Unit 9- Social Psychology (8-10%) Flashcards
Mere Exposure Effect
familiarity breeding fondness
Central Route Persuasion
attitude change path in which interested people focus on arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
Peripheral Route Persuasion
Attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues such as a speaker’s attractiveness
Richard LaPiere
Attitudes affect actions
Cognitive Dissonance
The tension we feel when our actions go against our attitudes so we often bring our attitudes into line with our actions
Leon Festinger
proposed the cognitive dissonance theory
Foot in the door phenomenon
Tendency for people who first complied with a smaller request to later comply with a larger one
Door in the face phenomenon
Tendency for people to deny a large request right away
Attribution
People usually attribute others’ behavior either to their internal dispositions or to their external situations
Fundamental Attribution error
overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the influence of situations
Harold Kelley
One of the pioneers of attribution theory
False-Consensus effect
Tendency of people to overestimate the level to which other people share their beliefs, attitudes, behaviors.
Self-serving bias
The common human tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal characteristics, and one’s failures to factors beyond one’s control
Just-world phenomenon/bias
Idea that good is rewarded and evil is punished
Stereotypes
a thought that can be adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of doing things
Prejudice
unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group—often a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group
Discrimination
Action(s) performed because of a prejudice
Ethnocentrism
the belief that one’s own group (ethnic, social, cultural) is the most important and superior to that of others.
Out-group homogeneity bias
one’s perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members. “they are alike; we are diverse”.
Attitudes
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose our reactions to objects, people, and events
In-Group Bias
The tendency to favor “our group” (the group we share a common identity with)
Superordinate goals
Shared goals between two segregated groups that overrides their differences by creating a common goal
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
The principle that frustration creates anger and anger can lead to aggression
Bystander Effect
The tendency for bystanders to be less likely to aid the victim when other bystanders are present
Social Facilitation
An increase in performance of a well learned task in the presence of others
Conformity
Adjusting ones thoughts and/or actions to coincide with the groups standards
Solomon Asch’s Conformity Study
Tested conformity by having a table of confederates with a subject near the end. Simple questions are given, but when the confederates before the subject answer incorrectly, the subject is inclined to conform and give the wrong answer as well.
Obedience
Compliance with an order, request, law, or an authority figure
Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Study
Tested obedience by making a scenario with a teacher (subject) and a leaner (confederate). The teacher had to deliver increasingly worse shocks to the leaner when the leaner got answers wrong. The learner tot them wrong by purpose and pretended to get shocked and eventually go unconscious. The experimenter encouraged the teacher to deliver the shocks and test the teachers obedience.
Group Norms
Accepted behavior of a group and its members
Social Loafing
When members of a group working together put in less effort due to distributed responsibility
Group polarization
Opinions and views of group members are strengthened through discussion
Groupthink
When group members censor their opinions or knowledge on a topic in favor of harmony within the group
Deindividuation
The loss of self-awareness and control when in a group experiencing arousal
Philip Zimbardo’s Prison Study
Demonstrated that people put in toxic situations can become corrupt. Study had to be ended early because the situation deteriorated quickly.
Factors that contribute to Altruism
Empathy, social exchange theory, and social responsibility
Factors that contribute to Aggression
Genetics, neural like the amygdola, biochemical
Factors that contribute to Attraction
Proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity
Social trap
When both sides oppose each other and pursue their purpose, but become caught in mutually destructive behavior
Social Reciprocity Norm
The expectation that people will help others that have helped them
Social Responsibility Norm
The expectation that people will help those in dependent on them
Mirror-image perceptions
Mutual views held by opposing groups where one believes they are good (in group) and the others (out group) are evil
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A belief that leads to it’s own fulfillment
Compliance
the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people (real or imagined) have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior; social influence is the driving force behind compliance.
Normative Social Influence
Where a person conforms to fit in with the group because they don’t want to appear foolish or be left out. Normative social influence is usually associated with compliance, where a person changes their public behavior but not their private beliefs
Informational Social Influence
Where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right, and look to others who they believe may have more information. When we don’t know an answer or how to act, we look to others assuming they know more than us.
