psychology
social psychology
The study of how people act in social situations
In groups
groups you personally identify with
Outgroup's
A group of person does not identify with
social roles
expectations for how people who holds certain positions in a group have to behave
social norms
widely excepted standard of conduct for appropriate behaviour
social cognition
The process of thinking about ourselves and other people in a social context
social comparison
The process of evaluating our abilities, achievements in attitude by comparing yourself to other people
downward comparison
comparing yourself with a person who ranks lower than you on some dimension
upward comparison
The process of comparing yourself with a person who ranks higher than you want some dimension
attribution
The act of assigning a caused to someone's behaviour
depositional attribution
explaining a persons behavior, as being a product of their personality
situational attribution
explaining a persons behaviour as being the product of their situation
fundamental attribution error
The tendency to attribute the behaviour of others to dispositional causes without regard for situational influences
actor-observer bias
The tendency to make dispositional attribution for the behaviour of others and situational attributions for our own behaviour
self-serving attributions
positive outcome for self
Explained in terms of dispositional factors
Negative outcomes for self
Explained in terms of situational factors
self handicapping
placing obstacles in the way of your success, to protect your self-esteem from possible future failure
cognitive dissonance
how do we convince ourselves that we are good?
Dissonance occurs when we hold to cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent
Dissonant, thoughts, cause psychological discomfort
reducing dissonance
change behaviour
Change the cognition
Add consonant thoughts
Change the importance of the dissonant thought
social facilitation
The tendency to perform better in the presence of other people
social loafing
when a person exerts less effort, knowing that their individual performance will be hidden in the group product
conformity
when we change our behaviours or opinions to be in agreement with other people
compliance
bending to the request of another person who has little or no authority over them
foot in the door
A person who complies with a small request, is more likely to comply with a larger demand later
lowballing
you get a person committed to an act, then once they are committed, make the terms less desirable
door in the face
people are most likely to comply with a moderate request after their first refussed, a must larger request
obedience
when you comply with the request of someone in a position of authority
coercion
forced to change, believes her behaviours against your will
attitude
summarizes how you feel about something
reference groups
groups that we use as a point of comparison to form our own attitudes
persuasion
any delivered attempt to change an attitude through information and arguments
familiarity
we are attracted to people who are familiar
similarity
we prefer people who are similar to us
physical attractiveness
we prefer people we find physically attractive
reciprocity
we prefer people who reciprocate liking
romantic love
intimacy and passion
compassionate love
intimacy and commitment
consummate love
intimacy, passion, and commitment
bystander effect
when more people witness a crime, the less likely someone is to help
diffusion of responsibility
feeling less responsible because other people are able to help
pluralistic ignorance
assuming that nothing is wrong because no one else looks concerned
prejudice
A negative attitude toward a group of people
stereotypes
oversimplified beliefs about certain groups
discrimination
unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on their characteristics
explicit prejudice
consciously endorse negative attitudes based on group memberships
symbolic prejudice
expression of prejudice, through the support of ideas or policies
implicit prejudice
Measure of generic positive or negative implicit feelings
scapegoating
prejudice is the result of displaced, aggression and places, aggression onto groups that are dislike in society
motivation
psychological cause for action, the guides behaviour towards a goal
Biologicall motives
psychological needs and drives that influence behaviour in our necessary for survival
need
psychological or psychosocial, state that is essential for survival or well-being
Drive
arouse, motivated state; bodily tension
need reduction
satisfied need reduces drive
Drive reduction and homeostasis
maintain optimal or steady internal state
homeostatic process
detect sub optimal response, initiate action to maintain optimal level, discontinue action, when optimal level is restored
thermostat
heat below desired temperature the thermostat activates furnace and increase heat. Furnace is deactivated when desired temperature is reached.
lateral hypothalamus
grehlin released by stomach lining signal, low, nutrient levels
orexin released by lateral hypothalamus to increase hunger Drive
ventromedial hypothalamus
leptin
Hormone released by fat cells when body fat, exceeds optimal setpoint
Signals to ventromedial hypothalamus to decrease release of orexin
Learned motives
external incentives: external stimuli that motivate behaviour
Evolutiontionary motives
innate genetic predisposition towards goals and behaviour that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce
thrifty gene theory
innate genetic preference for sugar and fat do to, ancestral survival benefits
stimulus motives
innate need to seek simulation and information
arousal theory
motivated to keep arousal at optimal level
intrinsic motivation
motivated by internal rewards with not obvious external rewards
extrinsic motivation
motivated by external factors
sympathetic branch
activated when you have arousal emotions like fear and anger
parasympathetic branch
reduces arousal; conserves energy
attributions
explanation for why something happened?
personality
A persons, unique and relatively stable pattern of thinking emotions and behaviour
personality types
style of personality, defined by a group of relative traits that people have in common
MMPI-2
Measure of problematic personality traits, relevant to clinical psychology and psychiatry
personality disorders
and enduring pattern or emotions, thoughts and behaviors, and interpersonal functioning
personality traits
different among individuals in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are stable over a variety of situations in a fairly long period of time
conscious
information you are presently aware of
pre-consciousness
something you are not currently conscious of, but can be conscious of later
unconscious
something you feel anxious uncomfortable with, and is actively kept out of your conscious mind
id
personality structure that focusses primarily on unconsciousness
eros
pleasure principle-life insticts: survival and reproduction
thanatos
death instinct: aggressive urges
moral principles
internalized values
conscience
guilt(bad behaviour)-pride(good behaviour)
ego
mediator- mediate intrapsychic conflict between id and ego
moral anxiety
desires of idconflict with moral standards of super ego
neurotic anxiety
results of an eagle cannot gratify id drives, due to reality principle unconscious
ego defence mechanism
distort deny or block reality to lessen anxiety
denial
reducing to believe reality, that makes you anxious
displacement
shifting unacceptable urges to less threatening person or object
rationalization
reasonable explanation to hide unacceptable feelings, or motives
sublimation
channel. Unacceptable urges into socially acceptable activities.
reaction formation
changing unacceptable desires to the opposite
projection
disgusting unacceptable impulses by attributing them to others
fixation
unresolved conflict in psychosexual development
oral dependent personality
gullible, passive attention, seeking need mothering
Cause: overindulgence at oral stage
oral aggressive personality
exploits others, and is argumentative
Cause: frustration and oral stage
anal explosive personality
disorderly, detractive, cruel, messy
cause: over indulgence at anal stage
anal retentive personality
obstinate vein exhbitionistic, boastful, sexually compulisve
cause: overindulgence of frustration in the phallic stage
incongruence
discrepancy between self image, and true, or ideal self
congruence
selves are aligned
statistical abnormality
rare or unusual behaviour is statistically abnormal
nonconformity with social or cultural norms
failure to conform to societal norms or standards for acceptable conduct
subjective discomfort
private feelings of pain and happiness, or emotional distress