Social Psychology

Social Psychology

scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts; explores topics like social influence/relationships, group dynamics, attitudes, prejudice

Attribution Theory

effort to attempt to explain the behavior of people within your life; attribute behavior to dispositional or situational forces

Fundamental Attribution Error

tendency to overestimate the influence of dispositional factors for explanation of behavior; we blame it on their personality instead of the situation

Attitude

a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event; learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way

Peripheral route persuasion

convincing others to act or make a decision based on use of emotion; SUBJECTIVE information (ex. the car is cool and I don’t wanna be made fun of); emotional connection and is DEBATABLE

Central route persuasion

convincing others to act or make a decision based on the facts or evidence of a positive outcome; LOGIC (ex. car has 4 wheel drive)

Superordinate Goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

small requests are made to get a person to agree on a bigger request later on; separate requests, but the first must be fulfilled

Door-in-the-face phenomenon

if one turns down a larger command made first, then they are more likely to comply with a smaller request later; asker expects rejection, so the later ask is the real offer

Role

expected contributions and behaviors of individuals in a specific context; set of responsibilities, duties, and behaviors associated with a particular position or function within a group, organization, or society

Cognitive dissonance theory

experience of cognitive tension when our attitudes and behaviors are not aligned; we work to relieve this tension by attempting to align our attitudes and behaviors; Leon Festinger

Conformity

tendency for an individual to align their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors with those of the people around them

Normative social influence

tendency to conform to the group norm in order to gain social approval or avoid social rejection; driven by desire to be liked and accepted by others

Informational social influence

tendency to conform to the group because they believe that others have more accurate information; desire to be right and follow advice of someone who you believe know what they are talking about

Social facilitation

theory that people perform better when in the presence of others (ex. coworker or an audience)

Social loafing

phenomenon where individuals exert less effort in a group setting compared to when working alone; can lead to decreased productivity and motivation within a group

Deindividuation

individuals lose self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations, leading to uninhibited and sometimes deviant behavior; when we are in groups, we are more likely to feel less accountable

Group polarization

where group discussion strengthens the initial inclination of group members, leading to more extreme decisions or opinions; in a group, people’s opinions will shift from a moderate standpoint toward the extremes (ex. sport violence after losing a game)

Groupthink

normal decision making is impaired because of conformity; where a group of people prioritize harmony and conformity over critical thinking, leading to flawed decision-making (ex. agreeing in order to please the boss)

Culture

values, beliefs, language, rituals, traditions, and other behaviors that are passed from one generation to another within any social group

Norm

unwritten rules that people are expected to adhere to in society; the rules about what is acceptable to do and say in certain situations

Conflict

a perceived incompatibility of ideas, goal, or actions

Mirror-Image Perceptions

mutual views held by conflicting parties in which each side sees themselves as ethical and righteous and the opposition as aggressive and evil

Just-World Phenomenon

belief that good things happen to “good” people and that bad things happen to “bad” people

Frustration-Aggression Principle

the principle that frustration fosters anger and eventual aggressive behavior

Social Cognition

the unique processes that enable human beings to interpret social information and behave appropriately in a social environment

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group (often cultural, ethnic, or gender); mixture of beliefs (stereotypes), emotions, and predispositions to action (discrimination)

Stereotype

widely held but oversimplified and generalized belief or idea about a particular group of people or things

Discrimination

unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex, or disability

Ingroup

a social group to which an individual belongs or with which they identify (contrasts with outgroup)

Outgroup

a group to which an individual does not belong (contrasts with in-group)

Self Concept

overarching idea we have about who we are—physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and in terms of any other aspects that make up who we are

Scapegoat Theory

desire to blame someone for the things that have gone wrong in the world

Other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races (cross-race effect or own-race bias)

Low-ball technique

making an attractive initial offer so it is accepted but then the terms are made less favorable; part of the first request that hasn’t been completed gets added onto; SAME offer, but negotiation changes

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone physically or mentally; through hostility or calculated means

Social Script

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations; culturally provided mental files for how to act

Mere Exposure Effect

repeated exposure to people (and other stimuli) increases our liking of them

Passionate Love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship; decreases as companionate increases

Companionate Love

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined; increases after passionate decreases

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 ourselves to others

Altruism

an unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Bystander Effect

the tendency for someone present during an event (bystander) to be less likely to give aid if other people/bystanders are present

Social Exchange Theory

the theory that our behavior within social situations is an exchange in which we desire to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Reciprocity Norm

an expectation that people will help those who have helped them

Social Trap

a situation in which conflicting parties pursue self-interests instead of behavior that is beneficial for the group, leading to destructive consequences for the group or environment

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

a belief or expectation that influences a person's behavior in a way that causes the belief to come true/it’s own fulfillment

Ingroup Bias

the tendency to favor one's own (in)group/those who they are similar to

Social-Responsibility Norm

an expectation that people will help others in need without expecting anything in return

Solomon Asch

known for his research on conformity; conducted famous experiments demonstrating the influence of group pressure on individual behavior and opinions; in the line experiment, critics complained about the application of lines to real life

Stanley Milgram

known for his controversial obedience experiments in the 1960s, which studied the willingness of participants to obey authority figures; administering shock (obedience increases when the authority figure is in close proximity and are perceived as legit, they are associated with a prestigious association, victims are depersonalized at a distance, and there are no role model for defiance); has ethics complaints

Philip Zambardo

known for his Stanford prison experiment; role playing and cognitive dissonance were found in participants; has ethics complaints

Leon Festinger

known for his theory of cognitive dissonance; how individuals strive to relieve tension by aligning our attitudes and behaviors

Self-serving bias

Tendency to take responsibility for a positive thing; attributed to dispositional for good, but situational for negative when it comes to you personally

Actor-observer bias= self serving bias+ judgement of others dispositionally for negative