EDUC 185 Social Psychology in Education - Midterm Practice

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, theories, and empirical research concepts from Chapters 1 through 5 of the EDUC 185 Social Psychology in Education midterm review.

Cognition

The psychological component in social situations that concerns thoughts, beliefs, and expectations (e.g., thinking that classmates are welcoming).

Affect

The psychological component in social situations that concerns feelings, emotions, and evaluations (e.g., feeling pleased around classmates).

Behavior

The psychological component in social situations that concerns observable actions (e.g., joining classmates' conversation).

Sociocultural Theoretical Perspective

A theoretical approach emphasizing that shared values, social norms, practices, and institutions shape how people act and understand social life.

Social Cognitive Theoretical Perspective

A theoretical approach focusing on how patterns of attention, interpretation, expectations, and memory explain how individuals judge social events and assign meanings.

Protection Motive

A primary social motive directed toward reducing threats and minimizing the likelihood that oneself or close others will be harmed.

Naturalistic Observation

A research method that records behavior in an everyday setting without manipulating conditions, allowing contextual description but usually failing to isolate causal factors.

Random Assignment

The procedure of assigning consenting participants to conditions by chance while keeping time, materials, and procedures comparable to strengthen causal comparisons.

Reverse-Direction Explanation

A plausible causal account proposing that the presumed outcome may actually explain or lead to changes in the presumed predictor.

Construal

The personal meaning or subjective interpretation an individual assigns to a situation.

Goal

A desired outcome that a person aims to achieve.

Subgoal

An intermediate objective that organizes specific steps to help a person reach an overarching goal.

Appraisal

The evaluation of an event's meaning for a person, such as whether an outcome represents a threat or a success.

Counterfactual Thinking

The cognitive process of imagining alternatives to what actually occurred and considering how events could have unfolded differently.

Reflected Appraisal

A source of self-knowledge based on our beliefs about how others see and evaluate us.

Self-Perception

A source of self-knowledge derived from observing one's own behavior and the context or circumstances in which it takes place.

Social Facilitation (Classic Account)

The theory that observation by an audience strengthens dominant responses, impairing accuracy during early learning but improving accuracy once a response is well learned.

Injunctive Norm

A social norm defining what behaviors people approve or disapprove of and what individuals ought to do.

Descriptive Norm

A social norm reflecting what people actually or commonly do in practice.

Pluralistic Ignorance

A shared misreading of other people's private views, where members' estimates of others' understanding or beliefs conflict with the private reality shared by most members.

Individualistic Emphasis

A cultural orientation giving priority to personal goals, autonomy, and individual interests.

Collectivistic Emphasis

A cultural orientation giving greater weight to group responsibilities, shared obligations, and interdependence.

Socialization

The process through which sustained participation within a group or setting shapes, influences, and teaches a person specific behaviors or norms.

Interpretation

The social cognitive process of assigning meaning to noticed information or events.

False Consensus Effect

The cognitive bias of overestimating how widely other people share one's own views, preferences, or behavior.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself with someone who is performing better on a relevant dimension.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself with someone who is performing worse on a relevant dimension.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to selectively notice, emphasize, and highlight confirming evidence while overlooking or neglecting relevant contrary evidence.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A dynamic where an expectation influences interactions or opportunities in a way that actively produces and confirms the predicted outcome.

Representativeness Heuristic

A cognitive shortcut where an inference about category membership is judged mainly by resemblance to a typical member rather than actual base rates.

Discounting Principle

An attribution principle where the weight given to one proposed cause for an action is reduced when another plausible cause is also present.

Kelley's Covariation Model

An attribution framework in which observers evaluate consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency across occasions to attribute behavior to a person, an entity, or a circumstance.

Spotlight Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people notice one's appearance, actions, or behavior.

Trappings of Competence

Visible, outward signs or professional materials associated with expertise that can create an impression of ability without directly demonstrating the relevant skill.

Multiple Audience Dilemma

A self-presentation challenge that arises when an individual seeks to convey different, potentially conflicting impressions to separate audiences simultaneously.

Self-Handicapping

The act of deliberately creating an obstacle before evaluation so that failure can be blamed on the obstacle and success despite the obstacle can augment an attribution of ability.

Conspicuous Consumption

The practice of using visible spending, costly luxury items, or possessions to publicly communicate social status.

Observational Learning

The process through which attitudes or behaviors develop by watching other people's (models') actions, reactions, and experiences.

Cognitive Dissonance

A state of psychological discomfort caused by an inconsistency between one's values or beliefs and a freely chosen behavior, which motivates attitude change, justification, or behavior revision.

Central Processing

A mode of persuasion where an individual carefully scrutinizes, compares, and evaluates outcome evidence, logical arguments, and potential limitations.