116 Key Terms for Social Psychology
- actor-observer bias
- phenomenon of explaining other people’s behaviours are due to internal factors and our own behaviours are due to situational forces
- ageism
- prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age
- aggression
- seeking to cause harm or pain to another person
- altruism
- humans’ desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping
- Asch effect
- group majority influences an individual’s judgment, even when that judgment is inaccurate
- attitude
- evaluations of or feelings toward a person, idea, or object that are typically positive or negative
- attribution
- explanation for the behaviour of other people
- bullying
- a person, often an adolescent, being treated negatively repeatedly and over time
- bystander effect
- situation in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress
- central route persuasion
- logic-driven arguments using data and facts to convince people of an argument’s worthiness
- cognitive dissonance
- psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person’s behaviours, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to one’s positive self-perception
- collectivist culture
- culture that focuses on communal relationships with others such as family, friends, and community
- companionate love
- type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment, but not passion; associated with close friendships and family relationships
- confederate
- person who works for a researcher and is aware of the experiment, but who acts as a participant; used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design
- confirmation bias
- seeking out information that supports our stereotypes while ignoring information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes
- conformity
- when individuals change their behaviour to go along with the group even if they do not agree with the group
- consummate love
- type of love occurring when intimacy, passion, and commitment are all present
- cyberbullying
- repeated behaviour that is intended to cause psychological or emotional harm to another person and that takes place online
- diffusion of responsibility
- tendency for no one in a group to help because the responsibility to help is spread throughout the group
- discrimination
- negative actions toward individuals as a result of their membership in a particular group
- dispositionism
- describes a perspective common to personality psychologists, which asserts that our behaviour is determined by internal factors, such as personality traits and temperament
- empathy
- capacity to understand another person’s perspective—to feel what he or she feels
- foot-in-the-door technique
- persuasion of one person by another person, encouraging a person to agree to a small favour, or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favour or purchase of a larger item
- fundamental attribution error
- tendency to overemphasize intern