Advanced Social Psychology Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, theories, and seminal studies in Advanced Social Psychology.

Attribution

How we explain others behavior we observe, usually by asking questions such as “why do they do that?” and whether it was caused by personality or situation.

Interpersonal perception

Based on how we form impressions of other people and understand them.

Attribution Theory- developed by Fritz Heider

Associated with Fritz Heider; explains peoples behavior by internal or external factors.

Internal (Disposition) Attribution

Behavior caused by personality traits, such as believing someone cut you off because they are a jerk.

External (Situational) Attribution

Behavior caused by a personals environment, such as believing someone cut you off because they are late to work.

Fundamental Attribution Error

A major topic in social cognition where people tend to overestimate personal causes and underestimate situational causes.

Self-Serving Attribution

Associating our personal success on personal causes rather than environmental ones to protect self-esteem.

Actor-Observer Bias

Considering personal causes for others' bad behavior, while considering situational causes for our own bad behavior.

Jones and Harris ($1967$)

A research seminar where participants assumed essay writers believed in Castro's-supporting positions even when assigned, demonstrating the Fundamental Attribution Error.

Social Cognition

Refers to how people think about themselves, others, and interpret social situations.

Social Thinking

How our thoughts formulate understanding of the social world and how we interact with others.

Heuristics

Social shortcuts used to make quick decisions.

Availability Heuristic

When events that are memorable seem to be more common, such as feeling flying is dangerous after seeing a plane crash.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging people based on stereotypes, such as assuming a person sitting alone is a loner.

Illusory Correlation

A major cognitive error where one assumes a correlation exists where it does not, such as a full moon causing more crime.

Confirmation Bias

People looking for evidence to support their beliefs while ignoring contrary information.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency for people to think events are predictable after they happened, known as the "I knew it all along" effect.

Attitude

Evaluations of people, objects, and ideas that can be positive or negative.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory- developed by Leon Festinger

Developed by Leon Festinger; the core belief that inconsistency between beliefs and behavior causes discomfort.

Foot-in-the-Door technique (FITD)

Asking someone for a minor request first to increase the likelihood they will agree to a larger target request later.

Self-Perception Theory- developed by Daryl Bem

Developed by Daryl Bem; the idea that people look to their past behavior to figure out how they feel or what their attitudes are.

Door-in-the-Face

A technique where a first request is intentionally massive so it is rejected, followed by a smaller, more reasonable target request.

Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

A $1971$ mock prison study by Zimbardo that was stopped at $6$ days due to guards becoming abusive and prisoners experiencing emotional breakdowns.

Deindividualism

A process that is characterized by a loss of self-awareness and altered perceptions, often resulting in unusual or antisocial behavior

Festinger & Carlsmith ($1959$)

A study where participants paid $1$ dollar to lie reported enjoying a boring task more than those paid $20$ dollars, supporting Cognitive Dissonance Theory.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)- by Petty and Cacioppo

Developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo; describes two routes to persuasion: Central and Peripheral.

Central Route

A route to persuasion involving careful thinking and where strong arguments matter.

Peripheral Route

A route to persuasion involving little thinking, where appearance, attractiveness, and credibility matter most.

Conformity

When a person changes their behavior to match that of the group norm.

Asch's Conformity Studies

Research where participants purposely gave wrong answers to match the group, providing a case for normative influence.

Obedience

When a person follows what a leader says without resistance.

Milgram's Obedience Studies

A study where $65\%$ of participants obeyed an authority figure by administering maximum shock levels.

Reactance

Psychological resistance that occurs when freedom feels threatened, often increasing the desire to do the forbidden act.

Groupthink

Poor decision making resulting from pressure to maintain consensus.

Illusion of unanimity

A symptom of Groupthink where members believe all are united in their belief.

Mere Exposure Effect

Consistent exposure to a person or object increases one's likability of them.

Similarity

The most powerful predictor of attraction; based on shared attitudes, values, and interests.

Prosocial Behavior

Behavior done to benefit others, such as helping, sharing, and volunteering.

Batson’s Empathy-Altruism Model

Developed by C. Daniel Batson; posits that empathy produces altruism and that we help because we care, not for our own benefit.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where helping others decreases as the number of bystanders increases.

Diffusion of Responsibility

When people are less likely to take action or feel accountability because others are present.

Latane and Darley’s $5$-step decision-making model

A model for helping that includes: Notice the Event, Interpret it as an emergency, Assume personal responsibility, Know how to help, and Decide to act.

Social Learning Theory- developed by Bandura

Developed by Albert Bandura; suggests aggression is learned through observing, modeling, and reinforcement.

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The hypothesis that frustration creates a readiness for aggression and that aggression arises when goals are blocked.

Catharsis Theory

The theory that venting reduces aggression, though research does not support it and suggests it often increases future aggression.

Prejudice

Negative attitudes towards a group of people.

Stereotypes

Beliefs, which may be true or untrue, about a group of people.

Discrimination

Negative behavior or reactions towards a group of people.

Out-group Homogeneity Effect

Perceiving one's own group as unique and diverse while perceiving the outgroup as "all the same."

Social Identity Theory- developed by Tajfel

Developed by Henri Tajfel; explains that people derive self-esteem from group membership, leading to in-group favoritism and outgroup bias.

Terror Management Theory

The idea that when reminded of mortality, people cling to their worldview and treat those who disagree as the out-group with hostility.

Realistic Group Conflict Theory

When groups compete for scarce resources, breeding zero-sum thinking where one group's win is seen as the other's loss.

System Justification Theory

A tendency to justify hierarchies and inequalities by adopting prejudice to convince oneself that the disadvantaged deserve their status.

Just-World Belief

The assumption that individuals deserve their received outcomes, which can lead to victim-blaming.

Stereotype Threat

A consequence of prejudice where a person performs worse when aware of negative stereotypes about their group.

Contact Hypothesis

The idea that positive contact between groups can reduce prejudice, especially when groups share goals and are of equal status.

Jigsaw Classroom- developed by Aronson

Developed by Elliot Aronson; a cooperative learning strategy where students depend on each other to complete tasks to reduce prejudice.