social psychology
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42 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 social psychology | study of how people influence others' behavior, beliefs, and attitudes |
| social facilitation | enhancement of performance brought about by the presence of others |
| attribution | process of assigning causes to behaviors |
| fundamental attribution error | tendency to over-estimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people's behavior |
| social comparison theory | theory that we seek to evaluate our beliefs, attitudes, and abilities by comparing our reactions with others' |
| mass hysteria | outbreak of irrational behavior that is spread by social contagion |
| conformity | tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of a group pressure |
| parametric studies | studies in which an experimenter systematically manipulates the independent variable to observe its effects on the dependent variable |
| deindividuation | tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behavior when they are stripped of their usual identities |
| groupthink | emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking and sound decision making |
| group polarization | tendency of group discussion to strengthen the dominant positions held by individual group members |
| cults | groups of individuals who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause |
| inoculation effect | approach to convincing people to change their minds about something by first introducing reasons why the perspective might be correct and then debunking it |
| obedience | adhere to instructions from those of higher authority |
| pluralistic ignorance | error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do |
| diffusion of responsibility | reduction in feeling of personal responsibility in the presence of others |
| social loafing | phenomenon whereby individuals become less productive in groups |
| altruism | helping others for unselfish reasons |
| enlightenment effect | learning about psychological research can change real-world behavior for the better |
| aggression | behavior intended to harm others, either verbally or physically |
| relational aggression | form of indirect aggression, prevalent in girls, involving spreading rumors, gossiping, and nonverbal put-downs for the purpose of social manipulation |
| belief | conclusion regarding factual evidence |
| attitude | belief that includes an emotional component |
| self-monitoring | personality trait that assesses the extent to which people's behavior reflects their true feelings and attitudes |
| cognitive dissonance | unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs |
| self-perception theory | theory that we acquire our attitudes by observing others' behaviors |
| impression management theory | theory that we don't really change out attitudes but report that we have so that our behaviors appear consistent with our attitudes |
| foot-in-the-door technique | persuasive technique involving making a small request before making a bigger one |
| door-in-the-face technique | persuasive technique involving making an unreasonably large request before making the small request we're hoping to have granted |
| low-ball technique | persuasive technique in which the seller of a product starts by quoting a low sales price, and then mentions all the "add-on" costs once the customer has agreed to purchase the product |
| prejudice | drawing conclusions about a person, group of people, or a situation prior to evaluating the evidence |
| adaptive conservatism | evolutionary principle that creates a predisposition toward distrusting anything or anyone unfamiliar or different |
| in-group bias | tendency to favor individuals withing our group over those from outside our group |
| out-group homogeneity | tendency to view all individuals outside our group as highly similar |
| discrimination | negative behavior toward members of out-groups |
| stereotype | a belief, positive or negative, about the characteristics of members of a group that is applied generally to most members of the group |
| implicit stereotypes | beliefs about the characteristics of an out-group about which we're unaware of |
| ultimate attribution error | assumption that behaviors among individual members of a group are due to their internal disposition |
| scapegoat hypothesis | claim that prejudice arises from a need to blame other groups for our misfortunes |
| just-world hypothesis | claim that our attributions and behaviors are shaped by a deep-seated assumption that the world is fair and all things happen for a reason |
| jigsaw classrooms | educational approach designed to minimize prejudice by requiring all children to make independent contributions to a shared project |
| explicit stereotypes | beliefs about the characteristics of an out-group about which we are aware of |
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