social psych

Social Psychology

Study of how thoughts, feelings, behaviors are influenced by the real and imagined presence of other people

Social Influence

shapes our thoughts and feelings as well as our overt acts and it takes many forms other than deliberate attempts at persuasion

Construal

how people perceive, comprehend, interpret the social world

Fundamental Attribution Error

tendency to explain our own and others behavior solely on personality traits underestimating the power of social influence and the immediate situation

Gestalt Psychology

history of construal, the subjective way an object appears in your mind

Naive Realism

a kind of construle where you underestimating how much we are interpreting what we see. assuming we see things as they really are

self esteem motive

need to feel good about our self, can cause us to justify bad things, impede change and self improvement

social cognition motive

need to be accurate

social cognition

study of how people select, interpret, remember, use information to make judgements and decisions

Confirmation Bias

looking for information that is consistent with preexisting beliefs

Hindsight Bias

outcome is known and you exaggerate how much you could have predicted it before it occurred

observational method

describe a behavior or type of behavior. observing people and taking measurements of their behavior

ethnography

method of understanding a group by observing it from the inside without imposing any preconceived notions

archival analysis

examining accumulated documents of a culture

correlational method

predicts behavior, the relationship between two variables is measured

experimental method

answers causal questions, independent and dependent variable

Internal validity

how much only the IV determines the DV. it is achieved by random assignment and controlled extraneous variables

external validity

how much the experiment represents the real world, generalizability across situation and people.

psychological realism

extent where psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to those that occur in everyday life

basic dilemma of social psychologist

tradeoff between internal and external validity

automatic thinking

thought that is nonconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless

schema

mental structures that organize our knowledge about the social world

accessibility

extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and therefore likely to be used to make judgements about the social world. Due to past experience, expertise, goal state, recent experiences

priming

process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. automatic thinking

self fulfilling prophecy

1 - expectation about another person 2 - act in a specific way towards that person 3 - person responds in a way that the person expected because of how the person is treated 4 - expectation comes true

Heurisitcs

mental shortcuts to make quick and efficient decisions

availability heuristic

rely on how easily different examples come to mind to lead to a conclusion. a judgement that is based on the ease you can bring things to mind

representative heurisitic

mental shortcut to classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

base rate information

information about the relative frequency of members of different categories in the population

analytical thinking style

western, type of thinking where people focus on the properties of object without considering their surrounding context

holistic thinking style

type of thinking where people focus on overall context and ways objects relate to each other. Eastern

controlled thinking

thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, effortful

counterfactual thinking

mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been. it is a heuristic

planning fallacy

tendency for people to be overly optimistic about how soon a project will be completed even when they have failed to get similar projects down on time in the past

Attribution Theory

study of how we infer the causes of other people’s behavior

Internal attributions

explanations that assigns the causes of other people’s behavior internally

external attributions

something in the situation cause the person’s behavior

covariation model

examine multiple behaviors from different times and situations to answer how a person’s behavior changes across time, place, and target. Consensus, Distinctiveness, Consistency

Perceptual Salience

we pay attention to what we see so we think about them and assume they alone cause their behavior. unable to see the situation so we overlook it

two step attribution process

Characterization (internal attribution is made spontaneously and quickly) and Correction (adjust so we consider the situation).

self serving attributions

made when self esteem is threatened, bad things are due to external attributions, good things are internal attributions

Belief is a Just World

assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. victim blame (internal attributions on victim so you think it won’t happen to you)

Bias Blind Spot

think that others are more susceptible to attributional biases than we are

self concept

overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes. what makes me who I am

independent sense of self

defining self in terms of own thoughts, feelings, actions, Western

interdependent sense of self

defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to others and recognizing behavior is determined by thoughts and feelings and actions of others. eastern

functions of self

self knowledge, self control, impression management, and self esteem

self knowledge

way we understand who we are and organize that information

introspection

looking inwards and examining the inside info we have about out thoughts, feelings, motives

self awareness theory

when focused on ourselves, we evaluate, compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values

self perception theory

our attitude and feelings are uncertain and ambiguous we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs

two factor theory of emotion

1. experience physiological arousal
2. seek explanation

misattribution of arousal

people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do

intrinsic motivation

desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it not due to external rewards/punishments

extrinsic motivation

desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards/punishments not because we enjoy the task

over justification effect

we think behavior is caused by extrinsic motivations that we underestimate how much they are caused by intrinsic motivations

Social Comparison Theory

we learn about own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourself to others

upward social comparison

comparing ourself to someone who is better than you at a trait/task, inferior feeling

downward social comparison

comparing ourself to someone that is worse than we are at a ability

self control

ability to subdue immediate desires to achieve long term goals

implementation intention

specific plans about when where how goals will be fulfilled and temptations will be avoided

impression management

attempt to get others to see them the way they want to be seen

ingratiation

using flattery and praise to make yourself likable

self handicapping

making obstacles/excuses so if you do poor on a task you don’t blame yourself

behavioral self handicap

acting in a way to reduce chance of success

reported self handicap

make an excuse so if you fail you have that excuse to fall back on

attitudes

evaluation of people, objects, ideas that helps us determine how we behave

Cognitive Component of attitude

thoughts and beliefs about the attitude object

affective component of attitude

emotional reaction toward attitude object. can come from sensory reaction like classical conditioning and operant conditioning

behavioral component of attitude

how people act toward attitude object

explicit attitudes

we consciously endorse this attitude. usually from more recent experiences

implicit attitudes

involuntary, uncontrollable, unconscious evaluations. can be rooted in childhood

attitude accessibility

strength of the association between an object and an evaluation of it, how fast you can report how you feel about an object. when this is stronger, the higher chance spontaneous behavior is consistent with attitude

theory of planned behavior

time to contemplate how they are going to behave we predict by


1. attitude towards specific behavior
2. subjective norms (how others care/feel about it)
3. perceived behavioral control (how easy it is to do)

sleeper effect

when you read a message, are given a discounting cue, and acknowledge the inaccuracy of the message but later on you forget the discounting cue

elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

when people will be influenced by what the speech says and when they will be influence by superficial characteristics

central route to persuasion

people are motivated and able to pay attention to facts in communication. better the facts the more persuasion. attitude change lasts

peripheral route to persuasion

when not motivated or able to pay attention so surface characteristics matter more, attitude is temporary

subliminal messages

words or pictures that are no consciously perceived but may influence people’s judgements, attitudes, behaviors. only work under highly controlled situations

attitude inoculation

if you are given small argument against your position, you can be immune to a stronger argument later on so attitude is not changed

reactance theory

when freedom is threatened, we want to do that behavior more

cognitive dissonance

discomfort you feel when 2 cognitions conflict, you act in a way that is inconsistent with your conception of self

postdecision dissonance

after you make decision you think of positives for the thing you chose and negatives for the thing you didn’t chose

illusionary irrevocability

a decision that isn’t permanent but feels like it is

Justification of Effort

if you worked hard to attain something, there is a higher chance you will like it

counter attitudinal behavior

acting in a way that is inconsistent with your private beliefs

external justification

explaining that something about the situation or environment caused the counterattitudinal behavior

internal justification

changing your attitude or behavior when there is not sufficient external justifications.

Insufficient punishment

when the external justification is not high enough to resist an activity so you believe you resist the activity for internal justifications

hypocrisy induction

when people are made aware of the dissonance between what they are doing and what they are preaching to others.

self affirmation theory

focusing on affirming competence on a dimension that is unrelated to the threat

self evaluation maintenance theory

experience dissonance in relationships when


1. we are close to another person
2. they are outperforming us in an area
3. that area is central to our self esteem

narcissism

excessive self love and lack of empathy towards others

terror management theory

self esteem as a buffer to protect from terrifying thoughts about death

conformity

changing behavior due to real or imagined influence of others

informational social influence

in ambiguous, crisis situations or when someone is an expert we turn to others interpretations in order for us to choose the appropriate action. need to be accurate.

private acceptance

conform to behavior of others and believe that it is correct

public compliance

conform to the behavior of others but not believing it

normative social influence

conform to implicit or explicit group norms in order to be liked/accepted

social norms

implicit or explicit rules that a group has for acceptable behaviors, values, beliefs for members