Social Psychology (Chapter 13) Flashcards
Social psychology
Study of the causes and consequences of sociality
Frustration–aggression hypothesis
States that all animals aggress when their goals are frustrated
Different conflicts leading to aggression:
Approach-approach conflict — two pleasing goals
Approach-avoidance conflict — both pleasant and unpleasant outcomes for the same goal
Avoidance-avoidance conflict — two unpleasant goals
Superordinate goal
Goal that can be attained only if the members of different groups work together
The prisoner’s dilemma
Two players acting selfishly will ultimately result in suboptimal choice for both
Group
Collection of people who have something in common that distinguishes them from others
Prejudice
Positive or negative evaluation of another person based on group membership
Group polarization
The tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than any member would have made alone
Groupthink
The tendency for groups to reach consensus in order to facilitate interpersonal harmony
Deindividuation
Occurs when immersion in a group causes people to become less aware of their individual values
Social facilitation
Presence of others generally enhances performance
Social loafing
Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort than they would individually
Diffusion of responsibility
The more people in an emergency, the less personally responsible each individual feels
Bystander effect/Bystander apathy
Tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present
Altruism
Unselfish behavior that provides benefit to others at some cost to the individual
Reciprocity norm
Expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them
Reciprocal Altruism
behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future
Homophily
Tendency of people to like people who are similar to themselves
Factors affecting attraction
Proximity (mere exposure effect)
Physical attractiveness (people find symmetrical faces more attractive)
Similarity of attitudes and interests (matching principle)
Halo effect
An impression created in one area (ex. physical appearance) will influence opinion in another area (ex. character)
Self-Serving Bias
We attribute positive events and successes to our own character or actions, but blame negative results to external factors unrelated to our character
Just-World Hypothesis
The idea that the world is a fair and orderly place where what happens to people generally is what they deserve
Overjustification effect
Expected reward decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a behavior (professional singers don’t sing just to relax)
Reactance
An unpleasant feeling that arises when people feel they are being coerced
Social script
knowledge about a series of behaviors, actions, and consequences that are expected in a particular situation or environment
Fundamental attribution error (Richard Nisbett)
Observers underemphasize situational and environmental factors for the behavior of an actor while overemphasizing dispositional or personality factors.
Actor-observer bias
Tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors while making dispositional attributions for the identical behaviors of others
Attribution Theory
Explaining the internal (by person) or external (by situation) causes of people’s behavior
Peripheral route/ heuristic persuasion
Attention-getting cues to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes (celebrity endorsements)
Central route/ systematic persuasion
Evidence and arguments to trigger careful thinking and thoughtful responses; uses data and facts (logic)
Normative social influence
we conform to gain social approval or to avoid rejection
Informational social influence
we conform because we like to be accurate, we accept others’ opinions as new information
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
People agreeing to a small request will find it easier to agree later to a larger one
Door-in-the-Face Technique
Enhancing compliance by making an extreme initial request followed by a more moderate target request
Cognitive dissonance
Conflict one has when their actions do not match their beliefs
