social psychology terms(notes) exam 2

genetics or inherited tendencies present at conception

learned or acquired after conception

addresses changes in a species over time

survival of the fittest example: peacock tail feathers

survival of the preferred

modern humans inherited brains, bodies, and instincts designed for an earlier era

• young males advertise their fitness or risk
• hunter gatherer risks: fast water, gravity, foods, creatures, weather, human conflict
• modern risks: electricity, internet, plagiarism, hazardous chemicals

• vary from culture to culture
• unwritten standards for accepted and expected public behavior

one's relative position in an interpersonal relationship ex. student, girlfriend, co-worker

roles change as we change interpersonal situations

change of behaviors or beliefs because of real or imagined social pressure

change behavior, but don't change belief, acting but privately disagreeing

directed to act by authority figure

acting and agreeing with a message

• changing one's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors without being urged to change
• monkey see, monkey do (freely)

• autokinetic effect
• dark room, observe how far the beam of light moved, day 1: alone, day 2: 2 other participants, over time conformity increased

a comparison line with three other lines and you were supposed to figure out which line out of the three lines was the same length as the comparison line

• change behavior but not beliefs or feelings, because one is urged to change
• monkey urged, monkey do (reluctantly)

example: Milgram's electric shock experiment

we assume others know the best answer, feeling or action, you think that they know something that you don't know, and we follow the actions of others because we want to be right

we don't want to be scorned by others, we follow others simply because we want to be liked

monkey urged, monkey does reluctantly

when a message causes a change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors

The Yale model and dual process model(aka Petty and Cacippo's dual process model, or elaboration-likelihood model)

• brainy, logical
• when persuasion comes from a careful consideration of arguments, leading to enduring agreement

• Tv and radio commericals
• when factors other than the message affect persuasion, often only temporarily

comes from careful consideration of the arguments, leading to enduring agreement

• depends on message strength and message complexity
• and on how motivated and able the recipients are to process the message