social psychology exam

define actively based attitude

an attitude based primarily on peoples emotions and feelings about the attitude object

define attitudes

evaluations of people, objects, or ideas

define self-verification theory

a theory suggesting that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether it is positive or negative, in some circumstances, this tendency can conflict with the desire to uphold a favorable view of oneself

define self-enhancement

an unrealistically positive view of oneself

define sociometer theory

the theory that self-esteem is a gauge that monitors the extent to which we are accepted or rejected by others

define upward social comparison

the process whereby we compare ourselves with people who are better than we are in a particular trait or ability

define downward social comparison

the process whereby we compare ourselves with people who are worse than we are in a particular trait or ability

define implementation intentions

people specific plans about where, when, and how they will fulfill a goal and avoid temptation

define self-control

the ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long-term goals

define social comparison theory

the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves with other people

define looking-glass self

the idea that we see ourselves through the eyes of other people and incorporate their views into our self-concept

define performance-contingent rewards

rewards that are based on how well we perform a task

define task-contingent rewards

rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done

define overjustification effect

the case whereby people view their behaviour as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which their behaviour was caused by intrinsic reasons

define extrinsic motivation

the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting

define intrinsic motivation

the desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures

define self-perception theory

the theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behaviour and the situation in which it occurs

define causal theories

theories about the causes of one’s own feelings, and behaviours, typically, we learn such theories from our culture (e.g. “absence makes the heart grow fonder”)

define self-awareness theory

the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour with their internal standards and values

define introspection

the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives

define interdependent view of the self

defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to others; recognizing that one’s behaviour is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others

define independent view of the self

defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people

define self-schemas

an organized body of knowledge about the self (e.g. attitudes, preferences, traits) that influences what people notice, think, and remember about themselves

define self-concept

the overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes

define bias blind spot

the tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional biases than we are

define belief in a just world

a form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people

define defensive attributions

explanations for behaviour that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality

define self-serving attributions

the tendency to make internal, dispositional, attributions for out successes but blame our failures on external, situational factors

define actor/observer difference

the tendency to see other peoples behaviour as dispositionally caused, while focusing more on the role of situational factors when explaining one’s own behaviour

define two-step attribution process

analyzing another persons behaviour first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behaviour, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution

define perceptual salience

info that is the focus of people attention; people tend to overestimate the causal role of perceptually salient information

define fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which peoples behaviour is due to personality traits and to underestimate the role of situational factors

define consistency information

info about the extent to which the behaviour between the actor and the stimulus is the same across time and circumstances

define distinctiveness information

information about the extent to which the actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli

define consensus information

info about the extent to which other people behave the same way the actor does toward the same stimulus

define covariation model

a theory stating that to form an attribution about what caused a persons behaviour, we systematically note the pattern between the presence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behaviour occurs

define external attribution

the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation

define internal attribution

the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about him or her, such as his or her attitude, character, or personality

define attribution theory

the study of how people explain the causes of their own and other peoples behaviour

define implicit personality theory

a type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people believe that if someone is kind, he or she is generous as well

define emblems

nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the “okay” sign

define display rules

culturally determined rules about which emotional expressions are appropriate to show

define affect blend

a facial expression in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion

define decode

to interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behaviour other people express, such as deciding that a smile was an expression of sincere liking and not just politeness

define encode

to express or emit nonverbal behaviour, such as smiling

define nonverbal communication

the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position, use of touch, and eye gaze

define social perception

the study of how we form impressions of other people and make inferences about them

define overconfidence barrier

people tend to have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgements, their judgements are usually not as correct as they think they are

define controlled thinking

thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful

define holistic thinking style

a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to one another, this type of thinking is common in east asian cultures

define analytic thinking style

a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context, this type of thinking is common in western cultures

define base rate information

information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population

define representativeness heuristic

a mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

define availability heuristic

a mental shortcut whereby people base a judgement on the ease with which they can bring information to mind

define embodied cognition

the process by which bodily sensations activate mental structures such as schemas

define priming

the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept

define accessibility

the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of peoples minds and are, therefore likely to be used when making judgements about social world

define automatic thinking

thinking that is generally nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless

define social cognition

how people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember and use social information to make judgements and decisions

define counterfactual thinking

going back and replaying an event, mentally changing some aspect to imagine how things might have turned out different

define judgemental heuristics

when we rely on mental shortcuts to make quick and efficient judgements and decisions; we rely on these when we dont have an available schema or dont know which to rely on

define confirmation bias

tendency to seek out and favor information that confirms their expectations and beliefs

define self-fulfilling prophecy

schemas can influence how we act towards other people, which can lead others to believe in ways consistent with our schema, thus reinforcing the schema

define schemas

mental structures used to organize knowledge and impressions about the social world and ourselves

define spurious correlations

when two things seem related, but its just by chance or because of another hidden factor

define debriefing

explaining to the participants at the end of the experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what happened

define deception

the procedure whereby participants are misled about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire

define informed consent

agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the experiment, which has been explained in advance

define cross-cultural research

research conducted with members of different cultures to see whether the psychology processes of interest are present across cultures or whether they’re specific to a single culture

define applied research

studies designed specifically to solve a particular social problem, building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the specific problem

define basic research

studies designed to find best answer as to why people behave the way they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity

define replication

repeating a study, generally with different subject populations, in different settings, or by using different methods

define basic dilemma of the social psychologist

the trade off between internal and external validity in conducting research

define field experiments

experiments conducted in natural settings, rather than in the lab

define cover story

a description of the purpose of a study given to participants that is different from its true purpose. used to maintain psychological realism

define psychological realism

the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life

define external validity

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people

define internal validity

ensuring that nothing other than the independent variable can affect the dependent variable, accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions

define probability value

a number, calculated with statistical techniques that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiment occured by chance and not because of independent variable. results signify if probability level is less than 5 in 100

define random assignment to condition

the process whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment, through random assignment-reserachers can be certain differences of participants are distributed

define random selection

a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population, by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample

define correlation coefficient

a statistic that assesses how well you can predict one variable based on another (weight from height)

define archival analysis

a form of the observational method whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents, or archives, of a culture

define ethnography

the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

define observational method

technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour

define theory

an organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena

define hindsight bias

people exaggerate how much they could have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occured

define meta-analysis

a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect is reliably observed across those studies

define dependent variable

the variable researchers measure to see if it is influenced by the independent variable

define independent variable

the variable that you change or vary

define experimental method

researchers manipulate the variable they believe is causing the other (the outcome)

define correlational method

researchers systematically measure variables and assess the relation between them. how much one variable can be predicted from another

define operational definition

the precise specification of how variables are measured or manipulated

define hypothesis

a testable statement or idea about the relationship between variables

define behaviourism

school of psychology maintaining that to understand human behaviour, we only need to understand the reinforcing properties of the environment

define gestalt psychology

we should study the subjective way in which an object appears in peoples minds, rather than the physical attributes

define social cognition

when formulating theories of social behaviour, take into consideration the way in which humans think about the world

define fundamental attribution error

people tend to over-estimate the influence of peoples personality on their behaviour and under-estimate the influence of situational factors

define social psychology

the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people

define kurt lewin

father of social psychology who realized the importance of peoples construals of their social environment