Social Psychology

Social Psychology

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

Attribution Theory

Tries to explain how people determine the cause of what they observe

Dispositional or Person attribution

Situational attribution

Fundamental Attribution Error

A cognitive attribution bias where observers underemphasize situational and environmental factors for the behavior of an actor while overemphasizing dispositional or personality factors.

Attitude

A set of beliefs and feelings towards aspects of our environment (groups of people, events, places)

Are evaluative (means that our feelings on the above are going to be positive or negative)

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Foot in the door phenomenon

Strategy of going from a small request to a large one, related to changes in self-perception

See oneself as helpful after first request, act consistently with this perception in response to the larger request

Zimbardo Prison Study

The Stanford prison experiment was a psychological experiment conducted in August 1971. It was a two-week simulation of a prison environment that examined the effects of situational variables on participants' reactions and behaviors

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard or expectation

Deindividuation

Creating a sense of anonymity due to a fact of group size, loss of self awareness or timing

Norm

Obedience

Social Facilitation

Tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others than when alone

Social loafing

People exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone

Group Polarization

The prevailing tendencies of a group are enhanced through discussion

Groupthink

When a group desires to keep its harmony at the risk of ignoring reasonable alternatives

Self-fulfilling prophecy

The expectations that we have of others can often influence or shape the behaviors of others

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a group and its members

Stereotype

A thought that can be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things

Beliefs about members of a group based only on their membership in that group.

Ingroup

Outgroup

Ingroup bias

Scapegoat theory

Just-world phenomenon

Aggression

Frustration-aggression principle

Attraction Based Theory

Proximity, physical attractiveness, reciprocity, similarity

Social penetration theory

Self-disclosing communication, superficial or impersonal topics escalating and deepening

Social Exchange Theory

Motivated for gaining and minimize losses, relationships develop based on rewards, costs, expectations, perceived alternatives and investments

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

Sequences Theory

Individuals follow a sequence or events due to expectations, strict guidelines on how things evolve, things never happen because “one thing leads to another”

Individual development models

Relationships develop as an individuals development hits milestones, due to evolving psychological strengths and abilities of each individual

Bystander Effect

The more people who witness someone in distress, the less likely someone is to intervene

Just-world belief

Our belief that the world is fair, and consequently, that the moral standings of our actions will determine our outcomes

Self serving bias

A self-serving bias is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem, or the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner.

Cognitive dissonance theory

Leon Festinger, people are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors, occurs without conscious awareness

Mere Exposure effect

The more one is exposed to something the more that one will enjoy it (characteristics of the communicator and audience also play a role in forming or changing attitudes)

Consistency

How similarly acts occur over time

Distinctiveness

How similar this situation is to other situations that one has previously observed

Consensus

Asks us to wonder how others in the same situation have responded

Group think

its harmony at the risk of ignoring reasonable alternatives

Jane Elliot’s study

American teacher and diversity educator known for her "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" experiment, which explored the effects of discrimination and prejudice. She conducted this experiment with her third-grade students in 1968.

Asch study

most of the participants were actually confederates (i.e. actors), and were instructed to give the wrong answer to many of the easy line questions; therefore, he was looking to see if the "real" participants would conform to the majority opinion even if they knew that the answer was incorrect.

Milgrim study

Yale University, authority figure, deindividuation,

a social psychologist who is famous for his experiments on obedience to authority. These experiments involved subjects giving an electric shock (or so they thought) to another subject because an authority figure demanded it.

Compliance

Increasing one’s appeal before a request; Use of agreement, Positive non-verbal cues, Personal appearance, Name dropping, Self-deprecating remarks, Flattery

Lowball

an attractive deal to a customer. Based on lowball principle of consistency; Salesperson offers, After the deal is accepted changes the terms

“Door-in-the-face” technique

Beginning with large request then switching to a small one after it is rejected, Reduction in the size of the request, Places pressure on the other person to also make a concession.

Playing hard to get

Places pressure to say “yes” to the popular requester.

Fast approaching deadline

Establishes a cut-off point after which an opportunity is lost.

Obedience

Social influence by demand, Milgram Study, Create/come from a position of Authority, Identify specific “roles”, Zimbardo Prison Study

Superordinate Goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Discrimination

The negative behavior or action based on stereotypes and prejudice.