Openstax Psychology Chapter 12

altruism

an example of prosocial behavior where humans' desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping

proximity

the single most influential factor in determining with whom you become friends and with whom you form romantic relationships

companionate love

type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment, but not passion; associated with close friendships and family relationships

consummate love

type of love occurring when intimacy, passion, and commitment are all present; characteristic of healthy relationships

empathy

capacity to understand another person's perspective—to feel what he or she feels; a person's makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help

homophily

tendency for people to form relationships and social networks with others who are similar

prosocial behavior

voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people

reciprocity

give and take in relationships

romantic love

type of love consisting of intimacy and passion, but no commitment

self-disclosure

sharing personal information about ourselves

social exchange theory

humans act as naïve economists in keeping a tally of the ratio of costs and benefits of forming and maintaining a relationship, with the goal to maximize benefits and minimize costs

triangular theory of love

model of love proposed by Robert Stenberg who said that there are three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment; several types of love exist, depending on the presence or absence of each of these components

actor-observer bias

phenomenon explaining other people's behaviors due to internal factors, while attributing our own behaviors to situational forces; in other words, a person blames his behavior on the situation and minimizes the impact that internal factors might have had on the behavior

AOB example

the student needs to pass the last test of the semester in order to graduate, and start a new job that requires having a degree. the night before the test, the owls outside were making so much noise he could not concentrate while studying. he decides to sit next to a straight A student so he can copy the answers. the student says he is not a cheater, but it was the situation that caused him to cheat on the test

attribution

explanation for the behavior of other people

collectivistic culture

culture that focuses on communal relationships with others such as family, friends, and community; other characteristics include holistic thinking and situational perspective. It is characteristic of Asian, Latin American, and African countries

collectivist culture example

a person will not marry another person unless the entire family approves

individualistic

the type of culture that has the greatest tendency to commit the fundamental attribution error because it does not tend to look at the situation

collectivistic

the type of culture that is less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error because it focuses more on the group and the situation

dispositionism

perspective that behavior is determined by the internal self with internal factors, such as personality traits and temperament (personality psychologists support this perspective)

fundamental attribution error

tendency to overemphasize internal factors as attributions for behavior and underestimate the power of the situation

FAE example

two students are fighting at school, a visitor to the school assumes that both students are nasty, aggressive, angry people, the visitor does not think about a possible situation that could have started the fight (for example one of the students might have been fighting because he has been bullied for years and couldn't take it anymore)

individualistic culture

culture that focuses on individual achievement and autonomy; other characteristics include analytic thinking, and the dispositional perspective; it is characteristic of the US, Canada, and UK

individualistic culture example

a person is going to get married and doesn't really care what the rest of his family thinks about his fiance

internal factor

is an attribute of a person, such as personality traits or temperament

just-world hypothesis

ideology common in the United States that people get the outcomes they deserve; if you're a good person, good things happen to you; if you're a bad person bad things happen to you

people need to believe that they have control over their own situations

the reason why people operate under the just-world hypothesis

self-serving bias

tendency for individuals to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes and situational or external attributions for negative outcomes

situationism

perspective that behaviors and actions are influenced by the environment and surroundings (social psychologists support this perspective)

social psychology

field of psychology that examines how people impact or affect each other, with particular focus on the power of the situation

script

person's knowledge about the sequence of events in a specific setting

social norm

a group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members

social role

a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group

example of a social role

almost all students take notes in class and study for tests. prison guards maintain order among prisoners and keeps them from escaping

example of a social norm

teachers expect students to come to class on time and raise their hands if they need to ask questions

example of a script

a student gets dressed, drives to school, parks in the parking lot, walks to class, gets materials out of his backpack, sits down and gets ready for the teacher to lecture

Phillip Zimbardo's Experiment

A research study conducted at Stanford University, where student volunteers were asked to participate in a mock prison. the study demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts and had to be discontinued after 6 days

Asch effect

a phenomenon often seen in experiments where the group majority influences an individual's judgment, even if the individual is right and the group is wrong regarding a particular situation

Solomon Asch's Experiment

research study where a group of participants were asked to compare the size of one line segment to other line segments. there was only one true participant per group, the remainder were confederates. at least 76% of participants conformed to group pressure by choosing an incorrect line instead of the correct one

confederate

person who works for a researcher and is aware of the experiment, but who acts as a participant; used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design

conformity

when individuals change their behavior to go along with the group even if they do not agree with the group

group polarization

strengthening of the original group attitude after discussing views within the group

group polarization example

Democrats dislike the healthcare policies coming out of the Republican run presidency, but when they caucus to discuss the issues about the new Healthcare Secretary, they dislike the presidency even more.

groupthink

group members modify their opinions to match what they believe is the group consensus; the group often takes actions that individuals would not perform outside of the group setting because groups make more extreme decisions than individuals do.

groupthink example

Luanne and Peggy Hill go to a sorority and they stop eating meat because the sorority says that they can only eat rice. Luanne and Peggy like to eat meat, but they will start eating rice only in order to fit in and be part of the group.

informational social influence

conformity to a group norm due to the belief that the group is competent and has the correct information

informational social influence example

people followed Hitler's orders because they perceived him as a competent leader; you are sitting in a theater and see smoke coming in through a doorway. you are not sure if the smoke is a special effect, so you will look around to see if others are concerned before deciding to leave

normative social influence

conformity to a group norm to fit in, feel good, and be accepted by the group

normative social influence example

your friends are loud in the library, you know you are supposed to be quiet, but you are also loud because you want to fit in yourself

obedience

change of behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid aversive consequences

Stanley Milgram's Experiment

a research study where participants were instructed to shock learners (confederates) when they gave wrong answers to a test (65% of participants) continued to shock at the maxiumum voltage because the researcher told them to continue. the study exemplifies the characteristics of obedience

social facilitation

improved performance when an audience is watching versus when the individual performs the behavior alone

social facilitation example

an athlete plays better in front of spectators than when practicing alone in the gym

social loafing

exertion of less effort by a person working in a group because individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group, thus causing performance decline on easy tasks

social loafing example

some students do not work as hard as others on a group project because the professor will assign a group grade rather than individual grades to the individuals working on the project

John Gottman

Came up with recommendations for marital success using a five-to-one ratio where partners give five positive interactions to one negative interaction