Word of the Day – Nature v. Nurture and Social Psychology
Heritability – the measure of the degree to which variations in a given traits is attributable to
genetics (within a population)
Twins
Fraternal (dizygotic) – two eggs fertilized at same time (DNA about 50% alike)
Identical (monozygotic) – one egg splits and forms two babies (DNA 100% alike)
Evolutionary Psychology - The study of evolutionary explanations for shared human behaviors
Androgyny –
Fundamental Attribution Error – the tendency to underestimate the role the situation plays in
judging the behavior of others.
Social norm – a rule for expected behavior (often unspoken)
Cognitive dissonance theory –
1) Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort one feel’s when one’s thoughts and actions or
experiences don’t align.
2) According to the theory, if a person is induced to do or say something contrary to his private
opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion to match what he has said or done
(to reduce the cognitive dissonance).
3) The larger the pressure used to elicit the behavior, the weaker the above-mentioned tendency.
Group polarization – the tendency for opinions to become more extreme following discussion
with a like-minded group (example – a bunch of liberals talking about politics will become more
liberal)
Aggression – any intended physical or psychological harm done to another
Self-fulfilling prophecy – when one’s beliefs about others leads one to act in ways that induce
the others to appear to confirm the belief. (“blue-eyed children are better than brown-eyed
children”)
Stereotype threat -- the fear that one's behavior will confirm an existing stereotype of a group
with which one identifies. This fear may lead to an impairment of performance.
Schacter two-factor theory of emotion – in order to experience an emotion one must 1) be
physically aroused and 2) cognitively label the arousal.
Social trap – a situation in which conflicting parties, by each pursuing their own best interests,
become caught in a mutually destructive behavior (tragedy of the commons)
Conflicts:
Approach-approach conflict – choice must be made between 2 attractive choices
Avoidance-avoidance conflict – choice must be made between 2 unattractive choices
Approach-avoidance conflict – a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal
that has both attractive and unattractive aspects.