Chapter 12: Social Psychology (Part 2)

Social Interference

A reduction in performance due to the presence of other people

Public Goods Dilemma

A resource dilemma in which people must decide how much to contribute to a common resource

Commons Dilemma

A resource dilemma in which people must decide how much to take from a common resource

Social Dilemma

A situation in which actions that produce rewards for one individual will produce negative consequences if adopted by everyone

Prisoner's Dilemma Game

A social dilemma scenario in which mutual cooperation guarantees the best mutual outcome

Arousal: Cost-Reward Theory

A theory attributing people's helping behavior to their efforts to reduce the unpleasant arousal they feel in the face of someone's need or suffering

Empathy-Altruism Theory (Empathy-Altruism Helping Theory

A theory suggesting that people help others because of empathy with their needs

Compliance

Adjusting one's behavior because of an explicit or implicit request

Aggression

An act that is intended to cause harm to another person

Altruism

An unselfish concern for another person's welfare

Helping Behavior (Prosocial Behavior)

Any act that is intended to benefit another person

Cooperation

Any type of behavior in which people work together to attain a goal

Competition

Behavior in which individuals try to attain a goal for themselves while denying that goal to others

Obedience

Changing behavior in response to a demand from an authority figure

Conformity

Changing one's behavior or beliefs to match those of others, generally as a result of real or imagined, though unspoken, group pressure

Social Loafing

Exerting less effort when performing a group task than when performing the same task alone

Tit-For-Tat

Rewarding cooperative responses with cooperation and punishing competitive responses with competition

Social Norms

Socially based rules that prescribe what people should or should not do in various situations

Social Influence

The process whereby one person's behavior is affected by the words or actions of others

Conflict

The result of a person's or group's belief that another person or group stands in the way of their achieving a valued goal

Environmental Psychology

The study of the relationship between behavior and the physical environment

Foot-In-The-Door Technique

A compliance strategy that involves getting a person to agree to a small request then gradually presenting larger ones

Door-In-The-Face Technique

A compliance strategy that involves making a request that is likely to be denied and then substitutes a lesser alternative, which happens to be what was wanted in the first place

Low-Ball Technique

A compliance strategy that involves obtaining an oral commitment from someone to do something then increasing the demands after the oral commitment

Task-Motivated Leader

A leader who provides close supervision, leads by directives, and generally discourages group discussion

Relationship-Motivated Leader

A leader who provides loose supervision, asks for group members' ideas, and is concerned with subordinates' feelings

Group Think

A pattern of thinking in which group members fail to evaluate realistically the wisdom of various options and decisions

Bystander Effect

A phenomenon in which the chances that someone will help in an emergency decrease as the number of people present changes

Social Facilitation

A phenomenon in which the presence of others improves a person's performance

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

A proposition that frustration always leads to some form of aggressive behavior

Deindividuation

A psychological state occurring in group members that results in loss of individuality and a tendency to do things not normally done when alone