unit 9 psych vocab

cognitive dissonance

cognitive dissonance

an uncomfortable state of mind arising when you recognize inconsistencies in your beliefs and/or behaviors

fundamental attribution error

the tendency to place more emphasis on internal characteristics to explain someone’s bad behavior

stereotype

beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group

attitude

beliefs and feelings that predispose people to respond in particular ways to situations and other people

diffusion of responsibility

when there are multiple people present, each individual feels less of a responsibility for the situation

social psychology

the study of how other people and groups influence behavior and mental processes as well as how behavior and mental processes influence our experiences in social situations

conformity

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

prejudice

a negative attitude toward another person or group formed in advance of any experience with that person or group

groupthink

a psychological and sociological phenomenon in which members of a group will conform to majority opinion to maintain group harmony rather than stating their own opinions

gender roles

the pattern of behavior, personality traits, and attitudes that define masculinity or femininity in a particular culture

group polarization

when a group makes a more extreme decision than its individual members would have made if acting on their own

social phobia

an anxiety disorder characterized by overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations

aggression

any type of behavior, physical, or verbal, that is intended to harm or destroy

discrimination

an action that causes us to treat different people differently, and even cause physical or emotional harm to others

self-serving bias

the tendency we have to hold ourselves responsible for good outcomes and blame the circumstances for negative ones

attribution

an innate human tendency to ascribe a cause to our actions and the actions of others

deindividualism

the loss of self awareness and self restraint occurring in a group situation

obedience

a given person being socially influenced by an authority figyre who is giving clear-cut and direct orders

social facilitation

an individual’s improved performance on easy or well-learned tasks when they are with others

social loafing

the tendency for people to put in less effort when working on a task as a group, compared to when working alone

altruism

the selfless concern for the well-being of others

self fulfilling prophecy

when a person unknowingly causes a prediction to come true, due to the simple fact that he or she expects it to come true

social norms

the unwritten rules and expectations that dictate how individuals should behave in a particular social group or society

mere exposure effect

the tendency to like new stimuli more when you encounter it more frequently

collective cultures

value the needs of the group as a whole over the needs or desires of each individual

individualistic culture

a type of culture in which people are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only

bystander affect

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

Solomon Asch

Gestalt psychologist, studies on conformity:

conducted a study with a group vision test where study participants were found to be more likely to conform to obviously wrong answers if first given by other participants

Leon Festinger

cognitive psychologist, created theory of cognitive dissonance and social comparison

Stanley Milgram

social psychologist, experiments on obedience to authority

obedience study: “learner” strapped to electric chair. after he learned a lsit of word pairs, the “teacher” tests him and is told by the experimenter to give a shock when the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time (learner gave wrong answers on purpose)

Philip Zimbardo

social psychologist, conducted Stanford Prison Experiment

intended to demonstrate whether the brutality in prisons was due to specific, sadistic personality types evident in prison guards or due to prison environments: randomly designated some people as guards or prisoners. The simulation became too real after a few days. People had to play their role, and there were no rules, and people by the end of the first day WERE their role.

Harold Kelley

theorized that people make decisions or judgments about behavior based on their perception of three different types of information