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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.
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