Social Psychology

cult

a group typically characterized by (1) distinctive ritual and beliefs related to its devotion to a god or a person, (2) isolation from the surrounding "evil" culture, and (3) a charismatic leader. (A sect, by contrast, is a spinoff from a major religion.)

Egoism

a motive (supposedly underlying all behavior) to increase one's own welfare. The opposite of altruism, which aims to increase another's welfare.

Altruism

a motive to increase another's welfare without conscious regard for one's self-interests.

Prejudice

a negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members.

Conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions or goals.

self concept

a person's answers to the question "Who am I?".

Mediation

an attempt by a neutral third party to resolve a conflict by facilitating communication and offering suggestions.

social responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those dependent upon them.

reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

instinctive behavior

an innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a species.

behavioral medicine

an interdisciplinary field that integrates and applies behavioral and medical knowledge about health and disease.

two factor theory of emotion

arousal 3 label 5 emotion.

self-monitoring

being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression.

self-schema

beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information.

Credibility

believability. A communicator who is perceived as both expert and trustworthy.

co actors

co-participants working individually on a noncompetitive activity.

evaluation apprehension

concern for how others are evaluating us.

normative influence

conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance.

informational influence

conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people.

Acceptance

conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure.

Compliance

conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with social pressure while privately disagreeing. Obedience is acting in accord with a direct order.

equal status contact

contact on an equal basis. Just as a relationship between people of unequal status breeds attitudes consistent with their relationship, so do relationships between those of equal status. Thus, to reduce prejudice, interracial contact should be between persons equal in status.

demand characteristics

cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected.

experimental realism

degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants.

mundane realism

degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations.

Collectivism

giving priority to the goals of one's groups (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly.

group polarization

group-produced enhancement of members' preexisting tendencies; a strengthening of the members' average tendency, not a split within the group.

Attractiveness

having qualities that appeal to an audience. An appealing communicator (often someone similar to the audience) is most persuasive on matters of subjective preference.

social loafing

the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable.

own race bias

the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race. (aka other race effect)

foot in-the-door phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

depressive realism

the tendency of mildly depressed people to make accurate rather than self-serving judgments, attributions, and predictions.

just world phenomenon

the tendency of people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

overconfidence phenomenon

the tendency to be more confident than correct to overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs.

hindsight bias

the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one's ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

ingroup bias

the tendency to favor one's own group.

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one's opinions and one's undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors.

self-serving bias

the tendency to perceive oneself favorably.

possible selves

images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future.

counterfactual thinking

imagining what might have happened, but didn't.

Gender

in psychology, the characteristics, whether biological or socially influenced, by which people define male and female. Because "sex" is a biological category, social psychologists sometimes refer to biologically based gender differences as "sex differences."

explanatory style

one's habitual way of explaining life events. A negative, pessimistic, depressive explanatory style attributes failures to stable, global, and internal causes.

social identity

the "we" aspect of our self-concept. The part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships. Examples: "I am Australian." "I am Catholic."

self-presentation

the act of expressing oneself and behaving in ways designed to create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds to one's ideals.

companionate love

the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined.

Frustration

the blocking of goal-directed behavior.

personal space

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. Its size depends on our familiarity with whoever is near us.

Interaction

the effect of one factor (such as biology) depends on another factor (such as environment).

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

naturalist fallacy

the error of defining what is good in terms of what is observable. For example: What's typical is normal; what's normal is good.

locus of control

the extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance or outside forces.

Displacement

the redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration. Generally, the new target is a safer or more socially acceptable target.

overjustification effect

the result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their action as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing.

social psychology

the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another.

regression toward the mean

the statistical tendency for extreme scores or extreme behavior to return toward one's average.

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior using principles of natural selection.

clinical psychology

the study, assessment, and treatment of people with psychological difficulties.

matching phenomenon

the tendency for men and women to choose as partners those who are a "good match" in attractiveness and other traits.

mere exposure effect

the tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more or rated more positively after the rater has been repeatedly exposed to them.

disclosure reciprocity

the tendency for one person's intimacy of self-disclosure to match that of a conversational partner.

representativeness heuristic

the tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling (representing) a typical member.

self-reference effect

the tendency to process efficiently and remember well information related to oneself.

false uniqueness effect

the tendency to underestimate the commonality of one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behaviors.

attribution theory

the theory of how people explain others' behavior; for example, by attributing it either to internal dispositions (enduring traits, motives, and attitudes) or to external situations.

social exchange theory

the theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one's rewards and minimize one's costs.

Group

two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as "us."

behavioral confirmation

type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people's social expectations lead them to act in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations.

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

instrumental aggression

aggression that is a means to some other end.

Groupthink

"The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action." -Irving Janis (1971).

Outgroup

"them"-a group that people perceive as distinctively different from or apart from their ingroup.

Ingroup

"us"-a group of people who share a sense of belonging, a feeling of common identity.

Reactance

(1) a motive to protect or restore one's sense of freedom. it arises when someone threatens our freedom of action. (2) The desire to assert one's sense of freedom.

Racism

(1) an individual's prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race, or (2) institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given race.

Sexism

(1) an individual's prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given sex, or (2) institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given sex.

misinformation effect

(1) incorporating "misinformation" into one's memory of the event, after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it. (2) Witnessing an event, receiving misleading information about it, and then incorporating the "misinformation" into one's memory of the event.

social facilitation

(1) original meaning-the tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present (2) current meaning-strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses owing to the presence of others.

mirror image perceptions

-reciprocal views of one another often held by parties in conflict; for example, each may view itself as moral and peace-loving and the other as evil and aggressive.

fundamental attribution error

The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior. (Also called correspondence bias, because we so often see behavior as corresponding to a disposition.).

Cohesiveness

a "we feeling"; the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as by attraction for one another.

Stereotype

a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people. sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information.

Ethnocentrism

a belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic and cultural group, and a corresponding disdain for all other groups.

Conformity

a change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.

Equity

a condition in which the outcomes people receive from a relationship are proportional to what they contribute to it.

sleeper effect

a delayed impact of a message. Occurs when an initially discounted message becomes effective, as we remember the message but forget the reason for discounting it.

stereotype threat

a disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype, that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Unlike self-fulfilling prophecies that hammer one's reputation into one's self-concept, these situations have immediate effects.

pluralistic ignorance

a false impression of how other people are thinking, feeling, or responding.

Attitude

a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone, exhibited in one's beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior.

self-esteem

a person's overall self-evaluation or sense of self worth.

bogus pipeline

a procedure that fools people into disclosing their attitudes. Participants are first convinced that a machine can use their psychological responses to measure their private attitudes. Then they are asked to predict the machine's reading, thus revealing their attitudes.

Heuristic

a rule-of-thumb strategy that enables quick, efficient judgments.

self awareness

a self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. It makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions.

self efficacy

a sense that one is competent and effective, distinguished from self-esteem, one's sense of self-worth.

gender role

a set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females.

Role

a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave.

superordinate goal

a shared goal that necessitates cooperative effort; a goal that overrides people's differences from one another.

passionate love

a state of intense longing for union with another. they are absorbed in one another, feel ecstatic at attaining their partner's love, and are disconsolate on losing it.

door in-the-face technique

a strategy for gaining a concession. After someone first turns down a large request, the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request.

health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine.

Crowding

a subjective feeling of not having enough space per person.

low ball technique

a tactic for getting people to agree to something. People who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante. People who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply with it.

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions.

Subtyping

accommodating individuals who deviate from one's stereotype by splitting off a subgroup stereotype (such as "middle class Blacks" or "feminist women").

GRIT

acronym for "graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction"-a strategy designed to de-escalate international tensions.

Priming

activating particular associations in memory.

hostile aggression

aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in itself (also called affective aggression).

dual attitudes

differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously controlled) attitudes toward the same object. Verbalized explicit attitudes may change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly, with practice that forms new habits.

Catharsis

emotional release. aggressive drive is reduced when one "releases" aggressive energy, either by acting aggressively or by fantasizing aggression.

social comparison

evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself to others.

group serving bias

explaining away outgroup members' positive behaviors; also attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions (while excusing such behavior by one's own group).

attitude inoculation

exposing people to weak attacks upon their attitudes so that when stronger attacks come, they will have refutations available.

non zero-sum games

games in which outcomes need not sum to zero. With cooperation, both can win; with competition, both can lose. (Also called mixed-motive situations.)

Proximity

geographical nearness. (more precisely, "functional distance") powerfully predicts liking.

Individualism

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.

Deindividuation

loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad.

free riders

people who benefit from the group but give little in return.

outgroup homogeneity effect

perception of outgroup members as more similar to one another than are ingroup members. Thus "they are alike; we are diverse."

illusion of control

perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one's control or as more controllable than they are.

belief perserverance

persistence of one's initial conceptions, as when the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives.

central route to persuasion

persuasion that occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

peripheral route to persuasion

persuasion that occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

Aggression

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. In laboratory experiments, this might mean delivering electric shocks or saying something likely to hurt another's feelings.

prosocial behavior

positive, constructive, helpful social behavior; the opposite of antisocial behavior.

self-handicapping

protecting one's self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure.

insufficient justification effect

reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is "insufficient."

Arbitration

resolution of a conflict by a neutral third party who studies both sides and imposes a settlement.

self disclosure

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Norms

rules for accepted and expected behavior. these prescribe "proper" behavior.

Bargaining

seeking an agreement through direct negotiation between parties to a conflict.

autokinetic phenomenon

self (auto) motion (kinetic). The apparent movement of a stationary point of light in the dark. Perhaps you have experienced this when thinking you have spotted a moving satellite in the sky, only to realize later that it was merely an isolated star.

social representations

socially shared beliefs, and widely held ideas and values, including our assumptions and cultural ideologies.

experimental research

studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent variables) while controlling others (holding them constant).

cognitive dissonance

tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another.

bystander effect

the finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders.

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or animal perceives no control over repeated bad events.

kin selection

the idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one's close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes.

moral exclusion

the perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness.

relative deprivation

the perception that one is less well off than others to whom one compares oneself.

Complementarity

the popularly supposed tendency, in a relationship between two people, for each to complete what is missing in the other. The questionable complementarity hypothesis proposes that people attract those whose needs are different, in ways that complement their own.

physical attractiveness stereotype

the presumption that physically attractive people possess other socially desirable traits as well: What is beautiful is good.

Persuasion

the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Leadership

the process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group.

two step flow of communication

the process by which media influence often occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others.

realistic group conflict theory

the theory that prejudice arises from competition between groups for scarce resources.

social learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished.

reward theory of attraction

the theory that we like those whose behavior is rewarding to us or whom we associate with rewarding events.

self-perception theory

the theory that when we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them much as would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs.

Ingratiation

the use of strategies, such as flattery, by which people seek to gain another's favor.

Empathy

the vicarious experience of another's feelings; putting oneself in another's shoes.

channel of communication

the way the message is delivered-whether face to face, in writing, on film, or in some other way.

integrative agreements

win-win agreements that reconcile both parties' interests to their mutual benefit.