CHAPTER 1: Introduction

Question 1

Define social psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context

Question 2

What was the first social psychology study?

Answer 2

Conducted by Triplett and Ringlemann as they noticed the effect of other people’s presence on their performance

Question 3

What was Stanley Milgram’s experiment and what did it prove/educate us about?

Answer 3

After WWII, social psychologists wanted to study the willingness of participants to listen to an authority figure. Participants were told by an authority figure that they were to continue to administer painful shocks to the person on the other side of the wall. This experiement demonstrated participants’ vulnerability to destructive commands of authority.

Question 4

What two motivations can affect cognitive processes?

Answer 4

Sometimes individuals face the conflict of wanting to be right (correct) and wanting to feel good about oneself

Question 5

When did social psychology flourish and become more studied?

Answer 5

After WWII, people were desperate to understand how the tragedies of WWII were possible.