Kaplan Ch. 10 - Social Thinking

Question 1

What 5 things influence interpersonal attraction?

Answer 1

• physical characteristics (golden ratio)
• similarity, having values/ choices validated, feeling needed
• self disclosure = sharing thoughts, fears, goals etc. with another person and being met without judgement
• reciprocity = feel that the vulnerability you are sharing is being met equally by the other person
• proximity

Question 2

What is reciprocal liking?

Answer 2

Tendency to like others who have already stated or made it clear that they like us

Question 3

What is the familiarity effect as it relates to attraction?

Answer 3

People prefer stimuli that they are exposed to more frequently

Question 4

What is aggression?

Answer 4

Behavior that intends to cause harm or increase social dominance

Question 5

What biological purposes does aggression serve? (3)

Answer 5

• protection against threats
• gain access to resources
• increased likelihood of passing on genes

Question 6

How do the amygdala and prefrontal cortex play a role in aggression?

Answer 6

• Amygdala: associates stimuli in environment with potential rewards or punishments, activated amygdala leads to increased aggression
• prefrontal cortex controls the response from the amygdala, helps diminish aggressive response when unnecessary

Question 7

How is aggression linked to hormonal control?

Answer 7

Increases testosterone = increased aggression

Question 8

How is an aggressive response dependent on the situation the organism is in?

Answer 8

More likely to respond aggressively if we are already feeling negatively (I.e in pain, hot/sweaty, hungry, etc.)

Question 9

What are the 4 kinds of attachment possible between a caregiver and a child?

Answer 9

1) secure
2) avoidant
3) ambivalent
4) disorganized

Question 10

Secure Attachment:

1) Under what conditions will a child exhibit this behavior?
2) Rxn of child at departure of caregiver?
3) Rxn of child to stranger?

Answer 10

1) When child has consistent caregiver and is able to explore the world knowing they have a comfortable base to return to in the caregiver
2) Upset
3) Child will be able to be comforted by stranger but will prefer caregiver

Question 11

Avoidant Attachment:

1) Under what conditions will a child exhibit this behavior?
2) Rxn of child at departure of caregiver?
3) Rxn of child to stranger?

Answer 11

1) Caregiver has little or no response to distressed child
2) Little to no distress when caregiver leaves or returns
3) No preference between caregiver and stranger

Question 12

Ambivalent Attachment:

1) Under what conditions will a child exhibit this behavior?
2) Rxn of child at departure of caregiver?

Answer 12

1) Caregiver has inconsistent response to child’s distress and so the child is unable to form a secure base
2) Very distressed upon departure, mixed response upon return

Question 13

Disorganized Attachment:

1) Under what conditions will a child exhibit this behavior?
2) Rxn of child at departure of caregiver?
3) What this may be a signal of?

Answer 13

1) When caregiver displays erratic behavior and social withdrawal
2) No clear pattern of behavior to absence or presence of caregiver
3) Red flag for abuse

Question 14

What is social support in general?

What kinds of social support may be given? (5)

Answer 14

Social support = feeling that one is being cared for by social network

• Emotional = empathizing, listening and affirming one’s feelings
• Esteem = affirming the skills/qualities of a person
• Material
• Informational
• Network = gives a person a sense of belonging

Question 15

What are the psychological and physiological benefits to a strong social support network?

Answer 15

• Psychological: reduces anxiety and depression, reduces major mental disorders, substance abuse, suicidal tendencies
• Physiological: reduces risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, increases immune health

Question 16

Polygyny

Answer 16

Male had exclusive relationships with multiple females

Question 17

Polyandry

Answer 17

Female has exclusive relationships with multiple males

Question 18

Promiscuity

Answer 18

Member of one sex mating with member of opposite sex without exclusivity

Question 19

What is mate bias?

Answer 19

How picky members of a species are with choosing a mate, purpose is to increase fitness of species

Question 20

What are the 5 mechanisms of mate choice?

Answer 20

• Phenotypic benefits = mate displays observable traits that make them more attractive
• Sensory bias = mate has developed a trait to match a preference that exists in the population
• Runaway selection = mate displays a sexually desirable trait that has no bearing on survival but is simply deemed desirable and this is more likely to be passed in and perceived as attractive
• Indicator traits = mate displays traits that signal good health
• Genetics = mate has complementary genetics

Question 21

Altruism

Answer 21

Helping behavior in which person’s intent is to benefit someone else at a cost to themselves

Question 22

Empathy

Answer 22

Ability to vicariously experience emotions if others, can motivate a person to be altruistic

Question 23

Game theory

Answer 23

Attempts to explain decision making behavior

Question 24

How is game theory applied to biological situations?

Answer 24

When a population adopts a specific strategy for evolutionary fitness, natural selection will prevent any alternative strategies from arising so strategies are passed along to next generations. Object of game is to be more fit than competition.

Question 25

Inclusive fitness

Answer 25

Measure of organisms success in population. Based on # offspring, ability to support offspring, and offspring’s ability to support others.

Question 26

What is the halo effect?

Answer 26

Tendency to allow general perception of a person to influence more specific evaluations about the person (I.e thinking “I like Judy” and therefore “Judy is a good mother”.)

Question 27

What is the just world hypothesis?

Answer 27

Good things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people.

Question 28

Self serving bias

Answer 28

Individuals attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

Question 29

Dispositional attributions

Answer 29

Those that relate to the person whose behavior is being considered.

Question 30

Situational attribution

Answer 30

Attributions that relate to features of the surroundings

Question 31

What are the 3 kinds of behavioral cues?

Answer 31

Consensus - assess behavior based on how much a person’s behavior differs from that of others

Consistency - assess behavior based on how consistently a person behaves over time

Distinctiveness - assess behavior based on whether a person displays similar behavior across different scenarios

Question 32

If a person does something unexpectedly that helps us or hurts us, how are we likely to interpret that action? (I.e. With what kind of attribution)

Answer 32

With dispositional attribution

Question 33

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 33

People are biased toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational ones. Especially true in negative situations.

Question 34

Attribute substitution

Answer 34

Individuals simplify complex judgements with simpler solution (or heuristic). Often leads to a misleading or false interpretation.

Question 35

When does stereotyping occur?

Answer 35

When attitudes and impressions of an individual or group are based on limited and superficial information

Question 36

How can stereotypes lead to an individual carrying out a self - fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 36

Knowledge of an existing stereotype against an individual in a certain task can lead that individual to perform poorly at the task (due to nervousness or awareness of the stereotype), thus validating the stereotype and completing the self - fulfilling prophecy.

Question 37

How is stereotype threat related to self - fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 37

Stereotype threat is when people are concerned or anxious about confirming negative stereotypes. This often leads to poor performance and self - handicap and can lead to self - fulfilling prophecy. The degree to which a person feels stereotype threat depends on how strongly they identify with the group being stereotyped.

Question 38

What is the difference between stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination?

Answer 38

Stereotypes are cognitive
Prejudices are affective (emotional)
Discrimination is behavioral

Question 39

What is prejudice?

Answer 39

Irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group or thing prior to any actual experience with that entity.

Question 40

How is propaganda related to prejudice?

Answer 40

Large organizations / political groups use propaganda to create prejudice in others

Question 41

What 3 social factors influence prejudice?

Answer 41

Power - ability of people to achieve goals and exert control over lives

Prestige - level of respect a person gets from others

Class - socioeconomic status

Question 42

Ethnocentrism

Answer 42

Making judgements about other cultures based on values and beliefs of one’s own culture

Question 43

In group vs. out group

Answer 43

In group = social group with which an individual identifies and feels belonging

Out group = social group with which individual does not identify

Question 44

Discrimination

Answer 44

Occurs when prejudicial attitudes cause an individual or a group to be treated differently than others