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 Ex: social cognition, social influence
The mental processes people use to make sense of their social environments Ex: interpreting meaning of other peoples behavior
The effects of situational factors and other people on an individual's behavior Ex: if you are alone or with a group of people
The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of other people. Ex: how we form impressions
The "rules" or expectations for appropriate behavior in a particular social situationEx: don't speak in an elevator
Social Categorization. UO
The mental process of categorizing people into groups on the basis of their shared characteristics. Ex: hair, race, occupation
Implicit Personality Theory. UO
A network of assumptions or beliefs about the relationships among various types of people, traits and behaviors Ex: pogo the clown
The mental process of inferring the causes of people's behavior, including one's own. Also refers to the explanation made for a particular behaviorEx: guessing why people acted a certain way
Fundamental Attribution Error. UO
The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal, personal characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the effects of external, situational factors; an attributional bias that is common in individualistic cultures.
Ex: automatically assume that a persons behavior was because of an internal factor and discard any situational factors
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.
EX: Some people say rape victims provoked attacker, blame poor for their state or the sick for brining on illness
Just-world hypothesis. UO
The assumption that the world is fair and that therefore people get what deserve and deserve what they get. Ex: always a reason behind the consenquence
The tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one's own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes. Ex: more prominent in an individualistic culture
Self-effacing (modesty) Bias. UO
Blaming ourselves for out own failure, attributing them to own internal causes and downplaying our success by attributing them to external/ situational causes.Ex more prevalent in a collectivistic culture
A learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way; such evaluations may be positive, negative, or ambivalent. Ex: response based on how we perceive them
An unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions are inconsistent; typically results from the awareness that attitudes and behavior are in conflict.
Example with eating insects
A negative attitude toward people who belong in a specific social groupEx: MLK days
A cluster of characteristics that are associated with all members of a specific social group, often including qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define the group. Ex: all blondes are dumb
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. Ex: belief our culture as Americans is more supreme than others
Occurs when you adjust your opinions, judgment, or behavior so that it matches other people, or the norms of a social group or situationEx: conformation to authority
Normative Social Influence. UO
Behavior that is motivated by the desire to gain social acceptance and approvalEx when you try to do something to fit in
Informational Social Influence. UO
Behavior that is motivated by the desire to be correct Ex: answering a question in class
The performance of a behavior in response to a direct command Ex: obey authority
Helping another person with no expectation of personal reward or benefit.
Ex Motivated purely by desire to help someone in need.
Any behavior that helps another, whether the underlying motive is self-serving or selfless
Ex: Anytime we help others no matter the motive
A phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely each individual is to help someone in distress. Ex: kitty genovese murder
Diffusion of Responsibility. UO
A phenomenon in which the precense of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all onlookers. Ex: bullying
The tendency to expend less effort on a task when it is a group effort. Ex: prominent in individualistic cultures
The tendency for the precense of other people to enhance individual performance. Ex: performing on stage
The reduction of self awareness and inhibitions that can occur when a person is a part of a group whose members feel anonymous
Ex: people may do things they wouldn't normally do if they were identifiable