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social psychology the study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in social situations social perception the process of coming to know and evaluate others attribution theory a set of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behavior fundamental attribution error tendency to overestimate the impact of personal causes of behavior and to overlook the role of situations primacy effect tendency for impressions of others to be heavily influenced by info appearing early in an interaction mere-exposure effect attraction to a stimulus that results from increased exposure to it conformity tendency to alter one's opinion or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms informational influence conformity motivated by the belief that others are correct normative influence conformity motivated by a fear of social rejection attitude positive, negative, or mixed reaction towards any person, object, or idea central route to persuasion process in which people think carefully about a message and are influenced by its arguments peripheral route to persuasion process in which people do not think carefully about a message and are influenced by superficial cues cognitive dissonance theory an unpleasant psychological state often aroused when people behave in ways that are discrepant with their attitudes aggression behavior intended to inflict harm on another person frustration-aggression hypothesis the theory that frustration causes aggression deindividuation a loss of individuality, often experienced in a group, that results in a break down of internal restraints against deviant behavior altruism helping behavior that is motivated primarily by a desire to benefit others, not oneself empathy-altruism hypothesis the proposition that an empathetic response to a person in need produces altruistic helping bystander effect the finding that the presence of others inhibits helping in an emergency diffusion of responsibility in groups, a tendency for bystanders to assume that someone else will help what are the two groups of attribution? personal and situational attribution theorist is tryin to not determine the true causes of the event, but? to study our perceptions of the causes What three types of info do people usually base attributions off of? consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency consensus info this is used to see how other persons react to the same stimulus (do other moviegoers rave about the film as well?) -if others rave about it, the behavior is high in consensus -if others are critical of the same film, the behavior is low in consensus distinctiveness info see how the same person reacts to diff stimuli (how does the raving moviegoer react to other films?) -if he is critical of many other films, is review is highly distinctive and attributed to the stimulus -if he gushes about everything, then the review is low in distinctiveness and attributed to the person not the film consistency info see what happens to the behavior at another time when the person and the stimulus remain the same (how does the moviegoer feel about the same film on another night?) -same as the other night, behavior is consistent -does not always enjoy the film, behavior is low in consistency behaviors low in consistency are attributed to? fleeting circumstances Solomon Asch -told first group that a person was "intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious" -presented second group with the list in the opposite order subjects who heard the first list (+ traits first) were more favorable in their evaluations than those who heard the second list two reasons the primacy effect occurs: 1. we become less attentive to later behavioral evidence once we have already formed an impression 2. change of meaning hypothesis- once they form an impression, they later interpret inconsistent info in light of that impression what kinds of groups are most vulnerable to group think? insulated, tightly knit groups that value harmony and have a strong leader what are the two levels of group think? 1. members suppress personal doubts on their own (often without realizing they are) 2. openly and actively pressured into submission by majority intolerant of dissent what are the "symptoms" of group think? 1. group tends to overestimate its own capacity (illusion of invulnerability, unanimity, and exaggerated belief in the morality of their views) 2. close minded (rationalizing their own actions and sterotyping targets of these actions) 3. great pressure towards uniformity advice to avoid group think? 1. avoid isolation 2. reduce conformity pressures 3. establish norm of critical review evolutionary psychologists think that helpfulness can perpetuate our own/ selfish genes (self-sacrificing behavior promotes one's own genetic immorality) how do people decide whether to intervene and help? weighing the costs agianst benefits (if benefits outweigh costs, we proceed)