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162 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Social Cognition |
-how people think about themselves and the social world -how people select, interpret, remember and use social info to make judgments and decisions |
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automatic thinking |
thinking that is non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless |
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What is social psychology? |
the science of social behavior (people influencing other people) -"the scientific study of the way in which people's thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people |
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Variables of a scientific study |
-manipulate variables -collect data -analyze |
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Personality psychology |
Main goal: identify the traits that are best for describing behavior |
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Cognitive Psychology |
-how the mind works -memory, decision-making, etc. |
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deindividuation |
behavior where one begins to start to feel less as a person and more influenced by the group |
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hindsight bias |
after the fact, thinking you knew something all along |
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Abnormal psychology |
-focuses on people who are suffering from psychological or emotional problems
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Sociology |
study of how social forces influences behavior |
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schemas |
mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects and that influence the info people notice, think about and remember |
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A stereotype is a type of ________? |
Schema |
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accessibility |
extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people's minds and are therefore likely to be used when making judgments about the social world |
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priming |
process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait or concept |
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self-fulfilling prophecy |
when one has an expectation about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person, which causes that person to behave consistently with people's original expectations, making the expectations come true |
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judgmental heuristics |
mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently |
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availability heuristic |
mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to mind |
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representativeness heuristic |
mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case |
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base rate information |
information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population |
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analytic thinking style |
type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context; this type of thinking is common in Western cultures |
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holistic thinking style |
type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly in the ways in which objects relate to each other; this type of thinking is common in East Asian cultures |
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controlled thining |
thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary and effortful |
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counterfactual thinking |
mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been |
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thought suppression |
attempt to avoid thinking something we would prefer to forget |
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overconfidence barrier |
fact that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgment |
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individual differences |
aspects of people's personalities that make them different from other people |
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fundamental attribution error |
tendency to overestimate the extent to which people's behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors, and to underestimate the role of situational factors |
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Behaviorism |
to understand human behavior, one need only consider the reinforcing properties of the environment |
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Gestalt Psychology |
importance of studying the subjective way in which an object appears in people's minds rather than the objective, physical attributes of the object |
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self-esteem |
people's evaluations of their own self-worth--the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent and decent |
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observational method |
researcher observes people and systematically records measurements or impressions of their behavior |
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ethnography |
method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing preconceived notions |
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interjudge reliability |
level of agreement between 2+ people who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that 2+ judges independently come up with the same observations, researchers ensure observations are not the subjective, distorted impressions of one individual |
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archival analysis |
researcher examines accumulated documents (archives) of a culture |
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correlational method |
2+ variables systematically measures and the relationship between them is assessed |
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correlational coefficient |
assesses how well you can predict one variable from another |
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surveys |
representative sample of people asked questions about their attitudes or behavior |
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random selection |
ensures a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone an equal chance of being selected for sample |
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experimental method |
researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable |
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independent variable |
variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other variable |
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dependent variable |
variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable; researcher hypothesizes that the dependent variable will depend on the level of the independent variable |
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Probability level (p-value) |
tells researchers how likely it is that the results of experiment occurred by change and not because of the independent variable(s) |
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internal validity |
nothing besides the independent variable can affect the dependent variable; controlling al lextraneous variables and random assignment |
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external validity |
extent to which the results of study can be generalized to other situations and to other people |
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psychological realism |
extent to which psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life |
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cover story |
purpose of a study given to participant that is different from its true purpose |
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field experiments |
conducted in natural settings rather than lab |
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replications |
repeating a study, often with different subjects or settings |
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social perception |
the study of how we form impressions of and make inferences about other people |
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nonverbal communication |
the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words; nonverbal cues include facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch and gaze -help express emotions, attitudes and personalities -more "honest" than words |
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mirror neurons |
respond when we perform an action and when we see someone else perform the same action -basis of our ability to feel empathy |
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encode |
to express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back -all humans express emotions in the same way |
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primary emotions conveyed by the face are ________________? |
universal |
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decode |
interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behavior other people express, such as deciding that a pat on the back was an expression of condescension and not kindness -all humans can interpret accurately |
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6 major emotional expressions |
-anger -happiness -surprise -fear -disgust -sadness |
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affect blend |
facial expression in which one part of the face registers one emotion while another part of the face registers a different emotion |
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emblems |
nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the "OK" sign |
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implicit personality theory |
type of scheme people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people that someone who is kind is generous as well -could lead to stereotypical thinking |
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attribution theory |
description of the way in which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behavior
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internal attribution |
inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character or personality -cause of behavior internal |
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external attribution |
inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he is in; assumption is that most people would respond same in that sitution |
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covariation model |
to form an attribution about what caused a person's behavior, we systematically note pattern between presence or absence of possible causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs -gather data on how behavior "covaries" across time, place, different |
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3 key types of information |
-consensus -distinctiveness -consistency |
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consensus information |
how people behave toward the same stimulus |
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distinctiveness information |
info about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in teh same way to different stimuli |
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consistency information |
info about the extent to which the behavior between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and cirumstances |
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correspondence bias |
tendency to infer that people's behavior matches their dispositions and personality -fundamental attribution error |
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perceptual salience |
seeming importance of information that is the focus of people's attention |
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two-step process of attribution |
analyzing another person's behavior first by making an automatic internal attribution and only then thinking about possible situational reasons for the behavior, after which one may adjust the original internal attribution |
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actor/observer difference |
tendency to see other people's behavior as dispositionally caused but focusing more on teh role of situational factors when explaining one's own behavior |
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self-serving attributions |
explanations for one's successes that credit internal, dispositional factors and explanations for one's failures that blame external, situational factors |
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defensive attributions |
explanations for behavior that avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality |
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belief in a just world |
form of defensive attribution wherein people assume that bad things happen to bad people and that good things happen to good people |
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self concept |
all info/knowledge we have about ourselves -influences our behaviors and thoughts and feelings |
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self-awareness |
act of thinking about ourselves |
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self-awareness theory |
idea that when people focus on themselves, they compare their behaviors to their inner standards and values |
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spontaneous self concept |
aspects of identity that are in awareness at a given point in time |
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distinctiveness |
when it makes you distinct from other people, more aware of specific characteristics |
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optimal distinctiveness theory |
people want to feel similar to their group but not too similar -moderate level of distinctiveness |
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social comparison |
process of comparing ourselves to other people in order to judge the self |
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upward social comparison |
comparing yourself to someone who is better off than you -can help one improve -can make one feel worse |
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downward social comparison |
comparing yourself to someone who is worse off than you -can help one feel better -do not get ideas on improvement |
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self-perception theory |
describes how we make judgments about our attitudes, emotions and personality -people look at their behavior to determine how they feel about something -usually only happens with things one is more ambiguous about |
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over-justification effect |
when people decide they performed a task that could have been fun for external reasons rather than the fact they enjoyed it
i.e. college athlete with scholarship |
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performance contingent rewards |
reward depends on how well people perform task |
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task contingent rewards |
rewards given for performing a task regardless of how well it is done |
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Two Factor Theory of Emotion |
idea that emotional experience is result of 2 step self perception process in which people first experience physiological arousal and then seek an appropriate explanation for it |
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misattribution of arousal |
process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do |
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appraisal theories of emotion |
emotions result from people's interpretations and explanations of events, even in the absence of physiological arousal |
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fixed mindset |
idea that we have a set amount of an ability that cannot change |
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growth mindset |
idea that our abilities are malleable qualities that we can cultivate and grow |
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social tuning |
process where people adopt another person's attitudes |
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impression management |
attempt to get others to see you the way you want to be seen |
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ingratiation |
process of people flattering, praising and generally trying to make themselves likable to another person, often of higher status |
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self-handicapping |
strategy of people trying to create obstacles and excuses for themselves so that if they do poorly on a task, they can avoid blaming themselves |
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cultural differences in defining the sefl |
people who grow up in western cultures tend to have an independent view of the self, whereas people who grow up in asian cultures tend to have an interdependent view of the self |
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gender differences in defining the self |
women tend to have relational interdependence, focusing more on close relationships, whereas men tend to have collective interdependence, focusing on their membership in larger groups |
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introspection |
when people focus on themselves they evaluate and compare their current behavior to their internal standards and values -when people introspect about why they feel the way they do they often use CAUSAL THEORIES, many of which are learned from one's culture -when people think about reasons for their attitudes they assume that their attitudes match the reasons that are plausible and easiest to verbalize, leading to REASONS-GENERATED ATTITUDE CHANGE |
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self-control |
requires energy, and spending this energy on one task limits the amount that can be spent on another task -level of glucose in the bloodstream is mental "fuel" spent on self-control |
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cognitive dissonance theory |
awareness of consonant cognitions makes us feel good, but awareness of dissonant cognitions make us feel bad -unpleasant feelings from dissonant cognitions motivates us to do something to change our state -attitude/behavior dissonant with each other: you will be motivated to change your behavior |
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consonant cognitions |
beliefs that are consistent or compatible with one another |
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dissonant cognitions |
beliefs that are inconsistent with one another |
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how to reduce dissonant cognitions: |
1. change the behavior (quit smoking) 2. change one of the dissonant cognitions (rationalization, "research isn't exact" "it won't affect me personally") 3. add more consonant cognitions ("it helps me lose weight" "I enjoy it a lot") |
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impact bias |
tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future negative events |
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post-decision dissonance |
typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives |
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induced compliance paradigm |
making people behave in ways that go against their attitudes i.e. have participants write an essay in favor of abortion if they stated they are against it |
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effort justification paradigm |
getting people to invest time and energy into something that may not be worthwhile i.e. studies hard for test but still does poorly; relationship isn't working out
1. decide one didn't really put forth much effort 2. decide one really did get something/learned a lesson along the way |
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free choice paradigm |
people forced to choose between 2 alternatives -afterward most people feel a little dissonant |
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hypocrisy paradigm |
researchers arouse dissonance by having people promote a positive behavior and then make them aware that they don't exhibit the behavior themselves |
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lowballing |
salesperson induces customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, claims it was an error, and then raises the price; frequently, the customer will agree to make purchase at inflated price |
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justification of effort |
tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain |
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external justification |
reason for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual
i.e. in order to receive a large reward or avoid a sever punishment |
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internal justification |
reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself
i.e. attitude or behavior |
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counterattitudal advocacy |
stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one's private belief or attitude |
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insufficient punishment |
dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object |
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self-persuasion |
long-lasting form of attitude change that results from attempts at self-justification |
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rational behavior vs. rationalizing behavior |
humans often process info in a biased way, one that fits our preconceived notions -explanation: information or ideas that disagree with our views arouse dissonance and humans avoid dissonance even at the expense of rational behavior |
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Random assignment is: |
a procedure by which each participant in an experiment is equally likely to take part in any of the experimental conditions |
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NOT key aspect of formal definition of social psychology |
role of groups in society |
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replications increase: |
external validity |
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Results of Sexual Double Standard research: |
double standard was exhibited by people when in a group, but not individually |
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Personality psychologist prediction: |
i.e. ashley likely will be a shy person both at home and at school |
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Annie has a lot of freckles. therefore, she always notices freckles of those around her. This is an example of: |
chronic accessibility |
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psychologists believe that which 2 motives underlie the majority of people's thoughts and behaviors? |
-need to feel good about oneself -need to be accurate |
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for the average person, the correlation between income and niceness of apartment would be: |
positive |
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Provide an OPERATIONAL DEFINITION for laziness |
Laziness in individuals can range from 1-10. 1 being relatively non-lazy and 10 being extremely lazy |
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judgments about why an event occurred or why someone behaved a certain way are called: |
attributions |
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it is common taht if individuals perceive someone as helpful, they also view them as sincere. what theory does this fall under? |
implicit personality theory |
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research on eyewitness identification has shown that: |
speed, but not confidence, is strong indicator of accuracy |
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reflections on how past events might have turned out differently are: |
counterfactual thoughts |
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New types of criminal lineups |
blank lineup; none of people in lineup are actual perpetrator |
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2 nonverbal behaviors of women's body language in a bar/party setting |
-preening -approach tell |
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you can easily think up an example of a famous plane crash, so you overestimate the probability that your flight today will crash. this is an example of __________ |
availability heuristic |
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participants who drank ______ tended to exert better self-control than those who drank _____ |
lemonade with sugar; lemonade with artificial sugar |
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Students are asked to write descriptions of themselves: |
students who had brown hair, compared to students who had red hair, were LESS likely to mention their hair color |
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according to cognitive dissonance theory, which participants would rate the running to be most enjoyable? (receiving one credit or three credits) |
participants who received 1 credit |
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participants in front of a mirror or not while describing themselves |
mirror influenced American students' ratings but not those of Japanese students |
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external rewards tend to: |
reduce any inherent intrinsic interest |
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people generally ____ think they would be able to easily change a decision; however, research suggests people are actually _____ with their choice when decision is more permanent |
do; happier |
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postdecisional dissonance is studied under which paradigm: |
free choice |
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Parental investment hypothesis |
men are more concerned with investing time/energy on women with greatest change of successfully reproducing, whereas women want to invest time/energy into men that can provide and support her and her offspring |
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Narcissism |
narcissists are more likely to become hostile when given negative feedback than those low in narcissism |
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Dissonance is most upsetting and powerful when people behave in ways that _________ |
threaten their self-esteem |
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Participants who interacted with the _____ experimenter reported liking study more because they had insufficient _____ justification for participating |
mean; external |
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social normms |
can shape people's behaviors in powerful ways |
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Construals (how humans perceive situation) |
shaped by the need to be accurate and the need to feel good about ourselves |
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diffusion of responsibility |
the more people who witness an emergency, the less likely it is that any given individual will intervene |
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correlation does not prove: |
causation |
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debriefing |
explanation to participants, at end of experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired |
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IRB |
institutional review board |
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power of unconscious thinking |
great deal of human thought occurs outside of conscious awareness. people unconsciously monitor what is going on around them, in case something important occurs that requires their conscious attention |
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independent view of the self |
way of defining oneself in terms of one's own internal thoughts, feelings, adn actions and not in terms of thoughts, feelings, action of other people |
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interdependent view of the self |
defining oneself in term's of one's relationships to other people; recognizing that one's behavior is often determined by the thoughts, feelings adn actions of other people |
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intrinsic motivation |
desire to engage in activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting |
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extrinsic motivation |
desire to engage in activity because of external rewards or pressures |
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why lowballing works: |
1. although customers decision to buy is certainly reversible, commitment of sorts does exist 2. feeling of commitement triggered anticipation of exciting event (not doing it now creates dissonance) 3. although final price is higher than originally, it's only slightly higher than price at another place |
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how dissonance affects personal values |
people facing choice will undergo either a softening or a hardening of their attitudes toward cheating on exams, depending on whether or not they decided to cheat |
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Dissonance and the "cognitive kaleidoscope" |
reasoning areas of the brain virtually shut down when a person is confronted with dissonant information, and the emotion circuits of the brain light up happily when consonance is restored |
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the less external justification, the greater the need for |
internal justification |
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large reward or severe punishment |
external justification (I do or think this because I have to); temporary change |
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small reward or punishment |
internal justification (I do this because I have convinced myself that it's right); lasting change |
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the Ben Franklin effect |
whenever we act either kindly or cruelly toward a person, we never quite feel the same way about that person again -we like people more after doing a favor for them -we hate our victims |