Social Psychology: Social Influence, Relationships, and Groups

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering social influence, relationship dynamics, and collective group behavior based on the exam study guide.

Obedience

Performing an action because an individual with power or authority over you commands or asks you to do so.

Compliance

Acting in accordance with a request from others when there is no implicit authority or power differential involved.

Conformity

The alignment of one's behavior with the actions of a group simply because others are doing it.

Automatic Mimicry

The unconscious imitation of others' actions, such as yawning, which fosters social bonding and pro-social behavior.

Ideomotor Action

The principle that merely perceiving or thinking about an action automatically increases the likelihood of performing that action.

Informational Social Influence

Conforming because of a genuine belief that the group's actions are correct, driven by a baseline desire to be accurate.

Autokinetic Effect

A visual illusion involving a stationary dot of light in a dark room that appears to move; used to study alignment with group data when individuals are unsure.

Normative Social Influence

Conforming and mimicking others to avoid feeling isolated, rejected, or socially excluded.

Tight Cultures

Cultures with rigid social norms and zero tolerance for deviance, such as Germany, China, India, and South Korea.

Loose Cultures

Cultures that maintain a high tolerance for individual deviance, such as Greece, Israel, New Zealand, and Brazil.

Minority Influence

A phenomenon where a consistent minority causes a shift in majority opinion by forcing the majority to reconsider factual alternatives.

Negative State Relief

A mechanism where negative moods increase compliance because performing a helpful act makes the individual feel better.

Foot-in-the-Door

A compliance technique involving securing agreement to a small initial request before presenting a larger target request.

Door-in-the-Face

A compliance technique where a very large, certain-to-be-declined favor is followed by a more modest, concessionary request.

Norm of Reciprocity

The deeply ingrained social expectation that individuals should help those who have helped them.

Exchange Relationships

Short-term interactions, typically between business associates or strangers, governed by equity and immediate reciprocity.

Communal Relationships

Long-term interactions, typically between family and close friends, based on mutual responsiveness and a sense of oneness.

Social Exchange Theory

The theory that people actively seek interactions and are willing to pay personal costs to maximize social rewards.

Comparison Level

The explicit internal expectations people have regarding the rewards they deserve or expect to receive in a relationship.

Equity Theory

The idea that people are motivated to seek fairness in relationships so that costs and benefits are shared roughly equally.

Attachment Theory

A framework describing how early emotional bonds with parents structurally shape adult social relationships throughout life.

Propinquity Effect

The single biggest factor in initial attraction, stating that people become friends with those who are physically close to them.

Mere Exposure Effect

The robust psychological finding that increased exposure to a person or thing results in naturally growing to like it over time.

Halo Effect

An automatic subconscious process where attractive individuals are believed to possess multiple positive qualities like intelligence and kindness.

Reproductive Fitness

An evolutionary indicator of genetic quality; physical traits like facial symmetry signal the absence of disease or genetic abnormalities.

Investment Model of Commitment

A model stating that relationship dedication is determined by rewards-to-costs, quality of alternatives, and total investment.

Gottman's Four Horsemen

Four toxic communicative behaviors—Contempt, Criticism, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling—that reliably predict relationship failure.

Contempt

The expression of utter disdain or superiority over a partner; recognized as the strongest predictor of relationship dissolution.

Social Facilitation Theory

The theory that individual performance is modified by the presence of others, enhancing simple tasks and disrupting complex ones.

Evaluation Apprehension

A source of psychological arousal caused by the conscious perception that others have the ability to judge or grade us.

Social Loafing

A phenomenon where individuals exert less effort in a group task because their specific contributions cannot be monitored.

Groupthink

A dangerous decision-making style where internal group cohesiveness and solidarity are prioritized over evaluating risks and facts.

Group Polarization

The tendency for group decisions to become more extreme than the initial independent inclinations of its members.

Deindividuation

A state of reduced individual identity and increased impulsive or destructive behavior that occurs when immersed in a large crowd.

Spotlight Effect

A cognitive bias where individuals drastically overestimate how much others are paying attention to their appearance and mistakes.