Psych 2800 Midterm 1

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