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Essay text:

-The branch of psychology that studies how people think, feel, and behave in social situations Social Cognition -The mental process that people use to make sense out of their social environment Person Perception -influenced by; perceptions, goals, expectations, self perception Physical Attractiveness -“beautiful is good” -really no difference between attractive and less attractive people in intelligence, happiness, and adjustment -there are differences in loneliness, popularity, and anxiety in social situations. Attribution -process of inferring the causes of people’s behavior, including one’s own -the explanation given for a particular behavior Using Attributes as ways to Justify Injustice -just world bias: a tendency to believe that life is fair -just world bias leads to blaming the victim Attitudes What is an attitude? -predisposition to evaluate some people, groups, or issues in a particular way -has 3 components: cognitive, affective, behavioral Cognitive Dissonance -attitudes and behaviors are in conflict -hypocrisy -it is uncomfortable for us -we seek ways to decrease comfort caused by inconsistency Dissonance- Reducing Mechanisms -Avoiding dissonant info -firming up an attitude to be consistent with an action Prejudice -a negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group Social influence -how behavior is influenced by the social environment and the presence of other people Conformity -informational social influence -normative social influence Individual and Groups -social loafing—tendency to expend less effort on a task when it is a group effort -social facilitation—tendency for the presence of others to enhance our performance So what is up?