Social Psychology Vocabulary List 4.1-4.3

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from attribution theory, attitudes, and the psychology of social situations.

Attribution theory

The study of how people explain the causes of behavior and events, typically by identifying internal dispositions or external situations.

Dispositional attribution

Attributing behavior to internal characteristics such as personality, mood, or abilities.

Situational attribution

Attributing behavior to external factors such as environment, luck, or context.

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to overemphasize dispositional causes for others' behavior while underestimating situational factors.

Explanatory style

A habitual pattern of explaining events, including tendencies toward optimistic or pessimistic attributions.

Optimistic explanatory style

Explains positive events with internal, stable causes and negative events with external, unstable causes.

Pessimistic explanatory style

Explains negative events with internal, stable causes and positive events with external, unstable causes.

Mere exposure effect

Increased liking for a stimulus due to repeated exposure.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief or expectation that causes itself to become true through the resulting behaviors.

Social comparison

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

Upward social comparison

Comparing oneself with someone superior to gain motivation or standards.

Downward social comparison

Comparing oneself with someone worse off to feel better about one's situation.

Relative deprivation

Feelings of deprivation that occur when one compares oneself with others and believes they are worse off.

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a group of people.

Prejudice

A hostile or unjustified attitude toward a group and its members.

Discrimination

Unjustified negative or harmful action toward a group or its members.

Implicit attitudes

Attitudes that operate at an unconscious level and influence perceptions and behavior.

Just-world phenomenon

Belief that people get what they deserve, leading to blaming victims.

Outgroup homogeneity bias

Perceiving members of an outside group as more similar to one another than they actually are.

Ingroup bias

Tendency to favor one's own group over others.

Ethnocentrism

Belief that one’s own culture is superior to others.

Belief perseverance phenomenon

Tendency to cling to initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.

Confirmation bias

Tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms preconceptions.

Cognitive dissonance

Psychological discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors; motivation to reduce by changing beliefs or behavior.

Social norms

Accepted rules of behavior within a group or society.

Social influence theory

The process by which individuals change their attitudes or behaviors in response to real, imagined, or implied presence of others.

Normative social influence

Conforming to be liked or accepted by others.

Informational social influence

Conforming because others’ actions or information are trusted as evidence.

Elaboration likelihood model

Two routes to attitude change: central (deep processing) and peripheral (superficial cues).

Central route to persuasion

Persuasion resulting from careful, thoughtful consideration of message content.

Peripheral route to persuasion

Persuasion resulting from superficial cues (e.g., attractiveness, status) rather than content.

Halo effect

A cognitive bias where a positive impression in one area biases judgments in other areas.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Starting with a small request to increase likelihood of agreeing to a larger one later.

Door-in-the-face technique

Refusing a large initial request increases the chance of agreeing to a smaller one.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior or thinking to align with group norms.

Obedience

Compliance with direct commands from an authority figure.

Group polarization

Group discussion leads to from the group’s initial stance becoming more extreme.

Groupthink

Desire for harmony in a group leads to irrational or poor decision making.

Diffusion of responsibility

Less personal responsibility to act when others are present.

Bystander effect

Lower likelihood of helping a victim as the number of bystanders increases.

Social loafing

Tendency to exert less effort in a group when individual contributions aren’t identifiable.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness and restraint in group settings, often leading to impulsive behavior.

Social facilitation

Improved performance on simple tasks when others are present.

False consensus effect

Overestimating how much others share our beliefs and behaviors.

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that require cooperation, reducing conflict between groups.

Social trap

A situation where pursuing self-interest leads to worse outcomes for the group.

Altruism

Selfless concern for the well-being of others; helping without expecting a reward.

Prosocial behavior

Actions intended to benefit others.

Social debt

Perceived obligation to repay favors or to reciprocate social support.

Social reciprocity norm

Expectation that people will repay acts of kindness or cooperation.

Social responsibility norm

Expectation to help those in need and to act altruistically toward others.