Psychology: A Crash Course by Paul Carslake

Author:Paul Carslake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ivy Press
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

In social situations, we usually find ourselves in some kind of group, whether or not by choice. Groups affect our behavior in myriad ways. If you find yourself in a group that is stigmatized in some way that is directly relevant to what you are trying to achieve, then you can end up underachieving. This phenomenon was dubbed “stereotype threat” by Claude Steele (shown here), and has been used to explore almost every facet of difference and stigma within our society, making it one of the most intensively researched areas of modern psychology.

Group membership influences people in a powerful way. Henri Tajfel (shown here) showed that simply being categorized into a group is enough for people to feel a loyalty and kinship with fellow group members, instantly triggering a sense of “us” and “them.” The more unfavorably we are able to view rival groups, he believed, the greater boost of self-esteem we appear to experience. The roots of intergroup conflict, then, don’t really need to be about anything much: Tajfel’s “social identity theory” suggests that once people are categorized, intergroup differences start to escalate. There is an element of “mob mentality”—though the mob itself exhibits some fascinating traits that have been termed “deindividuation” (shown here)—meaning we cast aside our individual personality and take on that of the group, typically one of disinhibition, extreme arguments, and uncontrolled behavior. This is as true of a fist-waving physical mob as it is of the invisible mob that inhabits social media.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.