Chapter 15: Social Psychology Flashcards
Social psychology
The study of how the immediate social context as well as broader cultural environments influence people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions
Transference
The tendency to treat one person as if they possess the traits or characteristics of another more familiar person. For example, in psychotherapy, clients might respond to a therapist in ways that resemble the dynamic they have with major figures in their own lives
False consensus
The tendency to overstimulate the extent to which other people’s beliefs and attitudes are similar to our own
Impression management
A series of strategies that people use to influence the impressions that others form of them
Attribution
Assignment of a casual explanation for an event, action, or outcome.
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency to assume that people’s actions are more the result of their internal dispositions than of the situational context
Self-serving attributions
The attributions people make for their own behaviours or outcomes: we tend to make dispositional attributions for positive events but situational attributions for negative events
Affective forecasting errors
People’s inability to accurately predict the emotional reactions they will have to events
Attitude
An orientation toward some target stimulus that is composed of an affective feeling, a cognitive belief, and a behavioural motivation toward the target.
Implicit attitude
An automatically activated evaluation of a stimulus ranging from positive to negative
Explicit attitude
The consciously reported evaluation a person has in response to a target stimulus
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
A theory of persuasion contending that attitudes can change by two different routes; a central route that focuses on the strength of the argument and a peripheral route that is sensitive to more superficial cues
Cognitive dissonance
A sense of conflict between people’s attitudes and actions that motivates efforts to restore cognitive consistency
Social norms
The patterns of behaviour, traditions, and preferences that are tacitly approved of by a given culture or subculture
Conformity
The process by which people implicitly mimic, adopt, or internalize the behaviours and preferences of those around them
Informational social influence
Pressure to conform to others actions or beliefs based on a desire to behave correctly or gain an accurate understanding of the world.
Normative social influence
Pressure to conform to others actions or beliefs in order to gain approval from others or avoid social sanctions.
Social facilitation
An enhancement of the dominant behaviour response when performing a task in the mere presence of others; easy or well-learned tasks are performed better, but difficult or novel tasks are performed worse
Social loafing
The tendency for individuals to expend less effort on a task when they are doing it with others rather than alone
Group polarization
A tendency for people’s attitudes to become more extreme after they discuss an issue with like-minded others
Groupthink
A form of biased group decision making whereby pressure to achieve consensus leads members of the group to avoid voicing unpopular suggestions
General aggression model
An integrative framework of the various factors and psychological processes that contribute to an act of aggression
Weapons affect
A phenomenon whereby simple exposure to a gun or weapon can increase aggressive responses by bringing violent thoughts to mind
Kin selection
An evolved or adaptive strategy of assisting those who share one’s genes, even at personal cost, as a means of increasing the odds of genetic survival
Norm of reciprocity
An automatic tendency to help others who have helped in the past or are expected to help in the future
Empathy gap
The inability to accurately simulate the mental suffering of another person
Bystander effect
The lower likelihood of people coming to the aid of a victim when in the presence of other observers than if they are alone
Pluralistic ignorance
A situation that can occur when people are collectively unaware of each other’s true attitudes or beliefs
Diffusion of responsibility
A tendency for people in a group to assume that someone else is in a better position to act or has already acted
Stereotypes
Mental representations are schemas that summarize the beliefs and/or associations we have for a group of people
Prejudice
A negative attitude toward a group or members of a group
Discrimination
A tendency for individuals to receive different treatment or outcomes as a result of their membership in a given social group
Realistic group conflict theory
A theory asserting that negative intergroup attitudes develop whenever groups compete against one another for access to the same scarce resources
Social identity theory
A theory that explains why people develop a more positive attitude toward their own ingroup than toward outgroups
Symbolic racism
The tendency to redirect one’s prejudice toward a racial or ethnic group to the policies that might benefit that group
Implicit racial bias
Differential treatment resulting from the automatic activation of, and failure to control, negative attitudes or stereotypes of a racial group
Aversive racism
A tendency, even among egalitarian-minded people, to have unconscious negative reactions to people of racial or ethnic outgroups
Contact hypothesis
The proposal that prejudice can be reduced through sanctioned, friendly, and cooperative interactions between members of different groups working together as equals toward a common goal
Parental investment theory
A theory that predicts sex differences in attraction due to the greater time, effort, and risk assumed by women than by men during procreation
Triangular theory of love
A model that specifies passion, intimacy, and commitment as distinct elements that combine in various ways that lead to different types of love
