Psych Ch 13 - Social Psychology
Conformity
A change in a person's behavior to coincide more closely with group standard; Asch's experiment; research on how the brain responds to moments when we don't fit in with a group suggests that the brain may actually "feel better" when we fit in
Equity
A feeling on the part of the individuals in the relationship that each is doing his or her "fair share"
Stereotype
A generalization about a group's characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another
Investment Model
A model of long-term relationships that examines the ways that commitment, investment, and the availability of attractive alternate partners predict satisfaction and and stability in relationships
Media influences
A sociocultural factor that influences prosocial behavior
Bystander Effect
A sociocultural factor that influences prosocial behavior; The tendency of an individual who observes an emergency to help less when other people are present than when the observer is alone
Socioeconomic Status
A sociocultural factor that influences prosocial behavior; Those of lower blank tend to be more likely to help than those who ahve more
Neurobiological factors
Aggressive behavior results when areas such as the limbic system are stimulated by electric currents; the frontal lobes of the brain have been implicated in aggression; Neurotransmitters (lower levels of serotonin) have been linked to aggressive behavior; Hormones are another biological factor that play a role in aggression
Stereotype Threat
An individual's fast-acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group
Attitudes
An individual's opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas - how the person feels about the world
Prejudice
An unjustified negative attitude toward an individual based on the individual's membership in a group
Discrimination
An unjustified negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because the person belongs to that group
Genes
Are important in explaining the biological basis of aggression; selective breeding of animals provides evidence
Cognitive Determinants
Aspects of the environment may prime us to behave aggressively; research by Berkowitz has shown that the mere presence of a weapon such as a gun may prime hostile thoughts and produce aggression
Obediance
Behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority; Milgram's experiment (using a shock generator); Stanford Prison Experiment
Self-perception Theory
Bem's theory on how behaviors influence attitudes, stating that individuals make inferences about their attitudes by perceiving their behavior
Mood
Can determine whether or not we engage in kind behaviors; happy people are more likely than unhappy people to help others; when people are in a bad blank, they might be likely to help if they think that doing so will improve their mood
The Culture of Honor
Cohen examined how cultural norms about masculine pride and family honor may foster aggressive behavior
Effort Justification
Coming up with a rationale for the amount of work we put into getting something, typically by increasing the value associated with things that are difficult to attain
Cognitive Dissonance
Concept introduced by Festinger; An individual's psychological discomfort (dissonance) caused by two inconsistent thoughts; We feel uneasy when we notice an inconsistency between what we believe and what we do
Frustrating and Aversive Circumstances
Dollard proposed that frustration (blocking of an individual's attempts to reach a goal), triggers aggression
Social Loafing
Each person's tendency to exert less effort in a group because of reduced accountability for individual effort
Consensual Validation
Explains why people are attracted to others who are similar to them; our own attitudes and behavior are supported when someone else's attitudes and behavior are familiar; we tend to shy away from the unknown
Positive Illusions
Favorable views of the self that are not necessarily rooted in reality
Egoism
Giving to another person to ensure reciprocity; to gain self-esteem; to present oneself as powerful, competent, or caring; or to avoid censure from oneself and others for failing to live up to society's expectations
Prosocial Behaviors
Helping another person; genetics play a role in this
Media
Images of violence pervade the U.S. popular media
Social Contagion
Imitative behavior involving the spread of actions, emotions, and ideas
Social Facilitation
Improvement in an individual's performance because of the presence of others
Observational Learning
Individuals can learn aggression through reinforcement and observational learning
Peripheral Route
Involves factors such as the source's attractiveness or the emotional power of an appeal; advertisers often use this in commercials
Persuasion
Involves trying to change someone's attitude and often his/her behavior as well; Carl Hovland identified the various elements: the communicator (source), the medium, the target (audience), the message
Affectionate or Companionate Love
Love that occurs when individuals desire to have another person near and have a deep, caring affection for the person
Romantic or Passionate Love
Love with strong components of sexuality and infatuation, often dominant in the early part of a love relationship
Foot-in-the-door Technique
Making a smaller request at the beginning, saving the biggest demand for last
Door-in-the-face Technique
Making the biggest pitch first, which the customer will probably reject, and then making a smaller "concessionary" demand
Fundamental Attribution Error
Observers' overestimation of the importance of internal traits and underestimation of the importance of external situations when they seek explanations of an actor's behavior
False Consensus Effect
One common heuristic; People's overestimation of the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way they do themselves
Inoculation
One way to resist persuasion; Giving people a weak version of a persuasive message and allowing them time to argue against it can help individuals avoid persuasion
Proximity
Physical closeness - you are more likely to become attracted to someone you pass in the hall every day than to a person you rarely see
Empathy
Psychological factor that plays a role in prosocial behavior; A person's feeling of oneness with the emotional state of another
Personality
Psychological factor that plays a role in prosocial behavior; Agreeableness is the blank trait most strongly associated with prosocial behaviors; the association between agreeableness and brain structures helps to illuminate its role in acts of kindness; agreeableness is related to greater volume in the posterior cingulate cortex, a brain area associated with understanding other people's beliefs and with empathy
Aggression
Social behavior with the objective of harming someone, either physically or verbally
Personality
Some people are more likely to behave more aggressively than others; low levels of agreeableness are associated with more aggressive behavior
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
States that frustration always leads to aggression
Social Identity Theory
Tajfel's theory that social identity is a crucial part of self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about oneself
Social Cognition
The area of social psychology that explores how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information
Self-esteem
The degree to which we have positive or negative feelings about ourselves
Groupthink
The impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining the group harmony
Informational Social Influence
The influence other people have on us because we want to be right
Normative Social Influence
The influence others have on us because we want them to like us
Reactance
The motivation to reject attempts to control us; occurs when a person feels that someone or something is taking away his/her choices
Observer
The person who offers a casual explanation of the actor's behavior
Actor
The person who produces the behavior to be explained
Mere Exposure Effect
The phenomenon that the more individuals encounter someone or something, the more probably it is that they will start liking the person or thing even if they do not realize they have seen it before
Social Comparison
The process by which individuals evaluate their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and abilities in relation to others
Attribution
The process by which we come to understand the causes of others' behavior and form an impression of them as individuals
Person Perception
The processes by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others
Deindividuation
The reduction in personal identity and erosion of the sense of personal responsibility when one is part of a group; ex: Ku Klux Klan
Group Polarization Effect
The solidification and further strengthening of an individual's position as a consequence of a group discussion or interaction
Social Psychology
The study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people
Risky Shift
The tendency for a group decision to be riskier than the average decision made by the individual group members
Ethnocentricism
The tendency to favor one's own ethnic group over other groups
Self-objectification
The tendency to see oneself primarily as an object in the eyes of others; can interfere with task performance
Self-serving Bias
The tendency to take credit for one's successes and to deny responsibilities for one's failures
Social Exchange Theory
The view of social relationships as involving an exchange of goods, the objective of which is to minimize costs and maximize benefits
Attribution Theory
The view that people are motivated to discover the underlying causes of behavior as part of their effort to make sense of the behavior; 3 dimensions: internal/external causes, stable/unstable causes, controllable/uncontrollable causes
Social Identity
The ways individuals define themselves in terms of their group membership
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route
Altruism
Unselfish interest in helping another person
Reciprocity
We help another person to increase the chances that the person will return the favor
Central Route
Works by engaging the audience thoughtfully with a sound, logical argument