Chapter 13 - The Connected Mind

Social Psychology

Attribution

A judgment about the cause of a person’s behavior

Dispositional attribution

A judgment assigning the cause of a person’s behavior to personal qualities or characteristics

Situational attribution

A judgment assigning the cause of a person’s behavior to the environment

Correspondence bias

The tendency to view behavior as the result of disposition, even when the behavior can be explained by the situation in which it occurs

Actor-observer bias

Emphasizing dispositional attributions to explain the behavior of others while emphasizing situational attributions to explain our own behavior

Self-serving bias

Attributing success to dispositional factors while attributing failure to situational factors

Just-world belief

The assumption that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people

Attitude

A positive or negative evaluation that predisposes behavior toward an object, person, or situation

Cognitive dissonance

The uncomfortable state that occurs when behavior and attitudes do not match and that can be resolved through attitude change

Cognitive consistency

A preference for holding congruent attitudes and beliefs

Persuasion

A change in attitude in response to information provided by another person

Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

A model that predicts responses to persuasive messages by distinguishing between the central and the peripheral route to persuasion

Prejudice

A prejudgment, usually negative, of another person on the basis of membership in a group

Stereotype

A simplified set of traits associated with membership in a group or category

Discrimination

Unfair behavior based on stereotyping and prejudice

Social norms

Usually unwritten or unspoken rules for behavior in social settings

Conformity

Matching behavior and appearance to perceived social norms

Compliance

Agreement with a request from a person with no perceived authority

Door-in-the-face

A persuasive technique in which compliance with a target request is preceded by a large, unreasonable request

Foot-in-the-door

A persuasive technique in which compliance with a small request is followed by compliance with a larger request that might otherwise have been rejected

Low-balling

Making further requests of a person who has already committed to a course of action

Obedience

Compliance with a request from an authority figure

Social facilitation

A situation in which the presence of other people changes performance

Social loafing

Reduced motivation and effort shown by individuals working in a group

Deindividuation

Immersion of an individual within a group, leading to anonymity

Group polarization

The intensifying of an attitude following discussion

Groupthink

A type of flawed decision making in which a group does not question its decisions critically

Mere exposure effect

A situation in which repeated exposure increases liking

Romantic love

Combines intimacy and passion, excludes commitment

Companionate love

Combines intimacy and commitment, excludes passion

Consummate love

Combines intimacy, commitment, and passion

Bystander intervention

The study of situational variables related to helping a stranger, most notably the decreased likelihood of helping as the number of bystanders increases

Aggression

The conscious intent to harm another

Altruism

Helping others without personal gain or with personal cost