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Social Psych

Terms in this set (32)

Self-fulfilling prophecy
A situation where someone's expectations lead to the expectation occurring, such as expecting a mother to be annoyed and then acting in a way that makes her become annoyed.
Stereotype
Characteristics (size, intelligence, ability) set to a group of people (race, gender, country of origin, wealth) that are expected to be held by everyone in that group.
Schema
A mental category we have of a group that we think have similar characteristics.

Example: Your schema of a dog or cat could be made up of: claws, nose, tail, adorable-face, whiskers.
Primacy Effect
Information you learn about someone when you first meet them sticks with your impression of them.
Cognitive Dissonance
When new information contradicts your beliefs, it creates a type of mental tension. To get over this, you either need to change the behavior, change how you think about it, justify the behavior, justify how you think about it, or deny that the information even exists.

Example: A person who wants to protect the environment has to get a ride from a friend who owns a non environmentally-friendly car.
He then justifies his behavior by saying "It's just this one time, and it's not a far drive"
Central Route to Persuasion
To have an audience persuaded through the main content of a message.

Example: To want to buy a shirt because it looks nice and feel comfortable...NOT because the model who wore them looked attractive.
Periphery Route to Persuasin
To have an audience persuaded through side images or anything other than the main content of a message.

Example: I want those shoes because Selena Gomez wore them...NOT because their comfortable or nice-looking.
Deindividuation
When someone in a group loses their self-identity and self-awareness, basically becoming a part of the group. This is what leads to people in large mobs sometimes acting like idiots.
Bystander Effect
When there's a group of people surrounding someone in aid, a bystander is less likely to help them out.

Generally thought to be because they think "Someone else will do it".
Social Facilitation
When in the presence of other people you perform better.
Example: A ton of your friends are watching you and you make a half-court shot, and then when you try that again later you miss by a mile.
Conformity
To change behavior due to the presence of others

Example:
All of your friends are wearing all wearing suits to a fancy restaurant. You end up wearing a suit to said fancy restaurant.

Example 2: All of your friends have started to eat bagels at lunch. You end up eating bagels to lunch.
Compliance
To change in behavior due to the request of another.

Example: You're a germaphobe. Your dad tells you to go take out the trash. You take out the trash.
Milgram Obedience Experiment
An experiment in which "teachers" were told to deliver a shock to a random person ("learner") in another room. Once initially delivered, they would then be asked to increase the voltage continuously until past lethal levels, with fake audio reactions playing each time the voltage was raised.
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
An experiment in which a group of volunteers from Stanford were split into two groups: prisoners and guards. After separation, the volunteers were left alone to do as they wished. The result of this was that the prisoners quickly became more submissive while the guards became abusive to the point of causing mental trauma.
Asch Line Conformity Experiments
Asch did an experiment where a group of people were told to say the wrong answer to an obvious question.
The question was basically "which of the following lines is the same size as this line over here?"
That group of people and a random newcomer were added into a room where they had to answer that basic question.

The results of this experiment indicate that the bigger the group size, the more likely someone is to conform.
Group Polarization
Overtime a group tends to become more extreme after a group discussion.

Example: An internet thread on the subject of security against terrorism could soon lead to extremely racist remarks.
Groupthink
A type of thinking where group members make decisions to maintain the harmony of the group.

Example: The attack on Pearl Harbor
In-group bias
The tendency to favor members of a group your a part of over another group.

Example: Being from Massachusetts and seeing a Bruins fan while out of state
Out-group bias
The tendency to have negative views towards people not in your in-group.

Example: Celtics fans hating Lebron James because he's not on the Celtics.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that your society, culture, or group is superior to others
Prejudice
An unfair/unjustifiable attitude (normally negative) towards members of a group.
Attraction
A feeling linked to
1. Proximity(Mere exposure effect and nearness in location)
2. Physical Attractiveness (I'm not elaborating)
3. Similarity (similarity in views that agree with our views)
4. Exchange (the give/take in a relationship)
5. Intimacy (how close/trusting you are)
Aggression
Physical/verbal behavior meant to hurt someone
Altruism
Actions done for someone else with no ulterior motives (like a reward or recognition)
Mere exposure effect
The more often you see someone/something the more likely you are to like them.
Attribution Theory
A theory that states there are three criteria used by people to judge behavior: Distinctiveness, Consistency, and Consensus.
Distinctiveness: Is there any noticeable difference between their treatment of you versus their treatment of others?
Consistency: Is this the same way the person normally acts?
Consensus: Do other people do this?
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to explain someone else's behavior through their personality while taking downplaying the situation

Example: That jerk cut me off because they wanted to, not because they have a dying baby elephant in their arms and wished to transport it to the nearest hospital as soon as possible.
Action-Observer Bias
The tendency to explain your own behavior through situational causes rather than personality

Example: I did bad on the Spanish test because it was super hard and not because I'm bad at languages.
Self-Serving Bias
A tendency to attribute your successes to your efforts and your failures to external factors

Example: You think you won this week's game because you're a MLG pro but lost last week's game because the grass was wet
Just World Hypothesis
The belief that goods things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. This can be a negative belief especially when it leads to views such as "He got in a car crash. He must've deserved it, he's probably a reckless driver."

Example: The idea of karma
Collectivistic Culture
Full of extremely communicative, loyal, and tightly-knit groups/families. The goals of those in a collectivist cultures are based on social consensus. The primary way info is spread for this culture is through social communication. Generally people in this culture want objects to be owned by the group rather than the individual.
Individualistic Culture
Full of individuals who look either after their own self or only immediate family. The primary way info is spread for this culture is through the media. Generally people in this culture want individual ownership of objects rather than shared ownership.
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