Social Thinking Flashcards
Interpersonal attraction
Is what makes people like each other and is influenced by multiple factors
Golden ratio
Physical attractiveness, which is increased with symmetry and proportions close to the golden ratio
What else influences interpersonal attraction?
Similar attitudes, intelligence, education, height, age, religion, appearance, socioeconomic status
Self-disclosure
Includes sharing fears, thoughts, and goals with another person and being met with empathy and nonjudgement
Reciprocity
In which we like people who we think like us
Proximity
Being physically close to someone
Aggression
Physical, verbal, or nonverbal behavior with the intention to cause harm or increase social dominance
Attachment
Emotional bond to another person, and usually refers to the bond between a child and a caregiver.
Secure attachment
Requires a consistent caregiver so the child is able to go out and explore, knowing he or she has a secure base to return to; the child will show strong preference for the caregiver
Avoidant attachement
Occurs when a caregiver has little or no response to a distressed, crying child; the child shows no preference for the caregiver compared to strangers
Ambivalent attachment
Occurs when a caregiver has an inconsistent response to a child’s distress, sometimes responding appropriately, sometimes neglectful; the child will become distressed when the caregiver leaves and is ambivalent (mixed feelings) when he or she leaves
Disorganized attachment
Occurs when a caregiver is erratic or abusive; the child shows no clear pattern of behavior in response to the caregiver’s absence or presence and may show repetitive behaviors
Social support
Perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network
Emotional support
Includes listening to, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings
Esteem support
Affirms the qualities and skills of the person
Material support
Providing physical or monetary resources to aid a person
Informational support
Providing useful information to a person
Network support
Providing a sense of belonging to a person
Foraging
Searching for and exploiting food resources
Mating system
Describes the way in which a group is organized in terms of sexual behavior
Monogamy
Exclusive mating relationships
Polygamy
Consists of one member of a sex having multiple exclusive relationships with members of the opposite sex, including polygyny ( a male with multiple females), and polyandry ( a female with multiple males)
Promiscuity
Allows a member of one sex to mate with any member of the opposite sex without exclusivity
Mate choice/intersexual selection
Selection of a mate based on attractions and traits
Altruism
Form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to him- or herself
Game theory
Attempts to explain decision-making between individuals as if they are participating in a game
Inclusive fitness
Measure of an organism’s success in the population. This is based on the number of offspring, success in supporting offspring, and the ability of the offspring to then support others
Social perception/social cognition
Way by which we generate impressions about people in our social environment. It contains a perceiver, his or her target, and the situation or social context of the scenario
Implicit personality theory
People make assumptions about how different types of people, their traits, and their behaviors are related
Primacy effect
When first impressions are more important than subsequent impressions
Recency effect
When the most recent information we have about an individual is most important in forming our relationships
Reliance on central traits
Tendency to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics that matter to the perceiver
Halo effect
When judgments of an individual’s character can be affected by the overall impression of the individual
Just-world hypothesis
Tendency to believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
Self-serving bias
Individuals will view their own successes as being based on internal factors, while viewing failures as being based on external factors
Attribution theory
Tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior.
Disposition (internal) causes
Those that relate to the features of the person whose behavior is being considered
Situational (external) causes
Related to features of the surroundings or social context
Correspondent inference theory
Used to describe attributions made by observing the intentional (especially unexpected) behaviors performed by another person
Fundamental attribution theory
Bias toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions in regard to the actions of others
Attribute substitution
Occurs when individuals must make judgments that are complex but instead substitute a simpler solution or heurisitic
Attribution and culture relationship
Attributions are highly influenced by the culture in which one resides
Stereotypes
When attitudes and impressions are made based on limited and superficial information about a person or a group of individuals
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Stereotypes can lead to expectations of a certain groups, which can create conditions that lead to confirmation of the stereotype
Stereotype threat
Concern or anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group
Prejudice
Irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing prior to actual experience
Ethnocentrism
Practice of making judgments about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture
In-group
Social group with which a person experiences a sense of belonging
Out-group
Social group in which an individual does not identify
Cultural relativism
Recognition that social groups and cultures should be studied in their own terms
Discrimination
Prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently from others
Individual discrimination
One person discriminating against a particular group or person
Institutional discrimination
Discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire insitution
