Social Psychology

A stereotype is a generalized belief that all members of a particular group share the same characteristics. It oversimplifies the complexity of individuals within that group.

The Just-World Hypothesis is the psychological tendency to believe that the world is fair — that good actions lead to good outcomes and bad actions lead to bad outcomes. This belief can sometimes cause people to blame victims for their own misfortune.

Obedience to authority refers to the psychological tendency to follow instructions from a person in power, even when those instructions are ethically questionable.

Attribution theory explains how people determine the causes of behavior and events — whether they assign responsibility to internal factors like personality and effort, or to external factors like situation and luck.

This is the tendency to blame other people's behavior on their personality or character rather than on the situation they're in.

Ingroup bias is the tendency to evaluate and prefer members of your own group more positively than those in other groups. It's a natural psychological response shaped by the sense of belonging to 'our side.'

Changing your views or behavior to align with a group.

A famous psychology experiment that studied obedience to authority. It demonstrated that ordinary people can engage in extreme behaviors when directed by an authority figure.

The tendency for people to help less when many others are also present.

Obedience is the act of following the commands or instructions of someone in authority. It describes how people comply with directives from authority figures.

Social cognition is the mental process of taking in, storing, and interpreting information about other people and social situations. It plays a central role in understanding others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions, and in forming meaningful social relationships.

Social Identity Theory explains how people form a sense of self through the groups they belong to, and why they tend to evaluate their own group more positively than others. It reveals how feelings of belonging and group membership shape our attitudes and behaviors.

Social comparison is the natural psychological process of evaluating yourself by comparing your abilities, opinions, and circumstances to those of others.

Social identity is the part of your self-concept that comes from the groups you belong to. It reflects how membership in various groups shapes who you are.

When others are watching, people tend to perform better on easy tasks but worse on difficult ones.

Social loafing is the phenomenon where individuals put in less effort when working as part of a group than when working alone. It tends to occur when personal contributions are less visible or when people expect others to pick up the slack.

A theory that learning occurs by observing and imitating the behavior of others. You don't have to experience something directly to learn from it.

Reciprocity means that giving and receiving are balanced in a relationship. It's an essential element of healthy relationships.

Persuasion techniques are psychological strategies and methods used to change another person's attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. They range from honest communication to manipulative tactics that exploit emotional vulnerabilities.

Going along with someone’s request, even if you do not fully agree inside.

A famous experiment that showed how powerfully roles and situations can change human behavior. It serves as a cautionary example of the influence our environment has on us.

Reactance is the strong motivational urge to reclaim a freedom when it feels restricted or threatened. It's the reason why being told 'don't do that' often makes you want to do it even more.

Outgroup homogeneity is the tendency to perceive members of groups you don't belong to as all being similar to one another. It's the feeling of 'they're all the same' when thinking about people outside your own group.

The uncomfortable feeling that comes when your beliefs and your actions do not match.

Hostile attribution bias is the tendency to interpret other people's actions as malicious or threatening. It causes someone to misread neutral or even well-meaning behavior as having hostile intent.

The tendency to see yourself as the protagonist of your own life story — believing that the world revolves around you and that others are merely supporting cast.

Group polarization is the phenomenon where individuals' opinions become more extreme after group discussion than they were before.

Groupthink is a phenomenon where critical thinking is suppressed because of the desire to maintain harmony within a group. It can lead to poor decision-making when the pressure to agree overrides realistic evaluation of alternatives.

Prosocial motivation is the inner drive that comes from genuinely wanting to help others and contribute to society. It's not about expecting rewards — it's about finding joy in the happiness of those around you.

Deindividuation is the phenomenon where a person's sense of individual identity weakens within a group, leading them to behave in ways they normally wouldn't.

Prejudice is a negative attitude or feeling toward a specific group or its members without sufficient justification.

The tendency to like, believe, or choose something more just because many other people do.

The halo effect is the tendency to rate someone's other qualities more positively simply because of one good trait they have.

Scapegoating is the act of unfairly blaming a specific person for the problems and failures of a group or individual, making them the target of unjust criticism.