Ch1 Flashcards
The scientific discipline that attempts to understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others
social psychology
A student who rapidly lowers his raised hand upon seeing that he is the only nonpsychology major in the group is responding to the actual presence of others.(T/F)
True
The process by which someone’s expectations about a person or group lead to the fulfillment of those expectations
self-fulfilling prophecy
An individual’s social reality is fixed and cannot be changed.(T/F)
False. Self-fulfilling prophecy can change one’s social reality.
Students labeled as late bloomers can expect less feedback from teachers (T/F)
False. Students labeled as late bloomers can expect MORE feedback from teachers.
The discipline of social psychology is confined to the field of psychology. (T/F)
FALSE. ALSO IN SOCIALOGY
A social psychologist analyzing behavior would be most interested in cultural norms. (T/F)
False. Social psychologists are more interested in individual behavior.
Wundt’s conception of social psychology was influential in the United States. (T/F)
False. Wundt’s conception was rejected by behaviorists.
Theodor Adorno is noted for studying the authoritarian personality.(T/F)
TRUE
Compared to other social sciences, social psychology is considered to be a well-developed science. (T/F)
False. Social psychology is considered “barely dry behind the ears.”
A symbol-using social being who can reflect on his or her own behavior
self
The tendency to take credit for positive outcomes but deny responsibility for negative outcomes in our lives
self-serving bias
An important perspective in social psychology that emphasizes the combined effects of both the person and the situation on human behavior
interactionism
The self is defined by a person’s thoughts. (T/F)
False. The formation of self also occurs in a social context.
The behavioral perspective initially hindered research on the concept of the self. (T/F)
TRUE
The ways in which we interpret, analyze, remember, and use information about our social world
social cognition
Theories of social cognition that describe two basic ways of thinking about social stimuli: one involving automatic, effortless thinking and the other involving more deliberate, effortful thinking
dual-process theories
Deliberate judgments or decisions of which we are consciously aware
explicit cognition
Judgments or decisions that are under the control of automatically activated evaluations occurring without our awareness
implicit cognition
A theorist who supports the concepts of explicit and implicit cognition relies on a computer model of serial information processing.(T/F)
False. Explicit and implicit cognition theorists base their support on parallel-processing.
The total lifestyle of a people, including all the ideas, symbols, preferences, and material objects that they share
culture
A philosophy of life stressing the priority of individual needs over group needs, a preference for loosely knit social relationships, and a desire to be relatively autonomous of others’ influence
individualism
A philosophy of life stressing the priority of group needs over individual needs, a preference for tightly knit social relationships, and a willingness to submit to the influence of one’s group
collectivism
Individualists believe that individual decisions are better than group decisions. (T/F)
true
An approach to psychology based on the principle of natural selection
evolutionary psychology
The biochemical units of inheritance for all living organisms
genes
The process by which organisms with inherited traits best suited to the environment reproduce more successfully than less well-adapted organisms over a number of generations, which leads to evolutionary changes
natural selection
The genetic changes that occur in a species over generations due to natural selection
evolution
The biological status of being female or male
sex
The meanings that societies and individuals attach to being female and male
gender
Gender refers to the biological status of being male or female. t/f
false. that is sex
Evolution results in more complex forms of life. (t/f)
false
The study of the relationship between neural processes of the brain and social processes
social neuroscience
The region of the cerebral cortex situated just behind the forehead that is involved in the coordination of movement and higher mental processes, such as planning, social skills, and abstract thinking; the area of the brain that is the originator of self-processes
frontal lobe
The wrinkled-looking outer layer of the brain that coordinates and integrates all other brain areas into a fully functioning unit; the brain’s “thinking” center, much larger in humans than in other animals
cerebral cortex
Areas in the parietal lobe are important in understanding self-related processes. T/F
FALSE.Areas in the frontal lobe are important in understanding self-related processes.
An approach to psychology that studies ways to enrich human experience and maximize human functioning
positive psychology
A positive psychologist might conduct a study about potentially harmful self-deception. T/F
TRUE
