Page 451 - The Social Animal

Glossary 433

exchange relationships: relationships governed by the need for equity (i.e.,
for an equal ratio of rewards and costs) between the people involved
experimental realism: when an experiment has an impact on the par-
ticipants, forces them to take the matter seriously, and involves them in the
procedures; this can be effective even in the absence of mundane realism

external justification: a person’s reason or explanation for his or her disso-
nant behavior that resides not in the individual but rather in the situation
(e.g., a reward or a punishment)
false consensus effect: the tendency to overestimate the percentage of peo-
ple who agree with us on any issue

false memory syndrome: a memory of a past traumatic experience that is
objectively false but that people believe occurred
foot-in-the-door technique: a strategy to get people to comply with a large
request, whereby they are presented first with a small request, to which they
are likely to acquiesce, followed by a larger request

framing: in decision making, whether a proposition is presented (or framed)
so as to imply the possibility of loss or of gain
frustration-aggression: frustration—the perception that you are being pre-
vented from obtaining a goal—will increase the probability of an aggressive
response

fundamental attribution error: the tendency to overestimate the extent to
which people’s behavior is due to internal dispositional factors and to under-
estimate the role of situational factors
gain-loss effect: the theory that we like people the most if we feel we have
gained in their estimation of us (i.e., if they initially disliked us but now like
us) and that we dislike people the most if we feel we have lost their favor
(i.e., if they initially liked us but now dislike us)

groupthink: a kind of thinking in which maintaining group agreement
overrides a careful consideration of the facts in a realistic manner
halo effect: a bias in which our favorable or unfavorable general impression of
a person affects our inferences about and future expectations of that person
hindsight bias: once we know the outcome of an event, we have a strong ten-
dency (usually erroneous) to believe that we could have predicted it in advance
homogeneity effect: the tendency to view greater similarity among mem-
bers of an outgroup than we see in members of our own group

hostile aggression: an act of aggression stemming from a feeling of anger
and aimed at inflicting pain or injury