| A | B |
|---|
| Actor-Observer Bias | ● The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational causes and the behavior of others to personal causes. |
| Aggression | ● An act of delivering an aversive stimulus to an unwilling victim. ● Instrumental aggression takes place to satisfy some goal behavior or benefit. ● Hostile aggression results when a frustrated person strikes against someone or something causing the discomfort. |
| Altruism | ● Unselfish concern of one individual for the welfare of another, can be evidenced by selfless sacrifice. ● Theorists debate if there is genetic basis or if altruistic acts are a learned response for the reward of heroism or other reinforcement. |
| Aronson and Gonzalez Racism Study | ● Used jigsaw cooperative learning strategy to integrate Mexican-American children new to the United States into classes. ● Academic achievement of Hispanic students increased when jigsaw was used. ● All students developed more positive ethnic attitudes with cooperative learning. |
| Asch Conformity Study | ● Used confederates and deception in a lab experiment to determine what factors contribute to decisions to conform with group decision about length of lines. ● Subjects were most likely to conform to the obviously wrong decision when all wrong answers were given by confederates. |
| Attitudes | ● Learned predispositions to respond in a favorable or unfavorable way to specific objects, people, or events. ● May be a product of belonging to a particular culture. |
| Attribution Theory | ● Attempts to account for why people behave the way that they do. |
| Bystander Effect | ● Tendency of an observer to be less likely to give aid if other observers are present. |
| Bystander Intervention | ● The active involvement of a person in a situation that appears to require his or her aid. ● A person is more likely to intervene if the person or people who need help are like him or her, or if the person is asked to help. |
| Cognitive Dissonance | ● Changes in attitudes can be motivated by an unpleasant state of tension caused by a disparity between a person's beliefs or attitudes, and his or her behavior. ● If a belief or attitude doesn't match a behavior, the person will change either the attitude or the behavior to relieve tension. |
| Compliance | ● Engaging in a particular behavior at another person's request |
| Contact Theory | ● Equal status contact between antagonistic groups should lower tension and increase harmony |
| Cultural Group | ● People who share behavioral patterns, symbols, values, beliefs, and other human-constructed characteristics that distinguish it from other groups |
| Deindividuation | ● The tendency to lose some self-awareness when in large groups. ● Can result in unusual or uncharacteristic behavior because of group anonymity. ● Antisocial behavior from normally well-behaved individuals may occur; or pro-social behavior may result. |
| Diffusion of Responsibility | ● An explanation of the failure of a bystander to intervene, stating that when several bystanders are present, no one person feels a sense of responsibility for helping. ● Increases in proportion to size of group. |
| Discrimination | ● Unjustified behavior toward an individual or members of a different racial or ethnic group. |
| Dispositional Factors or Attributions | ● Individual personality characteristics or traits that affect a person's behavior. |
| Door-in-the-Face Phenomenon | ● Occurs when someone makes a very large request we are almost certain to refuse and follows up with a smaller one later on, which we are more likely to comply with because of a feeling of guilt. |
| Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion | ● Model that attempts to explain how a persuasive message effects change in the attitude of the receiver. ● Suggests 2 routes through which persuasive messages are processed: the central route and the peripheral route. |
| Ethnic Group | ● Cultural group external to the nation-state that has an ancestral tradition; has distinguishing value orientations, behavioral patterns, and interests. ● Its existence has an influence on the lives of its members, including how they define themselves and are defined. |
| Ethnocentrism | ● The basic belief that our culture is superior to others. ● Can lead to an in-group/out-group belief system based on limited information about others. |
| Festinger Study of Cognitive Dissonance | ● Students who did a boring task were paid a token amount of money or a good amount of money to tell others the task was interesting. ● Students who were paid the token amount changed their perception of the task from boring to interesting. |
| Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon | ● Tendency to comply with a large request if we have previously complied with a smaller request. ● A politician who previously got us to wear a campaign button, gets us to put a sign on the lawn to vote for him or her. |
| Friendships | ● Proximity is the primary determinant of who will initially become friends. ● Similarity of interests and social background, how much they like each other (reciprocal liking), and utilitarian value (complementary needs) can be basis for friendships. |
| Fundamental Attribution Error | ● Our tendency to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the impact of dispositional (personal) factors when assessing why other people acted the way they did. ● When judging others, we tend to make more personal stable attributions. |
| Group Polarization | ● The tendency of like-minded people to become more firmly entrenched in their beliefs and more extreme than any of the individuals before interacting |
| Groupthink | ● Tendency for members of a group to preserve the harmony of the group by failing to raise objections or voice dissenting opinions, engaging in self-censorship. ● Can lead to disastrous decisions that a "devil's advocate" can help avoid. |
| In-Groups | ● Groups of which we are members. ● We tend to favor our own groups, attributing more favorable qualities to "us," which is in-group favoritism. |
| Industrial-Organizational Psychologists | ● Focus on increasing workplace productivity and well-being of employees. ● Can play roles in hiring, team-building, and providing a work/learning environment that helps people increase their productivity by applying social psychology concepts. |
| Informational Social Influence | ● Accepting others' opinions about reality, especially in conditions of uncertainty |
| Jigsaw Cooperative Learning | ● Expert groups of students from diverse backgrounds learn one part of a lesson, and then share their information in jigsaw groups with other students. ● Self-esteem and achievement of "poorer" students improve, stereotypes diminish. |
| Just-World Phenomenon | ● Belief that people get what they deserve. ● Emanates from fundamental attribution error. ● Extension of this concept is the tendency to blame the victim. |
| Latane and Darley Study | ● Set up lab conditions where participants thought either that they were alone or that there were others and heard an emergency call for help. ● Those who thought they were alone were much more likely to help. |
| Low-Ball Technique | ● Occurs when someone offers an initially cut-rate price, but then "ups the ante" with additional costs we assumed were included. ● Example: Additional handling costs are added after we decide to buy an item for which the price and shipping were low. |
| Mere Exposure Effect | ● Increased liking for a person or another stimulus resulting from repeated presentation (exposure). ● Example: Looking forward to seeing the same bus driver weekdays. ● Also can lead to adoption of beliefs of parents, friends, and significant others. |
| Milgram Obedience to Authority Study | ● Subject/"teacher" was to apply electric shocks when confederate "learner" did not answer questions correctly; 66% gave what they thought was a lethal 450 volts. ● Showed even ordinary people can hurt or kill others when ordered to commit acts by an authority figure. |
| Minority Influence | ● Even one member of a group who dissents from an opinion can have an effect on decisions. ● The more unswerving in an opinion the minority member is, the more likely the group will change its decision. |
| Normative Social Influence | ● Going along with the decisions of a group to gain its social approval |
| Out-Group Homogeneity | ● The tendency to believe all members of another group are more similar than is true |
| Out-Groups | ● Groups to which we do not belong. ● We attribute more negative qualities to "them," which is out-group derogation. |
| Persuasion | ● Communication intended to guide one or more people to change either inner mental systems (values, attitudes, beliefs, schema, goals) or external behavior. ● The change may create something new, or extinguish or modify something that already exists. |
| Physical Attractiveness | ● "Beautiful" people are considered to be more socially skilled than others who are less attractive. ● Friends are usually rated very similarly in physical attractiveness. |
| Prejudice | ● An unjustified negative attitude an individual has for another, based solely on that person's membership in a different racial or ethnic group |
| Reciprocity | ● Technique that gives a small gift to make others feel obligated to agree to a later request from them for something. ● Example: Charity sends a decorated pad and address labels, and then asks for a contribution. |
| Roles | ● Social positions characteristic of group membership. ● Examples of roles you may have in different groups include son or daughter, student, part-time worker, club president, etc. |
| Rosenthal and Jacobsen "Bloomer Study" | ● Teachers were told to expect certain students to get smart during the school year. ● The researchers had chosen those students (who would "bloom") at random. ● Kids who were expected to do well did, because they were treated differently. |
| Scapegoat Theory | ● When our self-worth is in doubt or in jeopardy, we become frustrated and tend to find others to blame. ● The people we blame are the scapegoats. |
| Self-Fulfilling Prophecy | ● The tendency to let our preconceived expectations of others influence how we treat them and thus bring about the very behavior we expected to come true |
| Self-Serving Bias | ● Attributing our own achievements and successes to personal stable causes (dispositional attributions) and our failure to conditions we were faced with (situational attributions) |
| Sherif Experiments in Group Conflict | ● Prejudice and animosity toward members of other groups occurred when 11 - to 12-year-old boys competed in teams against each other in summer camp. ● Conflict was reduced when 2 competitive groups had to all work together to solve problems, such as pushing a truck. |
| Situational Factors or Attributions | ● Environmental stimuli or factors that affect a person's behavior. |
| Social Cognition | ● Refers to the way people gather, use, and interpret information about the social aspects of the world around them. |
| Social Exchange Theory | ● Theory that our social behavior is geared toward maximizing rewards and minimizing costs in all of our interactions (social exchanges). ● Reciprocity norm--expects that people will give back to people who have helped them. |
| Social Facilitation | ● The tendency to perform well-learned tasks better in front of others than when alone. ● Can be explained by the level of arousal and increased motivation that occurs in front of others. |
| Social Group | ● Two or more individuals sharing common goals and interests, interacting, and influencing each other's behavior. ● People in an elevator together are not a social group, but the members of a girl scout troop are because they have a pattern of socializing and working together. |
| Social Impairment | ● The tendency to perform newly learned or difficult tasks less well in front of others than when alone. ● Can be explained by the high level of arousal incompatible with learning new or performing difficult tasks. |
| Social Loafing | ● The tendency of a group member to assume the role of "slacker". ● Result of feeling less pressure to put forth effort when engaged in projects where group evaluations are being made. ● Loafers tend to exert more effort if they will be evaluated individually. |
| Social Norms | ● Are implicit or explicit rules that apply to all members of the group and govern acceptable behavior and attitudes. ● Allow for smooth social interactions because they let people know how they are supposed to behave. ● Violating norms can result in exclusion. |
| Social Psychology | ● Studies how other people, groups, and cultures shape our perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. ● Looks at how social and situational factors can influence us in both positive and negative ways. |
| Stereotypes | ● Mental schemas that society attributes uncritically to different racial or ethnic groups. ● Can be the source of prejudice and stereotypes. |
| Superordinate Goal | ● Goal compellingly shared by members of 2 or more groups and which requires collaborative efforts of all to achieve. ● Effective in reducing intergroup conflicts. |
| The Central Route of Persuasion | ● Provides complete information straightforwardly to enable the listener to process the information and consider alternatives. ● If the receiver is motivated to analyze the message, attitude change is more stable and predictive of behavior. |
| The Peripheral Route of Persuasion | ● Provides superficial information that persuades by focusing on something the receiver is already familiar with and has positive thoughts about such as a catchy tune, bright color, or celebrity. ● Receivers don't process cognitively, but rather respond to scarcity, credibility, etc.. |
| Zimbardo Prison Study | ● Stanford students were arbitrarily assigned the roles of either prisoner or guard for the study. ● Individual behavior changed dramatically. ● By the sixth day the study was discontinued because "guards" became sadistic and prisoners sick and fearful. |
