AP Psychology - Social Psychology

Social Psychology

scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Attribution Theory

theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or their personality.

Fundamental Attribution Error

the tendency, when watching others, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of dispositional traits.

Attitude

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Central Route Persuasion

attitude change path in which interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

the theory that we act to reduce the tension we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) or a thought and action are inconsistent.

Conformity

adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative Social Influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational Social Influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.

Social Facilitation

stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

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.

Group Polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Norm

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. They prescribe "proper" behavior.

Personal Space

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies.

Prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. It generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

(Social) unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Ingroup

"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

the tendency to favor our own group.

Scapegoat Theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-Race Effect

the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias

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.

Aggression

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

the principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Mere Exposure Effect

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them.

Passionate Love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Companionate Love

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

Self-Disclosure

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect

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

Social Exchange Theory

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

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 dependent upon them.

Conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Social Trap

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Mirror-Image Perceptions

mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

a belief that leads to its own fulfillment

Superordinate Goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction (GRIT)

strategy designed to decrease international tensions.

Diffusion of Responsibility

reduction in feelings of personal burden in the presence of others

Ethnocentricism

evaluation of other cultures according to the standards/customs of one's own culture. Thinking your culture is best.

Compliance

Conforming to a request or demand

Philip Zimbardo

Conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment

Fritz Heider

Founder of attribution theory

Dispositional Attribution

Explanation of individual behavior as a result of personality traits

Situational Attribution

Explanation of individual behavior as a result of environmental factors

Pygmalion Effect (Rosenthal Effect)

the phenomenon whereby higher expectations lead to an increase in performance

Golem Effect

psychological phenomenon in which lower expectations placed upon individuals either by supervisors or the individual themselves lead to poorer performance by the individual

False Consensus Effect

tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people share most of our opinions, attitudes, and behavior

Schacter-Singer Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

physical arousal paired with a cognitive label-i.e., my heart is beating, my palms are sweating-it must be love!

Catharsis Hypothesis

Incorrect belief that if you feel aggressive and then act out by hitting a bag or playing a violent video game, you will feel less angry.

Door-In-The-Face Phenomenon

Large request followed by a smaller request.