acceptance conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with

social pressure.

adaptation-level phenomenon the tendency to adapt to a given level of stimulation

and thus to notice and react to changes from that level.

aggression physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. In

laboratory experiments, this might mean delivering electric shocks or saying
something likely to hurt another's feelings. By this social psychological
definition, one can be socially assertive without being aggressive.

altruism a motive to increase another's welfare without conscious regard for

one's self-interests.

arbitration resolution of a conflict by a neutral third party who studies

both sides and imposes a settlement.

attitude a favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or

someone, exhibited in one's beliefs, feelings, or intended behavior.

attitude inoculation exposing people to weak attacks upon their attitudes so

that when stronger attacks come, they will have refutations available.

attractiveness having qualities that appeal to an audience. An appealing

communicator (often someone similar to the audience) is most persuasive on matters
of subjective preference.

attribution theory the theory of how people explain others' behavior; for
example, by attributing it either to internal dispositions (enduring traits,
motives, and attitudes) or to external situations.

autokinetic phenomenon self (auto) motion (kinetic). The apparent movement

of a stationary point of light in the dark. Perhaps you have experienced this when
thinking you have spotted a moving satellite in the sky, only to realize later that
it was merely an isolated star.
automatic processing "Implicit" or intuitive thinking that is effortless,
habitual, and without awareness.

availability heuristic an efficient but fallible rule-of-thumb that judges

the likelihood of things in terms of their availability in memory. If instances of
something come readily to mind, we presume it to be commonplace.

avoidant attachment Relationship style marked by dismissive detachment.

bargaining seeking an agreement through direct negotiation between parties

to a conflict.

behavioral confirmation a type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people's

social expectations lead them to act in ways that cause others to confirm their
expectations.

behavioral medicine an interdisciplinary field that integrates and applies

behavioral and medical knowledge about health and disease.

belief perserverance persistence of one's initial conceptions, as when the basis

for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true
survives.

bogus pipeline a procedure that fools people into disclosing their attitudes.
Participants are first convinced that a machine can use their psychological
responses to measure their private attitudes. Then they are asked to predict the
machine's reading, thus revealing their attitudes.

bystander effect the finding that a person is less likely to provide help
when there are other bystanders.

catharsis emotional release. The catharsis view of aggression is that aggressive

drive is reduced when one "releases" aggressive energy, either by acting
aggressively or by fantasizing aggression.

central route to persuasion persuasion that occurs when interested people focus
on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
channel of communication the way the message is delivered-whether face to
face, in writing, on film, or in some other way.

clinical psychology the study, assessment, and treatment of people with

psychological difficulties.

co-actors co-participants working individually on a noncompetitive activity.

cognitive dissonance tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two
inconsistent cognitions. For example, dissonance may occur when we realize that we
have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes or made a decision
favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another.

cohesiveness a "we feeling"; the extent to which members of a group are bound
together, such as by attraction for one another.

collectivism giving priority to the goals of one's groups (often one's

extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly.

companionate love the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are
deeply intertwined.

complementarity the popularly supposed tendency, in a relationship between two

people, for each to complete what is missing in the other. The questionable
complementarity hypothesis proposes that people attract those whose needs are
different, in ways that complement their own.

compliance conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with social

pressure while privately disagreeing. Obedience is acting in accord with a direct
order.

confederate an accomplice of the experimenter.

confirmation bias a tendency to search for information that confirms one's

preconceptions.
conflict a perceived incompatibility of actions or goals.

conformity a change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined

group pressure.

controlled processing "explicit" thinking that is deliberate, reflective, and

conscious.

correlational research the study of the naturally occurring relationships

among variables.

counterfactual thinking imagining what might have happened, but didn't.

credibility believability. A credible communicator is perceived as both

expert and trustworthy.

cult (also called new religious movement) a group typically characterized by

(1) distinctive ritual and beliefs related to its devotion to a god or a person,
(2) isolation from the surrounding "evil" culture, and (3) a charismatic leader. (A
sect, by contrast, is a spinoff from a major religion.)

culture the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a

large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

debriefing in social psychology the post experimental explanation of a study

to its participants. Debriefing usually discloses any deception and often queries
participants regarding their understandings and feelings.

deception occurs in research when participants are misinformed or mislead about

the study's methods and purposes.

deindividuation loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in

group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad.

demand characteristics cues in an experiment that tell the participant what

behavior is expected.

dependent variable the variable being measured, so-called because it may

depend on manipulations of the independent variable.

depressive realism the tendency of mildly depressed people to make accurate

rather than self-serving judgments, attributions, and predictions.

dispositional attribution attributing behavior to the person's disposition and

traits.

disclosure reciprocity the tendency for one person's intimacy of self-

disclosure to match that of a conversational partner.

discrimination unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

displacement the redirection of aggression to a target other than the source

of the frustration. Generally, the new target is a safer or more socially
acceptable target.

door-in-the-face technique a strategy for gaining a concession. After someone

first turns down a large request (the door-in-the-face), the same requester
counteroffers with a more reasonable request.

downward social comparison Comparing with others who are worse, or worse off,
may trigger improved feelings about oneself.

dual attitudes differing implicit (automatic) and explicit (consciously

controlled) attitudes toward the same object. Verbalized explicit attitudes may
change with education and persuasion; implicit attitudes change slowly, with
practice that forms new habits.

egoism a motive (supposedly underlying all behavior) to increase one's own

welfare. The opposite of altruism, which aims to increase another's welfare.

empathy the vicarious experience of another's feelings; putting oneself in

another's shoes.
equal-status contact contact on an equal basis. Just as a relationship between
people of unequal status breeds attitudes consistent with their relationship, so do
relationships between those of equal status. Thus, to reduce prejudice, interracial
contact should be between persons equal in status.

equity a condition in which the outcomes people receive from a relationship

are proportional to what they contribute to it. Note: Equitable outcomes needn't
always be equal outcomes.

ethnocentrism a belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic and cultural

group, and a corresponding disdain for all other groups.

evaluation apprehension concern for how others are evaluating us.

evolutionary psychology the study of the evolution of behavior using

principles of natural selection.

experimental realism degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its

participants.

experimental research studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by

manipulating one or more factors (independent variables) while controlling others
(holding them constant).

explanatory style one's habitual way of explaining life events. A negative,

pessimistic, depressive explanatory style attributes failures to stable, global,
and internal causes.

false consensus effect the tendency to overestimate the commonality of one's

opinions and one's undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors.

false uniqueness effect the tendency to underestimate the commonality of

one's abilities and one's desirable or successful behaviors.

field research research done in natural, real-life settings outside the

laboratory.
foot-in-the-door phenomenon the tendency for people who have first agreed to a
small request to comply later with a larger request.

free riders people who benefit from the group but give little in return.

frustration the blocking of goal-directed behavior.

frustration aggression theory the theory that frustration triggers a

readiness to aggress.

fundamental attribution error The tendency for observers to underestimate

situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others'
behavior. (Also called correspondence bias, because we so often see behavior as
corresponding to a disposition.).

gender in psychology, the characteristics, whether biological or socially

influenced, by which people define male and female. Because "sex" is a biological
category, social psychologists sometimes refer to biologically based gender
differences as "sex differences."

gender role a set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females.

GRIT acronym for "graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension

reduction"-a strategy designed to de-escalate international tensions.

group two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with
and influence one another and perceive one another as "us."

group polarization group-produced enhancement of members' preexisting

tendencies; a strengthening of the members' average tendency, not a split within
the group.

group-serving bias explaining away outgroup members' positive behaviors; also

attributing negative behaviors to their dispositions (while excusing such behavior
by one's own group).
groupthink "The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-
seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override
realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action." -Irving Janis (1971).

health psychology a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's

contribution to behavioral medicine.

heuristic a rule-of-thumb strategy that enables quick, efficient judgments.

hindsight bias the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one's

ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-
along phenomenon.

hostile aggression aggression driven by anger and performed as an end in

itself (also called affective aggression).

hypothesis a testable proposition that describes a relationship that may

exist between events.

illusion of control perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one's

control or as more controllable than they are.

illusion of transparency the illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and
can be easily read by others.

illusory correlation (1) Perception of a relationship where none exists, or

perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists. (2) A false impression
that two variables correlate.

independent variable the experimental factor that a researcher manipulates.

individualism giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining
one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.

informational influence conformity occurring when people accept evidence

about reality provided by other people.

informed consent an ethical principle requiring that research participants

be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.

ingratiation the use of strategies, such as flattery, by which people seek to

gain another's favor.

ingroup "us"-a group of people who share a sense of belonging, a feeling of

common identity.

ingroup bias the tendency to favor one's own group.

insecure attachment attachments marked by anxiety, ambivalence, and

possessiveness.

instinctive behavior an innate, unlearned behavior pattern exhibited by all

members of a species.

instrumental aggression aggression that is a means to some other end.

insufficient justification effect reduction of dissonance by internally

justifying one's behavior when external justification is "insufficient."

integrative agreements win-win agreements that reconcile both parties'

interests to their mutual benefit.

interaction the effect of one factor (such as biology) depends on another

factor (such as environment).

just-world phenomenon the tendency of people to believe the world is just and
that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

kin selection the idea that evolution has selected altruism toward one's close
relatives to enhance the survival of mutually shared genes.
leadership the process by which certain group members motivate and guide the
group.

learned helplessness the hopelessness and resignation learned when a human or

animal perceives no control over repeated bad events.

locus of control the extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally

controllable by their own efforts and actions or as externally controlled by chance
or outside forces.

low-ball technique a tactic for getting people to agree to something. People

who agree to an initial request will often still comply when the requester ups the
ante. People who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply with it.

matching phenomenon the tendency for men and women to choose as partners those
who are a "good match" in attractiveness and other traits.

mediation an attempt by a neutral third party to resolve a conflict by

facilitating communication and offering suggestions.

mere-exposure effect the tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more or rated
more positively after the rater has been repeatedly exposed to them.

mirror-image perceptions reciprocal views of one another often held by parties

in conflict; for example, each may view itself as moral and peace-loving and the
other as evil and aggressive.

misinformation effect (1) incorporating "misinformation" into one's memory of the

event, after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it. (2)
Witnessing an event, receiving misleading information about it, and then
incorporating the "misinformation" into one's memory of the event.

moral exclusion the perception of certain individuals or groups as outside the

boundary within which one applies moral values and rules of fairness. Moral
inclusion is regarding others as within one's circle of moral concern.
mundane realism degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to
everyday situations.

natural selection the evolutionary process by which nature selects traits

that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environmental
niches.

naturalist fallacy the error of defining what is good in terms of what is

observable. For example: What's typical is normal; what's normal is good.

need for cognition the motivation to think and analyze. Assessed by agreement
with items such as "the notion of thinking abstractly is displeasing to me" and
disagreement with items such as "I only think as hard as I have to".

need to belong a motivation to bond with others in relationships that provide

ongoing, positive interactions.

non-zero-sum games games in which outcomes need not sum to zero. With
cooperation, both can win; with competition, both can lose. (Also called mixed-
motive situations.)

normative influence conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others'

expectations, often to gain acceptance.

norms rules for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe "proper"
behavior. (In a different sense of the word, norms also describe what most others
do-what is normal.)

obedience acting in accord with a direct order.

outgroup "them"-a group that people perceive as distinctively different from or

apart from their ingroup.

outgroup homogeneity effect perception of outgroup members as more similar to one

another than are ingroup members. Thus "they are alike; we are diverse."

overconfidence phenomenon the tendency to be more confident than correct to

overestimate the accuracy of one's beliefs.

overjustification effect the result of bribing people to do what they already

like doing; they may then see their action as externally controlled rather than
intrinsically appealing.

own-race bias the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of
their own race.

passionate love a state of intense longing for union with another. Passionate
lovers are absorbed in one another, feel ecstatic at attaining their partner's
love, and are disconsolate on losing it.

peripheral route to persuasion persuasion that occurs when people are

influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

personal space the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. Its size
depends on our familiarity with whoever is near us.

persuasion the process by which a message induces change in beliefs,

attitudes, or behaviors.

physical-attractiveness stereotype the presumption that physically

attractive people possess other socially desirable traits as well: What is
beautiful is good.

pluralistic ignorance a false impression of how other people are thinking,

feeling, or responding.

possible selves images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future.

prejudice a negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members.

primacy effect other things being equal, information presented first usually has
the most influence.
priming activating particular associations in memory.

prosocial behavior positive, constructive, helpful social behavior; the

opposite of antisocial behavior.

proximity geographical nearness. Proximity (more precisely, "functional

distance") powerfully predicts liking.

racism (1) an individual's prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior

toward people of a given race, or (2) institutional practices (even if not
motivated by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given race.

random assignment the process of assigning participants to the conditions of

an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given
condition. (Note the distinction between random assignment in experiments and
random sampling in surveys. Random assignment helps us infer cause and effect.
Random sampling helps us generalize to a population.)

random sample survey procedure in which every person in the population being
studied has an equal chance of inclusion.

reactance (1) a motive to protect or restore one's sense of freedom. Reactance

arises when someone threatens our freedom of action. (2) The desire to assert one's
sense of freedom.

realistic group conflict theory the theory that prejudice arises from
competition between groups for scarce resources.

recency effect information presented last sometimes has the most influence.
Recency effects are less common than primacy effects.

reciprocity norm an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who
have helped them.

regression toward the average the statistical tendency for extreme scores or
extreme behavior to return toward one's average.
relative deprivation the perception that one is less well off than others to
whom one compares oneself.

representativeness heuristic the tendency to presume, sometimes despite

contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if
resembling (representing) a typical member.

reward theory of attraction the theory that we like those whose behavior is
rewarding to us or whom we associate with rewarding events.

role a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought
to behave.

secure attachment attachments rooted in trust and marked by intimacy.

self-affirmation theory a theory that (a) people often experience a self-

image threat, after engaging in an undesirable behavior; and that (b) they can
compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. Threaten people's self-concept
in one domain and they will compensate by either refocusing or by doing good deeds
in some other domain.

self-awareness a self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. It

makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions.

self-concept a person's answers to the question "Who am I?".

self-disclosure revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

self-efficacy a sense that one is competent and effective, distinguished from

self-esteem, one's sense of self-worth. A bombardier might feel high self-efficacy
and low self-esteem.

self-esteem a person's overall self-evaluation or sense of self worth.

self-fulfilling prophecy a belief that leads to its own fulfillment.

self-monitoring being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social
situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression.

self-perception theory the theory that when we are unsure of our attitudes,
we infer them much as would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and
the circumstances under which it occurs.

self-presentation the act of expressing oneself and behaving in ways designed

to create a favorable impression or an impression that corresponds to one's ideals.

self-reference effect the tendency to process efficiently and remember well

information related to oneself.

self-schema beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of
self-relevant information.

self-serving bias the tendency to perceive oneself favorably.

sexism (1) an individual's prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior

toward people of a given sex, or (2) institutional practices (even if not motivated
by prejudice) that subordinate people of a given sex.

situational attribution attributing behavior to the environment.

sleeper effect a delayed impact of a message. Occurs when an initially

discounted message becomes effective, as we remember the message but forget the
reason for discounting it.

social comparison evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing

oneself to others.

social dominance orientation a motivation to have one's group to be dominant

over other social groups.

social-exchange theory the theory that human interactions are transactions

that aim to maximize one's rewards and minimize one's costs.

social facilitation (1) original meaning-the tendency of people to perform

simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present (2) current meaning-
strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses owing to the presence of
others.

social identity the "we" aspect of our self-concept. The part of our answer to
"Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships. Examples: "I am Australian." "I
am Catholic."

social leadership leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and

offers support.

social learning theory the theory that we learn social behavior by observing
and imitating and by being rewarded and punished.

social loafing the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their
efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable.

social psychology the scientific study of how people think about, influence,
and relate to one another.

social representations socially shared beliefs, and widely held ideas and
values, including our assumptions and cultural ideologies. Our social
representations help us make sense of our world.

spotlight effect the belief that others are paying more attention to one's
appearance and behavior than they really are.

stereotype a belief about the personal attributes of a group of people.

Stereotypes are sometimes overgeneralized, inaccurate, and resistant to new
information.

stereotype threat a disruptive concern, when facing a negative stereotype,

that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Unlike self-fulfilling
prophecies that hammer one's reputation into one's self-concept, stereotype threat
situations have immediate effects.
subgrouping accommodating groups of individuals who deviate from one's
stereotype by forming a new stereotype about this subset of the group.

subtyping accommodating individuals who deviate from one's stereotype by

splitting off a subgroup stereotype (such as "middle class Blacks" or "feminist
women"). Subtyping protects stereotypes.

superordinate goal a shared goal that necessitates cooperative effort; a goal

that overrides people's differences from one another.

task leadership leadership that organizes work, sets standards, and focuses on
goals.

theory an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed

events.

Tragedy of the Commons the "commons" is any shared resource, including air,
water, energy sources,, and food supplies. The tragedy occurs when individuals
consume more than their share, with the cost of their doing so dispersed among all,
causing the ultimate collapse - the tragedy - of the commons.

two-factor theory of emotion arousal 3 label 5 emotion.

two-step flow of communication the process by which media influence often

occurs through opinion leaders, who in turn influence others.

upward social comparison comparing with others who are better, or better off,
may trigger feelings of relative deprivation.