Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

CONCEPTMAPSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYSocial PsychologyStudies how your thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influencedby the presence of other people and by the social andphysical environment.Social CognitionStudies how we form impressions of others,how we interpret the meaning ofother people’s behavior, and how our behavioris affected by our attitudes.Person PerceptionAttributionAttitudesPrejudice• An active and subjectiveprocess that occursin an interpersonalcontext• Is influenced by subjectiveperceptions, socialnorms, personal goals,and self-perceptionPerson perception ofteninvolves using mentalshortcuts, including:• Social categorization• Implicit personalitytheoriesExplaining the behaviorof others often reflectscommon cognitive biasesand explanatory patterns,including:• Fundamental attributionerror• Blaming the victim• Hindsight bias• Self-serving bias• Self-effacing bias• A learned tendency toevaluate an object,person, or issue in aparticular way• Can have cognitive,emotional, and behavioralcomponents• Although attitudestypically influence behavior,sometimes ourbehavior influencesour attitudes.When a person’s behavior conflictswith his or her attitudes, cognitivedissonance may be the result.A negative attitude towardpeople who belongto a specific socialgroupStereotypes:• Form of social categorizationin which acluster of characteristicsis attributed to allmembers of a socialgroup or category• Stereotypes are fosteredby in-group andout-group thinking,and the out-group homogeneityeffect• In-group bias occurswhen we attributepositive qualities tomembers of our owngroupMuzafer Sherif (1906-1988): Robbers Cave experimentdemonstratedthat intergroup conflictcan be decreased whengroups engage in a cooperativeeffort.