Week 9

• halo effect


  when one characteristic or a small number of characteristics have a large impact on overall perception
• attribution


  a judgement about the cause of a person's behavior
• dispositional attribution


  a judgement assigning the cause of a person's behavior to personal qualities or characteristics
• situational attribution


  a judgement assigning the cause of a person's behavior to the environment
• correspondence bias


  the tendency to view behavior as the result of disposition, even when the behavior can be explained by the situation in which it occurs
• actor-observer bias


  emphasizing dispositional attributions to explain the behavior of others while emphasizing situational attributions to explain our own behavior
• self-serving bias


  attributing success to dispositional factors while attributing failure to situational factors
• just-world belief


  the assumption that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people
• attitude


  a positive or negative evaluation that predisposes behavior toward an object, person, or situation
• cognitive dissonance


  the uncomfortable state that occurs when behavior and attitudes do not match and that can be resolved through attitude change
• cognitive consistency


  a preference for holding congruent attitudes and beliefs
• persuasion


  a change in attitude in response to information provided by another person
• elaboration likelihood model (ELM)


  a model that predicts responses to persuasive messages by distinguishing between the central and the peripheral route to persuasion
• central route to persuasion


  occurs when a person considers persuasive arguments carefully and thoughtfully
• peripheral route to persuasion


  occurs when a person responds to peripheral cues without considering the quality of the argument carefully
• prejudice


  a prejudgment, usually negative, of another person on the basis of membership in a group
• stereotype


  a simplified set of traits associated with membership in a group or category
• discrimination


  unfair behavior based on stereotyping and prejudice
• stereotype threat


  raising awareness of a negative stereotype about a group to which we belong has the ability to reduce our performance
• four criteria for positive contact

  equal standing, common goals, cooperation, support from authorities or customs
• social norms


  usually unwritten or unspoken rules for behavior in social settings
• conformity


  matching behavior and appearance to perceived social norms
• compliance


  agreement with a request from a person with no perceived authority
• foot-in-the-door

  a persuasive technique in which compliance with a small request is followed by compliance with a larger request that might otherwise have been rejected
• low-balling


  making further requests of a person who has already committed to a course of action
• obedience


  compliance with a request from an authority figure
• reciprocation


  we feel obliged to give something back to people who have given something to us
• engaged followership


  people are willing to do unpleasant things, so long as they agree with the objectives
• social facilitation


  a situation in which the presence of other people changes performance
• social loafing


  reduced motivation and effort shown by individuals working in a group
• deindividuation


  immersion of an individual within a group, leading to anonymity
• group polarization


  the intensifying of an attitude following discussion
• groupthink


  a type of flawed decision making in which a group does not question its decisions critically
• mere exposure effect


  a situation in which repeated exposure increases liking
• attitude alignment


  being attracted to another person increases similarity
• matching hypothesis


  most romantic couples share a common level of physical attractiveness
• altruism


  a helping behavior that either fails to reward or actually harms the person who performs it
• heroism


  instances of altruism in which the helper is exposed to risk or experiences harm
• bystander intervention


  the study of situational variables related to helping a stranger, most notably the decreased likelihood of helping as the number of bystanders increases
• aggression


  the conscious intent to harm another