Chapter 1 Introducing Social Psychology

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of how people think about, influence and relate to one another

Question 2

Social psycholgoy lies at psychologies boundaires with __

Answer 2

sociology

Question 3

sociology is the study of

Answer 3

people in groups and societies

Question 4

Compared to sociology, social psychology focuses more on ___

Answer 4

indiviudals with methods that more foten use experimentation

Question 5

Compared with persoanlity pscyhology, social psychology focuses less on ___ among indivudals, and more on how individuals in geenral __ and __ one another

Answer 5

less on differences

view and affect one another

Question 6

How is social psychology considered a young science?

Answer 6

First social psychology experiemnts were barely more than a century ago and the frist social pscyhology texts did not appear until just around 1900 in France, Italy and Germany

Question 7

social thinking invovles what?

Answer 7

How we percive ourslves and others
what we beleive
judgments we make
our attitudes

Question 8

Social influence involves what?

Answer 8

Cultrue and biology
pressures to confrom
persuation
groups of people

Question 9

Social relations invovles what?

Answer 9

Helping
aggression
attraction and intimacy
Prejudice

Question 10

Themes in social psychology that invovles social thinking

Answer 10

1. we constuct our social reality

2. Our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous

Question 11

Themes in social psychology that involves social influences

Answer 11

3. Social influences shape behavior

4. Dispotions shape behavior

Question 12

Themes in social psychology that involves social relations

Answer 12

5. Social behavior is also biological behavior

6. Relating to others is a basic need

Question 13

Themes in social psychology, when all three domains are integrated leads to what powerful principle?

Answer 13

Applied social psychology to real life problems and dimensions –> Social psychology’s principles are applicable to everyday life

Question 14

How do we constuct our social reality?

Answer 14

Hum ans in general have an urge to explain behavior, attritbue it to some cuase and make it sound predictable and controllable. Yet we are all different as intuitive scientists

Question 15

Do our beleifs about ourselves matter?

Answer 15

Yes, how optimistic we are in the face of failure infleucnes how we think about ourselves in the world, our abilities in future challenges, etc
Our answers infleunce our emotions and actions

Question 16

State some ways how our social intuitions are often powerful but sometimes perilous

Answer 16

Social intutiions are powerful may influce our fears (is flying dangerous?), impressions (can I trust this new person?) and relationships (does he like me?). Yet we can misperceive people ased on their race and gender based on ill memories. We can even misread people and midpredictr our own feelings

Question 17

How does social influences shape our beahvior?

Answer 17

As social crreatutes, we respond to our imemdiate contexts which can be powerful for good reasons (pressure to be model citizens) or evil (being cruel Nazis)

Question 18

Examples of how the power of situation shapes our behavior

Answer 18

9/11 –> the situaiton powerfully swung concerns toward stopping terrorism and way from protecting indivdual rights regardless if the person voted for Democrat or Republican.
A snowstorm of 1998 in Quebec made Canadains nationwide help clear the trees and restore power

Question 19

How doues our cultrues help define our situations?

Answer 19

Our standards regarding promptness, frankness and clothing vary with our cultural situation. Example, whether you equate female beatuy with slimness or shapeliness dpendds on when and where in the world you live. Whether you support equality or equity depends on your ideology that has been shaped by socialism or capitalism

Question 20

how does perosnal attitudes and dispotions also shape behavior?

Answer 20

Internal forces like poltiical attidues, our attitudes towards the poor, personality dispositons also affect behavior as well. Facing the same situation, different people may react differently.

Question 21

How is social behavior biolgically rooted?

Answer 21

Nature and nurture forms who we are.
We must cosndier both under the skin and ebtween skins (social) infleunces.
Examples stress hromones affect how we feel and act, social ostracism elevates blood rpessure

Question 22

Give examples on how relating to others is a bsic need

Answer 22

We all want to fit in and our relationships with others is important

(2) empathy or feeling other’s pain is another way
(3) when we help others, form romanitc relaitonships, and when we promote harmony between groups, interpersonal relations can be a source of joy and comfort

Question 23

Explain ways how social psychology’s principles are applicable in everyday life

Answer 23

(1) Has the potnetial to make visible the subtle forces that guide your thinking and acting –> ideas to know and understand others better, to influence people
(2) Human health and well being
(3) Judicial procedures and juror decisions in law
(4) philosophical relations –> what is the meaninf of human life? our purose and ultimate desinty?

Question 24

what is a dilemna in social psych in terms of scientific findings?

Answer 24

In science/law personal opinions are inadmissible there must be evidence that determines the verditct. So can soc psych be this objective?

Question 25

What van be said about the varying levels of values in history?

Answer 25

Values differed not only across time but also across cultures like in Europe the Welse are different from the ENglish so are the Germans from the Austrians

(1) Europe people take pride in nationalities
(2) in North America, we focuse more on individuals

Question 26

Describe the values influences in different majors

Answer 26

the values that types of people have tend to be attracted to certain disciplines –> You can tell who is a science major vs a humanities major

Question 27

Values enter the picture as the object of social-___ analysis. Social psychologists investigate how values ___, why they ___ and how they influence ___ and ___

Answer 27

form, change

attitudes and actions

Question 28

Culture

Answer 28

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, traditions, products and institutions shared by a alrge group of people and tramsitted from one generation to the enxt

Question 29

Social representations

Answer 29

socially shared beleifs. Widely held ideas and values, including our assumptions and cultrual ideologies. Our social representations help us make sense of our world

Question 30

Give examples of where assumptions that usually go unchallenged are otherwise critiqued?

Answer 30

feminists call attention to poltical conservatism of many scientists who favour a biolgical interpetation of gender differences in social behavior., Marxists critics called attention to competitive, individualist biases, the assumption that confromity is bad and that indivudal rewards are good –> both Marxist and feminists make their own assumptions, as critics of academic political correctness
Also progressive social psychoglsits are compelled to sdeny group differences adn ato assume that stereotypes of group diff are never rooted inr eality but always in racism

Question 31

What is implicit in our understanding that psycholgist is not always the obejctive science?

Answer 31

Psycholgists’ own values play a role too
refering to ppl as mature/immature, well adjusted/poorly adjusted, mentally healthy or mentally ill. they sound like facts, but they are value judgemnts

Question 32

Naturalisc fallacy

Answer 32

the error of defining what is good in terms of what is observable. Example what’s typical is normal. What’s normal is good

Question 33

Values lie ___ within our cultural definitions of mental ___, our psycholgical advice for living, our ___ and our ____ labels.

Answer 33

hidden
health
our concepts
our psychoglical labels

Question 34

The realization that human thinking always invovles ____ is precisely why we need ____ with varying biases to understake scientifc analysis.

Answer 34

interpretation

researchers

Question 35

By constantly checking our ___ against facts, we check and retain our ___. Systematic ___ and ____ help us clean the lens through which we see reality

Answer 35

beliefs
biases
observations and experimentation