Social Psychology Key Terms Notes

Social Psychology Terms

Actor/Observer Bias

  • Tendency to attribute one's own actions to situational factors while attributing others’ actions to their character traits.

Attribution & Attribution Theory

  • Attribution: The process of explaining the causes of behavior.
  • Attribution Theory: Discusses how individuals understand the causes of events.
Types of Attribution
  • Dispositional Attribution: Assigning behavior to a person's traits.
  • Situational Attribution: Assigning behavior to external circumstances.

Social Comparison

  • Comparing oneself to others to assess one’s own abilities and opinions.
  • Downward Social Comparison: Comparing to those worse off to feel better about oneself.
  • Upward Social Comparison: Comparing to those better off to improve oneself.
Self-Perception
  • Mere-Exposure Effect: Developing a preference for things merely because they are familiar.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations about a person lead to behaviors that cause the expectations to come true.
  • Self-Serving Bias: The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Attitude Formation and Cognitive Processes

  • Belief Perseverance: Clinging to one’s beliefs despite contrary evidence.
  • Cognitive Dissonance: Mental discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory beliefs.
  • Confirmation Bias: Focusing on information that confirms one's existing beliefs.

Prejudice and Discrimination

  • Prejudice: Negative attitude towards a group.
  • Discrimination: Action taken against a group based on prejudice.
  • Ethnocentrism: Belief in the superiority of one’s own culture.

Social Influence & Group Behavior

  • Altruism: Selfless concern for the well-being of others.
  • Bystander Effect: Individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency when others are present.
  • Groupthink: Impaired decision-making due to group cohesion overcoming realistic appraisal of alternatives.
Persuasion Techniques
  • Central Route & Peripheral Route of Persuasion: Two methods of persuasion; central being focused on the argument and peripheral on superficial cues.
  • Foot-in-the-Door: Agreeing to a small request increases the likelihood of agreeing to a larger request later.
  • Door-in-the-Face: Starting with a large request that is rejected, followed by a smaller request.

Personality Psychology

Theories and Constructs
  • Big Five Theory: Five major traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) used to describe personality.
  • Trait Theory: Focuses on identifying and measuring individual personality characteristics.
Psychodynamic Approach
  • Ego Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious strategies to protect oneself from anxiety. Includes repression, denial, and projection.

Motivation & Emotion

  • Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic is driven by internal rewards while extrinsic is driven by external rewards.
  • Drive-Reduction Theory: Motivation arises from physiological needs that must be met to maintain homeostasis.
Emotion Theories
  • Broaden-and-Build Theory: Positive emotions broaden thoughts and actions, building social resources.
  • Cognitive Appraisal: Asserts that emotional responses are influenced by an individuals' interpretation of the event.

Physiological Factors in Motivation

  • Hypothalamus: Brain region involved in hunger and metabolic processes.
  • Leptin & Ghrelin: Hormones that regulate hunger and satiety.
  • Yerkes-Dodson Law: Optimal performance occurs at an intermediate level of arousal; too little or too much can impair performance.