Important Names In Social Psychology

Question 0

Asch

Answer 0

Studied conformity by asking subjects to compare the lengths of lines

Question 1

Aronson & Linder

Answer 1

Proposed gain-loss principle (an evaluation that changes will have more effect than an evaluation that remains constant)

Question 2

Bem

Answer 2

Developed self-perception theory as an alternative to cognitive dissonance theory

Question 3

Clark & Clark

Answer 3

Performed a study on doll preferences in African-American children; The results for used in the 1954 Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court case

Question 4

Darley & Latané

Answer 4

Proposed that there were two factors that could lead to non-helping: social influence and diffusion of responsibility

Question 5

Eagly

Answer 5

Suggested that gender differences in conformity were not due to gender per se, but to differing social roles

Question 6

Festinger

Answer 6

Developed cognitive dissonance theory; also developed social comparison theory

Question 7

Hall

Answer 7

Studied norms for interpersonal distance in interpersonal interactions

Question 8

Heider

Answer 8

Developed balance theory to explain why attitudes change; also developed attribution theory and divided attributions into two categories: dispositional and situational

Question 9

Hovland

Answer 9

Studied attitude change

Question 10

Janis

Answer 10

Developed the concept of groupthink to explain how group decision-making and sometimes go awry

Question 11

Lerner

Answer 11

Proposed concept of belief in a just world

Question 12

Lewin

Answer 12

Divided leadership styles into three categories: autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire

Question 13

McGuire

Answer 13

Studied how psychological inoculation could help people resist persuasion

Question 14

Milgram

Answer 14

Studied obedience by asking subjects to administer electroshock; also proposed stimulus-overload theory to explain differences between city and country dwellers

Question 15

Newcomb

Answer 15

Studied political norms

Question 16

Petty & Cacioppo

Answer 16

Developed elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (Central and peripheral routes to persuasion)

Question 17

Schachter

Answer 17

Studied relationship between anxiety and the need for affiliation

Question 18

Sherif

Answer 18

Used autokinetic effect to study conformity; also performed Robber’s Cave experiment and found that having superordinate goals increased intergroup cooperation

Question 19

Zajonc

Answer 19

Studied the mere exposure effect; also resolved problems with the social facilitation effect by suggesting that the presence of others enhances the emission of dominant responses and impairs the emission of nondominant responses

Question 20

Zimbardo

Answer 20

Performed prison simulation and used concept of deindividuation to explain results