Social Psychology: Lecture 07

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers essential social psychology terms and classic experiments including attribution, persuasion, conformity, obedience, group dynamics, prejudice, and prosocial behaviors.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Attribution Theory

The theory proposed by Fritz Heider that individuals have a tendency to explain someone else’s behaviour using either situational factors or personality factors.

Dispositional Attribution

Also known as internal attribution, this occurs when behavior is explained by something within the person, such as their personality.

Situational Attribution

Also known as external attribution, this occurs when behavior is explained by factors outside the person, such as their circumstances.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of personal disposition when analysing another person's behaviour.

Attitudes

Feelings influenced by our beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Central Route of Persuasion

A form of persuasion that offers evidence and arguments to trigger careful thinking.

Peripheral Route of Persuasion

A form of persuasion that uses attention-getting cues, such as celebrity endorsements, to trigger emotion-based snap judgments.

Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

A set of expectations or norms about a social position that defines how those in the position ought to behave.

Stanford Prison Experiment

A $1971$ mock prison study conducted by Dr. Philip Zimbardo that demonstrated the power of social situations and roles in transforming behavior.

Cognitive Dissonance

A concept by Festinger ($1957$) referring to the mental conflict that occurs when a person's behaviours and beliefs do not align, or when they hold two contradictory beliefs.

Principle of Cognitive Consistency

The drive to resolve dissonance to relieve discomforting feelings like anxiety, guilt, or shame.

Conformity

Adjusting one’s behaviour or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Confederates

Individuals also known as a "stooge" who pretend to be a subject but are actually working for the researcher.

Normative Social Influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational Social Influence

One’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality as new information, occurring especially when we are unsure.

Obedience

Action in response to a direct order or command from an authority figure.

Milgram’s Experiment

A classic obedience study where participants were ordered to deliver electric shocks up to a final level of $450$ volts to a "learner" for wrong answers.

Social Facilitation

The presence of others increases performance on easy or well-learned tasks and decreases performance on difficult tasks.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling efforts toward a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group Polarisation

The strengthening of a group's prevailing beliefs and attitudes through discussion with like-minded others.

Group Think

A mode of thinking where the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group and its members, often involving stereotypical beliefs and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Stereotype

An overly generalised belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Explicit Prejudice

Prejudice that operates on a conscious level, where the individual is aware of how their attitudes affect their behavior.

Implicit Prejudice

Prejudice that operates on an unconscious level, where the individual is unaware of how their attitudes influence behavior.

Just-world Phenomenon

The tendency to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve (good is rewarded and evil is punished).

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to favour our own group ("us") over the outgroup ("them").

Scapegoat Theory

The theory that prejudice provides an outlet for negative emotions by unfairly blaming an individual or group for problems.

Outgroup Homogeneity

The tendency to perceive members of outgroups as being more similar to one another than members of one's own ingroup.

Other-race Effect

The tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races.

Mere Exposure Effect

A phenomenon where people develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Companionate Love

A deep, affectionate attachment for those with whom our lives are intertwined, where mutually supportive equity is key.

Altruism

An unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect

The tendency for a bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present due to a diffusion of responsibility.

Social Exchange Theory

The view that social behavior is an exchange process directed at maximizing benefits and minimizing costs.

Reciprocity Norm

An expectation that people will return help, not harm, to those who have helped them.

Social Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people should help those who need it, such as children or the poor.