Chapter 18: Social Psychology

refers to the study of psychology within the context of social or interpersonal interactions.

is the study of cultures and societies, and these have a large effect on an individual’s environment, which can influence cognition and behavior.

are generally words that describe personality, such as kind, generous, thoughtful, insightful, etc., while social identities are how individuals are seen in the context of their society.

can be related to religion, work, appearance, disability, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, or any other label that societies have come to understand through their shared culture.

refer to groups of individuals with a shared identity.

is a group that someone does not identify with or belong to.

refers to holding the values or beliefs of one’s own in-group as better than those of another’s, which can lead to conflict, prejudice, and more.

is the idea that the beliefs and values of one’s in-group may be different than those of another, but that they are not necessarily better or worse, just different.

refers to the way in which behaviors and values can be seen differently across cultures.

refers to the time it takes for cultures to catch up to technological innovations or practices.

occurs when two or more of these roles are at odds with each other

can occur within the same role

occurs when a person leaves behind a role to take on another

is a particular type of discrimination that refers to unfair treatment of certain groups by organizations.

refers to whether something even exists for a person to use.

refers to whether a person can actually use the tools and resources that are available to them.

is a general term for some of the phenomena we observe when people interact.

is an increase in performance on a task that occurs when that task is performed in the presence of others.

which occurs when the presence of others makes performance worse.

refers to the way in which people assign responsibility for certain outcomes.

assumes that the cause of a behavior or outcome is internal.

assigns the cause to the environment or external conditions.

sees the cause of actions as internal (or dispositional) when the outcomes are positive and external (or situational) when the results are negative.

is obviously based on characteristics of the person to whom we are attracted, but it may be subject to environmental and social influences, as well.

refers to the fact that we all like to be positively evaluated, and therefore, we tend to prefer the company of people who think highly of us.

as a basis for interpersonal attraction are typically thought of as a form of social reinforcement.

which states that people tend to prefer people and experiences that are familiar.

is the modification of behavior to make it agree with that of a group.

performed studies on the nature of conformity.

is the propensity to accede to the requests of others, even at the expense of your own interests.

which involves creating the appearance that you are giving someone something in order to induce that individual to comply with your wishes.

which involves making requests in small steps at first (to gain compliance), in order to work up to big requests.

in which a large request is made first, making subsequent smaller requests more appealing.

was studied by Stanley Milgram in a series of famous experiments.

are combinations of affective (emotional) and cognitive (perceptual) reactions to different stimuli

occurs when attitudes and behaviors contradict each other.

studied this phenomenon and came to the conclusion that people are likely to alter their attitudes to fit their behavior.

is the process by which a person or group can influence the attitudes of others.

explains when people will be persuaded by the content of a message (or the logic of its arguments), and when people will be influenced by other, more superficial characteristics like the length of the message, or the appearance of the person delivering it.

people are persuaded by the content of the argument.

functions when people focus on superficial or secondary characteristics of the speech or the orator.

can help reduce the tendency toward the bystander effect.

proposes a view whereby workers evaluate their efforts versus their rewards.

deals with the interaction of person and machine.

indicates that workers being monitored for any reason work more efficiently and productively

behavior that is harmful to society or others, can be divided roughly into two kinds

is a negative attitude toward members of a particular group without evidentiary backing.

simply refers to a tendency or preference, and biases are not necessarily negative.

are prototypes of people.

is behavior directed toward another with the intention of causing harm.

is emotional and impulsive, and it is typically induced by pain or stress.

is aggression committed to gain something of value.