Social Psychology

Social psychology

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

Attribution theory

we explain a person’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

Disposition

stable, enduring traits

Fundamental attribution error

tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition when analyzing another’s behavior

Dispositional trait

personality trait

Situational trait

due to situation, caused by external factor

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 (a speaker’s attractiveness)

Central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on arguments and respond with favorable thoughts - more thoughtful and less superficial

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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

Door-in-the-face

when people ask for a larger request than what they actually want so when they lower the request to what they desire it seems more reasonable and is more likely to be accepted

Role

set of expectations (norms) about social position, defining how those in a position ought to behave

Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment

guards vs. prisoners - each began acting like their assigned role

Cognitive dissonance theory

we act to reduce discomfort (dissonance) we feel when we become aware that our attitudes and actions clash, we can reduce the dissonance by changing our attitudes or our behavior

Festinger and Carlsmith

boring activities, tell other students to join with different amounts of pay as a reward, those who were offered more money began to believe that the session was fun

Norms

understood rules for accepted and expected behavior

Positive herding

positive ratings generate more positive ratings

Social contagion

things that happen in our social environment become contagious throughout the group

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Asch

visual perception - conformity/line experiment

Chameleon effect

perceiving others do one thing likely influences us to do the same in order to blend in - mood contagion

Mood linkage

sharing of moods

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

Disobedience

not following orders

Stanley Milgram disobedience

electric shocks - most people obeyed until the very end

Social control

power of the situation

Personal control

power of the individual

Minority influence

power of one or two individuals to sway majorities

False-consensus effect

tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them

Self-serving bias

tendency for people to take more credit for good outcomes than for bad ones

Social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others - strengthens our most likely response

Social impairment

being watched by others hurts performance when the task being observed is a difficult one

Social loafing

tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts together than when individually accountable

Bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present - diffusion of responsibility

Deindividuation

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

Group polarization

enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussions within the group

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives - want to keep the peace within the group

Culture

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

Culture shock

when we don’t understand what’s expected or accepted we become confused

Collectivist cultures

a person’s link to various groups, such as family or company

Individualist cultures

the importance and uniqueness of the individual is stressed

Display rules

a cultural or social group's norms that govern how members of the group should express themselves

Prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members

Stereotype

a generalized belief about a group of people

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward the group and its members

Ethnocentrism

assuming superiority of one’s ethnic/cultural/religious group

Just-world-phenomenon

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

Scapegoat theory

prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Other-race effect

tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurate than faces of other races

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally

Frustration-aggression principle

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

Social script

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations - media, music, movies

Reward theory of attraction

we will like those whose behavior is rewarding to us, including those who are both able and willing to help us achieve our goals

Passionate love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption of another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship

Companion love

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

Equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it

Self-disclosure

the act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves to others

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Social exchange theory

our social behavior is an exchange process with the aim to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help those who have helped them

Social-responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those needing their help

Conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

Social trap

a situation in which the conflicting parties become caught in mutually destructive behavior by each pursuing their self-interests rather than the good of the group

Mirror-image perceptions

mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive

Self-fulfilling prophecy

a belief that leads to its own fulfillment

Attraction research

some psychologists study what factors increase the chance that people will like one another

Similarity (attraction)

we are drawn to people who are similar to us, those who share our attitudes, backgrounds, and interests

Proximity (attraction)

the greater your exposure to another person, the more you will generally come to like that person

Reciprocal liking

the more someone likes you, the more you will probably like that person

Symmetry of features

faces with more symmetrical features are usually rated as more attractive