Alphabetical Glossary

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elaboration likelihood model
the theory that there are two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change; the central route occurs when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication, and the peripheral route occurs when people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics (e.g., who gave the speech)

emblems
nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations, such as the OK sign

empathy
the ability to put oneself in the shoes of another person-to experience events and emotions (e.g., joy and sadness) the way that person experiences them

empathy-altruism hypothesis
the idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help him or her purely for altruistic reasons-that is, regardless of what we have to gain

encode
to express or emit nonverbal behavior, such as smiling or patting someone on the back

equity theory
the theory holding that people are happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs a person experiences and the contributions he or she makes to the relationship are roughly equal to the rewards, costs, and contributions of the other person

Eros
the instinct toward life, posited by Freud

exchange relationships
relationships governed by the need for equity (i.e., for an equal ratio of rewards and costs)

experimental method
the method of choice to study cause-and-effect relationships; the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable (the one thought to have a causal effect on people's responses)

external attribution
the inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in; the assumption is that most people would respond the same way in that situation

external justification
a person's reason or explanation for his or her dissonant behavior that resides outside the individual (e.g., in order to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment)

external validity
the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people

extrinsic motivation
the desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures, not because we enjoy the task or find it interesting