Social Psych Exam 2

Front 1

Self-justification

Back 1

the tendency to justify one’s actions in order to maintain one’s self-esteem

Front 2

cognitive dissonance

Back 2

a state of tension occurring when an individual simultaneously holds two conditions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent. We must live with the consequences of our decisions and since cognitive dissonance is unpleasant, we are motivated to reduce it.

Front 3

external justification

Back 3

a person’s reason or explanation for his or her dissonant behavior that resides not in the individual but rather in the situation (such as a reward or punishment).

Front 4

counter-attitudinal advocacy:

Back 4

cognitive dissonance occurs when one states an opinion or an attitude that runs counter to his or her private beliefs or attitudes.

Front 5

justification of effort:

Back 5

the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.

Front 6

dehumanization:

Back 6

process of seeing victims as nonhumans, which lowers inhibitions against aggressive actions and makes continued aggression easier and more likely. Accounts for the justification of cruelty.

Front 7

aggressive action

Back 7

an intentional behavior aimed at causing either physical or psychological pain.

Front 8

hostile aggression

Back 8

an act of aggression stemming from a feeling of anger and aimed at inflicting pain or injury.

Front 9

instrumental aggression

Back 9

aggression as a means to some goal other than to cause pain.

Front 10

Eros (Freudian concept):

Back 10

the instinct toward life

Front 11

Thanatos (Freudian concept):

Back 11

an instinctual drive toward death, leading to aggressive action. Freud stated, “It is at work in every living being and is striving to bring it to ruin…”

Front 12

hydraulic theory

Back 12

the theory that unexpressed emotions build up pressure and must be expressed to relieve that pressure.

Front 13

catharsis

Back 13

the notion that “blowing off steam”—by performing an aggressive act, watching others engage in aggressive behaviors, or engaging in a fantasy of aggression—relieves built-up aggressive energies and hence reduces the likelihood of further aggressive behavior. Research shows that this is not an accurate belief.

Front 14

amygdala

Back 14

area in the brain that is associated with aggressive behavior in humans and lower animals.

Front 15

relational aggression:

Back 15

a nonphysical form of aggression such as gossiping, spreading false rumors, or ostracism.

Front 16

frustration-aggression:

Back 16

frustration—the perception that you are being prevented from obtaining a goal—will increase the probability of an aggressive response.

Front 17

aggressive stimulus

Back 17

an object associated with aggressive responses that can increase the probability of aggression by its mere presence, like a gun.

Front 18

deindividuation:

Back 18

a state of reduced self-awareness (usually brought about by anonymity), which results in reduced concern over social evaluation and weakened restraints against prohibited forms of behavior.

Front 19

social learning theory

Back 19

we learn social behavior by observing others and imitating them.

Front 20

scripts:

Back 20

ways of behaving socially that we learn implicitly from the culture.

Front 21

prejudice:

Back 21

a hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group of people on the basis of generalizations derived from faulty or incomplete information. Contains cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. Expressed in direct and subtle forms.

Front 22

hostile sexism

Back 22

reflects an active dislike of women. Hold stereotypically negative views of women suggesting that woman are inferior to men.

Front 23

benevolent sexism

Back 23

taking an attitude toward women that appears positive and favorable but is actually demeaning. Hold stereotypically positive views of woman (nurturant, kind) but underneath it all, they assume that women are the weaker and less competent sex.

Front 24

stereotype

Back 24

simplistic generalization about a group of people, assigning them identical characteristics, despite the actual individual variation found among members of that group.

Front 25

stereotype threat

Back 25

apprehensions among a certain group about confirming an existing negative stereotype about them. When people think their behavior ay confirm a negative reputation about themselves or their group, the resulting anxiety can interfere with their performance.

Front 26

the ultimate attribution error

Back 26

tendency to make dispositional attributions about an entire group of people consistent with our prejudice against that group.

Front 27

blaming the victim:

Back 27

the tendency to blame individuals (make dispositional attributions) for their victimization; typically motivated by a desire to see the world as a fair place where bad things happen to bad people.

Front 28

scapegoating

Back 28

process of blaming the relatively powerless innocent person/group for something is not their fault; a feature of displaced aggression.

Front 29

authoritarian personalities

Back 29

individuals who tend to be rigid in their beliefs, highly punitive, possess conventional values, are intolerant of weakness in themselves and others, suspicious, and respectful of authority to an unusual degree; certain elements of such a personality are genetic.

Front 30

mutual interdependence:

Back 30

a situation where in individuals need one another to accomplish their goal.

Front 31

empathy

Back 31

the ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person; to experience events and emotions the way that he or she experiences them.

Front 32

jigsaw technique

Back 32

a classroom structure designed to reduce prejudice and raise the self-esteem of children by placing them in small, racially-mixed, cooperative groups.

Front 33

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Back 33

Behavior leads to attitude. When there is inconsistency between behavior and attitude, and behavior cannot be changed or revoked, we experience tension/discomfort and reduce dissonance by changing attitude.

Front 34

Post-Decisional Dissonance:

Back 34

The tension that we experience due to our commitment to a particular course of action over another. To reduce dissonance, we either decrease our evaluation of the alternative we didn’t choose or increase our evaluation of the alternative we did choose. If both choices are equally good, there is more dissonance

Front 35

Attitude-discrepant behavior

Back 35

When you perform some action inconsistent with your attitude.

Front 36

Self Perception Theory

Back 36

Behavior leads to attitude. Self perception occurs often when attitudes are vague or ambiguous and dissonance is absent (no tension involved). Suggests that attitudes are at the top of the head, not deeply felt.

Front 37

Locus

Back 37

Extent to which something happens because of an internal factor or an external factor.

Front 38

Salience

Back 38

more salient= more influential; anything that captures our attention and is more salient to us tends to be more influential

Front 39

Principle of Covariation

Back 39

We search for certain cause and effect relationships that are always the same.

Front 40

Discounting Principle

Back 40

If many potential causes are plausible, then we are less likely to attribute an effect to a cause.

Front 41

Self-Serving Bias

Back 41

Tendency to attribute our own success to internal factors, our failures to external factors.

Front 42

Egocentric Bias

Back 42

The tendency to exaggerate our own contributions to shared activities.

Front 43

Self-Handicapping

Back 43

create an obstacle to success so that when we fail we can attribute the failure to the obstacle rather than our own ability or disposition.

Front 44

False Consensus Effect

Back 44

The tendency to exaggerate the extent to which others agree with our behaviors and attitudes.

Front 45

Reactions to people with AIDS

Back 45

Higher perceptions of responsibility when one’s condition is “controllable” (such as transmission caused by a promiscuous sex life). With an unspecified source, many assume controllability.

Front 46

Attributions of control (AIDS)-

Back 46

Higher perceptions of responsibility when one’s condition is “controllable” (such as transmission caused by a promiscuous sex life). With an unspecified source, many assume controllability.

Front 47

Nonverbal Communication

Back 47

Ways we exchange information without using words; plays an important role in conveying emotions and information. Includes the visible and paralinguistic channel.

Front 48

Proxemics

Back 48

The ways people use space; includes personal space and territoriality. Part of the visible channel of nonverbal communication.

Front 49

Paralanguage

Back 49

What’s involved in speech when content is removed. Part of the paralinguistic channel of nonverbal communication.

Front 50

Sources of Anger

Back 50

reinforcement, imitation (Bobo Doll Experiment)

Front 51

Aggressive Anxiety

Back 51

The guilt or anxiety that people feel when they are considering acts of aggression; more common in women.

Front 52

Media violence

Back 52

lab studies show an increase in aggressive behavior but these studies are tough to generalize and have low external validity

Front 53

Pink-Collar

Back 53

Low status fields (such as sales, nursing, teaching, and secretarial work) that women continue to enter despite their increased opportunities (accounts for 80% of working women).


On the basis of lifetime earnings and average income, men earn significantly more money than women, and the disparity increases with greater education. The disparity is even larger among women of color.

Women are highly underrepresented in government positions (senators, house of representatives members, governors).

Front 54

Guyification

Back 54

a term to describe women who live in/have been affected by Guyland. These women either: 1) act like guys (wear jeans, contemptuous attitude, slouching posture) or 2) are over-sexualizes, extreme versions of the typical female (wear skimpy clothing, “Barbie-ing” themselves up to please men)

Front 55

Agency

Back 55

the group of traits associated with men, such as achievement, orientation, and ambitiousness, reflect a concern about accomplishing tasks

Front 56

Modern sexism

Back 56

characterized by the belief that gender discrimination is no longer a problem in society and is manifested by harmful treatment of women in ways that appear to be socially acceptable

Front 57

Male is normative

Back 57

numerous language practices reflect the assumption that male behaviors, roles, and experiences are the standards for society.

Front 58

Affirmative action

Back 58

those efforts designed to redress the imbalances caused by long-standing discrimination…it is a travesty of reasoning to argue that affirmative action, which gives preferential treatment to disadvantaged minorities as part of a plan to achieve social equality, is no different from the policies that created the disadvantage in the first place.

Front 59

Hedonic Bias

Back 59

The tendency to make internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure. The hedonic bias is a motivational bias.

Front 60

Action Unit

Back 60

forty three distinct movements made by the muscles of the face. When combined, the possibilities for expression are tremendous.

Front 61

FACS

Back 61

Facial Action Coding System – the assemblage of all the combinations of facial movements and the rules for interpreting them.