AP Psych Unit 12

Social Psychology - the study of how people influence other people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions

Outgroup homogeneity effect - The tendency to view outgroup members as less varied than ingroup member

Social Identity Theory - the idea that ingroups consist of individuals who perceive themselves of the same social category and feel pride because of their membership

Ingroup Favoritism - the tendency for people to evaluate favorably the members of the ingroup more than the outgroup.

Social Facilitation - the idea that the presence of others generally enhances performance.

Zajonc’s Model of Social Facilitation-The presence of others will lead to increased arousal, which can be positive or negative

Deindividuation - a state of reduced individuality, reduced self-awareness, and reduced attention to personal standards.

Group polarization - the process by which initial attitudes of groups become more extreme over time

Groupthink - the tendency of groups to make poor decisions when the group is under intense pressure.  The group fails to weigh all information correctly and decide accordingly.

Social loafing - the tendency for people to not work as hard in a group than when working alone.

Conformity - the altering of one’s behaviors and opinions to match those of other people or their expectations

Normative influence - the tendency for people to conform to fit in

Informative influence - conformity due to the expectation that the behaviors of the others are correct behaviors

Compliance-The tendency to agree to do things that people request

Foot in the door- The idea that if people agree to a small request, they become more likely to comply with a larger and undesirable request

Obedience - when a person follows the orders of a person of authority.

Prosocial Behaviors - Actions that tend to benefit others more than the they benefit the doer

Altruism - Providing help when it is needed, without any apparent reward for doing so.

Bystander intervention effect (bystander apathy) - The failure to offer help by those who observe someone in need when other people are present

4 causes for bystander apathy-Diffusion of responsibility - expecting others to help: Social Blunders - providing help when help is not necessary: Anonymous - If you aren’t recognized, noone will know you didn’t help: Harm to you or benefit to others? - you may help if you won’t be harmed and if you don’t have anything to lose

Sherif’s Study of Competition & Cooperation -Outgroup bias can be eliminated when heterogeneous groups are created and the groups must work together to achieve superordinate goals

Attitudes - People’s evaluations of objects, of events, or of ideas

mere exposure effect - The idea that greater exposure to a stimulus leads to greater liking for it

Explicit Attitudes - attitudes that one is able to report, that influence one’s feelings & behaviors

Implicit Attitudes - attitudes that influence one’s feelings and behaviors at an unconscious level 

Cognitive Dissonance - an uncomfortable mental state resulting from a contradiction between two attitudes or between an attitude and a behavior.

Persuasion - the active and conscious effort to change an attitude through transmission of a specific message

Elaboration Likelihood Model - the idea that persuasive messages lead to attitude changes in two ways; Central Route or Peripheral Route 

Attributions - people’s explanations for why events or actions occur.  These are used to help people create order of the situation and predict future results.

Personal Attributions - Explanations of behavior that refer to their internal characteristics, such as abilities, traits, moods or efforts.

Situational Attributions - Explanations of behavior that refer to external events, such as weather, luck, accidents, or actions of others.

Fundamental Attribution Error - in explaining other people’s behavior, the tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors.  In explaining our own behavior, we overemphasize situational factors and underestimate personal traits.

subtyping- This concept involves an individual to identify outliers, rather than altering their stereotype.

Prejudice - Negative feelings, opinions, and beliefs associated with a stereotype.

Discrimination - The inappropriate and unjustified treatment of people as a result of prejudice.

Modern racism - subtle forms of prejudice that coexist with the rejection of racist beliefs.  

Interpersonal Influences- Proximity & Familiarity: the more frequent or familiar the more likely a relationship occurs|Birds of a feather: similarities|Personal Characteristics: desirable characteristics|Physical Attractiveness: men,youth and fertility,women,dominance and status

Passionate Love - a state of intense longing & desire

Companionate Love - a strong commitment developed over time based on friendship, trust, respect and intimacy