Psychology 101:04 Exam 3 Study Guide - Social Psychology

what is internal (dispositional) attributions

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the person

what is external (situational) attributions

inference that a person's behavior is caused by something about the situation

What is the fundamental attribution error?

tendency to make internal attributions for others' behavior, even when situational causes are apparent

What was Jones and Harris's (1967) study in which participants read essays supporting or opposing Fidel Castro?

Jones and Harris found that people tend to assume behavior reflects personal beliefs — even when that behavior was clearly assigned — showing how we often overlook situational influences.

What is the actor-observer effect?

tendency to attribute our own mistakes mainly to situational causes, but the mistakes of others mainly to dispositional causes

What is the self-serving attribution?

tendency to attribute one's positive outcomes to internal causes but negative outcomes to external causes

What is a Social role

behavior that is expected of a person who is in a specific social position

What was Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment?

Participants randomly assigned to either prisoner or prison guard

What is cognitive dissonance?

unpleasant psychological state that results from inconsistencies between one's attitudes and behavior

What are the factors involved in cognitive dissonance?

Counterattitudinal behavior - behavior that is inconsistent with a person's attitudes

Insufficient justification - when people perform a counterattitudinal behavior with inadequate reason, they may develop more positive attitudes toward that behavior

factors involved in cognitive dissonance - choice

if someone was able to choose they are more likely to feel dissonance than if it was forced upon them. often leads to justifying their decisions by downplaying positives of other option or emphasizing the positives of their own

factors involved cognitive dissonance - effort

the amount of effort someone puts into something will influence how much they care about said thing to justify their time and work

What was Festinger and Carlsmith's (1959) study on cognitive dissonance ($1 vs. $20)?

Festinger & Carlsmith found that people paid $1 to lie rated a boring task as more enjoyable than those paid $20, showing that low external reward leads to greater attitude change due to cognitive dissonance.

What is normative social influence?

social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted

What is informational social influence?

social influence based on the desire to be correct

What was Asch's study of conformity? What type of social influence did it demonstrate?

Asch’s line study showed that people often conform to group pressure, even when the group is clearly wrong. It demonstrated normative social influence, where people go along with others to fit in.