GET READY FOR QUIZ 01 Flashcards
actor-observer difference
A difference in attribution based on who is making the causal assessment: the actor (who is relatively inclined to make situational attributions) or the observer (who is relatively inclined to make dispositional attributions).
actual self
The self that people believe they are.
attitudes
the evaluative tendency toward an object and are automatic
attribution theory
A set of concepts explaining how people assign causes to the events around them and the effects of these kinds of causal assessments.
augmentation principle
The idea that people will assign greater weight to a particular cause of behavior if other causes are present that normally would produce a different outcome.
availability heuristic
It is a mental shortcut that enables us to make a judgment based on the ease with which we can recall something. In other words, when making a decision or judgment, we frequently rely on our ability to think of examples.
base-rate information
Information about the relative frequency of events or of members of different categories in a population.
better-than-average effect
The finding that most people think they are above average on various personality trait and ability dimensions.
bottom-up processing
“Data-driven” mental processing, in which an individual forms conclusions based on the stimuli encountered in the environment.
causal attribution
Linking an event to a cause, such as inferring that a personality trait is responsible for a behavior.
cognitive dissonance
It is when we act in a way that contradicts our beliefs. To deal with the uncomfortable feeling, we will either change our actions to align with our beliefs or change our beliefs to match our actions.
An example would be somebody who believes that our society should abolish the death penalty, but they are okay to murder a pedophile. They might justify their beliefs by saying that it is different when someone attacks a child. Or they may change their views on the death penalty.
confirmation bias
The tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence that would support it.
consensus
A type of covariation information: whether most people would behave the same way or differently in a given situation.
consistency
A type of covariation information: whether an individual behaves the same way or differently in a given situation on different occasions.
construal level theory
A theory about the relationship between temporal distance (and other kinds of distance) and abstract or concrete thinking: psychologically distant actions and events are thought about in abstract terms; actions and events that are close at hand are thought about in concrete terms.
contingencies of self-worth
A perspective maintaining that people’s self-esteem is contingent on the successes and failures in domains on which they have based their self-worth.
counterfactual thinking
Thoughts of what might have, could have, or should have happened “if only” something had occurred differently.
covariation principle
The idea that behavior should be attributed to potential causes that occur along with the observed behavior.
discounting principle
The idea that people will assign reduced weight to a particular cause of behavior if other plausible causes might have produced it.
distinctiveness
A type of covariation information: whether a behavior is unique to a particular situation or occurs in many or all situations.
emotional amplification
An increase in an emotional reaction to an event that is proportional to how easy it is to imagine the event not happening.
explanatory style
A person’s habitual way of explaining events, typically assessed along three dimensions:
- internal/external,
- stable/unstable,
- and global/specific.
face
The public image of ourself that we want others to believe.
fluency
The feeling of ease (or difficulty) associated with processing information.
framing effect
The influence on judgment resulting from the way information is presented, such as the order of presentation or the wording.
fundamental attribution error
The failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, along with the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior.
An example would be a man calling a coworker about a project they are supposed to work on for a meeting. The coworker did not respond texts or emails. The man might think that his coworker is a flake or lazy. On Monday, the man learned that actually, his coworker’s kid broke her arm and the coworker was stuck at the hospital all evening.
heuristics
Intuitive mental operations, performed quickly and automatically, that provide efficient answers to common problems of judgment.
How does Social Self develop?
ideal self
The self that embodies people’s wishes and aspirations.
illusory correlation
The belief that two variables are correlated when in fact they are not.
implementation intention
An “if-then” plan to engage in a goal-directed behavior (“then”) whenever a particular cue (“if”) is encountered.
just world hypothesis
The belief that people get what they deserve in life and deserve what they get.
ought self
The self that is concerned with the duties, obligations, and external demands people feel they are compelled to honor.
pluralistic ignorance
Misperception of a group norm that results from observing people who are acting at variance with their private beliefs out of a concern for the social consequences; those actions reinforce the erroneous group norm.
prevention focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ought self standards; a focus on avoiding negative outcomes through avoidance-related behaviors.
primacy effect
A type of order effect: the disproportionate influence on judgment by information presented first in a body of evidence.
priming
The presentation of information designed to activate a concept and hence make it accessible. A prime is the stimulus presented to activate the concept in question.
subliminal
Below the threshold of conscious awareness.
promotion focus
Self-regulation of behavior with respect to ideal self standards; a focus on attaining positive outcomes through approach-related behaviors.
recency effect
A type of order effect: the disproportionate influence on judgment by information presented last in a body of evidence.
reflected self-appraisal
A belief about what others think of one’s self.
regression effect
The statistical tendency, when two variables are imperfectly correlated, for extreme values of one of them to be associated with less extreme values of the other.
regression fallacy
The failure to recognize the influence of the regression effect and to offer a causal theory for what is really a simple statistical regularity.
representativeness heuristic
ìt is a mental shortcut that aids in decision-making by comparing data to mental templates. For instance, if an older lady is described as warm and kind, with a strong affinity for children, the majority of us will believe she is a grandmother. She conforms to our mental image of a grandma, and so falls into that group immediately.
self-affirmation theory
The idea that people can maintain an overall sense of self-worth following psychologically threatening information by affirming a valued aspect of themselves unrelated to the threat.
self-discrepancy theory
A theory that behavior is motivated by standards reflecting ideal and ought selves. Falling short of these standards produces specific emotions: dejection-related emotions in the case of actual-ideal discrepancies and agitation-related emotions in the case of actual-ought discrepancies.
self-enhancement
The desire to maintain, increase, or protect one’s positive self-views.
self-esteem
The overall positive or negative evaluation people have of themselves.
self-fulfilling prophecy
The tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the very thing they expect to happen.
self-handicapping
The tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior in order to have an excuse ready should one perform poorly or fail.
self-monitoring
The tendency to monitor one’s behavior to fit the current situation.
self-presentation
Presenting the person we would like others to believe we are.
self-regulation
Processes by which people initiate, alter, and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals, including the ability to resist short-term rewards that thwart the attainment of long-term goals.
self-serving attributional bias
The tendency to attribute failure and other bad events to external circumstances and to attribute success and other good events to oneself.
self-schema
A cognitive structure, derived from past experience, that represents a person’s beliefs and feelings about the self, both in general and in specific situations.
self-verification theory
According to the self-verification theory of psychology people strongly want others to see them in the same way as they see themselves. This is true whether their self-concept is positive or negative
situationism
The notion that our social self changes across different contexts.
social class
The amount of wealth, education, and occupational prestige individuals and their families have.
social cognition
The study of how people make sense of other people, themselves, social situations, and social relationships.
social comparison theory
The idea that people compare themselves to other people to obtain an accurate assessment of their own opinions, abilities, and internal states.
sociometer hypothesis
The idea that self-esteem is an internal, subjective index or marker of the extent to which a person is included or looked on favorably by others.
top-down processing
“Theory-driven” mental processing, in which an individual filters and interprets new information in light of preexisting knowledge and expectations.
What are Social Psychology’s Big Ideas?
- *1. We construct our social reality**
- *2. Social intuitions are driving forces…for better or for worse**
- *3. Social influences shape behavior**
- *4. We all have attitudes and dispositions**
- *5. Biology influences social behavior**
What are the 5 types of judgments errors?
- Our judgments are only as accurate as of the information we have at hand, and that information is not necessarily representative or comprehensive.
- The sequence and framing of information can influence our judgments.
- We don’t merely passively absorb data. We deliberately seek it out, and a widespread bias can skew our judgments.
- Our prior knowledge and mental habits can significantly impact how we interpret new information.
- Social cognition is based on the intricate interplay of two mental systems: reason and intuition.
What is personal identity?
The aspect of self that is composed of psychological traits and dispositions that gives an individual personal uniqueness.
What is social identity?
Aspects of an individual’s self-identity that derive from his or her knowledge of being a member of categories and groups of people, along with thevalue and emotional significanceattached to those memberships.
What Is Social Psychology?
It is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another:
- Social thinking: perception, beliefs, judgments, attitudes.
- Social influence: culture, conformity, persuasion, groups.
- Social relations: prejudice, aggression, attraction, intimacy
What is the Self?
working self-concept
A subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind in a particular context.
implicit attitude
Attitudes that are at the unconscious level, are involuntarily formed and are typically unknown to us.
explicit attitude
What are the 3 Ds of cognitive dissonance theory?
To avoid or reduce the aversive feeling, we engage in the 3 D’s:
- Deny = Irrational behavior
- Distort = Cognitive distortions
- Defend = Rationalization
