psych unit 4

Social Psychology

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

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to attribute other people’s behaviors to their character rather than their situation.

Attitudes

Feelings influenced by beliefs, which predispose people to have specific reactions to objects, people, and events.

Actions Affect Attitudes

Actions can modify attitudes.

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Compliance with a small request causes the subject to infer that they have a positive attitude toward cooperating with good causes; in turn, this positive attitude leads to compliance with the larger request.

Cognitive Dissonance

When attitudes do not fit with actions, tension is created. We act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) clash.

Peripheral route persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Central route persuasion

Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Social contagion

The more we mimic, the greater our empathy, and the more people tend to like us. This is a form of conformity.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard in certain circumstances.

Normative social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational social influence

Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.

Milgram’s Obedience Experiments

People obeyed orders even when they thought they were harming another person. Strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or exhibit cruel behavior.

Social facilitation

The presence of others arouses people, improving performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing performance on difficult tasks.

Social loafing

Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

A loss of self-awareness and self-restraint that occurs in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group polarization

Group discussions with like-minded others strengthen members’ prevailing beliefs and attitudes.

Groupthink

People are driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, with this desire overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Ingroup

"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup bias

The tendency to favor our own group.

Scapegoat theory

The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Altruism

Unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

Bystander effect

Tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Socialization norm

Social expectation that prescribes how we should behave.

Reciprocity norm

Expectation that people will respond favorably to each other by returning benefits for benefit.

Social-responsibility norm

Expectation that people should help those who depend on them.

Personality

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

Psychodynamic theories

Posit that behavior is the dynamic interaction between the conscious and unconscious mind.

Defense mechanisms

Tactics that reduce and redirect anxiety by reality distortion.

Humanistic theories

Focus on the potential for healthy personal growth and people’s striving for self-determination and self-realization.

Trait theories

Describe personality as a stable and enduring pattern of behavior and focus on differences rather than explanations.

Personality inventory

Questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors.

The Big Five Personality Factors

Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, Extraversion.

Social-cognitive perspective

Views behaviors as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits and their social context.

Reciprocal determinism

Describes the interaction and mutual influence of behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental factors.

Self-esteem

Our feeling of self-worth.

Self-efficacy

Our sense of competence on a task.

High self-esteem

A positive evaluation and perception of oneself, which correlates with less pressure to conform, persistence at difficult tasks, and happiness.

Costs of Self-Esteem

Negative consequences associated with high self-esteem, including blindness to one's own incompetence and self-serving bias.

Psychological Disorders

Clinically significant disturbances in cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that are marked by maladaptive thoughts, emotions, or behaviors.

Diagnostic classification

The process of categorizing psychological disorders based on their symptoms, which helps predict the disorder's future course, suggests appropriate treatment, and prompts research into its causes.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)

A manual published by the American Psychiatric Association that describes psychological disorders and estimates their occurrence.

Anxiety Disorders

Marked by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

Panic disorder

Characterized by sudden episodes of intense dread and living in fear of the next attack.

Phobia

A persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Characterized by persistent and repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and actions (compulsions) that interfere with everyday life and cause distress.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia lingering for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience.

Conditioning

The process by which panic-prone people associate anxiety with certain cues, and how a fearful event can later become a fear of similar events.

Depressive Disorders

Major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder, characterized by symptoms such as depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, and alternating between depression and mania.

Schizophrenia

A psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and diminished emotional expression.

Dissociative disorder

Conscious awareness becomes separated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings.

Personality Disorders

Disruptive, inflexible, and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning, categorized into three clusters:anxiety, eccentric or odd behaviors, and dramatic or impulsive behaviors.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Central nervous system abnormalities that result in altered thinking and behavior, starting in childhood, such as intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).