Social Psychology: the study of how people influence, think about, and relate to one another
Hindsight bias: the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen how
something turned out; also known as the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon
Theory: an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events
Hypothesis: a testable proposition that describes a relationship that exists between events, gives direction
to our research
Correlational Study: assesses the degree of association; asking whether two or more factors are naturally
associated
Experimental: manipulating some factors to see its effect on another
Random assignment: also known as the greater equalizer; randomly assign people to experimental
conditions
Random sampling: one in which every person in the population being studied has an equal chance of
inclusion
Demand characteristics: cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected
Dependent variable: the variable being measured, so called because it may depend on manipulations of
the independent variable
Independent variable: the experimental factor that a researcher manipulates
Mundane realism: degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations
Debriefing: the post-experimental explanation of s study to its participants. It usually discloses any
deception and often queries participants regarding their understandings and feelings
Individualistic culture: culture that emphasized the priority of the individual
Collectivistic culture: culture that prizes group identity, group members strive for group goal
Social norms: a socially understood rule of behavior, things we expect
Social role: a set of norms that define how people in a given social position ought to behave- a
group of norms that that come together to define a position that one may take
Culture: socially defined contrast, distinguished by a particular set of norms and roles
Gender: a socially defined construct, distinguished by a particular set of roles
Sex: a socially defined construct, distinguished by a particular set of genitals(judged by our
anatomy)
Mindguard: some members protect the group from information that would call into question the
effectiveness or morality of its decisions
Aggression: physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone
Evolutionary Psychology: the study of the evolution of behavior using principles of natural
selection
Empathy: being able to put yourself in someone’s shoes (men are often more empathetic than
women)
Androgyny: being capable of both assertiveness and nurturance
Social influence: efforts by one of more individual to change the action and/or
thoughts of one or more others
Conformity: A change in behavior or belief as a result of real or imagined group
pressure
Compliance: conformity that involves publicly in accord with social pressure
while privately disagreeing
Acceptance: conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with
social pressure
Obedience: The influence of authority demands on subordinates
Normative Influence: the influence of others that lead us to conform in order to be
liked and accepted by them; often leads to compliance
Informational Influence: the influence of others that lead us to conform because
we see them as a source of information- often leads to acceptance
Law of Social Impact: The impact of the situation is a function of the strength of
the message, the immediacy of the message, and number of the stimuli presenting
the message; I= f (SIN)
Cohesiveness: the extent to which group members are bound together; the more
cohesive a group, the more power
Reactance: a move to protect or restore’s ones sense of freedom
Group: two or more people who, for more than a few moments interact with one
another, influence one another, or perceive one another as “us”
Social Facilitation: the strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses in
the presence of others
Evaluation apprehension: concern for how others are evaluating us
Social loafing: the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their
efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable
Risky Shift: risky shit phenomenon idea of Stoner (1961) – ask people how risky they
think a certain situation would be, get into group and decide; found group decisions are
more risky
Group polarization: the tendency for group discussions to strengthen the average
inclination of the group members
Groupthink: The tendency for individuals to suppress dissent when making decisions in groups often
leading to poorer decisions