chapter 11- social psychology Flashcards
diffusion of responsibility
tendency for an individual to feel a diminished sense of responsibility to assist in an emergency when other bystanders are present
social perception
way in which we perceive, evaluate, categorize, and form judgments about the qualities of other people
primacy effect
the phenomenon that the first information we receive about a person often has the greatest influence on our perceptions of that person
person schemas
generalized assumptions about certain groups or classes of people
implicit personality theories
assumptions people make about how traits usually occur together in other people’s personalities
central trait
a major characteristic
halo effect
tendency to infer other positive or negative traits from our perception of one central trait in another person
attribution theory
theory that we attempt to make sense out of other people’s behavior by attributing it to either dispositional (internal) or situational (external) causes
fundamental attribution error
tendency to overestimate dispositional (internal) causes and to underestimate situational (external) causes of behavior
false consensus bias
attribution bias caused by the assumption that most people share our own attitudes and behaviors
illusion of control
attributional bias caused by the belief that we control events in our own lives that are really beyond our control
attitude
any learned, relatively enduring predisposition to respond in consistently favorable or unfavorable ways to certain people, groups, ideas, or situations
impression management
tendency of individuals to select carefully what information they reveal about their attitudes, depending on how they think such information will affect their image in the eyes of others
stereotype threat
tendency to conform to negative stereotypes
cognitive dissonance theory
theory that people experience psychological discomfort or dissonance whenever cognitions and behaviors are in conflict
prejudice
negative, unjustifiable, and inflexible attitude toward a group and its members
stereotypes
preconceived and oversimplified beliefs and expectations about the traits of members of a particular group that do not account for individual differences
discrimination
the behavioral consequence of prejudice in which one group is treated differently from another group
ingroup
the group in which people include themselves when they divide the world into “us” and “them”
ingroup bias
tendency to see one’s own group in a favorable light
outgroup
the “them” group when individuals divide the world into “us” and “them”
implicit attitude
attitudes that may be socially undesirable and may influence one’s behavior without one’s knowledge
implicit association test (IAT)
test that attempts to measure the strength of association between groups of people, specific individuals, policies, and products and the concepts of “good” and “bad”
social influence
efforts by others to alter our feelings, beliefs, and behavior
