Social Psychology and Motivation and Emotion

Person perception

How we form impressions of ourselves and others including attributions of behavior.

Attribution theory

The theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the persons stable, enduring traits

Dispositional attribution

We explain someone’s behavior by crediting the persons stable enduring traits

Situational

We explain someones behavior by crediting the situation.

Explanatory style

A person’s tendency to explain events in their life, particularly negative events.

Optimistic

Tend to explain negative events as external, temporary, while positive events are internal, stable, and global.

Pessimistic

Often attribute negative events as internal, stable, and global causes, leading to helplessness and depression.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute others’ behavior to internal causes.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute positive events to one’s own character but attribute negative events to external factors.

Locus of control (external)

The perception that outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate.

Locus of control (internal)

The perception that we control our own fate.

Mere exposure effect

The tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment.

Social comparison

Evaluating others and ourselves, judge whether we’re succeeding or failing

Relative Deprivation

The perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Implicit Attitude

An unthinking knee-jerk response operating below the radar

Explicit Attitude

On radar screen of our awareness.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Just-world Phenomenon

The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Out-group Homogeneity bias

“them”- those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

In-group Bias

The tendency to favor our own group “us”

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to view our own ethnic of racial group as superior.

Belief perserverance

The persistance of one’s initial conceptions even after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Cognitive dissonance

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent.

Social norms

A society’s understood rules for accepted and expected behavior

Social influence theory

The idea that people are heavily influenced by the thoughts and actions of others

Normative social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Informational social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Persuasion

Changing people’s attitudes, potentially influencing their actions

Elaboration likelihood model

Suggests that when we actively process a message we more often retain it

Central route persuasion

Occurs when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments

Peripheral route persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Halo effect

Celebrity endorsements can influence us, as we may believe beautiful or famous people are especially smart and trustworthy.

Foot-in-the-door technique

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. Ex: when someone asks to borrow a small amount of money, then asks to borrow a larger amount.

Door-in-the-face technique

Tactic of making large requests that a person will likely refuse in order to get the person to agree to a smaller request.

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Why do people conform?

Dependent on group for satisfying, desire to have an accurate perception of reality, desire to be accepted by others

Obedience

Complying with an order or a command.

Individualism

Focus on “me”, as an independent, separate self.

Collectivism

A cultural value that prioritizes group goals over individual needs

Multiculturalism

Acceptance of different cultures in a society and the active support of those cultural differences by both the majority and minority group members

Diffusion of Responsibility

Occurs when people who need to make a decision wait for someone else to act instead

Social loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Social Facilitation

In the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks, worsened performance on difficult tasks.

Social impairment

When someone acts less positively or performs worse around others

False Consensus effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Social traps

When two parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, get caught in mutually destructive behavior

How can group interaction enable group polarization?

the beliefs and attitudes we bring to a group grow stronger as we discuss them with like-minded others.

How cna group interaction lead to groupthink?

Group interaction can enable groupthink by fostering a strong desire for group harmony and conformity.

Industrial-organizational psychology

Studies how people perform in the modern workplace, goal to make work more satisfying and productive.

Altruism

The unselfish regard for the welfare of others

When are people most likely to help?

If the situation enables us first to notice the incident then to interpret it as an emergency, and assume responsibility for helping.

Social exchange theory

The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Social-Reciprocity norm

An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them

Social-Responsibility norm

An expectation that people will help those needing their help

When are people least likely to provide help?

When there is a diffusion of responsibility

Bystander effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Drive-reduction theory

The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motives on organism to satisfy the need

Homeostasis

Tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state, regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose around a particular level

Arousal theory

Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

Sensation-seeking theory

“Sensation seekers” may display traits such as experience seeking (desire for novel sensory or mental experiences), thrill, or adventure seeking

Self-determination theory

We strive to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy (sense of personal control), and relatedness

Intrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Extrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior or to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Instinct

A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

Conflict

Source of motivation because when faced with a decision that involves competing desires or options, the tension created by the conflict can drive an individual to take action and resolve the situation

Approach-approach

When two attractive but compatible goals pull us

Avoidance-avoidance

Two undesirable alternatives

Approach-Avoidance

Feeling simultaneously attracted and repelled

Ghrelin

Hunger arousing hormone secreted by an empty stomach

Leptin

Protein hormone secreted by fat cells, when abundant, causes the brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger

Pituitary gland

Regulates hunger by releasing hormones controlled by the hypothalamus

Hypothalamus

Signals blood glucose levels, stomach distension, hormones like leptin and ghrelin to determine hunger

Emotion

A response of the whole organism, complex process distinct from knowledge and reasoning

Different elements of emotion

Physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations

Basic, universal emotions

Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust

Display rules

A social group or cultures informal norms that distinguish how one should express oneself.

Facial feedback effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Behavior feedback effect

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions

Broaden-and-build Theory

Proposes that positive emotions broaden our awareness, which over time helps us build novel and meaningful skills and resilience that improves well-being.