Unit 14 Flashcards
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 another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
Fundamental attribution error
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Social psychology
Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
Attitude
Attitude change path in which interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
Central route persuasion
Attitude change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
Peripheral route persuasion
The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a lager request.
Foot-in-the-door phenomenon
A set of expectations( norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
Role
The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort ( dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts ( cognition) are inconsistent. For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
Cognitive dissonance theory
Adjusting one’s 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
Stronger responses 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 groups 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
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
Culture
An understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. Prescribe “ proper” behavior.
Norm
The buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies.
Personal space
An unjustifiable ( and usually negative) attitude toward a group and it’s members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and predisposition to discriminatory action.
Prejudice
A generalized ( sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people
Stereotype
Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and it’s members
Discrimination
“Us”- people with whom we share a common identity.
Ingroup
