Social Perception and Attribution

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts related to social perception, attribution, schemas, and behavioral theories.

Social perception

The process by which we interpret and process information from the social world.

Social attribution

The explanation we seek for the causes of people's behavior, inferring whether they are due to internal or external factors.

Categorization

The process of perceiving stimuli as members of groups or classes rather than isolated entities.

Prototype

An abstraction representing the 'typical' instance of a group, defined by common attributes.

Schema

Cognitive structures that organize information about an entity's attributes and relationships.

Person schema

Cognitive structures that describe the personalities of others and allow us to develop expectations about their behavior.

Self-schema

A cognitive structure that organizes our conception of our own characteristics.

Group schema (stereotype)

A schema regarding the members of a particular social group or category.

Role schema

Indicates which attributes and behaviors are typical of a person in a specific role.

Event schema (script)

Mental frameworks for recurring social events.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to focus on information consistent with a belief while ignoring contradictory information.

Implicit personality theory

Unstated assumptions about how personality traits correlate with each other.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate personal factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining behavior.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute positive outcomes to internal factors and negative outcomes to external factors.

Locus of control

The extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them.

Internal locus of control

Belief that one controls many of their life outcomes.

External locus of control

Belief that external forces determine life outcomes.

Learned helplessness

Condition where individuals feel incapable of achieving success due to past failures.

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Theory suggesting that aggression is a result of blocking a goal.

Altruistic motivation

Helping others due to empathy and concern for their well-being.

Bystander effect

Phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help in emergencies when others are present.

Empathy-altruism model

The proposition that helping behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce another's distress.

Compliance

A behavioral change in response to a direct request, without changing one's attitude.

Persuasion

A change in attitude or belief resulting from a communication.