| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Actor-Observer Bias | The tendency to attribute other people's behavior to internal causes while attributing our own behavior (especially errors and failures) to external causes. |
| Attitude | A predisposition toward a particular cognitive, emotional, or behavioral reaction to objects. |
| Attribution | The process of explaining the causes of people's behavior, including our own |
| Cognitive Dissonance Theory | A theory asserting that attitude change is driven by efforts to reduce tension caused by inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviors. |
| Contact Hypothesis | The idea that stereotypes and prejudice toward a group will diminish as contact with the group increases. |
| Discrimination | Differential treatment of various groups; the behavioral component of prejudice. |
| Elaboration Likelihood Model | A model suggesting that attitude change can be driven by evaluation of the content of a persuasive message (central route) or by irrelevant persuasion cues (peripheral route) |
| Fundamental Attribution Error | A bias toward overattributing the behavior of others to internal causes. |
| Matching Hypothesis | The notion that people are most likely to form relationships with those who are similar to themselves in physical attractiveness |
| Prejudice | A positive or negative attitude toward an entire group of people. |
| Reference Groups | Categories of people to which people compare themselves. |
| Relative Deprivation | The belief that, in comparison to a reference group, one is getting less than is deserved. |
| Self-Concept | The way one thinks of oneself. |
| Self-Esteem | The evaluations people make about how worthy they are as human beings. |
| Self-Fulfilling Prophecy | A process through which an initial impression of someone leads that person to behave in accordance with that impression. |
| Self-Perception Theory | A theory suggesting that attitudes can change as people consider their behavior in certain situations and then infer what their attitude must be. |
| Self-Schemas | Mental representations that people form of themselves. |
| Self-Serving Bias | The tendency to attribute our successes to internal characteristics while blaming our failures on external causes. |
| Social Cognition | Mental processes associated with people's perceptions of, and reactions to, other people. |
| Social Comparison | Using other people as a basis of comparison for evaluating oneself. |
| Social Identity | The beliefs we hold about the groups to which we belong. |
| Social Perception | The processes through which people interpret information about others, draw inferences about them, and develop mental representations of them. |
| Social Psychology | The study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior influence, and are influenced by, the behavior of others. |
| Stereotypes | False assumptions that all members of some group share the same characteristics. |
| Temporal Comparison | Using one?s previous performance or characteristics as a basis for judging oneself in the present. |
Combine with other sets
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