Social Psychology

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.

self-awareness

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

lowball 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.

Norms

Standards for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper" behavior. (In a different sense of the word, norms also describe what most others do—what is normal.)

co-actors

co-participants working individually on a noncompetitive activity

evaluation apprehension

concern for how others are evaluating us

group polarization

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

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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

Gender

in psychology, the characteristics, whether biologically or socially influenced, by which people define male and female

personal space

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. It's size depends on our familiarity with whomever is near us.

Culture

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

natural selection

the evolutionary process by which heritable traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environments are passed to ensuing generations

evolutionary psychology

the study of the evolution of cognition and behavior using principles of natural selection

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

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

interaction

A relationship in which the effect of one factor (such as biology) depends on another factor (such as environment).

social facilitation

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

Reactance

A motive to protect or restore one's sense of freedom. Reactance arises when someone threatens our freedom of action.

credibility

Believability. A credible communicator is perceived as both expert and trustworthy.

Conformity

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

sleeper effect

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

gender role

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

obedience

a type of compliance involving acting in accord with a direct order or command

social comparison

evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with others

Transformational Leadership

leadership that, enabled by a leader's vision and inspiration, exerts significant influence

Deindividuation

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

central route to persuasion

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

peripheral route persuasion

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

free rider

people who benefit from the group but give little in return

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.

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

empathy

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