Chapter 12

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

Branch of psychology that studies how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment

Question 2

Sense of self

Answer 2

A individual’s unique sense of identity that has been influenced by social, cultural, and psychological experience; your sense of who you are in relation to other people

Question 3

Social cognition

Answer 3

The mental processes people use to make sense of their environments

Question 4

Social influence

Answer 4

The effects if situational factors and other people on an individual’s behavior

Question 5

Person perception

Answer 5

The mental processes we use to form judgements and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of other people

Question 6

Social norms

Answer 6

The “rules”, or expectations, for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation

Question 7

Social categorization

Answer 7

The mental process of categorizing people into groups (or social categories) on the basis of their shared characteristics

Question 8

Explicit cognition

Answer 8

Deliberate, conscious mental processes involved in perceptions, judgements, decisions, and reasoning

Question 9

Implicit cognition

Answer 9

Automatic,non-conscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgements, decisions, and reasoning

Question 10

Attribution

Answer 10

The mental process of interring the causes of people’s behavior, including one’s own . Also refers t the explanation made for a particular behavior

Question 11

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 11

The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal, personal characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the effects of the external, situational factors; an attributional bias that is common in individualistic cultures

Question 12

Blaming the victim

Answer 12

The tendency to blame an innocent victim of misfortune for having somehow caused the problem or for not having taken steps to avoid or prevent it

Question 13

Hindsight bias

Answer 13

The tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome of an event

Question 14

Just-world hypothesis

Answer 14

The assumption that the world is fair and that therefore people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Question 15

Self-serving bias

Answer 15

The tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one’s own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes

Question 16

Attitude

Answer 16

A learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way; such evaluations may be positive, negative or ambivalent

Question 17

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 17

An unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal (dissonance) that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions (cognition) are inconsistent; typically results from the awareness that attitudes and behavior are in conflict

Question 18

Prejudice

Answer 18

A negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group

Question 19

Stereotype

Answer 19

A cluster of characteristics that are associated with all member if a specific social group, often including qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define the group

Question 20

In-group

Answer 20

A social group to which one belongs

Question 21

Out-group

Answer 21

A social group to which one does not belong

Question 22

Out-group homogeneity effect

Answer 22

The tendency to see members of out-groups as very similar to one another

Question 23

In-group bias

Answer 23

The tendency to judge the behavior of in-group members favorably and out-group members unfavorably

Question 24

Ethnocentrism

Answer 24

The belief that one’s own culture or ethnic group is superior to all others and the related tendency to use one’s own culture as a standard by which to judge other cultures

Question 25

Implicit attitudes

Answer 25

Preferences and biases toward particular groups that are automatic, spontaneous, unintentional, and often unconscious; measured with the implicit association test

Question 26

Conformity

Answer 26

Adjusting your opinions, judgements, or behavior so that it matches the opinions, judgements, or behavior of other people, or the norms of a social group or situation

Question 27

Normative social influence

Answer 27

Behavior that is motivated by the desire to gain social acceptance and approval

Question 28

Informational social influence

Answer 28

Behavior that is motivated by the desire to be correct

Question 29

Obedience

Answer 29

The performance of a behavior in response to a direct command

Question 30

Altruism

Answer 30

Helping another person with no expectation of personal reward or benefit

Question 31

Prosocial behavior

Answer 31

Any behavior that helps another, whether the underlying motive is self-serving or selfness

Question 32

Bystander effect

Answer 32

A phenomenon in which the greater the number if people present, the less likely each individual is to help someone is distress

Question 33

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 33

A phenomenon in which the presence of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all the onlookers

Question 34

Social loafing

Answer 34

The tendency to expend less effort on a task when it is a group effort

Question 35

Social facilitation

Answer 35

The tendency for the presence of other people to enhance individual performance

Question 36

Deindividuation

Answer 36

The reduction of self-awareness and inhibitions that can occur when a person is a part of a group whose members feel anonymous

Question 37

Persuasion

Answer 37

The deliberate attempt to influence the attributes or behavior of another person in a situation in which that person has some freedom of choice