Ch. 18 Psych Vocab

Front 1

Social Psychology

Back 1

scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Front 2

Attribution Theory

Back 2

suggests how we explain someone's behavior by crediting either situation or disposition

Front 3

Situational Attributions

Back 3

a reaction to an external condition

Front 4

Dispositional Attributions

Back 4

a reaction to a person's natural character

Front 5

Fundamental Attribution Error

Back 5

tendancy for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

Front 6

Ethnocentrism

Back 6

belief that a person's own ethnicity, nationality, or religion is better than all others

Front 7

Just World Phenomenon

Back 7

tendency of people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and desere what they get

Front 8

Attitude

Back 8

feelings, often based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events

Front 9

Social Loafing

Back 9

tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts tow ard attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

Front 10

Deindividuation

Back 10

loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occuring in group situation that foster arousal and anonymity

Front 11

groupthink

Back 11

mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

Front 12

Group Polarization

Back 12

enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within a group

Front 13

Aggression

Back 13

any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Front 14

Authoritarian Personality

Back 14

personality marked by tendency to obey superiors while dominating subordinates

Front 15

Person Perception

Back 15

mental process we use to form judgements or draw conclusions about characteristics and motive of others

Front 16

Stereotype

Back 16

generalized belief about a group

Front 17

Prejudice

Back 17

unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members

Front 18

Conformity

Back 18

adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with group standards

Front 19

Social Facilitation

Back 19

stronger responses on simple or well learned tasks in presence of others

Front 20

Foot-in-the-door Technique

Back 20

tendency for people who have first agreed to small request to comply later with a larger one

Front 21

Bystander Effect

Back 21

tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

Front 22

Social exchange Theory

Back 22

theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefit and minimize cost

Front 23

Superordinate Goals

Back 23

shared goals that override differences among people

Front 24

Social Trap

Back 24

situation in which conflicting parties, by each rationally pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

Front 25

Self-Disclosure

Back 25

revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others

Front 26

Frustration-Agression Principle

Back 26

principle that frustration-the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal- creates anger, which can generate aggression

Front 27

Ingroup Bias

Back 27

tendency to favor one's own group

Front 28

Outgroup

Back 28

"Them" those perceived as different or apart from one's ingroup

Front 29

Ingroup

Back 29

"Us" People with whom one shares a common identity

Front 30

Normative Social Influence

Back 30

Influence Resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Front 31

Informational Social Influence

Back 31

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept other's opinions about reality

Front 32

Scapegoat Theory

Back 32

theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Front 33

Mere Exposure Effect

Back 33

Phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

Front 34

Minority Influence

Back 34

power of one or a few people to sway the majority

Front 35

Culture

Back 35

enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next

Front 36

Group

Back 36

collection of two or more people who interact and have mutual influence on each other

Front 37

Social Norms

Back 37

rules or expectations for appropriate behavior in a specific social situation

Front 38

Role

Back 38

set of expectations about a social position defining how those in the position ought to behave

Front 39

Self-serving Bias

Back 39

Readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Front 40

validity effect

Back 40

if an authority figure repeats something, possibly a lie, then the public will believe what that person says

Front 41

Diffusion of Responsibility

Back 41

when the presence of others lessens an individual's feelings of responsibility for his or her actions or failure to act

Front 42

Discrimination

Back 42

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members

Front 43

Prosocial Behavior

Back 43

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

Front 44

Entrapment

Back 44

process in which a person gradually increases his commitment to action to justify their investment of themselves

Front 45

Negative State Relief Theory

Back 45

theory that we engage in prosocial behavior to relieve our own state of emotional distress at another's plight

Front 46

Obedience

Back 46

following orders given by an authority

Front 47

Social Categorization

Back 47

placing individuals into groups according to characteristics; can yield stereotypes

Front 48

Rule of Reciprocity

Back 48

people will return the feelings and actions placed upon them

Front 49

Persuasion

Back 49

attempt to influence attitudes of other peopl

Front 50

Central Route to Persuasion

Back 50

way to deliver a message by focusing on presenting information consisting of strong arguments and facts

Front 51

Peripheral route to persuasion

Back 51

way to deliver a message by relying on emotional appeals, emphasizing personal traits or positive feelings

Front 52

Coercive Persuasion

Back 52

forceful way to deliver a message, suppressing an individual's thinking and reasoning

Front 53

Accultration

Back 53

steps by which a minority group becomes part of the majority group

Front 54

Social Identity

Back 54

relation of an individual to a nation, gender, race, religion, etc.

Front 55

Ethnic Identity

Back 55

relation of an individual to a certain ethnicity, religion or nationality

Front 56

Barnum Effect

Back 56

tendency of people to feel that a description is accurate though it is vague enough to apply to many

Front 57

Daryl Bem's Self Perception Theory

Back 57

people tend to percieve their own behavior as an outsider does