People conform under the situational circumstances of
-unanimity, when there is support
-cohesion, when they are in a group and the rest of the members conform
-public response, when they have to answer in public instead of writing in private
-influence of higher status, where a person of a higher status pressures them
and if no prior commitment has been made.
The personal factors that affect conformity are
-need for individuation, if the person wishes to be unique then he/she is less likely to conform
-desire for personal control, if the person wishes to go against the flow to assert personal control
-self presentation, if there is a person of a higher status and he/she wishes to make a good impression and if conformity is viewed as a sign of intelligence
-self awareness, if the person has private self awareness he/she is less likely to conform but instead adhere to personal standards of behaviour.
The people who conform could be because of one of the following factors
-Culture, a person from a collectivist culture is more likely to conform as compared to someone from an individualistic culture
-Personality, people who need social approval are more likely to conform to socially accepted behaviour
-Social rules, people who step into a social rule are expected to conform to social expectations for that role.
Persuasion is the process by which a message influences and changes the attitudes, beliefs and values of a person or people. There are two routes to persuasion
-Central, where the focus is on logical arguments and forcing the person to think systematically
-Peripheral, where the focus is on familiar statements that are more likely to trigger acceptance.
Aggression is defined as any form of physical or verbal behaviour that is intended to cause harm to a person, oneself or an object. There are two types of aggression
-Hostile, which stems from anger and usually dissipates with an act of aggression (an end in itself)
-Instrumental, where aggressive acts are used to assert one's stand and win an ideology or to gain control and power.
The Social Learning theory states that we learn social behaviour by observing and limiting, and by being rewarded or punished. Aggressive behaviour is often rewarding as people tend to get what they want.
Alturism is the motive to increase another's welfare without conscious regard for your own self-interests.
The Social Exchange theory believes that human interactions are merely transactions between people. The transactions aim to maximize rewards and minimize costs for oneself. There are
-External Rewards, which could be tangible like money or intangible like friendship and a good image
-Internal Rewards are rewards that cannot be seen and usually result in a sense of self-worth. Internal rewards are most valued by people that have a shaken self-image or are feeling guilty.
The Social Norm theory believe that altruism can be explained by two norms
-Social Responsibility norm, where people feel compelled to help those that are in need even if there is no potential reward
-Reciprocity norm, where people feel compelled to help those who have once aided them.
Prejudice is a preconceived negative judgement against a person or a group of people. Discrimination is unjustified negative behaviour towards a particular social group. Sterotype is a generalized belief about the personal attributes of a particular social group.
Social dilemmas happen when people pursue individual self-interest to their collective detriment. When this happens, choices that were individually rewarding have the effect of being collectively punishing.
-The Tragedy of the Commons, common resources are used and over-used by people for their individual self-interest. This leads to a depletion of the resource. When this happens, people feel that it is no longer their business and instead blame others for wasting the resource.
There are five ways to resolve social dilemmas
-Communication, discussing about a dilemma is likely to make the group more willing to cooperate and resolve it
-Changing the payoffs, making cooperation more rewarding than exploitation
-Small is beautiful, keeping the group small increases the members' sense of personal responsibility
-Regulation, coming up with a set of regulations to safeguard the common good
-Appeal to altruistic norms of Social Responsibility and Reciprocity.
The four 'C's of Peacemaking are
-Communication
(Bargaining)
(Mediation)
(Arbitration)
-Concilation
(GRIT - Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension reduction
(The initiator is usually exploited)
-Contact
(Does desegregation contribute to peacemaking?)
(Equal-status contact)
-Cooperation
(Common external threats)
(Superordinate goals)
(Cooperative learning)
(Group and superordinate identities)
That's all for now.
1130h. Everything will be over.
