Chapter 3 of 811% of exam

Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior

This domain covers social cognition, social influence, group processes, personality theory, and cultural and identity factors including acculturation, intersectionality and oppression. Classic experiments appear often, so know what was manipulated and what was found.

Social influence

Conformity, obedience and compliance studies are tested through their key manipulations and results. Know which variable raised or lowered the effect, not just the study's name. Persuasion models describe when a message changes attitudes and how long the change lasts.

Conformity

In Asch's line studies, one dissenting ally sharply reduced conformity, while enlarging a unanimous majority beyond three or four added little.

Asch (1956)

Obedience

In Milgram's original study, 26 of 40 participants (65%) continued to the maximum 450-volt level.

Milgram (1963)

Compliance techniques

Foot-in-the-door starts with a small request; door-in-the-face starts with a large request that is refused.

Freedman & Fraser (1966); Cialdini et al. (1975)

Persuasion routes

With low motivation or ability to elaborate, attitudes shift through peripheral cues and the change is less durable.

Petty & Cacioppo (1986)

Social cognition and attitudes

Social cognition covers how people explain behavior, form impressions and resolve inconsistency between attitudes and actions. The outline names person perception, stereotypes and prejudice. Classic studies here are tested by their exact result, which is often the reverse of intuition.

Cognitive dissonance

Participants paid $1 to call a dull task fun later rated it more enjoyable than those paid $20.

Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)

Fundamental attribution error

Observers overweight dispositions and underweight situational constraints, even when told a position was assigned.

Jones & Harris (1967); Ross (1977)

Bystander effect

More bystanders made help less likely and slower; the seizure study attributed this to diffusion of responsibility.

Darley & Latane (1968)

Groups and intergroup relations

The outline lists group and systems processes, social relationships and major personality theories. Items ask how the presence of others changes performance and what reduces conflict between groups. Trait models of personality, especially the five-factor model, are tested by definition.

Social facilitation

The presence of others raises arousal and strengthens dominant responses, improving well-learned performance and impairing new performance.

Zajonc (1965)

Superordinate goals

Intergroup hostility fell when groups had to cooperate toward goals neither could reach alone; pleasant contact alone did not do it.

Sherif et al. (1961)

Big Five personality

The five-factor model comprises neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Costa & McCrae (1992)

Culture, identity and oppression

The outline names privilege, cross-cultural comparison, acculturation, identity diversity, intersectionality and the effects of oppression. Items usually present a client's situation and ask which framework describes it. Each framework has a specific originating source worth knowing.

Acculturation strategies

Integration keeps the heritage culture while participating in the larger society; assimilation, separation and marginalization are the other three strategies.

Berry (1997)

Intersectionality

Overlapping identities such as race and gender produce experiences of discrimination that single-axis analysis misses.

Crenshaw (1989)

Minority stress

Distal stressors are external prejudice events; proximal stressors include expecting rejection, concealment and internalized stigma.

Meyer (2003)

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