Social Perception, The Self, and Attitudes & Persuasion

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Social Perception, Attribution Theory, The Self, and Attitudes & Persuasion from the lecture notes.

Attribution Theory

The study of how people infer the causes of other people's behavior.

Fritz Heider (1896-1988)

credited with developing the concept of attribution theory and its application to social psychology (we tend to make internal attributions more than external)

Internal Attribution

An explanation of behavior as the result of an internal or personal characteristic.

External Attribution

An explanation of behavior as the result of an external or situational factor.

Harold Kelley (1921-2003)

credited with the covariation model of attribution, which suggests that people examine multiple behaviors from different times and situations to explain someone’s behavior

Covariation Model

Harold Kelley's model explaining that people examine multiple behaviors from different times and situations to explain behavior by observing consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.

Consistency (Covariation Model)

Information regarding whether a person usually behaves like this in this specific situation across time.

Consensus (Covariation Model)

Information regarding whether other people behave in the same way in that particular situation.

Distinctiveness (Covariation Model)

Information regarding whether a person's behavior occurs only in this specific situation or across many situations.

Daniel Gilbert (1957-present)

came up with the two-step process: characterization and correction

Characterization (Gilbert's Two-Step Process)

The first, automatic step in attribution where an internal attribution is made.

Correction (Gilbert's Two-Step Process)

The second, controlled step in attribution where situational factors are considered.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate the importance of internal traits and underestimate the importance of external factors when explaining someone's behavior.

Perceptual Salience

The tendency to give more attributional weight to the things that are the focus of attention, often making the individual person perceptually prominent.

Self-Serving Attribution

The tendency to take credit for successes by making internal attributions, but blame the situation or others for failures by making external attributions.

Biased Blind Spot

The tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional biases than we are.

Self-Concept

The overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes.

Independent Self

A sense of self defined primarily in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions; common in Western cultures and Australia.

Interdependent Self

A sense of self defined primarily in terms of one's relationships to others; common in Asian and Southeast Asian cultures.

Introspection

The process of looking inward and examining one's own thoughts, feelings, and motives.

Self-Awareness Theory

The theory that when people focus attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their current behavior to their internal standards and values.

Causal Theories

Theories about what influences feelings and behavior that people use to help explain why they feel the way they do.

Self-Perception Theory

The theory that when internal cues or attitudes are ambiguous or uncertain, people infer these states by observing their own behavior and the situation in which it occurs.

Intrinsic Motivation

The desire to engage in an activity because of personal enjoyment and interest, rather than external pressure or rewards.

Extrinsic Motivation

The desire to engage in an activity to obtain external rewards or avoid punishment.

Overjustification Effect

The tendency for people to view their behavior as driven by compelling extrinsic reasons, leading them to underestimate intrinsic reasons.

Task-Contingent Rewards

Rewards that are given simply for completing a task, regardless of how well it is done.

Performance-Contingent Rewards

Rewards that are based on how well people perform a task.

Fixed Mindset

Carol Dweck's concept that abilities are set and stable, leading individuals to lose motivation when they reach a perceived cap or limit.

Growth Mindset

Carol Dweck's concept that abilities are malleable and that individuals can improve and grow by learning new strategies.

Misattribution of Arousal

The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about the true origin or source of their emotional response.

Lateral Social Comparison

Comparing oneself to peers who are roughly equal in ability or status in order to evaluate opinions and abilities accurately.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself to people who are better than oneself on a particular trait or ability in order to be motivated to improve toward an attainable standard.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself to people who are worse off in order to feel better about oneself.

Self-Handicapping

Creating obstacles and excuses for oneself so that if one fails, the failure can be blamed on a non-ability attribution rather than a lack of competence.

Attitude

An evaluative judgment of people, objects, or concepts.

Cognitively Based Attitude

An attitude based primarily on thoughts, facts, and beliefs about the properties of an attitude object.

Affectively Based Attitude

An attitude rooted primarily in emotional reactions and values rather than objective appraisal.

Behaviorally Based Attitude

An attitude based on observations of one's own past actions or behavioral intentions toward an attitude object.

Classical Conditioning

A learning phenomenon where an emotionally evocative stimulus is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus until the neutral stimulus produces the emotional reaction on its own.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process where behaviors chosen freely become more or less frequent depending on whether they are followed by reinforcement or punishment.

Attitude Accessibility

The strength of the association between an attitude object and a person's evaluation of it, typically measured by the speed with which people report their feelings.

Theory of Planned Behavior

The idea that when people have time to deliberate, the best predictor of behavior is intention, which is determined by attitudes toward the specific behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

Subjective Norms

People's beliefs about how important others will view the behavior in question.

Perceived Behavioral Control

The extent to which people believe they can successfully perform a specific behavior.

The Sleeper Effect

A delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a non-credible or discounted message after people remember the message but forget the discounting cue.

Central Route to Persuasion

A route to persuasion occurring when the audience is motivated and able to pay attention, where message strength primarily determines the outcome.

Peripheral Route to Persuasion

A route to persuasion occurring when the audience is unmotivated or unable to pay attention, where superficial cues (e.g., attractiveness, status) determine the outcome.

Attitude Inoculation

Making people immune to persuasion attempts by exposing them to small, weak doses of the opposing arguments so they can generate counterarguments.

Reactance Theory

The theory that when people feel their freedom to perform a behavior is threatened, an unpleasant state of resistance is aroused, leading them to engage in the forbidden behavior.

Fazio, Effrein, and Falender (1981)

conducted research demonstrating that people’s attitudes can change based on the accessibility of attitudes in memory and that readily accessible attitudes are more likely to influence behavior (party question)

Pyszczynski, Greenberg, and LaPrelle (1985)

conducted studies showing that self-esteem is influenced by social feedback (upward vs. downward comparison)

Berglas & Jones (1978)

conducted experiments that demonstrated that individuals often self-handicap by engaging in behaviors that create obstacles to success, thereby protecting their self-esteem when facing expected failure (analogy/progression problems vs. different drugs)

LaPiere Study (1934)

conducted an investigation into the inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors by observing that despite negative attitudes towards Chinese individuals, most participants provided them service

Davidson & Jaccard (1979)

conducted research examining the relationship between attitudes and behavior, highlighting that specific attitudes are more predictive of behavior than general attitudes (birth control questions)

Petty, Cacioppo, and Goldman (1981)

conducted research on the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion, explaining how attitudes change through either a central route (deep processing) or a peripheral route (shallow processing) that can lead to differing levels of attitude change based on the individual’s motivation and ability to process information

Pratkanis, Greenwald, Leippe, & Baumgardner (1988)

studies the role of attitude change in social influence and the effects of persuasion techniques, specifically focusing on the concept of cognitive dissonance and how it can affect an individual’s beliefs and behaviors in response to persuasive messages (4-day work week study)

Jones & Harris (1967)

examined the fundamental attribution error through their study on people’s attitudes toward political candidates, highlighting how individuals often underestimate the situational factors influencing behavior while overestimating internal characteristics of individuals (judged personality based on writing)

Implementation Intentions

People’s specific plans about where, when, and how they’ll fulfill a goal and avoid temptation

Impression Management

The attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen (ex: social media)