chapter 12 social psychology

Social psychology

Concerned with the way individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others

Person perception

The process of forming impressions of others

Stereotypes

Beliefs people have of certain characteristic of their membership in a particular group

Illusory correlation

Occurs when people estimate that they have encountered more confirmations of an association between social traits than they have actually seen

In group

A group that one belongs to and identifies with

Outgroup

A group that one does not belong to or identify with

Attributions

Inferences drawn about the causes of events, others’ behavior, and our own behavior; individuals make ____ because they have a strong need to understand their experiences

Internal attribution

Explanations ascribing the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings

External attribution

Explanations ascribing the causes of a behavior to situational demands and environmental constraints

Actor-observer bias

Fundamental attribution error: observers’ bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining others behavior; actors favor external attributions for their behavior

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute ones successes to personal factors and ones failures to situational factors

Individualism

Personal goals placed ahead of group goals and one’s identity defined in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships.

Collectivism

Group goals placed ahead of personal goals and ones identity defined in terms of the group one belongs to; societies who follow this are less susceptible to fundamental attribution errors and self-serving bias

Matching hypothesis

Males and females of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other as partners

Similarity effects

Similarities attract more than opposites

Reciprocity effects

Developing interest in those interested in us

Evolutionary psychology

Consistent standards of attraction across cultures, such as facial symmetry and hourglass figure in women proffered by men

In what way are mating preferences different

Men: seek youthfulness and physical attractiveness, associated with greater reproductive potential

Women: value ambition, social statues, and financial potentiometers, associated with material recourses for children

Passionate Love

A complete absorption in another that includes tender sexual feelings and the agony and ecstasy of intense emotion

Companionate love

Warm, trusting, tolerant affection for another whose life is deeply intertwined with ones own

Attitudes

Positive or negative evaluations of objects of thought (social issues, groups, institutions, consumer products, and people); may vary in dimensions of strength, accessibility, and ambivalence

Three components of attitude

Cognitive component are beliefs help about the object of an attitude, affective component are emotional feelings stimulated by an object of thought, behavioral component is predisposition to act in certain ways toward an attitude object

Behavioral component of attitude

predisposition to act in certain ways toward an attitude object

Affective components of attitude

emotional feelings stimulated by an object of thought

Cognitive component of attitude

beliefs help about the object of an attitude

Explicit attitude

Attitudes that one holds consciously and can readily describe

Implicit attitude

Covert attitudes that are expressed in subtle, automatic responses over which one has little conscious control

changing attitudes through persuasion

source(who)→message(what)→channel(how)→ receiver(to whom)

Learning theory

Attitudes can be learned through evaluative and operant conditioning, and observational learning

Dissonance theory

Inconsistency among attitudes propels people in the direction of attitude change

Cognitive dissonance

A psychological stage that exists when related attitudes or beliefs contradict one another

Effort justification

When people work to justify efforts that haven’t panned out

Elaboration likelihood model

A dual process theory that explains how people process info and change attitudes

Central route

People carefully ponder the content and logic of persuasive messages

Peripheral route

Persuasion depends on non-message factors, such as the attractiveness and credibility of the source

Normative influence

An effect that promotes conformity to social norms for fear of negative social consequences

Conformity

The tendency for people to yield to real or imagined social pressure

Informational influences

An effect that often contributes to conformity in which people look at others for guidance about how to behave in ambiguous situations

Milgram’s studies

Authority instructed person to shock someone, 65% of participants administered all levels of shock even after voicing and displaying distress about harming the person