Social Psychology: Cooperation, Obedience, and Prosocial Behavior Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts in social psychology including types of unfairness, theories of altruism, obedience, and group dynamics of social cooperation.

Underbenefited

A type of unfairness where an individual receives less than they deserve relative to their contributions.

Overbenefited

A type of unfairness where an individual receives more than they deserve relative to their contributions.

Cooperation

The act of working together with others toward a common goal, which is vital for the survival and success of social groups.

Prisoner's dilemma

A conceptual framework used to explain the conflict between individual self-interest and collective cooperation.

Forgiveness

An important category of prosocial behavior involving the cessation of resentment or the desire for revenge toward an offender.

Obedience

The act of following orders or commands from an authority figure.

Milgram's study on obedience

A famous psychological experiment where participants were ordered to deliver increasingly high-voltage shocks to a learner, testing the limits of obedience to authority.

Conformity

The tendency to change one's behavior, beliefs, or attitudes to align with the standards or expectations of a group.

Altruism

A motive for helping behavior where the ultimate goal is to increase another's welfare, without regard for one's own self-interest.

Egoism

A motive for helping behavior where the ultimate goal is to increase one's own welfare or benefit.

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

The claim that feeling empathy for a person in need leads to a purely altruistic motivation to help that person.

Empathy-specific reward hypothesis

An alternative to the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggesting that people help because they anticipate internal rewards, such as feeling good about themselves.

Empathy-specific punishment hypothesis

An alternative to the empathy-altruism hypothesis suggesting that people help to avoid internal punishments, such as guilt or shame.

Negative state relief hypothesis

The idea that people engage in helping behavior to alleviate their own personal distress or negative mood.

Bystander effect

A social psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

Kitty Genovese incident

A famous historical case that spurred research into the bystander effect after reports that dozens of neighbors witnessed a woman's murder but failed to intervene.

Five steps to helping

A process model for bystander intervention that outlines the sequential requirements for providing help in an emergency.