Chapter 14: Social Psychology

Solomon Asch

(1951) conducted one of the most interesting conformity experiments.

Norms of reciprocity

are at work when you feel compelled to send money to the charity that sent you free return address labels or when you cast your vote in the student election for the candidate that handed out those delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Harold Kelley

put forth a theory that explains the kind of attributions people make based on three kinds of information: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.

Stereotypes

may be either negative or positive and can be applied to virtually any group of people (e.g., racial, ethnic, geographic)

false consensus

The effect- The tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them.

Distinctiveness

refers to how similar this situation is to other situations in which we have watched Charley.

Social loafing

is the phenomenon when individuals do not put in as much effort when acting as part of a group as they do when acting alone.

Groupthink

occurs when group members suppress their reservations about the ideas supported by the group.

Muzafer Sherifs

(1966) camp study (also known as the Robbers Cave study) illustrates both how easily out- group bias can be created and how superordinate goals can be used to unite formerly antagonistic groups.

New Yorkers

Stereotyping can lead to prejudice when negative stereotypes (those rude ) are applied uncritically to all members of a group (she is from , therefore she must be rude) and a negative attitude results.

attitude

is a set of beliefs and feelings.

Leon Festinger

and James Carlsmith conducted the classic experiment about cognitive dissonance in the late 1950s.

Attribution theory

is another area of study within the field of social cognition.

Persuasive messages

can be processed through the central route or the peripheral route.

Social psychologists

also study what factors increase the chance that people will like one another.

Prejudice

is an undeserved, usually negative, attitude toward a group of people.

Cognitive dissonance theory

is based on the idea that people are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors.

mere exposure effect

states that the more one is exposed to something, the more one will come to like it.

Instrumental aggression

is when the aggressive act is intended to secure a particular end.

group bias

In- is thought to stem from peoples belief that they themselves are good people.

Self serving bias

is the tendency to take more credit for good outcomes than for bad ones.

Conformity

is the tendency of people to go along with the views or actions of others.

prosocial behavior

Helping behavior is termed .

Attitudes

are evaluative, meaning that our feelings toward such things are necessarily positive or negative.

Attribution theory

tries to explain how people determine the cause of what they observe.

Harold Kelley put forth a theory that explains the kind of attributions people make based on three kinds of information

consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus

central route

to persuasion involves deeply processing the content of the message; what about this potato chip is so much better than all the others?

peripheral route

on the other hand, involves other aspects of the message including the characteristics of the person imparting the message (the communicator).

Cognitive dissonance theory

is based on the idea that people are motivated to have consistent attitudes and behaviors.

Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith

conducted the classic experiment about cognitive dissonance in the late 1950s.

Compliance Strategies

Often people use certain strategies to get others to comply with their wishes.

door-in-the-face

strategy argues that after people refuse a large request, they will look more favorably upon a follow-up request that seems, in comparison, much more reasonable.

Norms of reciprocity

are at work when you feel compelled to send money to the charity that sent you free return address labels or when you cast your vote in the student election for the candidate that handed out those delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Attribution theory

is another area of study within the field of social cognition.

Harold Kelley

put forth a theory that explains the kind of attributions people make based on three kinds of information: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.

Consistency

refers to how similarly the individual acts in the same situation over time.

Distinctiveness

refers to how similar this situation is to other situations in which we have watched Charley.

Consensus

asks us to consider how others in the same situation have responded.

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson’s

(1968) “Pygmalion in the Classroom” experiment.

fundamental attribution

was named fundamental because it was believed to be so widespread.

individualistic culture

like the American culture, the importance and uniqueness of the individual is stressed.

collectivist cultures

like Japanese culture, a person’s link to various groups such as family or company is stressed.

false-consensus effect

The tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them.

Self-serving bias

is the tendency to take more credit for good outcomes than for bad ones.

just-world bias

in which misfortunes befall people who deserve them, can be seen in the tendency to blame victims.

Stereotypes

may be either negative or positive and can be applied to virtually any group of people (e.g., racial, ethnic, geographic).

Prejudice

is an undeserved, usually negative, attitude toward a group of people.

Ethnocentrism

the belief that one’s culture (e.g., ethnic, racial) is superior to others, is a specific kind of prejudice.

In-group bias

is thought to stem from people’s belief that they themselves are good people.

out-groups

more diverse than members of other groups

contact theory

One theory about how to reduce prejudice is known as the

superordinate goal

The contact theory, as its name suggests, states that contact between hostile groups will reduce animosity, but only if the groups are made to work toward a goal that benefits all and necessitates the participation of all.

Muzafer Sherif’s

(1966) camp study (also known as the Robbers Cave study) illustrates both how easily out-group bias can be created and how superordinate goals can be used to unite formerly antagonistic groups.

Instrumental aggression

is when the aggressive act is intended to secure a particular end.

Hostile aggression

on the other hand, has no such clear purpose.

Sociobiologists

suggest that the expression of aggression is adaptive under certain circumstances.

frustration-aggression hypothesis

One of the most influential theories, however, is known as the

prosocial behavior

Helping behavior is termed

bystander intervention

the conditions under which people nearby are more and less likely to help someone in trouble.

bystander effect

the larger the number of people who witness an emergency situation, the less likely any one is to intervene.

diffusion of responsibility

The larger the group of people who witness a problem, the less responsible any one individual feels to help.

pluralistic ignorance

Another factor contributing to the bystander effect is known as

self-disclosure

A term often employed as part of liking and loving studies is

Attraction

Social psychologists also study what factors increase the chance that people will like one another.

social facilitation

This phenomenon, that the presence of others improves task performance, is known as

social impairment

When the task being observed was a difficult one rather than a simple, well-practiced skill, being watched by others actually hurt performance, a finding known as

Conformity

has been an area of much research as well.

Solomon Asch

(1951) conducted one of the most interesting conformity experiments.

norms

All groups have _, rules about how group members should act.

roles

Within groups is often a set of specific

Social loafing

is the phenomenon when individuals do not put in as much effort when acting as part of a group as they do when acting alone.

Group polarization

is the tendency of a group to make more extreme decisions than the group members would make individually.

Groupthink

a term coined by Irving Janis, describes the tendency for some groups to make bad decisions.

deindividuation

This loss of self-restraint occurs when group members feel anonymous and aroused, and this phenomenon is known as

Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiment.

One famous experiment that showed not only how such conditions can cause people to deindividuation but also the effect of roles and the situation in general