Unit 4

Personality Psychology

the scientific study of personality and its development, structure, traits, process, variations, and disordered forms

Ex: would you have helped your jailer out of the icy water?

Social Psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Ex: why the same person acts differently in different situations

Person Perception

how we form impressions of ourselves and others, including attributions of behavior

Ex: If you learn that a new co-worker is very happy, you immediately assume she is also friendly, kind, and generous

Explanatory Style

a predictable pattern of attributions, interpreting good and bad events in ways that are pessimistic or optimistic

Ex: Pessimistic: “It’s all my fault” Optimistic: I’ll do better next time

Attribution Theory

We explain someone’s behavior by creating either the situation or the persons stable, enduring traits

Ex: Seeing someone shouting on public transport, you blame their character, assuming they are a angry person

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Ex: attributing a coworkers lateness to the fact that they are unreliable rather than that they got stuck in traffic

Actor Observer Bias

acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute other’s behavior to lateral cases

Ex: External cause: you trip and fall, but blame their character slippery floor Internal cause: seeing a stranger trip and fall and blame it on their clumsiness

Prejudice

negative attitude toward a group and its members. Invades negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

Ex: holding an opinion that women do not like to travel in their jobs and because of this you don’t select a women for job requiring travel

Ingredients in Prejudice’s Three

negative emotions, stereotypes, and discrimination

Stereotype

a generalized belief about a group of people

Ex: boys should like blue and green; girls like pink and purple

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members

Ex: black people get less money than whites

Just World Phenomenon

people believe that the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Ex: If someone got cursed, they think that they have done something wrong to deserve it

Social Identity

the “we” aspect of our self concept; part of our answer to “who am I” that comes from our group memberships

Ex: race, gender

In-group

“us” people with whom we share a common identity

Ex: being a man

Out-group

“then” those perceived as different or apart from our in-group

Ex: being man and seeing someone else that’s a women

In-group bias

the tendency to favor ones own group

Scapegoat Theory

prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Ex: the football team blames the QB who threw a pick for the loss even when other aspects of the game affected the outcome

Other Race Effect

recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other forms

Ex: white people confuse black faces more than their own race faces

Attitudes

predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

Foot In the Door Phenomenon

people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a large request

Ex: began with harmless requests, but generally increase into harmful requests

Role

a set of expectations about a social position, defying how those in the position ought be i behave

Ex: when moving out on your own, you feel like a child playing at “adulting” rather than an actual adult, Before long, the play acting normally becomes you

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent

Ex: when becoming aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

Persuasion

changing people’s attitudes, potentially influencing their actions

Peripheral Route Persuasion

when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speakers attractiveness

Ex: celebrity endorsements as we believe beautiful or famous people are smart or trust worthy

Central Route Persuasion

when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments

Ex: COVID vaccines work because a study shows that 69% of people who used it survived

Norms

society understood rules for accepted and excepted behavior

Ex: at high school, jeans are the norm

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to concede with a group standard

Ex: everyone picks apples, then you do too

normative social behavior influence

influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

informational social influence

influence resulting from a persons willingness to accept others opinions about reality

Obedience

complying with an order or command

Social Facilitation

in the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well learned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks

Ex: actor becomes energized by having an audience and goes to have a better performance

Social Loafing

people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal

Ex: when someone takes advantage of the presence of their colleagues to do less work

Deinoviduation

the loss self awareness and self restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Ex: following the crowd in yelling at a referee or the opposing team

Group Polarization

the enhancement of a groups prevailing in clination through discussion within the group

Ex: person who are opposed to the minimum wage are likely, after talking to each other, will be even more opposed

Groupthink

occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

Ex: leader of the group tells everyone to ban girls from the group, and everyone accepts without putting any thoughts into it

Culture

enduring behaviors, ideals, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and go generation to the next

Ex: Cows are not eaten in the country of india

Tight Culture

a place with clearly defined and reliably imposed norms

Loose Cultures

a place with flexible and informal norms

Frustration Aggression Principle

frustration with blocks an attempt to achieve some goal, creates anger, which generates aggression

Ex: person takes frustration on their family because of their work; not getting the promotion

Social Scripts

culturally modeled guide for how to act in various

Ex: being a jock and bullying kids for their lunch money

Mere Exposure Effect

for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them

Ex: buying a particular brand just because of the familiarity

Passionate Love

aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship

Ex: passionate lovers want to be always close, they crave physical touch

Companionate Love

deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

Ex: aids children survival as the parents lose their obsession with each other

Equity

people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it

Ex: a couples both contribute to the household and recognize each others needs and wants

Self Disclosure

act of revealing aspects of ourselves to others

Ex: telling others about our thoughts and hopes

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Ex: giving lunch money to a friend with no exception or desire

Bystander Effect

any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Ex: crowds who record fights rather than report or stop than because others are them

Social Exchange Theory

our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Ex: helping someone out that’s not dangerous with the intent of them giving you a reward

Reciprocity Norm

exception that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them

Ex: buying a lunch for a friend when last time they paid for it

Social Responsibility

expectation that people will help those needing their help

Ex: donating money or resources to charitable organizations, fundraisers