Lecture 4: Social Psychology

Question 1

Core motivations people carry (4)

Answer 1

1. need to belong to and form trusting relationships
2. we need to perceive ourselves positively
3. we need to perceive the groups we are a part of positivity
4. we need to understand the world and feel a sense of control over our actions and outcomes

Question 2

What is the focus of the psychological study of personality

Answer 2

Focuses on individuals’ stable characteristics and their effects on behaviour

Question 3

What is the focus of the study of social psychology

Answer 3

focuses on how the immediate environment changes individuals’ behaviour

Question 4

Personailty =

Answer 4

Consistent behaviours (why people act consistently across situations)

Question 5

Social Psychology =

Answer 5

Changing behaviour (why people act differently in different situations)

Question 6

What is/are social norms?

Answer 6

patterns of behaviour, traditions, and preferences that are tacitly approved by a given culture

Question 7

What is conformity

Answer 7

The process by which people implicitly mimic, adopt or internalize the behaviours and preferences of those around them

Question 8

What is the largest difference between how parents treat their girls vs boys?

Answer 8

encouraging them to participate in activities based on their gender assigned at birth

Question 9

What is the dominat reponse?

Answer 9

the most likely behavioural outcome of a given situation

Question 10

What is social facilitation?

Answer 10

It is an enhancement of the dominant response when performing a task in the presence of others (easy/well-learned tasks are performed better, but difficult or novel tasks are performed worse in front of others)

Question 11

What is social loafing?

Answer 11

The tendency to put less effort into a task when doing it with others, compared to doing it alone (less likely when the task is interesting and difficult)

Question 12

What is the Milgram experiment?

Answer 12

Participants were asked to train another person on some word lists. If their learner was incorrect, the participant was told to administer an electric shock. As the learner made more mistakes, the shocks increased in intensity. This often caused participants to be concerned, which they would communicate to the experimenter. The experimenter, in this case, represented a dominant authority figure, obeyed by over 60% of participants

Question 13

What is aggression?

Answer 13

aggression is any behaviour directed toward the goal of harming another living being

Question 14

When are outbursts of aggression often triggered?

Answer 14

when one perceives a threat to one’s belonging or acceptance

Question 15

What can increase the likelihood of an act of aggression?

Answer 15

• too hot outside
• already late for work
• hangry
• ‘bad temper’

Question 16

Does playing violent video games increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour?

Answer 16

1. Playing violent games can increase aggressive thoughts, feelings, and impulses
2. The effects of violent video games on aggression are temporary and do not seem linked to criminal acts of violence.

Question 17

What is informational social behaviour?

Answer 17

pressure to conform to others actions or beliefs based on a desire to behave correctly or gain an accurate eundersrtanding of the world

Question 18

What is normative social influence?

Answer 18

pressure to conform to others’ actions or beliefs in order to gain approval from others