Chapter 14: Social Behavior Key Terms Flashcards
Social facilitation:
A phenomenon in which the presence of others improves one’s performance.
Social loafing:
A phenomenon in which the presence of others causes one to relax one’s standards and slack off.
Social norms:
Rules about acceptable behavior imposed by the cultural context in which one lives.
Conformity:
The tendency of people to adjust their behavior to what others are doing or to adhere to the norms of their culture.
Informational social influence:
Conformity to the behavior of others because one views them as a source of knowledge about what one is supposed to do.
Normative social influence:
Conformity to the behavior of others in order to be accepted by them.
Groupthink:
A situation in which the thinking of the group takes over, so much so that group members forgo logic or critical analysis in the service of reaching a decision.
Minority social influence:
When a small number of individuals in a larger group shifts majority opinion by presenting a consistent, unwavering message.
Obedience:
A type of social influence in which a person yields to the will of another person, complying with their demands.
Self-serving bias:
The tendency to make situational attributions for our failures but dispositional attributions for our successes.
Fundamental attribution error:
The tendency to explain others’ behavior in dispositional rather than situational terms.
Stereotypes:
Schemas of how people are likely to behave based simply on groups to which they belong; they are oversimplified perspectives of people based solely on their group membership.
Dehumanization:
A tendency to portray a group of people as unworthy of human rights and traits—intended to make them feel unworthy.
In-group/out-group bias:
A tendency to show positive feelings toward people who belong to the same group as we do, and negative feelings toward those in other groups.
Out-group homogeneity:
The tendency to see all members of an out-group as the same.
Prejudice:
A biased attitude toward a group of people or an individual member of a group based on unfair generalizations about what members of that group are like.
Discrimination:
The preferential treatment of certain people, usually driven by prejudicial attitudes.
Racism:
Racism occurs when one views and treats others as inferior based on the color of their skin or their ethnicity. This involves stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.
Sexism:
Occurs when people are treated unfairly based on their biological sex or perceived gender. This involves stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination.
Attitudes:
An individual’s favorable or unfavorable beliefs, feelings, or actions toward an object, an idea, or a person.
Cognitive dissonance:
The feeling of discomfort caused by information that is different from a person’s conception of himself or herself as a reasonable and sensible person.
Persuasion:
The act of attempting to change the opinions, beliefs, or choices of others by explanation or argument.
Aggression:
Violent behavior that is intended to cause psychological or physical harm, or both, to another being.
Prosocial behavior:
Action that is beneficial to others.
Bystander effect:
A phenomenon in which the greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help.
Altruism:
The selfless concern for and giving of aid to others.
Kin selection:
The evolutionary favoring of genes that prompt individuals to help their relatives, or kin.
Reciprocal altruism:
The act of helping others in the hope that they will help us in the future.
Social exchange theory:
The idea that we help others when we understand that the benefits to ourselves are likely to outweigh the costs.
Empathy:
The ability to share the feelings of others and understand their situations.
Empathy-altruism hypothesis:
The idea that people help others selflessly only when they feel empathy for them.
Compassion:
A state of relationship in which one feels concern for another who is suffering and one feels motivated to help relieve that suffering.
Sexual strategies theory:
The idea that men and women face different problems when they seek out mates, so they often approach relationships in very different ways.
Triangular theory of love:
Sternberg’s idea that three components (intimacy, passion, and commitment), in various combinations, can explain all the forms of human love.
