Chapter 13 Flashcards
Social psychology
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another
Attribution theory
The theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation & to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Attitude
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events
Peripheral route persuasion
Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
Central route persuasion
Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments & respond with favorable thoughts
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
Role
A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave
Driving to school one snowy day, Marco narrowly misses a car the slides through a red light. “Slow down! What a terrible driver,” he thinks to himself. Moments later, Marco himself slips through an intersection and yelps, “wow! these roads are awful. The city plows need to get out here. “What social psychology principle has Marco just demonstrated? Explain.
By attributing the other person’s behavior to the person (“what a terrible driver”) and his own to the situation (“these roads are awful”). Marco has exhibited the fundamental attribution error
How do our attitudes and our actions affect each other?
Our attitudes often influence our actions as we behave in ways consistent with our beliefs. However, our attitudes also follow our actions; we come to believe in what we have done
When people act in a way that is not in keeping with their attitudes, & then change their attitudes to match those actions, ______ _______ theory attempts to explain why.
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance theory
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes & our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes
Culture
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
Norm
An understood rule for accepted & expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper” behavior
What is culture, and how does it transmission distinguish us from other social animals?
Culture represents our shared behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions, which we transmit across generations by way of our language ability. This allows us to preserve innovation and enjoy an efficient division of labor
Conformity
Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
Normative social infuence
Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Informational social influence
Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality
Which of the following strengthens conformity to a group?
Finding the group attractive
Psychology’s most famous obedience experiments, in which most participants obeyed an authority figure’s demands to inflict presumed life-threatening shocks on an innocent other, were conducted by social psychologist ______ _______.
Stanley Milgram
What situations have researchers found to be most likely to encourage obedience in participants?
The Milgram studies showed that people were most likely to follow orders when the experimenter was nearby and was a legitimate authority figure, the victim was not nearby, and there was no models for defiance
Social loafing
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
Deindividuation
The loss of self-awareness & self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
Group polarization
The enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group
What is social facilitation, and under what circumstances is it most likely to occur?
This improved performance in the presence of others is most likely to occur with a well-learned task, because the added arousal caused by an audience tends to strengthen the most likely response.
People tend to exert less effort when working with a group than they would alone, which is called?
Social loafing
You are organizing a meeting of fiercely competitive political candidates. To add to the fun, friends have suggested handing out masks of the candidates’ faces for supporters to wear. What phenomenon might these masks engage?
The anonymity provided by the masks, combined with the arousal of the contentious setting, might create deindividuation (lessened self-awareness and self-restraint)
When like-minded groups discuss a topic, and the result is the strengthening of the prevailing opinion, this is called?
Group polarization
When a group’s desire for harmony overrides its realistic analysis of other options, ______ has occured
Groupthink
Groupthink
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives
Prejudice
An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminating action
Stereotype
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people
Discrimination
Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group & its members
Just-world phenomenon
The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Ingroup
“Us”- people with whom we share a common identity
Outgroup
“Them”- those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup
Ingroup bias
The tendency to favor our own group
Scapegoat theory
The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame
When prejudiced judgment causes us to find an undeserving person to blame for a problem, that person is called a?
Scapegoat
Other-race- effect
The tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias
Aggression
Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy
Frustration-aggression principle
The principle that frustration-the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal-creates anger, which can generate aggression
Social script
Culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations
What psychological, biological, and social-cultural influences interact to produce aggressive behaviors?
Our biology (our genes, neural systems, and biochemistry- including testosterone and alcohol levels) influences our tendencies to be aggressive. Psychological factors (such as frustration, previous rewards for aggressive acts, and observation of others’ aggression) can trigger any aggressive tendencies we may have. Social influences, such as exposure to violent media, and cultural influences, such as whether we’ve grown up in a “culture of honor” or had a father-absent home, can also affect our aggressive responses
Mere exposure effect
The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them
People tend to marry someone who lives or works nearby. This is an example of the _____ ______ _____ in action
Mere exposure effect
How does being physically attractive influence others’ perceptions?
Being physically attractive tends to elicit positive first impressions. People tend to assume that attractive people are healthier, happier, and more socially skilled than others are.
Passionate love
An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship
Companionate love
The deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined
Equity
A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it
Self-disclosure
Revealing intimate aspects of oneself or others
How does the two-factor theory of emotion help explain passionate love?
Emotions consist of (1) physical arousal and (2) our interpretation of that arousal. Researchers have found that any source of arousal will be interpreted as passion in the presence of a desirable person
Two vital components for maintaining companionate love are ______ & ________-________
Equity; self-disclosure
Altruism
Unselfish regard for the welfare of others
Bystander effect
The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Why didn’t anybody help Kitty Genovese? What social relations principle did this incident illustrate?
In the presence of others, an individual is less likely to notice a situation, correctly interpret it as an emergency, and then take responsibility for offering help. The Kitty Genovese case demonstrated this bystander effect, as each witness assumed many others were also aware of the event
Social exchange theory
The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs
Reciprocity norm
An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them
Social-responsibility norm
An expectation that people will help those dependent upon them
Conflict
A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
Social trap
A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior
Mirror image perceptions
Mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive
Why do sports fans tend to feel a sense of satisfaction when their archrival team loses? Why do such feelings, in other settings, make conflict resolution more challenging?
Sports fans may feel a part of an ingroup that sets itself apart from an outgroup (fans of the archrival team). Ingroup bias tends to develop, leading to prejudice & the view that the outgroup “deserves” misfortune. So, the archrival team’s loss may seem justified. In conflicts, this kind of thinking is problematic, especially when each side in the conflict develops mirror-image perceptions of the other (distorted, negative images that are ironically similar)
Superordinate goals
Shared goals that override differences among people & require their cooperation
GRIT
Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction- a strategy designed to decrease international tensions
What are some ways to reconcile conflicts and promote peace?
Peacemakers should encourage equal-status contact, cooperation to achieve superordinate goals (shared goals that override differences), understanding through communication, & reciprocated conciliatory gestures (each side gives a little)
If we encounter a person who appears to be high on drugs, and we make the fundamental attribution error, we will probably attribute the person’s behavior to?
Moral weakness or an addictive personality
Celebrity endorsements in advertising often lead consumers to purchase products through _______ route persuasion
Peripheral
We tend to agree to a larger request more readily if we have already agreed to a small request. This tendency is called the?
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
Jamal’s therapist has suggested that Jamal should “act as if” he is confident, even though he feels insecure and shy. Which social psychological theory would best support this suggestion, and what might the therapist be hoping to achieve?
Cognitive dissonance theory best supports this suggestion. If Jamal acts confident, his behavior will contradict his negative self-thoughts, creating cognitive dissonance. To relieve the tension, Jamal may realign his attitudes with his actions by viewing himself as more outgoing and confident.
Researchers have found that a person is most likely to conform to a group if?
The person admires the groups’ status
In Milgram’s experiments, the rate of compliance was highest when?
The “learner” was at a distance from the “teacher”
Dr. Huang, a popular music professor, delivers fascinating lectures on music history but gets nervous and makes mistakes when describing exam statistics in front of the class. Why does his performance vary by task?
The presence of a large audience generates arousal and strengthens Dr. Huang’s most likely response: enhanced performance on a task he has mastered (teaching music history) and impaired performance on a task he finds difficult (statistics)
In a group situation that fosters arousal and anonymity, a person sometimes loses self-consciousness and self-control. This phenomenon is called?
Deindividuation
Sharing our opinions with like minded others tends to strengthen our views, a phenomenon referred to as?
Group polarization
Prejudice toward a group involves negative feelings, a tendency to discriminate, and overly generalized beliefs referred to as?
Stereotypes
If several well-publicized murders are committed by members of a particular group, we may tend to react with fear and suspicion toward all members of that group. In other words we?
Overgeneralize from vivid, memorable cases
The other-race effect occurs when we assume that other groups are ______ homogeneous than our own group
more
Evidence of a biochemical influence on aggression is the finding that?
A higher-than-average level of the hormone testosterone is associated with violent behavior in males
Studies show that parents of delinquent young people tend to use beatings to enforce discipline. This suggests that aggression can be?
Learned through observation of aggressive models
A conference of social scientists studying the effects of pornography unanimously agreed that violent porn?
Leads viewers to be more accepting of coercion in sexual relations
The aspect of X-rated films that most directly influences men’s aggression toward women seems to be the?
Depictions of sexual violence
The more familiar a stimulus becomes, the more we tend to like it. This exemplifies the ______ ______ effect.
Mere exposure
A happy couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary is likely to experience deep _______ love, even through their _____ love has probably decreased over the years
Companionate; passionate
After vigorous exercise, you meet an attractive person, and you are suddenly seized by romantic feelings for that person. This response supports the two-factor theory of emotion, which assumes that emotions, such as passionate love, consist of physical arousal plus?
Our interpretation of that arousal
The bystander effect states that a particular bystander is less likely to give aid if?
Other people are present
Our enemies often have many of the same negative impressions of us we have to them. This exemplifies the concept of ______-_______ perceptions
Mirror-image
One way of resolving conflicts and fostering cooperation is by giving rival groups shared goals that help them override their differences. These are called ______ goals
Superordinate
