Social Relations - Conflict, Cooperation, and Attraction

Prejudice

Social psychologists define prejudice as an unjustifiable, often negative attitude toward a group and its members. It can stem from many factors; for example, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political persuasion, or body type. In addition, prejudice often comes in tandem with stereotypes about a group. Stereotypes are widespread, generalized beliefs about a group, which may or may not be accurate, but which are problematic and lead to overgeneralizations and assumptions. In addition, stereotypes are typically fixed, and ignore the ways individuals and groups change over time. When prejudice leads a person to treat someone differently, this action becomes a form of discrimination.

Factors Affecting Prejudice

Prejudice can be explicit, meaning stated openly, or implicit, meaning hidden from the view of others or oneself. Few people admit to having a prejudice; however, measures such as the implicit association test (IAT) reveal underlying attitudes that may reflect prejudice. Three main factors affect prejudice; specifically, these are social, emotional, and cognitive. In this interactivity, you will learn about these influences. Click the player to begin.

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Aggression

What does it mean to be aggressive? Is being aggressive always bad? In psychology, aggression is any physical, verbal, or psychological action that is intended to harm or destroy. This definition differs from the common use of the word, in that it is often used in reference to competing hard for a goal "aggressively." This more positive usage may be encouraging, as when a coach tells her players to compete aggressively and win the game. In this interactivity, you will learn about the two types of aggression: impulsive and instrumental. You will also discover various biological, psychological, and social factors that influence aggression. Click the player to begin.

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Positive Social Relations

Through your examination of prejudice and aggression, you learned the ways social relations can go wrong, as well as factors that can help you reduce the chances of such negative patterns. As you know, you can have positive relationships as well. You are about to delve into ways positive relationships are plentiful, and critical to human flourishing.

Cooperation

Because cooperation is prevalent in modern human interactions, it often goes unnoticed. For example, the computer you are using right now required countless numbers of cooperating teams to build, including engineering design teams, production managers, government representatives, and bankers. Viewed from this perspective, you can characterize humans much more by cooperation than conflict. In fact, focusing on shared goals and building connections based on trust and mutual interest can move even the most obstinate conflicts toward resolution. In this interactivity, you will compare conflict and cooperation, and see how people collaborate to accomplish group goals. Click the player to begin

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Altruism

While cooperation reveals ways in which social relationships form patterns that benefit two or more parties, altruism points to a social relationship where people act to help others with no regard to benefiting themselves. This often comes at great personal risk, danger, or disadvantage. In this interactivity, you will learn more about altruism. Click the player to begin.

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Attraction

Take a moment to think about your closest friends. How did you meet? What caused you to become friends in the first place? To what extent do you share common tastes, interests, hobbies, activities, or goals? In short, what attracted you to your friends? In this interactivity, you will learn about three key factors social psychologists claim will influence how likely you are to feel attracted to someone either as a friend or romantically: proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity. Click the player to begin.

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Social Relations Review

Now that you have explored conflict, cooperation, and attraction, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Click the player to get started.