Social Psychology Concepts

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary and concepts in social psychology, including theories, biases, and various psychological phenomena.

Social Psychology

Studies how people and groups influence behavior and mental processes and vice versa.

Attribution Theory

Explains how people interpret and determine the causes of behavior, both their own and others'.

Dispositional Attributions

Explaining someone's behavior based on internal characteristics.

Situational Attributions

Explaining someone's behavior based on external factors or circumstances.

Explanatory Style

The habitual way an individual explains life events.

Optimistic Explanatory Style

Tends to attribute positive events to internal, stable, and global causes.

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

Tends to attribute negative events to internal, stable, and global causes.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others.

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute our own actions to external causes while attributing others' behaviors to internal causes.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute positive events to internal causes and negative events to external causes.

Internal Locus of Control

The belief that one controls one's own life.

External Locus of Control

The belief that one's life is controlled by outside factors.

Mere Exposure Effect

The tendency to develop a preference for things merely because we are familiar with them.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true.

Social Comparison

Evaluating one's own abilities and opinions by comparing oneself to others.

Relative Deprivation

The perception that one is worse off relative to those one compares oneself to.

Person Perception

The process by which we form impressions of others based on available information.

Biases

Cognitive shortcuts that can lead to errors in judgment and interpretation.

Attitude

A favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone.

Prejudice

A preconceived negative judgment of a group and its individual members.

Discrimination

Unjustified negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Just-World Phenomenon

The tendency to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve.

Out-group Homogeneity Bias

The perception that members of other groups are more similar to each other than members of one's own group.

In-group Bias

The tendency to favor one's own group.

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture.

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, or recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs.

Cognitive Dissonance

The discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions.

Social Norms

The implicit rules of a society or group that guide how people are expected to behave.

Social Influence Theory

How individuals change their behavior to meet the demands of a social environment.

Normative Social Influence

Individuals change their behavior to be accepted or liked by others.

Informational Social Influence

When individuals conform because they believe others have more knowledge or better information.

Persuasion

The process of changing a person's attitude or behavior through information or argument.

Central Route Persuasion

Attitude changes due to thoughtful consideration of arguments.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Attitude changes due to superficial cues rather than content of the message.

Halo Effect

The tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

A persuasion strategy that involves getting a person to agree to a large request by first setting them up with a smaller request.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

A persuasion strategy that involves making a large request that is likely to be refused, followed by a smaller request.

Obedience

The act of following orders or instructions from an authority figure.

Altruism

Selfless concern for the well-being of others.

The Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

Social Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people will help those dependent upon them.

Social Exchange Theory

The theory that human interactions are transactions aiming to maximize rewards and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

The expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefits.

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Culture

Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people.

Individualism

Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals.

Collectivism

Giving priority to the goals of one's group.

Multiculturalism

The view that cultural diversity has positive effects and should be celebrated.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for people to feel less responsible in the presence of others.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort toward a common goal.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness in group situations that foster anonymity.

Social Facilitation

Improved performance on simple tasks in the presence of others.

False Consensus Effect

People tend to overestimate how much others share their beliefs and behaviors.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences and require cooperation.

Group Polarization

The tendency for groups to make more extreme decisions than individual members.

Groupthink

The mode of thinking that occurs when harmony in a group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Industrial-organizational psychology

Research methods to understand and improve workplace functioning.

Personality

An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychodynamic Theory

Freud's theory that unconscious forces drive human behavior.

Id

The primitive, unconscious part of personality that operates on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The part of personality that mediates between the id, superego, and reality.

Superego

The part of personality that represents internalized ideals.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious strategies for reducing anxiety.

Projective tests

Personality tests designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A psychological assessment tool using ambiguous pictures to evaluate emotions and motivations.

Humanistic Psychology

A perspective emphasizing the growth potential of individuals.

Unconditional Positive Regard

An attitude of total acceptance toward another person.

Self-Actualizing Tendency

The innate drive to develop all one's abilities.

Social-Cognitive Theory

Views personality as the result of interaction between person and social context.

Reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves.

Self-efficacy

One's sense of competence and effectiveness.

Self-esteem

Your overall sense of self-worth.

Traits

Characteristics or patterns of behavior to describe personality.

The Big Five Theory

A model including five broad dimensions of personality.

Personality Inventory

A questionnaire used to assess personality traits.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

A widely used personality test for assessing psychological conditions.

Empirically Derived Test

A test developed by selecting items that correlate with criteria.

Factor Analysis

A statistical method used to identify clusters of related items on a test.

Big Five Factor Model (OCEAN/CANOE)

A trait theory identifying five key dimensions of personality.

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Drive-Reduction Theory

The idea that a physiological need creates aroused tension that motivates satisfaction.

Homeostasis

A tendency to maintain a balanced internal state.

Arousal Theory

The idea that we try to maintain a balanced level of tension.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Performance increases with arousal up to a point, beyond which it decreases.

Sensation-Seeking Theory

Proposes three innate needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Self-Determination Theory

Emphasizes intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

Desire to perform a behavior for its own sake.

Extrinsic Motivation

Desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards.

Instinct

A complex behavior that is unlearned and rigidly patterned throughout a species.

Approach-Approach Conflict

The choice between two desirable options.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

Choosing between two undesirable options.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A single option with both positive and negative aspects.

Ghrelin

The 'hunger hormone' that stimulates appetite.

Leptin

Hormone that regulates energy balance by inhibiting hunger.

Glucose

A simple sugar and an important energy source.

Hypothalamus

A brain region crucial in regulating hunger and energy balance.

Pituitary Gland

An endocrine gland regulating various hormones.

Set Point Theory

Proposes each person has a 'set point' for stable weight range.