social psych

1)self serving bias- a readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

2)cognitive dissonance-(leon festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory) we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent

3)big five personality factors- 5 traits that describe personality (OCEAN); openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

4)actor/observer bias- tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but observers attribute others behavior to internal

5)groupthink- most thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

6)altruism- unselfish regard for the welfare of others

7)drive reduction theory- idea that a physiological need(such as water or food) creates an aroused, motivated state (called a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy

8)defense mechanisms

8a) regression: retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage( goes to an old toy and old cartoon for comfort)

8b) reaction formation: switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites(sarcasm)

8c) projection: disguising one owns threatening impulses by attributing them to others

8d)rationalization: offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one’s own action

8e) displacement: shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object

8f) sublimation: transferring of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

8g) denial: refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

9)yerkes-dodson law: principle that performance increase w/arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

10)mere exposure effect: tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them

11)attribution theory: we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation(situational) or the persons stable enduring traits(disposing)

12)self- esteem: our feelings of high or low self-worth

13)self-efficacy: our sense of of competence and effectiveness

14)foot in door/door in face: FID-tendency for ppl who have agreed to a small request more likely to accept a larger, DIF-tendency for ppl who have rejected a large request accept a smaller one

15)homeostasis:body at a normal rate

16)self-fulfilling prophecy: belief that leads to its own fulfillment due to the persons own actions

17)intrinsic/extrinsic motivation: I- desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake, E-desire to perform an behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

18)just world phenomenon:tendency for ppl to believe the world is just and that ppl therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get

19)projective tests:personality tests; proves ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics and explore the pre/un conscious mind

19a) rorshach:identifies ppls inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots

19b)thematic appreception(tat) ppl express their inner feelings and interests thru the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

20)facial feedback: tendency of facial muscles states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger,

or happiness

21)halo-effect:the way we are perceived by others

22)incentives:a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

23)social loafing: tendency for ppl in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal

24)reciprocity norm:expectation that ppl will help, those who have helped them

25)jngroup/outgroup: I-ppl we share a common identity w, O-those as perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

26)roots of prejudice: where/how the negative come upon us

26a) homogenity: ppl outside our group are all the same

27)milgrams study:(1963) studied obedience w “teachers” giving electric thoughts or not