Social Processes, Attitudes, and Behavior

Key Concepts

• Social Action: behavior performed with awareness of others
• Social Facilitation: arousal improves simple tasks, hinders complex tasks (Yerkes-Dodson law)
• Deindividuation: loss of self-awareness in large groups → antinormative behavior; increased with anonymity (e.g., masked crowds)
• Bystander Effect: more people present → less likely to intervene; influenced by cues, perceived danger, relationship
• Social Loafing: exert less effort in a group than individually
• Peer Pressure: changes behavior/attitudes to align with group; can be positive or negative
• Identity Shift Effect: conforming to group norms to reduce dissonance
• Cognitive Dissonance: discomfort from conflicting beliefs → motivate attitude/behavior change
• Asch Conformity Experiment: individuals conform to majority even if obviously wrong

Group Processes

• Group Polarization: group discussion amplifies dominant view → riskier or more cautious decisions
• Groupthink: desire for harmony → poor decision-making; factors include:
  1. Illusion of invulnerability
  2. Collective rationalization
  3. Illusion of morality
  4. Excessive stereotyping
  5. Pressure for conformity
  6. Self-censorship
  7. Illusion of unanimity
  8. Mindguards
• Fads: transient popularity
• Mass Hysteria: widespread societal panic (e.g., Salem witch trials)

Culture

• Shared beliefs, behaviors, customs; passed generationally
• Culture Shock: disorientation in new culture
• Assimilation: adopting majority culture (assessed via SES, geography, language, intermarriage)
• Multiculturalism: coexistence and celebration of multiple cultures
• Subculture vs Counterculture: subgroups distinguishing themselves; counterculture opposes dominant norms

Types

• Primary Socialization: childhood learning of basic norms
• Secondary Socialization: learning in specific social contexts (school, work)
• Anticipatory Socialization: preparing for future roles (cohabiting before marriage)
• Resocialization: discarding old behaviors for new contexts (military, cults)

Norms

• Mores: widely observed, enforce social control
• Sanctions: rewards or penalties for conformity/deviance
• Taboo: strongly forbidden behaviors
• Folkways: polite customs (e.g., handshakes)

Agents of Socialization

• Family, peers, school, work, media, religion

Deviance and Stigma

• Deviance: violation of norms, eliciting societal disapproval
• Stigma: social disapproval affecting identity and associations
• Theories
  • Labeling: labels influence self-image and others’ responses
  • Differential Association: deviance learned from environment
  • Strain Theory: deviance arises from gap between societal goals and means

Conformity, Compliance, Obedience

• Conformity: align attitudes/behaviors with norms
  • Internalization: adopt beliefs genuinely
  • Identification: outwardly adopt beliefs without internal agreement
• Compliance: behavior change from direct request (no authority)
  • Foot-in-the-door, Door-in-the-face, Lowball, That’s-not-all techniques
• Obedience: behavior change from authority figure’s order; stronger than compliance

Components of Attitude

• Affect: emotional response
• Behavioral: actions toward object
• Cognitive: beliefs/knowledge supporting attitude

Theories

• Functional Attitude Theory:
  1. Knowledge: provides consistency
  2. Ego-expressive: communicates identity
  3. Adaptive: socially acceptable attitudes
  4. Ego-defensive: protects self-esteem
• Learning Theory: attitudes shaped by reinforcement, punishment, observation
• Elaboration Likelihood Model:
  • Central route: deep processing
  • Peripheral route: superficial cues
• Social Cognitive Theory: attitudes learned via observation and modeling; behavior influenced by environmental feedback