Chapter 12 Flashcards
chapter 12
What is Social Psychology?
The study of the ways in which thoughts, feelings, perceptions, motives, and behaviours are influenced by interactions and transactions between people.
What does social reality refer to?
A phenomenon that emerges through social interactions and is constructive in nature.
What is confirmation bias?
The tendency to attend to only information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore contradictory information.
What does the Yerkes-Dodson Law explain?
It explains the relationship between arousal and performance, indicating that optimal performance occurs at moderate levels of arousal.
What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?
The tendency to overestimate dispositional (internal) factors and underestimate situational (external) factors when explaining others’ behaviour.
True or False: People are more likely to consider situational attributions for their own failures.
True.
What is the Actor-Observer Bias?
The tendency to use situational attributions to explain our own behaviours and dispositional attributions to explain others’ behaviours.
Fill in the blank: A self-serving bias leads people to take credit for their _______ while denying responsibility for their failures.
successes
What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?
A prediction about future behaviour or events that modifies interactions to produce what is expected.
What are the two basic social categories in social categorization?
- In-group
- Out-group
What is in-group bias?
An evaluation of one’s own group as better than others, often leading to favoritism towards in-group members.
What is the difference between prejudice and discrimination?
Prejudice refers to negative feelings and opinions about a target object due to group membership, while discrimination refers to inappropriate treatment of people as a result of prejudice.
What is the origin of stereotypes?
Out-group homogeneity, the belief that outsiders are all alike.
What does the contact hypothesis propose?
Co-operative action on shared goals can reduce hostility between groups.
What did the Milgram Experiment demonstrate?
Obedience to authority.
What did the Stanford Prison Experiment illustrate?
Situational attribution of behaviour.
What is the Asch Effect related to?
Normative influence on conformity.
What does attribution theory describe?
How social perceivers use information to generate causal explanations.
What is the significance of Mary Bell’s case in the context of social reality?
It illustrates how social reality can be constructed through complex interactions and perceptions in society.
What are the two ways to explain causality in attribution theory?
- Dispositional causality (internal cause)
- Situational causality (external cause)
What is the impact of self-fulfilling prophecies in educational settings?
Teachers’ expectations can lead to improved performance in students labeled as ‘academic spurters.’
What is the role of behavioral confirmation?
It is the process by which someone’s expectations about another person influence that person’s behaviour to confirm the expectations.
What is in-group variability?
The belief that members of one’s own group are more diverse.
What is out-group homogeneity?
The belief that members of an out-group are all alike.
What is the first step in the formation of prejudice?
Social categorization.
What is the second step in the formation of prejudice?
In-group bias.
What is the contact hypothesis?
A theory suggesting that under appropriate conditions, direct contact between groups can reduce prejudice.
What classic experiment demonstrated obedience to authority?
The Milgram Experiment.
What did the Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrate?
Situational attribution of behavior.
What is the Asch Effect?
Demonstrates normative influence on conformity.
What was the participant demographic in the original Milgram Experiment?
40 males recruited through newspaper advertisements.
What was the procedure of the Milgram Experiment?
Participants believed they were punishing a learner with electric shocks for errors.
What voltage levels were used in the Milgram Experiment?
From 15 volts to 450 volts.
What role did the experimenter play in the Milgram Experiment?
The legitimate authority figure.
What percentage of participants administered the highest shock level in the Milgram Experiment?
65%.
What were the predicted obedience levels at the 300-volt shock level by psychiatrists?
Less than 4%.
What is the conclusion drawn from the Milgram Experiment regarding situational forces?
Situational forces significantly influence behavior.
What situational condition favored obedience in Milgram’s follow-up experiments?
A peer administers shock.
What situational condition reduced obedience in the Milgram Experiment?
Learner demands to be shocked.
What was the outcome of the obedience experiment involving nurses?
21 out of 22 nurses followed the doctor’s order.
What behavior discrepancy was noted among participants in Milgram’s experiment?
Participants verbally dissented but behaved obediently.
Who was the major researcher of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Philip Zimbardo.
What phenomenon explains the abusive behaviors of the guards in the Stanford Prison Experiment?
Deindividuation.
What was the duration of the Stanford Prison Experiment before it was terminated?
6 days.
What is informational influence?
People’s tendency to obtain information from others to act correctly in a situation.
What was the autokinetic effect used to study in Sherif’s Experiment?
Norm crystallization.
What was the aim of Sherif’s Experiment?
To study how group norms are formed through individual interactions.
What was the result of the group norm establishment in Sherif’s Experiment?
Extreme individual norms became less extreme.
What type of conformity did Asch’s experiments demonstrate?
Normative influence.
What is the key difference between Asch’s and Sherif’s experiments?
Asch demonstrated normative influence, while Sherif demonstrated informational influence.
Fill in the blank: The _______ Experiment demonstrated obedience to authority.
Milgram
Fill in the blank: The _______ Experiment showed the impact of situational roles on behavior.
Stanford Prison
True or False: 75% of participants in Asch’s Experiment conformed at least once.
True
What was a major conclusion of the Stanford Prison Experiment?
People are transformed by the roles they are assigned.
