Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Question 1

attitude

Answer 1

Any belief or opinion that has an evaluative component – a belief that something is good or bad, likeable or unlikable, attractive or repulsive.

Question 2

attribution

Answer 2

In social cognition, any inference about the cause of a person’s behavioral action or set of actions. More generally, any inference about the cause of any observed action or event.

Question 3

cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 3

Festinger’s theory proposing that people seek to relieve the discomfort associated with the awareness of inconsistincy between two or more of one’s own cognitions (beliefs or bits of knowledge).

Question 4

explicit attitudes

Answer 4

Conscious attitudes; that is, attitudes that people are aware of holding and can state verbally.

Question 5

explicit stereotypes

Answer 5

Stereotypes that people hold consciously.

Question 6

foot-in-the-door technique

Answer 6

A technique for gaining compliance in which one first asks for some relatively small contribution or favor before asking for a larger one. Complying with the first request predisposes the person to comply with the second.

Question 7

fundamental attribution error

Answer 7

The tendency for people to attribute an action to the individual’s personality and to ignore the constraints that the role or situation places on how the person can or must act.

Question 8

group polarization

Answer 8

The tendency for a group of people who already share a particular opinion to hold that opinion more strongly – or in a more extreme form – after discussing the issue among themselves.

Question 9

groupthink

Answer 9

A model of thinking in which members of a group are more concerned with group cohesiveness and unanimity than with realistic appraisal of actions being considered.

Question 10

implicit association tests

Answer 10

Tests of a person’s automatic, unconscious mental associations, designed to assess implicit stereotypes or other implicit attitudes.

Question 11

implicit attitudes

Answer 11

Attitudes that are manifested in a person’s behavior or automatic mental associations, even though the person may not be conscious of holding those attitudes.

Question 12

implicit stereotypes

Answer 12

Stereotypes that automatically, unconsciously influence people’s judgments and actions toward others.

Question 13

impression management

Answer 13

The entire set of ways by which people either consciously or unconsciously attempt to influence other people’s impressions (perceptions or judgments) of them.

Question 14

informational influence

Answer 14

The class of social influence that derives from the use of others’ behavior or opinions as information in forming one’s own judgment about the objective nature of an event or situation.

Question 15

in-groups

Answer 15

Groups to which we belong.

Question 16

insufficient-justification effect

Answer 16

A change in attitude that serves to justify an action that seems unjustified in the light of the previously held attitude.

Question 17

low-ball technique

Answer 17

A sales trick in which the salesperson suggests a low price for the item being sold, and then, when the potential customer agreed to buy it at that price, pretends to discover that the item cannot be sold for that price.

Question 18

normative influence

Answer 18

The class of social influence that derives from people’s concern about what others will think of themif they behave in a certain way or express a certain belief.

Question 19

out-groups

Answer 19

Groups to which we do not belong.

Question 20

person bias

Answer 20

The tendency to attribute a person’s behavior too much to the person’s inner characteristics (personality) and not enough to the environmental situation.

Question 21

personal identity

Answer 21

The portion of the self-concept that pertains to the self as a distinct, separate individual.

Question 22

Pygmalion effects AKA self-fulfilling prophecies

Answer 22

The phenomenon by which beliefs and expectations that others have of a person – whether intially true or false – can to some degree create reality by influencing that person’s self-concept and behavior.

Question 23

reference group

Answer 23

A group of people with whom an individual compares him- or herself for the purpose of self-evaluation.

Question 24

self-concept

Answer 24

The way a person defines himself or herself.

Question 25

self-esteem

Answer 25

A person’s feeling of approval and acceptance of him- or herself.

Question 26

self-serving attributional bias

Answer 26

The tendency of people to attribute their successes to their own qualities and their failures to the situation.

Question 27

social comparison

Answer 27

Any process in which an individual evaluates his or her abilities, characteristics, ideas, or achievements by comparing them with those of other people.

Question 28

social dilemma

Answer 28

A situation in which a particular action will (a) benefit the individual who takes it, (b) harm the individuals who don’t, and (c) causes more harm than benefit to everyone if everyone takes it.

Question 29

social facilitation

Answer 29

The tendency to perform a task better in front of others than when alone.

Question 30

social identity

Answer 30

The portion of the self-concept that pertains to the social categories or groups of which the person is a part.

Question 31

social interference

Answer 31

The tendency to perform a task worse in front of others than when alone.

Question 32

social pressure

Answer 32

The entire set of psychological forces that are exerted on an individual by other people or by the individual’s beliefs about other people.

Question 33

social psychology

Answer 33

The branch of psychology that attempts to understand how the behavior and subjective experiences of individuals are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of other people.

Question 34

stereotype

Answer 34

A mental concept by which people characterize one or more specific groups or categories of people.

Question 35

stereotype threat

Answer 35

The threatened feeling that occurs, during the taking of a test, when a person is reminded of the fact that he or she belongs to a group that, according to a culturally prominent stereotype, is expected to perform poorly on the test.

Question 36

superordinate goals

Answer 36

The goals shared by two or more groups, which tend to foster cooperation among the groups.