·       the process of forming impressions of others

cognitive structures that guide information processing

 organized clusters of ideas about categories of social events and people

when people estimate that they have encountered more confirmations of an association between social traits than they have actually seen

a group that one belongs to and identifies with

a group that one does not belong to or identify with

    inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others behaviour and their own behaviour 

·       ascribe the causes of behaviour to personal dispositions, traits, abilities and feelings

        ascribe the causes of behaviour to situational demands and environmental constraints

       observer’s bias in favour of internal attributions in explaining others’ behaviour

--> actors favour external attributions for their behaviours

--> observers are more likely to explain the same behaviour with internal attributions

     - tendency to blame victims for their misfortune so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way -people think problems that happen to other people are unlikely to happen to them

·       putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one’s identity in terms of the groups one belongs to

       tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal factors and one’s failures to situational factors

refers to positive feelings toward another person

proposes that males and females of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other as partners

       complete absorption into another that includes tender sexual feelings and the agony and ecstasy of intense emotion

·       warm, trusting, tolerant affection for another whose life is deeply intertwined with one’s own

       warmth, closeness, and sharing in a relationship

·       the intent to maintain a relationship in spite of the difficulties and costs that may arise

       reflects how much people worry that their partners will not be available when needed -excessive reassurance seeking, the tendency to persistently ask for assurances from partners that one is worthy of love

reflects the degree to which people feel uncomfortable with closeness and intimacy

positive or negative evaluations of objects of thought

       attitudes that we hold consciously and can readily describe

·       secret attitudes that are expressed in subtle automatic responses over which we have little conscious control

person who sends a communication

       person to who the message is sent

       information transmitted by the source

·       medium through which the message is sent

       the finding that repeated exposures to a stimulus promotes greater liking of the stimulus

·       attitude formation is one of many facets of learning theory

·       attitudes can be learned from parents, peers, the media, cultural traditions and other social influences

·       created through classical conditioning

·       advertisers take advantage of this by pairing their products with things that emit pleasant emotional experiences

·       other people’s attitude can rub off on you through observational learning

·       exists when related cognitions are inconsistent, that is, when they contradict each other

·       states that people often infer their attitudes from their behaviour

widely shared expectations about how people in certain positions are supposed to behave

occurs when people yield to real or imagined social pressure

operates when people conform to social norms for fear of negative social consequences

operates when people look to others for guidance about how to behave in ambiguous situations

a form of compliance that occurs when people follow direct commands, usually from someone in a position of authority

when people are less likely to provide needed help to others when they are in groups than when they are alone

the concept that in a group, responsibility is divided, with people thinking somebody else will help

·       a reduction in effort by individuals when they work in groups as compared to when they work by themselves

·       groups can arrive at riskier decisions than individuals

a shift toward a more extreme position

·       when group discussion strengthens a group’s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction

occurs when members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision

      the strength of the linking relationships linking group members to each other and to the group itself; this could be a contributing factor to groupthink

·       an approach to research and theory in social psychology that integrates models of neuroscience and social psychology to study the mechanisms of social behaviour