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Social Psychology 261 > PS261 Exam One (Chapters 1-6) > Flashcards

PS261 Exam One (Chapters 1-6) Flashcards

(129 cards)

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1
Q

social psychology

A

the scientific study of the way in hich people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people

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2
Q

social influence

A

the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior

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3
Q

individual differences

A

the aspects of people’s personalities that make them different from other people

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4
Q

fundamental attribution error

A

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors

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5
Q

behaviorism

A

a school of psychology maintaining that to understand human behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment

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6
Q

construal

A

the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world

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7
Q

gestalt psychology

A

a school of psychology stressing the importance of studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people’s minds rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object

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8
Q

self-esteem

A

people’s evaluations of their own self-worth; the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent

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9
Q

social cognition

A

how people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions

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10
Q

hindsight bias

A

the tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred

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11
Q

observational method

A

the technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements or impressions of their behavior

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12
Q

ethnography

A

the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

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13
Q

interjudge reliability

A

the level of agreement between two or more people who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that two or more judges independently come up with the same observations, researchers ensure that the observations are not the subjective, distorted impressions of one individual

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14
Q

archival analysis

A

a form of the observational method in which the researcher examines the accumulated documents, or archives, of a culture (e.g., diaries, novels, magazines, and newspapers)

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15
Q

correlational method

A

the technique whereby two or more variables are systematically measured and the relationship between them (i.e., how much one can be predicted from the other) is assessed

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16
Q

correlation coefficient

A

a statistical technique that assesses how well you can predict one variable from another; for example, how well you can predict people’s weight from their height

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17
Q

surveys

A

research in which a representative sample of people are asked (often anonymously) questions about their attitudes or behavior

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18
Q

random selection

A

a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population an equal chance or being selected for the sample

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19
Q

experimental method

A

the method in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable ( the one thought to have a causal effect on the people’s responses)

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20
Q

independent variable

A

the variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other variable

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21
Q

dependent variable

A

the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable; the researcher hypothesizes that the dependent variable will depend on the level of the independent variable

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22
Q

random assignment condition

A

a process ensuring that all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment; through random assignment, researchers can be relatively certain that differences in the participants’ personalities or backgrounds are distributed evenly across conditions

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23
Q

probability level (p-value)

A

a number calculated with statistical techniques that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiments occurred by chance and not because of the independent variable or variables; the convention in science, including social psychology, is to consider results significant (trustworthy) if the probability level is less than five in 100 that the results might be due to chance factors and not the independent variables studied

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24
Q

internal validity

A

making sure that nothing besides the independent variable can affect the dependent variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions

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25
external validity
the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people
26
psychological realism
the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life
27
cover story
a description of the purpose of a study, given to participants, that is different from its true purpose and is used to maintain psychological realism
28
field experiment
experiments conducted in natural settings rather than in the laboratory
29
replications
repeating a study, often with different subject populations or in different settings
30
meta-analysis
a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable
31
basic research
studies that are designed to find the best answer to the question of why people behave as they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity
32
applied research
studies designed to solve a particular social problem
33
cross-cultural research
research conducted with members of different cultures, to see whether the psychological processes of interest are present in both cultures or whether they are specific to the culture in which people were raised
34
evolutionary theory
a concept developed by Charles Darwin to explain the ways in which animals adapt to their environments
35
natural selection
the process by which heritable traits that promote survival in a particular environment are passed along to future generations; organisms with those traits are more likely to produce offspring
36
evolutionary psychology
the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection
37
informed consent
agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the experiment, which has been explained in advance
38
deception
misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually occur
39
institutional review board (IRB)
a group made up of at least one scientist, one non-scientist, and one member not affiliated with the institution that reviews all psychological research at that institution and decides whether it meets ethical guidelines; all research must be approved by the IRB before it is conducted
40
debriefing
explaining to participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired
41
social cognition
how people think about themselves and the social world; more specifically, how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information to make judgments and decisions
42
automatic thinking
thinking that is non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
43
schemas
mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the information people notice, think about, and remember
44
accessibility
the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people's minds and are therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world
45
priming
the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept
46
self-fulfilling prophecy
the case wherein people have an expectation about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person, which causes that person to behave consistently with people's original expectations, making the expectations come true
47
judgmental heuristics
mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently
48
availability heuristic
a mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind
49
representativeness heuristic
a mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case
50
base rate information
information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population
51
analytic thinking style
a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context; this type of thinking is common in Western cultures
52
holistic thinking style
a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the ways in which objects relate to each other; this typ of thinking is common in East Asian cultures
53
controlled thinking
thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful
54
counterfactual thinking
mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been
55
overconfidence barrier
the fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgments
56
social perception
the study of how we form impressions and make inferences about other people
57
nonverbal communication
the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and gaze
58
encode
to express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back
59
decode
to interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other people express, such as deciding that a pat on the back was an expression of condescension and not kindness
60
affect blend
a facial expression in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion
61
display rules
culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviors are appropriate to display
62
emblems
nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the OK sign
63
implicit personality theory
a type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people believe that someone who is kind is generous as well
64
attribution theory
a description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behavior
65
internal attribution
the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, or personality
66
external attribution
the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation
67
covariation model
a theory that states that to form an attribution about what caused a person's behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs
68
consensus information
information about the extent to which other people behave the same way toward the same stimulus as the actor does
69
distinctiveness information
information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli
70
consistency information
information about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances
71
fundamental attribution error
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which people's behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors
72
perceptual salience
the seeming importance of information that is the focus of people's attention
73
two-step process of attribution
analyzing another person's behavior first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution
74
self-serving attributions
explanations for one's successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and explanations for one's failures that blame external, situational factors
75
defensive attributions
explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality
76
bias blind spot
the tendency to think that other people are more susceptible to attributional biases in their thinking than we are
77
belief in a just world
a form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people
78
independent view of the self
a way of defining oneself in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions and not in terms of the thoughts, feeling and actions of other people
79
interdependent view of the self
a way of defining oneself in terms of one's relationships to other people, recognizing that one's behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others
80
self-awareness theory
the idea that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to their internal standards and values
81
causal theories
theories about the causes of one's own feelings and behaviors; often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g., "absence makes the heart grow fonder")
82
reasons-generated attitude change
attitude change resulting from thinking about the reasons for one's attitudes; people assume that their attitudes match the reasons that are plausible and easy to verbalize
83
self-perception theory
the theory that when our attitudes and feelings are uncertain or ambiguous, we infer these states by observing our behavior and the situation in which it occurs
84
intrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting, not because of external rewards or pressures
85
extrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task for find it interesting
86
over-justification effect
the tendency for people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent to which it was caused by intrinsic reasons
87
task-contingent rewards
rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well the task is done
88
performance-contingent rewards
rewards that are based on how well we perform a task
89
two-factor theory of emotion
the idea that emotional experience is the result of a two-step self-perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it
90
misattribution of arousal
the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do
91
fixed mindset
the idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change
92
growth mindset
the idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow
93
social comparison theory
the idea that we learn about our own abilities and attitudes by comparing ourselves to other people
94
upward social comparison
comparing ourselves to people who are better than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability
95
downward social comparison
comparing ourselves to people who are worse than we are with regard to a particular trait or ability
96
social tuning
the process whereby people adopt another person's attitudes
97
impression management
the attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen
98
ingratiation
the process whereby people flatter, praise, and generally try to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status
99
self-handicapping
the strategy whereby people create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves
100
self-esteem
people's evaluations of their own self-worth; that is, the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent
101
terror management theory
the theory that holds that self-esteem serves as a buffer, protecting people from terrifying thoughts about their own mortality
102
narcissism
the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy toward others
103
cognitive dissonance
a drive or feeling of discomfort, originally defined as being caused by holding two or more inconsistent cognitions and subsequently defined as being caused by performing an action that is discrepant from one's customary, typically positive, self-conception
104
self-affirmation
in the context of dissonance theory, a way of reducing dissonance by reminding oneself of one or more of one's positive attributes
105
impact bias
the tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of one's emotional reactions to future negative events
106
post-decision dissonance
dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and evaluating the rejected alternatives
107
justification of effort
the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain
108
external justification
a reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual (e.g., in order to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment)
109
internal justification
the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., one's attitude or behavior
110
counter-attitudinal advocacy
stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one's private beliefs or attitude
111
insufficient punishment
the dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object
112
self-persuasion
a long-lasting form of attitude change that results from attempts at self-justification
113
hypocrisy induction
the arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behaviors and then reminding them of the inconsistency between what they advocated and their behavior. The purpose is to lead individuals to more responsible behavior
114
introspection
the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives
115
what distinguishes social psychology from sociology or philosophy?
level of analysis: assessment of the individual in context; | focus on construals- the way people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
116
scientific methods
theories are subject to empirical analysis (not based on folk psychological theories or beliefs)
117
What are folk psychological beliefs?
they function to help us understand life; use "facts" to guide our behavior
118
Two primary motives driving our thoughts, behaviors and feelings
1) need to be accurate | 2) need to feel good about ourselves
119
direct influences
persuasion, compliance, etc
120
indirect influences
group processes, cultural norms
121
Types of Social Interactions
- Aggression/ prejudice - Helping - Relationships
122
Bystander effect
Kitty Genovese; less people help when more people are witness
123
Characteristics of Good Theories
1) Have utility 2) Are simple 3) Are comprehensive 4) Are Generative
124
Scientific theories are...
1) supported by replicable observations 2) based on reliable and valid methods 3) falsifiable - open to empirical tests
125
Pros/ Cons of Observational Methods
Pro: rich description of social world Con: do not help to build theories regarding causality
126
Limitations of Correlational Method
Only tells if two variables are related but not how they are related
127
Two Types of Social Cognitions
1) Quick and automatic "without thinking," without consciously or deliberately considering one's own thoughts, perceptions, and assumptions 2) Controlled thinking that is effortful and deliberate, pausing to think about self and environment, carefully selecting the right course of action
128
When are Self-Fulfilling Prophecies more/ less likely to occur?
More: when distracted, when feeling rushed Less: when motivated to form accurate impressions, under conditions of increased awareness
129
High Effort Thinking
intentional, voluntary, effortful

Social Psychology 261 (3 decks)

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