final exam psych

Need to Belong

The motivation to form close relationships that provide ongoing, positive interactions.

Ostracism

Being excluded or ignored by others.

Proximity

Physical or functional nearness that increases liking.

Functional Distance

How often people’s paths cross, even if they are not physically very close.

Anticipatory Liking

Liking someone more because you expect to interact with them.

Mere Exposure Effect

Repeated exposure to something makes people like it more.

Mere-Exposure Effect Study

Zajonc showed that people rated unfamiliar stimuli more positively after repeated exposure, meaning familiarity tends to increase liking.

Physical Attractiveness Stereotype

The belief that attractive people also have other positive traits.

Virtual Miss Germany Study

Researchers blended faces of beauty contestants into an average composite face, and people rated the average composite as most attractive.

Matching Phenomenon

The tendency for people to choose partners who are similar in attractiveness and other traits.

Similarity

The tendency for people to like others who share their attitudes, values, interests, or traits.

Complementarity

The idea that opposites attract by completing what is missing in the other person.

Research on Complementarity

Research generally does not support the idea that opposites attract.

Liking Those Who Like Us

People tend to like others who show that they like or admire them.

Ingratiation

Using flattery or praise to gain someone’s favor.

Reward Theory of Attraction

We like people whose behavior is rewarding or whom we associate with rewarding events.

Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love

Love is made up of passion, intimacy, and commitment.

Passion

Physical attraction and intense emotional longing.

Intimacy

Emotional closeness, connection, and sharing.

Commitment

The decision to maintain a relationship over time.

Liking Love

Intimacy without passion or commitment.

Infatuation

Passion without intimacy or commitment.

Empty Love

Commitment without intimacy or passion.

Romantic Love

Intimacy and passion without long-term commitment.

Companionate Love

Intimacy and commitment without intense passion.

Fatuous Love

Passion and commitment without deep intimacy.

Consummate Love

Passion, intimacy, and commitment all together.

Passionate Love

Intense longing for union with another person.

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Emotion depends on arousal and how we label that arousal.

Arousal and Attraction

Arousal from one source can intensify romantic feelings if it is labeled as attraction.

Gupta and Singh Arranged Marriage Study

Love marriages started higher in romantic love but declined over time, while arranged marriages increased in love after several years.

Secure Attachment

Attachment based on trust and comfort with intimacy.

Avoidant Attachment

Insecure attachment marked by discomfort with closeness.

Anxious Attachment

Insecure attachment marked by worry, ambivalence, or fear of rejection.

Equity

A fair relationship where outcomes are proportional to contributions.

Self-Disclosure

Revealing personal or intimate information about yourself.

Disclosure Reciprocity

The tendency for one person’s self-disclosure to be matched by the other person.

Divorce and Individualism

Individualistic cultures tend to have higher divorce because people expect personal fulfillment from marriage.

Detachment Process

The emotional process of ending a relationship, often involving preoccupation, sadness, and gradual separation.

Exit

Actively ending a relationship.

Voice

Actively trying to improve a relationship.

Loyalty

Passively waiting for a relationship to improve.

Neglect

Passively allowing a relationship to get worse.

Altruism

Helping someone else without conscious concern for your own self-interest.

Prosocial Behavior

Behavior intended to help or benefit others.

Social Exchange Theory

Helping is influenced by weighing rewards and costs.

Do-Good/Feel-Good Effect

Helping others can improve your own mood and self-worth.

Isen, Clark, and Schwartz Free Sample Study

People who received a free sample were more willing to help shortly afterward, showing that good moods increase helping.

Guilt and Helping

People may help to reduce guilt and restore their self-image.

Happy People Are Helpful

People in a good mood are more likely to help others.

Reciprocity Norm

The expectation that people should help those who have helped them.

Social-Responsibility Norm

The expectation that people should help those who need help.

Social Capital

Mutual support and cooperation within a social network or community.

Whatley Reciprocity Study

People were more likely to donate to someone’s charity if that person had previously done them a small favor, especially when the person knew they were reciprocating.

Udo Rudolph Attribution and Helping Model

People are more likely to help when they believe the person’s problem is not their fault because that creates more sympathy.

Kin Selection

The evolutionary idea that people are more likely to help close relatives.

Group Selection

The idea that people may sacrifice for the good of their group.

Empathy

Feeling or understanding another person’s emotions by putting yourself in their place.

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Empathy can motivate genuine helping, even when there is no reward.

Batson Empathy-Altruism Research

Seeing someone’s distress can create either personal distress or empathy; empathy may lead to genuine helping even when there is no reward.

Bystander Effect

People are less likely to help when other bystanders are present.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Responsibility feels spread out when more people are present.

Latané and Darley Decision Tree

Helping requires noticing, interpreting the event as an emergency, taking responsibility, knowing what to do, and deciding to help.

Smoke-Filled Room Study

People were much more likely to report smoke when alone than when sitting with others, showing the bystander effect and pluralistic ignorance.

Ambiguity and Helping

People are less likely to help when the situation is unclear.

Prosocial Models

Seeing others help makes people more likely to help.

Time Pressure

People are less likely to help when they are rushed or preoccupied.

Similarity and Helping

People are more likely to help those they see as similar to themselves.

DeBruine Face-Morphing Study

People were more generous toward faces that resembled their own, showing that similarity increases cooperation and helping.

Personality and Helping

Traits like empathy, positive emotionality, and self-efficacy can increase helping.

Gender and Helping

Men help more in dangerous situations, while women help slightly more in safer or relational situations.

Religious Faith and Helping

Highly religious people often report more volunteering, giving, and helping.

Religious Engagement and Helping Study

Pelham and Crabtree found that highly religious people reported more giving, volunteering, and helping strangers, even though they averaged lower incomes.

Moral Exclusion

Seeing certain people as outside the group deserving moral concern.

Moral Inclusion

Seeing others as inside your circle of moral concern.

Labeling People as Helpful

Calling people helpful can strengthen their helpful self-image.

Socializing Altruism

Teaching and modeling helping behavior increases future helping.

Conflict

A perceived incompatibility of actions or goals.

Peace

Low hostility and aggression with mutually beneficial relationships.

Social Trap

A situation where people acting in self-interest create a destructive outcome for everyone.

Prisoner’s Dilemma

A situation where two people may both lose because they mistrust each other and fail to cooperate.

Laboratory Prisoner’s Dilemma

Participants repeatedly choose cooperation or defection for rewards like money, chips, or grade points, showing how trust and self-interest affect cooperation.

Defection

Choosing not to cooperate in a social dilemma.

Cooperation

Working together for mutual benefit.

Tragedy of the Commons

A situation where people overuse a shared resource, eventually harming everyone.

Commons

A shared resource like air, water, energy, or land.

Non-Zero-Sum Game

A situation where both sides can win or both can lose.

Mixed-Motive Situation

A situation involving both cooperation and competition.

Regulation

Rules used to protect the common good.

Competition

Conflict that occurs when groups compete for scarce resources.

Perceived Threat

The belief that another group threatens your resources, identity, or goals.

Sherif’s Robbers Cave Study

Competition between the Eagles and Rattlers created hostility, while shared goals reduced conflict.

Perceived Injustice

Feeling that rewards are not fair compared to contributions.

Equity in Conflict

The idea that fairness means rewards should match contributions.

Misperception

Misunderstanding another person’s or group’s motives and goals.

Mirror-Image Perceptions

Opposing groups see each other in the same negative way.

Myside Bias

Seeing your own side as more moral or correct than the other side.

Intractable Conflict

Long-lasting conflict where each group views itself as moral and the other as evil.

Contact

Interaction between groups that can reduce prejudice if conditions are positive.

Equal-Status Contact

Contact between groups where both sides have equal standing.