Psyc 201 UIUC Quiz 2 (With Quiz 1 review)

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Emotions

Emotions

brief, specific psychological and physiological responses that help humans meet goals

3 components of an experiment

manipulation of independent variables, random assignment, control conditions

3 dimensions of explanatory style

internal/external, stable/unstable, global/specific

3 elements of covariation principle

1. consensus (do most people in the situation do this), 2. distinctiveness (does person only do this in this particular situation), 3. consistency (does the person do this all of the time or just certain instance)

ABC of attitudes

Affect, Behavior, Cognition

actor-observer difference

actor: more likely to make situational attributions, observer: make dispositional attributions

affect valuation theory

cultures differ in the emotions they value/idealize in accordance with cultural values

archival research

analyzing social behaviors documented in past behaviors

attitudes v behaviors

attitudes - broad, behaviors - specific

attribution theory

general term for theories about how people explain causes of events they observe

augmentation principle

greater weight is given to a particular cause of behavior if there are other potential causes that would normally produce opposite outcome

automatic processing

we perceive the world quickly and automatically (e.g. processing someones face)

B=f(P,E)

behavior is a function of the person and the environment

bad-news bias

people believe they are more likely to be victimized than they really are (from watching TV)

base-rate information

info about relative frequency of events or members of different group

behavior

knowledge about interactions with an attitude object

biased assessment of risk

if something comes to mind easily, people think it's common

Bottom up processing

information is taken from the senses, put together, and then a decision is made (less stereotypes)

broaden and build hypothesis

positive emotions broaden thought and action repertoires, helping people build social resources

casual attributions

linking an instance of a behavior to a cause (person v. environment)

causes of fundamental attribution error

1. perceptual salience (people grab more attention than situations), 2. conceptual salience (situation cues often unavailable), 3. belief in a just world

channel factor

circumstances that appear unimportant on the surface but have a great consequence on behavior

cognition

thoughts about the attitude object

cognitive dissonance theory

we rationalize our decisions to reduce dissonance and restore consistency

collective self

beliefs about our identities as members of social groups to which we belong

confirmation bias

tendency to test a proposition by searching for evidence that would support it

construal

people's interpretation and inference about the stimuli or situations they confront

construal level theory

psychologically distant actions/events are thought about in abstract terms, events close at hand are thought about in concrete terms

contingencies of self-worth

self-esteem is contingent on success and failure in domains that are important to their self

controllability

if we attribute failure to something we can control, we may persevere more

controlled processing

effortful, deliberate, conscious processing

correlation coefficient

statistical value that indicates how well you can predict one variable using another

correlational research

research that psychologists conduct to see whether there is a relationship between variables

counterfactual thoughts

thoughts of what might have, could have, or should have happened

covariation principle

behavior should be attributed to potential causes that co-occur with the behavior

discounting principle

if people act in an expected way, we tend to discount the internal attribution

downward comparison

when you want to feel good about yourself, you compare with people who are worse

dual process model

Automatic v. controlled: we make initial dispositional attribution, then reflect based on situation and dispositional inference

emotional amplification

emotional reactions to counterfactual thinking increase depending on how easy it is to imagine the alternative

Emotions

brief, specific psychological and physiological responses that help humans meet goals

experimental research

systematically controls and manipulates events to understand particular behaviors

explanatory style

a person's habitual way of explaining events

explicit v implicit behaviors

explicit - deliberate behavior, implicit - automatic

external validity

experimental setup that closely resembles real-life situations --> results can safely be generalized to such situations

external/situational attribution

something about the environment caused the behavior

fluency

the feeling of ease associated with processing information

focalism

tendency to focus on only one aspect of an experience or event when trying to predict future emotions

forced compliance

when you subtly make people behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their beliefs, attitudes, or values to elicit dissonance

framing effects

the influence on judgement resulting from the way that info is presented

fundamental attribution error

the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, and the tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior; the tendency to attribute a person's behavior to personality while ignoring situational causes

gestalt psychology

people perceive objects by unconscious interpretation of what the object represents as a whole

heuristics

The process by which people take mental short cuts to arrive at conclusions or decisions

hypothesis

a prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances (specific)

individual self

beliefs about our unique personal traits, abilities, preferences etc.

internal validty

confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results

internal/dispositional attribution

something about the person caused the behavior

intuition

quick, automatic, based on associations, performs many operations simulataneously

just world hypothesis

a form of defensive attribution in which people assume bad things happen to bad people (and vice versa)

morality

regulating behavior to fit into society

natural selection

an evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so traits that enhance survival and reproduction are passed on

naturalistic fallacy

the idea that the way things are is the way things should be

negativity bias

we pay more attention to negative information than positive

observational research

observing social situations in an semi-formal way

operationalization

turn an abstract concept into something observable that we can test with experiments

optimistic explanatory style

external, unstable, specific

over-justification effect

when rewards/external incentives decrease one's intrinsic motivation to perform a task

pessimistic explanatory style

internal, stable, global

planning fallacy

we tend to be overly optimistic about how quickly we can complete a project

pluralistic ignorance

misperception of a group norm that results from observing people who are acting at variance with their private beliefs (professor asks "are there any questions")

possible selves

hypothetical selves that a person aspires to be in the future

prevention focus

avoid negative outcomes when working toward ought self

primacy effects

info presented 1st has overly strong influence on later judgements

primary appraisal

unconscious, fast, automatic reactions to situations (like or dislike)

priming

the momentary activation of schema, making it more accessible

promotion focus

focus on positive outcomes when working toward ideal self

recency effects

info presented last has overly strong influence on later judgements

reflected self-appraisals

our beliefs about what others think of our social selves

relational self

beliefs about our identities in specific relationships

representativeness heuristic

the tendency to compare things or individuals to the prototypes of their category

reverse causation

X may cause Y OR Y may cause X

schema

a knowledge structure consisting of any organized body of stored knowledge

self

a person's particular nature or qualities that make a person unique and distinguishable from others

self-complexity

the tendency to define the self in terms of multiple domains that are distinct from one another

self-discrepancy theory

people want to reduce discrepancies between their actual self and possible selves

self-enhancement

people's desire to maintain, increase, or protect their self-esteem or self-views

self-esteem

the positive/negative evaluation or attitude an individual has toward the self

self-evaluation maintenance model

we are motivated to have positive self-esteem, and to achieve that, we engage in various forms of motivated reasoning

self-handicapping

tendency to engage in self-defeating behavior to prevent others from assuming a poor performance was due to a lack of ability

self-perception theory

when we don't have a clear, solidified attitude or when the attitude isn't important

self-presentation

presenting the person that we would like others to believe we are

self-reference effect

we have a better memory for information related to ourselves

self-regulation

processes used to initiate, alter, and control their behavior in the pursuit of goals

self-schema

cognitive structures, derived from past experience, that represent a person's beliefs and feelings about the self in particular domains

self-serving attributional bias

the tendency to attribute failures to external causes and successes to internal causes

self-verification theory

people strive for stable, accurate beliefs about the self

social cognition

how we interpret, remember, and understand information that we receive about the people and situations that surround us every day

social comparison

we make downward social comparisons to feel better

social comparison theory

people compare themselves to others to evaluate their own opinions

social psychology

the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to each other

spin framing

changing the way something is phrased/formed so that it looks more favor/unfavorable