Psychology 360: Social Psychology - Exam 2 Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering essential concepts and research studies for Psychology 360 Exam 2.

Theory of Planned Behavior

A theoretical model stating that attitudes toward a specific behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control together shape an individual's behavioral intentions and behaviors.

Attitude Accessibility

The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of that object, typically measured by the speed with which the evaluation can be reported.

Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion

The dual routes described in persuasion models: the central route involves elaboration and systematic consideration of message arguments, whereas the peripheral route relies on surface cues and heuristics.

Latitude of Acceptance

The range of positions and opinions that an individual finds acceptable and is willing to consider or tolerate.

Self-Awareness Theory

The theory that when people focus their attention inward on themselves, they evaluate and compare their current behavior against their internal values and standards.

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Schachter and Singer's theory stating that emotional experience is the result of a two-step self-perception process: experiencing physiological arousal and then seeking an appropriate cognitive explanation or label for it.

Cognitive Dissonance

A state of psychological discomfort that is triggered when an individual holds contradictory beliefs, attitudes, or values, or performs actions that conflict with their self-concept.

Self-Affirmation Theory

The idea that individuals can reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming other aspects of themselves that are valued and unrelated to the threat.

Social Identity Theory

The theory that a person's self-concept and self-esteem are partly derived from their membership in social groups and the value placed on those groups.

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

The perception and tendency to view outgroup members as more similar to one another than members of the ingroup are ("they are all alike; we are diverse").

Minimal Group Paradigm

An experimental framework in which researchers create groups based on arbitrary, meaningless criteria to investigate the minimal conditions required for ingroup favoritism and discrimination to occur.

Shifting Standards Model

A model proposing that people use different subjective standards and scales when judging individuals who belong to distinct social groups.

Hostile and Benevolent Sexism

Two complementary forms of sexism: hostile sexism reflects overtly negative, antagonistic attitudes toward women, while benevolent sexism encompasses subjectively positive yet patronizing attitudes that idealize women in traditional roles.

Stereotype Threat

The apprehension or fear experienced by members of a group that their performance might confirm a negative stereotype about their group's ability (also known as social identity threat).

Realistic Conflict Theory

The theory that intergroup conflict, prejudice, and discrimination are caused by competition between groups over limited, valued resources.

Contact Hypothesis

The proposition that direct contact between members of differing groups can effectively reduce prejudice under specific supportive conditions (such as equal status, shared goals, and institutional support).

Jigsaw Classroom

A cooperative learning classroom technique structured to foster interdependence among diverse students by giving each child a piece of the information necessary to complete a group project.

Perrine and Heather (2000)

A research study investigating donations to the Humane Society in relation to the specific content and nature of the charitable appeal.

Leventhal et al. (1967)

A study demonstrating methods for reducing smoking through fear appeals, finding that fear-inducing messages are most effective when paired with specific, actionable instructions.

Petty et al. (1981)

A seminal persuasion study testing the elaboration likelihood model by measuring attitudes toward a comprehensive graduation exam as a function of personal relevance, source expertise, and argument quality.

Strohminger & Nichols (2014)

A research study focusing on identifying the key attributes and essential components that constitute people's true selves.

Greene et al. (1976)

A study examining children's intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and the time spent completing math-related tasks following the introduction and removal of reward systems (overjustification effect).

Mills (1958)

A classic cognitive dissonance study evaluating changes in attitudes toward cheating among middle school students after they were presented with an opportunity to cheat.

Shu et al. (2011)

A study examining the link between cheating behavior, self-justification, and subsequent moral disengagement.

Sherman et al. (2000)

An empirical study evaluating how self-affirmation increases individuals' receptivity to threatening, self-relevant health information.

McGuire et al. (1978)

A study demonstrating how immediate classroom environments influence the salience and spontaneous reporting of ethnic identity among children.

Tajfel et al. (1971)

An experimental demonstration of the minimal group paradigm, showing that social categorization into arbitrary groups is sufficient to produce ingroup favoritism in reward distribution.

Duncan (1976)

A study assessing racial bias and causal attributions made by White participants when interpreting ambiguous shoving behavior performed by Black versus White individuals.

Heilman and Chen (2005)

A study testing the shifting standards model in the workplace, evaluating differences in evaluations and performance rewards for volunteer organizational citizenship behavior between men and women.

Steele and Aronson (1995)

The foundational experimental study establishing stereotype threat by demonstrating performance differences on standardized tests between Black and White students depending on whether the test was framed as diagnostic of intellectual ability.

Shih et al. (1999)

A study demonstrating identity salience and stereotype threat/lift by measuring math performance after priming either gender or ethnic identity among Asian American females.

Word et al. (1974)

A study illustrating the self-fulfilling prophecy in employment interviews, showing how interviewer expectations and subtle nonverbal behaviors negatively affect the performance of Black versus White job applicants.

Mendoza-Denton and Page-Gould (2008)

A research study investigating the positive impact of forming cross-ethnic friendships on minority students' well-being and sense of belonging in university settings.

Crandall et al. (2002)

A study demonstrating a strong correlation between individuals' reported prejudiced attitudes and the perceived social acceptability or normative support for expressing prejudice toward various target groups.

Correll et al. (2002)

A study using a first-person shooter computer task to demonstrate racial bias in decision-making when shooting armed or unarmed Black versus White targets.

Rogers and Prentice-Dunn (1981)

An experimental study demonstrating that deindividuated or emotionally insulted White participants administered higher levels of electric shocks to Black targets compared to White targets.

Deutsch and Collins (1951)

A field study investigating the contact hypothesis by examining racial attitudes among White residents living in racially integrated versus segregated public housing projects.

Sherif et al. (1961)

The Robbers Cave study showing that intergroup conflict and hostility among campers were induced through competitive activities and resolved via superordinate goals and mutual interdependence.