General Psychology chapter 12

altruism

Helping another person with no expectation of personal reward or benefit

social norms

The "rules," or expectations, for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation

Stanley Milgram.

The American social psychologist who is best known for his controversial series of studies investigating destructive obedience to an authority.

social psychology

The branch of psychology that studies how people think, feel, and behave in social situations

Social categorization.

The mental process of classifying people into groups on the basis of common characteristics

attribution

The mental process of inferring the causes of people's behavior, including one's own

Person perception

The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of others

obedience

The performance of an action in response to the direct orders of an authority or person of higher status.

the bystander effect

The phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present means the less likely each individual is to help someone in distress

the just-world hypothesis.

The tendency of people to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

conformity

The tendency to adjust one's behavior, attitudes, or beliefs to group norms in response to real or imagined group pressure

Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her New York City apartment.

This tragic event led to intense psychological research on altruism and prosocial behavior.

One of problems associated with stereotyped thinking is that

once formed, stereotypes are very hard to change.

The feel good, do good effect

refers to the fact that when people feel good, successful, happy, or fortunate, they are more likely to help others.

The basic results of Milgram's original obedience study was that

two-thirds of the subjects continued all the way to the full 450-volt level.

Prejudice.

A negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific group

Prosocial behavior

Any behavior that helps another person when the underlying motive is self-serving

Solomon Asch

an American social psychologist who is best known for his pioneering studies of conformity.

The social group to which a person belongs is called the in-group,

and the social group to which a person does not belong is called the out-group.

Discrimination

can include behaviors ranging from privately sneering at another group to physically attacking members of the out-group.