Chapter 13 Flashcards
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Social Psychology
The theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.
Attribution Theory
The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
Attitude
Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.
Peripheral Route persuasion
Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
Central Route Persuasion
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
Foot in the door technique
A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position aught to behave.
Role
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
Conformity
Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.
Normative Social Influence
Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.
Informational Social Influence
Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.
Social Facilitation
The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.
Social Loafing
The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.
Deindividuation
The enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.
Group Polarization
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.
Groupthink
An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members, generally involving stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.
Prejudice
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.
Sterotype
Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.
Discrimination
