Social Psychology: Quiz #4

Terms from Chapter 8 and 9

Mere presence effects

Group influence that occurs as a function of the presence of one or more others

Group interaction effects

Group influence that occurs as a function of social interactions within a group

Social falicitation

Phenomenon in which the quality of an individual’s (actor’s) performance on a task is increased as a function of the mere presence of another individual (co-actor)

Social attenuation

Phenomenon in which the quality of an individual’s (actor’s) performance on a task is decreased as a function of the mere presence of another individual (co-actor)

Dominant response theory

The presence of others doesn’t inherently increase performance, but instead it increases the strength of dominant responses

Evaluation apprehension

Concern about perceived social consequences related to the quality of an individual’s public performance

Fluency

The ability to perform a skill accurately, reliably, efficiently, in novel situations, and in the presence of distractions

Diffusion of responsibility

Diminished sense of accountability that occurs as a function of group membership

Social loafing

Tendency for people to exert less effort in a group relative to what which they would exert if they were working independently

Free riding

People who benefit from the group but give little in return

Social cooperation

Contributing a fair amount of effort to a group

Deindividualization

Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension that occurs as a function of crowding

Group polarization

Enhancement of an individual’s pre-existing tendencies and/or initial inclinations that occurs as a function of group discussion

Risky shift

Phenomenon in which an individual’s proclivity for risk is increased as a function of group influence

Pluralistic ignorance

False impressions of how most other people might be feeling, thinking, or responding in a situation

Groupthink

Phenomenon in which the importance of consensus/conformity within a group overrides the need to evaluate realistic alternatives, suppressing opposing views

Minority influence

Individuals can sway a crowd under the right conditions

Prejudice

Preconceived attitudes about a group and its members

Discrimination

Treating people differently based on groups they belong to

Stereotype

Preconceived perceptions about a group, representing the average number

Implicit attitudes

Nonconscious evaluations of stimuli that tend to be stable over time

Explicit attitudes

Conscious evaluations of stimuli that are verbalized for others to respond to

Implicit association test

Measure of the time necessary to associate two stimuli that used to assess implicit bias

Own-race bias

Tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race than those of another

Outgroup homogeneity effect

Perception of outgroups to be more similar to one another than ingroups

More exposure effect

Phenomenon where people show an increased preference for a stimulus as a consequence of repeated exposure to that stimulus

Social stratification

The existence of separate classes or strata in society

Socail dominance orientation

Motivation for one’s group to dominate others

Just world hypothesis

The idea that the world is a fair and orderly place where what happens to people is generally what they deserve

Victim blaming

Phenomenon in which people create psychological distance between themselves and the victim of a trauma, tragedy, or injustice by attributing the event to the victim

Institutional discrimination

Differential treatment of individuals based on group status by religious organizations, governments, businesses, the media, educational institutions, medical organizations and other large social entities

Scapegoat theory

Hostility and aggression between groups comes from frustration when a group’s goal isn’t met

Realistic group conflict theory

Prejudice begins with scarcity of resources, which results in necessary competition between groups for access to those resources

In-group bias

Tendency to view one’s own group favorably relative to outgroups

Stereotype threat

An individual’s expectation that negative stereotype about their group will adversely influence others’ judgements about their performance, and that poor performance will reflect badly on their group