Social psychology

Social psychology

The scientific study of how we influence one another’s behavior and thinking

Conformity

A change in behavior, belief, or both to conform to a group norm as a result of real or imagined group pressure

Informational social influence

Influence stemming from the need for information in situations where the correct action or judgement is uncertain

Normative social influence

Influence stemming from our desire to gain the approval of others and avoid their disapproval

Compliance

Acting in accordance with a direct request from another person or group

Foot-in-the-door-technique

Compliance to a large request is gained by preceding it with a very small request

Door-in-the-face-technique

Compliance is gained by starting with a large, unreasonable request that is turned down and following it with a more reasonable, smaller request

Low-ball technique

Compliance to a costly request is gained by first getting compliance to an attractive, less costly request but then reneging on it

That’s-not-all-technique

Compliance to a planned second request with additional benefits is gained by presenting this request before a response can be made to the first request

Major reason for compliance: FID

Consistency

Major reason for compliance: DIF

Reciprocity

Major reason for compliance: LB

Consistency

Major reason for compliance: TNA

Reciprocity

Obedience

Following the commands of a person in authority

Experimenter bias

A process in which the person performing the research influences the results in order to obtain a certain outcome

Social facilitation

Facilitation of a dominant response on a task due to social arousal, leading to improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks and worse performance on complex or unlearned tasks when other people are present

Social loafing

The tendency to exert less effort when working in a group towards a common goal than when individually working toward the goal

Diffusion of responsibility

The lessening of individual responsibility for a task when responsibility for the task is spread across the members of a group

Bystander effect

The probability of a person’s helping in an emergency is greater when there are no other bystanders than when there are other bystanders

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and restraint in a group situation that fosters arousal and anonymity

group polarization

The strengthening of a group’s prevailing opinion about a topic following group discussion about it

Groupthink

A mode of group thinking that impairs decision making because the desire for group harmony overrides a realistic appraisal of the possible decision alternatives

Attribution

The process by which we explain our own behavior and that of others

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overestimate dispositional influences and underestimate situational influences on other’s behavior

Just-world hypothesis

The assumption that the world is just and that people get what they deserve

Primacy effect

Information gathered early is weighted more heavily than information gathered later in forming an impression of another person

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Our behavior leads a person to act in accordance with our expectations for that person

Actor-observer bias

The tendency to overestimate social influences on our own behavior, but dispositional ones of others

False consensus effect

The tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and unsuccessful behaviors

False uniqueness effect

The tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and successful behaviors

Attitudes

Evaluative reactions toward objects, events, and people

Cognitive dissonance theory

Assumes people have a tendency to change their attitudes to reduce the cognitive discomfort created by inconsistencies between their attitudes and behavior

Self-perception theory

Assumes that when we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them by examining our behavior and the context in which it occurs

Demand characteristics

cues in the experimental environment that make participants aware of what the experimenters expect to find and how they are expected to react