Social Psychology Vocabulary

attitude: feelings, often based on our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to
objects, people, and events.
1. attributions: suggest how we explain someone’s behavior- by crediting either the
situation or the persons disposition
2. bystander effect: the tendency for any giver bystander to be less likely to give aid if
other bystanders are present
3. cognitive dissonance: the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we
feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when our
awareness of our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance
by changing our attitudes.
4. collectivism: giving priority to the goals of ones group (often ones extended family or
work group) and defining ones identity according
5. commitment: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of
action
6. companionate love: the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our
lives are intertwined
7. compliance: a form of social influence, whereby an individual seeks to influence another
to comply with a demand.
8. conformity: adjusting ones behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
9. defensive attribution: a tendency to blame victims for their own misfortune. For
example, rape victims, homeless and welfare recipients
10. discrimination: unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members
11. ethnocentrism: the tendency of most people to use their own way of life as a standard for
judging others; now also indicates the belief that their race, culture, society, etc., are
superior to all others.
12. external attribution: blaming an outside factor as the cause of an event
13. fundamental attribution error: the tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s
behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of
personal disposition
14. group cohesiveness: the force bringing group members closer together consisting of two
dimensions: emotional (or personal) and task-related
15. group polarization: the enhancement of a groups prevailing inclinations through
discussion within the group
16. individualism: giving priority to ones own goals over group goals, and defining ones
identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications
17. ingroup: “us” – people with whom one shares a common identity
18. internal attribution: blaming a factor, agent, or force within one's control for causing an
event
19. interpersonal attraction: the attraction between people which leads to friendships and
romantic relationships
20. intimacy: in Erickson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary
developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood
21. matching hypothesis: theory that suggests that people are more likely to form long
standing relationships with those who are equally physically attractive as they are.
22. obedience: the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another
person
23. passionate love: an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually
present at the beginning of a love relationship
24. person perception: part of perception that allows us to understand the individuals and
groups of our social world, and thus an element of social cognition
25. prejudice: an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its
members. Prejudice generally involves stereotypes beliefs, negative feelings, and a
predisposition to discriminatory action
26. reciprocity: responding to a positive action with another positive action, and responding
to a negative action with another negative one
27. self serving bias: a readiness to perceive oneself favorably
28. social cognition: views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and
their thinking) and their social context
29. social loafing: the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their
efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
30. social psychology: the scientific study of how we think about, influences, and relate to
one another
31. social schemas: the mental concepts and scripts that help us to interpret our experience in
the world
32. stereotypes: a generalized (sometimes accurate but often over generalized) belief about a
group of people