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