Social Psych Exam 2 Vocab (Ch 7-10)

Attitude

Positive or negative evaluation of a person, thing, or idea

Belief

Conviction we hold about whether something is true or false

Bogus Pipeline

Technique in which participants are hooked up to a machine and are told that the machine can reveal their true feelings, when in fact the machine cannot do this

Central Processing

Thinking about a message that is relatively slow, careful, and focused on the quality of the arguments

Cognitive Dissonance

Unpleasant arousal stemming from inconsistencies among one’s attitudes, beliefs, and/or behaviors

Cognitive Responses

Thoughts a person has while processing a message

Cognitive Response Model of Persuasion

Posits that persuasion is more likely to occur to the extent that message recipients produce a greater number of favorable than unfavorable responses to the message

Counter Attitudinal Advocacy

Arguing or advocating for a position that is counter or contrary to a person’s attitudes

Convert or Unobtrusive Measures

Obtaining information from people when they are not aware that this is being done

Credibility

Communicator characteristic based on expertise, trustworthiness, and goodwill that affects the extent to which message recipients accept the validity of the communicator’s statements

Dual Attitude

Inconsistent implicit and explicit attitudes toward a person, thing, or idea

Dual Process Model

Posits that attitudes and beliefs can change via two processes— with and without much thought

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

Postulates that persuasion occurs via central and/or peripheral processing

Explicit Attitude

Attitude that a person is aware of and can articulate

Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion

Postulates that persuasion occurs via systematic and/or heuristic processing

Hypocrisy Induction Paradigm

Leading someone to recognize an inconsistency among his or her attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors

Implicit Attitude

Attitude that a person is typically not aware or conscious of

Insufficient Justification

When a person believes that his or her explanation for their own behavior is inadequate

Mere Exposure Effect

Repeated contact with or exposure to a person, thing, or idea leads one to favor or prefer it

Need for Cognition

Extent to which a person enjoys and tends to engage in thinking

Overt Measures

Obtaining information from people when they know what is being examined

Peripheral Processing

Thinking about a message that is relatively rapid, superficial, and focused on non-argument features of the message

Persuasion

Change in attitudes or beliefs

Self-Affirmation

Process whereby the integrity of the self is restored by affirming important values or qualities

Tripartite Model of Attitudes

Postulates that attitudes are composed of three elements: affect, cognition, and behavior

Altruism

Acting to benefit others and not for one’s own sake

Arousal: Cost Reward Model

Postulates that seeing another person in distress causes a person to feel negative arousal, and the person will use the least costly path to reduce the arousal; decision to help is based on a cost/benefit analysis

Bystander Apathy

Explanation that people who fail to help in emergencies do so because they are uncaring

Bystander Effect

Phenomenon that, as the number of onlookers in an emergency increases, the likelihood that any one person will help decreases

Bystander Intervention

Help provided by witnesses to victims or potential victims in an emergency

Cultural Embeddedness

Extent to which one focuses on the family or extended ingroup, as opposed to oneself, as the primary social unity

Debriefing

Explanation of the true purpose of the research, an exploration and reduction of possible negative effects of participation, and a clarification of what actually happened during the study (if there was ambiguity or deception)

Diffusion of Responsibility

Phenomenon in which, as the number of bystanders increases, individuals mentally spread responsibility for intervening across many others

Egoism

Helping other people because it brings internal and/or external rewards to the helper

Empathic Concern

Other-oriented emotion elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of a person in need

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Idea that empathic concern produces an altruistic motivation to relieve the needs of a valued other

Inclusive Fitness

Ability of one’s genes to survive both in one’s own offspring and in one’s (genetic) relatives

Informed Consent

Written agreement to participate in research

Just-World Hypothesis

Idea that people get what they deserve and deserve whatever they get

Kin Selection

Traits that tend to facilitate the survival of an individual’s genetic relatives are selected for

Mood Management Hypothesis

People often help in order to manage their moods, especially when they are sad

Negative State Relief Model

Postulates that witnessing the distress of others causes a person to feel sadness or related negative emotions and that the person is motivated to act in order to reduce those emotions

Norm of Reciprocity

Social rule stating that people should offer help to and avoid harming those who have helped them

Pluralistic Ignorance

When a person incorrectly assumes that others know more than he or she does

Prosocial Behavior

Behavior that is intended to benefit others

Prosociality

Tendency to engage in prosocial behavior

Reciprocal Helping

When people help others because the others have previously helped them or are expected to help them in the future

Social Responsibility Norm

Norm that states that one should help those who need one’s help

Theory of Empathy-Induced Altruistic Motivation

Idea that altruistic motivation for helping is possible and specifies the factors that can lead to it

Aggression

Behavior that is intended to proximately harm another person who is motivated to avoid that harm

Aggressive Cues

Words, images, and objects in the environment that trigger aggression-related thoughts can increase aggression

Archival Research

Examines data from preexisting sources or archives, such as newspapers, historical records, and speeches

Cognitive Neoassociationist Theory (of hostile or emotional aggression)

Idea that almost any aversive event can produce aggressive behavior, provided that that event generates negative affect

Culture of Honor

Society in which people, especially males, are highly protective of their reputation and very sensitive and reactive to personal insults, humiliation, and other threats to their honor

Direct Aggression

Aggression that occurs when the target is present

Excitation Transfer

Arousal produced by one stimulus spilling over and strengthening a person’s emotional response to a different one

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

Idea that aggression is always caused by frustration, and aggression is always the result of frustration

Hostile Aggression

Behavior aimed specifically at harming another person, typically stems from anger; sometimes called emotional aggression

Hostile Attribution Bias

Tendency to interpret the intentions and behavior of others as hostile or threatening

Indirect Aggression

Aggression that occurs when the target is NOT present

Instrumental Aggression

Behavior intended to harm another, but the behavior is merely a means to a nonaggressive end

Media Violence Hypothesis

Idea that exposure to violence in the media can cause aggression in the real world

Provocation

When a person intentionally elicits an aggressive response from another through the use of insults, physical aggression, blocking goal attainment, teasing, or similar behaviors

Relational Aggression

Aggression that is intended to disrupt relationships, such as gossip rumor spreading, and social exclusion

Violence

Extreme aggression that is intended to inflict serious harm

Weapons Effect

When the presence of a weapon—such as a rifle or a revolver— makes aggression more likely

Ageism

Prejudice against people based on their age

Ambivalent Sexism

Simultaneous perception of women in negative and positive terms

Aversive Racism

Coexistence of explicit claims of being nonprejudiced with implicit reactions and behaviors that reveal prejudiced feelings

Benevolent Sexism

Stereotypical views of women as very different from (eg. more emotionally sensitive and warmer) and inferior (eg. weak and in need of protection) to men

Common Ingroup Identity Model

Posits that the core of intergroup bias is the categorization of individuals into in groups and outgroups

Contact Hypothesis

Idea that contact between members of different groups can reduce intergroup hostility and facilitate positive intergroup relations

Discrimination

Unequal treatment of individuals based on their group membership

Glass Ceiling

When qualified women are prevented from attaining high-level positions

Heterosexism

Negative prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination directed at individuals based on their nonheterosexual orientation and/or institutional practices that support the unequal status of heterosexuals and nonheterosexuals

Homophobia

Particularly strong fear of homosexuals or homosexual behavior

Hostile Sexism

Derogatory views of women as seeking to control men via marital commitment and sex, along with perceptions of women as sex objects

Illusory Correlation

Overestimation of the extent to which two variables are correlated

Implicit Attitude

Attitude that a person is typically not aware or conscious of

Ingroup

Group to which a person belongs

Ingroup Bias

Tendency to positively evaluate one’s ingroup

Ingroup Favoritism

More favorable treatment of in groups as compared to outgroups

Institutional Discrimination

Unequal treatment of individuals that is embedded in the norms, policies, and practices of an institution, producing unequal outcomes for members of different groups (contrast with interpersonal discrimination)

Intergroup Bias

Tendency of one group to hold prejudice toward, stereotype, and discriminate against another group

Intergroup Contact Theory

Postulates that intergroup contact can reduce intergroup bias as long as several conditions are present: Individuals must perceive that the groups have equal status; the groups must pursue common, superordinate goals; the groups must cooperate to achieve those goals; and the contact must be sanctioned or supported by authorities, laws, and/or customs

Interpersonal Discrimination

Unequal treatment of specific individuals based on their group membership (contrast with institutional discrimination)

Jigsaw Classroom

Teaching strategy that requires persons from different ethnic and/or racial backgrounds to cooperatively solve problems

Microaggression

Ordinary, daily interactions that send negative messages to an individual based upon the person’s group membership(s)

Minimal Group Paradigm

Research method in which participants are divided into groups, usually for trivial reasons, such as by the color of their eye or the roll of the dice

Modern Racism

Overtly professing egalitarian views of racial groups but holding negative feelings that result in opposition to giving disadvantaged groups special consideration or opportunities

Optimal Distinctiveness Theory

Postulates that people will join groups that facilitate the satisfaction of both their need to belong and their desire to be unique

Outgroup

Group to which is a person does not belong

Outgroup Homogeneity Effect

Perception that all members of a given group are more similar to each other than members of one’s own group are to each other

Personal Identity

Characteristics and qualities that distinguish us from others

Prejudice

Evaluation or prejudgment of a group and its members

Realistic Group Conflict Theory

Postulates that (a) when a group has goals that could only be achieved at the expense of another group, intergroup hostility would ensue; and (b) when groups work together to achieve a common, overarching goal, intergroup relations should become more harmonious

Recategorization

Viewing ingroup and outgroup members primarily as members of a larger, mutually inclusive group, thereby diminishing the importance of intergroup differences

Relative Deprivation (RD)

Discontent that individuals feel when they believe that they are in a worse situation than they should be, either as compared to their previous situation or the situation of other groups

Relative Deprivation Theory (RDT)

Idea that discontent can breed resentment toward others and lead people to blame minorities for their own situation, sometimes resulting in violence

Response Latency

How long it takes participants to categorize a stimulus after it is presented