chapter 16 psychology

the branch of psychology that studies the effect of social variables on individual behavior, attitudes, perceptions, and motives; also studies group and intergroup phenomena

the process by which people select, interpret, and remember social information

the process by which a person comes to know or perceived the personal attributes

a social-cognitive approach to describing the ways the social perceiver used information to generate causal explanation

a theory that suggests tha people attribute a behavior to causal factor if that factor was present whenever the behavior occured but was absent whenever it didnt occur

the dual tendency of observers to underestimate the impact of situational factors and to overestimate the influence of dispositional factors on a person's behavior

an attributional bias in which people tend to take credit for their successes and deny responsibility for their failures

a prediction made about some future behavior or event that modifies interactions so as to produce what is expected

a socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person who is functioning in a given setting or group

behavioral guideline for acting in a certain way in a certain situation

the expectation a group has for its members regarding acceptable and appropriate attitudes and behaviors

the tendency for people to adopt the behaviors, attitudes, and values of other members of a reference group

group effects that arise from individuals' desire to be correct and right to understna dhow best to act in a given situation

group effects that arise from individual's desire to be liked, accepted, and approved by others

the convergence of the expectations of a group of individuals into a common perspective as they talk and carry out activities together

the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the decisions that would be made by the members acting alone

the tendency of a decision-making group to filter out undersirable input so that a consensus may be reached, especially if it is in line with the leader's view point

the learned, relatively stable tendency to response to people, concepts, and events in an evaluative way

deliberate efforts to change attitudes

a theory of persuasion that defines how likely it is that people will focus their cognitive processes to elaborate upon a message and therefore follow the cental and peripheral routes to persuasion

the theory that the tension-producing effects of incongrous cognitions motivate individuals to reduce such tension

the idea that people observed themselves to figure out hte reasons they act as they do; people infer what their internal states are by perceiving how they are acting in a given situation

a change in behavior consistent with a communication source's direct requests

expectation that favors will be returned--if someone does something for another person, that person should do something in return

a learned attitude toward a target object, involving negative affect (dislike or fear), negative beliefs (stereotypes) that justify the attitude, and a behavioral intention to avoid control, dominate or eliminate the the target object

the process by which people organized the social environment by categorizing themselves and others into groups

a group with which people identify as members

a group with which people do not identify

people's tendency to favor members of their own group over members of other groups

discrimination against people based on the color of skin or ethnic heritage

discrimination against people because of their sex

generalization about a group of people in which the same characteristics are assigned to all members of a group

the prediction that contact between groups will reduce prejudice only if the contact includes features such as cooperation toward shared goals

behaviors that cause psychological or physical harm to another individual

behavior that is carried out with the goal of helping other people

prosocial behaviors a person carries out wihtout considering his or her own safety or interests

cognition based and goal directed aggression carried out with premeditated thought, to achieve specific aims

cognition-based and goal-directed aggression carried out with premeditated thought, to acheive specific aims

according to the hypothesis, frustration occurs in situations in which people are prevented or blocked from attaining their goals; a rise in frustration then leads to a greater probability of aggression

the idea that people perform altruistic behaviors because they expect that others will perform altruistic behaviors for them in return

willingness to assist a person in need of help

in emergency situations, the larger the number of bystanders, the less responsibility any one of the bystanders feels to help