Openstax Psychology Ch.12-Social Psychology

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overemphasize internal factors as attribution for behavior and underestimate the power of the situation

Self-serving bias

tendency for individuals to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes and situational or external attributions for negative outcomes

groupthink

the modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is a group consensus

The Asch Effect

group majority influences an individual's judgement, even when that judgement is inaccurate

Just-world hypothesis

ideology common in the United States that people get the outcomes they deserve

Script

A person's knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting

Stanford Prison Experiment

Stanford University conducted an experiment in a mock prison that demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts

Social Psychology

field of psychology that examines how people impact or affect each other, with particular focus on the power of the situation

conformity

when individuals change their behavior to go along with the group even if they do not agree with the group

social exchange theory

humans act as naive economists in keeping a tally of the ratio of costs and benefits of forming and maintain a relationship, with the goal to maximize benefits and minimize costs

bullied children

have decreased mental health, including experiencing anxiety and depression, may underperform in schoolwork, can also result in committing suicide

Sternberg's triangular theory of love

model of love based on three components: intimacy, passion, and commitment; several types of love exist, depending on the presence or absence of each of these components

prejudice

negative attitudes and feelings toward individuals based solely on their membership in a particular group

reducing racism

A way to effectively reduce this is by teaching children to think independently and challenge social norms that promote racism

reciprocity

give and take in relationships

in-group

group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to

out-group

group that we don't belong to- one that we view as fundamentally different from us

Scapegoating

act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal

self-fulfilling prophecy

treating stereotyped group members according to our biased expectations only to have this treatment influence the individual to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our sterotypic beliefs

Milgram experiment

conducted to test the boundaries of obedience, Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.

Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities, for example, Germans in WWII.

Compliance

going along with a request or demand

normative social influence

conformity to a group norm to fit in, feel good and be accepted by the group

informational social influence

conformity to a group norm prompted by the belief that the group is competent and has the correct information

obedience

changing your behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid aversive consequences

group polarization

strengthening of the original group attitude after discussing views within a group

social facilitation

improved performance when an attitude is watching versus when the individual performs the behavior

social loafing

exertion of less effort by a person working in a group because individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group, thus causing performance decline on easy tasks

persuasion

the process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication

central route persuasion

logic-driven arguments using data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness

foot-in-the-door technique

persuasion of one person by another person, encouraging a person to agree to a small favor, or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a larger item

peripheral route persuasion

one person persuades another person; an indirect route that relies on association of peripheral cues (such as positive emotions and celebrity endorsement) to associate positivity with a message

cognitive dissonance

psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person's behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that run counter to one's positive self-perecption

actor-observer bias

phenomenon of explaining other people's behaviors are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces

confirmation bias

seeking out information that supports our stereotypes while ignoring information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes