Psy15 Chapter 1: Invitation to Social Psychology Flashcards
social psychology
The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations
dispositions
Internal factors such as beliefs, values, personality traits, or abilities that guide a person’s behavior
fundamental attribution error
The failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, and the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions or traits on behavir
channel factors
Certain situational circumstances that appear unimportant on the surface but that can have great consequences for behavior, either facilitating or blocking it or guiding behavior in a particular direction
construal
People’s interpretation and inferences about the stimuli or situations they confront
Gestalt psychology
Based on the German word gestalt, meaning “form” or “figure”, this approach stresses the fact that people perceive objects not by means of some automatic registering device by by active, usually unconscious interpretation of what the object represents as a whole
prisoner’s dilemma
A situation involving payoffs to two people, who must decide whether to “cooperate”
or “defect.” In the end, trust and cooperation lead to higher joint payoffs than mistrust and defection
schema
A knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored information
natural selection
An evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so that traits that enhance the probability of survival and reproduction are passed on to subsequent generations
theory of mind
The understanding that other people have beliefs and desires
parental investment
The evolutionary principle that costs and benefits are associated with reproduction and the nurturing of offspring. Because these costs and benefits are different for males and females, one sex will normally value and invest more in each child than will the other sex
naturalisitic fallacy
The claim that the way things are is the way they should be
independent (individualistic) cultures
Cultures in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities, tied to each other by voluntary bonds of affection and organizational memberships but essentially separate from other people and having attributes that exist in the absence of any connection to others
interdependent (collectivistic) cultures
Cultures in which people tend to define themselves as part of a collective, inextricably tied to others in their group and placing less importance on individual freedom or personal control over their lives
