Eppp-Social Psychology

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Actor-Observer Effect

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In causal attribution, the tendency for an observer to overestimate the effects of dispositional factors when making attributions about an actor's behavior but to overestimate the effects of situational factors when making self-attributions.

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Central Traits

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Central traits are characteristics that have a greater impact than others on impression formation

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Effects of Media Violence

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The controversy about the effects of media violence has been fueled by research on observational (social) learning. Although evidence to support each side-that violence either increases or decreases violence-can be found in the literature, in general, media violence does not seem to have a chathartic effect but, instead, increases viewer aggressiveness.

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Gain-Loss Effect

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The gain-loss effect predicts that liking is related to the pattern rather than the amount of rewards-specifically, people tend to be most attracted to individuals who show increasing liking for them and to be least attracted to individuals who show decreasing liking for them.

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Motivational Conflicts

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Lewin distinguished between three motivational conflicts-approach/approach; avoidance/avoidance; and approach/avoidance. The latter involves a goal that has both positive and negative aspects and is particularly difficult to resolve.

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Schemata (Schemas)

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Cognitive structures that organize past information and experience and provide a framework for processing and understanding new information and experiences.

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Social Judgment Theory

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A theory of attitude change that predicts that we have three "categories of judgment" by which we evaluate persuasive messages-a latitude of acceptance, a latitude of non-commitment, and a latitude of rejection-and that we are most likely to be persuaded when the massage is within our latitude of acceptance.

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Attitude Inoculation

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A method of reducing the effectiveness of a persuasive message that is based on the medical model; involves giving the recipient of the message arguments against his/her own position and weak counterarguments (refutations against those arguments). Inoculation has been found to be a particularly effective method for reducing persuasibility.

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Characteristics of the Communication

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Serveral characteristics of a communication affect its persuasiveness-e.g., the level of discrepancy between the positions of the recipient and the message, the order in which the two sides of an argument are presented (primacy/recent effects), and whether the message is intentionally delivered or is overheard.

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Effects of Pornography

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Research assessing exposure to violent pornography has generally found that it not only increases aggressive behavior but also promotes a greater acceptance of violence against women.

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Gender Differences in Affiliation

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The research has shown that females ordinarily spend more time than males engaged in conversation, are more likely to talk to people of the same sex, and may affiliate more than males do in public places.

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Obedience to Authority (Milgram)

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Controversial research which evaluated participants' willingness to obey a high-status individual even when doing so seemed to harm another person.

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Self-Monitoring

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Self-monitoring refers to the need for and ability to manage the impression that others form of us. High self-monitors are most concerned about their "public self" and, consequently, strive to match their attitudes and behaviors to the situation. In contrast, low self-monitors are guided primarily by their own beliefs and values and attempt to alter the situation to match their "private self."

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Superordinate Goals

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Goals that can be achieved only when individuals or members of different groups work together cooperatively; they have been found useful for reducing intergroup conflict.

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Barnum Effect

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The Barnum effect is the tendency to accept vague, general descriptions of oneself (e.g., one's horoscope) as accurate.

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Confirmation Bias

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The confirmation bias is the tendency to seek or pay attention to information that confirms one's hypothesis or current beliefs and to ignore disconfirming information.

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Equity Theory

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The theory of motivation that predicts that motivation (e.g., motivation to remain in a relationship) is affected by the comparison of input/outcome ratios.

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Jigsaw Method

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A method of learning in which assignments must be completed by teams with each team member being assigned a different piece of the project. It has been found to improve intergroup relations, cooperation, and self-esteem; also improves acadcemic achievement, especially for members of minority groups.

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Pseudopatient Study (Rosenhan)

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Research that demonstrated the roles of the social context and labeling on impression formation. Once admitted to a mental hospital, Rosenhan's pseudopatients were viewed, especially by hospital staff, as mental patients even though they did not exhibit any abnormal behaviors.

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Self-Verification Theory

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Self-verification theory predicts that people prefer accurate information (i.e., information that is consistent with one's self-evaluations.

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Threat of Retaliation

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A threat of retaliation often reduces aggressiveness, especially when it comes from a person of high status or power.

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Bases of Social Power

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Methods used to induce compliance in another person. French and Raven have identified six bases of social power: coercive, reward, expert, legitimate, referent, and informational.

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Contact Hypothesis

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The contact hypothesis proposes that prejudice may be reduced through contact between members of the majority and minority groups as long as the following conditions are met-e.g., members of the different groups have equal status and power and are provided with opportunities that disconfirm their negative stereotyppes about members of the other group.

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Field Theory

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Lewin's theory of human behavior that describes it as a product of interdependent factors in the person and his or her physical and social environment.

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Learned Helplessness

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A learned expectation that one cannot control negative life events, which leads to apathy and depression; associated with internal, stable, and global attributions.

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Psychological Reactance

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The tendency to resist being influenced or manipulated by others, usually by doing the opposite of what is desired or expected.

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Social Comparison Theory

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The theory that individuals use other (usually similar) people as sources of comparison to evaluate their own attitudes and behaviors.

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Zeigarnik Effect

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The tendency to remember interrupted and unfinished tasks better than completed ones.

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Attribution (Dimensions)

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Causal attributions are often described in terms of three dimensions-internal/external (dispositional/situational); stable/unstable; and specific/global.

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Characteristics of the Communicator

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Research on attitude change has confirmed that credible comminicators are more persuasive. One factor that contributes to credibility is trustworthiness.

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Elaboration Likelihood Model

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The ELM is a cognitive theory of attitude change that distinguishes between two information processing routes-central and peripheral. Reliance on the central route requires greater mental effort and produces longer-lasting attitude change.

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Heterosexism and Sexual Prejudice

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As defined by Herek, heterosexism refers to "an ideological system that denies, denigrates, and stigmatizes among nonheterosexual forms of behavior, identity relationships, or community" (1991, p. 150); and sexual prejudice refers to "negative attitudes based on sexual orientation, whether the target is homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual" (2000, p.20)

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Overjustification Hypothesis

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The notion that, when people are externally rewarded for a task they previoulsy intrinsically interesting, their intrinsic interest in the task will decrease.

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Self-Perception Theory

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The theory that individuals make attributions about their own attitudes and behaviors on the basis of observations of their behaviors and other external cues.

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Symbolic (Modern) Racism

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A theory about current, less blatant forms of racism that reflect a combination of anti-African-American attitudes, strong support for traditional American values (e.g., the work ethic), and a belief that African-Americans violate those values.

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Autokinetic Effect

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Sherif used the autokinetic effect (the appearance that a stationary point of light is moving ) to study conformity to group norms.

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Cognitive Dissonance Theory

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Festinger's theory of attitude change that proposes that inconsistencies in cognitions produce discomfort (dissonance), which motivates the individual to reduce the dissonance by changing his/her cognitions.

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Emotion-in-Relationship Model

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A model of emotion in relationships that proposes that there is an innate mechanism that generates emotion in response to unexpected events that disrupt ongoing sequences of behaviors.

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Illusory Correlation

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Illusory correlation refers to the tendency to see a relationship between variables that are not actually related.

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Prison Study (Zimbardo)

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Prison simulation study which demonstrated that people alter their behaviors to fit their assigned roles

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Self-Serving Bias

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In causal attributions, the tendency to attribute one's successes to internal factors and one's failures to external factors.

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Theory of Planned Behavior

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Theory predicts that attitudes are accurate predictors when the attitude measure assesses all three components of the behavioral intention-the person's attitude toward engaging in the behavior; what the person believes other people think he or she should do; and the person's perceived behavioral control.

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Bystander Apathy

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The tendency of people to not intervene in emergency situations when others are present. Bystander apathy has been attributed to three factors: social comparison, evaluation apprehension, and diffusion of responsibility.

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Deindividuation Model

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A state of relative anonymity that allos an individual to feel unidentifiable. Deindividuation has been associated with increases in antisocial behaviors, apparently because the deindividuated person's behavior is no longer controlled by guilt, fear of evaluation, or other inhibitory controls.

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Fundamental Attribution Bias

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The attribution error in which an observer tends to overestimate dispositional causes and underestimate situational causes when making attributions about an actor's behavior.

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Minority Influence

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The research shows that a minority can influence the majority by maintaining a consistent (but not dogmatic) position.

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Robber's Cave Study (Sherif)

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Sherif's research at a boy's camp that demonstrated that the most effective way to reduce intergroup hostility is having the members of the groups cooperate to achieve a mutual (superordinate) goal.

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Social Exchange Theory

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A theory of interpersonal relationships that focuses on the magnitude of costs and rewards.

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Catharsis Hypothesis

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The catharsis hypothesis predicts that an act of aggression reduces an individual's arousal level which then decreases the liklihood that he/she will act aggressively again in the near future. The research has not been very supportive of this claim.

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Effects of Crowding

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Crowded conditions tend to enhance positive experiences and increase the unpleasantness of negative experiences. Males seem to be more stressed by crowded conditions than females and are more likely to react with increased aggressiveness. This apparently because males require more personal space.

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Frustration-Aggression hypothesis

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The theory that aggression is always motivated by frustration. Revised version predicts that frustration leads to aggression in the presence of aggressive cues.

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Misery Loves Miserable Company

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Refers to Schachter's conclusion that people like to affiliate with those in similar circumstances (i.e., miserable people prefer to affiliate with other miserable people).

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Schachter & Singer's Epinephrine Studies

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Research on the perception of emotion that showed that there are no physiological differences between emotions and that the perception of emotion depends on a combination of physiological arousal and a cognitive label for that arousal.

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Social Learning Theory

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The type of learning that occurs simply as the result of observing the behavior of a model; used to explain the acquisition of aggressive behaviors (e.g., the effects of media violence).