social exam

social comparison theory

• evaluate our abilities, beliefs and understanding of ourselves to other people

upward social compasrison

• comparing yourself to someone who is better than you

downward social comparison

• comparing yourself to someone who is worse than yourself

enlightenment effect

• where we learn about a theory/concept and it changes our real world behavior

Halo effect

• when someone has one positive trait we assume that they have many positive traits

self fulfilling prophecy

• when you believe something will happen, you change your behavior making it more likely it will happen

chameleon effect

• mimic those around us

components

• what makes up an attitude

dimensions

• things that come with an attitude

affective

behavioral

cognitive

strength

• how strong an attitude is

accessibility

• which can your mind think about the easiest

ambivalence

• hold both negative and positive feelings towards one object

source

• who is trying to change the attitude

reciever

• the person whos attitude is trying to be changed

message

• what they say or show to you to change your attitude

channel

• the way they are giving the message to the receiver

cognitive dissonance

• discomfort caused by holding conflicting beliefs or behaviors

self perception theory

• we don’t know much about our attitudes, but learn what our attitudes are by observing our behavior

impression management

• attempting to control how others percieve us

elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

• Persuasion occurs through either careful thinking (central route) or superficial cues (peripheral route).

Foot-in-the-Door

• Getting agreement to a small request increases compliance with a larger one later.

Door-in-the-Face

• A person is more likely to agree to a smaller request after refusing a larger one.

attribution

• Explanation for why behavior occurs.

stable attribution

• Cause is permanent.

unstable attribution

• Cause is temporary.

Internal Attribution

• Behavior caused by personal characteristics.

External Attribution

• Behavior caused by situational factors.

Individualism

• Emphasis on personal achievement and independence.

collectivism

• Emphasis on group goals and relationships.

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Overestimating personal causes and underestimating situational causes in others' behavior.

Defensive Attribution Error

• Blaming victims to maintain belief that bad events won't happen to us.

Stereotypes

• Oversimplified beliefs about a group.

Subtyping

• Creating exceptions to preserve stereotypes.

Perceptual Confirmation

• Interpreting evidence to support existing beliefs.

Illusory Correlation

• Perceiving a relationship that does not actually exist.

Adaptive Conservatism

• Tendency to maintain existing beliefs despite contradictory evidence.

Out-Group Homogeneity

• Seeing members of other groups as more alike than they really are.

Variability Hypothesis

• Belief that one's own group is more diverse than other groups.

Contact Hypothesis

• Positive contact between groups reduces prejudice.

Superordinate Goals

• Shared goals requiring cooperation between groups.

Common Knowledge Effect

• Groups focus on information everyone knows.

Social Loafing

• Reduced effort when working in a group.

Group Polarization

• Group discussion strengthens initial opinions.

Groupthink

• Pressure for consensus overrides critical thinking.

Deindividuation

• Loss of self-awareness within a group, increasing impulsive behavior.

Conformity

• Changing behavior to match a group.

Asch Line Study

• Demonstrated strong pressure to conform.

Informational Influence

• Conforming because others seem correct.

Normative Influence

• Conforming to gain approval or avoid rejection.

Unanimity

• Greater conformity when everyone agrees.

Co-Conspirator

• A dissenter who reduces conformity.

Group Size

• Larger groups generally increase conformity.

Anonymity

• Reduced accountability can increase conformity.

Compliance

• Changing behavior after a direct request

Obedience

• Following orders from authority figures.

Milgram Study

• Showed high levels of obedience to authority.

Closeness

• Obedience decreases when authority is farther away.

Legitimate Authority

• Recognized authority increases obedience

Prestige

• Higher-status institutions increase obedience

Depersonalized Victim

Obedience increases when victims are unseen.

Defiant Models

• Seeing others resist reduces obedience.

Intimacy

• Emotional closeness.

Passion

• Physical attraction and excitement.

Commitment

• Decision to maintain a relationship

Matching Hypothesis

People tend to pair with similarly attractive others.

Facial Symmetry

• Balanced facial features are generally viewed as attractive.

Attitude Alignment

• Attraction increases with shared beliefs.

Proximity

• Physical closeness increases attraction.

Relational Aggression

• Harm through social manipulation or exclusion.

Physical Aggression

• Harm through physical force.

Hostile Aggression

• Aggression driven by anger

Instrumental Aggression

• Aggression used to achieve a goal

Stanford Prison Experiment

• Demonstrated how social roles influence behavior.

Kin Selection

• Helping relatives increases survival of shared genes.

Reciprocal Altruism

• Helping others with expectation of future help

Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

• Empathy produces genuine helping behavior.

Darley & Batson (1973)

• People in a hurry are less likely to help.

Bystander Effect

• Presence of others decreases helping

Social Responsibility Norm

• Belief that people should help those in need.

Cognitive Miser

• Person who conserves mental effort by using shortcuts.

Inductive Reasoning

• Moving from specific observations to general conclusions.

Deductive Reasoning

• Applying general rules to specific cases.

Syntax

• Rules governing sentence structure.

Grammar

• Overall system of language rules

Genie

• Feral child whose case highlighted critical periods for language.

Homesign

• Self-created sign system among deaf individuals without formal language exposure

Symbolic

• Words represent objects or ideas.

Generative

• Infinite messages can be produced.

Structured

• Language follows organized rules

Semantics

• Meaning of words and sentences

Denotation

• Literal dictionary meaning.

Connotation

• Emotional or cultural meaning

Sociocultural Theory

• Language develops through social interaction.

Behaviorist Theory

• Language learned through reinforcement and imitation.

Nativist Theory (Chomsky)

• Humans are biologically prepared for language.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Innate mechanism for learning language.

Interactionist Theory

• Language develops through both biology and social experience.