Rutgers Psych EXAM 4 Social Psychology

Social Psychology

how the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others

Social Cognition

the ways in which we interpret, analyze, remember, and use information about the social world

Attribution

process through which we seek to identify the causes of others' behavior

Internal Attribution (Dispositional)

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the person

External Attribution (Situational)

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the situation

Fundamental Attribution Error

tendency to explain others' actions as stemming from dispositions, even in the presence of clear situational causes

Actor-Observer Effect

tendency to attribute our own mistakes mainly to situational causes, but the mistakes of others mainly to dispositional causes

Explanations for Actor-Observer Effect

information availability, desire to maintain a positive self-image

Self-Serving Bias

tendency to attribute one's positive outcomes to internal causes but negative outcomes to external causes

Attitude

enduring response dispositions with affective, behavioral, and cognitive components

Social Role

pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is in a particular social position

Zimbardo's Prison Experiment

shower the power of social roles, participants were randomly assigned to either prisoner or prison guard

Cognitive Dissonance

unpleasant internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between attitudes and behavior or between two attitudes, can lead to attitude change, people change their attitudes to align with their behaviors

Insufficient Justification

when people perform a counterattitudinal behavior with inadequate reason, they may develop more positive attitudes toward that behavior

Festinger & Carlsmith Experiment

subjects were paid either one dollar or twenty dollars to do a boring task and then tell the next subject that it was fun

Self-Handicapping

strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves, can cause poor performance, purpose is to protect self-esteem

Prejudice

a preconceived negative judgment of a group and its individual members

Stereotype

a generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group

Stereotype Threat

threat felt when stereotype is salient to targets of negative stereotypes and leads to poor performance

Steele & Aronson Experiment

given test (same) either described as test of academic abilities or psychological factors

Spencer Experiment

females and math

Conformity

most people conform to social norms, a lack of conformity leads to social chaos

Normative Social Influence

social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted

Informational Social Influence

social influence based on the desire to be correct

Solomon Asch Experiment

participants were asked to judge which comparison line best matched the standard line

Presence of an Ally

takes one ally to go with one's own decision, but does not apply when the decision is unanimous

Social Facilitation

effects upon performance resulting from the presence of others

Drive Theory of Social Facilitation

the mere presence of others increases the tendency to perform dominant responses, presence of others will improve performance when highly skilled at the task, presence of others will interfere with performance when not highly skilled at the task

Evaluation Apprehension

concern over being evaluated by others, concern about social approval or disapproval

Distraction-Conflict Theory

suggests that social facilitation stems from distraction by audience

Social Loafing

reductions in motivation and effort when individuals work collectively in a group on simple tasks

Diffusion of Responsibility

the presence of other people makes each individual feel less personally responsible, if one person witnesses a victim they feel totally responsible, if several people are present the obligation is shared because they assume that others have already done something to help

Bystander Effect

the presence of other people makes it less likely that anyone will help a stranger in distress

Pluralistic Ignorance

tendency of bystanders to assume nothing is wrong in an emergency because no one else looks concerned

Deindividuation

psychological state characterized by reduced self-awareness and reduced social identity, increased feeling of anonymity, decreased feeling of responsibility or accountability, follow norms of group

Groupthink

tendency of members of highly cohesive

groups to assume that their decisions can't be wrong, collective state of mind, group members unwilling or unable to change decisions

Drive Theory of Aggression

aggression stems from external conditions that arouse the motive to harm others

Catharsis

expressing aggression or watching others engage in aggressive behaviors reduces aggressive drive, committing acts of aggression increases tendency for future aggression

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

frustration increases probability of aggressive response

Social Learning Theory

aggression is learned by direct experience with rewards or punishments or by observing others

External Factors Contributing to Aggression

pain and heat

Milgram Obedience Studies

sought to investigate obedience to authority, participants served as teachers and were instructed to inflict shocks of increasing intensity on the learner

Results of the Milgram Obedience Studies

more than 80% continued after the learner stopped responding, their defense was to say that they were only following orders

Factors that Decreased Obedience

proximity of victim, proximity of authority, appearance of authority, commands given by another instructor, decrease in institutional authority