Social Psychology Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover key concepts and definitions from the Social Psychology lecture notes, focusing on critical terms and their meanings.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to perceive oneself favorably, attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior.

Heuristic

A cognitive rule that enables quick, efficient judgments, often leading to efficient decision-making but can also result in errors.

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptions while ignoring contradictory evidence.

Illusory Correlation

The perception of a relationship where none exists, often fueled by expectations or beliefs.

Affective Forecasting

The process of predicting one’s emotional states in future events, often prone to errors in predicting intensity and duration.

Self-Efficacy

A person's belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task.

Narcissism

An inflated sense of self-importance or self-worth that can lead to relationship problems.

Social Comparison

Evaluating one's opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others, which can influence self-esteem.

Behavioral Confirmation

A type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people’s social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm those expectations.

Rosy Retrospection

The tendency to remember one’s past experiences more favorably than they were initially experienced.

Planning Fallacy

The tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task.

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas.

Social Loafing

The phenomenon where individuals exert less effort when working in a group compared to when working alone.

Priming

The process by which exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus.

Social Identity Theory

The theory that a person’s sense of who they are is based on their group membership(s).

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that prioritizes the goals of the group over the goals of the individual.

Individualism

A cultural orientation that emphasizes personal independence and the goals of the individual over those of the group.

Illusion of Transparency

The belief that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others.

Self-Control

The ability to control one's emotions, behavior, and desires in the face of external demands.

Unrealistic Optimism

The belief that one's chances of experiencing negative events are lower than those of others.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the degree to which others agree with our beliefs and behaviors.