Chapter Thirteen Flashcards
social psychology
the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
attribution theory
the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.
fundamental attribution error
the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
attitude
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
peripheral route persuasion
occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.
central route persuasion
occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
foot-in-the-door phenomenon
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
role
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
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 we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
Driving to school one snowy day, Marco narrowly misses a car that slides through a red light. “Slow down! What a terrible driver,” he thinks to himself. Moments later, Marco himself slips through an intersection and yelps, “Wow! These roads are awful. The city plows need to get out here.” What social psychology principle has Marco just demonstrated? Explain.
By attributing the other person’s behavior to the person (“he’s a terrible driver”) and his own to the situation (“these roads are awful”), Marco has exhibited the fundamental attribution error.
How do our attitudes and our actions affect each other?
Our attitudes often influence our actions as we behave in ways consistent with our beliefs. However, our actions also influence our attitudes; we come to believe in what we have done.
When people act in a way that is not in keeping with their attitudes, and then change their attitudes to match those actions,___________ ____________theory attempts to explain why.
cognitive dissonance
conformity
adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
normative social influence
influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
informational social influence
influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.
Despite her mother’s pleas to use a more ergonomic backpack, Antonia insists on trying to carry all of her books to high school in an oversized purse the way her fashionable friends all seem to do. Antonia is affected by what type of social influence?
Normative social influence
Psychology’s most famous obedience experiments, in which most participants obeyed an authority figure’s demands to inflict presumed painful, dangerous shocks on an innocent participant, were conducted by social psychologist________________.
Stanley Milgram.
What situations have researchers found to be most likely to encourage obedience in participants?
The Milgram studies showed that people were most likely to follow orders when the experimenter was nearby and perceived to be a legitimate authority figure, the victim was not nearby, and there were no models for defiance.
social facilitation
improved performance 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
he mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.
What is social facilitation, and why is it more likely to occur with a well-learned task?
This improved performance in the presence of others is most likely to occur with a well-learned task, because the added arousal caused by an audience tends to strengthen the most likely response. This also predicts poorer performance on a difficult task in others’ presence.
People tend to exert less effort when working with a group than they would alone, which is called _____________________ _____________________.
social loafing.
You are organizing a meeting of fiercely competitive political candidates. To add to the fun, friends have suggested handing out masks of the candidates’ faces for supporters to wear. What phenomenon might these masks engage?
The anonymity provided by the masks, combined with the arousal of the contentious setting, might create deindividuation (lessened self-awareness and self-restraint).
