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Chapters 1-4
Social Psychology
The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
The failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, along with the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior. Ex: Assuming someone is rude without considering external stressors.
dispositions
internal factors, such as beliefs, values, personality traits, and abilities, that guide a persons behavior
Gestalt Psychology
an approach that stresses the fact the peoples perception of objects involves active, usually non-conscious interpretation of what the object represents as a whole
Construal
ones interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that one confronts
Schema
a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information that is used to help in understanding events
Stereotype
a belief that certain attributes are characteristics of members of a particular group
automatic processing
A cognitive process that occurs with little or no conscious effort. Requires minimal cognitive resources.
implicit attitudes
Unconscious evaluations towards people or objects
explicit attitudes
Conscious evaluations of people, objects, or ideas
Non-conscious Processing
Mental processes occurring without awareness
natural selection
an evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so that traits that enhance the probability of survival and reproduction are passed on to subsequent generations
naturalistic fallacy
the claim that the way things are is the way they should be
social neuroscience
Study of how biological systems implement social processes and behavior
independent/individualistic cultures
A culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities, tied to each other by voluntary bonds of affection and organizational memberships but essentially separate from other people and having attributes that exist in the absence of any connection to others.
interdependent/collectivist cultures
A culture in which people tend to define themselves as part of a collective, inextricably tied to others in their group and placing less importance on individual freedom or personal control over their lives.
hindsight bias
peoples tendency after learning about a given outcome to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted that outcome
thought experiment
a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences
hypothesis
a prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
theory
a set of related propositions intended to describe some phenomenon or aspect of the world
dissonance theory
when two beliefs are inconsistent, individuals experience negatively arousing cognitive conflict
observational research
involves observing people in social situations, conclusions made should be followed up for confirmation
participant observation
the researcher is actively participating in the observational study, can be disguised or undisguised
archival research
involves analyzing social behaviors documented in past records
surveys
involves asking participants questions usually via interview or questionnaire
convenience sampling
a non-probability sampling method where units are selected for inclusion in the sample because they are the easiest for the researcher to access
correlational research
research that involves measuring two or more variables and assessing whether there is a relationship between them
experiment research
research that randomly assigns people to different conditions, or situations, enabling researchers to make strong inferences about why a relationship exists or how different situations affect behavior
third variable
a variable, often unmeasured in correlational research, that can be the true explanation for the relationship between two other variables
self-selection
the situation in which the participant, rather than the researcher, determines the participants level of each variable, thereby creating the problem that unknown other properties might be responsible for the observed relationship
longitudinal study
a study conducted at different points in time with the same participants
independent variable
in correlational research this variable is measured, in experimental research this variable is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause of a particular outcome
dependent variable
in experimental research the variable that is measured; it is hypothesized to be affected by manipulation of the other variable
experimental condition
the procedure that is varied in order to estimate a variable's effect by comparison with a control condition
control condition
a condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it lacks the one ingredient hypothesized to produce the expected effect on the dependent variable
random assignment
assigning participants in experimental research to different conditions randomly, so they are as likely to be assigned to one condition as to another, with the effect of making the types of people in the different conditions roughly equal
natural experiment
a naturally occurring event or phenomenon with somewhat different conditions that can be compared with almost as much rigor as conditions manipulated by the investigator in an experiment
external validity
how well the results of a study generalize to contexts outside the conditions of the laboratory
field experiment
an experiment conducted in the real world, usually with participants who are not aware that they are in a study of any kind
internal validity
in experimental research, confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results
reliability
the degree to which the particular way researchers measure a given variable is likely to yield consistent results
measurement validity
the correlation between a measure and some outcome the measure is supposed to predict
statistical significance
a measure of the probability that a given result could have occurred by chance
replication
reproduction of research results by the original investigator or by someone else
naive realism
The belief that the world is exactly as we perceive it and that our senses provide an accurate representation of reality.
open science
Practices such as sharing data and research materials with anyone in the broader scientific community in an effort to increase the integrity and replicability of scientific research.
institutional review board
A committee that examines research proposals and makes judgments about the ethical appropriateness of the research.
informed consent
A person's signed agreement to participate in a procedure or research study afer learning all of its relevant aspects.
deception research
Research in which the participants are misled about the purpose of the research or the meaning of something that is done to them.
debriefing
In preliminary versions of an experiment, asking participants directly if they understood the instructions, found the setup to be reasonable, and so on. After an experiment, it is used to educate participants about the questions being studied.
basic science
Science or research concerned with trying to understand some phenomenon in its own right, with a view toward using that understanding to build valid theories about the nature of some aspect of the world.
applied science
Science or research concerned with solving important real-world problems.
interventions
An effort to change a person's behavior.
self-schemas
A cognitive structure, derived from past experience, that represents a person's beliefs and feelings about the self, in both general and specific situations.
socialization agents
a combination of social groups and social institutions that provide the first experiences of socialization
reflected self-appraisals
A belief about what others think of one's self.
situationism
the theory that changes in human behavior are factors of the situation rather than the traits a person possesses
working self-concept
A subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context.
independent self-construal
represents the tendency of individuals to define themselves by their unique configuration of internal attributes and to focus on discovering and expressing their distinct potential
interdependent self-construal
the extent to which people construe the self as being fundamentally connected to other people
social comparison theory
the idea that people compare themselves to other people to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states.
downward social comparison
defensive tendency to compare ourselves to others who are worse off than we are
upward social comparison
The process of comparing oneself to others who are perceived to be better off or superior.
social identities
the parts of a person's sense of self that are derived from group memberships.
self-stereotyping
the phenomenon whereby people come to define themselves in terms of traits, norms, and values that they associate with a social group when their identity as a member of that group is salient.
self-esteem
the overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves.
trait self-esteem
a persons level of self regard across time
state self-esteem
the dynamic, changeable self-evaluations a person experiences as momentary feelings about the self
contingencies of self-worth
the thesis that people's self-esteem is contingent on their successes and failures in domains they deem important to their self-worth.
sociometer hypothesis
the idea that self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others.
self-enhancement
the desire to maintain, increase, or protect one's positive self-views.
better-than-average effect
the finding that most people think they are above average on various personality trait and ability dimensions.
self-affirmation theory
the idea that people can maintain an overall sense of self-worth after being exposed to psychologically threatening information by affirming a valued aspect of themselves unrelated to the threat.
self-verification theory
the theory that people strive for others to view them as they view themselves; such verification of one's views of the self helps people maintain a sense of coherence and predictability.
self-regulation
Processes by which people initiate and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals, including the ability to resist short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term goals.
self-discrepancy theory
A theory that behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal and ought selves; falling short of these standards elicits specific emotions and may lead to efforts to get closer to them.
actual self
the self that people believe they are.
ideal self
the self that embodies people's wishes and aspirations.
ought self
the self that is concerned with the duties, obligations, and external demands people feel they are compelled to honor
promotion focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ideal-self standards; a focus on attaining positive outcomes through approach-related behaviors.
prevention focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ought-self standards; a focus on avoiding negative outcomes through avoidance-related behaviors.
implementation intentions
An "if-then" plan to engage in a goal-directed behavior ("then") whenever a particular cue ("if") is encountered.
self-presentation
Presenting the person we would like others to believe we are
face
the public image of ourself that we want others to believe
self-monitoring
the tendency to monitor one's behavior to fit the current situation
self-handicapping
tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order to have an excuse ready should one perform poorly or fail
snap judgments
a hasty decision or opinion
covariation principle
idea that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behavior
consensus
A type of covariation information: whether most people would behave the same way or differently in a given situation.
distinctiveness
A type of covariation information: whether a behavior is unique to a particular situation or occurs in many or all situations.
situational attribution
occur when we infer that a behavior or event is caused by some factor relative to the situation
dispositional attribution
refers to the tendency to assign responsibility for others' behaviors due to their inherent characteristics
discounting principle
the idea that people will assign reduced weight to a particular cause of behavior if other plausible causes might have produced the same behavior.
counterfactual thinking
thoughts of what might have, could have, or should have happened "if only" something had occurred differently
emotional amplification
An increase in an emotional reaction to an event that is proportional to how easy it is to imagine the event not happening.
self-serving attributional bias
tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances and to attribute success and other good events to oneself
actor-observer diference
A difference in attribution based on who is making the causal assessment: the actor (who is relatively inclined to make situational attributions) or the observer (who is relatively inclined to make dispositional attributions)
primacy effect
A type of order effect whereby the information presented first in a body of evidence has a disproportionate influence on judgment
recency effect
A type of order effect whereby the information presented last in a body of evidence has a disproportionate influence on judgment.
framing effect
the influence on judgment resulting from the way information is presented, including the words used to describe the information or the order in which it is presented
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