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AP Psych: Chapter 12- Social Psychology

Terms in this set (43)

Social Psychology
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Example: How we react in social situations.
Attribution Theory
The theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition.

Example: Mrs. McKinley is cranking today, therefore she has a cranky disposition.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Example: To assume that Mrs. McKinley is cranky because of her disposition, rather than to attribute to to the fact that she's had a migraine for days.
Attitude
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Example: I dislike school, so I have a poor attitude towards it.
Central Route to Persuasion
Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Example: a good speaker
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

Example: an attractive speaker
Foot-In-The-Door Phenomenon
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Example: If you're willing to open the door for me when I'm carrying my groceries, so maybe next time you'll help me carry in the bags.
Role
A set of explanations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Example: Teachers have a role- a way they ought to behave.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

Example: Changing our ideas to fit with what's going on right now.
Conformity
Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Example: Wearing Sperry's because everyone else is.
Normative Social Influence
Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Example: Telling on someone to gain the approval of your teacher.
Informational Social Influence
Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.

Example: Believing what you read on FB
Social Facilitation
Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

Example: Running better/faster when there are others around.
Social Loafing
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal when individually accountable.

Example: So ANNOYING, when someone in your group does nothing and just lets you do everything.
Deindividuation
The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Example: Doing something that you would normally never DREAM of doing, but because everyone else is doing it, so will you.
Group Polarization
The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

Example: Doing something just because everyone else in the group is doing it.
Groupthink
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Example: I may think something different, but because everyone else in the group is saying something else, I'll agree with them.
Prejudice
An unjustifiable (an usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Example: Being against someone because of generalized stereotypes.
Stereotype
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Example: Gay people are flamboyant.
Discrimination
Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Example: During times of slavery.
Ingroup
"Us" - people with whom we share a common identity.

Example: My friends
Outgroup
"Them"- those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Example: My acquaintances
Ingroup Bias
The tendency to favor our own group.

Example: I favor my friends over my acquaintances.
Scapegoat Theory
The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Example: Administration tends to place all blame on the students for something happening, even if it wasn't their fault.
Other-race effect
The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than the faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias.

Example: "All black people look the same"
Just-World Phenomenon
The tendency for people to believe the world is jsut and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Example: Karma
Aggression
Any physical or verbal intended to hurt or destroy.

Example: Assault
Frustration-Aggression Principle
The principle that frustration- the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Example: I'm frustrated with someone, and that eventually builds up and makes me angry and aggresive.
Mere Exposure Effect
The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

Example: Being continously exposed to a song that I initially disliked makes me like it.
Passionate Love
An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Example: The "honeymoon" stage
Companionate Love
The deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Example: Old married couple
Equity
A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

Example: You only get out what you give
Self-Disclosure
Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Example: Revealing secrets to your best friend
Altruism
Unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Example: I'm having a horrible day, but I'll still help that person in need.
Bystander Effect
The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Example: I won't call 911 for that car accident because I assume that someone else already has.
Social Exchange Theory
The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Example: Our goal for social behavior is to act in a way that will benefit us, not hurt us.
Reciprocity Norm
An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

Example: I give you my homework to copy Monday, then you will give me yours if I need it.
Social-Responsibility Norm
An expectation that people will help those dependent upon those.

Example: I feel responsible to help older people because not only do they need help, but also because society expects me to do so.
Conflict
A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Example: I have a conflict with a certain classmate
Social Trap
A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Example: To rival teams messing with each other in a way that eventually leads to them both being in a compromising situation.
Mirror-Image Perceptions
Mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive.

Example: In a war this applies
Superordinate Goals
Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

Example: Someone I don't like also hates someone i hate, so we get along in that respect.
GRIT
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction- a strategy designed to decrease international tensions.

Example: Used in government.
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