Chapter 1

Question 1

Define social psychology.

Answer 1

-scientific study of how people’s experiences are influenced by others

Question 2

What do social psychologists want to study?

Answer 2

-how our experiences our shaped by our social environment

Question 3

What are construals?

Answer 3

-our subjective interpretations of the environment around us

Question 4

Is social psychology an experiment-based science?

Answer 4

-yes

Question 5

What do personality psychologists focus on that is different than social psychologists?

Answer 5

-personality psychologists focus on individual differences

Question 6

What is the fundamental attribution error?

Answer 6

-tendency for people to overemphasize personal factors and underestimate social factors when explaining someone else’s behaviour

Question 7

What was the Liberman, Samuels and Ross study? What was the dependent variable? (2)

Answer 7

-Participants were asked to play the same game, though it was either labeled the “Community Game” or the “Wall Street Game,” to see if the label would affect their behavior.
-percentage who choose cooperative strategy for the game

Question 8

The emphasis on subjective perceptions in social psychology has its roots in what school of psychological thought?

Answer 8

-gestalt psychology

Question 9

Define self-esteem?

Answer 9

-the evaluation of one’s self-worth

Question 10

What is social cognition?

Answer 10

-how people select, interpret, remember and use social information

Question 11

What is the social cognition approach broadly?

Answer 11

-how our thinking shapes our understanding of social situations

Question 12

What is hindsight bias?

Answer 12

-tendency to believe that an event was predictable after it has already happened