| Term | Definition |
|---|
| self concept | the beliefs we hold about who we are and what characteristics we have |
| self esteem | the evaluations we make about how worthy we are as human beings |
| temporal comparison | judging our present condition in relation to how we were in the past |
| social comparison | judging ourselves in relation to others (comparing our attributes to those of others) |
| reference groups | categories of people to which you see yourself as belonging and to which you habitually compare yourself |
| downward social comparison | a strategy of choosing someone as the target of comparison to oneself who is not as good on some dimension of importance (protects self-esteem) |
| upward social comparison | comparing yourself to people who do much better at something - this can make you feel better (something to strive for), or worse in comparison |
| relative deprivation | the belief that, no matter how much you are getting in terms of recognition, status, money, etc., it is less than you deserve |
| terror management theory | proposes that humans cope with the anxiety of realizing that we will all eventually die by developing a variety of self-protective psychological strategies, including efforts to maintain high self-esteem |
| social identity theory | theory that we see ourselves as members of groups; also our beliefs about the groups to which we belong - helps us feel part of a larger group |
| self schema | mental representations of peoples beliefs and views about themselves (can be unified or differentiated) |
| social perception | processes through which people interpret information about others, form impressions of them, and draw conclusions about the reasons for their behavior |
| first impressions | formed by using schemas to interpret new information, these are quickly formed, hard to change, and long-lasting (because we are cognitive misers, are overconfident in our judgments, etc.) |
| self-fulfilling prophecy | occurs when, without our awareness, schemas cause us to subtly lead people to behave in line with our expectation |
| attribution | the process people go through to explain the causes of behavior (their own or others') - these are either internal (due to a person's innate character) or external (due to the situation) |
| Kelley's attribution theory | argues we go about making attributions for a behavior by looking at an actor's consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness for that behavior |
| fundamental attribution error | a tendency to over-attribute others behaviors to internal factors such as personality traits |
| ultimate attribution error | cognitive bias in which positive actions by members of an outgroup (people perceived as different) and negative actions by members of an ingroup (people with whom we identify) are given external attributions |
| actor-observer bias | the tendency to attribute others behavior to internal causes but attribute your own behavior to external causes (mostly due to differing amounts of inforation at hand) |
| self-serving bias | the tendency to take credit for success (attributing it to internal characteristics) but to blame external causes for failure |
| unrealistic optimism | pattern of beliefs that positive events are more likely to happen to you, whereas negative events are less likely to happen to you |
| attitude | the tendency to think, feel, or act positively or negatively toward objects in our environment (includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral components) |
| elaboration likelihood model | states that a message may change a person's attitude through a peripheral (persuasion cues, lack of critical thinking) or central route (strong argument, critical thinking) |
| mere-exposure effect | states that, all else being equal, attitudes toward an object tend to become more positive as people are exposed to that object more often |
| cognitive dissonance theory | holds that people want their thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes to be consistent with one another and with their behavior. When their cognitions are inconsistent, or dissonant, people become anxious and are motivated to make them more consistent |
| self-perception theory | According to Daryl Bem, situations often arise in which people are not quite sure about their attitudes so they look back to their behavior, consider it in light of the circumstances, and then infer what their attitudes about it must have been |
| sterotypes | the perceptions, beliefs, and expectations a person has about members of some group; they are schemas about entire groups of people |
| prejudice | a positive or negative attitude toward an individual based simply on his or her membership in some group |
| discrimination | the behavioral component of prejudice, or differential treatment of individuals who belong to different groups |
| motivational theories of prejudice | suggest that prejudice against certain groups might enhance one's sense of security and help one meet certain personal needs |
| cognitive theories of prejudice | suggests that stereotypes are inevitable responses to an extraordinarily complex social world. The most effective way to deal with this complexity is to mentally group people into social categories |
| learning theories of prejudice | Prejudices, like other attitudes, are learned from personal experience and from the experiences reported by others |
| contact hypothesis | states that stereotypes and prejudices about a group will diminish as positive, productive, one-on-one contact with members of that group increases |
| aversive racism | states that people who dislike racism will still sometimes show it, especially if they can do so without consciously admitting to prejudice |
| matching hypothesis | states that a person is more likely to be romantically attracted to someone who is similar in physical attractiveness than to someone who is notably more or less attractive (due to fear of rejection) |
| passionate love | intense, arousing love, and marked by both strong physical attraction and intense emotional attachment. Sexual feelings are very strong and thoughts of the other intrude on a persons awareness frequently |
| companionate love | less arousing love, but psychologically more intimate. It is marked by mutual concern for the welfare of the other |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!