AP Psychology Unit XIV: Social Psychology

Social psychology

Scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Attribution theory

States that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation (situational attribution) or enduring traits (disposistional attribution).

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency for observes, when analyzing someone’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact on personal disposition.

Attitudes

Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Periphreal route to persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Central route to persuasion

Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts. More thoughtful and less superficial, more likely to influence behavior.

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

Set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position should behave.

Cognitive dissonance theory

Theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when out thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent with our actions. Revision vs. rationalization.

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disappointment.

Informational social influence

Resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.

Social facilitation

Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Social loafing

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

Deindividualization

Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group-polarization

Enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group. Can lead to extremism.

Groupthink

Mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Prejudice

Unjustifiable and usually negative attitudes towards a group and its members.

Stereotypes

Generalized belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior towards a group and its members.

Just-world phenomenon

Social root of prejudice, tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Ingroup

“Us”— people with whom we share a social identity.

Outgroup

“Them”— those perceived as different or apart from the ingroup.

Ingroup bias

Tendency to favor our own group.

Scapegoat theory

Emotional root of prejudice, states that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other race effect

Cognitive root of prejudice, tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces on other races.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

Biological factors of aggression

Genetic influences, amygdala, less activity in frontal lobes, testosterone, alcohol.

Psychological factors of aggression

Aversive events, rewarding behavior, low self-control, frusturation,

Social-cultural factors of aggression

Deindividualization, parents, no father, rejection, exposure to violent media.

Frustration-aggression principle

States that frustration— the blocking of an attempt to achieve a goal— creates anger, which can generate aggression. Also aversive stimuli evoke hostility.

Social script

Culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

Psychology of attraction

Proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity.

Mere exposure effect

Phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimulus increases liking of them.

Passionate love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship. Adrenaline makes the heart grow fonder.

Companionate love

Deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined. Oxytocin.

Equity

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

Self-disclosure

Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Bystander effect

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

Social exchange theory

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

Reciprocity norm

An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

Social-responsibility norm

An expectation that people will help those needing help.

Conflict

Perceived incompatability of actions, goals, or ideas.

Social trap

Situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught up in mutually destructive behavior.

Mirror-image perceptions

Mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and the other side as aggressive.

Self-fufilling prophecy

Belief that leads to its fufillment.

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.