The bandwagon effect is a phenomenon of public opinion impinging upon itself: in their political preferences people tend to follow what they perceive to be majorities in society. This implies that success breeds further success, and alternatives that appear to enjoy a broad popular backing are likely to gain even more support. The effect’s metaphorical
“Sleeper effect” describes a phenomenon in which messages from sources with originally low credibility cause opinion change over time. The credibility of a source as perceived by receivers of its message constitutes a central issue in the theory of persuasion, in particular with regard to its impact on attitude change. A highly credible communicator (e.g.
The “trap effect” of communication is a metaphor for an effect specifically on the uninterested, unmotivated, uninvolved members of the audience (Schoenbach & Weaver 1985). Those people are “trapped” and subsequently influenced by any type of communication that is frequent and striking enough to overcome their weak resistance. They do not care enough to raise
Recently, researchers have turned their attention to the phenomenon of stress contagion that has been labeled crossover, namely, the reaction of individuals to the job stress experienced by those with whom they interact regularly. An influential article by Niall Bolger and colleagues distinguished between two situations in which stress is contagious: spillover, when stress experienced
The Pygmalion effect is a special case of self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) in which raising a manager’s expectations regarding worker performance boosts that performance. The Pygmalion effect debuted in educational psychology when psychologists experimentally raised elementary school teachers’ expectations toward a randomly selected subsample of their pupils and thereby produced significantly greater gains in achievement among
Infectious disease outbreaks such as pandemic influenza or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 are, thankfully, rare events, but they do occur with some degree of regularity and impose a significant public health burden over a short period of time. For instance, there were three influenza pandemics in the twentieth century: in 1918, 1957
Mental health problems are among the most complicated and challenging of all illnesses, with considerable economic implications. It is conventional to distinguish between common mental disorders (including depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress, with an overall prevalence of 15–20%) and severe mental disorders (particularly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with a
Concerns about the macroeconomic consequences of the human immunodeficiency virus, and the associated acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) have been fueled by several factors. Most obviously, the epidemic has a devastating impact on life expectancy in a number of countries. In the empirical literature on economic growth (not dealing specifically with HIV/AIDS), such a decline is
The underdog effect is a phenomenon of public opinion impinging upon itself: when at an election voters perceive a particular party or candidate to be the likely winner, they tend to support a competitor who is expected to lose – an “underdog” in the race. This implies that apparent success may undermine itself. The origin
Mere Exposure Effect Definition The mere exposure effect describes the phenomenon that simply encountering a stimulus repeatedly somehow makes one like it more. Perhaps the stimulus is a painting on the wall, a melody on a radio, or a face of a person you pass by every day—somehow all these stimuli tend to “grow on
Sleeper Effect Definition A sleeper effect in persuasion is a delayed increase in the impact of a persuasive message. In other words, a sleeper effect occurs when a communication shows no immediate persuasive effects, but, after some time, the recipient of the communication becomes more favorable toward the position advocated by the message. As a
Despite the folk wisdom that “no news is good news,” almost everyone is reluctant to communicate bad news. For example, your best friend, Tom, has applied for a job that he wants very badly. You learn that he will definitely be offered the job. You can hardly wait to tell him the good news. You
Primacy Effect in Attribution Definition The primacy effect concerns how one’s impressions of others are formed. Thus, it relates to the field of psychology known as person perception, which studies how people form impressions of others. The word primacy itself is generally defined in the dictionary as the state of being first in order or
Primacy Effect in Memory Definition The primacy effect denotes the phenomenon that after encountering a long list of items, one will more likely be able to recall the first few items from that list than items than from later parts of the list. In a typical study investigating the primacy effect, participants are sequentially presented
Dilution Effect Definition The dilution effect is a judgment bias in which people underutilize diagnostic information when nondiagnostic information is also present. Diagnostic information is knowledge that is useful in making a particular judgment. Nondiagnostic information is knowledge that is not relevant to the judgment being made. For example, if a medical doctor were making
Expectancy Effect Definition An expectancy effect occurs when an incorrect belief held by one person, the perceiver, about another person, the target, leads the perceiver to act in such a manner as to elicit the expected behavior from the target. For example, if Mary is told that a new coworker, John, was unfriendly, she may
Barnum Effect Definition The Barnum effect refers to personality descriptions that a person believes applies specifically to them (more so than to other people), despite the fact that the description is actually filled with information that applies to everyone. The effect means that people are gullible because they think the information is about them only
Self-Reference Effect Definition The self-reference effect refers to people’s tendency to better remember information when that information has been linked to the self than when it has not been linked to the self. In research on the self-reference effect, people are presented with a list of adjectives (e.g., intelligent, shy) and are asked to judge
Spotlight Effect Definition The spotlight effect is a very common psychological phenomenon that psychologists define as a person’s tendency to overestimate the extent to which others notice, judge, and remember his or her appearance and behavior. In other words, it represents a person’s conviction that the social spotlight shines more brightly on him or her
Bystander Effect Definition Individuals who see or hear an emergency (but are otherwise uninvolved) are called bystanders. The bystander effect describes the phenomenon in which such individuals are less likely to seek help or give assistance when others are present. This does not mean that bystanders are apathetic to the plight of others, for bystanders
Name Letter Effect Definition The name letter effect refers to people’s tendency to favor the letters that are included in their names more than letters that are not in their names. In plain terms, people like the letters in their names better than they like the rest of the alphabet. Because the link between name
Similarity-Attraction Effect Definition The similarity-attraction effect refers to the widespread tendency of people to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves in important respects. Attraction means not strictly physical attraction but, rather, liking for or wanting to be around the person. Many different dimensions of similarity have been studied, in both friendship and
The “popout” effect refers to the subjective experience of witnesses who report virtually immediate or apparently automatic recognition of the perpetrator of a crime from a photo array or lineup. Researchers have detected this experience among witnesses by asking them to endorse one of several statements about the decision strategy they used when making their
The cross-race effect (CRE, also referred to as the own-race bias or other-race effect) is a facial recognition phenomenon in which individuals show superior performance in identifying faces of their own race when compared with memory for faces of another, less familiar race. Over three decades of research on the CRE suggests a rather robust
Discontinuity Effect Definition The interindividual-intergroup discontinuity effect is the tendency in some settings for relations between groups to be more competitive, or less cooperative, than relations between individuals. Why is this effect referred to as a discontinuity rather than just as a difference? Unpublished research has demonstrated that variation in the number of people in
Ringelmann Effect Definition The Ringelmann effect refers to individuals expending less individual effort on a task when working as part of a group than when working alone. Background and History of the Ringelmann Effect Max Ringelmann was a French agricultural engineer who was interested in examining various aspects related to agricultural efficiency. He was primarily
Halo Effect Definition Halo effect refer to the widespread human tendency in impression formation to assume that once a person possesses some positive or negative characteristic, other as yet unknown qualities will also be positive or negative, in other words, consistent with the existing impression. It seems as if known personal characteristics radiate a positive
Buffering Effect Definition A buffering effect is a process in which a psychosocial resource reduces the impact of life stress on psycho-logical well-being. Having such a resource contributes to adjustment because persons are less affected by negative life events. Social support is a known buffering agent: Persons with high support show less adverse impact from
Hot Hand Effect Definition Many sports fans, commentators, players, and even coaches share a belief that a particular player can for some period of time have the hot hand; that is, be “in the zone,” “on a roll,” “unstoppable,” or “playing their A-game.” The hot hand effect refers to the tendency for people to expect
Mere Ownership Effect Definition The mere ownership effect refers to an individual’s tendency to evaluate an object more favorably merely because he or she owns it. The endowment effect is a related phenomenon that concerns the finding that sellers require more money to sell an object than buyers are willing to pay for it. Taken
The CSI effect refers to the belief that jurors’ expectations about forensic evidence at trial are changing due to the popularity of crime investigation programming such as CBS’s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Much of the support for this effect comes from anecdotal evidence. The limited empirical evidence on this topic indicates that CSI may influence
Recency Effect Definition The recency effect is an order of presentation effect that occurs when more recent information is better remembered and receives greater weight in forming a judgment than does earlier-presented information. Recency effects in social psychology have been most thoroughly studied in impression formation research. Typically, researchers investigate how impressions are formed on
Overjustification Effect Definition Overjustification occurs when play becomes work as a result of payment or other reward. More formally, it is the process by which intrinsic interest in some activity or behavior is supplanted through the presentation of an extrinsic reward. An activity that was once interesting in and of itself becomes less interesting and
Placebo Effect Definition A placebo is a medical term for a drug that has no active ingredient. Biologically, it doesn’t do anything, but the patient might mistakenly believe it is a powerful medicine. In fact, in bygone eras, some people who took snake oil and other medically useless substances did get better, partly because they
The placebo effect in clinical trials represents a multifaceted phenomenon within the realm of health psychology. This article explores the concept’s definition, historical context, and its pivotal role in shaping the landscape of clinical research. The first section delves into the intricate mechanisms underlying placebo responses, elucidating the psychological, neurobiological, and psychosocial factors that contribute
The nocebo effect, often described as the negative counterpart to the well-known placebo response, holds a significant place in the realm of health psychology. This article explores the multifaceted dimensions of the nocebo effect, beginning with its definition and historical roots. Investigating the intricate mechanisms and processes underlying this phenomenon, we delve into psychophysiological responses
This article delves into the phenomenon of the placebo effect in pain management within the field of health psychology. The introduction provides a foundational understanding of the placebo effect, tracing its historical roots and underscoring its significance in contemporary medical practices. The first section systematically explores the intricate mechanisms underlying placebo responses, examining both neurobiological