Introduction to Social Psychology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering introductory concepts in Social Psychology, including levels of explanation, situational strength, framing, and key research studies.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations, examining how people think about, influence, and relate to real or imagined social others.

Social Thinking

A domain of social psychology that examines how we perceive ourselves and others, what we believe, the judgments we make, and our attitudes.

Social Influence

A domain of social psychology that examines culture, pressures to conform, persuasion, and groups of people.

Social Relations

A domain of social psychology that examines prejudice, aggression, attraction and intimacy, and helping.

Personality Psychology

An individual-level explanation in psychology that focuses on individual differences and traits to explain what makes each person unique and react differently in the same situation.

Sociology

A group-level field of study that focuses on institutions (such as media, education, political, and legal systems), social movements, and how social systems and groups of people interact with each other.

Framing (Construal)

How a situation is presented or constructed, which influences what seems to be the correct or normal way to act.

Strong Situation

A situation characterized as unfamiliar, formal, public, short in duration, and having specific expectations for behavior, resulting in a large influence on human behavior.

Weak Situation

A situation characterized as familiar, informal, private, longer in duration, and lacking specific expectations for behavior, allowing individual personality traits to have a greater influence.

Liberman et al. (2004) Study

A study demonstrating that situational framing (naming an activity the 'Community Game' vs. 'Wall Street Game') had a significantly stronger impact on cooperative choices than whether participants were labeled as cooperative or competitive students.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

The process of treating other people in ways that actively bring about what you expect to happen.

Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968)

The study that demonstrated the self-fulfilling prophecy in education: teachers who were told certain children were 'intellectual bloomers' set higher goals and gave more opportunities for advanced work, leading those children to make greater academic gains.