Social Interactions - Chapter 12

Social cognition

Understanding other people depends on accurate information

Attributions

explanations for events or actions

Personal attributions

explanation based on people’s internal characteristics

Situational attributions

explanations that refer to external events

Fundamental attribution error

tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors in others’ behavior

Actor/observer bias

When interpreting our own behavior, we tend to focus on situations. When interpreting other people’s behavior, we tend to focus on personal attributes

Stereotype

Belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group - can be positive or negative

Prejudice

Negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype

Discrimination

The inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people as a result of prejudice

Subtyping

When we encounter someone who does not fit a stereotype, we may put that person in a special category rather than change the stereotype

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the very thing they expect to happen

Ingroup/outgroup bias

Those groups that we belong to are ingroups, and those that we do not belong to are outgroups

Ingroup favoritism

we think people in our group are better

Attitudes

People’s evaluations of objects, events, or ideas that don’t always predict behavior

Simple attitude

behavior is consistent with attitude

Complex attitude

behavior is not consistent with attitude

Mere exposure effect

increase in liking due to repeated exposure E.g. your neighbor is a clown

Conditioning

E.g. your neighbor is a clown who works at a children’s hospital

Social Exposure

E.g. your neighbor who is a clown often says hello and acts friendly toward you

Explicit attitude

An attitude that a person is consciously aware of and can report

Implicit attitude

An attitude that influences a person’s feelings and behavior at an unconscious level

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Measures how quickly a person associates concepts or objects with positive or negative words

Cognitive dissonance

Uncomfortable mental state due to a contradiction between two attitudes or between an attitude and a behavior

Insufficient justification

We change our beliefs

Justification of effort

We justify our actions

Persuasion

active and conscious effort to change an attitude

Source

who is persuading

Content

what are they trying to persuade you to believe

Receiver

the target of a persuasive message

Central route

uses high elaboration—people pay attention to the arguments and consider all the information in the message

Peripheral route

uses low elaboration—people minimally process the message

Social facilitation

When the mere presence of others enhances performance

Social loafing

The tendency for people to work less hard in a group than when working alone

Deindividuation

State of reduced individuality, self-awareness, and attention to personal standards in a group

Risky shift

Groups make riskier decisions than individuals

Group polarization

If most group members are somewhat cautious, then the group becomes even more cautious

Groupthink

prioritization of consensus over conflict

Conformity

altering behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or to match other people’s expectations

Normative Influence

informed, you know better but conform to fit in

Informational Influence

clean slate, take reviews from others to inform your choice

Door in the face technique

Following up an extravagant request with a reasonable one such that the guilty subject complies

Obedience

Factors that influence people to follow the orders given by an authority

Aggression

Any behavior that involves the intention to harm someone else

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

The more frustrated we feel, the more likely we are to act aggressively

Prosocial behaviors

acting in ways that benefit others, offering assistance or doing favors, paying compliments or resisting the temptation to insult another person

Altruism

Providing help when it is needed, with no apparent reward for doing so

Bystander apathy

The failure to offer help to people in need

Four major reasons bystander apathy happens

Bystanders expect other bystanders to help

We fear making social blunders in ambiguous situations

We are less likely to help when we are anonymous and can remain so

Deciding whether to help involves weighing two factors