Chap 12 Vocab

Stanford prison experiment

conducted by social psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University, demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts

Solomon Asch

conducted several experiments in the 1950s to determine how people are affected by the thoughts and behaviors of other people

elaboration likelihood model

considers the variables of the attitude change approach—that is, features of the source of the persuasive message, contents of the message, and characteristics of the audience are used to determine when attitude change will occur

Social psychology

examines how people affect one another, and it looks at the power of the situation

Stanley Milgram

influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Eichmann's defense for the atrocities he committed was that he was "just following orders." Milgram (1963) wanted to test the validity of this defense (shock experiment)

in-group

is a group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to

Social Norm

is a group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members—how they are supposed to behave and think

Prejudice

is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one's membership in a particular social group

social role

is a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group

confederate

is a person who is aware of the experiment and works for the researcher

script

is a person's knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting

bystander effect

is a phenomenon in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress

internal factor

is an attribute of a person and includes personality traits and temperament

self-fulfilling prophecy

is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true.

peripheral route

is an indirect route that uses peripheral cues to associate positivity with the message

central route

is logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness

instrumental aggression

is motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain; a contract killer who murders for hire

Hostile aggression

is motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a stranger

Attitude

is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object

Altruism

is people's desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping

Racism

is prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on one's membership in a specific racial group

Social facilitation

occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.

ageism

or prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age

informational social influence

people conform because they believe the group is competent and has the correct information, particularly when the task or situation is ambiguous

normative social influence

people conform to the group norm to fit in, to feel good, and to be accepted by the group

fundamental attribution error

people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person's state. This erroneous assumption is called the

homophobia

prejudice and discrimination of individuals based solely on their sexual orientation

Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance

states that when we experience a conflict in our behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to our positive self-perceptions, we experience psychological discomfort (dissonance).

collectivistic culture

that is, a culture that focuses on communal relationships with others, such as family, friends, and community are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error

individualistic culture

that is, a culture that focuses on individual achievement and autonomy, have the greatest tendency to commit the fundamental attribution error

stereotype

that is, a negative belief about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics

confirmation bias

we seek out information that supports our stereotypes and ignore information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes

Yale attitude change approach

which describes the conditions under which people tend to change their attitudes

in-group bias

can result in prejudice and discrimination because the out-group is perceived as different and is less preferred than our in-group

foot-in-the-door technique

, the persuader gets a person to agree to bestow a small favor or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a bigger item. The foot-in-the-door technique was demonstrated in a study by Freedman and Fraser (1966) in which participants who agreed to post small sign in their yard or sign a petition were more likely to agree to put a large sign in their yard than people who declined the first request.

Out-group

A group that we don't belong to, or an _____________ , is a group that we view as fundamentally different from us

Aggression

Humans engage in ________________ when they seek to cause harm or pain to another person

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love

Robert Sternberg (1986) proposed that there are three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. These three components form a triangle that defines multiple types of love: this is known as ____________.

Prosocial Behavior

Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people is called

attribution

a belief about the cause of a result. One model of attribution proposes three main dimensions: locus of control (internal versus external), stability (stable versus unstable), and controllability (controllable versus uncontrollable)

dispositionism

holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors

Sexism

is prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex. Typically, sexism takes the form of men holding biases against women, but either sex can show sexism toward their own or their opposite sex (gender role expectations)

Bullying

is repeated negative treatment of another person, often an adolescent, over time

Scapegoating

is the act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal

just-world hypothesis

is the belief that people get the outcomes they deserve // people tend to think that good people experience positive outcomes, and bad people experience negative outcomes

Empathy

is the capacity to understand another person's perspective, to feel what he or she feels

Conformity

is the change in a person's behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group

Obedience

is the change of an individual's behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure.

Social loafing

is the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group // individual group members loaf and let other group members pick up the slack

Reciprocity

is the give and take in relationships. We contribute to relationships, but we expect to receive benefits as well

Asch effect

is the influence of the group majority on an individual's judgment.

Groupthink

is the modification of the opinions of members of a group to align with what they believe is the group consensus

actor-observer bias

is the phenomenon of attributing other people's behavior to internal factors (fundamental attribution error) while attributing our own behavior to situational forces

Persuasion

is the process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication

Self-disclosure

is the sharing of personal information

Group polarization

is the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group. That is, if a group initially favors a viewpoint, after discussion the group consensus is likely a stronger endorsement of the viewpoint. Conversely, if the group was initially opposed to a viewpoint, group discussion would likely lead to stronger opposition

Diffusion of responsibility

is the tendency for no one in a group to help because the responsibility to help is spread throughout the group

Homophily

is the tendency for people to form social networks, including friendships, marriage, business relationships, and many other types of relationships, with others who are similar // limits our exposure to diversity

Situationism

is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings

Cyberbullying

like bullying, is repeated behavior that is intended to cause psychological or emotional harm to another person