Social Psychology (Chapter 13) Lecture Notes

Key terms and concepts from the Social Psychology lecture including attribution, group dynamics, prejudice, aggression, and altruism.

Social Psychology

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

Attribution Theory

Suggested by Fritz Heider (1958), it is the tendency to give causal explanations for behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.

Dispositional Attribution

Attributing a behavior to a person's aggressive personality or enduring personality traits.

Situational Attribution

Attributing a behavior to external factors such as stress or abuse.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate the impact of personal disposition and underestimate the impact of situations when analyzing the behaviors of others.

Attitude

A belief and feeling that predisposes a person to respond in a particular way to objects, other people, and events.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Cognitive Dissonance

The tension experienced when our attitudes and actions are opposed (Festinger, 1957).

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999).

Normative Social Influence

Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid rejection.

Informative Social Influence

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

Social Facilitation

Refers to improved performance on tasks in the presence of others (Triplett, 1898).

Social Loafing

The tendency of an individual in a group to exert less effort toward attaining a common goal than when tested individually (Latané, 1981).

Deindividuation

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

Group Polarization

The enhancement of a group's prevailing attitudes through discussion within a like-minded group.

Groupthink

A mode of thinking occurring when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides the realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable, usually negative, attitude toward a group and its members consisting of stereotypes, negative emotions, and a predisposition to discriminate.

Stereotypes

The belief component of prejudice.

Ingroup

People with whom one shares a common identity.

Outgroup

Those perceived as different from one’s own group.

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to favor one's own group.

Just-World Phenomenon

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

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one could have predicted it beforehand.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy, emerging from the interaction of biology and experience.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

A principle stating that frustration (the blocking of an attempt to achieve a goal) creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Social Scripts

Mental tapes and social patterns portrayed by the media that individuals rely on when confronted with new situations.

Conflict

A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Social Trap

A situation in which conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases the attraction toward those stimuli.

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Companionate Love

A deep, affectionate attachment felt for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Altruism

An unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Equity

A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give.

Self-Disclosure

The act of revealing intimate aspects of oneself to 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 aiming to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

The expectation that we should return help and not harm those who have helped us.

Social-Responsibility Norm

A learned norm that tells us to help others when they need us, even though they may not repay us.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

GRIT (Graduated & Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction)

A strategy designed to decrease international tensions by initiating small conciliatory acts to encourage reciprocation.