Social Psychology

Social Psychology

The study of the social influences that help to explain why the same person will act differently in different situations.

Attribution theory

People usually attribute the behavior of others either to their personality or a situation.

Social cognition

The influence of the people around you and where you are on the way you think about other people.

Implicit Bias

When we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to make errors in labeling the cause of someone else's behavior in a given situation by overemphasizing internal personal characteristics and underemphasizing outside social factors.

Self-serving bias

The readiness to perceive oneself favorably.

Attitude

Feeling based on beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way towards someone or something.

Persuading attitudes

Techniques used to obtain compliance and change one's behavior due to the request of another person.

Foot in the door

A tendency for people who agree to a small action to comply later to a larger one.

Door in the face

Refusing a large request increases the likelihood of agreeing to a smaller second request.

Role

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

Self-Monitoring

The tendency for an individual to observe the situation for cues on how to react and notice when attitudes and actions don't agree.

Cognitive Dissonance

When our attitudes and behaviors do not agree, we experience cognitive tension and may try to change our attitude to agree with our behavior.

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard or norm.

Obedience

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with authority, often at the highest when an authority figure is close by and considered a legitimate authority figure.

Social facilitation

Tendency to perform better at a well-learned task when in the presence of others.

Social inhibition

Tendency to perform worse at a new or poorly-learned task when in the presence of others.

Social loafing

Tendency for an individual in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts towards a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

In a group, an individual tends to experience a loss of self-awareness and self-restraint because they get caught up in the group and feel anonymous.

Groupthink

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

Prejudice

An unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members.

Stereotypes

Generalized beliefs about a group, sometimes accurate and sometimes overgeneralized, accompanied by negative feelings and a predisposition to discrimination.

Scapegoat theory

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

Cognitive dissonance

When our attitudes and behaviors do not agree, we experience cognitive tension.

Just-world phenomenon

Tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people get what they deserve, leading to victim blaming.

Biology of Aggression

Genetic influences, brain structures, and biochemical factors that contribute to aggression.

Psychology of aggression

Frustration-aggression principle, reinforcement of aggressive behavior, observational learning, and social scripts.

Factors of Interpersonal Attraction

Mere exposure effect, proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, equity, self-disclosure, and halo effect.

Triangular theory of love

Robert Sternberg's theory that consummate love is a combination of intimacy and passion leading to commitment.

Reducing conflict

Superordinate goals, shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation, used to reduce conflict by having individuals or groups work together towards common goals that benefit all parties.

Prosocial behavior

Reciprocity norm, factors that influence helping behavior, and altruism.

Bystander effect

Diffusion of responsibility, when more people share the responsibility for helping, a single individual is less likely to help.