Terms Chp 4-6

Question 2

actor-observer effect

Answer 2

The tendency to attribute our own behaviour to situational causes and the behaviour of others to personal factors.

Question 3

attribution theory

Answer 3

A group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behaviour.

Question 4

availability heuristic

Answer 4

The tendency to estimate the likelihood that an event will occur by how easily instances of it come to mind.

Question 5

base-rate fallacy

Answer 5

The finding that people are relatively insensitive to consensus information presented in the form of numerical base rates.

Question 6

belief in a just world

Answer 6

The belief that individuals get what they deserve in life, an orientation that leads people to disparage victims.

Question 7

belief in perseverance

Answer 7

The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited.

Question 8

central traits

Answer 8

Traits that exert a powerful influence on overall impressions.

Question 9

confirmation bias

Answer 9

The tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs.

Question 10

counterfactual thinking

Answer 10

The tendency to imagine alternative events or outcomes that might have occurred but did not.

Question 11

fundamental attribution error

Answer 11

The tendency to focus on the role of personal causes and underestimate the impact of situations on other people’s behaviour. This error is sometimes called correspondence bias.

Question 12

implicit personality theory

Answer 12

A network of assumptions people make about the relationships among traits and behaviours.

Question 13

impression formation

Answer 13

The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression.

Question 14

information integration theory

Answer 14

The theory that impressions are based on perceiver dispositions and a weighted average of a target person’s traits.

Question 15

primacy effect

Answer 15

The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on impressions than information presented later.

Question 16

priming

Answer 16

The tendency for recently used or perceived words or ideas to come to mind easily and influence the interpretation of new information

Question 17

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 17

The process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations.

Question 18

social perception

Answer 18

A general term for the processes by which people come to understand one another.

Question 19

ambivalent sexism

Answer 19

A form of sexism characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative, resentful beliefs and feelings, and affectionate, chivalrous, but potentially patronizing beliefs and feelings.

Question 20

contact hypothesis

Answer 20

The theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce prejudice under certain conditions

Question 21

discrimination

Answer 21

Negative behaviour directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group

Question 22

group illusory correlation

Answer 22

An overestimate of the association between variables that are only slightly or not at all correlated.

Question 23

implicit racism

Answer 23

Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally

Question 24

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Answer 24

A covert measure of unconscious attitudes, it is derived from the speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts, such as black or white with good or bad.

Question 25

in-group favouritism

Answer 25

The tendency to discriminate in favour of ingroups over outgroups.

Question 26

ingroups

Answer 26

Groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity.

Question 27

jigsaw classroom

Answer 27

A cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group efforts.

Question 28

modern racism

Answer 28

A form of prejudice that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and easy to rationalize.

Question 29

outgroup homogeneity effect

Answer 29

The tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than among members of ingroups

Question 30

outgroups

Answer 30

Groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging, or identity.

Question 31

prejudice

Answer 31

Negative feelings toward persons based on their membership in certain groups.

Question 32

racism

Answer 32

Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s racial background, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another.

Question 33

realistic conflict theory

Answer 33

The theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited resources

Question 34

relative deprivation

Answer 34

Feelings of discontent aroused by the belief that one fares poorly compared to others.

Question 35

sexism

Answer 35

Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s gender, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender over another.

Question 36

social categorization

Answer 36

The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.

Question 37

social dominance orientation

Answer 37

A desire to see one’s ingroups as dominant over other groups and a willingness to adopt cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups.

Question 38

social identity theory

Answer 38

The theory that people favour ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self- esteem.

Question 39

social role theory

Answer 39

The theory that small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting social roles occupied by men and women.

Question 40

stereotype

Answer 40

A belief or association that links a whole group of people with certain traits or characteristics.

Question 41

stereotype content model

Answer 41

A model proposing that the relative status and competition between groups influence group stereotypes along the dimensions of competence and warmth.

Question 42

stereotype threat

Answer 42

The experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about one’s group.

Question 43

subliminal presentation

Answer 43

A method of presenting stimuli so faintly or rapidly that people do not have any conscious awareness of having been exposed to them.

Question 44

superordinate goals

Answer 44

A shared goal that can be achieved only through cooperation among individuals or group

Question 45

group

Answer 45

Two or more persons perceived as related because of their interactions with each other over time, membership in the same social category, or common fate.

Question 46

cross-race identification bias

Answer 46

The tendency for people to have difficulty identifying members of a race other than their own.

Question 47

attitude

Answer 47

A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea.

Question 48

attitude scale

Answer 48

A multiple-item questionnaire designed to measure a person’s attitude toward some object.

Question 49

bogus pipeline

Answer 49

A fake lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful answers to sensitive questions.

Question 50

central route to persuasion

Answer 50

The process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments.

Question 51

cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 51

The theory that holding inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce.

Question 52

elaboration

Answer 52

The process of thinking about and scrutinizing the arguments contained in a persuasive communication.

Question 53

facial electromyograph (EMG)

Answer 53

An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes.

Question 54

implicit attitude

Answer 54

An attitude—such as prejudice— that one is not aware of having.

Question 55

Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP)

Answer 55

A way of measuring unconscious attitudes, similar to the IAT, that focuses on cognition and specific relations rather than general associations.

Question 56

inoculation hypothesis

Answer 56

The idea that exposure to weak versions of a persuasive argument increases later resistance to that argument.

Question 57

insufficient deterrence

Answer 57

A condition in which people refrain from engaging in a desirable activity, even when only mild punishment is threatened

Question 58

insufficient justification

Answer 58

A condition in which people freely perform an attitude- discrepant behaviour without receiving a large reward.

Question 59

need for cognition (NC)

Answer 59

A personality variable that distinguishes people on the basis of how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities.

Question 60

peripheral route to persuasion

Answer 60

The process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues

Question 61

persuasion

Answer 61

The process by which attitudes are changed

Question 62

psychological reactance

Answer 62

The theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive.

Question 63

sleeper effect

Answer 63

A delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source

Question 64

theory of planned behaviour

Answer 64

The theory that attitudes toward a specific behaviour combine with subjective norms and perceived control to influence a person’s actions.

Question 65

group

Answer 65

two or more people perceived as having at least one of the following characteristics: (1) direct interactions with each other over a period of time; (2) joint membership in a social category based on sex, race, or other attributes; (3) a shared, common fate, identity, or set of goals.