Lecture by Karen

Question 1

Define Social Psychology

Answer 1

Social Psychology is the scientific study of the feeling, thoughts and behaviors in a social context

Question 2

What do social psychologist study? Name 4 aspects

Answer 2

1. how people are influenced by others and by situational variables
2. how people make decisions (for themselves and in groups)
3. inferences we make about others’ attitudes and personalities
   (e. g., stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination)
4. how we make sense of our world

Question 3

Personality psychology studies ?

Answer 3

studies stress individual differences in behavior

Question 4

Cognitive psychology studies?

Answer 4

is the study of how people think about, perceive, and remember aspects of the world

Question 5

Sociology studies?

Answer 5

is the study of behavior of people at the aggregate level (population level issues)

Question 6

Name 2 different kinds of factors in social psychology

Answer 6

Proximal = factors that exist in the here and now or that immediately precede what the individual does 
Distal = factors that have a remoter or indirect causal influence on a specific outcome

Question 7

Lewins Field Theory

Answer 7

• shows the combination of all factors which influence a person every time
• interaction between environment and individuals characteristics

Question 8

The role of construal

Answer 8

people often think about, perceive, or construe the same stimulus in different ways (originates from Gestalt Psychology)

Question 9

Why is the role of construal important ?

Answer 9

If we are to predict behavior in a given situation, we need to understand how an individual construes or perceives the situation.

Question 10

An automatic processing is ..

Answer 10

fast / emotional /impuls driven

habits
beliefs

Question 11

A controlled processing is ..

Answer 11

slow /effortful/ logical

reflection
planning
problem solving

Question 12

What characterize independent societies?

Answer 12

• conception of the self as distinct from others, with attributes that are constant
• insistence on ability to act on one’s own
• need for individual distinctiveness
• preference for egalitarianism and achieved status based on accomplishments
• conviction that rules governing behavior should apply to everyone

Question 13

What characterize interdependent societies?

Answer 13

• conception of the self as inextricably linked to others, with attributes depending on the situation
• preference for collective action
• desire for harmonious relations with group
• acceptance of hierarchy and ascribed status based on age, group membership and so on
• preference for Rudels that take context and particular relationships into account

Question 14

How can we use social psychology to solve societal issues?

Why do people act the way they do?

Answer 14

If we know what factors explain behavior we might be able to CHANGE or SHAPE future behavior (explicitely or implicitely).

Question 15

Who would be interested to explain of change behavior?

Name a view examples

Answer 15

Politics 
Industry 
Authorities 
Marketing 
Health organizations

Question 16

define fear appeals

Answer 16

persuasive messages that attempt to arouse fear by emphasizing the potential danger and harm that will befall individuals if they do not adopt recommendations

Question 17

Fear appeals work better ..

Answer 17

• when they include high depicted severity and susceptibility -> perceived as a serious personal threat
• when accompanied by… self- or response-efficacy messages”

(would you fight the tiger without a spear??)
Eg., You can stop smoking by…
Eg., 80% of the people using this intervention stopped smoking..

Question 18

Positive reinforcement vs negative punishing

Findings showed that:

Answer 18

• Task performance increased with increasing rewards
• However, much larger increase in task performance in
  case students were ‘punished’, no matter how large the sum was they lost.

deduction points rather rewarding students for the correct answer will avoid making the same mistake

Question 19

Naming and shaming vs. naming and faming
is used for?
Name examples

Answer 19

Used by, for instance, law-enforcers (inspectors) and politicians as an attempted tool to increase compliance with laws and rules
If people know that they will be named for the work they do they will try their best to do a good jib and get famed, to avoid getting shamed

Question 20

Define nudging

Answer 20

(anstoßend)

• covert changes in the environment that unconsciously guide behavior in a certain (hopefully right) direction
  (e. g. order in supermarkets)
• Sometimes not lack of motivation that people make poor choices but people tend to forget about desired behavior at critical moments

Question 21

Explain the dual process theory in the case of nudging

Answer 21

automatic processing

e.g. you see sth. cheap and buy it
no restriction in freedom of choice / autonomy (self-determination theory)

Question 22

explain modeling

Answer 22

learning principle based on imitation

role models which are attractive and are recognized by target group

Question 23

Name 5. techniques to change / influence peoples behavior

Answer 23

1. Fear appeals
2. Reward / punishment
3. Social proof
4. Nudging
5. modeling

Question 24

Explain the concept of social proof

Answer 24

if people feel in a situation of uncertainty, when their not sure how to act they look at the environment around them to find guidelines
(e.g. like laugh from a goest audience in a comedy show)

Question 25

in the context of social proof of whom people like to rely ?

Answer 25

of the experience and opinion of like minded people who guided their own decisions and actions
(e.g. towel reuse in hotel = people were most influenced by the statement what others did)

Question 26

What drives the social proof principle?

Answer 26

the need to belong to a social group