Ch. 18 Test

tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition

belief and feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to objects, people and events

When we are the actor, we tend to attribute our own behavior to external causes. When we are the observer, we tend to attribute their behavior to internal causes.

• We tend to blame the victims of misfortune for causing their own misfortune or for not taking steps to prevent or avoid it.
• Partly due to the just-world bias.

• the bias that human actions eventually have fair and fitting consequences.
• ex: you do something bad, something bad happens to you

• the tendency for someone to take credit for their own success by attributing them to internal, personal causes, along with the tendency to distance ourselves from our failures by attributing them to external, situational causes.
• more common in individualistic cultures
• more common than self-eflacing bias

• the tendency for someone to blame themself for their failures, attibuting them to internal, personal causes, while downplaying our successes by attributing them to external, situational causes.
• more common in collectivistic cultures

feeds mutual liking, liking leads to positive behavior

tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

• we feel obliged to return favors
• opposite of foot-in-the-door phenomenon
• wanting the favor in the first place is irrelevant
• ex: we get a free sample and feel compelled to buy the product

• sleep on it
• play devil's advocate
• pay attention to your gut feeling

• we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent
• ex: when we become aware that our attitudes and actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

• set of expectations about a social position
• defines how those in position are supposed to behave
• ex: Stanford Prison Experiment

• conducted by: Phillip Zimbardo, Stanford
• volunteer participants, either take on role of guard or prisoner
• real life prison setting
• participants asked to act accordingly to their role
• supposed to last 2 weeks, had to be stopped after 6 days to ensure physical and psychological health of participants

unconsciously mimicking others' expressions, postures, voice tones, etc

adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

confederates all said the wrong answer to see what the participant would say

• unanimous group of at least 4 people
• give response in front of group
• have not already expressed commitment to a different idea or opinion
• task is difficult
• doubt your own abilities or knowledge
• strongly attracted to a group member or want to be apart of it

compliance of person is due to percieved authority of asker

conducted obedience experiment in which the teacher (participant) would shock the learner (confederate) when they answered the question wrong.

• improved performance of tasks in the presence of others
• occurs in simple or well-learned tasks but not difficult or not yet mastered ones

tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal than when individually accountable

• mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternative
• the alternative is not even considered

• one persons perceptions leads the other to act in way that confirm them
• ex: Dan ignores Sally because he thinks she is a snob, so Sally ignores Dan, confirming his snob preconception

social history is often made by a minority that sways the majority

• an unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members
• includes stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action

• a generalized belief aboout a group of people
• sometimes accurate, but often overgeneralized