Exam 1

Question 1

Meaning Maintenance Model

Answer 1

When expectations are unexpectedly violated, an individual feels discomfort. This discomfort is automatically alleviated in one of three ways:

• Assimilation
• Accommodation
• Affirmation

Question 2

Charles Darwin

Answer 2

Father of the theory of evolution. Discussed how emotions were evolutionary traits.

Question 3

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 3

Considered the father of psychology. He wrote a large volume that was essentially a social/cultural psychology textbook.

Question 4

Norman Triplett

Answer 4

Responsible for the first ever published social psychology study, which showed how cyclists benefitted from social facilitation by achieving better times when cycling as a group.

Question 5

John Dewey

Answer 5

One of the first to view psychology as a combination of innate and learned factors (nature vs nurture).

Question 6

Kurt Lewin

Answer 6

Considered the father of modern social psychology. Saw behaviour as being determined by a combination of internal traits and external (situational) factors.

Question 7

Hindsight bias

Answer 7

A tendency to believe we could have accurately predicted and explained events, after they have occurred.

Question 8

Explain why words are poor at describing faces.

Answer 8

Faces are best remembered by looking at them as a whole (holistic thinking) whereas verbal descriptions focus on individual details (analytic thinking).

Question 9

Does it take longer to recover from mild distress or severe distress?

Explain your answer.

Answer 9

It takes longer to recover from mild distress. This is because when we experience severe distress, we make full use of our coping mechanisms, while we generally try to simply “shake off” mild distress.

This effect is known as the region-beta paradox.

Question 10

Observational Method

Answer 10

The observation and systematic recording of behaviours.

Question 11

Correlational Method

Answer 11

The systematic measurement of two variables so as to determine their relationship.

Cannot show causation.

Question 12

Experimental Method

Answer 12

The systematic manipulation of an IV to determine its effect on the DV.

Question 13

Name the 5 traits of a good theory.

Answer 13

• Organizes observations
• Explains observations
• Provides direction for research, generates hypotheses
• Generates questions
• Has practical value

Question 14

Social Cognition

Answer 14

The ways in which we think about and make sense of the social world.

Question 15

Name and describe the two types of schemata.

Answer 15

Scripts: schemas of how certain events are expected to unfold

Stereotypes: schemas of groups based on attributes such as race, gender, etc.

Question 16

Describe the two general types of thought in dual-process models.

Answer 16

Unconscious thought: fast, effortless, automatic

Conscious thought: slow, controlled, effortful

Question 17

What is meant by the accessibility of a schema, and what is priming?

Answer 17

A schema’s accessibility is the degree to which it is at the forefront of your mind.

Priming is an experience/stimulus that increases the accessibility of a schema.

Question 18

Heuristics

Answer 18

Automatic mental shortcuts that increase the speed of decision making, but can sometimes cause mistakes.

Question 19

Representative heuristic

Answer 19

Classifying any given thing based on how well it fits a typical case in that category.

Question 20

Availability heuristic

Answer 20

Judging the probability of a thing based on how easily it comes to mind.

Question 21

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

Answer 21

The use of some initial anchor as a grounding point from which one reaches an estimate; this estimate is typically skewed toward the initial anchor.

Question 22

Counterfactual thinking

Answer 22

Thinking about the past in some different way than what actually occurred.

Question 23

Social Perception

Answer 23

The ways in which we form impressions of others, infer things about them, and make sense of them.

Question 24

Kelley’s covariation model

Answer 24

We rely on 3 sources of information when making attributions about someone:

• Consensus: degree to which the individual’s behaviour is the same as other people in the same situation
• Distinctiveness: degree to which the individual acts differently across situations
• Consistency: degree to which the individual acts the same way in the same situation

Question 25

Describe the two main purposes of emotion expressions, including the order in which they evolved/developed.

Answer 25

1. Natural selection; physiological advantages of expressions
2. Communication; achieved through deliberate exaggeration of expressions

Question 26

Explain how the expression of pride influences social learning.

Answer 26

Pride is associated with knowledge and skill. Because of this, we have a tendency to copy those who show pride. This is NOT due to intimidation or a desire to fit in.

Question 27

Actor/observer bias

Answer 27

Focusing on personal factors when judging the behaviour of others, and situational factors when judging one’s own behaviour.

Question 28

Correspondence bias

Answer 28

The tendency to think that other people’s behaviours are due to their disposition and not the situation.

For the purposes of this course, this is effectively the same as Fundamental Attribution Error.

Question 29

Explain how perceptual salience contributes to correspondence bias.

Answer 29

The behaviour of others is the most salient part of their actions

The situation is the most salient part of our own actions

Question 30

Defensive attributions

Answer 30

Explanations of events/behaviours that allow us to avoid feelings of vulnerability.

E.g., belief in a just world/ victim blaming.

Question 31

Attribution theory

Answer 31

Heider’s view that people intuitively infer explanations for others’ behaviour.

Question 32

Causal attribution

Answer 32

An explanation for why somebody performed some behaviour.

Question 33

What are the “ABCs of psychology?”

Answer 33

Affect (How we feel)
Behaviour (What we do)
Cognition (What we think)