Final Test Vocabulary

Question 1

prejudice

Answer 1

a preconceived negative JUDGMENT/ATTITUDE of a group and its individual members.

Question 2

stereotype

Answer 2

a BELEIF about the personal attributes of a group of people. stereotypes are sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new information.

Question 3

discrimination

Answer 3

unjustified NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR toward a group and its members.

Question 4

racism

Answer 4

an individuals prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior toward people of a given race, or institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given race.

Question 5

sexism

Answer 5

an individual’s prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior towards people of a given sex, or institutional practices (even if not motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given sex.

Question 6

social dominance orientation

Answer 6

a motivation to have one’s group dominate other social groups.

Question 7

ethnocentric

Answer 7

believing in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group, and having a corresponding disdain for all other groups.

Question 8

authoritarian personality

Answer 8

a personality that is disposed to favor obedience to authority and intolerance of outgrips and those lower in status.

Question 9

realistic group conflict theory

Answer 9

the theory that prejudice arises from competition between groups for scare resources.

Question 10

social identity

Answer 10

the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group membership.

Question 11

in-group

Answer 11

“us” - a group of people who share a sense of belonging, a feeling of common identity.

Question 12

outgroup

Answer 12

“them” - a group that people perceive as distinctively different from or apart from their in-group.

Question 13

in-group bias

Answer 13

the tendency to factor one’s own group.

Question 14

terror management

Answer 14

according to “terror management theory,” people’s self-protective emotional and cognitive responses (including adhering more strongly to their cultural worldview and prejudices) when confronted with reminders of their mortality.

Question 15

outgroup homogeneity effect

Answer 15

perception of outgroup members as more similar to one another than are in-group members. thus, “they are alike; we are diverse.”

Question 16

own-race bias

Answer 16

the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race. (Also called cross-race effect or other-race effect).

Question 17

stigma consciousness

Answer 17

a person’s expectation of being victimized by prejudice or discrimination.

Question 18

group-serving bias

Answer 18

explaining away outgroup members’ positive behaviors; also attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions (while excusing such behavior by one’s own group).

Question 19

just-world phenomenon

Answer 19

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

Question 20

sub typing

Answer 20

accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s stereotype by thinking of them as “exceptions to the rule.”

Question 21

subgrouping

Answer 21

accommodating individuals who deviate from one’s stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group.

Question 22

stereotype threat

Answer 22

a disruptive concern, the facing a negative stereotype, that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Unlike self-fulfilling prophecies that hammer one’s reputation into one’s self-concept, stereotype threat situations have immediate effects.

Question 23

aggression

Answer 23

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.

Question 24

hostile aggression

Answer 24

aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in itself. (Also called affective aggression).

Question 25

instrumental aggression

Answer 25

aggression that is a means to some other end. most terrorism is instrumental aggression. the goal is to “compel liberal democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland.”

Question 26

instinctive behavior

Answer 26

an innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all members of a species.

Question 27

frustration-aggression theory

Answer 27

the theory that frustration triggers a readiness to aggress.

Question 28

frustration

Answer 28

the booking of goal-directed behavior.

Question 29

displacement

Answer 29

the redirection of aggression to a target other than the source of the frustration. generally, the new target is a safer or more socially acceptable target.

Question 30

relative deprivation

Answer 30

the perception that one is less well-off than others with whom one compares oneself.

Question 31

social learning theory

Answer 31

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded and punished.

Question 32

catharsis

Answer 32

emotional release. the catharsis view of aggression is that aggressive drive is reduced when one “releases” aggressive energy, either by acting aggressively or by fantasizing aggression.

Question 33

prosocial behavior

Answer 33

positive, constructive, helpful social behavior; the opposite of antisocial behavior.

Question 34

need to belong

Answer 34

a motivation to bond with others in relationships that provide ongoing, positive interactions.

Question 35

mere exposure effect

Answer 35

the tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more or rated more positively after the rater has been repeatedly exposed to them.

Question 36

matching phenomenon

Answer 36

the tendency for men and women to choose as partners those who are a “good match” in attractiveness and other traits.

Question 37

physical-attractiveness stereotype

Answer 37

the presumption that physically attractive people possess other socially desirable traits as well: what is beautiful is good.

Question 38

complementarity

Answer 38

the popularly supposed tendency, in a relationship between two people, for each to complete what is missing in the other person.

Question 39

ingratiation

Answer 39

the use of strategies, such as flattery, by which people seek to gain another’s favor.

Question 40

reward theory of attraction

Answer 40

the theory that we like those whose behavior is rewarding to us or whom we associate with rewarding events.

Question 41

passionate love

Answer 41

a state of intense longing for union with another. passionate lovers are absorbed in each other, feel ecstatic at attaining their partner’s love, and are disconsolate on losing it.

Question 42

two-factor theory of emotion

Answer 42

arousal X its label = emotion.

Question 43

companionate love

Answer 43

the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined.

Question 44

secure attachment

Answer 44

attachments rooted in trust and marked by intimacy.

Question 45

preoccupied attachment

Answer 45

attachments marked by a sense of one’s own unworthiness and anxiety, ambivalence, and possessiveness.

Question 46

dismissive attachment

Answer 46

an avoidant relationship style marked by distrust of others.

Question 47

fearful attachment

Answer 47

an avoidant relationship style marked by fear of rejection.

Question 48

equity

Answer 48

a condition in which the outcomes people receive from a relationship are proportional to what they contribute to it. Note: equitable outcomes needn’t always be equal outcomes.

Question 49

self-disclosure

Answer 49

revealing intimidate aspects of oneself to others.

Question 50

disclosure reciprocity

Answer 50

the tendency for one person’s intimacy of self-disclosure to match that of a conversational partner.

Question 51

altruism

Answer 51

a motive to increase another’s welfare without conscious regard for one’s self interests.

Question 52

social exchange theory

Answer 52

the theory that human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s rewards and minimize one’s costs.

Question 53

egoism

Answer 53

a motive (supposedly underlying all behavior) to increase one’s own welfare. The opposite of altruism, which aims to increase another’s welfare.

Question 54

reciprocity norm

Answer 54

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

Question 55

social capital

Answer 55

the mutual support and cooperation enabled by a social network.

Question 56

social-responsibility norm

Answer 56

an expectation that people will help those needing help.

Question 57

kin selection

Answer 57

the idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one’s close relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes.

Question 58

empathy

Answer 58

the vicarious experience of another’s feeling; putting oneself in another’s shoes.

Question 59

bystander effect

Answer 59

the finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are other bystanders.

Question 60

door-in-the-face technique

Answer 60

a strategy for gaining a concession. after someone first turns down a large request (the door-in-the-face), the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request.

Question 61

moral exclusion

Answer 61

the perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness. Moral inclusion is regarding others as within one’s circle of moral concern.

Question 62

over-justification effect

Answer 62

the result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing.