Social

Social comparison theory

We evaluate our values and beliefs by comparing ourselves to others. In doing this, we have a better understanding of ourselves and the world

Upward comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone who is better than us, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy.

Downward comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone who is worse off, which can boost self-esteem.

Enlightenment effect

Learning about a psychological principle and subsequently changing behavior for the better.

Halo effect

When one positive trait leads to the assumption of many positive traits.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Behaving in ways that confirm negative stereotypes expected of oneself.

Chameleon effect

Unconsciously mimicking the behaviors of those around us.

Cognitive dissonance

Experiencing discomfort from conflicting thoughts or behaviors, leading to a motivation to realign them.

Self-perception theory

We infer our attitudes by observing our own behaviors.

Impression Management theory

Changing attitudes to create a favorable impression in different environments.

Elaboration likelihood model

Describes the different ways individuals process persuasive information via central and peripheral routes.

Foot in the Door technique

Starting with a small request and gradually escalating to a larger one.

Door in the Face technique

Starting with a large unreasonable request followed by a smaller, more reasonable one.

Fundamental attribution error

Overemphasizing personality and underestimating situational factors when judging others' behaviors.

Defensive attribution error

when explaining our own actions, we make internal attribution for our successes and external attributions for our failures

Prejudice

Emotional reactions towards members of an out-group.

Contact hypothesis

More contact with out-group members can reduce discrimination.

Group polarization

When group discussions lead to more extreme opinions.

Social Loafing

Reduced effort by individuals in a group compared to when alone.

Groupthink

Prioritizing group cohesion over critical thinking.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-identity in group settings.

Obedience

Compliance with direct requests from authority figures.

Milgram study

Demonstrated that people will obey authority figures, even to the detriment of others.

Intrinsic motivation

Engaging in behavior for internal satisfaction.

• challenge

• enjoyment

• Mastery - do you like getting an accomplishment in your task?

• autonomy - how much independence you feel like you have in your decisions

Extrinsic motivation

Engaging in behavior for external rewards.

• Undermining effect - the phenomenon where extrinsic rewards diminish intrinsic motivation (ex. artists making art for money or recognition may lose their passion for art).

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

A pyramid of human needs ordered from basic to self-actualization. In order to move up the hierarchy of needs, you have to satisfy the lower components.

Glucostatic theory

The relationship between glucose levels and hunger signals. This theory suggests that fluctuations in glucose levels trigger hunger or satiety, influencing eating behavior.

Bystander effect

Less likely to help in emergencies when more people are present.

Kin selection

We are more likely to help those who we are biologically related to.

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

Helping others with the expectation of no return benefit.

Cognitive miser

Seeking cognitive shortcuts and minimizing mental effort.

Inductive reasoning

Making generalizations based on specific instances. It involves drawing conclusions from patterns observed in data or experiences. This reasoning tends to be less certain because we are starting from the end and working our way back.

Deductive reasoning

Drawing specific conclusions from general premises.

Homesign

Sign language developed by deaf children in hearing families.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language (the sounds that form a language). Newborns seem to have the best ability to differentiate these

Morphemes

Smallest units of meaning in a language (root words, suffix, presuffixes)

Telegraphic speech

Early speech used by children that includes only essential words. Subject, verb (ex. mommy draw)

Overextension

Using a word too broadly (e.g., calling all animals 'dog').

Underextension

Using a word too narrowly (e.g., only calling your cat a 'cat' and no other cats).

Overregularization

Applying regular grammatical rules to irregular words (e.g., 'mouses' instead of 'mice').

Component attitude

1. Affective (emotional reaction to the stimulus)

2. Behavioral (how you want to behaviorally respond to the stimulus)

3. Cognitive (what do you think about the concept)

Dimensions Attitude

1. strength (strong attitude is unlikely to change, weak attitude is more open to change)

2. Accessibility (what attitude you can easily access)

3. Ambivalence (positives and negative when it comes to processing response)

Central route

Part of the Elaboration likelihood model. Method of influencing someone's beliefs or behavior by focusing on the strength and content of an argument (strong, long term)

Peripheral route

Part of Elaboration likelihood model. A method of attitude change that relies on superficial cues and heuristics, like the speaker's attractiveness or emotional appeals, rather than the strength of the arguments themselves. (weak, short lasting)

collectivist culture

more focused on groups success — more likely to make external attributions

subtyping

uphold current stereotype but also explaining an exception for that stereotype that you encounter (making exceptions within a stereotype)

Perceptual confirmation

more likely to accept ambiguous information as it fits with our stereotype

illusory correlation

You believe that you’ve encountered more instances that uphold your stereotype than you actually have — a cognitive bias that leads people to perceive a relationship between two events that are actually not correlated.

Adaptive conservatism

The tendency to favor the familiar and resist change, often rooted in a perception that older ways are safer. It can lead to bias against outsiders or new ideas.

Out-group homogeneity

out group members are more similar to each other than in-group members are

Variability hypothesis

men as a group are more variable than women (men are more evolutionarily fit for existence than women).

superordinate goals

a goal that 2 groups have to work together to accomplish → as a result you see a decrease in stereotypes/ discrimination

Common knowledge effect

when you are in a group, you are more likely to discuss information that all group members share.

Conformity

changing your behavior to go along with a group, you are doing so without a direct request.

Compliance

someone asks you to do something and you say yes.

Informational influence

You are going along with the group because you genuinely believe that the group is right.

Normative influence

You are going along with the group to avoid causing issues in the group.

Unanimity

when everything in the group is saying the same thing, it creates more pressure which makes it more likely to conform to the group.

Co-conspirator

someone who is willing to go against the group.

Temporal closeness

refers to how the timing of events can affect social influence and decision-making, emphasizing the importance of immediate context in shaping perceptions and responses.

Legitimate authority

ability to put the responsibility for your actions onto someone else. Perceptions of authority matter when you are more likely to obey. (ex. Yale vs strip mall)

Depersonalized victim

if you cannot see the victim, you are more likely to obey (Milgram study).

Defiant models

When there is someone who is going against an authority figure, it will make them seem less authoritative and it will influence you to also go against this authority figure.

Sternberg’s triangular theory of love

1. Intimacy - ability to share personal information and feeling connected/bonded with another person

2. Passion - hot physical attraction you feel towards another person (lust)

3. Commitment - conscious decision to continue the relationship

Matching hypothesis

people tend to end up in relationships with people of equal attractiveness as them.

Facial symmetry

the more symmetrical someone’s face, the more attractive they are.

attitude alignment

the process of changing your attitude or opinion to be more similar to that of your partners

proximity

one of the most influential things on whether if you find someone attractive (are they nearby)

Relational aggression

seeking to cause harm within someone’s relationships

Hostile aggression

spontaneous aggression

Instrumental aggression

using aggression as part of a plan (this aggression is mainly seen in sports).

Reciprocal alturism

reciprocating help (you help me, I help you). We usually don’t ask for help unless we can give help back.

Darley & Batson, 1973

conducted a study on helping behavior, which demonstrated that situational factors significantly influence people's likelihood to offer assistance.

Social responsibility norm

We are more likely to help those who are socially vulnerable (people are more likely to help the elderly or animals)

Genie

a child raised in social isolation and subject to sever abuse and neglect. Demonstrated that language is more of a sensitive period rather than a critical period.

Sociocultural

Language acquisition theory - states that children are learning language through interaction with other people.

Behaviorist

Language acquisition theory - believed that language came from operant conditioning.

Nativist (Chomsky)

Language acquisition theory - humans have a natural inclination towards language.

• Language acquisition device - biologic directive that facilitates speech

Interactionist

Language acquisition theory - belief that everything is through interaction. We need to consider all of the theories in order for language development.

Receptive vocabulary

Words that you understand (will always be larger than productive vocabulary)

Productive vocabulary

words that you use

Mental sets

using the same strategy that worked for you previously even when it is no longer relevant.

Functional fixedness

inability to see uses for objects outside of their typical use (ex. using a hammer only for driving nails)

Unnecessary constraints

assuming there are barriers in a problem when there aren’t (ex. connect the dots of the square)

Anticipated regret

We are making decisions about assumed feelings or an assumed reaction we might have

Theory of bounded rationality

the idea that rationality is limited when individuals make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal

Conjunction fallacy

When you think two events/items are more likely to occur together than independently (feminist cat lady)

Recognition heuristic

When given an option between two choices, we are going to choose the more recognizable option (ex. brand name vs knock off)

Hindsight bias

Once we know the outcome, we believe that we have always believed that outcome (we do this bc it makes us seem like we

Alternative outcomes effect

Where you assume that past outcomes have an influence on a future random event (aka gamblers fallacy).

Anchoring heuristic

When asked to give a numeric response, we tend to anchor ourselves or respond similarly to those who responded before us.

Availability heuristic

People judge the likelihood of events based on how easily examples

Confirmation bias

tendency to remember information that supports us and ignore/forget information that goes against us.

Ostrich bias

tendency to ignore negative information and focus on positive information (more about emotional information)

Nonverbal leakage

trying to hide our emotional response. Oftentimes still show that emotional response through nonverbal behaviors.

Affective forecasting

trying to predict how we feel as well as how others feel. We often make decisions based on this forecasting.

Hedonic treadmill

after we have one positive experience, we chase the next one to maintain in this positive emotional state.

Self-determination theory

Motivated to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Our Social motivations

• Hedonic - maximize our pleasure and minimize our pain

• approval - motivation for approval from others

• accuracy - we like to be right instead of wrong