Exam 1 Flashcards
What is social psychology?
The study of how our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are influenced by the presence of others.
What is Hindsight Bias?
The belief that we “knew all along,” invoked after we know the facts.
What is a theory?
Integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events.
What is a hypothesis?
A testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events.
What are the six big ideas of social psychology?
- We construct our social reality.
- Social intuition is powerful but perilous.
- Social influences shape our behavior.
- Inner attitudes affect our behavior.
- Social behavior is biologically rooted.
- Social psychology principles are applicable in everyday life.
What is the Spotlight Effect?
The belief that others are paying more attention to our behavior than they are.
What is the Illusion of Transparency?
The illusion that our contained emotions can be leaked and read by others.
What is Self Concept?
The overall set of beliefs that people have about their personal attributes.
What is unrealistic optimism?
The self-serving bias that most of us are inclined to optimism.
What is the False Consensus Effect?
The tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and unsuccessful behavior.
What is the False Uniqueness Effect?
The tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and successful behaviors.
Humans begin to form a sense of self around __ and __ months old.
18; 24
What is the Independent View of the Self?
The view of ourselves that is defined by our own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions.
What is the Interdependent View of the Self?
The view of ourselves that as defined by our relationships with other people.
What is Self-Esteem?
The overall evaluation (positive or negative) that we have of ourselves.
What is a Self-Serving Bias?
The tendency to perceive oneself favorably.
When do attitudes predict behavior?
When the attitude is potent/specific to the behavior, OR when the other influences on what we say/do are minimal.
What is the self-presentation theory?
The theory that we want to stay consistent.
What is the cognitive dissonance theory?
The theory that tension arises when someone is aware of two inconsistent cognitions.
What is the self-perception theory?
The theory that when we don’t know about something, we learn through our own behaviors.
What is a role?
The set of norms that defines how people in a given social setting should behave.
What is automatic thinking?
Thinking with no conscious deliberation of thoughts, perceptions, assumptions.
What is controlled thinking?
Thinking that is effortful and deliberate.
What is priming?
The process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept.
What is overconfidence?
The tendency to be more confident than correct.
What are schemas?
Mental structures that organize our knowledge of the social world.
What are heuristics?
Thinking strategies that enable quick, efficient judgments.
What is a representativeness heuristic?
A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case.
What is an availability heuristic?
A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind.
What is counterfactual thinking?
Mentally changing some aspect of the past in imagining what might have been.
What is illusory correlation?
Perception of a relationship where none exists, or the perception of it being stronger than it actually is.
When in a _________ mood, everything is worse. When in a ______ mood, everything is better.
depressed; good
What is belief perserverance?
Persistence of one’s initial conceptions.
What is the misinformation effect?
A person’s memory of events is affected by information they receive after the fact.
What is the attribution theory?
The theory that people explain others behavior by attributing it to internal dispositions or external situations.
What is a fundamental attribution error?
The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others’ behaviors.
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
A case whereby people have an explanation about what another person is like and treat them accordingly.
