Ch. 1_ Introducing Social Psychology Flashcards
Social Psychology
the scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people
Social Influence
the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behavior
-we are governed by the imaginary approval or disapproval of our parents, friends, amd teachers and by how we expect others to react to us
Individual Differences
the aspects of people’s personifications that make them different from other people
Fundamental Attribution Error
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors
-among other things, this oversimplification can lead us to blame the victim in situations where the individual was overpowered by social forces too difficult for us to resist as in the case to the jamestown tragedy
Behaviorism
a school of psychology maintaing that to understand human behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment
-when behavior is followed by reward it is likely to continue- and vise versa
Construal
the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
-not only does the situation influence people’s behavior; people’s behavior also depends on their interpretation
-it is often more important to understand how people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world than it is to understand i
its objective properties
Gestalt Psychology
a school of psychology stressing the importance of studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people’s mind rather than the objective, physical attributes of the objects
- the whole is different from the sum of its parts
Self Esteem
people’s evaluations of their own self worth- that is the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent
Social Cognition
how people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgements and decisions
