Social Psychology

Agentic state: the person surrenders their own free will to someone of a higher authority, even if this causes them distress.

Autonomous state: when in an autonomous state people are said to have free will and control their own actions. They take responsibility for what they do and are aware of the consequences.

Moral strain: according to Milgram moral strain is the negative feeling caused by doing something we believe to be wrong but feel compelled to do because of the social situation.

In/out-group: an in-group is a group to which a person belongs, or thinks he or she belongs. An out-group is a group to which a person does not belong, or thinks he or she does not belong.

Social catergorisation: according to Tajfel social categorisation occurs when we categorise ourselves and others as members of various social groups. By doing so we tend to exaggerate the similarities of those in the same group and exaggerate the differences between those in different groups

Social identifiction: occurs when individuals take on aspects of the group identity as their own such as adopting the group’s norms of behaviour and adopting the opinions and attitudes of the group.

Social comparison: occurs when members of an in-group in order to make their in-group seem superior good make unfair negative comparisons to the out-group.

Prejudice: negative opinions/pre-conceived beliefs held against without any facts or meeting them.

Discrimination: refers to behaviors directed against another group. 

Stereotyping: are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions. This is linked to labelling.

Social psychology is 'the study of how our behaviour is influenced by the presence, attitudes and actions of other people'.

Key Assumptions:

Individuals and groups affect our behaviour