1: Social Psychology

Question 1

What is an attitude?

Answer 1

a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object, or concept e.g. can include behaviour such as healthy eating

Question 2

When do attiuted have stronger influence on our behaviour?

Answer 2

when situational factors that contradict our attitudes are weak

–> if atitute is inglign with the situation

Question 3

Recall the theory of planned behaviour, specifically the role of atiiture towards a topic

Answer 3

The believes and evaluation of an outcome directly influence (are) the attitute towards a behaviour

Attitute directly influenced the planning of behaviour

Question 4

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 4

It is a conflict between 2 opposing opinions and believes

e.g. I’m a smoker vs Smoking is bad

Question 5

What are the ways to resolve cognitive dissonance?

Answer 5

At the example of smoking

• Change behaviour:
  
  • quitting, which might be difficult and thus avoided
• •Acquire new information:
  
  • Such as seeking exceptions e.g. “My grandfather smoked all his life and lived to be 96”
• Reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e. beliefs, attitudes).
  
  • A person could convince themself that it is better to “live for the moment”

Question 6

What is the role of the social norms and environement in health beahaviour accoriding to the theory of planned behaviour?

Answer 6

Might directly influence the intention to do a behaviour

Question 7

What makes a message more effective?

Answer 7

• Reaches recipient
• Is attention-grabbing
• Easily understood
• Relevant and important

• Easily remembered

Question 8

What makes a messenger more persuasive?

Answer 8

Credible e.g. doctors

• Trustworthy e.g. objective
• Appealing e.g. well presented

Question 9

What is framing?

Answer 9

Referes to the emphasis of benefits or loss concerning a speicial statement etc.

Question 10

When are loss-framed messages regarding health behaviour more effective?

Answer 10

to take up behaviours aimed at detecting health problems or illness (e.g. HIV testing)

Question 11

When are gain-fraimed messages regardning health behaviour changes more effective?

Answer 11

to take up behaviours aimed at promoting prevention behaviours (e.g. condom use)

Question 12

What is a stereotype?

Answer 12

Generalisations made about a group of people or members of that group, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. Or more specific such as different medical specialisations (e.g. surgeons)

Question 13

What is a prejudice?

Answer 13

To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members

Question 14

What is discrimination?

Answer 14

Behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups

Question 15

Explain how stereotypes and prejudices can influence medical care?

Answer 15

It is shown that these factors do influence medical care:

• e.g. GPs are less likely to take on new case when there is a history of mental illness
• Hip replacements are more likely to be suggested to men

Question 16

What is social loafing?

Answer 16

the tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone

Question 17

When is social loafing more likely to occur?

Answer 17

• belive thtat individual performance is not being monitored
• he task (goal) or the group has less value or meaning to the person
• The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
• The person expects that other group members will display high effort

Question 18

Explain the role of gender and culture in social loafing

Answer 18

Occurs more strongly in all-male groups
• Occurs more often in individualistic cultures

Question 19

What are the factors that could reduce the tendency for social loafing?

Answer 19

• Individual performance is monitored
• Members highly value their group or the task goal
• Groups are smaller
• Members are of similar competence

Question 20

What is conformity?

Which factors influence conformity?

Answer 20

Conformity= the areeing within a group

Influenced by

1. group size
   
   • the larger the group the higher the confomity
   • no further change when group larger than 5
2. Presence of a disagreer
   
   • if one disagrees –> more likely for more to disagree
3. culture
   
   • greater in collectivistic cultures

Question 21

Explain the 5- step bystander decision process

Answer 21

1. Notice the event
2. Is the event an emergency?
   
   • Social comparison: look to see how others are responding
3. Assuming responsibility to intervene
   
   • Diffusion of Responsibility: believing that someone else will help
4. Self-efficacy in dealing with the situation
5. Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis e.g. danger)

Question 22

Which interventions could be undertaken to increase helping behaviour?

Answer 22

• Reducing restraints on helping
  
  • Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
  • Enhance concern for self image
• Socialise altruism
  
  • Teaching moral inclusion
  • Modelling helping behaviour
  • Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives
  • Education about barriers to helping

Question 23

Which factors influence obedience?

Answer 23

• Remoteness of the victim (how far away/facing them)
• Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
• Diffusion of responsibility: obedience increases when someone else administers the shocks
• Not personal characteristics

Question 24

What is the concept of group think?

Answer 24

the tendency of group members to suspendcritical thinking because they they are striving to seek
agreement

Question 25

Explain the conecpt of group polerization

Answer 25

the tendency of people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently

Question 26

Which factors make group think more likely?

Answer 26

When a group…

• Is under high stress to reach a decision
• Is insulated from outside input
• Has a directive leader
• Has high cohesiveness

Question 27

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the three leadership roles?

Answer 27

Question 28

Which social phenomen did Ash investigate when putting a suspect into a group of actors and asking for recognisisng the length of different lines?

Answer 28

Conformity

Question 29

Roughly discribe the Milgram Experiment

Answer 29

Experiment used to investgate obedience

• Shock generator used to apply punishment

• Shocks grew increasingly intense with each mistake

Question 30

Describe the Darley & Latane Experiment

Answer 30

Expreiment to analyse, explain the bystander effect

• Helping student having an epileptic seizure in an adjacent room.
  
  • 87% helped if they believed it was just them and the other student.
  • But only 31% helped when they believed they were in a group of 4 people, hardly anyone helped if group was above 4.
• If participant had not acted within first 3 minutes they never acted.