General Psychology Chapter 12 Vocabulary/Notes – Flashcards
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Social Influence
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The process through which the real or implied presence of others can directly or indirectly influence the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors or an individual
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Conformity
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Changing one's own behavior to match that of other people
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Groupthink
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Occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesive than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned
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Invulnerability (Groupthink)
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Members feel they cannot fail
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Rationalization (Groupthink)
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Members explain away warning signs and help each other rationalize their decision
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Lack of introspection (Groupthink)
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Members do not examine the ethical implications of their decision because they believe they cannot make immoral choices
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Stereotyping (Groupthink)
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Members stereotype their enemies as weak, stupid, or unreasonable
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Pressure (Groupthink)
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Members pressure each other not to question the prevailing opinion
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Lack of disagreement (Groupthink)
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Members do not epress opinions that differ from the group consensus
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Self-deception (Groupthink)
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Members share in the illusion that they all agree with the decision
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Insularity (Groupthink)
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Members prevent the group from hearing disruptive but potentially useful information from people who are outside the group
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Group polarization
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Members involved in a group discussion tend to take somewhat more extreme positions and suggest riskier actions when than do individuals who have not participated in a group discussion
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Social facilitation
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Positive influence of others on a performance
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Social impairment
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Negative influence of others on performance
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Social loafing
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People who are lazy tend not to do as well when other people are also working on the same task, but they can do quite well when working on their own
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Deindividuation
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A lessening of one's sense of personal identity and personal responsibility
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Compliance
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Changing one's behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change
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Consumer psychology
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Branch of psychology that studies the habits of consumers in the marketplace, including compliance
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Foot-in-the-door technique
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Asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment
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Door-in-the-face technique
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Asking for a large commitment and then, after being refused, asking for a smaller commitment
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Lowball technique
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Getting a commitment from a person and then raising the cost of that commitment
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Obedience
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Changing one's behavior at the command of an authority figure
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Milgram study
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a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. ("teacher" administered what he or she thought were real shocks to a "learner")
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Attitude
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A tendency to respond positively or negatively toward a certain person, object, idea, or situation. Consists of three components: the affective (emotional) component, the behavioral component, and the cognitive component.
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Vicarious conditioning
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watching the actions and reactions of others to ideas, people, objects, and situations
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Persuasion
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the process by which one person tries to change the belief, opinion, position, or course of action of another person through argument, pleading, or explanation. Key elements include: the source of the message, message, target audience, and medium.
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Elaboration Likelihood Model
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A dual process theory model of persuasion, describing the interaction between an argument and relevant psychological factors of the person who receives the argument
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Central-route processing
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Involves attending to the content of the message itself
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Peripheral-route processing
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Involves attending to factors not involved in the message, such as the expertise of the source of the message, the length of the message, and other non-content factors
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Cognitive dissonance
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Sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person's behavior does not correspond to that person's impression
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Impression formation
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Forming of the first knowledge a person has about another person
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Primary effect (Impression formation)
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The very first impression one has about a person tends to persist even in the face of evidence to the contrary
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Social categorization
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The assignment of a person one has just met to a category based on characteristics the new person has in common with other people with whom one has had experience in the past
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Stereotype
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A set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category
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Implicit personality theory
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Sets of assumptions about how different types of people, personality traits, and actions are related to each other
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Implicit Association Test (IAT)
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Measures the degree of association between concepts
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Schemas
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Mental patterns that represent what a person believes about certain types of people (may become stereotypes)
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Attribution
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The process of explaining one's own behavior and the behavior of others
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Attribution theory
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The theory of how people make attributions
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Situational cause
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Cause of behavior attributed to external factors (delays, actions of others, some other aspect of the situation)
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Dispositional cause
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Cause of behavior attributed to internal factors (personality, character)
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Fundamental attribution error (actor-observer bias)
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The tendency to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behavior while underestimating situational factors
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Prejudice
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Negative attitude held by a person about the members of a particular social group
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Discrimination
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Treating people differently because of prejudice toward the social group to which they belong
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In-groups
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Social groups with whom a person identifies; "us"
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Out-groups
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Social groups with whom a person does not identify; "them"
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Scapegoating
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Tendency to direct prejudice and discrimination at out-group members who have little social power or influence
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Social cognitive theory
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Views prejudice as an attitude acquired through direct instruction, modeling, and other social influences
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Realistic conflict theory
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conflict between groups increases prejudice and discrimination
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Social identity theory
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The formation of a person's identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison
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Social identity
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The part of the self-concept including one's view of self as a member of a particular social category
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Social comparison
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The comparison of oneself to others in ways that raise one's self-esteem
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Stereotype vulnerability
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The effect that people's awareness of the stereotypes associated with their social group has on their behavior
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Self-fulfulling prophecy
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The tendency of one's expectations to affect one's behavior in such a way as to make the expectation more likely to occur
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Equal status contact
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Contact between groups in which the groups have equal status, with neither group having power over the other
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"Jigsaw classroom"
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Educational technique in which each individual is given only part of the information needed to solve a problem, forcing individuals to work together to find the solution
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Interpersonal attraction
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Liking or having the desire for a relationship with another person
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Proximity
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Physical or geographical nearness
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Reciprocity of liking
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Tendency of people to like other people who like them in return
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Love
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A strong affection for another person due to kinship, personal ties, sexual attraction, admiration, or common interests
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Sternberg's three components of love
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Intimacy, passion, commitment
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Romantic love
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Consists of intimacy and passion
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Companionate love
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Consists of intimacy and commitment
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Consummate love
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Ideal love, in which all three components are present
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Aggression
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Behavior intended to hurt or destroy another person. Konrad Lorenz saw aggression as an instinct for fighting to promote the survival of our species. Biological influences on aggression may include genetics, amygdala and limbic system, and testosterone and serotonin levels
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Frustration-aggression hypothesis
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Aggression is a reaction to frustration
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Social role
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The pattern of behavior that is expected of a person is in a particular social position
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Prosocial behavior
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Socially desirable behavior that benefits others
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Altruism
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Prosocial behavior that is done with no expectation of reward and may involve the risk of harm to oneself. The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is larger in individuals who make altruistic choices
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Bystander effect
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The effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help (help becomes less likely as the number of bystanders increases)
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Diffusion of responsibility
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A person fails to take responsibility for action or for inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility
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Five steps in making a decision to help
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1. Noticing 2. Defining 3. Taking responsibility 4. Planning a course of action 5. Taking action
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Social neuroscience
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The study of how biological processes influence social behavior
