Untitled Flashcards Set

Social psychology: the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Social thinking: involves thinking about others, especially when they engage in doing things that are unexpected.

Attribution: giving credit to someone or something.

Attribution theory: states that we have a tendency to give causal explanations for someone’s behavior, often by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.

Dispositional attribution: attributing someone’s behavior, thoughts, beliefs, etc. to the person’s traits and characteristics.  Ex. thinking someone is smart, lazy, etc.

Situational attribution: attributing someone’s behavior, thought’s beliefs, etc. to environmental factors outside of the person’s control.  Ex. it was the ref’s fault, the test was too hard, etc.

Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and to underestimate situational factors when making attributions about the cause of another person's behavior.

Actor-observer bias: The tendency to attribute our own actions to situational factors and others' actions to internal factors, essentially creating a "double standard" in how we judge ourselves versus others.

Self-serving bias: taking credit for their successes while at the same time attributing their failures to external situations beyond their control.

Social comparison: Comparing yourself to others:

• Upward - comparing yourself to someone you think is better than you

• Downward - comparing yourself to someone you think is worse than you

Prejudice: an unjustifiable and usually negative ATTITUDE toward a group (often a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group).  “prejudgement”.  Involves the following 3 things:

• Beliefs (stereotypes)

• Emotions (ex. Hostility or fear),

• Predispositions to action (discriminate)

Stereotypes: generalized beliefs about a certain group, sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized.

Discrimination: Unjustifiable negative BEHAVIOR toward a group and its members.

Implicit attitudes: An unthinking knee-jerk response operation below the radar, leaving us unaware of how our attitudes are influencing our behavior.

Just-world phenomenon: the tendency of people to believe the world is just, and people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Self-fulfilling prophecy: having expectations about an individual that influence your behavior towards him or her, which in turn influences they way this person behaves towards you.

Ingroups: people with whom one shares a common identity.

Outgroups: those perceived as different from one’s in-group. 

Ingroup Bias: the tendency to favor one’s own group.

Ethnocentrism: the tendency to consider other cultures, customs, and values as inferior to one’s own.  Ex. the US trying to change Iraq’s government to a democracy.

Attitudes: beliefs and feelings that guide behavior.

Foot-in-the-door: the persuasion strategy of getting a person to agree to a modest first request as a set-up for a later, much larger, request.

Door-in-the-face: The persuasion strategy in which a large request is made knowing it will probably be refused so that the person will agree to a much smaller request. (The real objective is to get the person to agree to the small request, which is made to seem very reasonable because it is compared to such a large, seemingly unreasonable request.)

Cognitive dissonance: the state of psychological tension, anxiety, and discomfort that occurs when a person’s attitude and behavior are inconsistent.  Most people modify attitudes to reduce the dissonance.  Ex. Take the example of smokers who know that smoking is bad for them.  How do they reduce the dissonance of knowing they are doing something that is harmful?  There are many options: 1. The smoker avoids reading about the ill-effects of smoking or avoids people who criticize them for smoking. 2. The smoker will seek out information that supports the belief that smoking relaxes them. 3. The smoker reassures him/herself that good health is not that important - after all they are not a professional athlete.

Elaboration likelihood model: A psychological theory that explains how people process persuasive messages and change their attitudes

Central route of persuasion: when people focus on factual info, logical arguments, and thoughtful analysis. Ex. buying a car and looking at the gas mileage, safety ratings, etc.

Peripheral route of persuasion: when people focus on emotional appeals in incidental cues.  Ex. buying a car based on its color, sound system, etc.

Halo effect: A cognitive bias where a positive impression of someone in one area (like their appearance) unconsciously influences how you perceive them in other areas, leading to an overall positive judgment even if you lack full information about them

Mere exposure effect (familiarity principle): people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.

Social norms: The shared expectations and beliefs about what is appropriate behavior within a group or community

Social influence theory: how attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions are molded by social influences.

Compliance: An individual doing what someone else wants them to do, following his or her request or suggestion. It is NOT an order, it is a suggestion

Conformity: adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative Social Influence: influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection. A person may respect normative behavior because there may be a severe price to pay if not respected.  Ex. a gang member participating in the gang’s activities even though he thinks they are wrong.  He’s afraid of getting kicked out or worse.

Informational Social Influence: occurs when one turns to the members of one's group to obtain accurate information. A person is most likely to use informational social influence in certain situations.  Ex. people not evacuating their neighborhood in light of an oncoming hurricane because no one else is evacuating. They think the neighbors must know it’s not going to be that bad.

Obedience: obeying the direct orders of an authority or person of higher status.

Social facilitation: the tendency for an individual’s performance to improve when simple or well-learned tasks are performed in the presence of others.

Social impairment (inhibition): the tendency for an individual’s performance to decline when complex or poorly-learned tasks are performed in the presence of others.

Social loafing: people making less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone, the “slackers”.

Deindividuation: the losing of one’s self-awareness and personal responsibility that can occur when a person is part of a group whose members feel anonymous.  Ex. A city wins the Superbowl and while the people are celebrating in the streets, they get out of control and start flipping over cars.  These people would never do something like that alone; but, because there is a group of people doing it, no one will ever be able to identify everyone.

Group polarization: the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members.  Ex. a group trying to plan prom but everyone has such elaborate ideas; no one can make a decision.

Groupthink: phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.  Ex. Bay of Pigs, Congress and pork barrel spending.

Individualism(istic): prioritizing one’s needs, goals, values, etc. over that of the group. Self-identity and independence more important

Collectivism(istic): prioritizing the needs, goals, values, etc. of the group over the individual, “we over me”

Multiculturalism: the idea of a society where multiple cultures coexist with equal respect and recognition, allowing each group to maintain its own identity while celebrating the diversity within the community

Relative deprivation: The feeling of being deprived or lacking in comparison to others.

Belief perseverance: The tendency to hold onto a belief even when presented with new information that contradicts it.

False consensus effect: The tendency to assume that one's own opinions, beliefs, attributes, or behaviors are more widely shared than is actually the case.

Diffusion of responsibility: explains the bystander effect: people are less likely to act or feel a sense of responsibility in the presence of a large group of people.  Ex. in the case of Kitty Genovese, people assumed others called the police.

Social Reciprocity norm: people are more likely to help someone if they are going to get something out of it.

Social responsibility norm: a societal expectation that individuals should help others in need, even without expecting personal gain or reciprocation, essentially contributing to the welfare of the community as a whole

Altruism: unselfish regard for the welfare of others, helping others at your own expense.

Bystander effect: individuals are less likely to assist in an emergency situation when other people are present.  Ex. the murder of Kitty Genovese.

Conflict: A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

Social trap: a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

Mirror-image perceptions: each side views itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other as evil and aggressive.

Superordinate goals: shared goals that override differences among people that cannot be achieved without a joint effort.

Industrial-organizational psychologists: Scientific study of human behavior in the workplace