Chapt 12 Objectives: Social Psychology

Personal attributions

explanations that individuals make about their own or others' behaviors, typically emphasizing internal factors such as personality traits, attitudes, or intentions.

Situational Attributions

explanations that focus on external factors influencing behavior, such as environmental context, social pressure, or situational circumstances.

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency to overemphasize personal attributions while downplaying situational factors when explaining others' behaviors.

Actor/Observer Bias

the tendency to attribute one's own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to personal characteristics.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

a phenomenon where a person's expectations about another individual or group lead to behavior that cause those expectations to come true.

Self-fulfilling prophecy as it relates to stereotypes

Involves creating conditions that lead to the fulfillment of stereotypes about a group, reinforcing those beliefs through biased interactions and treatment.

Prejudice

a preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience, often directed towards a group.

Discrimination

the unjust treatment of different groups, typically based on characteristics such as race, age, or gender, leading to unequal opportunities and outcomes.

Compare discrimination and prejudice

Discrimination refers to the behaviors or actions taken against individuals based on prejudice, resulting in unequal treatment. Prejudice is the biased attitude or opinion held against a group, which may not always manifest in discriminatory actions.

Ingroup/Outgroup bias

the tendency to favor one’s own group (ingroup) while having negative feelings towards other groups (outgroups). This can affect attitudes, behavior, and perceptions of fairness.

Mere exposure effect

the psychological phenomenon where individuals develop a preference for stimuli merely because they are familiar with them. This effect suggests that repeated exposure to something increases liking or preference.

Attitudes

Psychological constructs that encompass an individual's evaluations, feelings, and tendencies toward a particular object, person, group, or issue. They can influence behavior and are shaped by experiences, beliefs, and social influences.

How does the mere exposure effect play a role in developing attitudes

The mere exposure effect suggests that increased familiarity with a stimulus leads to a more favorable attitude toward it, as individuals tend to prefer what they repeatedly encounter.

Cognitive Dissonance

A psychological state experienced when an individual holds two or more conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or values, leading to discomfort and a motivation to reduce the inconsistency.

Post-decision dissonance

A form of cognitive dissonance that occurs after making a difficult decision, where individuals may feel regret or doubts about the choice they made, prompting them to evaluate the selected option more favorably and the unselected option less favorably.

Persuasion

A process by which a person's attitudes or behaviors are influenced by communication from others, often through techniques such as reasoned argument or emotional appeal.

Central route of persuasion

A method of persuasion that involves careful and thoughtful consideration of the information presented, leading to lasting attitude change.

Peripheral route of persuasion

A method of persuasion that relies on superficial cues and heuristics rather than careful evaluation of the content, often leading to temporary attitude change.

Social facilitation

The tendency for individuals to perform differently when in the presence of others compared to alone, often enhancing performance on simple tasks and hindering it on complex tasks.

Social loafing

The phenomenon in which individuals exert less effort when working in a group compared to when they are working alone, often due to diffusion of responsibility.

Deindividuation

A psychological state characterized by a loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in group situations, often leading to atypical behavior.

Compliance

The act of conforming to a request or demand, often in response to social pressure or authority, without necessarily agreeing with the request. It can involve changes in behavior to fit in or appease others.

Conformity

The act of changing one’s beliefs or behaviors to match those of a group or social norm, often influenced by social pressure or the desire for acceptance.

Obedience

A form of social influence where an individual acts in response to a direct command or request from an authority figure, often leading to behavioral changes.

Mligram’s study on obedience

A series of experiments conducted by psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, examining how ordinary people can commit acts of extreme obedience to authority figures, even when it involves harming others.

Bystander Intervention Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present, often due to the diffusion of responsibility.