Chapter 13- Social Psychology (social cognition lecture)

Question 1

social psychology

Answer 1

the study of the causes and consequences of sociality

Question 2

aggression

Answer 2

behavior whose purpose is to harm another

Question 3

frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 3

a principle stating that animals aggress only when their goals are thwarted

Question 4

cooperation

Answer 4

behavior by two or more individuals that leads to mutual benefit

Question 5

group

Answer 5

a collection of people who have something in common that distinguishes them from others

Question 6

prejudice

Answer 6

a positive or negative evaluation of another person based on their group membership

Question 7

discrimination

Answer 7

positive or negative behavior toward another person based on their group membership

Question 8

de-individuation

Answer 8

a phenomenon that occurs when immersion in a group causes people to become less aware of their individual values

Question 9

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 9

the tendency for individuals to feel diminished responsibility for their actions when they are surrounded by others who are acting the same way

Question 10

altruism

Answer 10

behavior that benefits another without benefiting oneself

Question 11

kin selection

Answer 11

the process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives

Question 12

reciprocal altruism

Answer 12

behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future

Question 13

mere exposure effect

Answer 13

the tendency for liking to increase with the frequency of exposure

Question 14

passionate love

Answer 14

an experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy, and intense sexual attraction

Question 15

companionate love

Answer 15

an experience involving affection, trust, and concern for a partner’s well being

Question 16

social exchange

Answer 16

the hypothesis that people remain in relationships only as long as they perceive a favorable ratio of costs to benefits

Question 17

comparison level

Answer 17

the cost-benefit ratio that people believe they deserve or could attain in another relationship

Question 18

equality

Answer 18

a state of affairs in which the cost-benefit ratios of two partners are roughly equal

Question 19

social influence

Answer 19

the ability to control another person’s behavior

Question 20

norm

Answer 20

a customary standard for behavior that is widely shared by members of a culture

Question 21

normative influence

Answer 21

a phenomenon that occurs when another person’s behavior provides information about what is appropriate

Question 22

norm of reciprocity

Answer 22

the unwritten rule that people should benefit those who have benefitted them

Question 23

door-in-the face technique

Answer 23

a strategy that uses reciprocating concessions to influence behavior

Question 24

conformity

Answer 24

the tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it

Question 25

obedience

Answer 25

the tendency to do what powerful people tell us to do

Question 26

attitude

Answer 26

an enduring positive or negative evaluation of an object or event

Question 27

belief

Answer 27

an enduring piece of knowledge about an object or event

Question 28

informational influence

Answer 28

a phenomenon that occurs when a person’s behavior provides information about what is good or right

Question 29

persuasion

Answer 29

a phenomenon that occurs when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person

Question 30

systematic persuasion

Answer 30

the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason

Question 31

heuristic persuasion

Answer 31

the process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason

Question 32

foot-in- the door technique

Answer 32

a technique that involves a small request followed by a larger request

Question 33

cognitive dissonance

Answer 33

an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes the inconsistency of his or her actions, attitudes, or beliefs

Question 34

social cognition

Answer 34

the process by which people come to understand others

Question 35

stereotyping

Answer 35

the process by which people draw inferences about others based on their knowledge of the categories to which others belong

Question 36

perceptual confirmation

Answer 36

a phenomenon that occurs when observers perceive what they expect to perceive

Question 37

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 37

the tendency for people to cause what they expect to see

Question 38

sub-typing

Answer 38

the tendency for people who are faced with disconfirming evidence to modify their stereotypes rather than abandon them

Question 39

attribution

Answer 39

an inference about the cause of a person’s behavior

Question 40

correspondance bias

Answer 40

the tendency to make a dispositional attribution even when a person’s behavior was caused by the situation

Question 41

actor-observer effect

Answer 41

the tendency to make situational atributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behavior of others

Question 42

categorization

Answer 42

identifying a novel stimulus as a member of a category

Question 43

generalization

Answer 43

using information about a category to make judgments about a novel stimulus

Question 44

problems with stereotyping

Answer 44

inaccuracy, insensitive to variability, assimilation, contrast

Question 45

assimilation

Answer 45

the tendency to perceive too little intra- category variability

Question 46

contrast

Answer 46

the tendency to perceive too much inter category variability

Question 47

perpetuation of error

Answer 47

collecting evidence, interpreting evidence, creating evidence, denying evidence