Social Perception
What is nonverbal communication?
The way we communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words (e.g., facial expressions, body language, tone of voice).
What is self-concept?
The beliefs people have about themselves and what they are like.
What is cognitive dissonance?
The discomfort caused by holding inconsistent thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.
What is post-decision dissonance?
The discomfort felt after making a decision, especially when the alternatives had both pros and cons.
What is a self-serving attribution?
Taking credit for successes (internal) and blaming failures on external causes.
Name the 5 basic universal emotions.
Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust.
What does the Self-Awareness Theory say happens when we notice a mismatch between behavior and internal standards?
It creates discomfort, which can lead us to change our behavior or reduce self-awareness.
What are three main ways people reduce dissonance?
Change behavior, change cognitions, or add new justifying cognitions.
What makes dissonance stronger: an important and permanent decision, or a trivial and reversible one?
Important and permanent decisions.
What is the Ben Franklin Effect, and how does it reduce dissonance?
Doing a favor for someone you dislike makes you like them more, reducing dissonance between your behavior and your feelings.
According to Kelley’s Covariation Model, what three types of information help us decide if behavior is internal or external?
Consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.
What is the two-factor theory of emotion?
Schachter & Singer’s theory that emotions result from physiological arousal plus a label of that arousal.
In Festinger & Carlsmith’s (1959) study, why did participants paid $1 report enjoying the boring task more than those paid $20?
1 was insufficient external justification, so they reduced dissonance by changing their attitude and convincing themselves they enjoyed it.
Define upward vs. downward social comparison.
Upward = comparing to someone better to assess ability; Downward = comparing to someone worse to boost self-esteem.
What is the belief in a just world, and how can it lead to victim-blaming?
The belief that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. It can lead people to blame victims for their misfortunes to preserve the idea that the world is fair.
That is the Fundamental Attribution Error (Correspondence Bias)?
The tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when judging others’ behavior.
Explain the overjustification effect and give an example.
When external rewards reduce intrinsic motivation; e.g., a child who loves drawing stops enjoying it after being paid to draw.
What is justification of effort, and what real-world effect is it related to?
We like something more if it was hard to attain; related to the IKEA effect.
What is hypocrisy induction, and how does it lead to behavior change?
When people advocate a behavior they don’t follow, they feel dissonance, which motivates them to change their behavior to reduce hypocrisy.
How does dehumanization help people reduce dissonance after harming others?
By convincing themselves the victim “deserved it” or “is less human,” which reduces guilt.
How do cultural differences affect whether people make internal or external attributions?
Western/individualistic cultures are more likely to make internal attributions; Eastern/collectivist cultures are more likely to consider situational (external) factors.
Differentiate between ingratiation and self-handicapping as forms of impression management.
Ingratiation = flattering/praising to be liked; Self-handicapping = creating obstacles or excuses to protect self-esteem in case of failure.
In Freedman’s (1965) Forbidden Toy Experiment, why did children threatened with mild punishment show greater long-term dissonance reduction?
Mild punishment provided insufficient external justification, so they changed their attitudes and devalued the toy.
Explain the Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory and how it reduces relationship-based dissonance.
Dissonance arises when a close other outperforms us in an area central to self-esteem; we reduce it by distancing ourselves, changing values, or changing our performance.
Explain how self-affirmation theory helps reduce threats to self-esteem.
By affirming competence in other areas (e.g., “I may drive instead of taking the bus, but I volunteer”), people protect self-esteem and reduce dissonance.