The Attribution Process
Attributions that explain an outcome by looking within an individual. Hint...not external.
Internal (personal)
Term for when people believe that future events are influenced by past occurrences. Hint...those who bet.
The Gambler's Fallacy
An area of social psychology that studies groups and group processes. Hint...GD
Group Dynamics
Claims that behavior is influenced by the number of people available to intervene. Hint...BE
The Bystander Effect
Occurs when a group supports a decision supported by the majority of the group following a group discussion. Hint...GP not the North or South one.
Group Polarization
Attributions (e.g., fate, luck, chance) that explain an outcome by looking outside of an individual. Hint...not internal.
External (situational)
Reinforcing the individual periodically, so the individual is more likely to continue with the behavior. Hint...V-RS
Variable-Ratio Schedule
The mere presence of others can improve performance on well practiced tasks (e.g., Ryan, a pool player, should perform better in front of a large crowd than while practicing his billiard moves alone).
Hint...SF
Social Factilitation
The tendency for individuals to think others will help, so they do not intervene. Hint...DoR
Diffusion of Responsibility
Occurs when a confident and persistent minority group influences a decision made by a whole group.
Hint...not influenced by majority.
Minority Influence
Overestimating internal (personal) influences and underestimating external (situational) influences when judging the behavior of others: “He’s poor because he’s lazy.” This is more likely to happen when we do not know the person well. Hint...FAE.
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to judge the probability of an event’s occurring based on how readily examples come to mind. Following the tragedies of September 11, 2001, many people were afraid to fly, when, in fact, increased security at airports actually made it safer to fly (and, in fact, flying was safer than driving even before 9/11). Hint...AV
The Availability Heuristic
The mere presence of others can impair performance on tasks that one is not particularly good at (e.g., a novice pool player will perform less well in front of a group). Hint...SI
Social Inhibition
The tendency to do nothing because others are doing nothing; everyone assumes everyone else must “know better,” and if others do not respond, then there must not be an emergency. Hint...several dumb.
Pluralistic Ignorance
Following a group’s standards, methods, or behavior as a result of unspoken group pressure, real or imagined (e.g., everyone else is wearing the Lance Armstrong armbands, so you do too). Hint...Ashe ________ experiment.
Conformity
Attributing one’s own behavior to external (situational) causes and the behavior of others to internal (personal) factors. “I was unprepared for the exam because there was a family emergency last night, but Sally was unprepared because she’s basically not that good at math.” Hint...A-OB.
Actor-Observer Bias
The tendency to overestimate how predictable an event was once the outcome is known. Hint...HB
Hindsight Bias
Enhances performance for well-learned or familiar behaviors and hurts performance for difficult or unfamiliar tasks. Hint...not sexual.
Arousal
Giving up normal behavioral restraints to the group.
Hint...no longer individualized.
Deindividuation
A person’s desire to gain group approval and avoid group disapproval (e.g., going along in order to be “liked”). Hint...NSI
Normative Social Influence
The tendency to attribute success to internal (personal) factors and failures to external (situational) factors. “I won the game today because I am a great athlete; yesterday I lost the game because the referee made some bad calls.
Hint...S-SB
Self-Serving Bias
When people have thoughts on how past events might have turned out differently. For example, a person thinks about how life would be different if he or she had not ended a past relationship. Hint...CT
Counterfactual Thinking
On group tasks, people will sometimes exert less effort if individual contributions are not possible to identify (e.g., when working on a group project for class, only a few people from the group will do the majority of the task). Hint..._____ of bread.
Social Loafing
*Bonus
Who are more prone to social loafing...men or women?
A mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for unanimity in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
Hint...GT
Groupthink
A person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions regarding reality (e.g., going along in order to be “right”). Hint...ISI.
Informational Social Influence