Social Psych Units 1-5

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to explain behavior in terms of personality trait, underestimating social influence

Construal

The way individuals perceive and interpret their social environment.

Naive Realism

The inaccurate perception that we see things the way they “really are” and that others who disagree are biased or uninformed.

Kurt Lewin

Individual who considered both the individual and the environment; coined the equation B = f(p,e)

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people’s thoughts and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people

Fundamentally empirical

A basis of social psychology stating that experiment theses must set up falsification

Gestalt Psychology

The study of psychology stating that the subjective experience of a phenomenon is more psychologically important than the objective reality of that phenomenon

Observational method

A study done by observing and describing social behavior without influencing it

Correlational method

A study attempting to predict social behavior by relating two separate variables and their correlation

Extraneous (Third) Variables

Unmeasured variables that account for the correlation between variables of interest

Experimental Method

A study attempting to determine how an independent variable affects a dependent variable in a controlled environment

Internal validity

Ensuring that the only thing affecting a dependent variable, in an experiment, is the independent variable

External validity

Ensuring that a study’s results generalize well to other situations, with other sorts of people

Random assignment

Assuming that extraneous variables are normally distributed, randomly assigning test subjects to participant groups to statistically nullify the effects of that variable

Meta-Analysis

A statistical technique that averages the results of multiple studies to see if the effects of an independent variable are reliable

Psychological realism

The extent to which the psychological conditions of an experiment are realistic to the “real world”

Field experiments

Experiments conducted in a natural setting

Replication

Repeating a study in different settings with different participants

Social cognition

The way that people perceive and store information about themselves and their social world

Automatic thinking

Thinking processes that are subconscious, unintentional, and effortless

Controlled thinking

Thinking processes that are conscious, intentional, and effortful

Mental schemas

Mental structures used to organize social knowledge of events or people around themes

Accessibility

The extent to which different schemas are at the forefront of the mind

Priming

When content is accessible and applicable to a scenario, affecting one’s construal of it

Automatic goal pursuit

The process of making small, subconscious decisions in the process of reaching ones goals

Judgement heuristics

General term for mental shortcuts used to make quick judgements

Availability heuristic

Certain schema having greater influence due to being more easily accessible in one’s mind

Representativeness heuristic

Classifying something based on how similar it is to a typical case, particularly while disregarding base-rate information

Base-rate information

Information about the relative frequency of members of different categories in a population

Counterfactual thinking

Mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what “might’ve been”

Planning fallacy

The tendency to be overly optimistic about how long it will take to complete a task that has taken you longer in the past

Attribution theory

The way people explain the causes of their own and others' behavior

Internal attribution

Inferring that behavior is caused by personal traits (attitudes, character, personality)

External attribution

Inferring behavior is caused by situational factors; most people would act similarly

Covariation model (Kelley)

Theory that people determine causes of behavior by examining consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness

Consistency information

Extent to which behavior between actor and stimulus is stable over time

Consensus information

The extent to which others behave the same way toward the same stimulus

Distinctiveness information

The extent to which a person behaves differently across situations

Gilbert's two-step model

1) Automatic internal attribution (characterization), 2) Effortful situational correction

Perceptual salience

Tendency to focus on most noticeable aspects (usually the person), leading to internal attributions

Self-serving attributions

Attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors

Bias blind spot

The belief that others are more biased than oneself

Self-concept

Total beliefs about one's attributes; answer to "Who am I?"

Independent self-view

Defining the self by internal traits (common in Western cultures)

Interdependent self-view

Defining self through relationships and social roles (common in Eastern cultures)

Introspection

Examining one's own thoughts and feelings

Self-awareness theory

Focusing on oneself leads to comparison with internal standards

Self-perception theory

Inferring attitudes by observing one's own behavior

Two-factor theory of emotion

Emotion = Physiological arousal + Cognitive label

Misattribution of arousal

Misattributing physiological arousal to incorrect source

Intrinsic Motivation

Doing something for inherent enjoyment

Extrinsic motivation

Doing something for rewards or to avoid punishment

Overjustification effect

External rewards reduce intrinsic motivation when initial interest is high

Task-contingent rewards

Rewards for doing a task regardless of performance; more likely to reduce interest

Performance-contingent rewards

Rewards based on performance; less likely to reduce interest

Social comparison theory

People evaluate themselves by comparing to others

Implementation intentions

Specific plans about when, where, and how to achieve goals

Self-control

Ability to delay immediate gratification for long-term goals

Impression management

Attempting to control how others perceive you

Ingratiation

Using flattery or agreement to gain favor

Self-handicapping

Creating obstacles or excuses to protect self-esteem

Behavioral self-handicapping

Creating real obstacles to excuse potential failure

Reported self-handicapping

Making verbal excuses in advance

Subjective norms

Perceived social pressure to perform a behavior

Cognitive dissonance theory

Discomfort from inconsistent beliefs/behaviors motivates change

Sleeper effect

Delayed persuasion when disqualifier of source is forgotten

Primacy effect

First message is more persuasive in the long-term

Recency effect

Final message is more persuasive in the short-term

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Theory of two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral

Central route

Persuasion based on strong arguments; leads to lasting change

Peripheral route

Persuasion based on cues (attractiveness, credibility); temporary change

Emotion as heuristic

People use feelings as shortcuts in decision-making

Attitude inoculation

Exposure to weak opposing arguments builds resistance

Product placement

Embedding products in media to influence attitudes

Reactance theory

Threats to freedom increase desire to perform restricted behavior

Cognitive dissonance

Unpleasant arousal occurring when two cognitions/behaviors are in conflict

Rationalization

Resolving cognitive dissonance by adding consonant cognitions

Post-decision dissonance

Dissonance that arises after making a well-reasoned decision

Decision permanence

Irrevocable decisions present a strong motivation for reducing dissonance; need to accept behavior and be satisfied by it

Illusory irrevocability

Getting the effects of permanence on dissonance reduction without the behavior actually being permanent

Low-balling

After committing to a behavior, the cost is raised to a point that the actor wouldn’t have initially agreed to, but they don’t withdraw

Justification of effort

Liking something more if you worked hard to attain it

Internal justification

Changing behavior or attitudes to reduce dissonance, in the context of minimal external factors

External justification

Adding a consonant cognition to reduce dissonance, within the context of external factors

Counterattitudinal Advocacy

By endorsing/arguing for something you don’t believe, you may come to believe it

Insufficient Punishment Effect

Valuation of a desired object/activity decreases if there is no good external justification for resisting that object/activity. In the absence of external justification, people turn internally (maybe I don’t like it that much)

Conformity

Any change in behavior as a result of implicit social influence, real or imagined

Informational social influence

Relying on others for accurate knowledge/cues to appropriate behavior

Greater informational influence

Ambiguous situations, crisis situations, and the presence of experts lead to…

Normative Social Influence

Conforming in order to be liked/accepted by others

Greater normative influence

Larger groups, important groups, groups without allies, and collectivist/normalistic groups lead to…

Compliance

Behavior change as the result of a direct request

Norm of reciprocity

If someone does something for you, it creates an expectation that you’ll repay those actions

Foot-in-the-door

Creating a smaller request, gaining compliance, then asking your original large request that would have initially been denied otherwise

Door-in-the-face

Asking a larger request, getting denied, then negotiating down to your initial request

Principle of reciprocal concessions

In negotiation situations, concessions by one party should be met with concessions from the other

Obedience

A behavior change as the result of a request from an authority figure

Agentic State

State where an individual places responsibility for their actions on an authority figure

Terror management theory

The theory that holds that self-esteem serves as a buffer, protecting people from terrifying thoughts about their own mortality

Private acceptance

Actors genuinely believe what they’re saying