psych vocab #9

Philip Zimbardo

Known for the Stanford Prison Experiment, which demonstrated how social roles and situational pressures can lead to extreme behavior and loss of personal identity.

Leon Festinger

Developed the theory of Cognitive Dissonance, explaining how people experience discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or behaviors and are motivated to reduce that discomfort.

Solomon Asch

Known for his conformity experiments, which showed that individuals often conform to group opinions even when they are clearly incorrect.

Stanley Milgram

Famous for his obedience experiments, which revealed that ordinary people are likely to follow orders from an authority figure, even to the extent of causing harm to others.

Social psychology

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

Attribution theory

The theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Peripheral route persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Central route persuasion

Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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

Cognitive dissonance theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

Conformity

Adjusting our 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

Improved performance 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.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice 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

(1) in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced.) (2) in social psychology, unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

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.

Ingroup

“Us”—people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

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

 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.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Frustration-aggression principle

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

Social script

A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

Mere exposure effect

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

Equity

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

Self-disclosure

The act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves 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 needing their help.

Social trap

A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, 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.

GRIT

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction—a strategy designed to decrease international tensions.