Social Psychology

social comparison theory

states that we are driven to compare ourselves to others who are similar to us, so that we can measure the correctness of our attitudes and beliefs.

Deindividuation

the increased tendency for subjects to behave irrationally or perform antisocial behaviors when there is less chance of being personally identified.

decision or commitment

the initial thoughts that one loves someone and the intent to maintain the relationship over.

passion

the motivational drives relating to sex, physical closeness, and romance.

frustration agression

theory suggests that frustration produces anger, leading to a readiness to act aggressively.

halo effect

trefers to a phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a person has positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive characteristics.

self perception theory

was conceptualized by Daryl Bem (1967). It says that we first observe or perceive our own behavior and then, as a result, we change our attitude.

prosocial behavior

which is also called helping, is any behavior that benefits others or has positive social consequences.

group norm

which is described as formal or informal rules about how group members should behave, can exert powerful influences, both good and bad, on group member's behaviors.

assumed similarity bias

would occur when we assume that people's attitudes, opinions, likes and dislikes are fairly similar with ours even when we just meet them for the first time.

Conformity

yrefers to a change in behavior or attitudes brought about by a desire to follow the beliefs or standard of other people.

dispositional cause

(based on her internal traits or personality characteristics)

Attitudes

An attitude is any belief or opinion that includes an evaluation of some object, person, or event along a continuum from negative to positive and that predisposes us to act in a certain way toward that object, person, or event.

Attitude Formation

Attitudes are form on the basis of our personal experiences.

group decision making

Being in a group creates social pressures that influence how we think and make decisions.

social influence and groups

Groups typically have rules for behavior, known as social norms: can be explicit, or conscious; can also be implicit, or unconscious.

Maintaining Relationships

In maintaining a relationship, people continue to use openness and self-disclosure as relationship mature, along with participation in joint activities, provision of reassurance, and communication.

cognitive dissonance

It is an uncomfortable state that occurs when our outward behavior doesn't match our attitude.

attitude change

Just as attitudes guide behavior, several evidences also exist that changes in behavior sometimes precede changes in attitudes.

similarity

Knowing that others have similar attitudes, values, or traits makes us like them more.

physical attractiveness

People who are physically attractive are more popular than physically unattractive ones.

group think

Refers to the impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony.

interpersonal attraction

The factors that initially attract two people to each other.

ending relationship

There are times when maintaining a relationship is difficult, one of the reasons could be that one person is just wrong for someone. A sense of inequity or unfairness in a relationship may also cause it to end

cognitive component

This component of attitude includes both thoughts and beliefs that are involved in evaluating some object, person, or idea.

mere exposure

This concept stresses that repeated exposure to a person is often sufficient to produce attraction.

group polarization

When individuals discussed the dilemmas as a group, they were more willing to endorse riskier decisions than when they were queried alone.

proximity or physical closeness

You are more likely to become attracted to an individual you pass in the corridor everyday than someone you rarely see.

group cohesion

a group togetherness, which is determined by how much group members perceived that they share common attributes.

altruism

an unselfish interest in helping another person (Burks & Kobus, 2012). In contrast to altruism is egoism, which involves giving to another person to gain self-esteem.

situational causes

are based on the external circumstances or situations which are outside the person.

Chatarsis

asserted that aggressive energy constantly builds up in an individual until the person finally discharges it in a process called?

observational learning

asserts that people learn to behave aggressively by observing aggressive models and by having their aggressive responses reinforced.

Social Psychology

has been defined as the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people and on how people's thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others.

physical attractiveness

has been recognized as a powerful social cue.

stereotype

is a general belief about a group's characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another.

social contagion

is defined as an imitative behavior involving the spread of behavior, emotions, and ideas.

Persuasion

is described as the process of changing attitudes; one of the central concepts of social psychology.

Social Cognition

is the area of social psychology that explores how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information.

Reciprocity

means that we behave kindly under the assumption that someone will show us the same kindness someday

social faccilitation

occurs when the presence of other people changes individual performance and it refers to a person's tendency to exert less effort in a group because of reduced accountability for individual effort. Its effect is lowered performance

central route processing

occurs when the recipient thoughtfully and carefully considers the issues and arguments involved in persuasion.

compliance

occurs when we simply agree to do something because another person asks us to do it, even if that person has no authority over us.

affective component

of attitude involves emotional feelings that can be weak or strong, positive or negative.

behavioral component

of attitude involves performing or not performing some behavior.

instinct theories

propose that aggression is primarily the outcome of innate or inborn urges.

person perception

refers to seeing someone and then forming impression and making judgments about that person's likability and the kind of person he or she is.

Agression

refers to social behavior whose objective is to harm someone, either physically or verbally. There are three approaches, namely:

intimacy

refers to the feelings of closeness and connectedness.

Obedience

refers to the performance of some behaviors in response to an order given by someone in a position of power and authority.

self serving bias

refers to the tendency to attribute personal success to personal factors (skill, ability or effort) and to attribute failure to factors outside oneself.

fundamental attribution error

refers to the tendency to over attribute others' behavior to dispositional causes and the corresponding minimization of the importance of situational causes.

peripheral route processing

route processing occurs when people are persuaded on the basis of factors unrelated to the nature or quality of the content of a persuasive message.

thought

saving device. In making social decisions, stereotypes help us conserve time and energy thus make quick (and sometimes inaccurate) decisions by not having to analyze an overwhelming amount of personal and social information.