social psych Flashcards
earliest social psych experiments
before the 1900s
year of the first social psychology textbooks
1908
“the father of social psychology”
Kurt Lewin
cognitive dissonance (Leon festinger)
a conflicting situation where discomfort is produced when ones actions does not reflect their personal beliefs. this results in changes of behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes in order to restore balance
social cognition
how our knowledge of our social worlds develops through experience and how those knowledge structures influence memory (info processing, attitudes, judgement)
things that impact social behavior
individual characteristics, personality traits, desires, motivations, emotions
social situation
-the people you interact with everyday. friends, family, religous groups, people on TV, people we read about, people we think about, ect.
social influence
the process through which other people change our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and through which we change theirs.
person-situation interaction formula (kurt lewin)
B(behavior) = f(P(internal factors)E(external factors)
characteristics of newborns
recognize faces & respond to human voices
characteristics of young children
learn language, develop friendships with other children
characteristics of adolescence
start to become interested in “other relationships”
characteristic of most adults
partner up and have children
characteristic of most people
get along with others
skills of our genetic code
make judgements, help others, and enjoy working together in social groups
evolutionary adaptation
the assumption that human nature and much of our social behavior stems largely from our evolutionary past
fitness
how much having a given characteristic helps an organism survive/reproduce at a higher rate than others who do not have the characteristic
self-concern (motivation)
the motivation to protect and enhance the self and people who are close to us
(food and water, protection)
other-concern (motivation)
the motivation to affiliate with, accept, and be accepted by others
Kin selection (self-concern)
strategies that favor the reproductive success of relatives, even if it is at the cost of the individuals survival
ingroup (self-concern)
those whom we view as being similar and important to us and whom we share close social connections
the fundamental goal of affiliating ourselves with other people
finding a romantic partner to have children with
the reason humans generally behave morally to eachother
they understand that it is wrong to harm other people and it is important to display compassion and altruism
socially disapproved actions
negative behaviors (bullying, cheating, aggression, stealing)
the fundamental motivation of other concern means…
hostility and violence are the exception of human behavior, rather than the rule.
internal attribution causes
specific to the person
external attribution causes
social, luck, weather, ect.
unstable attribution causes
temporary influence
stable attribution causes
enduring/permanent
controllable/uncontrollable attribution causes
power over some things but not others
Actor (attribution)
the person producing a behavior
observer (attribution)
person observing a behavior
fundamental attribution error
an overestimation of the importance of external factors when seeking an explanation of an “actors” behavior
Representativeness heuristic
matching a person and a stereotype/physical characteristic rather than available reliable information
false consensus effect
tendency to overvalue the prevalence of ones own beleifs, values, and behaviors
self esteem
the degree to which we have positive or negative feelings about ourselves
positive illusions
positive views of self that are not necessarily rooted in reality
self serving bias
tendency to take credit for successes and deny failures
self objectification
tendency to see self as an object in others eyes
Stereotype threat
fast acting fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype of a group
social comparison
evaluation of self in comparison to others (thoughts, behaviors, abilities)
circumstances where attitude can predict behavior
if its strong, rehearsed and practiced, or if its about an issue with direct implications for the persons life
self perception theory (bem)
we make inferences about our attitudes by perceiving our behaviors
self persuasion
people are not coerced, they choose it themselves through self persuasion
communicator (speaker) in terms of persuasion
traits and characteristics
medium (text) in terms of persuasion
matched to the audience
target (audience) in terms of persuasion
demographics, strength, attitude
message (subject) in terms of persuasion
rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos)
elaboration likelihood model
central & peripheral routes
central route (ELM)
engage the audience thoughtfully with sound, logical arguments
Peripheral route (ELM)
engage the audience through personal appeal, emotion, and on occasion trickery.
Altruism
unselfish interest in helping others in order to benefit them
egoism
helping someone else for personal gain
prosocial behavior
helping others (influenced by media, empathy, personality, mood)
antisocial behavior
Negatively impacting society/others
biological agression influences
limbic system, frontal lobe, serotonin, hormones, ect.
psychological agression influences
personality, aggressive thoughts, observational learning
conformity
a change in behavior to fit more closely with the standards of a group
Psychological conformity factors
influence because we want to be right (AKA informational social influence), influence because we want to be right (AKA normative social influence)
cultural conformity factors
Individuality, cultural collectivism
deindividuation
erosion of personal identity when in groups
prisoners dilemma
the idea that two totally rational people will not work together even when its in their best interest to do so
social loafing
tendency to put in less individual effort in group because of reduced accountability
social contagion
spread of action, emotion, and ideas based on imitation
social facilitation
improvement of individual based on presence of other
risky shift
group decision
group polarization effect
an individuals position gets strengthened because of group discussion or interaction
groupthink
making decisions based more on group harmony than on being the “right” decision
mere exposure effect
we like things that we are around more
consensual validation
we are attracted to people who are like us
Wuv?
social exchange theory
social relationships involve an exchange of goods (the objective is to minimize costs and maximize benefits)
investment model
a model of long term relationships looking at how commitment, investment, and availability of attractive alternative partners predict satisfaction and stability in relationships
