Chapter 11-Psychology

Compliance

changing one’s behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change.

Dispositional cause

cause of behavior attributed to internal factors such as personality or character.

In-groups

social groups with whom a person identifies; “us.”

Central-route processing

type of information processing that involves attending to the content of the message itself.

Social impairment

the tendency for the presence of other people to have a negative impact on the performance of a difficult task.

Cognitive dissonance

sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behavior does not correspond to that person’s attitudes.

Social cognition

the mental processes that people use to make sense of the social world around them.

Bystander effect

referring to the effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help, with help becoming less likely as the number of bystanders increases.

Cult

any group of people with a particular religious or philosophical set of beliefs and identity.

Equal status contact

contact between groups in which the groups have equal status with neither group having power over the other.

Peripheral-route processing

type of information processing that involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as the appearance of the source of the message, the length of the message, and other noncontent factors.

Social comparison

the comparison of oneself to others in ways that raise one’s self-esteem.

Stereotype vulnerability

the effect that people’s awareness of the stereotypes associated with their social group has on their behavior.

Deindividuation

the lessening of personal identity, self-restraint, and the sense of personal responsibility that can occur within a group.

Social facilitation

the tendency for the presence of other people to have a positive impact on the performance of an easy task.

Social influence

the process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of an individual.

Conformity

changing one’s own behavior to match that of other people.

Out-groups

social groups with whom a person does not identify; “them.”

Attitude

a tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation.

Social loafing

the tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when working with others on that task.

Companionate love

type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment.

Social cognitive theory

referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world.

Groupthink

kind of thinking that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned.

Social psychology

the scientific study of how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence and are influenced by social groups; area of psychology in which psychologists focus on how human behavior is affected by the presence of other people.

Diffusion of responsibility

occurs when a person fails to take responsibility for actions or for inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility.

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors.

Jigsaw classroom

educational technique in which each individual is given only part of the information needed to solve a problem, causing the separate individuals to be forced to work together to find the solution.

Discrimination

treating people differently because of prejudice toward the social group to which they belong.

Door-in-the-face technique

asking for a large commitment and being refused and then asking for a smaller commitment.

Consumer psychology

branch of psychology that studies the habits of consumers in the marketplace.

Prosocial behavior

socially desirable behavior that benefits others.

Realistic conflict theory

theory stating that prejudice and discrimination will be increased between groups that are in conflict over a limited resource.

Persuasion

the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation.

Prejudice

negative attitude held by a person about the members of a particular social group.

Elaboration likelihood model

model of persuasion stating that people will either elaborate on the persuasive message or fail to elaborate on it and that the future actions of those who do elaborate are more predictable than those who do not.

Interpersonal attraction

liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person.

Social identity theory

theory in which the formation of a person’s identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison.

Lowball technique

getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment.

Implicit personality theory

sets of assumptions about how different types of people, personality traits, and actions are related to each other.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

the tendency of one’s expectations to affect one’s behavior in such a way as to make the expectations more likely to occur.

Romantic love

type of love consisting of intimacy and passion.

Obedience

changing one’s behavior at the command of an authority figure.

Reciprocity of liking

tendency of people to like other people who like them in return.

Attribution theory

the theory of how people make attributions.

Social identity

the part of the self-concept including one’s view of self as a member of a particular social category.

Impression formation

the forming of the first knowledge that a person has concerning another person.

Social role

the pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is in a particular social position.

Social categorization

the assignment of a person one has just met to a category based on characteristics the new person has in common with other people with whom one has had experience in the past.

Attribution

the process of explaining one’s own behavior and the behavior of others.

Altruism

prosocial behavior that is done with no expectation of reward and may involve the risk of harm to oneself.

Group polarization

the tendency for members involved in a group discussion to take somewhat more extreme positions and suggest riskier actions when compared to individuals who have not participated in a group discussion.

Foot-in-the-door technique

asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment.

Situational cause

cause of behavior attributed to external factors, such as delays, the action of others, or some other aspect of the situation.