Exam 5 Flashcards
Social psychology
study of causes and consequences of sociality
Aggression
behavior with the purpose of harming someone
Frustration-Aggression hypothesis
animals aggress when their goals are frustrated
negative effect causes aggression
Aggression is strongly correlated
with testosterone people feel powerful and confident
Women can be aggressive too, but their purpose of aggression is based on
protection rather than status
Cooperation
behavior by two or more individuals that lead to mutual benefit
Group
collection of people who have something in common that distinguishes them from others
Prejudice
positive or negative evaluation of another person based solely on their group of membership
Common knowledge effect
tendency for group discussions to focus on information that all members share
Group polarization
tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than any member would have made alone
Groupthink
tendency for groups to reach consensus in order to facilitate interpersonal harmony
Deindividuation
when immersion in a group causes people to become less concerned with their personal values
* can lead them to do things they might not do on their own
Diffusion of responsibility
tendency for individuals to feel diminished responsibility for their actions when they are surrounded by others who are acting the same way
Bystander intervention
act of helping strangers in an emergency situation
* reveals that people are less likely to help an innocent person in distress when there are many other bystanders present, because they think the other bystanders are more responsible than they are
Altruism
intentional behavior that benefits another at a cost to oneself
Kin selection
process where evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives
* we help our relatives over strangers
Reciprocal altruism
behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future
Mere exposure effect
tendency for liking to increase with the frequency of exposure
Two kinds of love:
passionate love - experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy, and sexual attraction
companionate love - experience involving affection, trust, and concern for a partner’s well-being
* ideal relationship has both types of love
Social influence
ability to change or direct another person’s behavior
* people are motivated to experience pleasure/avoid pain (hedonic motive) * people are motivated to be accepted/avoid being rejected (approval motive) * people are motivated to believe what is right/avoid believing what is wrong (accuracy motive)
Norms
customary standards for behavior that are widely shared by members of a culture
Normative influence
occurs when another person’s behavior provides information about what is appropriate
Norm of reciprocity
the unwritten rule that people should benefit those who have benefited them
Conformity
tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it
* results in part of normative influence
Obedience
tendency to do what powerful people tell us to do
Attitude
an enduring positive or negative evaluation of an object or event
Belief
an enduring piece of knowledge about an object or event
Informational influence
occurs when another person’s behavior provides information about what is true
Persuasion
occurs when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a communication from another person
Systematic persuasion
attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason
heuristic persuasion - attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habit or emotion
Foot in the door technique
involves making a small request and then following it with a larger request
Cognitive dissonance
an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes the inconsistency of their actions, attitudes, or beliefs
* have to act how they said they would
Social cognition
how people come to understand others
Stereotyping
how people draw inferences about others based on their knowledge of the categories to which others belong
* four properties: inaccurate, overused, self-perpetuating and unconscious and automatic
Self-fulfilling prophecy
tendency for people to behave as they are expected to behave
Stereotype threat
the fear confirming the negative beliefs that others may hold
Perceptual stereotypes
tendency for people to see what they expect to see
Correspondence bias
tendency to make a dispositional attribution when we should instead make a situational attribution
often called fundamental attribution error
Actor-observer effect
tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behavior of others
Stressors
specific events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threaten the person’s well-being
Stress
physical and psychological response to internal or external stressors
Health psychology
subfield of psychology concerned with ways psychological factors influence the causes and treatment of physical illness and the maintenance of health
Chronic stressors
sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly
Fight or flight response
emotional and physiological reaction to an emergency that increases readiness for action
* occurs in hypothalamus * pituitary gland is stimulated * adrenal gland releases hormones
General adaptation syndrome (GAS)
a three stage physiological stress response that appears, regardless of the stressor that is encountered
* alarm phase - fight or flight * resistant phase - body tries to adapt and cope with the stressor by shutting down unnecessary processes * exhaustion phase - body’s resistance collapses, leads to infection, aging, organ damage, death
Stress negatively affects health and speeds aging
affects immune system
* affects cardiovascular health * causes aging to speed up
Immune system
complex response system that protects the body from bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances
* stress can wear this system down
Type A behavior pattern
tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, a sense of time urgency, and competitive achievement strivings
* more likely to have heart attacks
- Stress interpretation happens in two steps
- primary appraisal - interpretation of a stimulus as stressful or not
- secondary appraisal - determining whether the stressor is something you can handle or not (whether you have control over the event)
Burnout
state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from long term involvement in an emotionally demanding situation and accompanied by lowered performance and motivation
Repressive coping
avoiding feelings, thoughts, or situations that are reminders of a stressor and maintaining an artificially positive viewpoint
Rational coping
facing the stressor and working to overcome it
* requires approaching rather than avoiding (like repressive coping) * acceptance * longed exposure * understanding
Reframing
finding a new or creative way to think about a stressor that reduces its threat
Meditation
turning inward
* meditation - practice of intentional contemplation
Relaxation
picturing peace
* relaxation response - condition of reduced muscle tension, cortical activity, heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure
Biofeedback
enlisting the help of an external monitor
* biofeedback - use of an external monitoring device to obtain information about a bodily function and possibly gain control over that function * can help people control physiological functions they were not aware of
Aerobic exercise
boosting mood
* increases body’s production of neurotransmitters, serotonin, which can have a positive effect on mood
Situation management
- Social support - aid gained through interacting with others
- Religious experiences
- Humor - laughing it off
- Scheduling and activating - getting it done
Psychological effects of illness
- sickness can make you miserable
Psychosomatic illness
an interaction between mind and body that can produce illness
Somatic symptom disorders
person with at least one symptom displays significant health related anxiety, exaggerates concerns about symptoms, and hyper focuses on health concerns
Sick role
socially recognized set of rights and obligations linked with illness
Optimism aids in the
maintenance of physical health
Hardiness
resistant to stress
Self-regulation
exercise of voluntary control over the self to bring the self into line