Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

The study of how people influence others’ behavior, beliefs and attitudes

Question 2

What is mass hysteria?

Answer 2

The outbreak of irrational behaviour that is spread by social contagion

Question 3

What are attributions?

Answer 3

Process of assigning causes to behaviour

Question 4

What are fundamental attribution errors?

Answer 4

Tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people’s behaviour

Question 5

What is conformity?

Answer 5

Tendency of people to alter their behaviour as a result of group pressure

Question 6

What is deindividuation?

Answer 6

The tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behaviour when they are stripped of their usual identities

Question 7

What is Group Think?

Answer 7

Emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking

Question 8

What is a cult?

Answer 8

Group of individuals who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause

Question 9

What is the inoculation effect?

Answer 9

A possible approach to convincing someone of something is by first introducing reasons why the perspective might be correct and then debunking them

Question 10

What is obedience?

Answer 10

Adherence to instructions from those of higher authority

Question 11

What is pluralistic ignorance?

Answer 11

Error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do

Question 12

What is diffusion of responsibility?

Answer 12

Reduction in feelings of personal responsibility in the presence of others

Question 13

What is social loafing?

Answer 13

Phenomenon whereby individuals become less productive in groups

Question 14

What is altruism?

Answer 14

Helping others for unselfish reasons

Question 15

What is the Enlightenment effect?

Answer 15

Learning about psychological research can change real-world behaviour for the better

Question 16

What is aggression?

Answer 16

Behaviour intended to harm others, either verbally or physically.

Question 17

What is relational aggression?

Answer 17

Form of indirect aggression, is prevalent in girls, in which it involves spreading rumours, gossiping and non-verbal putdowns

Question 18

What is attitude?

Answer 18

Belief that includes an emotional component

Question 19

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 19

Unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs

Question 20

What is self-perception theory?

Answer 20

The theory that we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviours

Question 21

What is impression management theory?

Answer 21

The theory is that we don’t really change our attitudes but report that we have so that our behaviours appear consistent with our attitudes

Question 22

What is the foot-in-the-door technique?

Answer 22

Persuasive technique involving making a small request before making a bigger one

Question 23

What is the door-in-the-face technique?

Answer 23

Persuasive technique in which we make an unreasonably large request before making the small request we’re hoping to have granted

Question 24

What is the lowball technique?

Answer 24

Persuasive technique in which a salesman states a relatively low price first, in which he follows it up with a bunch of add on prices to the item the customer has already agreed too.

Question 25

What is the but you are free technique?

Answer 25

Persuasive technique in which we convince someone to perform a favour for us by telling them that they are free not to do it

Question 26

What is prejudice?

Answer 26

Drawing negative conclusions about a person, group of people, or situation prior to evaluating the evidence

Question 27

What is a stereotype?

Answer 27

A belief, positive or negative, about the characteristics of members of a group that is applied generally to most members of the group

Question 28

What is ultimate attribution error?

Answer 28

The assumption that behaviours among individual members of a group are due to their internal dispositions

Question 29

What is adaptive conservatism?

Answer 29

The evolutionary principle that creates a predisposition toward distrusting anything or anyone unfamiliar or different

Question 30

What is in-group bias?

Answer 30

Tendency to favour individuals within our group over those from outside our group

Question 31

What is out-group homogeneity?

Answer 31

Tendency to view all individuals outside our group as highly similar

Question 32

What is discrimination?

Answer 32

Negative behaviour toward members of out-groups

Question 33

What is the scapegoat hypothesis?

Answer 33

Claim that prejudice arises from the need to blame other groups for our misfortunes

Question 34

What is the just-world hypothesis?

Answer 34

Claim that our attributions and behaviours are shaped by a deep-seated assumption that the world is fair and all things happen for a reason

Question 35

What is explicit prejudice?

Answer 35

Unfounded negative belief of which we’re aware regarding the characteristics of an out-group

Question 36

What is implicit prejudice?

Answer 36

Unfounded negative belief of which we’re unaware regarding the characteristics of an out-group

Question 37

What is a jigsaw classroom?

Answer 37

Educational approach designed to minimize prejudice by requiring all children to make independent contributions to a shared project