Psych 2 Ch.13

Front 1

social psychology

Back 1

the study of how people influence others' behavior, beliefs, and attitudes

Front 2

need-to-belong theory

Back 2

baumeister - biologically based need for interpersonal connections

Front 3

evolutionary perspective

Back 3

conformity, obedience, and many other forms of social influence become maladaptive only when they're blind or unquestioning

Front 4

Festinger's social comparison theory

Back 4

we evaluate our abilities and beliefs by comparing them with those of others

Front 5

upward social comparison

Back 5

comparing to someone superior than yourself

Front 6

downward social comparison

Back 6

comparing to someone inferior to yourself

Front 7

windshield pitting epidemic

Back 7

seattle - windshield pits had been there the whole time, but concerns about nuclear experiments caused concern amongst residents

Front 8

mass hysteria

Back 8

outbreak of irrational behavior that is spread by social contagion

Front 9

social facilitation

Back 9

enhancement of performance brought about by the presence of others (triplett bicycle study)

Front 10

social disruption

Back 10

worsening of performance in the presence of others

Front 11

attribution

Back 11

process of assigning causes to behavior

Front 12

fundamental attribution error

Back 12

tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people's behavior

Front 13

Jones and Harris Castro Experiment

Back 13

To prove the fundamental attribution error - students assigned debate speech to read and individuals asked to evaluate the debater's actual views on the subject - misassigned most of the time even knowing that the speeches were assigned

Front 14

conformity

Back 14

tendency of people to alter their behavior as a result of group pressure

Front 15

Asch studies

Back 15

of conformity - confederates and comparison lines

Front 16

deindividuation

Back 16

tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behavior when they are stripped of their usual identities

Front 17

groupthink

Back 17

emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking (bay of pigs and challenger)

Front 18

group polarization

Back 18

tendency of group discussion to strengthen the dominant positions held by individual group members

Front 19

cult

Back 19

group of individuals who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause

Front 20

inoculation effect

Back 20

approach to convincing people to change their minds about somethings by first introducing reasons why the perspective might be correct then debunking it

Front 21

pluralistic ignorance

Back 21

error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do

Front 22

diffusion of responsibility

Back 22

reduction in feelings of personal responsibility in the presence of others

Front 23

social loafing

Back 23

phenomenon whereby individuals become less productive in groups

Front 24

altruism

Back 24

helping others for unselfish reasons

Front 25

enlightenment effect

Back 25

learning about psychological research can change real-world behavior for the better

Front 26

relational aggression

Back 26

form of indirect aggression prevalent in girls, involving spreading rumors, gossiping, and using nonverbal putdowns for the purpose of social manipulation

Front 27

attitude

Back 27

belief that includes an emotional component

Front 28

self monitoring

Back 28

trait that assesses the extent to which people's behavior reflects their true feelings and attitudes

Front 29

recognition heuristic

Back 29

more likely to believe something we've heard many times

Front 30

cognitive dissonance

Back 30

unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs (Festinger study with $$)

Front 31

self-perception theory

Back 31

we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviors

Front 32

impression management theory

Back 32

theory that we don't really change our attitudes, but report we have so that our behaviors appear consistent with our attitudes

Front 33

foot-in-the-door technique

Back 33

persuasive technique involving making a small request before making a bigger one

Front 34

door-in-the-face technique

Back 34

persuasive technique involving making an unreasonably large request before making the smaller (actual) request

Front 35

low ball technique

Back 35

persuasive technique in which seller of a product starts by mentioning very low price then adds on all the extra

Front 36

"but you are free" technique

Back 36

persuasive technique in which we convince someone to perform a favor for us by telling them that they're free not to do it