Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

social psychology

the study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behavior are shaped by the actual, implied, or imagined presence of others

social role (Stanford Prison Experiment)

a set of norms about a social position, defining how those in the position behave

self-fulfilling prophecy/ behavioral confirmation

people behave in ways that confirm their belief or perceptions of themselves or others

social comparison theory

we are unable to self-judge our opinions and abilities accurately and instead rely on comparing ourselves to other people to form an evaluation

attributions

how people explain behavior and mental processes of themselves and others

dispositional attributions

internal causes of behavior (ie personality)

situational attributions

external causes of behavior (ie traffic)

explanatory style

a person's habitual way of explaining events

actor-observer bias

the tendency to attribute one's own behavior to situational factors but to attribute the behavior of others to dispositional factors

fundamental attribution error

a bias toward overattributing the behavior of others to internal causes

self serving bias

tendency to attribute successes to internal factors

false consensus effect

the tendency to think other people share our beliefs more than they actually do

optimistic explanatory style

believing negative events are temporary and specific, with external causes

pessimistic explanatory style

believing negative events are permanent and global, with internal causes

mere exposure effect

repeated exposure increases our liking

the halo effect

tendency to assign positive qualities and traits to physically attractive or friendly people

social influence

a process by which social groups and individuals exert pressure on an individual

normative social influence

strive to act in a way that is consistent with group norms

informational social influence

conform to people who seem well informed

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

people agreeing to a small request will find it easier to agree after to a larger one

door-in-the-face technique

people agreeing to a smaller request after they reject a larger one

elaboration likelihood model

theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route

central route persuasion

swayed by logic and merit, effects are longer lasting

peripheral route persuasion

uses incidental cues (ie marketing) to create fast but relatively thoughtless change in attitude

cognitive dissonance

when attitudes/beliefs do not fit with actions, tensions are often reduced by changing attitudes to match actions

conformity

following group standards or behavior as a result of group pressure (real or imagined)

obedience

a change in behavior in response to the commands of others

ethnocentrism

tendency to base perceptions and understandings of other groups or cultures on one's own

individualism

value independence, individual interests (think of the USA)

collectivism

value interdependence, group interests (think of Japan)

stereotype

a generalized concept about a group of people

prejudice

a negative attitude

discrimination

a negative behavior

in group bias

tendency to favor one's own group

social trap (camp experiment)

individuals, groups, etc establish a set of relationships that lead to negative outcomes in the long term

superordinate goal

a shared goal that necessitates cooperative effort

minimal group paradigm

the common finding that even when people are arbitrarily assigned to a group they tend to favor those who are placed in the same group

implicit bias

when we have attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge

out group homogeneity bias

the tendency to assume that the members of other groups are very similar to each other, especially in contrast to the diversity of one's own group

group polarization

group discussion with like-minded others strengthen members' prevailing beliefs and attitudes

groupthink

people are driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives

social facilitation

increased level of effort as a result of the presence of others (enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs performance on difficult tasks)

social loafing

tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts into a common goal than when individually accountable

deindividuation

involves loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

prosocial behavior

a behavior that produces positive social consequences

diffusion of responsibility

the more people in an emergency, the less personally responsible each individual feels, and therefore the less help one provides

bystander effect

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

just world hypothesis

the belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get

social reciprocity norm

behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future

industrial-organizational psychology

study of human behavior in organization and the work place