CHAPTER REVIEW

KEY TERMS

Question

actor–observer bias
aggression
altruism
attitude
attribution
blaming the victim
bystander effect
cognitive dissonance
conformity
diffusion of responsibility
explicit cognition
fundamental attribution error
hindsight bias
implicit attitudes
implicit cognition
implicit personality theory
informational social influence
in-group bias
in-group
just-world hypothesis
normative social influence
obedience
out-group homogeneity effect
out-group
person perception
persuasion
prejudice
prosocial behavior
self-serving bias
sense of self
social categorization
social cognition
social influence
social norms
social psychology
stereotype
The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal, personal characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the effects of external, situational factors; an attributional bias that is common in individualistic cultures.
A network of assumptions or beliefs about the relationships among various types of people, traits, and behaviors.
The mental process of categorizing people into groups (or social categories) on the basis of their shared characteristics.
The tendency to judge the behavior of in-group members favorably and out-group members unfavorably.
Automatic, nonconscious mental processes that influence perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning.
The “rules,” or expectations, for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation.
Preferences and biases toward particular groups that are automatic, spontaneous, unintentional, and often unconscious; measured with the Implicit Associations Test (IAT).
Behavior that is motivated by the desire to gain social acceptance and approval.
A social group to which one does not belong.
Any behavior that helps another, whether the underlying motive is self-serving or selfless.
The mental processes people use to make sense of their social environments.
A negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group.
Deliberate, conscious mental processes involved in perceptions, judgments, decisions, and reasoning.
Behavior that is motivated by the desire to be correct.
The performance of a behavior in response to a direct command.
An individual’s unique sense of identity that has been influenced by social, cultural, and psychological experiences; your sense of who you are in relation to other people.
The tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome of an event.
A social group to which one belongs.
The tendency to attribute our own behavior to external, situational characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the effects of internal, personal factors.
The tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one’s own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes.
A cluster of characteristics that are associated with all members of a specific social group, often including qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define the group.
The mental process of inferring the causes of people’s behavior, including one’s own. Also refers to the explanation made for a particular behavior.
Verbal or physical behavior intended to cause harm to other people.
Branch of psychology that studies how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment.
A phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely each individual is to help someone in distress.
The assumption that the world is fair and that therefore people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
Adjusting your opinions, judgments, or behaviors so that they match the opinions, judgments, or behaviors of other people, or the norms of a social group or situation.
The effect of situational factors and other people on an individual’s behavior.
Helping another person with no expectation of personal reward or benefit.
A phenomenon in which the presence of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all the onlookers.
An unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal (dissonance) that occurs when two thoughts or perceptions (cognitions) are inconsistent; typically results from the awareness that attitudes and behavior are in conflict.
The tendency to blame an innocent victim of misfortune for having somehow caused the problem or for not having taken steps to avoid or prevent it.
A learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way; such evaluations may be positive, negative, or ambivalent.
The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of other people.
The deliberate attempt to influence the attitudes or behavior of another person in a situation in which that person has some freedom of choice.
The tendency to see members of out-groups as very similar to one another.

KEY PEOPLE

Solomon Asch (1907–1996)

John M. Darley (b. 1938)

Bibb Latané (b. 1937)

Stanley Milgram (1933–1984)

Muzafer Sherif (1906–1988)

Philip G. Zimbardo (b. 1933)