Studied by 0 people
Myers Unit 14: Social Psychology
Social Psychology
the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Attribution Theory
the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.
Dispositional Attribution
the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to credit the impact of personal disposition.
Situational Attribution
the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to credit the impact of the situation.
Fundamental Attribution Error
the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Attitude
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
Central Route Persuasion
occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
Peripheral Route Persuasion
occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.
Foot in the Door Phenomenon
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
Door in the Face Phenomenon
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a large request to comply later with a small request.
Role
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
Conformity
adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
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.
Social Facilitation
improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
Social Loafing
the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.
Deindividuation
the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
Group Polarization
the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.
Groupthink
the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decisionmaking group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.
Culture
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
Norm
understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. Prescribe “proper” behavior.
Personal Space
Prejudice
an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.
Stereotype
a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.
Discrimination
unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.
Ingroup
“us”—people with whom we share a common identity.
Midgroup
group of people that you interact with and sustain a relationship with, but are not the first people you would go to.
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.
Other-Race Effect
the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias.
Just-World Phenomenon
the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
Aggression
any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.
social script
a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.
Frustration-Aggression Principle
the principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal —creates anger, which can generate aggression.
Mere Exposure Effect
the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them.
Passionate Love
an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship.
Compassionate Love
the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.
Romance
Attraction
Arousal
Equity
a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.
Self-Disclosure
the act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves to others.
Altruism
unselfish regard for the welfare of others.
Bystander Effect
the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.
Social Exchange THeory
the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
Reciprocity Norm
an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.
Social-Responsibility Norm
an expectation that people will help those needing their help.
Conflict
a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.
Social Trap
a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.
Mirror-Image Perception
mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive.
Self Fulfilling Prophecy
a belief that leads to its own fulfillment.
Superordinate Goals
shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction
a strategy designed to decrease international tensions.
Diffusion of Responsibility
Ethnocentrism
Compliance
Solomon Asch
Psychologist known for conformity experiments showing how people yield to group pressure, even when they know the answer is incorrect. Demonstrated the power of social influence in shaping individual behavior and opinions.
Philip Zimbardo
American psychologist known for the Stanford prison experiment, highlighting the impact of situational factors on behavior.
Stanley Milgram
American social psychologist known for his controversial obedience experiments in the 1960s, demonstrating the power of authority figures on human behavior.
Albert Bandura
Psychologist known for the Bobo doll experiment and social learning theory. He introduced concepts like self-efficacy and observational learning.
