Chapter 16/social behavior

person perception: forming impressions of others

effects of physical appearance

influence of proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity on interpersonal attraction

factors/attraction

proximity/mere exposure effect

physical attractiveness/perception of others

similarity/attitudes and interests of significance increases liking

cognitive schemas

stereotypes

subjectivity in person perception

an evolutionary perspective on bias in person perception

attribution processes: explaining behavior/ tendency to provide causal explanations for behavior

internal versus external attributions

attributions for success and failure

bias in attribution

fundamental attribution error/underestimating situational influences can lead to unwarranted conclusions about personality traits of others

culture and attribution tendencies

close relationships: liking and loving

key factors in attraction

proximity

similarity/do birds of a feather flock together or do opposites attract?

familiarity/does it breed contempt?

perspectives on the mystery of love

culture and close relationships

an evolutionary perspective on attraction

attitudes: making social judgments

components and dimensions of attitudes

attitudes and behavior/under what conditions do attitudes have a strong affect on actions

trying to change attitudes: factors in persuasion

theories of attitude formation and change

foot in door technique/tendency to agree to small request/comply later with a larger one

cognitive dissonance/people feel discomfort when their actions conflict with own feelings and beliefs/reduce discomfort by bringing attitudes into line with actions

conformity and obedience: yielding to others

conformity

asch experiments/under certain conditions people will conform to a group’s judgment even when it is clearly incorrect

gain social approval/normative social influence

accept information about reality/informational social influence

obedience/milgram’s controversial experiments on obedience and discuss their implications for understanding our susceptibility to social influence/why people obey commands of authority figures

why explanation of “I was just following orders” as part of war crimes

cultural variations in conformity and obedience

behavior in groups: joining with others

behavior alone and in groups:

group interaction can facilitate group polarization and groupthink and describe how self-fulfilling prophecies and a minority illustrate the power of individuals

group polarization/enhancement of the group’s prevailing attitudes

groupthink/tendency for harmony-seeking groups to make unrealistic decisions after suppressing unwelcome information

self-fulfilling prophecies/expectations influence behavior so that we elicit the behavior that we expected

the case of the bystander effect/altruistic behavior in terms of social exchange theory and social norms

altruism/unselfish regard for welfare of others

bystander effect/tendency to give assistance in emergency/less likely to give aid in presence of others

most likely to occur when presence of others inhibits one’s noticing the event, interpreting it as an emergency or assuming responsibility for help

social exchange theory/desire to maximize own benefits and minimize costs

group productivity and social loafing

social facilitation/presence of others can arouse individuals, boosting their performance on well-learned tasks, but hindering performance on unskilled tasks

social loafing/take free ride on the efforts of others in group

decision making in groups

conditions in which the presence of others is likely to result in social facilitation, social loafing, or deindividuation/process in which individual becomes anonymous within group so as to become less self-aware and self-restrained in decision making (risky decisions)

understanding people

stereotyping and subjectivity in person perception/

prejudice/attitudes that predispose someone to act (stereotypes)

discrimination/behavior or action to prohibit someone from attaining employment, housing, or admission to school

biases in attribution

forming and preserving prejudicial attitudes

dividing the world into ingroups and outgroups