social psych chapter 1 & 2

** none of the self terms have the dash

spotlight effect

seeing ourselves at center stage, thus intuitively overestimating the extent to which others attention is aimed at us

people overestimate how much attention is on them

illusion of transparency

the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by other

when we fear that our annoyance or attraction to another person will be easily detected by others

planning fallacy

the tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task

social comparisons

evaluating one’s opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others

affective forecasting

people have the greatest difficulty predicting the intensity and duration of their future emotions

impact bias

we exaggerate how long an events emotional effect will last, whether it is good or bad

dual attitude system

differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (conciously controlled) attitudes toward the same subject. verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly, with practice that forms new habits.

self esteem

a persons overall self evaluation or sense of self worth

self efficacy

a persons belief that they can successfully handle a task

self serving bias

the tendency to see oneself in a favorable light

unrealistic optimism

people judge their own future as better than other people’s

false consensus

people often assume their own views and behaviors are more widely shared than they really are

false uniqueness

a self serving bias in which people see their own abilities, virtues, or good choices as less common than they really are

self handicapping

protecting one’s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure

defensive pessimism

expecting possible problems so that a person prepares more carefully and copes more effectively

self monitoring

describes how some pepple manage impressions almost like adjusting a costume for each audience

self reference effect study

sociometer theory

• self esteem = a gauge for social acceptance

  • low self esteem = i feel like people dont like me

  • high self esteem = i feel like people like me

• your brain has evolved to know what behaviors tend to make people like you

  • prosocial behavior (helping others)

  • exercise

  • achievement

  • expressing gratitude

theory of natural selection

traits that promote survival and reproduction are more likely to be “selected” - passed on to future generations

attribution

we are constantly explaining our owns and others’ behavior

situational attribution

atributing a behavior to the power of the situation

• dan tipped over the coffee because of the unstable table

dispositional attribution

attributing a behavior to the actor’s disposition

• dan tipped over the coffee because dan is dumb

fundamental attribution error

when explaining others behavior, people tend ot underestimate the influence of the situation and overestimate the influence of personality

tendency to explain other people's behavior by blaming their character, while explaining our own behavior by pointing to the situation.

what is the fidel castro essay study proving?

Participants read essays either supporting or opposing Fidel Castro and were either told that the writer chose or was assigned to the position. Even when told the position was assigned, participants still judged the writer’s attitude as consistent with the essay

fundamental attribution error

what is the mock game show proving

Observers watched a mock game show where one participant was the questioner (i.e., was able to read all the answers off a sheet of paper) and the other was the contestant (had to try to answer the questions from prior knowledge). Observers rated the questioners as more intelligent, even though they were told that the roles were randomly assigned

fundamental attribution error

cognition is motivated

thinking is biased and often pushed to where we want it to go

• Princeton v Dartmouth

• Interpreting a protest outside a government building

• cognition is motivated