psych 1 - ch 11 social psych

social psychology

scientific study of how people feel, think, and behave in social context

social cognition

mental process people use to make sense of their social environment

social influence

effect of situational factors and other people on an individual’s behavior

social norms

rules or exceptions for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation

social categorization

mental process of categorizing people into groups or categories on the basis of their shared characteristics

explicit cognition

conscious mental processes involved in perceptions, judgmentsm decisions, and reasoning

implicit cognition

automatic, nonconscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning

attribution

mental process of inferring the causes of peoples own behavior

hindsight bias

tendency to overestimate ones ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome of an event

just world fallacy/hypothesis

belief that world is fair & therefore people get what they deserve

self serving bias

attributing successful outcomes of ones own behavior to internal causes & unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes

cognitive dissonance

unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal that occurs when two thoughts ot perceptions are inconsistent

proximity effect

single best predictor of attraction is physical proximity or nearness

mere exposure effect

phenomenon whereby the more often people are exposed to a stimulus, the more positively they evaluate that stimulus

stereotypes

beliefs that associate a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics

prejudice

negative feelings and thoughts toward others because of their membership in certain groups

discrimination

behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group

racism

prejudice & discrimination based on a persons racial background

sexism

prejudice and discrimination based on a persons gender

implicit racism

racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally

in group

social group to which one belongs

in group bias

tendency to judge the behavior of in group members favorably and out group members unfavorably

out group

social group to which one does not belong

out group homogeneity effect

tendency to see members of out groups as very similar to one another

implicit attitudes

preferences and biases toward particular groups that are automatic, spontaneous, unintentional, and often unconscious

aggression

verbal or physical behavior intended to cause harm to others

empathy

understanding or vicariously experiencing anothers individuals perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual

perspective taking

cognitive aspect based on using the imagination

empathic concern

emotional component that involves other oriented feelings

altruism

helping another person with no expectation of personal reward ot benefit

prosocial behavior

any behavior that helps another, underlying motive is self serving or selfless

egoistic

motivated by the desire to improve ones own welfare

altruistic

motivated by the desire to improve anothers welfare

courageous resistance

providing sustained & deliberate help in the face of potentially enormous costs

bystander effect

greater the number of people present, less likely each individual is to help someone in distress

diffusion of responsibility

presence of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress

culture

individualistic vs. collectivistic

conformity

adjusting your opinions, judgments, or behaviors so they match the opinions, judgments, or behaviors of other people or norms of a social group

asch on conformity

solomon aschs line study on how peoples beliefs affect the beliefs of others

need to be right (informational influence)

want to make good and accurate judgments of reality, and assume that when others agree on something, they must be right

fear of ostracism (normative influence)

fear the consequences of rejection that follows deviance

majority influence

factors that influence feelings of pressure and insecurity that lead to conformity

obedience

performance of a behavior in response to a direct command

stanford prison experiment

conducted by professor dr. phillip zimbardo

analyzed how systemic and situational forced can operate to influence individual behavior in negative or positive directions