Influence of Others

Question 1

Self-perception theory

Answer 1

we don’t necessarily have a special insight into ourselves

Question 2

Strack, Martin and Stepper experiment - self perception theory

Answer 2

subjects were under experimenter-induced facial expression and were told not to formulate an attitude or be put in an emotional state when analyzing a cartoon;
results = subjects with a smile reported significantly higher amusement ratings than those with a frown

Question 3

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 3

our attitudes aren’t always accurately reflected in our behaviours

Question 4

Festinger and Carlsmith experiment - cognitive dissonance

Answer 4

complete an extremely boring task, then told to tell the next subject that it was actually very exciting; the group paid 1$ to lie rated the experiment higher than control or 20$ group

Question 5

Overjustification

Answer 5

attitudes are less likely to change when external motivations overjustify the behaviour

Question 6

Factors of a good communicator

Answer 6

high credibility, trustworthiness, physical attractiveness, relatability, similarity, eye contact, concise speech, fast speech speed

Question 7

Similar vs. credible communicator

Answer 7

similarity is more persuasive for matters of personal lifestyle choice;
credibility is more persuasive for matters of objective fact

Question 8

One-sided argument

Answer 8

tends to be more effective when the audience initially agrees

Question 9

Two-sided argument

Answer 9

tends to be more effective when the audience initially disagrees

Question 10

Central appeal

Answer 10

academic, intelligent audiences tend to value a well-reasoned, factual, 2-sided argument

Question 11

Peripheral appeal

Answer 11

non-academic, less intelligent audience tend to value a well-presented, easy-to-understand argument

Question 12

Foot in the door

Answer 12

using a gradual escalation of demands to increase compliance

Question 13

Low ball

Answer 13

escalation of the terms of an agreement after someone has already agreed to comply

Question 14

Door in the face

Answer 14

start by asking for something completely unreasonable, and then greatly scaling back your request

Question 15

Persuasion in advertising

Answer 15

appeal to individual’s needs, using buzzwords, desire for prestige

Question 16

Sunk cost trap

Answer 16

unrecoverable investments of resources leading to further investment

Question 17

Ben Franklin effect

Answer 17

ask a person who has negative feelings toward you for a favour

Question 18

Milgram’s experiment results

Answer 18

65% of all subjects continued to the end delivering a shock labelled “danger, high voltage” to a non-responsive man with a heart condition

Question 19

Lessons of Milgram’s experiment

Answer 19

strong tendency of obedience to authority;

you are not always an accurate judge of how you would behave; controversial ethics

Question 20

Manipulations of Milgram’s experiment

Answer 20

prestige of an institution, authority figure, proximity to learner, proximity to experimenter

Question 21

Holfling experiment results - obedience

Answer 21

95% obeyed the order, even though 5% said that they would;
tendency to obey can be irresistable under a variety of circumstances;
never know how you would act until placed in a given situation

Question 22

Autokinetic effect

Answer 22

stationary light in a pitch black room will appear to move about randomly

Question 23

Sherif’s norm function

Answer 23

leads to convergence in behaviour, even in the presence of outliers

Question 24

Asch’s conformity experiments

Answer 24

most participants conformed to group’s incorrect answer at least once;
dissention by another confederate worked to reduce the conformity even when the dissenter gave an incorrect response;
when the group size was reduced to just 1 confederate, conformity was reduced

Question 25

Normative function

Answer 25

the role of others in setting standards for our conduct based on a fear of rejection

Question 26

Comparative function

Answer 26

the role of others in providing information about an ambiguous situation

Question 27

Deutsch and Gerard - comparative function

Answer 27

subjects were in separate cubicles and their responses were anonymous;
however, subjects still went with the wrong answer because they doubted their own perceptions

Question 28

Norms

Answer 28

the commonly accepted but unwritten rules of behaviour;

depend on context, culture, social roles

Question 29

Purpose of Zimbardo’s prison

Answer 29

look at behaviour of normal people under situations of authority

Question 30

Zimbardo’s prison results

Answer 30

demonstrates incredible power that circumstance and assigned role can have on human behaviour

Question 31

Deindividuation

Answer 31

losing sight of individuality and act as a part of the crowd when belonging to a bigger group

Question 32

Wilson and Kelling - deindividuation

Answer 32

in an area with broken windows, people would be more likely not to pay much attention to crimes;
however, when windows are fixed, respectable residents take responsibility for their own behaviour and behaviour of others

Question 33

Social loafing

Answer 33

individuals seem to be less motivated when working in a group than when working alone; eg. tug of war, making noise

Question 34

Norman Triplett experiment

Answer 34

cyclists raced faster when competing in a group; presence of others is important factor in performance of the actor

Question 35

Co-actor

Answer 35

another individual performing the same task

Question 36

Audience

Answer 36

a group of people watching an individual perform a task

Question 37

Social facilitation

Answer 37

the increased performance that occurs in the presence of co-actors or an audience

Question 38

Zajonc’s resolution

Answer 38

presence of others increases arousal to improve performance on well practiced tasks but decreases performance on complex tasks

Question 39

Social learning theory

Answer 39

we learn appropriate behaviours by modeling and imitating the behaviour of others

Question 40

Bobo doll experiment

Answer 40

children who viewed the aggressive play model were more likely to display aggressive behaviour with no reinforcement or encouragement

Question 41

Risky shift effect

Answer 41

individuals made risk assessments on hypothetical situations, then came together in a group to reach a consensus;
the group decisions were riskier than the mean decision of the individuals

Question 42

Group polarization

Answer 42

group decision making strengthens the original inclinations of the individual group members

Question 43

Robber’s cave study

Answer 43

interactions within each group (intra-group) and between groups (inter-group) were observed; to repair inter-group relations, kids from both groups were put into situations where they had to work together

Question 44

When groupthink is likely to occur

Answer 44

when the group is highly cohesive and shut off from non-group members;
when the leader is directive and subordinates are not encouraged to challenge the leadership;
when the group is under pressure to make a decision

Question 45

Groupthink

Answer 45

a group decision making environment that occurs when group cohesiveness becomes so strong it overrides realistic appraisals of reality and alternative opinions

Question 46

Preventing groupthink

Answer 46

be impartial;
encourage critical evaluation (devil’s advocate);
subdivide the group;
provide a second chance

Question 47

Wisdom of crowds

Answer 47

groups of eyewitnesses gave more accurate accounts of an episode than an individual

Question 48

Altruism

Answer 48

an unselfish regard for the welfare of others, a willingness to put your neck on the line to help

Question 49

Norm of reciprocity

Answer 49

we are expected to reciprocate when someone else treats us well; tend to return favours

Question 50

Norm of social responsibility

Answer 50

as a member of society, we are expected to contribute to its welfare in a positive way

Question 51

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

Answer 51

altruism results from empathy; subjects in high empathy condition were equally likely to help whether or not it was beneficial to them

Question 52

Negative state relief model

Answer 52

we help because we would feel distressed and guilty if we didn’t

Question 53

Kitty Genovese

Answer 53

woman was being stabbed repeatedly despite the presence of 38 people who witnessed the crime from their apartment windows;
most did not intervene due to the fear of personal injury

Question 54

Collective ignorance

Answer 54

when each individual in a group sees nobody responding in a given situation, they conclude that the situation is not an emergency

Question 55

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 55

in deciding whether we have to act, we determine that someone else in the group is more qualified

Question 56

Getting help

Answer 56

being direct about asking for help avoids the bystander effect;
seeing helpful behaviour increases your probability of helping others in the future; people from societies that are more collectivist are more likely to help

Question 57

Whom do we help - gender stereotypes

Answer 57

female bystanders are equally likely to help males and females
males are significantly more likely to help females

Question 58

Whom do we help - others

Answer 58

we tend to be more likely to help people who we perceive as similar to ourselves;
we are more willing to help those who are in need because of problems that are beyond control than those whose need arose from their own doing

Question 59

Heroes

Answer 59

research on the personality of individuals who perform acts of heroism suggests that their personalities are no different than other average individuals

Question 60

Aggression

Answer 60

behaviour that is intended to harm someone else and that is not socially justifiable

Question 61

Learning to be aggressive

Answer 61

witnessing violence also seems to desensitize due to habituation;
although it has been found that kids who watch more aggressive acts on television do act more aggressively, many of the findings are correlational

Question 62

Relational aggression

Answer 62

involves personal interaction;

engaged in an attempt to make others dislike someone; more common in girls

Question 63

Hostile aggression

Answer 63

involves behaviours that are directly confrontational