Chapter 12 Psychology

• Social psychology


  Examines how people affect one another, and looks at the power of the situation
• Situationism


  The view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings
• Dispositionism


  The view that our behavior is determined by internal factors (attributes of a person, including personality traits and temperament)
• Fundamental attribution error


  The tendency to overemphasize internal factors as explanations for the behavior of other people, and to underestimate the power of the situation
• Social role


  A pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group
• Attitude


  Our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object
• Halo effect


  The tendency to let the overall impression of an individual color the way in which we feel about their character
• Social norm


  A group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members
• Cognitive dissonance


  Psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, or opinions)
• Script


  A person's knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting
• Justification of effort


  The idea that we value goals and achievements that we put a lot of effort into
• Difficult initiation into a group


  Influences us to like the group more
• Individualistic culture


  A culture that focuses on individual achievement and autonomy
• Collectivistic culture


  A culture that focuses on communal relationships with others, such as family, friends, and community
• Actor-observer bias


  The phenomenon of attributing other people's behavior to internal factors (fundamental attribution error) while attributing our own behavior to situational forces
• Self-serving bias


  The tendency to explain our successes as due to dispositional (internal) characteristics, but to explain our failures as due to situational (external) factors
• Just-world hypothesis


  The belief that people get the outcomes they deserve
• Yale Attitude Change Approach

  • Certain features of the source of a persuasive message, the content of the message, and the characteristics of the audience will influence the persuasiveness of a message
• Elaboration Likelihood Model


  A model that describes the dynamics of persuasion, considering the variables of the attitude change approach to determine when attitude change will occur
• Central route


  Logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness
• Peripheral route


  An indirect route that uses peripheral cues to associate positivity with the message
• Foot-in-the-door technique


  A persuasion strategy where the persuader gets a person to agree to bestow a small favor or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a bigger item
• Stanford prison experiment


  A study that demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts