Barron14: Social Psychology

Question 1

SOCIAL COGNITION?

Answer 1

• helps explain how people THINK about THEMSELVES and OTHERS.

Question 2

MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT?

Answer 2

• states that the more one is exposed to sth, the more one will come to like it.

Question 3

Persuasive messages can be processed through…(2)

Answer 3

• CENTRAL ROUTE - involves deeply processing the content of the message;
• PERIPHERAL ROUTE - involves other aspects of the messages e.g. characteristics of the person imparting the message

Question 4

What types of people seem to be the most PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATORS? (3)

Answer 4

• attractive people
• famous people
• experts

Question 5

Presenting messages to : UNINFORMED AUDIENCE vs. SOPHISTICATED AUDIENCE?

Answer 5

• research has found that when dealing with a relatively uninformed audience, presenting a ONE SIDED MESSAGE is best. However, when attempting to influence a more sophisticated audience, a communication that ACKNOWLEDGES AND THEN REFUTES OPPOSING ARGUMENTS will be more effective.

Question 6

Richard LAPIERE experiment?

Answer 6

• demonstrated that the relationship b/w ATTITUDES and BEHAVIORS is far from perfect
• conducted an early study involving discrimination against Asians. –> traveled thru the West Coast visiting many hotels and restaurants with an Asian couple to see how they would be treated. On only one occasion were they treated poorly due to their race. later, lapiere called them and asked them about their attitudes toward asian patrons. over 90% of the respondents said that they would not serve asians –> illustrates that attitudes do not perfectly predict behavior

Question 7

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY?

Answer 7

• based on the idea that ppl are motivated to have CONSISTENT ATTITUDES/BEHAVIORS. When they do not, they experience unpleasant mental tension or DISSONANCE (which may lead them to change their attitudes/behaviors)
  e. g. amira thinks that studying is only for geeks ; then studies for 10 hours; –> experiences dissonance so she changes her attitude and decides that studying does not necessarily make someone a nerd.

Question 8

TRIANGULAR THEORY? (3) types of love.

Answer 8

PASSION + INTIMACY + COMMITMENT

• ROMANTIC LOVE = passion + intimacy
• COMPANIONATE LOVE (love b/w siblings, parent and child) = intimacy + commitment
• CONSUMMATE LOVE = passion+ intimacy + commitment (long lasting relationship b/w married ppl)

Question 9

Leon FESTINGER and James CARLSMITH experiment?

Answer 9

• conducted a classic experiment about cognitive dissonance. subjects were asked to conduct a boring task then were payd 1$/20$ to tell the next person that the task was interesting. those who were only paid $1 experienced cognitive dissonance(external stimuli not sufficient), so they changed their attitudes about the game; those who were paid $20 experienced relatively little dissonance bcos they lied bcos they were paid $20.

Question 10

FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR phenomenon?

Answer 10

• suggest that if you can get ppl to agree to a SMALL REQUEST, they will become more likely to agree to a FOLLOW-UP request that is larger.

Question 11

DOOR-IN-THE-FACE phenomenon?

Answer 11

• argues that after people REFUSE a LARGE REQUEST, they will look more favorably upon a FOLLOW-UP REQUEST that seems, in comparison, much more reasonable.

Question 12

What does ATTRIBUTION THEORY try to explain?

Answer 12

• its tries to explain how ppl determine the CAUSE of what they observe.

Question 13

Charlie gets a perfect score on his math test. What ATTRIBUTIONS can you make? (4)

Answer 13

• DISPOSITIONAL-STABLE ATTRIBUTION: charlie is always very good at math.
• DISPOSITIONAL-UNSTABLE: charlie studied hard for this test
• SITUATIONAL-STABLE: the math teacher always gives easy tests
• SITUATIONAL-UNSTABLE: the math teacher happened to give an easy test this time

Question 14

Charlie gets a good score on his math test. Apply Harole KELLEY’s theory.

Answer 14

• CONSISTENCY: how does charlie usually do on his math test?
• DISTINCTIVENESS: does charlie do well on all tests?
• CONSENSUS: did many people get a perfect score on the math tests?

Question 15

What is a SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY?

Answer 15

• the expectations we have about others can actually influence the way those others behave.
• for example, if jon is repeatedly told that chet, who he has never met, is really funny, when jon does finally meet chet, he may treat chet in such a way as to elicit the humorous behavior he expected.

Question 16

What did Robert ROSENTHAL and Lenore JACOBSON conduct a study on?

Answer 16

• they conducted a study on SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES.
• administered a standard IQ test on a group of elementary children, then (secretly) randomly selected several students and told their teachers that they were on the verge of significant academic growth. when they back at the end of the year and administered the IQ test on the students again, those that had been randomly selected demonstrated a higher IQ than the other students –> self-fulfilling prophecy, the teachers’ expectations that these kids were going to bloom intellectually caused them to outperform their peers.

Question 17

TYPICAL BIASES when people make ATTRIBUTIONS (4)

Answer 17

• FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
• FALSE-CONSENSUS EFFECT
• SELF-SERVING BIAS
• JUST-WORLD BELIEF

Question 18

What is the FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR?

Answer 18

• tendency for us to attribute a person’s actions to their personality as a whole (you are unfriendly because you were not nice to me) and underestimate the role of situational factors. (you had a bad day and your gf broke up w u)
• tendency to attribute one’s OWN actions to SITUATIONAL FACTORS (i was mean bcos i had a bad day)
• note: COLLECTIVIST cultures tend to commit this error less.

Question 19

FALSE CONSENSUS EFFECT?

Answer 19

• tendency for ppl to overestimate the number of ppl who agree with them. “everybody likes horror flicks!”

Question 20

SELF-SERVING BIAS?

Answer 20

• tendency to take more credit for good outcomes than for bad ones; e.g. the coach that emphasizes his/her role in teams championship win then their heartbreaking first-tournament loss.

Question 21

JUST-WORLD BIAS?

Answer 21

• the tendency to believe that bad things happen to bad people (–> blame victims)
• she was raped bcos she stupidly walking alone in a dangerous neighborhood
• ppl are unemployed bcos they are lazy
• thus, we don’t think bad things will happen to us

Question 22

Difference b/w STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICE, and DISCRIMINATION

Answer 22

• stereotypes can be positive/negative and can apply virtually any group of ppl
• prejudice is an undeserved, usually negative attitude towards a group of people; negative stereotyping can lead to prejudice
• discrimination involves an action, acting on one’s prejudices

Question 23

IN-GROUP BIAS?

Answer 23

• tendency to prefer members of our own group bcos we assume that since we are good ppl, ppl who we share a group membership with are also good ppl.

Question 24

OUT-GROUP HOMOGENEITY?

Answer 24

• tendency to see members of own group–IN GROUP–as more diverse than members of other groups–OUT GROUP.

Question 25

Possible explanations for STEREOTYPES and PREJUDICE? (2)

Answer 25

• stereotypes is an INEVITABLE result of the cognitive process of CATEGORIZATION (ppl can’t avoid it)
• result of SOCIAL LEARNING –> esp. modeling, children raised by parents with prejudices will copy them. thus, prejudices can be UNLEARNED thru exposure to different models.

Question 26

What did Muzafer SHERIF conduct a study on?

Answer 26

• conducted a study on COMBATING PREJUDICE –> robbers cave study; divided a group of campers in a summer camps into two groups and then made them compete in a way to make them develop negative feelings towards each other; then, he staged several CAMP EMERGENCIES that required to groups to cooperate –> the SUPERORDINATE goal effectively improved relations b/w the two groups.

Question 27

What is CONTACT THEORY?

Answer 27

• if hostile groups were forced to work together for a common goal –> SUPERORDINATE GOAL, then negative feelings b/w those two groups would be reduced.

Question 28

INSTRUMENTAL AGGRESSION vs. HOSTILE AGGRESSION?

Answer 28

• instrumental aggression: act aggressive in order to get sth that you want. (kick carol in order to get the doll)
• hostile aggression: act aggressive for no clear reason (kick carol for no reason)

Question 29

Possible explanations for AGGRESSION? (3)

Answer 29

• freudian: expression of THANATOS, the death instinct
• sociobiological: its evolutionarily adaptive in some cases
• FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS: we get aggressive when we are frustrated

Question 30

What is the BYSTANDER EFFECT? Factors that contribute to this? (2)

Answer 30

• the larger the number of ppl who witness an emergency situation, the less likely any one is to intervene.
• DIFFUSION OF RESPONSIBILITY: “someone else is going to help”
• PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE: “no one else seems worried, therefore I shouldn’t pay attention to it”

Question 31

What did John DARLEY and Bibb LATANE explore?

Answer 31

• following the murder of Kitty Genovese in NY within view of at least 38 witnesses, these researches decided to explore how ppl decided whether or not to help a person in distress.

Question 32

We tend to be attracted to people who… (4)

Answer 32

• are SIMILAR to use
• that we are in FREQUENT CONTACT with (–> mere exposure effect)
• LIKE US BACK
• we DISCLOSE PERSONAL SECRETS TO (–>self-disclosure)

Question 33

SOCIAL FACILITATION vs. SOCIAL IMPAIRMENT?

Answer 33

• social facilitation: conducting an easy task in front of an audience results in better performance
• social impairment: however, conducting a difficult task while being watched by others can in fact hurt performance

Question 34

What did Solomon ASCH conduct a study on?

Answer 34

• CONFORMITY;
• asked participants to answer a question LAST in a room of confederates; in some cases, the other people would all choose the wrong answer. ASCH observed that in 1/3 of the cases, the participants would agree with the group and choose the obviously incorrect answer.

Question 35

Larger the group, greater the conformity?

Answer 35

• no, studies have shown that groups larger than three do not increase the tendency to conform.

Question 36

What did Stanley MILGRAM conduct a study on?

Answer 36

• OBEDIENCE STUDIES; asked participants to shock a person (who is actually a confederate and doesn’t actually experience the shock) in another room if they answer a question incorrectly–> the shocks go from mild to XXX; study reveal that 60% of the participants obeyed the experimenters command “please continue” and continued to shock the participant even when the confederate “complained” of being in pain.

Question 37

CONFEDERATE (psychology definition)?

Answer 37

• actor who participates in a psychological experiment pretending to be a subject but in actuality working for the researcher

Question 38

Why was the MILGRAM EXPERIMENT criticized on ethical grounds?

Answer 38

• such an experiment would not receive the approval of the institutional review board (IRB) today. when debriefed, many participants learned that had the shocks been real, they would have killed the learner. understandably, some ppl were profoundly disturbed by this insight.

Question 39

Famous SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY experiments? (8)

• LA PIERE:
• FESTINGER AND CARLSMITH:
• ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON:
• SHERIF:
• DARLEY AND LATANE:
• ASCH:
• MILGRAM:
• ZIMBARDO:

Answer 39

• LA PIERE: attitudes don’t always predict behavior
• FESTINGER AND CARLSMITH: cognitive dissonance: $1 vs. $20.
• ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON: self-fulfilling prophecy: teachers expectations can lead to change in student
• SHERIF: superordinate goals can reduce intergroup prejudice
• DARLEY AND LATANE: defined the bystander effect
• ASCH: ppl don’t like contradicting the opinions of others - conformity
• MILGRAM: ppl tend to obey authority figures - electric shock
• ZIMBARDO: roles are powerful and can lead to deindividuation - role playing prisoners and guards

Question 40

What is SOCIAL LOAFING?

Answer 40

• the phenomenon when individuals do not put in as much EFFORT when acting as part of a group as they do when acting alone. – may be less motivated to put on an impressive performance when they are NOT DISCERNIBLE from the group – may also encourage ppl to take advantage of REAPING REWARDS with contributing to the group effort.

Question 41

What is GROUP POLARIZATION? Possible explanations? (2)

Answer 41

• tendency for a group to make more extreme decisions than the groups members would make individually
• why? individuals may be exposed to NEW, PERSUASIVE ARGUMENTS that they wouldn’t have thought of on their own.
• why? RESPONSIBILITY is DIFFUSED across the group’s many members.

Question 42

What is GROUPTHINK? Who coined it?

Answer 42

• tendency to for some groups to make BAD DECISIONS bcos individuals suppress their reservations about the ideas support by the group, flaws are overlooked – false unanimity is encouraged
• coined by Irving JANIS

Question 43

DEINDIVIDUATION?

Answer 43

• loss of SELF-RESTRAINT that occurs when group members feel ANONYMOUS and AROUSED – e.g. looting and rioting

Question 44

What did Phillip ZIMBARDO conduct an experiment on?

Answer 44

• DEINDIVIDUATION
• group of stanford students are assigned the role of prison guard/prisoner. students took to their assigned roles perhaps too well, and the experiment had to be ended early bcos of cruel treatment the guards were inflicting on the prisoners.