Social Psychology - Key Terms (Vocabulary Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, theories, and studies from the lecture notes on social psychology.

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how people influence one another’s behavior and thinking, with a focus on situational forces shaping actions.

Conformity

A change in behavior or belief to fit group norms due to real or imagined pressure from others.

Informational Social Influence

Influence arising from the desire to be correct in uncertain situations; we look to others for information.

Normative Social Influence

Influence arising from the desire to gain approval and avoid disapproval; we adjust behavior to meet others’ expectations.

Asch Study

Classic conformity experiment where participants judged line lengths; confederates gave wrong answers to test conformity.

Line-Length Judgment Task

Asch’s task in which participants chose which line matched the standard line in length.

Confederate

A person in an experiment who is actually working for the researchers and pretends to be a participant.

Milgram’s Obedience Studies

Research on obedience to authority showing high levels of compliance to authoritative commands to administer shocks.

Astroten Study

Nurses in a hospital setting ordered by a doctor over the phone to give an unauthorized overdose; most complied or nearly did.

Jonestown Massacre

1978 mass suicide of over 900 members led by Jim Jones, influenced by compliance techniques and social influence.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Gaining compliance with a large request by first obtaining agreement to a small, easy request.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

Starting with a large request likely to be refused, then retreating to a smaller, more reasonable request.

Low-Ball Technique

Getting initial compliance with an attractive request and then changing it to a less favorable one.

That’s-Not-All Technique

Increasing likelihood of compliance by adding extras or bonuses before a decision.

Social Loafing

Tendency to exert less effort when working on a group task than when working alone.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Responsibility for a task is spread across group members, reducing individual accountability.

Bystander Effect

Likelihood of helping decreases as the number of bystanders increases due to diffusion of responsibility.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness and restraint in a group, often leading to impulsive or deviant behavior in anonymity.

Groupthink

A mode of group thinking where the desire for group harmony overrides realistic appraisal, leading to poor decisions.

Attribution

The process of explaining the causes of behavior—whether internal (dispositional) or external (situational).

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to overemphasize internal dispositions and underestimate external situational factors when judging others.

Just-World Hypothesis

Belief that the world is just, leading to blaming victims and justifying cruelty.

Primacy Effect

Early information is weighted more heavily than later information in forming an impression.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Expectations about a person elicit behaviors that cause the expectation to come true.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

False Consensus Effect

Tendency to overestimate how much others share our beliefs and behaviors.

False Uniqueness Effect

Tendency to underestimate how common one’s desirable traits or abilities are.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger)

People change attitudes to reduce the discomfort from inconsistencies between their attitudes and behavior.

Self-Perception Theory (Bem)

We infer our attitudes by observing our own behavior and its context, rather than changing attitudes to fit behavior.