Upgrade to remove ads
Only $35.99/year

chapter 10

Terms in this set (18)

norms
rules about how we are supposed to act, enforced by threats of punishment if we violate them and promises of reward if we follow them
roles
positions that are regulated by norms and how people in those positions should behave
culture
can be defined as a program of shared rules that govern the behavior of people in a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs and customs shared by most members of that community and passed from one generation to another
entrapment
process in which individuals escalate their commitment to a course of action in order to justify their investment in it
social cognition
area in social psych concerned with social influences on thought, memory, perceptions and beliefs
attribution theory
says that explanations we make of our behavior and the behavior of others generally fall into 2 categories -- situational attribution: we are identifying the cause of an action as something in the situation of environment -- dispositional attribution: we are identifying the cause of an action as something in the person, such as a trait or a motive
fundamental attribution error
the tendency to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the influence of the situation (when explaining other's behavior)
"holier-than-thou" effect
the tendency of most people to be overly optimistic about their own abilities, competence, and good qualities such as generosity and compassion
just-world hypothesis
attributions are also affected by the need to believe that justice usually prevails, that good people are rewarded and bad guys punished
attitude
belief about people, groups, ideas or activities -- can be explicit: we are aware of them, they shape our conscious decisions and actions, and they can be measured on questionnaires -- or implicit: we are unaware of them, they may influence our behavior in ways we do not recognize, and they are measured in indirect ways
cognitive dissonance
the uncomfortable feeling that occurs when 2 attitudes, or an attitude and behavior, are in conflict (dissonant) -- to resolve, you change one of the attitudes
familiarity effect
tendency to hold positive attitudes toward familiar people or things
validity effect
tendency to believe that something is true simply because it has been repeated many times
religious affiliation
whether a person is Muslim, Catholic, Jew, etc. is not heritable
religiosity
a person's depth of religious feeling and adherence to a religion's rules -- does have a genetic component
groupthink
tendency to think alike and suppress dissent -- occurs when a group's need for total agreement overwhelms its need to make the wisest decision -- symptoms: illusion of invulnerability, self-censorship, pressure on dissenters to conform, illusion of unanimity
diffusion of responsibility
responsibility for an outcome is diffused, or spread, among many people, reducing each individual's personal sense of accountability -- bystander apathy: in crowds, when someone is in trouble, individuals often fail to take action or call for help because they assume that someone else will do so
deindividuation
in groups or crowds, the loss of one's own individuality
Students also viewed