Chapter 18 - Vocabulary Flashcards
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency for observers, when analyzing someone’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Attribution Theory
Suggests how we explain someone’s behavior - by crediting either the situation or their disposition.
Attitude
Feelings, often based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
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 our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
Conformity
Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
Normative Social Influence
Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or disapproval. (More individual based.)
Informational Social Influence
Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality. (More group based.)
Chameleon Effect
The tendency to unconsciously mimic those around us.
Social Facilitation
Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
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 and 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.
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 usually involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.
