Chapter 13 Flashcards
Social psychology
The study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people
The bystander effect
The tendency of an individual who observes an emergency to help less when other people are present than when the observer is alone. Darley and Latane did a study on how the presence of others would lead individuals to be less likely to help a person in distress (Kitty Genovese situation), and also with children helping clean up a spill. Diffusion of responsiblity
Social cognition
The area of social psychology that explores how people select, interpret, and remember, and use social information.
Person perception
The process by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others.
Physical attractiveness
Face provides cue for trustworthiness and dominance. Can lead to stereotypes.
Stereotypes
A generalization about a group’s characteristics that does not consider any variations from one individual to another. “Beautiful is good”
Self-fulfilling prophency
Social expectations that cause an individual to act in such a way that expectations are realized. Study done on teachers who had student labeled “late bloomers” meaning had higher levels of ability. So, teachers set high standards and these random students lived up to those standards.
Attributions
Explanations for why people behave the way they do.
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. Three dimensions: internal/ external causes, stable/unstable causes, and controllable/uncontrollable causes.
Internal/external causes
Internal attributions are causes inside and specific to the person, such as her traits and abilities
External attributions are causes outside the person, such as social pressure, aspects of the social situation, the weather, and luck.
Did Beth get a D on the test because she didn’t study, or the test was hard?
Stable/unstable
Whether the cause of behavior is relatively enduring and permanent or temporary influences attributions. Did Taylor honk her car horn because she is a hostile person or because she happens to be in a big hurry that day?
Controllable/Uncontrollable
We perceive that people have power over some causes but not others. (Preparing delicious food for picnic/ then it is raining.)
Fundamental attribution error
Observers’ overestimation of the importance of internal traits and underestimates the importance of external situation when they seek explanations of an actor’s behavior.
Observers often explain actor’s behaviors incorrectly. Actors often explain own behaviors in terms of external causes.
Heuristics
Cognitive shortcuts that speed decision making
False Consensus Effect
A person’s overestimation of the degree to which everybody else thinks or acts the way he or she does. (Use our own outlook to predict that of others)
Self esteem
The degree to which we have a positive or negative feelings about ourselves
Positive illusions
Favorable views of the self that are not necessarily rooted in reality. (think about ourselves “above average)
Self-serving bias
The tendency to take credit for one’s successes and deny responsibility for one’s failures.
Self-objectification
The tendency to see oneself primarily as an object in the eyes of others.
Stereotype threat
An individual’s fast acting, self-fulfilling fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group.
Social comparison
The process by which we evaluate our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and abilities in relation to other people.
Social comparison theory
When no objective means available, we compare ourselves to others.
Attitudes
An individual’s opinions and beliefs about people, objects, and ideas- how the person feels about the world.
Can attitudes predict behavior?
When attitudes are strong. If passionate about recycling, less likely to throw soda can in trash.
When attitudes are rehearsed. Makes a speech about recycling more likely to recycle
When person has vested interests. Something that will affect them personally.
Can behavior predict attitudes?
Cognitive dissonance and self perception
Cognitive dissonance
An individual’s psychological discomfort (dissonance) caused by two inconsistent thoughts.
I hate my job
But I work hard at it.
I need to fix my attitude
Dissonance Reduced by?
Changing behaviors to match attitude. Changing attitudes to match behavior.
Self-Perception theory
Individuals make inferences about their own attitudes by perceiving their own behavior, especially if their attitudes are unclear.
I spend all my time thinking how bad my job is.
I must really hate it.
The communicator
The person doing the persuading. Trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, likeability, similarity
Medium
Medium or technology used to get the message across. (television versus print)
The target
The audience or target of a message. (age, attitude, strength)
Message
The message itself (rational/ logical appeal versus emotional strategy)
Elaboration likelihood model.
Theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route.
Central route
Involves factors such as the source’s attractiveness or the emotional power of an appeal
