AP PSYCHOLOGY - SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social psychology

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

Attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

Fundamental Attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Attitude

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

Peripheral route persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as speaker's attractiveness

Central route persuasion

Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

The tendency for people who first agreed to a smaller request to comply with a larger request.

Role

A set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive dissonance theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative social influence

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

Informational social influence

Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.

Automatic mimicry (the chameleon effect)

Our tendency to unconsciously imitate others’ expressions, postures, and voice tones, is a form of conformity.

Social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

Social loafing

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

deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occuring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Groupthink

When a group of people that desire harmony or conformity results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Norm

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper” behavior.

Prejudice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and it’s members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a group of people

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Ingroup

“us” people with whom we share a common identity

Outgroup

“them” those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

Ingroup bias

the tendency to favor our own group

Scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of others races.

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration- the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Social script

culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

Mere exposure effect

people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them

Mood linkage

The tendency to absorb and participate in the prevailing mood of the other people around

Muzafer Sherif (1936)

study of how norms develop in small groups.

Compliance

An individual doing what someone else wants them to do, following his or her request or suggestion

Which branch of psychology is most directly concerned with the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another?

Social psychology

If a cluster of people stand gazing upward, passersby will often pause to do likewise unintentionally mimicking . This best illustrates:

the chameleon effect

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking toward a group standard is called

conformity

Research participants believed that the Asch conformity test involved a study of

conformity

Normative social influence results from people's' desire to gain

social approval

Actor-observer Bias

Tendency to attribute one’s own actions to external causes while attributing other people’s behavior to internal causes.

False consensus effect

Tendency to overestimate how much other people agree with us

Obedience

Changing one’s behavior at the direct command of an authority figure

Stanley Milgram (1963)

Designed one of the more famous experiments in the history of psychology on obedience.

Authority

Destructive obedience requires the physical presence of a prestigious authority figure

The victim

Physical separation from the victim allows for emotional distance from the consequences of actions.

Participants in the Milgram obedience studies were ordered to:

deliver electric shocks to a learned for giving incorrect answers

Most people are likely to be surprised by the results of Milgram's initial obedience experiment because:

Teachers more obedient than predicted

The Milgram obedience experiments were controversial because the “teachers” were

Deceived and subjected to stress

According to Milgram, the most fundamental lesson to be learned from his study of obedience is that

Situations matter

In Milgram's experiments, participants were torn between whether they should respond to the pleas of the _____ or the demands of the ______

Learner and experimenter

Group

A set of individuals who interact over time and have shared fate, goals, or identity

The sucker effect

One person does all the work in a group while everyone else goofs around

Social Impairment

The tendency for an individual’s performance to decline when complex or poorly-learned tasks are performed in the presence of others.

Group polarization

the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members

Social facilitation is most likely to occur in the performance of ________ tasks

simple

The tendency for people to exert less effort when they are pooling their efforts toward a common goal is known as __________________

social loafing

Masked bandits might be more likely than unmasked bandits to physically injure their victims due to ______________

deindividuation

The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through group discussion is called

group polarization

An overwhelming desire for harmony in a decision-making group increases the probability of ________

groupthink

Pyramid of hate

Racism

Categorization of a person or group of people based on their race or ethnicity and the systematic mistreatment of people in the targeted group

Stereotype threat

A situation in which people feel at risk of performing as their group is expected to perform

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true

Gordon Allport (1954)

connected scapegoating with feelings of prejudice

Ethnocentrism

tendency to use your own culture as the standard by which to judge and evaluate others

Out-group homogeneity

The tendency for us to view members of out groups as being more similar than members of ingroups

Contact hypothesis

Brining members from different groups together will reduce prejudice improve positive attitudes.

Superordinate goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

A store owner charges African-American customers more than Hispanic customers for the very same merchandise. The owner is most clearly engaging in ____________________

discrimination

People may unconsciously harbor negative racial associations. This best illustrate the subtle nature of ________________

prejudice

The ingroup is the set of people with whom we share a common

identity

Most children believe their school is better than the other schools in town. This best illustrates

ingroup bias

The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races is called

other-race effect

Hostile aggression

strong emotions, particularly anger and is associated with impulsive and unplanned behavior

Instrumental aggression

Intent to harm another person but the motivation is not emotional, rather to advocate a cause or achieve something.

Genetic influences

seem to predispose people to aggressiveness or passivity

Social Learning

Our reactions are more likely to be aggressive in situations where experience has taught us that aggression pays.

Situational factors

all unpleasant events

Verbal behavior intended to hurt another person is an example of:

aggression

The frustration-aggression principle suggests that anger results when:

an attempt to achieve some goal is blocked

Parents who discipline their children with beatings are often teaching aggression through the process of _____________

modeling

The Y chromosome is the most well-known genetic marker identifying those who are most likely to

engage in aggression

Comparisons of identical and fraternal twins highlight the impact of ________ on aggression

genetic influences

Bystander effect

the greater people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress

Diffusion of responsibility

Because there are other observers, individuals do not feel as much pressure to take action

Bystander intervention

helping an emergency despite the presence of others

Altruism

The unselfish concern for other people; doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to

Social exchange theory

Argue that altruism only exists when the benefits outweigh the costs

Empathy-Altruism hypothesis

psychological altruism does exist and is evoked by the empathic desire to help someone who is suffering

Reciprocity

social expectation in which we feel pressured to help others if they have already done something for us

Social responsibility norm

Societal rule that tells people they should help others who need help even if they may not repay us

Social dilemma

a situation in which a self-interested choice by everyone will create the worst outcome for everyone

Prisoner’s dilemma

a type of dilemma in which one party must make either cooperative or competitive moves in relation to another party

Graduated & Reciprocated initiatives in Tension-reduction

This is a strategy designed to decrease international tensions. One side recognizes mutual interests and initiates a small conciliatory act that opens the door for reciprocation by the other party

The tragic murder of Kitty Genovese outside her New York apartment stimulated social psychological research on

Altruism

People are less likely to give aid if an emergency occurs in the presence of many observers. This is known as

Bystander effect

Which theory suggests that altruistic behavior is governed by calculations of rewards and costs?

Social exchange theory

Which theory suggests that altruistic behavior is governed by calculations of rewards and costs?

social responsibility norm

Which theory suggests that altruistic behavior is governed by calculations of rewards and costs?

social trap