social psych

Social Psychology

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

Attribution Theory

The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation (external) or the person's disposition (internal). Fritz Heider.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Attitude

Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Central Route Persuasion

Attitude change path in which interested people focus on the arguments, facts and respond with favorable thoughts.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, emotional responses such as a speaker's attractiveness.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

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

Role

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

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognition) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting discomfort by changing our attitudes.

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. Solomon Asch study.

Normative Social Influence

Influence (conforming) resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational Social Influence

Influence (conforming) resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions (based on facts, data) about reality.

Social Facilitation

Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity. (Mob Mentality)

Group Polarization

The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group. (Extremes)

Groupthink

The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Norm

An understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. They prescribe "proper" behavior.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. It generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Stereotype

A generalized (sometimes accurate, but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

(Social) unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Ingroup

"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to favor our own group.

Scapegoat Theory

The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-Race Effect

The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias

Just-World Phenomenon

The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get. (Blame the Victim)

Aggression

Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

The principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them.

Equity

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

Self-Disclosure

Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others. aka Prosocial behavior, helping behavior.

Bystander Effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Social Exchange Theory

The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

Social-Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people will help those dependent upon them.

Social Trap

A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Expectations of oneself influence behavior. A belief that leads to its own fulfillment.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

grit

a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual's perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state (a powerful motivation to achieve an objective).

Diffusion of Responsibility

Reduction in feelings of personal burden in the presence of others.

Ethnocentricism

Evaluation of other cultures according to the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Compliance

Conforming to a request or demand.

Pygmalion in the Classroom

Experiment by Rosenthal and Jacobsen that measured the impact(s) of expectation on student performances; supporting the theory of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Social Comparison

when we compare our performance to the performance(s) of others.

Relative Deprivation

The tendency when we compare ourselves to others to feel worse off then them.

False Consensus Effect

overestimating the number of people who share our belief or action.

Dispositional (Internal) Attribution Theory

Explaining behaviors based on a person's characteristics; traits, maturity, etc.

Situational (External) Attribution Theory

Explaining behaviors based on outside factors influencing and individual.

Phillip Zimbardo

Examined the impact of social roles and authority on behavior with his famous Stanford Prison experiment.

Solomon Asch

Examined the impact of conformity with his famous Line Perception experiment.

Obedience

A change in behavior following a demand from an authority figure.

Stanley Milgram

Examined the impact of obedience to authority with his controversial Shock experiment.

Prisoner's Dilemma

Social trap where 2 prisoners are separated and have to consider the impacts of cooperating with their partner or competing to get the first confession.

Commons Dilemma

Social trap where people must consider how much they take or use of a scarce resource.

Public Goods Dilemma

Social trap where people must consider how much to give/contribute to a shared resource.

Albert Bandura

Developed Social Learning Theory, where children learn through watching AND imitating actions.

Hawthorne Studies/Hawthorne Effect

series of three studies from 1924-1932 at the Western Electric Company. their conclusions challenged the core assumptions of the classical school and transformed the study and practice of mgt. workers knew that they were in an experiment and cooperated with the researches in all of the conditions of the study by working hard. That is, the workers altered their normal behavior bc they knew they were being watched (good subject bias)

implicit bias

attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Assessed through Harvard's Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Barnum effect

the tendency to accept certain information as true, such as character assessments or horoscopes, even when the information is so vague as to be worthless.

halo effect

tendency of an interviewer to allow positive characteristics of a client to influence the assessments of the client's behavior and statements. Result of first impressions and relying on one characteristic to define a person.

self-serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors.