Alphabetical Glossary

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participant observation
a form of systematic observation whereby the observer interacts with the people being observed, but tries not to alter the situation in any way

passionate love
the feelings of intense longing, accompanied by physiological arousal, we feel for another person; when our love is reciprocated, we feel great fulfillment and ecstacy, but when it is not, we feel sadness and despair

perceived control
the belief that we can influence our environment in ways that determine whether we experience positive or negative outcomes

perceptual salience
information that is the focus of people's attention; people tend to overestimate the causal role of perceptually salient information

performance-contingent rewards
rewards that are based on how well we perform a task

peripheral route to persuasion
the case whereby people do not elaborate on the arguments in a persuasive communication but are instead swayed by peripheral cues

perseverance effect
the finding that people's beliefs about themselves and the social world persist even after the evidence supporting these beliefs is discredited

persuasive communication
communication (e.g., a speech or television ad) advocating a particular side of an issue

pluralistic ignorance
the phenomenon whereby bystanders assume that nothing is wrong in an emergency, because no one else looks concerned

polygraph
a machine that measures people's physiological responses (e.g., their heart rate); when these machines are used in lie detection, polygraph operators attempt to tell if someone is lying by observing how that person responds physiologically while answering questions

positive correlation
a relationship between two variables wherein increases in the value of one variable are associated with increases in the value of the other variable

postdecision dissonance
dissonance that is inevitably aroused after a person makes a decision; in this situation, dissonance is typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluing the rejected alternatives

prejudice
a hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group of people, based solely on their membership in that group

primacy effect
the process whereby our first impression of another person causes us to interpret his or her subsequent behavior in a manner consistent with the first impression

priming
the process by which recent experiences increase a trait's accessibility

private acceptance
conforming to other people's behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right

probability level (p-value)
a number, calculated with statistical techniques, that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiment occurred by chance (due to the failure of random assignment) and not because of the independent variable(s); the convention in science, including social psychology, is to consider results significant if the probability level is less than 5 in 100 that the results might be due to chance factors and not the independent variable(s) studied

process loss
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving

propinquity effect
the finding that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends

prosocial behavior
any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person

psychological realism
the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes occurring in everyday life; psychological realism can be high in an experiment, even if mundane realism is low

public compliance
conforming to other people's behavior publicly, without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying