Psych Unit4

Dispositional Attribution

Refers to the tendency to assign responsibility for others' behaviors due to their inherent characteristics, such as their personality

Situational Attribution

Blame a person's behavior on the situation

Optimistic Explanatory Style

Optimistic viewpoint to explain the situation. (ie. falls under the perspective that a situation is temporary, there are aspects they can control, and it's not their fault.)

Fundamental Attribution Error

a tendency to attribute others' actions to their personality, while attributing our own actions to situational factors

Actor/Observer Bias

the tendency to attribute one's own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to their character.

Self-serving Bias

the tendency to attribute positive outcomes to one's own character while blaming negative outcomes on external factors.

Internal Locus of Control

the belief that one has control over their own life and outcomes, attributing success or failure to personal efforts and decisions.

External Locus of Control

the belief that external factors, such as fate or other people, control one's life and outcomes, attributing success or failure to circumstances beyond one's control.

Mere exposure effect

the psychological phenomenon where people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. This effect suggests that repeated exposure to a stimulus increases liking for it.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

a belief or expectation that influences a person's behavior in a way that causes that belief to come true. It highlights how one's expectations can impact outcomes.

Upward Social Comparison

the process of comparing oneself to others who are perceived to be better off or superior in some way, often leading to feelings of inadequacy or motivation to improve.

Downward Social Comparison

the process of comparing oneself to others who are perceived to be worse off, often resulting in feelings of superiority or increased self-esteem.

Relative Deprivation

the perception that one is worse off compared to others, leading to feelings of dissatisfaction and resentment.

Reference Groups

groups that individuals compare themselves to for self-evaluation and forming attitudes.

Implicit Attitude

An automatic, unconscious evaluation of a person, object, or concept that influences behavior and judgment.

Just-world phenomenon

the belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get, leading to rationalizations of inequality.

Out-group homogeneity bias

the tendency to view members of an out-group as more similar to each other than they really are, while perceiving members of one's own group as more diverse.

Ingroup bias

the tendency to favor one's own group over others, often leading to preferential treatment and positive evaluations of in-group members.

Belief perseverance

the tendency to hold on to one's beliefs even when confronted with contradictory evidence, often leading to a refusal to change one's mind.

Cognitive dissonance

the psychological discomfort experienced when holding two or more conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes, often leading to an alteration of one of the beliefs to reduce the dissonance.

Social norms

the unwritten rules and expectations regarding acceptable behavior within a group or society, guiding how individuals should act in various situations.

Normative social influence

the influence of others that leads to conformity in order to be accepted or liked by the group, often resulting in a change in behavior or attitudes.

Informational social influence

the influence that leads individuals to conform because they believe others possess accurate information, often resulting in a change in beliefs or behaviors.

Elaboration likelihood model

a theory that explains how persuasive messages can lead to attitude change through two routes: the central route, which involves careful consideration of the arguments, and the peripheral route, which relies on superficial cues.

Halo effect 

a cognitive bias where the perception of one positive trait leads to the assumption of other positive traits in a person.

Foot-in-the-door technique

a persuasive strategy that involves getting a person to agree to a small request first, which increases the likelihood of them agreeing to a larger request later.

Door-in-the-face technique

a persuasive strategy that involves making a large request that is likely to be refused, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request.

Low-ball technique

a persuasive strategy where a person is initially given a low price for a product or service, only to have the price increased later after the person has committed to the purchase.

Groupthink

a psychological phenomenon where the desire for harmony or conformity in a group results in irrational or dysfunctional decision-making.

Social loafing

the tendency for individuals to put in less effort when working in a group compared to working alone, often because they feel less accountable.

Diffusion of responsibility

the tendency for individuals to feel less responsible about their actions because they are in a group setting

Deindividuation

the perceived loss of individuality and personal responsibility that can occur when someone participates as part of a group

Social facilitation

the phenomenon where the presence of others enhances an individual's performance on a task

False consensus effect

the tendency to assume that one's own opinions, beliefs, attributes, or behaviors are more widely shared than is actually the case

Superordinate goals

goals that are worth completing but require two or more social groups to cooperatively achieve

Robber’s Cave study 

experiment showed that hostility can arise between two groups in conflict and competition for scarce resources

Contact hypothesis

bringing members from different groups together will reduce prejudice