Social Psychology - Module 7 Lecture Notes

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Social Psychology Module 7, including attribution theory, social influence, prejudice, aggression, and romantic love.

Social Psychology

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

Social Thinking

Focuses on how we think about others, especially when they engage in unexpected behaviors.

Attribution Theory

A theory suggested by Fritz Heider ($1958$) that we tend to give causal explanations for behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

Dispositional Attribution

Attributing a person's behavior to their enduring personality traits or internal disposition.

Situational Attribution

Attributing a person's behavior to external factors or the environment, such as stress or abuse.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency for observers to overestimate the impact of personal disposition and underestimate the impact of situational factors when analyzing the behaviors of others.

Attitude

A belief and feeling that predisposes a person to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

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

Stanford Prison Experiment

A study by Philip Zimbardo ($1972$) where students assigned to roles as guards or prisoners developed role-appropriate attitudes, demonstrating how role playing affects attitudes.

Cognitive Dissonance

The tension experienced when our attitudes and actions are opposed, often leading us to change our attitudes to align with our actions to relieve the stress.

Conformity

Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard, as defined by Chartrand and Bargh ($1999$).

Chameleon Effect

The automatic mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners.

Suggestibility

A subtle type of conformity explored by Solomon Asch ($1955$) where individuals adjust their behavior toward a group standard even when the group is clearly wrong.

Normative Social Influence

Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid rejection from a group.

Informational Social Influence

The tendency to imitate the behavior of others in ambiguous situations because we believe others have more accurate information.

Stanley Milgram ($1963$)

A social psychologist who conducted a famous study on obedience, finding that a majority of participants would follow orders from an authority figure to administer what they believed to be dangerous electric shocks.

Social Facilitation

Improved performance on tasks in the presence of others, first noted by Triplett ($1898$) with cyclists.

Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals in a group to exert less effort toward a common goal than when they are tested individually, according to Latané ($1981$).

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity, such as mob behavior.

Group Polarization

The enhancement of a group’s prevailing attitudes through discussion within the group.

Groupthink

A mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives, as identified by Janis ($1972$).

Slut-shaming

A form of bullying among females based on perceived sexual behavior, which Marino and Scales ($2018$) noted becomes more extreme through group interaction.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members, involving stereotypes, negative emotions, and a predisposition to discriminate.

Stereotypes

Generalized beliefs about a group of people that form the cognitive component of prejudice.

Discrimination

The behavioral component of prejudice, involving a predisposition to act negatively toward a specific group.

Ingroup

The group of people with whom an individual shares a common identity.

Outgroup

Those perceived as different or apart from one's ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to favor one's own group over others.

Just-World Phenomenon

The tendency of people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it; this can lead to blaming the victim in criminal cases.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

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

Social Scripts

Mental tapes or instructions provided by culture and media that individuals rely on when confronted with new or ambiguous situations.

Mere Exposure Effect

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

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Companionate Love

A deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Altruism

An 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.

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 oneself to others.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation to achieve.