Final Exam Vocab Flashcards
Social Psychology
the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another
Social Neuroscience
Social psych is _____ rooted
A field that looks at neural bases of social processes. How these processes affect brain and biology.
biologically
2 criticisms of social psychology:
Common sense (hindsight)
Manipulation
How do we construe our social reality?
We interpret events. To have a good day, have a good day.
Mundane realism
The degree to which an experiment matches real life
Experimental realism
The degree to which an experiment absorbs and ivolves its participants
Sociology vs. Social Psychology
Level of analysis (individual v. group)
Theory
integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events
Framing
The way a question or issue is posed
Demand characteristics
Cues in experiment that tell participant what behavior is expected.
Spotlight effect
Belief that others are paying attention to us more than they really are
Illusion of transparancy
Illusions that others can see how we’re feeling underneath easily
Self-concept
What we know and believe about ourself
Self-schemas
Templates that we categorize ourselves into (eg. overweight, athletic, smart)
Social comparison
how does it relate to self?
We tend to compare our opinions and abilities to others.
Determines how we think of “self”. Are we smart? compare. Are we rich? compare.
Children praised for being a “helper” later help more than children praised for “helping”. Why?
It became a part of their identity.
Looking-glass Self
We see ourselves by how we view the way others see us
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Priority = independent self
Priority = group values
How has individualism/collectivism been changing?
Everyone’s becoming more individualistic
If we have more money than others, how does that make us feel?
What phenomenon?
We are more happy.
Social comparison.
Individualist vs. Collectivist in self-esteem
Collectivist is less stable, more situational
Individualist is more individual conflict, more social comparison
How good’s our self-knowledge?
Not good at predicting time it’ll take (planning fallacy)
Not good at predicting how our relationship will last (roommates are better)
Not good at predicting our feelings (affective forecasting)
or sadness, hunger, happiness
Impact bias. more prone to positive or negative bias?
Overestimating how an event will make us feel. Especially prone to negative events.
Effects of analyzing why we feel the way we feel
Worse judgements
Dual attitude system
We have implicit (automatic) attitudes and explicit (controlled) attitudes
Research on self-knowledge implications on self-reports
Self-reports are probably not trustworthy
Self-esteem
A person’s evaluation of self or self-worth
Schadenfreude
Happy at another’s downfall
Terror management theory
Theory that reminding someone of their death makes them more protective of self.
Effects of low self-esteem
More vulerable to diseases, causes depression
Which ethnic group has lowest self-esteem?
Asian-Americans
Narcissism
how does it relate to self-esteem?
what happens when threatened?
An inflated sense of self.
Higher narcissism –> higher self-esteem (for both dispositionally low and high SE)
will be aggressive when threatened
Self-efficacy
what’s self-efficacy consistently linked to?
How one rates their competence
Linked to success
Self-serving bias
We tend to think of self favourably
Self-serving attributions
Attributing positive things to self, negative things to external factors
Defensive pessimism
Adaptive. Anticipates problems and uses anxiety for action
False consensus effect
We think others think the same opinions as us. Overestimate commonality of bad traits
False uniqueness effect
We think our good traits are unique to us. Underestimate commonality of good traits.
Self-handicapping
Protecting self-image by giving self excuse to attribute failure to later.
Self-presentation
Expressing self in way that impresses others or in a way that corresponds to own ideals.
External and internal audience
Self-monitoring
Attuned to self-presentation and adjusts according to situation.
People low in self-monitoring might seem insensitive
Embodied cognition
Influence of bodily sensation on cognition
System 1 vs System 2
System 1: implicit, automatic
System 2: conscious, slow
Overconfidence
tendency to believe one is more confident than correct
Confirmation bias
Tendency to search for confirming evidence
Remedies for overconfidence bias
Prompt feedback and think why it might be wrong
Representativeness vs Availability Heuristics
Representative: something belongs to a group when they look like it
Availability: available in memory means more likely to accur
Do we regret greater the things we didn’t do or did do?
phenomenon?
Didn’t do. Relates to counterfactual thinking.
Illusory correlation
Perceiving a correlation that doesn’t exist.
a kind of heuristic
Mood effects on perceiving positive/negative behaviors
People in good mood perceive more positive behaviors. (supply demand looking graph lol)
Belief Perseverance
Tendency to stick to one’s own belief and discredit explanations of why belief might be wrong
Attribution theory
theory of how people explain others’ behavior.
Misattribution
attributing behavior to wrong source (situational/dispositional)
Spontaneous trait inference
Automatic inference that someone has some trait after seeing a behavior
Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency to overestimate dispositional influences, underestimate situational influences
Self-fulfilling prophecies
A belief that leads to its own fulfillment
Behavioral confirmation
A type of self-fulfilling prophecy. Social expectations that leads to behavior in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations.
Attitude
beliefs and feelings that predispose us to respond in a certain way to objects/people/events
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Tests that show implicit attitudes
When do attitudes predict behavior?
When little other influences, when attitudes are specific to behavior, when attitudes are potent.
How well do attitudes predict behavior?
Not well.
Role
Norms that define how people ought to behave
3 Theories of why behavior affects attitudes
Self-presentation: we want to appear consistent.
Cognitive Dissonance: we want to rid of cognitive dissonance, so we change our attitudes.
Self-perception: when unsure of attitudes, we infer them as someone who’s observing us. we change attitudes due to self-observation
Selective exposure
relates to what phenomenon?
We choose information that align with own views and avoid dissonant info
Cognitive dissonance
Insufficient justification
Reducing dissonance by justifying behavior when there’s little external justification
Facial Feedback Effect
what phenomenon it relates?
Smiling makes you happier. (and other expressions too)
relates to self-perception theory?
Overjustification effect
Giving people external rewards for what they enjoy internally makes them enjoy it less.
Self-affirmation theory
Theory that people will try to compensate by using another aspect of self
Evolutionary Psychology
Study of evolution of cognition and behavior (natural selection perspective)
Gender definition (in psych)
The characteristics that we associate with male and female
Evolutionary view of gender differences in sex drive
Cheap investment for men, costly for women
Androgynous
Mix of masculine and feminine characteristics
As men and women get older, what happens to gender diffs?
Becomes more androgynous
Critique of evolutionary approach
Hindsight bias.
Epigenetics
Environmental influences on gene expression without changing DNA
Countries near equator have more or less personal space?
Less (more touching/hugging)
Genetic influences explain around ____% of individual variations in personality
Environmental influences account for ___% of personality differences
40%
0 to 1 %
Gender roles vary from ____ to _____ and from _____ to ______
culture
time
Gender differences in friendships/peer relationships
Women tend to identify more with relationships, men with activities
Gender differences in vocations
People vs things
People perceive leaders to have what gender traits?
Masculine
Aggression
Verbal or physical behavior intended to hurt
How many Americans are transgender?
4/1000
Is there a trend towards uniform global culture?
No, local cultures are still very enduring
Conformity vs Acceptance vs Compliance vs Obedience
Conformity: change in behavior or belief as a result of group pressure
Acceptance: conformity that involves believing
Compliance: conformity to an implied or explicit request but privately disagreeing
Obedience: compliance to a direct order
Sherif’s studies of norm formation
Formed norms with autokinetic phenomenon stuff (apparent momvemnt of ligght)
Mass hysteria
Mimicry on a large scale through large group of people
Asch’s studies of group pressure
conforming to lines experiment
Milgram’s obedience studies
Studied people getting shocked and obeying to authority
Group size effects on conformity
Around 6 max out
Cohesiveness
“we” feeling. how much a group feels bound together
Normative vs Informational Influence
Normative: group pressure. emotional influence to gain acceptance or fit in
Informational: conformity by accepting evidence
Personality traits that predict conformity (in big 5)
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness
Reactance
Motive to protect own autonomy. To not stick to a plan made for us by someone else.
Do we want to be differnet?
we don’t want to be same as everyone, yet don’t want to not fit in.
reactance explains why we want to be unique
Persuasion
Process where a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors
Central route to persuasion
Focus on arguments.
Peripheral route to persuasion
Incidental cues (like attractiveness) that lead to persuasion
Which route to persuasion is more durable and stronger?
Central route. more thoughtful and enduring. induces behavior more.
Sleeper effect
We discount a message initially, but forget why. This message later becomes effective when we forget.
Attractiveness
Qualities that appeal an audience
On what matters does attractiveness appeal most for persuasion?
Subjective preference matters
Similarity and attractiveness
Simliarity is a form of attrativeness. we like people who are similar.
Which type of people do central route to persuasion matter more?
Well-educated, interested, thoughtful people
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
People who agree to small request will later comply with large
Lowball technique
Agree to initial request will later comply when upping the request.
Door-in-the-face technique
Start with huge request and go to reasonable request
Two-step flow of communicaction
Media influence occurs through opinion leaders, who influence others.
For a difficult message, which channel of communication is most effective?
Written
For an easy message, which channel of communication is most effective?
Video
life cycle vs generational explanation of differing attitudes between generations
life cycle: attitudes change as people grow
generational: attitudes stay the same, but are different in generation gap
generational is supported more.
Need for cognition
Motivation to think and analyze
Attitude inoculation
Expose poeple to weak attacks, so there will be refutations when stronger attacks come.
helps strengthen attitudes
Group
2 or more people who interact and influence one another
Social facilitation effect
strengthening of dominant (prevenlant) responses when others are present
Evaluation Apprehension
Concern for how others are evaluating us
Social Loafing
Tendency for people to exert less effort when in group than individually
Deindividuation
Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension
When’s deindividuation most likely?
Large group, anonymous, and aroused/distracted
Group polarization
more extreme views after being in group discussion with same views.
groups intensify beliefs
Pluralistic ignorance
False impression of what others are thinking or feeling.
2 influences that make group polarization happen
informative
normative: (social comparison and removal of pluralistic ignorance)
Groupthink
When a group agrees, so they don’t try to reason
determinants of minority influence
Consistency, persistence, confidence, defection
Types of leadership
Task leadership: organizes work, standards, goals
Social leadership: builds teamwork, mediates conflict, support
Transformational leadership: leader’s vision and inspiration that changes workforce
Prejudice
Preconceived negative judgement of group and individual members
Stereotype
Beliefs individuals based on beliefs about attributes of a group. (generalized beliefs)
Discrimination
Unjustified BEHAVIOR toward a group
Main forms of prejudice
Racial, Gender, LGBTQ
Social dominance orientation
Trait that motivate’s one to have their group dominate other social groups
Authoritarian personality
Personality prediposed to favor obedience and authority; intolerance of outgroups and lower status
Social sources of prejudice
Inequality, Personalities, Social instituations
Realistic Group Conflict Theory
Prejudice arises from competition for scarce resources
Social Identity Theory
we categorize self-identity into groups. “we” aspect and comparing to others (ingroup vs. outgroup)
Ingroup bias
tendency to favor one’s own group
Does ingroup liking involve outgroup disliking?
Yep,\
What does frustration do that leads to prejudice?
Breeds hostility, leading vent on scapegoats like competing groups
Outgroup homogeneity effect
Tendency to believe that people of outgroup is similar to each other while ingroup is diverse.
Own-race bias
Can better identify faces of own race
Distinctiveness and illusory correlations
Distinctiveness feeds illusory correlations
Group-serving bias
Explain away outgroup members’ postive, attribute negative to their dispositions
Just-world phenomenon
belief that people get what they deserve
Subtyping
Thinking of people as exceptions to rule in stereotype
Subgrouping
Making new stereotype about subset of a group
Stereotype Threat
Diminished performance due to fear of being judged based on negative stereotype
social aggression
hurting someone else’s feelings or threating their relationships
hostile aggression
aggression from anger
instrumental aggression
aggression for purpose of something else. means to an end
Frustration-aggression theory
Theory that frustration triggers readiness to aggress
Frustration
blocking of goal-directed behavior
Displacement theory
redirection of aggression to a target other than source
Relative deprivation
Having less when compared to others, leading to aggression
Social learning theory
theory that we learn social behavior by observation and imitation; award and punishment (eg. bandura)
Instinct view of aggression
innate form of aggression
little evidence
factors that lead to aggression
aversive experiences, arousal, cues, media
Catharsis
doesn’t work. expressing anger does not reduce it.
Social learning appraoch to reduce aggression
reward and model nonaggression, elicit reactions incompatible with aggression
Ostracism
Acts of excluding or ignoring
Proximity
Nearness
Functional distance
how often paths cross
Mere exposure effect
Repeated exposure breeds likeness
Matching phenomenon
Men and women choose partners who are a good match in attractiveness and other traits
Physical-attractiveness stereotype
Presumption that physically attractive people have other good traits too
Pornography effects on rating others’ attractiveness (what phenomenon?)
rates average and own wife less attractive.
social comparison phenomenon
Complementarity
is it true?
Tendency to complete what’s missing in the other.
opposites don’t attract. likeness better predictor of liking. but complementarity might happen over time.
Ingratiation
Use of strategies to gain another’s favor
Reward theory of attraction
We like those whose behavior is rewarding to us. or who we associate good events with
best predictor of whether 2 people are friends
proximity
Two factor theory of emotion
ANY arousal intensifies feelings
Passionate vs Companionate love
Passionate is the fire. ecstasy.
companionate comes after.
Secure vs Avoidant vs Anxious attachment
secure: trust and intimacy
avoidant: discomfort over being close. insecure
anxious: clingy and cry when leave. insecure
Equity in a relationship
outcomes people receive are proportionate to what they put in
Perceived equity importance in relationship
satisfied in marriage when perceived equity is high
Self-disclosure
Revealing intimate aspects of self
Disclosure reciprocity effect
Disclosure begets disclosure
Why do relationships end?
Individualistic thinking: feelings over commitment.
Communication styles
Altruism
helping others with no conscious regard of self-interests
social-exchange theory
all our interactions are transactions to max benefits and min costs
are happy people helpful?
yes
reciprocity norm
expectation that people will give back to those who helped
social capital
supportive cooperation in social network
social-responsibility norm
We should help. eg. when someone drops book, we should help pick it.
Kin selection and helping
Altruism for similar people to enhance survival of genes
Reciprocity in evolutionary view
If fail to reciprocate, you get punished.
Group selection (evolutionary)
mutually supportive altruists outlast groups of non-altruists
2 routes to helping
egoistic and altruistic
After wrongdoing, do people help more?
Yep
Most evolutionary psychologists believe we are naturally selfish or not?
selfish.
Bystander effect
person is less likely to help when there are others around
3 reasons for bystander effect
fail to notice, fail to interpret as emergency, fail to assume responsibility
what will promote helping?
When observed someone else is helping. When we perceive someone as similar to us.
How does hurry affect helping
Little spare time promotes helping
Traits of people who will help
Agreeableness
Gender and helping (situation differences)
men help more when dangerous situation, women more volunteering
Religious faith and giving
predictor of altruism. volunteer and more charity
