4.1-4.3 Quiz

Attribution Theory

The process of ascribing the reason for others’ behavior as either due to their disposition or the external circumstances of their situation

Dispositional Attribution

The process of ascribing the reason for behavior to internal or psychological causes such as mood, personality, or effort

Situational Attribution

The process of ascribing the reason for behavior to causes outside the person, such as luck, other people, or external circumstances

Fundamental Attribution Error

People tend to overestimate how dispositional attributes instead of situational attributes determine behavior.

Actor-Observer Bias

People tend to attribute their behavior to situational attributes instead of dispositional attributes, but observers do the opposite, making the fundamental attribution error.

Self-Serving Bias

Interpreting events that ascribe success to oneself but deny responsibility for failure (situational attribution)

Explanatory Style

An individual’s description of an event or personal history.

Optimism

Expecting good things to happen. Explaining events with a positive spin.

Pessimism

Anticipating bad things to happen. Explaining events with a negative spin.

Personal Control

The feeling of power and influence over events, behaviors, and people

Internal Locus of Control

Behavior and a corresponding belief that life outcomes result from one’s abilities.

External Locus of Control

Behavior and the corresponding belief that life outcomes result from factors outside one’s control.

Mere-Exposure Effect

Individuals demonstrate a more favorable attitude toward something or someone with repeated exposure.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A belief or expectation that helps bring about its reality. People behave in ways that cause others to behave in ways that confirm their beliefs or perceptions about themselves.

Relative Deprivation

A perception that the amount of resources (money, social status, material items) someone has is less than some other comparison of one’s social circle. It can be a source of unhappiness.

Stereotype

A set of cognitive beliefs about the qualities and characteristics of a group and its members

Prejudice

Pre-judge. A negative attitude toward another person or group without any experience with them

Discrimination

Treating others differently based on some group characteristic

Implicit Attitudes

Beliefs held by individuals that they may be unaware of or fail to recognize.

Just-World Phenomenon

The belief that the world is a fair place and whatever happens to people is what they deserve.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to view people who don’t share similar characteristics as inferior.

In-Group Bias

The tendency to favor one’s group as superior to others.

Ethnocentrism

Viewing one’s ethnic, racial, or national group as the center of everything

Belief Perseverance

Continual belief in an idea even after it was refuted or proven inaccurate

Confirmation Bias

Gather evidence supporting a conclusion while ignoring or not seeking evidence that refutes it.

Cognitive Dissonance

• People need to maintain consistency in their cognitive systems, or they feel discomfort.

• People are motivated to alleviate the tension when one’s behavior and beliefs are inconsistent by changing one of them.

Social Norms

Unwritten rules of social behavior

Normative Social Influence

• Internalize the group norms so one feels compelled to behave, think, and feel in ways that are consistent with the group.

• Rejecting the group norms often results in ridicule and ostracism.

• Society rewards those who conform.

Informative Social Influence

The process of change in thinking or behavior as a result of persuasion of information

Methods of Persuasion

Techniques to convince others of ideas, actions, or beliefs.

Central Route to Persuasion

Forming or changing attitudes based on a thoughtful evaluation of their merits

Peripheral Route to Persuasion

Forming or changing attitudes based on cues outside of the merits and without careful scrutinizing of the relevant information

Elaboration Likelihood Model

• Attitude change occurs on a continuum from little scrutiny/elaboration to extensive scrutiny/elaboration.

• Scrutiny/elaboration determines peoples’ attitude strength.

Elaboration

The process of thinking about the merits of relevant information

Foot-in-Door Phenomenon

People are more likely to comply with a large request if someone first asks them to comply with a smaller one.

Door-in-Face Phenomenon

People are more likely to comply with a reasonable request if they deny someone an extreme request.

Conformity

Changing opinions, judgments, and behavior to become consistent with the others in a group or situation

Asch Situation

• An experiment in which participants answer questions as part of a group of confederates who deliberately answer incorrectly. Measures the degree to which participants conform to the group norms.

• Confederates would all state that line “A” matched when the participant could see that the answer was “C.” Close to 32% conformed to the wrong answer.

• Conformity was strengthened by: unanimity, two or more confederates, and admiration for the group.

Obedience

Complying with a direct command by a person in a position of authority

Behavioral Study of Obedience

• Stanley Milgram assigned participants as teachers who had to

deliver an electric shock examinees for incorrect answers.

• Participants did not administer shocks. The confederates made them believe that they were shocking them.

• The magnitude of shocks increased with each incorrect answer.

• The experimenter said to the participants that they should continue if they appeared to question what they were doing.

• 63% delivered the most lethal voltage of 450 volts.

Individualism

Emphasis on the individual and their role in culture.

Collectivism

Emphasis on being a member of a larger social group instead of independent.

Multiculturalism

Different ethnic and cultural groups have equal social status but maintain their own identity.

Social Loafing

The tendency to put forth less effort when working in a group compared to working alone

Deindividuation

A loss of self-awareness and self-restraint that results from anonymity or blending in with a group

Group Polarization

The tendency for people’s beliefs to become stronger as they discuss them in a group of like-minded individuals

Group Think

The tendency of groups to maintain harmony and thus, individuals do not present dissenting views. It can lead to poor decision-making.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Feeling less accountable for duties when in the presence of others

Social Facilitation

• The improvement on a task in the presence of others

• Works best when tasks are well-rehearsed or easy.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency of people to overestimate the extent to which others agree with them.

Subordinate Goals

Members of two or more groups work together and pool their skills to accomplish a goal they cannot achieve alone.

Social Traps

Once established, a course of action between individuals, groups, or governments is challenging to stop even though it could lead to lethal consequences.

Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

• Study how people perform in the workplace

• Management, work relationships, burnout, personnel selection, employee evaluation, etc.

Altruism

An unselfish behavior that benefits others and costs oneself.

Social Reciprocity Norm

The social behavior that people who help others will receive equal benefits from them in return.

Social Responsibility Norm

The societal rule that one should help others in need.

Bystander Effect

• A tendency of individuals to fail to deliver assistance to those in need when others are present

• Emergencies

• Confusion or diffusion of responsibility