chapter 14- social psych

Question 1

social psychology

Answer 1

study of the ways that individuals thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others

Question 2

social interaction is…

Answer 2

adaptive, were evolved to be social

Question 3

social psych vs sociology

Answer 3

psych is of a person, sociology is of a group

Question 4

attitudes

Answer 4

an attitude is a mixture of belief and emotion that predisposes a person to respond to other ppl, objects, or groups in a positive or negative way

Question 5

attitudes- three component model
ABC

Answer 5

A- affect- how you feel
B-behavior- what you do, how you act
C-cognition- what you think, what you believe

Question 6

does exposure change our attitudes?(mere exposure effect)

Answer 6

We like things (or people) better the more we encounter them

Question 7

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 7

People want their behaviors to be consistent with their beliefs and feelings

an uncomfortable state that we feel when our behaviors don’t match the rest of our attitudes

Question 8

how to resolve cognitive dissonance

Answer 8

change your thinking or beliefs
change your feelings
change your behavior

Question 9

Attitude Change: Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)

Answer 9

attitudes can be changed through one of two routes of cognitive processing that differ in how much we “elaborate on” the messages we’re hearing – CENTRAL vs. PERIPHERAL routes
Features of communicator, message, and audience affect processing

Question 10

Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Communicator

Answer 10

attractive/likeable, credible/trustworthy, authoritative/expert

Question 11

Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Message

Answer 11

doesn’t seem like an attempt to persuade us; appears to present both sides of an issue

Question 12

Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model)- Audience

Answer 12

some people are more easily persuaded; mood affects how critical we are

Question 13

Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model) central route

Answer 13

high motivational state, high knowledge needed to evaluate message, and high elaboration likelihood

Question 14

Persuasion(Elaboration Likelihood Model) peripheral route

Answer 14

low motivational state, low knowledge needed to evaluate message, and low elaboration likelihood

Question 15

Social Roles

Answer 15

what position(s) someone occupies in society and the behaviors that are expected from him or her because of those roles

Question 16

Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo)

Answer 16

assigned roles to college students: “prisoner” and “guard”
guards -abusive in demonstrating power/authority; prisoners-submissive
had to stop after 6 days (instead of 14)

Question 17

internal attributions

Answer 17

personal causes (e.g., traits, emotions, ability, motivations)

Question 18

external attributions

Answer 18

environmental causes (e.g., circumstances, task difficulty, luck)

Question 19

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 19

attributing others’ behavior to internal causes (something about them, rather than the situation)

Question 20

Actor-Observer Bias

Answer 20

attributing our own behavior to external causes (we are actors) and others’ behavior to internal causes (we are observing them)

Question 21

Self-Serving Bias

Answer 21

attributing our successes to internal factors (e.g., I have good study strategies) but our failures to external factors (e.g., my roommate kept me from studying)

Question 22

Availability Heuristic

Answer 22

we base our judgments on the most readily available information (the first thing that comes to mind)

Question 23

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 23

we assume people in a certain category have all the characteristics we associate with members of that category; ignores individual variation (e.g., librarians)

Question 24

Anchoring

Answer 24

we use ourselves as the basis (anchor) for judging others; leads to bias when we don’t take individual variation into account

Question 25

Stereotypes

Answer 25

A simplified set of traits that are associated with group membership

Can lead to biased judgments of others

Can lead us to ignore individual characteristics or differences

Broadest = in group vs. out group (us vs. them)

Question 26

Prejudice

Answer 26

A preconceived opinion or attitude about an issue, person, or group

Question 27

Discrimination

Answer 27

involves treating members of various social groups differently in circumstances where their rights or treatment should be identical

Question 28

Reducing Prejudice

Answer 28

Increase contact in cooperative activities
Increased exposure to differences in positive contexts (friendship, collaboration) leads to less prejudice
Why? You see individual people and their traits; look beyond stereotypes

Question 29

Foot in the Door Technique

Answer 29

make small request first (get initial agreement), then big (more desired) one

Question 30

Reciprocity

Answer 30

(if you do something for someone, they feel like they should do something in return)

Question 31

Door in the Face Technique

Answer 31

make large, unreasonable request first (refused), then small request (actually desired one)

Question 32

Obedience

Answer 32

Complying with instructions given by an authority figure

Question 33

Social Facilitation

Answer 33

Occurs when the presence of other people changes individual performance; not always effective (e.g., complex tasks)

Question 34

Social Loafing

Answer 34

Reduced motivation and effort by individuals who work in a group as opposed to work alone
e.g. Have you ever had someone not do their part on group work?

Question 35

Deindividuation

Answer 35

Immersion of the individual within a group, making the individual relatively anonymous

Question 36

Groupthink

Answer 36

A type of flawed decision making in which a group does not question its decisions critically

Question 37

Aggression

Answer 37

An action done with the intent to harm others

Several contributing factors:
Biology
Frustration
Learning

Question 38

Altruism

Answer 38

Engaging in helping behaviors without the expectation of any personal gain

Question 39

Bystander Apathy

Answer 39

People’s willingness to lend help decreases when others are around.