Master this deck with 132 terms through effective study methods.
No description available
Any collection of people that we can compare our qualities (beliefs, appearances, behaviors).
An aspirational reference group is any kind of reference group where a subject does not belong but hopes to join in the future.
any kind of reference group to which a subject does not belong and hopes never to join in the future.
a cognitive bias that is specifically designed as a “shortcut” to speed up thought processes while saving time and energy. In simpler terms, the stereotype heuristic causes the brain to make the biggest decisions possible with the least amount of information available.
a subject examines the similarities and differences concerning their own qualities (attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, appearance, etc.) to those of someone the subject views as “better.”
a subject examines the similarities and differences concerning their own qualities (attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, appearance, etc.) to those of someone the subject views as “less” than or “worse off.”
a subject emphasizes the differences between their own qualities (attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and/or appearances) and another individual/group.
a subject compares their own qualities (attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and/or appearances, etc.) to that of someone who they consider to have similar traits to their own. They then emphasize those similar qualities/characteristics to gain a better understanding, appreciation, and incentive for improving their own qualities.
The process by which a person changes their behavior based on what they’ve observed. The behavior will either be encouraged through reinforcement or changed/stopped through punishment.
Developer of Social Cognitive Theory through his signature/controversial experiment “The Bobo Test.”
affective factors are emotional in nature and focus on a subject’s reaction to outside events, interactions, and other stimuli, behavioral factors are physical actions done by an individual, cognitive factors are thought patterns or beliefs held by individuals which help them interpret the world around them.
a cognitive bias that is specifically designed as a “shortcut” to speed up thought processes while saving time and energy.
a subject assumes every member of a reference group has the same characteristics, beliefs, behaviors, and/or values.
A subject witnesses an individual demonstrating hyper aggressive tendencies causing the person to feel like such violent behaviors are acceptable.
a subject is encouraged by their peers to hold certain emotional attitudes by receiving praise.
A subject experiencing an unpleasant consequence from trying to interact with a different reference group.
A subject in one reference group developing resentment for another reference group because their own group does not have the same resources or opportunities as the other group.
where failure to accomplish a task causes frustration and eventually explosive anger for people who can accomplish the task.
Ensuring the cerebral cortex is in charge of evaluations than the primal brain and the hypothalamus.
a cognitive bias in which the more we are exposed to something, the more accustomed we are to it, and eventually grow to like it.
one goal that takes precedence over one or more secondary goals. In movies, this trend often takes the form of formerly rival factions joining forces to fight a common enemy.
In this case, if subjects from two different reference groups with prejudicial attitudes are working together and enjoying their time together, their cooperative behaviors are in contradiction with the prejudicial attitudes they had for each other.
the tendency to favor one’s own group, its members, its characteristics, and its products, particularly in reference to other groups.
the tendency for members of a group discussing an issue to move toward a more extreme version of the positions they held before the discussion began.
when a person encounters cognitive dissonance, or a situation in which a person's behavior is inconsistent with their beliefs (hypocrisy), that person tends to justify the behavior and deny any negative feedback associated with the behavior.
an experiential state characterized by loss of self-awareness, altered perceptions, and a reduction of inner restraints that results in the performance of unusual and sometimes antisocial behavior.
the tendency to maintain a belief even after the information that originally gave rise to it has been refuted or otherwise shown to be inaccurate.
a strategy for making categorical judgments about a given person or target based on how closely the exemplar matches the typical or average member of the category.
When such behavior is purposively performed with the primary goal of intentional injury or destruction.
involves an action carried out principally to achieve another goal, such as acquiring a desired resource.
involves an emotional response that tends to be targeted toward the perceived source of the distress.
redirecting hostile actions and thought onto other people or objects if the disturbing agent cannot be attacked.
an animalistic form of aggression in which an individual acts violently or with hostility to obtain food, shelter, or other resources --such as money.
a defensive form of aggression in which an individual acts violently or with hostility to protect their food, shelter, or other resources --such as money.
a form of violence or hostility in response to pain or deprivation of an item required for survival.
a form of violence or hostility to protect young offspring
a defensive form of aggression to repel intruders from an area.
a defensive form of aggression against a competitor.
aggression that is violent, explicitly directed against individuals or property, and either part of a longstanding repertoire of destructive or hurtful behavior or a sudden, paroxysmal reaction to a real or perceived provocation
In this technique a subject makes a small and relatively neutral request that the targeted individual will most likely accept. Right before the targeted individual fulfills the request, the subject may add another slightly bigger request that builds off of it.
In this compliance technique, a subject makes an outrageous request that a targeted individual will most likely deny. Then the subject follows up with a more reasonable request to which the subject will most likely agree.
In this compliance technique, two subjects agree on a transactional behavior (usually some kind of purchase) but before the behavior is completed, it is canceled and replaced with a significantly different transactional behavior or agreement.
a subject is exposed to a series of incentives to compel them to comply with a decision. These incentives are usually behavioral reinforcements and --in keeping with the foundations of operant conditioning-- can either be positive or negative.
this cognitive bias encourages people to prefer new thoughts and behaviors that follow the same --or mostly similar-- patterns as the stimuli that came before them. This bias is the psychological foundation for the foot in the door technique (where a subject is more likely to comply with a second, slightly bigger request provided it is cognitively consistent with the one that came before it).
This cognitive bias encourages subjects to respond to a presented behavior with the same form/magnitude as what was done to them. As social creatures, we want to respond and support fellow members of our community so if a subject makes two requests --one outrageous, the other reasonable-- the subject will be more likely to comply with the reasonable request both out of social obligation and hopes that one day they will perform a similar service for them.
In this cognitive bias, people generally will invest more resources --such as energy, time, or money-- into a difficult task simply because stopping the behavior with nothing to show for it is too painful a prospect.
A cognitive offshoot of the loss aversion bias which states our tendency to continue with an endeavor we've invested money, effort, or time into—even if the current costs outweigh the benefits
In this complex collection of behaviors, neurological reactions, and cognitive biases, a subject places higher value on a variable if they believe that its quantity is in short supply.
a relatively enduring and general evaluation of an object, person, group, issue, or concept on a dimension ranging from negative to positive.
a social psychological theory which states that human beings experience extreme discomfort when their attitudes contradict with their beliefs resulting in them changing one of the two variables so that it matches the other, whichever one is easier.
the process by which attitudes are formed or changed as a result of carefully scrutinizing and thinking about the central/factual merits of attitude-relevant information.
the process by which attitudes are formed or changed as a result of using peripheral/emotional cues rather than carefully scrutinizing and thinking about the central/logical merits of attitude-relevant information.
Six techniques which serve as a bypass to more effective persuasion. Authority, Social Proof, Liking, Reciprocity, Scarcity, Commitment and consistency
The theory postulates that attitude strength depends on the amount of elaboration on which the attitude is based and proposes five possible mechanisms by which a variable may influence the persuasion process (i.e., serving as an argument, biasing factor, determinant of elaboration, peripheral cue, or self-validation factor).
In internal attributions, one explains a subject’s behavior as being part of their disposition. A disposition is defined as the inherent qualities of mind and character.
In external/situational attributions, one explains a subject’s behavior as being outside of their control. A person’s disposition may be completely opposite of what they are doing but forces outside their control are demanding that they change their behavior.
With this cognitive bias, one incorrectly attributes another’s behavior as automatically being internal (and consequently part of their disposition).
With this cognitive bias, subjects make excuses for their own behavior and judge themselves by a different standard than the people whose behavior they’re attributing.
In this scenario, people make the assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
an individual feels they have direct control over the situation.
an individual’s ability to control the situation is outside their control.
An optimistic style involves a subject interpreting adverse actions done to them in more critical ways including. The negative/harmful action happened due to an external cause outside the subject’s control instead of any flaw in their personality. Because of this external cause, the outcome will vary from one situation to the next and therefore the outcome is unstable. Because of external causes and the unstable dependability of harmful events, the adverse situation must be examined on a specific case by case basis.
A pessimistic style involves a subject interpreting adverse actions done to them in harmful terms through the following justifications. The negative/harmful action was done because of an internal flaw in the individual’s own disposition/personality. Because of this internal flaw, the outcome of any similar situation will always be the same and therefore is always stable. Finally, because the subject’s perceived internal flaw leads to a stable outcome, the outcome will always be global, indicating that the subject will expect the same outcome regardless of any possible contexts.
the ability to rationalize actions in an emotionally positive point of view.
a belief or expectation that helps to bring about its outcome to a situation.
a form of the self-serving bias where a bias or error in attributing cause for some event such that a perceived threat to oneself is minimized.
a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction.
a theory that expands on the cognitive biases for the fundamental attribution error describing how individuals think of individual traits as relating to and occurring with each other.
the relatively fixed personality of the individual resulting from relationships with his or her parents and other significant adults, in which approved attitudes and behavior patterns tend to be retained and disapproved actions and attitudes tend to be blocked out.
a state in which two or more people, situations, variables, or other entities rely on or react with one another such that one cannot change without affecting the other.
the state of affairs in which virtually every member of a group privately disagrees with what are considered to be the prevailing attitudes and beliefs of the group as a whole. It has been suggested that apparently sudden changes in social mores (e.g., with regard to sexual behavior) can be explained by the gradual recognition by many individuals that others in the group think the same as themselves.
n this theory, emotions are not an instinct but instead are a psychological interpretation of your body’s physical reactions to an outside force.
Walter Cannon and Philip Bard argue that emotions are simultaneous physical reactions to outside forces.
In the first factor, the beginnings of emotional responses do occur alongside physical reactions like the Cannon-Bard Theory suggests but the second factor requires us to interpret those early emotional responses into the most appropriate description for the situation.
an emotional response is the result of the brain processing the outside stimuli first then determining what the response should be.
emotional responses result from either involuntary reactions of the primal brain or voluntary rational appraisals in the cerebral cortex.
emphasize that certain emotional states have clearly observable and measurable physical responses which coincide with them. Human beings then interpret these symptoms to determine their emotional state. For example, when someone is happy, their muscles soften, their breathing more relaxed and their eyes and face become more agreeable.
cultural psychologists argue that the physical symptoms of happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust, contempt, and anger are all the same no matter their cultural context. For example, when someone is angry, no matter their culture, their jaws will clench and their heartbeat will pound. Whether the subject is from the United States, Africa, or Asia, they will all experience the same physical symptoms when compared to the emotion.
socially acceptable descriptions of emotional behavior defined by a reference group to whom a subject belongs. For example, depending on the culture, display rules may dictate that men greet each other by hugging each other and kissing them on the cheek --no matter the gender of the person they’re addressing. Conversely, a completely different culture may discourage that behavior and instead create a display rule indicating that a firm handshake is a proper greeting for “real men.”
Symmetrical faces demonstrate strong genetics, strong immune systems and the ability to fight diseases.
Excitatory neurotransmitter responsible for speeding up autonomic functions. When one is first in love, norepinephrine levels spike resulting in sped up autonomic functions.
Excitatory neurotransmitter responsible for emotional intensity and energy.
Inhibitory neurotransmitter responsible for mood regulation.
The bonding hormone.
The stress hormone
A cognitive bias in which one quality about an individual (i.e. attractiveness, agreeableness, common interests) completely overshadows everything else about that individual in the perception of the observer.
the two parties must be close to each other. Long distance relationships undermine it.
The more a person is around the person to whom they’re attracted, the more they like that person.
The more someone sees something, the more accustomed they become to its presence. Therefore, when that person disappears, their absence is missed more
In this type of love, intimacy is the only factor that is present from Sternberg’s three factors.
In this type of love, intimacy and commitment are present but passion is absent.
In this type of love, passion, intimacy and commitment are present. Many people call consummate the most ideal type of love.
According to David Matsumoto, the climate in which a culture lives plays a direct result on the following factors… The Circadian Rhythm and Infradian Rhythms (based on the amount of sun) The amount of resources (more on this in the next stage) The amount of calories one needs to eat to properly function. The suggested calorie intake for U.S. citizens per day is between 2,000 to 2,500. In colder climates such as Russia, that calorie intake rises to between 2,600 to 3,000. In warmer climates such as Kenya, that calorie intake drops to 1,600 to 2,100.
The group is more important than the individual.
the individual is more important than the group.
In this experiment, a test subject is instructed to teach a learner in a nearby room how to memorize word pairs. If the learner gets them wrong, the test subject is instructed to give a series of painful electric shocks from 5 volts to 450 volts. The subjects are encouraged to continue by a proctoring psychologist who is usually just an actor who has no idea how the machine actually works.
the diminished sense of responsibility often experienced by individuals in groups and social collectives.
Coercion:Yes! The psychologist --who is played by an actor not an actual psychologist-- is asking the test subject to do something they don’t want to do Lack of Informed Consent***: The subjects weren’t told that the machine didn’t really shock the learner. Right To Withdraw***: The psychologists encouraged the subjects to continue the experiment even if they don’t want to. This does not necessarily violating the right to withdraw but it does muddy the waters.
During the 1970s, the U.S. Office of Naval Research commissioned Dr. Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University to construct an experiment to measure the effects of role playing, authority, social expectations, and conformity.
Random Assignment: using random group assignment (literally flipping a coin), half of the subjects were assigned the role of prison guard and the other half were prisoners.
Positive Punishment***: Guards forced inmates to do pushups for failing to follow orders/expectations. Also guards brought a bucket full of human waste to get people to conform to social expectations. Negative Punishment***: Guards deprived inmates of rights and privileges such as removal of personal contact with people, removal of bathroom “privileges.”
an experiential state characterized by loss of self-awareness, altered perceptions, and a reduction of inner restraints that results in the performance of unusual and sometimes antisocial behavior.
A person is put in a situation where they look at lengths of line and are asked to pick the shortest one. (The differences in length are flagrantly obvious). The one person is a test subject the rest of the people in the experiment are confederates. The confederates say a lot of wrong answers (the independent variable) and the answer the person gives is the dependent variable. Instances of conformity***: When isolated, the test subject conforms with the confederates 33 percent of the time (1 out of 3 times). Instances of dissent***: When the test subject has a confederate who is saying the correct answer, the instances of conformity drop to 5 percent.
a strong concurrence-seeking tendency that interferes with effective group decision making. Symptoms include apparent unanimity, illusions of invulnerability and moral correctness, biased perceptions of the outgroup, interpersonal pressure, self-censorship, and defective decision-making strategies.
nonconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners, such that one's behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one's current social environment.
The presence of others makes a behavior easier to accomplish/complete.
The presence of others makes a behavior harder to accomplish/complete.
a subject will perform their best when they have found the right level of stimulation to optimize their cognition. You might know this process as being “in the zone” in that you are performing a task in the best possible way because your brain is processing information in the best way possible due to being exposed to the right levels of stimulation.
the reduction of individual effort that occurs when people work in groups compared to when they work alone.
the reduction of individual effort that occurs when people work in groups compared to when they work alone.
the tendency for members of a group discussing an issue to move toward a more extreme version of the positions they held before the discussion began.
systematic changes in behavior that occur as a function of spatial or temporal distance from a reinforcer.
that which an individual is seeking to attain, particularly the ultimate goal following a series of subgoals.
the characteristic of individuals who tend to direct their behaviors toward attaining goals, particularly long-term goals.
more generally, the final response in a chain of behavior directed toward obtaining a goal. In conditioning, it specifically refers to the response given to a positive reinforcing stimulus.
behavior that is oriented toward attaining a particular goal.
The name derives from a police tactic, used when incriminating evidence is lacking, in which two suspects are separated and told that the one who confesses will go free whereas the other will receive a heavy sentence.
A social application of social loafing. the tendency for groups to become less productive in terms of output per member as they increase in size.
any actions that conflict with, obstruct, hamper, or undermine the activities and experiences of others. A form of social inhibition.
A special kind of neuron which fires when someone sees someone doing something. The subject feels like the witnessed behavior is happening to them. This helps facilitate the learning process.
A component of the primal brain responsible for basic emotions. It activates when experiencing something threatening. It is the fear switch.
The activation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in the subject either physically confronting the source or running away.
A region of the autonomic nervous system responsible for fear response.
A region of the autonomic nervous system responsible for calming and relaxing while also recuperating from fight or flight.
In repetition priming, presentation of a particular sensory stimulus increases the likelihood that participants will identify the same or a similar stimulus later in the test.
a cognitive bias that results in adverse events having a more significant impact on our psychological state than positive events.
the process by which a person changes their behavior based on what they’ve observed. The behavior will either be encouraged through reinforcement or changed/stopped through punishment.
An experiment developed by Albert Bandura which a child observed someone either physically assaulting a Bobo Doll (bottom heavy toy) or playing with it --this was the independent variable. The dependent variable involved how the child would do --this is the dependent variable. Proponents of the idea that witnessing violent behavior (i.e. video games, movies, etc.) causes violence cite this case as evidence.
a theory which states venting one's anger will produce a positive improvement in one's psychological state.
a set of actions that are previously expected by an individual in certain circumstances or contexts.
the human tendency to see oneself (especially while in the throes of conflict) as the opposite of the person with whom they are having a conflict.
A heuristic that categorizes concepts and reference groups in an easily identifiable set of information. In the case of the media, people will use stereotypes to understand certain situations, groups of people, and places due to the fact that there is limited information that is available to the subject and buying into the narrative is easier.