Midterm study

Social Psychology

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

Hedonism

A philosophical theory which argues that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.

Egoism

A theory or doctrine that suggests self-interest is the foundation of morality.

I-Knew-It-All-Along Phenomenon

The hindsight bias, the tendency to believe after an event has occurred that one would have predicted or expected the outcome.

Correlational Method

A research method that examines the relationship between two variables to determine if they are associated.

Experimental Method

A research method in which an independent variable is manipulated to observe its effect on a dependent variable.

Dependent Variable

The behavior that is being studied and measured in an experiment.

Independent Variable

The variable that is altered or controlled to test its effects on the dependent variable.

Naturalistic Setting

A real-world environment where research can be conducted without artificial constraints.

Laboratory Setting

An artificial environment where researchers have complete control over variables to conduct experiments.

Implicit Psychologist

Everyone is trying to figure out why they do what they do — also a naive psychologist

Self-reflection

Awareness of oneself as an object in the world primarily because others are aware of you.

Self- Evaluation

The process by which individuals assess and judge their own self-worth.

Locus of Control

The degree to which individuals believe they have control over events affecting them, distinguishing between Internal and External.

Psychological Reactance

The theory that when individuals perceive a reduction in their freedom to act, they experience discomfort and may react against this loss.

Reference Group Theory

The idea that individuals evaluate themselves against the standards and beliefs of certain groups they're associated with.

the self has a conflict between two pressures

self-accuracy and self-enhancement

three assumptions we make about ourselves

1. The self is consistent

2. The self is the originator of behavior

3. The self is seperate and unique

Leon Festinger’s four tenets

• We have a drive to evaluate our opinions and abilities 

• We first attempt to evaluate ourselves through objective and nonsocial measures 

• We compare only to those that are similar to ourselves 

• When interactions are constrained we will attempt to increse similarities between ourselves and others 

William James’ pretentions

real self/ideal self = self-esteem

social cognition

Thinking or knowing about other people OR “The study of how people interpret, analyze, remember, and use information about the social world”

representative heuristic

judging something based on how well it fits a representative

availability heuristic

judging something based on how available that information is (overestimating the amount of shark attacks)

Fritz Heider

1. father of attribution theory 

   • that the observer and actor are influenced by disposition of the observer and the situations

Kelley’s theory - Principle of Covariation

if there is no distinctiveness then it is a dispositional characteristic, if there is distinctiveness then it is a situational characteristic 

low self-monitoring

• More internally guided

• More likely to say what one believes 

• Cares less about what others think 

high self-monitoring

• Controls emotions well 

• Good actors

• Sensitive to situational cues

• Behavior guided by situational demands 

BAV

Behavior, Affect, Values

Attitude process model

1. Strong Attitude is a BAV automatically expressed that is unconscious 

2. Weak Attitude is a BAV that is actively retrieved or created, is conscious

Martin Fishbein’s Theories

•Reasoned Actions Model

• Planned Behavior Model

Induced Compliance Paradigm

-When people are forced to comply to something by external pressure such as a professor’s assignment

-Individuals look for external justification of their behavior to reduce dissonance

three ways attitudes form

• Learning (association & reinforcement)

• Observing (modeling, etc.) 

• Direct Experience