Ch 6: Social Psychology (Princeton Review)

Question 1

What term refers to the tendency to seek out (and agree with) information that is consistent with one’s self-concept?

Answer 1

self-verification

This concept also states that individuals want to be understood in terms of their deeply held core beliefs.

p. 117

[Also, q 47 from AAMC Practice Exam 3]

Question 2

____________ is Albert Bandura’s term for an individual’s feelings of capability regarding the accomplishment of a given task, or the belief in one’s own competence and effectiveness. This varies from one task to the next. Studies have shown that simply believing in our own abilities improves performance (the concept that “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right).

Answer 2

Self-efficacy

p. 118

Question 3

What is the principle that states that people experience stress when two aspects of their identity are in conflict? Put another way, it is the difficulty in satisfying the requirements or expectations of more than one role.

Answer 3

Identity interference (also called role conflict)

p. 143

Question 4

What effect explains why people tend to perform simple, well-learned tasks better when other people are present (i.e. running outdoors or studying in a public library)?

Answer 4

the social facilitation effect
Note that this effect only holds true for simple or practiced tasks. The presence of others can impair performance when completing complex or novel tasks.

p. 137

Question 5

Research into human attraction has found that the following three characteristics foster attraction:

Answer 5

proximity
physical attractiveness
similarity

p. 147

Question 6

What model explains when people will be influenced by the content of a speech or the logic of an argument?

Answer 6

the elaboration likelihood model

p. 150

Question 7

What is the process in which an individual forsakes aspects of his or her own cultural tradition to adopt those of a different culture?

Answer 7

assimilation

p. 127

Question 8

What is the term for something that occurs when majority and minority groups combine to form a new group?

e.g. A + B → C

Answer 8

amalgamation

This unique cultural group is distinct from any of the initial groups.

p. 127

Question 9

The tendency to blame our actions on the situation and blame the actions of others on their personalities is also called….

Answer 9

…..the actor-observer bias.

p. 131

Question 10

People tend to give themselves much more credit than they give others. We are wired to perceive ourselves favorably. What is the term for the tendency to attribute successes to ourselves and our failures to others or the external environment?

Answer 10

the self-serving bias

p. 131

Question 11

The knew-it-all-along effect is the tendency to believe that an event was predictable after it already occurred. This is also known as…

Answer 11

….hindsight bias.

p. 131

Question 12

Families and close friends or coworkers make up a _______ group in an individual’s life. These groups engage with the individual, in-person in long-term emotional ways.

Answer 12

primary group

p. 135

Question 13

The tendency for a group’s consensus to be more extreme than it was prior to group discussion is an example of _____ __________.

Answer 13

group polarization

p. 139 and AAMC Practice Exam 3, Q 38

Question 14

What are the 3 elements identified by the elaboration likelihood model which will determine whether or not a message is persuasive?

Answer 14

1. ) message characteristics
2. ) source characteristics
3. ) target characteristics

p. 150-151

Question 15

What is a term for the state of harmony within a group that is caused by pressure not to offer a dissenting opinion?

Answer 15

groupthink

In this setting, there is pressure to conform, and so individuals censor their own opinions in favor of consensus, which creates an illusion of unanimity.

p. 140