1. –
Chapter 1 What is Social Psychology?
behavioral
A subfield of psychology that examines the role of genetic factors in behavior.
genetics
cross-cultural
Research designed to compare and contrast people of different cultures.
research
A system of enduring meanings, beliefs, values, assumptions, institutions, and practices
culture
shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
evolutionary A subfield of psychology that uses the principles of evolution to understand human social
psychology behavior.
interactionist An emphasis on how both an individual’s personality and environmental characteristics
perspective influence behavior.
multicultural
Research designed to examine racial and ethnic groups within cultures.
research
social The study of how people perceive, remember, and interpret information about themselves
cognition and others.
social
The study of the relationship between neural and social processes.
neuroscience
social
The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context.
psychology

2. –
Chapter 2 Doing Social Psychology Research
applied Research whose goals are to enlarge the understanding of naturally occurring events and to
research find solutions to practical problems.
basic Research whose goal is to increase the understanding of human behavior, often by testing
research hypotheses based on a theory.
bogus
A procedure in which research participants are (falsely) led to believe that their responses
pipeline
will be verified by an infallible lie-detector.
technique
Accomplice of an experimenter who, in dealing with the real participants in an experiment,
confederate
acts as if he or she is also a participant.
The extent to which the measures used in a study measure the variables they were designed
construct
to measure and the manipulations in an experiment manipulate the variables they were
validity
designed to manipulate.
correlation
A statistical measure of the strength and direction of the association between two variables.
coefficient
correlational Research designed to measure the association between variables that are not manipulated by
research the researcher.
debriefing A disclosure, made to participants after research procedures are completed, in which the
researcher explains the purpose of the research, attempts to resolve any negative feelings,
and emphasizes the scientific contribution made by the participants’ involvement.
deception In the context of research, a method that provides false information to participants.
dependent In an experiment, a factor that experimenters measure to see if it is affected by the
variable independent variable.
A form of research that can demonstrate causal relationships because (1) the experimenter
Experiment has control over the events that occur and (2) participants are randomly assigned to
conditions.
The degree to which experimental procedures are involving to participants and lead them to
experimental
behave naturally and spontaneously.
realism

3. –
experimenter The effects produced when an experimenter’s expectations about the results of an
expectancy experiment affect his or her behavior toward a participant and thereby influence the
effects participant’s responses.
external The degree to which there can be reasonable confidence that the results of a study would be
validity obtained for other people and in other situations.
hypothesis A testable prediction about the conditions under which an event will occur.
independent In an experiment, a factor that experimenters manipulate to see if it affects the dependent
variable variable.
informed An individual’s deliberate, voluntary decision to participate in research, based on the
consent researcher’s description of what will be required during such participation.
internal The degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the independent variables in an
validity experiment caused the effects obtained on the dependent variables.
interrater
The degree to which different observers agree on their observations.
reliability
meta-analysis A set of statistical procedures used to review a body of evidence by combining the results of
individual studies to measure the overall reliability and strength of particular effects.
mundane The degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events in the real
realism world.
operational
The specific procedures for manipulating or measuring a conceptual variable.
definition
random A method of assigning participants to the various conditions of an experiment so that each
assignment participant in the experiment has an equal chance of being in any of the conditions.
random A method of selecting participants for a study so that everyone in a population has an equal
sampling chance of being in the study.
subject
A variable that characterizes pre-existing differences among the participants in a study.
variable
theory An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena.

4. –
Chapter 3 The Social Self
affective
The process of predicting how one would feel in response to future.
forecasting
bask in
reflected glory To increase self-esteem by associating with others who are successful.
(BIRG)
An Eastern system of thought that accepts the coexistence of contradictory characteristics
dialecticism
within a single person.
downward
social The defensive tendency to compare ourselves with others who are worse off than we are.
comparison
facial feedback The hypothesis that changes in facial expression can lead to corresponding changes in
hypothesis emotion.
implicit egotism A nonconscious form of self-enhancement.
overjustification The tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish for activities that have become
effect associated with reward or other extrinsic factors.
private self- A personality characteristic of individuals who are introspective, often attending to their
consciousness own inner states.
public self- A personality characteristic of individuals who focus on themselves as social objects, as
consciousness seen by others.
self-awareness The theory that self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies, thereby
theory motivating either an escape from self-awareness or a change in behavior.
self-concept The sum total of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own personal attributes.
An affective component of the self, consisting of a person’s positive and negative self-

5. –
self-esteem evaluations.
self- Behaviors designed to sabotage one’s own performance in order to provide a subsequent
handicapping excuse for failure.
The tendency to change behavior in response to the self-presentation concerns of the
self-monitoring
situation.
self-perception The theory that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by
theory observing their own behavior.
self-
Strategies people use to shape what others think of them.
presentation
A belief people hold about themselves that guides the processing of self-relevant
self-schema
information.
social
The theory that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves
comparison
to others.
theory
Terror
The theory that humans cope with the fear of their own death by constructing worldviews
Management
that help to preserve their self-esteem.
Theory
two-factor
The theory that the experience of emotion is based on two factors: physiological arousal
theory of
and a cognitive interpretation of that arousal.
emotion

6. –
Chapter 4 Perceiving Persons
attribution
A group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behavior.
theory
availability The tendency to estimate the likelihood that an event will occur by how easily instances of
heuristic it come to mind.
base-rate The finding that people are relatively insensitive to consensus information presented in the
fallacy form of numerical base rates.
belief in a just The belief that individuals get what they deserve in life, an orientation that leads people to
world disparage victims.
belief
The tendency to maintain beliefs even after they have been discredited.
perseverance
central traits Traits that exert a powerful influence on overall impressions.
confirmation
The tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs.
bias
counterfactual The tendency to imagine alternative events or outcomes that might have occurred but did
thinking not.
covariation A principle of attribution theory that holds that people attribute behavior to factors that are
principle present when a behavior occurs and are absent when it does not.
false-
The tendency for people to overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions,
consensus
attributes, and behaviors.
effect
fundamental The tendency to focus on the role of personal causes and underestimate the impact of
attribution situations on other people’s behavior.
error
implicit
A network of assumptions people make about the relationships among traits and behaviors.
personality

7. –
theory
impression
The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression.
formation
information
The theory that impressions are based on (1) perceiver dispositions; and (2) a weighted
integration
average of a target person’s traits.
theory
mind The process by which people attribute humanlike mental states to various animate and
perception inanimate objects, including other people.
need for The desire to reduce cognitive uncertainty, which heightens the importance of first
closure impressions.
nonverbal Behavior that reveals a person’s feelings without words, through facial expressions, body
behavior language, and vocal cues.
personal Attribution to internal characteristics of an actor, such as ability, personality, mood, or
attribution effort.
The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on
primacy effect
impressions than information presented later.
The tendency for recently used or perceived words or ideas to come to mind easily and
priming
influence the interpretation of new information.
self-fulfilling The process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to
prophecy behave in ways that confirm those expectations.
situational
Attribution to factors external to an actor, such as the task, other people, or luck.
attribution
social
A general term for the processes by which people come to understand one another.
perception

8. –
Chapter 5 Stereotypes, Prejudice & Discrimination
A form of sexism characterized by attitudes about women that reflect both negative,
ambivalent
resentful beliefs and feelings and affectionate and chivalrous but potentially patronizing
sexism
beliefs and feelings.
contact The theory that direct contact between hostile groups will reduce prejudice under certain
hypothesis conditions.
Discrimination Behavior directed against persons because of their membership in a particular group.
Two or more persons perceived as related because of their interactions, membership in the
group
same social category, or common fate.
illusory An overestimate of the association between variables that are only slightly or not at all
correlation correlated.
implicit
Racism that operates unconsciously and unintentionally.
racism
ingroup
The tendency to discriminate in favor of ingroups over outgroups.
favoritism
ingroups Groups with which an individual feels a sense of membership, belonging, and identity.
jigsaw A cooperative learning method used to reduce racial prejudice through interaction in group
classroom efforts.
modern A form of prejudice that surfaces in subtle ways when it is safe, socially acceptable, and
racism easy to rationalize.
outgroup
The tendency to assume that there is greater similarity among members of outgroups than
homogeneity
among members of ingroups.
effect
Groups with which an individual does not feel a sense of membership, belonging, or
Outgroups
identity.

9. –
prejudice Negative feelings toward persons based on their membership in certain groups.
Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s racial background, or institutional and
racism
cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another.
realistic The theory that hostility between groups is caused by direct competition for limited
conflict theory resources.
relative
Feelings of discontent aroused by the belief that one fares poorly compared with others.
deprivation
Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s gender, or institutional and cultural
sexism
practices that promote the domination of one one gender over another.
social
The classification of persons into groups on the basis of common attributes.
categorization
social
A desire to see one’s ingroup as dominant over other groups and a willingness to adopt
dominance
cultural values that facilitate oppression over other groups.
orientation
social identity
The theory that people favor ingroups over outgroups in order to enhance their self-esteem.
theory
social role The theory that small gender differences are magnified in perception by the contrasting
theory social roles occupied by men and women.
stereotype A belief or association that links a whole group of people with certain traits or
characteristics.
stereotype A model proposing that the relative status and competition between groups influence group
content model stereotypes along the dimensions of competence and warmth.
stereotype The experience of concern about being evaluated based on negative stereotypes about
threat one’s group.
subliminal A method of presenting stimuli so faintly or rapidly that people do not have any conscious
presentation awareness of having been exposed to them.

10. –
superordinate A shared goal that can be achieved only through cooperation among individuals or groups.
goal
Chapter 6 Attitudes
attitude A positive, negative, or mixed reaction to a person, object, or idea.
A multiple-item questionnaire designed to measure a person’s attitude toward some
attitude scale
object.
A phony lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful
bogus pipeline
answers to sensitive questions.
central route to The process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced
persuasion by the strength of its arguments.
cognitive
The theory that holding inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people
dissonance
become motivated to reduce.
theory
The process of thinking about and scrutinizing the arguments contained in a persuasive
elaboration
communication.
facial
An electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and
electromyograph
attitudes.
(EMG)
Implicit
A covert measure of unconscious attitudes derived from the speed at which people
Association Test
respond to pairings of concepts—such as black or white with good or bad.
(IAT)
implicit attitude An attitude, such as prejudice, that one is not aware of having.
inoculation The idea that exposure to weak versions of a persuasive argument increases later
hypothesis resistance to that argument.
insufficient A condition in which people refrain from engaging in a desirable activity, even when
deterrence only mild punishment is threatened.

11. –
insufficient A condition in which people freely perform an attitude-discrepant behavior without
justification receiving a large reward.
need for A personality variable that distinguishes people on the basis of how much they enjoy
cognition (NC) effortful cognitive activities.
peripheral route The process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is
to persuasion influenced instead by superficial cues.
persuasion The process by which attitudes are changed.
psychological The theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and
reactance perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive.
sleeper effect A delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source.
theory of
The theory that attitudes toward a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and
planned
perceived control to influence a person’s actions.
behavior