1. attitude
A learned, stable, and lasting evaluation of a person, object, or idea.
Not innate—acquired through interactions and experiences
Resistant to change
Possesses cognitive, affective, and behavioral components

2. First Impressions Form very quickly
First thing likely to affect the formation of impression is physical appearance.
Very difficult to overcome first impression.

3. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A belief that leads to its own fulfillment

4. Fritz Heider, Attribution Theory
One can make one of two kinds of attributions about the causes of behavior:
Personal or dispositional attribution
Situational or external attribution

5. Dispositional attribution
We won the football game because we have a high level of natural talent, we carefully studied our opponents strengths and weaknesses, and we paid the price of hard work and commitment by doubling our hours of practice.

6. Situational Attribution
We lost the football game because of poor calls by the officials and the bad luck of having injuries to key players on our team.

7. Fundamental Attribution Error
Tendency for observers, when analyzing another’s behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation, and overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

8. Mere Exposure Effect
Predicts that we will be most attracted to those with whom we are familiar.
Also found to be true in music, art and a number of other things

9. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent.
For example, when our awareness of our attitudes and of our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

10. Groupthink
Groupthink occurs when a cohesive in-group seeks to have unanimity of opinion more than anything else.
Janis (1972) cited the following conditions as conducive to groupthink:
An isolated, powerful, decision-making group
The lack of impartial leadership
High levels of stress on the group

11. Six Symptoms of Groupthink
Close-mindedness: Not being open to new ideas
Rationalization: Heroic efforts to justify group opinion; may distort the reality process
Squelching of dissent: Dissenters are ignored, criticized, or ostracized

12. Six Symptoms of Groupthink
Formation of “mindguard”: Appointment of keeper of group norm to ensure the rest of the group stays in line.
Feeling invulnerable: Belief that the group is right, given the intellectual power of the members and available information.
Feeling unanimous: Everyone in group believes group opinions are shared by all.

13. Janis: Examples of Groupthink
Bay of Pigs fiasco during Kennedy Administration
Mass suicide at Jonestown in Guyana in 1978
Heaven’s Gate mass suicide

14. Historical Examples of Groupthink
Although Chinese warned of retaliatory attacks, President Truman still made the decision to invade North Korea in 1950
Escalation of the Vietnam War in the 1960s by President Johnson
Nixon’s attempted cover-up of Watergate

15. Historical Examples of Groupthink
NASA’s decision to send up Challenger launch, despite warnings from engineers regarding safety of the O-rings in freezing temperatures.
The War in Iraq?

16. Asch: Experiment on Conformity
Solomon Asch (1951, 1956)
Subjects told they are in an experiment on perception—actually experiment on conformity
One subject, the rest of the group are confederates
Will the subject conform to obvious wrong answer?

17. Line Length and Normative Influence1 4
Conformity
Line Length and Normative Influence

18. Normative Social Influence
Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

19. Stanley Milgram (1974) Classic experiment on obedience.
Subjects obeyed Milgram’s requests to a level far beyond that predicted by him or others.
Experts believed that only one in a thousand (the true sadist) would administer the maximum shocks. Actually 2/3 went all the way.

20. Kitty Genovese Slaying
In 1964, Kitty Genovese was killed over the course of a half-hour within earshot of at least 38 witnesses in her apartment complex in New York City.
The incident spurred research on inaction of bystanders.
Darley and Latané discovered the Bystander Effect.

21. Bystander Effect
The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

22. The Effects of Others’ Actions
When we witness someone in need of help, we use others’ reactions to help us interpret the situation.
If we see that no one else is doing anything, we may falsely believe that inaction indicates there is no need for action

23. Prejudice
Prejudice is a negative attitude for a particular group that is based on limited or faulty information about them.
Prejudice is an attitude towards a group and not individuals, although we often direct our prejudicial attitudes for certain groups towards individual members of that group.

24. Social Categorization and Stereotypes
Such classifications lead us to prototypes and prototypes lead us to stereotypes, which are prototypes applied to groups of people.
Stereotypes help us to organize and simplify the world, but they also may oversimplify.

25. Stereotype
A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

26. Just-World Phenomenon
The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

27. The Robber’s Cave Study
Sherif’s study of 11-year-old boys and Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma still stands as the classic experimental manipulation of prejudice. Sherif was able to increase prejudice in groups of boy campers at the park by having them compete for prizes and sporting events.

28. The Robber’s Cave Study
The competition combined with the fact that the boys had formed cohesive groups within their separate cabins were all it took for a full-blown prejudice and discrimination to develop. Soon, the boys were fighting, sabotaging outgroup members, and engaging in vandalism of outgroup properties.

29. The Robber’s Cave Study
After allowing the prejudice to develop, Sherif was able to reduce prejudice by forcing the boys to work cooperatively to accomplish superordinate goals (i.e., re-establishing water service to the cabins after a water pipe leak).

30. Deindividuation
One factor that makes aggressive mob behavior more likely is deindividuation.
Deindividuation occurs when, as a member of a group, we lose our sense of individual identity and self-restraint in situations which foster arousal and anonymity.

31. The Stanford Experiment
When Zimbardo randomly assigned to Stanford students to the roles of “guard” and “prisoner” in his famous prison study, he intentionally deindividuated members from each group. Guards wore uniforms and mirrored sunglasses; prisoners wore different uniforms and stocking caps and were identified by number, not name.

32. The Stanford Experiment
As a result of these circumstances, the otherwise normal participants who played the roles of the guards began to exhibit cruel and dehumanizing behavior.
The experiment had to be halted before completion, because the deindividuating processes were so powerful that Zimbardo was at risk of losing control over the situation.

33. Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon
The tendency for people who have agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.