Key Terms Flashcards
Cognitive Representation
A body of knowledge that an individual has stored in memory
Salience
The ability of a cue to attract attention in its context
Association
A link between two or more cognitive representations
Accessibility
The processing principle that the information that is most readily available generally has the most impact on thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
Priming
The activation of a cognitive representation to increase its accessibility and thus the likelihood that it will be used
Kelley’s attribution theory
People decide what attributions to make after considering the consistency, distinctiveness and consensus of a person’s behaviour
Correspondent interference
The tendency to infer an actor’s personal characteristics from observed behaviours, even when the inference is unjustified because other possible causes of the behaviour exist
Fundamental attribution error
Bias in attributing another’s behaviour more to internal than to situational causes
Superficial processing
Relying on accessible information to make inferences or judgements, while expending little effort in processing
Systematic processing
Giving thorough, effortful consideration to a wide range or information relevant to a judgement
Causal attribution
A judgement about the cause of a behaviour or other event
Self-fulfilling prophecy
The process by which one person’s expectations about another become reality by eliciting behaviours that confirm the expectations
Social psychology
The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way individuals perceive, influence, and relate to others
Social processes
The ways in which input from the people and groups around us affect our thoughts, feelings, and actions
Cognitive processes
The ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and motives influence our understanding of the world and guide our actions
Construction of reality
The axiom that each person’s view of reality is a construction, shaped both by cognitive processes (the ways our minds work) and by social processes (input from others either actually present or imagined)
Pervasiveness of social influence
The axiom that other people influence virtually all of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, wether those others are physically present or not
Seeking connectedness
The motivational principle that people seek support, liking, and acceptance from the people and groups they care about and value
Scientific theory
A statement that satisfies three requirements: it is about constructs; it describes causal relations; and it is general in scope, although the range of generality differs for different theories
Constructs
Abstract and general concepts that are used in theories and that are not directly observable
Construct validity
The extent to which a test measure correspond to the theoretical constructs under investigation
Internal validity
The extent to which is can be concluded that changes in the independent variable actually caused changes in the dependent variable in a research study
No experimental research
A research design in which both the independent and the dependent variables are measured
Experimental research
A research design in which researchers randomly assign participants to different groups and manipulate one or more independent variables
Random assignment
The procedure of assigning participants to different experimental groups so that every participant has exactly the same chance as every other participant of being in any given group
External validity
The extender to which research results can be generalised to other appropriate people, times, and settings
Self awareness
A state of heightened awareness of the self, internal standards and wether we measure up to them
Self expression
A motive for choosing behaviours that are intended to reflect and express the self concept
Self presentation
A motive for choosing behaviours intended to create in observers a desired impression of the self
Self monitoring
A personality characteristic defined as the degree to which people are sensitive to the demands of social situations and shape their behaviours accordingly
Coping strategies
Efforts undertaken to reduce negative consequences of self-threatening events
Exchange relationship
A relationship in which people exchange rewards in order to receive benefits in return
Cost-reward ration
Tenet of social exchange theory, according to which looking for another is determined by calculating what it will cost to be reinforced by the other individual
Communal relationship
A relationship in which people reward their partner out of direct concern and to show caring
Interdependence
A situation in which each person’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviours influence those of other people
Close relationship
A relationship involving strong and frequent interdependence in many domains of life
Intimacy
A positive emotional bond that includes understanding and support
Commitment
The combined forces that hold the partners together in an eduring relationship
Attachment styles
People’s basic securely attached, avoidant, or anxious orientation toward others in close relationships
Social support
Emotional and physical coping resources provided by other people
Health Concordance
Researchers have found that couples often couples often have similar or concordant health statuses
Health concordant behaviours
Couples are highly consistent in the healthy/unhealthy behaviours they perform, and a change in one partner’s health behaviour is often associated with a change in the other partner’s behaviour
Behaviour convergence
Those in relationships share a lifestyle as well as common stressors, e.g., common living environment, pool resources, eat together, share social networks.
Cortisol
Is a hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body
Intimacy groups
groups that are clearly tied together
Task groups
Groups that come together temporarily to achieve a specific goal
Common bond groups
Members have close personal bonds within the group
Common identity groups
members have close personal ties to the group itself
Group socialisation
The dynamic nature of a group over time, coming together to meet each other’s needs and accomplish goals
Social norms
The uniformities of behaviour and attitudes that determine, organise and differentiate groups from other groups
Descriptive norms
Norms that most people follow, whether they are right or wrong
Injunctive norms
Norms that are perceived as being approved of by other people
Social roles
Shared expectations of how people in a group are supposed to behave
Deviants
People who have deviated too far from the group norms
Imposters
People who pose as legitimate group members but are not - posing threat to the group
role transition
where your membership to a group ends due to a change, or development in which re-socialisation is not an option
schism
when groups break off and smaller groups form
compliance
people do as they are asked and required by formal regulations, but without changing their beliefs
obeisance
people doing as they are told by an authority figure
normative influence
conforming to the positive expectations of other people, to gain approval or avoid disapproval
informational influence
through a desire to be correct, in times of uncertainty others are used as a source of information and can lead to acceptance/conversion
diachronic consistency
each member of the minority must not waver in their opinion, in order to show stability over time
synchronic consistency
all members of the minority group have the same opinion, so are displaying stability across the group and it’s members
stereotypes
simplified but widely shared beliefs about the characteristics of groups and their members
prejudice
any positive or negative evaluation of a social group or it’s members
discrimination
unequal treatment of different people based on the groups or categories to which they belong
social group
two or more people who share some common characteristics that is socially meaningful for themselves or for others
social categorisation
the process of identifying individual people as members of a social group because they share certain features that are typical of the group
illusory correlation
people perceive a relationship between variables even when no such relationship exists
social identity theory
theory of group membership and inter group relations based on self categorisation, social comparison, and the shared constructions of a shared self definition in terms of in group defining properties
implicit association test
reaction time test to measure attitudes - particularly unpopular attitudes that people might conceal
our group homogeneity effect
tendency to see people within a same group as being more ‘similar’ than they really are
motives behind stereotyping
mastery, connectedness, justifying the social structure
confirmation bias
search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs
self-fulfilling prophecy
based on their stereotypes, people treat others in ways that elicit stereotypic behaviour
just world hypothesis
people have a need to believe that their environment is a just and orderly place, where people usually get what they deserve
tokenism
performing positive actions towards members of minority or disadvantaged groups as a reaction to the discrimination they suffer
affirmative action
a collective name for policies designed to promote the employment of people from disadvantaged minority groups
positive feedback bias
the process of giving more positive feedback on work believed to have been performed by a minority member rather than a majority group member
contact hypothesis
the theory that certain types of direct contact between members of hostile groups will reduce stereotyping and prejudice
extended contact effect
finding that people are less prejudiced if they are friends with an in group member who they know to have good friendships with out group members
imagined contact effect
merely imagining positive encounters with people of minority groups will make people feel more positive towards that group
stress
the physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors
stressor
an environmental stimulus or event that causes stress
the social readjustment ratings scale
a measurement of stress based on life events
social support
the provision of assistance or comfort to others, typically to help them cope with biological, psychological, and social stressors
the buffering hypothesis
the protection against stressful experiences that is afforded by an individual’s social support
hostile sexism
women pose a threat to men’s position
benevolent sexism
women are wonderful and necessary for
men’s happiness
