Glossary
Aggression
Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone, whether reactively (in response to provocation) or proactively (as a means to an end).
Example:
Yelling insults at another driver in traffic or physically fighting with someone are forms of aggression.
Altruism
Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; helping behavior without expectation of personal gain or reward.
Example:
Donating blood to a stranger or volunteering at a homeless shelter without expecting anything in return is an act of altruism.
Bias
A tendency, inclination, or prejudice for or against something or someone, often in a way considered to be unfair.
Example:
A hiring manager might unconsciously show a bias towards candidates from their alma mater, even if other candidates are more qualified.
Bystander Effect
The tendency for individuals to be less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present, due to a diffusion of responsibility.
Example:
If someone collapses in a crowded public square, people might be less likely to call for help than if they were the only witness, due to the bystander effect.
Central Route to Persuasion
A persuasion method that relies on facts, logical arguments, and strong evidence, requiring the audience to think carefully about the message.
Example:
A car advertisement that details the vehicle's fuel efficiency, safety ratings, and engine performance is using the central route to persuasion.
Cognitive Dissonance
The psychological discomfort experienced when one's beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors are inconsistent. Individuals are motivated to reduce this discomfort by changing their thoughts or actions.
Example:
A person who believes in environmental protection but frequently drives a gas-guzzling car might experience cognitive dissonance and resolve it by volunteering for a clean-up effort.
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses.
Example:
A person who believes a certain political candidate is corrupt will primarily seek out news articles and social media posts that support that view, exhibiting confirmation bias.
Conformity
Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to align with group standards or norms, often due to real or imagined group pressure.
Example:
A teenager might start listening to a new music genre and dressing differently to fit in with their new group of friends, illustrating conformity.
Deindividuation
A psychological state in which individuals lose their sense of self-awareness and personal responsibility when in a large group, often leading to impulsive or deviant behavior.
Example:
During a riot, individuals who would normally be law-abiding might engage in destructive acts because they feel anonymous and less accountable within the crowd, a result of deindividuation.
Diffusion of Responsibility
The phenomenon where individuals feel less personal accountability for their actions or inaction when others are present, assuming someone else will take responsibility.
Example:
In a large group project, a student might put in less effort, assuming other group members will pick up the slack, demonstrating diffusion of responsibility.
Discrimination
Negative behavior or actions toward a group and its members, often stemming from prejudice, involving unfair treatment.
Example:
Refusing to hire someone because of their ethnicity, despite their qualifications, is an act of discrimination.
Elaboration Likelihood Model
A dual-process theory describing how attitudes are formed and changed, proposing that persuasion occurs via either a central route or a peripheral route depending on the audience's motivation and ability to process the message.
Example:
This model helps explain why a highly informed voter might be swayed by a candidate's policy proposals (central route), while a less engaged voter might be swayed by the candidate's charisma (peripheral route), according to the Elaboration Likelihood Model.
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to view one's own culture as superior to others and to judge other cultures based on one's own cultural standards.
Example:
A tourist visiting a foreign country might criticize local customs as 'strange' or 'wrong' because they differ from their own cultural practices, demonstrating ethnocentrism.
False Consensus Effect
The tendency to overestimate how much others agree with our beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, assuming our own views are more common than they are.
Example:
If you love a particular band, you might assume that most of your friends also love them, illustrating the false consensus effect.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional (personality) factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior.
Example:
If someone cuts you off in traffic, you might immediately think they are a rude person rather than considering they might be rushing to an emergency, demonstrating the fundamental attribution error.
Group Polarization
The tendency for a group's prevailing attitudes to become more extreme after discussion among like-minded members.
Example:
After discussing climate change with others who share similar environmental concerns, a group of activists might adopt even more radical views on policy changes, illustrating group polarization.
Groupthink
A phenomenon where a group prioritizes harmony and conformity over critical thinking, leading to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making.
Example:
A corporate board might engage in groupthink if members suppress their doubts about a risky new product launch to avoid conflict and maintain consensus.
Halo Effect
The tendency to form a positive impression of someone in one area and then assume they are good in other, unrelated areas.
Example:
If a celebrity is known for their acting talent, people might also assume they are intelligent, kind, and trustworthy, demonstrating the halo effect.
In-group/Out-group Bias
The tendency to favor one's own group (the in-group) and view members of other groups (the out-group) negatively or with prejudice.
Example:
Fans of one sports team might automatically assume their team is superior and unfairly criticize the opposing team, showing in-group/out-group bias.
Interpersonal Attraction
The study of factors that lead people to like each other, form friendships, and fall in love, such as proximity, similarity, and physical attractiveness.
Example:
The reason you became best friends with someone who lives next door and shares your hobbies can be explained by principles of interpersonal attraction.
Just-World Hypothesis
The belief that people get what they deserve, leading to the tendency to blame victims for their misfortunes.
Example:
Someone might believe that a person who lost their job must have done something wrong to deserve it, rather than considering economic factors, due to the just-world hypothesis.
Mere-Exposure Effect
The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking for them, even without conscious awareness.
Example:
You might initially dislike a new song, but after hearing it repeatedly on the radio, you start to enjoy it, due to the mere-exposure effect.
Obedience to Authority
Compliance with the commands or orders issued by an authority figure, even if those commands conflict with one's personal conscience.
Example:
A soldier following orders from a commanding officer, even if they disagree with them, is an act of obedience to authority.
Out-group Homogeneity Bias
The tendency to perceive members of out-groups as more similar to each other than they actually are, while recognizing the diversity within one's own in-group.
Example:
A student might think all members of a rival school are exactly alike, while recognizing the wide variety of personalities within their own school, demonstrating out-group homogeneity bias.
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
A persuasion method that relies on superficial cues, such as the attractiveness of the speaker or emotional appeals, without requiring deep thought from the audience.
Example:
A soda commercial featuring popular celebrities and catchy music, without much information about the product itself, uses the peripheral route to persuasion.
Prejudice
A negative attitude or feeling toward a group and its individual members, often based on stereotypes, that is not necessarily acted upon.
Example:
Believing that all people from a certain country are lazy, without any personal experience, is an example of prejudice.
Reciprocity Norms
The societal expectation that people will help those who have helped them, or return favors.
Example:
If a classmate helps you study for an exam, you might feel obligated to help them with their homework later, adhering to reciprocity norms.
Role-playing
The act of adopting and performing the behaviors, attitudes, and expectations associated with a particular social role.
Example:
In a drama class, students engage in role-playing to understand different characters and their motivations.
Scapegoat Theory
The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame when things go wrong, often targeting a less powerful group.
Example:
After an economic downturn, some people might blame an immigrant group for taking jobs, illustrating the scapegoat theory.
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors (our abilities) and our failures to external factors (bad luck or circumstances).
Example:
A student who aces a test might say, 'I'm so smart!' but if they fail, they might blame the teacher for making the test too hard, showing self-serving bias.
Situational Factors
External influences or environmental conditions that affect an individual's behavior, often overriding personal dispositions.
Example:
A normally quiet student might become very outgoing and loud at a sporting event due to the exciting situational factors of the crowd and game.
Social Cognition
The study of how people think about themselves and others in social situations, including how they perceive, interpret, and remember social information.
Example:
When meeting someone new, you quickly form an impression of their personality and intentions, which is an example of social cognition.
Social Facilitation
The tendency for individuals to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks when in the presence of others.
Example:
A professional musician might play a familiar piece of music even more flawlessly during a live concert than during practice, demonstrating social facilitation.
Social Influence
How the presence of others, whether real or imagined, affects an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Example:
A student starts dressing in a new style after seeing their popular friends wear similar clothes, demonstrating social influence.
Social Inhibition
The tendency for individuals to perform worse on complex or unfamiliar tasks when in the presence of others.
Example:
A student giving a presentation on a difficult topic might stumble over their words and forget points when facing a large audience, experiencing social inhibition.
Social Norms
Unwritten rules or expectations about how people should behave in a given group or society, guiding behavior without formal laws.
Example:
Waiting in line at a store or saying 'please' and 'thank you' are examples of common social norms.
Social Relations
The study of how individuals interact with each other, including topics like attraction, aggression, altruism, and group dynamics.
Example:
Researching why some friendships last for decades while others quickly dissolve falls under the study of social relations.
Social Traps
Situations where individuals acting in their own self-interest create a negative or undesirable outcome for the entire group or society in the long run.
Example:
Overfishing by individual fishermen, each trying to maximize their catch, can deplete fish stocks for everyone, illustrating a social trap.
Stanford Prison Experiment
A controversial study by Philip Zimbardo that demonstrated how quickly individuals adopt assigned social roles and how powerful situational factors can be in influencing behavior.
Example:
The Stanford Prison Experiment showed that even psychologically healthy individuals could engage in abusive or submissive behaviors when placed in powerful or powerless roles.
Stereotype
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people, assigning characteristics to all members of that group.
Example:
The belief that all teenagers are rebellious and irresponsible is a stereotype.
Superordinate Goals
Shared goals that require cooperation between two or more groups and cannot be achieved by any single group alone, often used to reduce intergroup conflict.
Example:
Two rival school clubs might have to work together to organize a large charity event, using a superordinate goal to foster cooperation and reduce animosity.