Intro to Social Psych vocab

Social psychology

The study of how people think, feel, and act in relation to each other

How psychological processes are affected by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other people

Intrapersonal

Processes internal to an individual (intra - within)

Interpersonal

Interactions between individuals (inter - between)

Empirical investigation

Basing conclusions on concrete evidence, not intuition or theory

Data

Set of observations that have been systematically collected

Methodology

Techniques used to gather data

Sample

Participants in research study

Variable

Factor that exists in different amounts within a study

Theory

Conceptual explanation of a given phenomenon, used to generate predictions

Model

Specific account of the relationships between variables in a theory

Hypothesis

Testable prediction that can be supported or disproved through empirical research

States what should differ or relate between two variables

Scientific process

1. Make observations

2. Develop theory/theories

3. Come up with hypotheses

4. Test with empirical research

5. Confirm/disprove predictions

Analogue

Measure intended to mimic the real world phenomenon of interest

External validity

Similarity between research scenario and real-life phenomenon of interest

Predicts generalizability of results and how valid the results are to real life

Experiment

Tests a hypothesis that one variable affects another variable

Allows for causation and is highly controlled; biased to WEIRD population and lacks ecological validity

Case studies

Detailed examinations of an individual or group case in real life

Good for studying unique cases; not generalizable or controlled

Surveys

Administering questionnaires that measure sets of variables

Able to study large samples and observe real-world; lacks depth and only applicable to correlation

Interviews

Using qualitative analysis by asking people to share experiences

Access subjective dimensions of experience; not replicable or objective

Document analysis

Analyzing pre-existing documents both qualitatively and quantitatively

Convenient and accessible data; limited knowledge and can’t shape data to topic of interest

Attitude

Positive or negative evaluation of an object, person, or event

Thurstone - positive/negative affect held towards object

Allport - mental readiness to act in relation to the object

Hogg & Vaughan - “beliefs, feelings, and behavioural tendencies towards socially significant groups”

Tripartite model

3 components that show up in attitudes: affect, behaviour, and cognition (ABCs)

Classical conditioning

Stimulus repeatedly paired with another stimulus that already evokes positive/negative reaction

Operant conditioning

Enforcing consequences with behaviour to condition behaviour

Reinforcement and punishment affect attitudes and behaviours relating to the attitudes

Social/observational learning

An individual learning based on observing others’ behaviour and consequences

Mere exposure effect

Repeatedly exposing people to given object will cultivate more positive attitude

Self perception theory

Infer own attitude by observing our behaviour and making attributions for it

Theory of planned behaviour

Attitude predicts behaviour when we believe other people approve of this behaviour and that we have control over the behaviour

Persuasion

Process by which a message changes a person’s attitudes or behaviour

Source amnesia

Memory error when a person remembers factual information but forgets where they acquired it

Sleeper effect

When persuasiveness of a message, originally paired with a negative or untrustworthy source, increases over time

Elaboration likelihood model

Theory explaining how people are persuaded and how their attitudes change

Includes central and peripheral routes to persuasion

Central route to persuasion

Elaboration on central cues - logic and strength of argument

Peripheral route to persuasion

Influenced by superficial peripheral cues - mental shortcuts, heuristics

Heuristic-systematic model

Dual-process theory of persuasion explaining how people process and evaluate messages

Systematic processing

Actively scanning and processing arguments presented

Heuristic processing

Using cognitive shortcuts to accept/reject a message

Reciprocity principle

Feeling a strong obligation to return a favour, gift, or positive action after someone does something for you

Foot-in-the-door tactic

Persuasion tactic to ask someone something small first, then getting them to agree to something larger

Door-in-the-face tactic

Persuasion tactic to first make an unrealistic request, then making the original, smaller request after receiver declines

Injunctive norm

What people should do based on social (dis)approval

Descriptive norm

What people actually do based on observation

Reactance

Defiant refusal to be persuaded - personal annoyance at infringement of autonomy

Boomerang effect

When a person shifts their attitude in the opposite direction than what the persuader wanted

Forewarning

Prior knowledge that someone is going to persuade you which causes a lower likelihood of persuasion success

Inoculation effect

Biological metaphor; attitudes/beliefs are resistant to change by exposing them to weaker arguments before the persuasion

Prebunking misinformation

Combination of forewarning and inoculation

Warning people of manipulation and exposing them to weak misinformation to empower them to resist the real misinformation

Cognitive consistency

Human preference for consistency in thoughts, feelings, and behaviour

Cognitive dissonance

Imbalance experienced when thoughts don’t match actions

Impression formation

Psychological process of gathering, organizing, and integrating small pieces of information about another person to build a mental image

Primacy effect

Information presented earlier in a series has larger influence and stays in memory longer

Recency effect

Information presented later/last in a series has larger influence on impression and lasts longer in memory

Positivity vs negativity bias

Negative information has disproportionate influence compared to positive information; negative information is more resistant to change

Halo effect

Tendency to assume that all good-looking people are right or good; aka physical appearance bias

Attribution theory

Framework/study of how people interpret and assign causes to behaviour and outcomes

Social explanation

Developing understanding of social world is imperative for success and survival; develop causal explanations for why people behave

Correspondence inference theory

Causal attribution of behaviour to underlying dispositions

How people decide whether a person’s actions are caused by internal dispositions

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to underestimate impact of situation and overestimate impact of personal disposition in a negative scenario

Actor-observer bias

Tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their own behaviour to external causes but for observers to attribute their behaviour to internal causes

Figure ground effect in FAE

Actor is more perceptually salient than background situation so attracts more attention

Just world phenomenon

Tendency for people to believe that the world is ‘just’ and everyone gets what they deserve

Attachment theory

Theory that early relationships between child and primary caregiver shape later relationship patterns

Includes secure, anxious ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized

Secure attachment

Distress when separate from caregiver and happiness when reunited; seeks comfort from caregiver

Anxious ambivalent attachment

Extreme distress when separated and cannot depend on caregiver

Avoidant attachment

Avoids caregiver and shows no preference or distress

Disorganized attachment

Confused or fearful behaviours with caregiver

Balance theory

Preference for consistency in thoughts, feelings, and behaviours with no cognitive dissonance

Social exchange theory

Theory that relationships are viewed as a trading transaction

Social affiliation model

View that everyone has optimal level of social contact/affiliation that we want to maintain to seek equilibrium

Self-concept

Organized set of beliefs about oneself and make up of different self-schemas

Understanding of who you are

Self-schemas

Ideas about how you should think, feel, and act in certain situations

Self-assessment

Evaluating one’s own qualities, abilities, strengths & weaknesses, etc

Done in desire for accurate self-knowledge necessary for functioning

Self-verification

Tendecy to seek and interpret information that confirms existing self view

Self-enhancement

Tendency for people to maintain and promote a favourable view of themselves

Self-esteem

Person’s overall evaluation of themselves

Self-efficacy

Belief in our capacity to perform particular behaviours or tasks

Self-control

Monitoring our own behaviour against goals/standards and adjusting them accordingly

Delayed gratification

Form of self-control that includes giving up small, immediate rewards for larger, future rewards

Ego depletion

Theory that self-control draws on pool of mental energy which becomes exhausted with use

Social comparison

Evaluating ourselves by comparing with other people; they become our reference points for behaviour and progress

Includes upward and downward

Upward social comparison

Comparison with someone higher than you on a given dimension; low self-esteem but high motivation

Downward social comparison

Comparison with someone lower than you on a given dimension

High self-esteem but low motivation

Entitativity

Distinct and clearly-bounded unit

Categorial membership where individuals are either inside or outside

Cohesiveness

Psychological sense of solidarity within a group; operationalized as attraction or liking of group members

Tuckman’s 5 stages of group development

1. Forming

2. Storming

3. Norming

4. Performing

5. Adjourning