Social Psych Flashcards
Self-Serving Bias
We attribute our successes to internal stuff and failures to external stuff
Hardiness
Protective personality trait–includes sense of commitment, challenge (openness to new experiences and change), and sense of control
Influential characteristics of communicators
Attitude change more likely when communicators are credible, and trustworthiness is major factor that contributes to credibility (if arguing against own best interests you seem trustworthy)
Autokinetic effect (Sherif)
Study used perceptual phenomenon in which a stationary point of light seems to move in a dark room to study conformity in groups
Social Judgment Theory
Three categories of judgment used to evaluate persuasive messages–latitude of acceptance, latitude of non-commitment, and latitude of rejection. Most likely to be persuaded when message is within latitude of acceptance.
Psychological Reactance
Tendency to resist being influenced or manipulated, usually by doing the opposite of what is requested or expected
Law of Attraction (Byrne)
We are attracted to others who have similar attitudes because interacting with those people is more rewarding than dissimilar people.
Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis
Frustration plus aggressive cues leads to aggression. Earlier version was just frustration leads to aggression.
Effects of Crowding
Crowded conditions enhance positive experiences and increase unpleasantness of negative experiences. Men are more negatively impacted by crowds, with increased aggressiveness.
Zeigarnik Effect
Tendency to remember interrupted and unfinished tasks better than completed ones, especially in nonstressful situations.
Self-verification theory
We prefer feedback from others that is consistent with our own self-evaluations
Overjustification Hypothesis
When we are rewarded externally for something we found previously intrinsically interesting, intrinsic interest will decrease.
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts used to make attributions and social judgments. Help us make conclusions quickly but can result in errors
Examples: representativeness, availability, simulation, anchoring, adjustment
Epinephrine Studies (Schachter and Singer)
When internal cues are insufficient or hard to interpret, we acquire info about ourselves by observing external behaviors and context.
Barnum Effect
Horoscopes! Tendency to accept vague, general descriptions of oneself as accurate
Theory of Planned Behavior
Attittudes accurately predict behaviors when you measure all three components of one’s attitude (attitude toward engaging in the behavior, what they believe other people think they should do, and perceived behavioral control
Emotion-in-Relationship Model
Helps explain the experience of having strong emotions in close relationships. We generate emotion in response to unexpected events that disrupt ongoing sequence of behaviors.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Inconsistencies in cognitions lead to discomfort. This motivates us to reduce discomfort by changing our cognitions.
Balance Theory
Uses principle of cognitive consistency to explain attitude change. There are relationships between three entities–person (P), another person (O), and a third person, idea, event or object (X). Relations may be unbalanced depending on pattern of likes and dislikes among the entities.
Robber’s Cave Study (Sherif)
Boys summer camp study. Best way to reduce hostility across groups is to give them a common goal.
Levels of Racism
Cultural, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized
Fundamental Attribution Bias
Tendency to overestimate dispositional causes and underestimate situational causes when making attributions about someone else’s behavior
Effects of media violence
Viewing media aggression increases aggression and impacts your perception that you will be a victim of violence
Catharsis Hypothesis
NOT supported in research. Idea that acting aggressively will reduce arousal level and likelihood of more aggression.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Cognitive theory of attitude change. There are two info processing routes: central and peripheral. Use of central route is more likely when listener has high motivation, ability to process the info, and listener is in a negative or neutral mood. Use of peripheral more likely when listener is unmotivated, lacks ability to process, and/or in a positive mood.
Social Comparison Theory
People use other, usually similar people, as sources of comparison to evaluate own attitudes and behaviors.
Intraindividual Conflict (Lewin and Miller)
Four intraindividual or motivational conflicts: approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach avoidance, or double approach-avoidance (which is when we have to decide between two goals that both have pos and neg qualities). Double is hardest to resolve.
Equity Theory
Motivation to remain in a relationship is affected by perceived input/outcome ratio of oneself and partner.
Contact Hypothesis
Prejudice may be reduced through contact between groups. Following conditions MUST be met: equal status and power, provided with opportunities that disconfirm neg stereotypes, and intergroup cooperation is necessary to achieve goals.
Base Rate Fallacy
Tendency to underutilize or ignore relevant stat data and instead rely on irrelevant info when making a judgment
Symbolic Racism
“New” version of racism. Minorities violate traditional american values and prejudice towards them are denied and majority group attributes inequities to internal factors of minority group members (lack of work ethic)
Self-Perception Theory
We make attributions about own attitudes and behaviors on basis of observations of own behavior and other external cues.
Misery loves miserable company
We affiliate most with others who are in similar circumstances
Gender differences in affiliation
Women spend more time engaged in convo, more likely to talk to those of same gender, and affiliate more in public than men.
Bases of social power (French and Raven)
6 bases of power that induce compliance: coercive, reward, expert, legitimate, referent, and informational
Deindividuation Model
State of relative anonymity that allows someone to feel unidentifiable. Associated with antisocial behavior because people feel less guilt and fear of evaluation.
Field Theory
Human behavior is a product of independent factors in the person and their social enviro
Jigsaw Method
Method of learning in which group members are assigned different pieces of project. Lots of positive impacts, especially for minority group members.
Social Exchange Theory
A person’s decision to leave is dependent on relationship’s cost and rewards. Likely to stay if rewards are greater than costs.
Attitude Inoculation
Method of reducing effectiveness of a persuasive message based on the medical model. Give recipients arguments against own position and weak counterarguments.
Characteristics of the communication
Level of discrepancy between positions of recipient and message, order in which things are presented, and whether message is delivered intentionally or overheard.
Actor-Observer Bias
Tendency for an observer to overestimate effects of dispositional factors when making attributions about others, but overestimate situational when making self-attributions.
Gain-Loss Effect
People tend to be most attracted to individuals who show increasing liking over time (least attracted when decreasing).
Minority Influence
Minority can influence majority but maintaining a consistent position
Schemata (schemas)
cog structures that help organize past info and experience to provide a framework for understanding new info and experiences.
