Glossary
Availability heuristic
A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision.
Example:
After seeing several news reports about shark attacks, a person might overestimate the actual risk of swimming in the ocean due to the availability heuristic.
Biases
Tendencies to favor one way of thinking or feeling over another, which help us make quick decisions.
Example:
Your natural bias towards certain types of music might make you always choose rock over pop.
Confirmation bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.
Example:
A person who believes a certain brand is superior will only seek out reviews that praise that brand, demonstrating confirmation bias.
Discrimination
Unjustifiable negative behavior or actions toward a group and its members, often stemming from prejudice.
Example:
Refusing to serve a customer at a restaurant because of their ethnicity is an act of discrimination.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own culture or ethnic group is superior to all others, often leading to judging other cultures by one's own cultural standards.
Example:
A tourist displaying ethnocentrism might openly criticize local food customs in a foreign country because they differ from their own familiar cuisine.
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that allow us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently.
Example:
Using a simple heuristic like 'always pick the middle option' when faced with too many choices can speed up decision-making.
Hindsight bias
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it ('I knew it all along' phenomenon).
Example:
After a movie reveals a plot twist, a viewer might claim they 'knew that was going to happen' all along, illustrating hindsight bias.
Implicit (in the context of prejudice)
Refers to prejudices that are unconscious or outside of a person's conscious awareness, yet still influence their thoughts and behaviors.
Example:
Someone might unknowingly have an implicit bias against job applicants with certain accents, affecting their hiring decisions without conscious intent.
Ingroup bias
The tendency to favor one's own group over other groups, often leading to positive evaluations of ingroup members.
Example:
A fan showing strong ingroup bias might believe their favorite band is objectively the best, even when other bands have similar musical talent.
Ingroups
Groups with which an individual identifies and feels a sense of belonging.
Example:
For a student, their close circle of friends or their school's debate team would be considered their ingroups.
Just-world phenomenon
The tendency for people to believe that the world is fair and that individuals get what they deserve, which can lead to victim-blaming.
Example:
Believing that a person who lost their job 'must have done something wrong to deserve it' is an example of the just-world phenomenon.
Mere-exposure effect
The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases our liking for them.
Example:
Initially disliking a new song but growing to love it after hearing it many times on the radio is an example of the mere-exposure effect.
Outgroup homogeneity bias
The tendency to perceive members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they actually are, while seeing more diversity within one's own ingroup.
Example:
Believing that 'all people from that city are the same' demonstrates outgroup homogeneity bias, ignoring the vast individual differences among them.
Outgroups
Any groups with which an individual does not identify or feel a sense of belonging.
Example:
During a school competition, students from the rival school are often perceived as the outgroups.
Prejudices
Unjustifiable and typically negative attitudes toward a group and its members, involving stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.
Example:
Holding a prejudice against people who wear certain types of clothing, assuming they are all irresponsible, is an example of a negative attitude.
Scapegoat theory
The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame, often a specific group, when things go wrong.
Example:
After a team loses a game, fans might use scapegoat theory by blaming a single player for the entire loss, even if it was a team effort.
Social identity
The part of our self-concept that comes from our membership in various groups, defining who we are in relation to others.
Example:
Your social identity might be strongly tied to being a fan of a specific sports team or a member of a particular cultural community.
Stereotypes
Fixed, overgeneralized beliefs about a particular group of people, often classifying them into specific categories.
Example:
The stereotype that all athletes are unintelligent is a harmful oversimplification that ignores individual differences.