14: Social Relationships Flashcards
Aggression
Behaviour whose purpose is to harm another
Catharsis
Purging or releasing pent-up emotions through activities that redirect the focus onto other sources
Frustration-Aggression Principle
A principle stating that people aggress when their goals are thwarted
Eugenics
Selective breeding in humans to increase the prevalence of desired characteristics in the population
Culture of Honour
Aggression linked to one’s reputation for toughness, machismo and willingness to avenge a wrong or an insult
Cooperation
Behaviour by two or more individuals that leads to mutual benefit
Public Goods Dilemma
A situation where individuals are better of if they do not contribute but the group as a whole is worse off
Lies
Deliberate attempts to generate a false belief to manipulate situations
Self-Deception
A capacity to convince ourselves that a falsehood is true
Bystander Effect
When numerous people fail to help strangers in an emergency situation
Diffusion of Responsibility
Individuals feel diminished responsibility for their actions because they are surrounded by others who are acting in the same way
Pluralistic Ignorance
Where people fail to accurately evaluate others’ behaviour
Kin Selection
The process by which evolution selects for genes that cause individuals to provide benefits to their relatives
Reciprocal Altruism
Behaviour that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future
Identifiable Victim Effect (IVE)
The tendency to offer greater assistance to an individual rather than a group
Machiavellianism
A personality trait of willingness to exploit and manipulate others
Empathic Concern
The disposition to take the perspective of others and resonate with their emotions
Extensivity
The obligation individuals feel towards others beyond their immediate friends and family
Just World Hypothesis
The belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Attribution
An inference about the cause of a person’s behaviour
Correspondence Bias
The tendency to make a dispositional attribution even when a person’s behaviour was caused by the situation
Actor-Observer Effect
The tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviours while making dispositional attributions for the identical behaviour of others
Nonverbal Communication
The sending and receiving of thoughts and feelings without using language
Interpersonal Space
Preferred distance maintained by individuals
Chameleon Effect
The mimicking of postures, expressions, gestures and patterns of behaviour such as speech or moods
Emotional Contagion
The tendency to automatically mimic and synchronise expressions, vocalisations, postures and movements with those of another person and, consequently, to converge emotionally
Thin Slicing
Our capacity to accurately interpret social behaviour from brief observations of behaviour
Mere Exposure Effect
The tendency for liking to increase with the frequency of exposure
Concordance Rates
Degree of statistical similarity based on co-occurence
Passionate Love
An experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy and intense sexual attraction
Companionate Love
An experience involving affection, trust and concern for a partner’s wellbeing
Social Exchange
The hypothesis that people remain in relationships only as long as they perceived a favourable ratio of costs to benefits
Comparison Level
The cost-benefit ratio that people believe they deserve or could attain in another relationship
Equity
A state of affairs in which the cost-benefit ratios of two partners are roughly equal
Ostracism
Active rejection by other group members
