Social Psychology Flashcards
The scientific study of how individual think, feel, and behave in social context.
Social Psychology
The ways people are affected by the real or imagined pressures of others.
Social Influence
Unconsciously mimicking others automatically without thought or effort.
Chameleon Effect
The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.
Conformity
Scientist who invented a test in which participants were asked to identify which line was longest, participants would answer wrong even if they knew it was to not seem different or weird.
Solomon Asch
Influence that produces conformity when a person believes others are correct in their judgements.
Informational Influence
When we conform so we fit in with a group. It also occurs when we don’t want to appear different.
Normative Influence
Changing one’s behavior at the direct command of an authority figure (person with social power.)
Obedience
A scientist who designed an experiment that measured how obedient a participant was when told to do something inhumane by someone of power. People who agree early are more likely to agree later, Foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
Stanley Milgram
The most influential experiment that involved conforming to a role. Participants were put in jail and slowly began to conform to their roles as guard and inmate.
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
A phenomenon in which the more people that are present to help during a time of emergency the less likely people are to give aid.
Bystander Effect
Because there are other observers, individuals do not feel as much pressure to take action is thought to be shared among all of those present.
Diffusion of Responsibility
A process by which the presence of others enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs performance on difficult tasks. (Similar to Optimum Arousal Theory.)
Social Facilitation
Tendency of an individual to put forth less effort when they are part of a group.
Social Loafing
The loss of a person’s sense of individuality and the reduction of normal constraints against deviant behaviors. Individuals will not be held responsible for their actions.
Deindividuation
The exaggeration of initial tendencies in the thinking of group members through group discussions.
Group Polarization
A group decision-making style characterized by an excessive tendency among group members to seek agreement. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints.
Groupthink
A situation in which a self-interested choice by everyone will create the worst outcome for everyone. (Ex. One person decides to litter, but so does everyone else, causing a huge amount of litter.)
Social trap/dilema
Overgeneralized mental schemas about a group of people based only on their membership in a group not on any individual characteristics.
Stereotype
Unjustified negative attitude about a group of people based on their memberships in a group. (Ex. Sports kids are all the worst because they play sports.)
Prejudice
Unjustified negative behavior toward members of a target group (individual level) based on their race, ethnicity, or other shared characteristic.
Discrimination
Categorization of a person or group based on their race or ethnicity and the systematic mistreatment of people in the targeted group.
Racism
A situation in which people feel at risk of performing as their group is expected to perform.
Stereotype Threat
Expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way then tends to make it true. (Ex. I think Isabelle is mad at me, because of this I act nasty towards her, this causes her to become angry at me.)
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Group that we identify with “us” or see ourselves as belonging to (gender, race, age, socio-economic group.)
In-Groups
Tendency to use your own culture as the standard by which to judge and evaluate other cultures. (Ex. because my culture doesn’t believe in drinking, must mean that cultures that do believe in drinking must be weird and wrong.)
Ethnocentrism
Social group with whom a person does not identify with.
Out-Groups
Our reactions are more likely to be aggressive in situations where experience has taught us that aggression pays off.
Social Learning
The idea that people become aggressive when they’re frustrated by being blocked from reaching a goal. (Ex. I’m trying to drive home but become stuck in traffic, because of this I get aggressive and annoyed.)
Frustration-Aggression Principle
The unselfish concern for other people; doing things simply out of a desire to help, not because you feel obligated to.
Alturism
Argues that altruism only exists when the benefits outweigh the costs.
Social Exchange Theory
Social expectation in which we feel pressured to help others if they have already done something for us.
Reciprocity Norm
