last.

Physical attractiveness is the most influential aspect of appearance, affecting how individuals are treated in various social contexts.

Research shows that attractive individuals are treated better by teachers, employers, judges, and juries, indicating a bias towards physical appearance in social evaluations.

The attractiveness halo effect refers to the phenomenon where individuals perceived as beautiful are also assumed to possess positive traits, such as being good or kind.

In a study on mock job interviews, ratings of physical appearance were found to be positively correlated with initial impressions, suggesting that attractiveness influences first impressions significantly.

People generally prefer faces that have features that are not too different from the average and are symmetrical. This includes eyes, noses, lips, and other facial features.

Yes, when people rate faces on a 10-point scale, there are typically high levels of agreement over which faces are considered more or less attractive.

Cultural differences lead to varying standards of beauty, as people from different cultures enhance their appearance in unique ways. Additionally, preferences for specific body structures, such as the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), can differ across cultures, indicating that beauty is relative and context-dependent.

The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is a highly researched indicator of attractiveness across various cultures. Studies show that men's preferred WHR in women can vary depending on cultural context, highlighting the relativity of beauty standards.

Milgram's window study shows that social influence can be automatic and nonconscious. In the study, when research confederates stopped and stared at a window, 80% of passersby also stopped to look up, indicating a strong tendency to follow the behavior of others without conscious thought.

Conformity is the tendency to alter one's opinion or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms.

In Asch's experiment, participants were asked to indicate which of three comparison lines was identical in length to a standard line. Participants took turns giving their judgments, with one participant waiting for their turn next to last.

In Asch's experiment, participants conformed to the incorrect majority 37% of the time, even when the correct answer was clear.

Informational influence is conformity motivated by the belief that others are correct, leading individuals to assume that the majority is correct.

Normative influence is conformity motivated by a fear of social rejection, where individuals conform to fit in with the group.

Participants in Asch's experiment experienced conformity through both informational and normative influences, as they were influenced by the responses of others in the group.

Group size has a significant effect on conformity, with a notable influence observed up to 4 confederates. Beyond that number, additional confederates have negligible impact on conformity levels.

The presence of just one confederate who provides the correct answer can reduce conformity by almost 80 percent, highlighting the impact of dissenting opinions on group behavior.

In many Western cultures, independence and autonomy are highly valued, while in many Eastern cultures, social harmony and 'fitting in' for the sake of the community are prioritized, affecting conformity levels.

In Milgram's initial study, 65% of participants delivered the ultimate punishment of 450 volts when ordered by the experimenter, demonstrating a high level of obedience to authority even when it involved inflicting pain.

Factors influencing obedience include:

1. Authority Figure: Variations in the authority figure can affect obedience levels.
2. Victim Proximity: The closer the learner (victim) is to the teacher, the lower the obedience levels.
3. Experimenter Proximity: The farther the experimenter is from the teacher, the lower the obedience.
4. Setting: A less professional setting results in lower percentages of obedient participants.

Attitude is a positive, negative, or mixed reaction to any person, object, or idea.

1. Central route to persuasion: Involves careful thinking about a message and being influenced by its arguments.

2. Peripheral route to persuasion: Involves not thinking carefully about a message and being influenced by superficial cues.

Cognitive dissonance is an unpleasant psychological state that arises when individuals behave in ways that are inconsistent with their attitudes, leading to a clash between their cognitions about themselves and the world.

Social facilitation refers to the phenomenon where the presence of others increases arousal, which can enhance performance on simple or well-learned tasks. However, it can also lead to performance declines on complex or new tasks due to increased anxiety or distraction.

The presence of others increases arousal, enhancing the 'dominant' response. This leads to improved performance on easy tasks but impaired performance on difficult tasks.

Social loafing is the tendency for people to exert less effort in group tasks when individual contributions are pooled. It is commonly found in cooperative joint activities and tends to increase with group size.

Reasons for social loafing include:

1. Individuals perceive their own contribution as unessential to the group's success.
2. There is less concern about personal evaluation.
3. Individuals may slack off to avoid appearing as the 'sucker' who works harder than others.

This phenomenon occurs because individuals often do not see the connection between their own effort and the desired outcome.

Aggression is defined as behavior intended to inflict harm on someone who is motivated to avoid it.

Human behavior is the product of the interaction of many factors, including genetic factors and environmental influences.

There are consistent sex differences in aggression, with males being more physically aggressive than females, which is influenced by testosterone.

Genetic factors play a role in aggression, although it is unsure how large this role is.

The frustration–aggression hypothesis is the theory that frustration causes aggression against the source of frustration or a scapegoat.

Altruism is helping behavior that is motivated primarily by a desire to benefit others, not oneself.

The story of Kitty Genovese highlights the phenomenon of bystander intervention and raises questions about why individuals may fail to help others in distress, despite being aware of the situation.

Latané and Darley found that the response to emergencies is strongly influenced by group size. Participants in a two-person discussion were more likely to leave for help immediately, while those in larger groups were less likely to intervene and were slower to do so.

The bystander effect is the phenomenon where the presence of others inhibits helping behavior in an emergency situation, leading to fewer individuals intervening as the number of bystanders increases.

Bystanders go through the following steps before helping:

1. Notice the event
2. Interpret it as an emergency
3. Take responsibility for helping
4. Decide to intervene
5. Act on that decision

The presence of others can inhibit helping behavior due to diffusion of responsibility, where individuals in a group assume that someone else will take action, leading to a decreased likelihood of any one person intervening.

Helping behavior is influenced by various characteristics, including:

• Victim characteristics (e.g., perceived need for help)
• Bystander characteristics (e.g., personal traits, relationship to the victim)
• Situational factors (e.g., the context of the emergency)

Individualism is a cultural orientation in which personal goals and preferences take priority over group allegiances.

Collectivism is a cultural orientation in which cooperation and group harmony take priority over the self.

Social norms are implicit rules of conduct according to which each culture operates, guiding behavior within that culture.

1. Complexity of a society: More complex industrialized societies lead to less loyalty to any one group and a greater focus on personal goals.

2. Affluence of a society: Prosperity promotes financial independence, social independence, and a focus on personal goals.

3. Heterogeneity: Culturally diverse societies are more permissive of dissent, allowing for greater individual expression compared to homogeneous societies.

In individualistic cultures, people view themselves as independent entities with unique dispositions. In contrast, in collectivist cultures, individuals see themselves as interdependent, part of a larger social network that includes family, coworkers, and friends.

Discrimination is behavior directed against persons because of their affiliation with a 'different' social, racial, ethnic, or religious group.