MCAT Psych #10 Flashcards
interpersonal attraction
phenomenon of individuals liking each other
influenced by many factors, including physical characteristics, similarity, self-disclosure, reciprocity, and proximity.
interpersonal attraction: physical characteristics
Humans are attracted to people based on outward appearance such as more symmetric face or body proportions of the golden ratio.
interpersonal attraction: similarity
Attracted to people who are more similar (attitudes, age, height). Easier to hangout with these people.
• People like to have their values and choices validated
• Opposites attract: nurturer with someone who likes to be nurtured.
interpersonal attraction: self-disclosure
sharing one’s fears, thoughts, and goals with another person and being met with nonjudgmental empathy.
• Needs to be reciprocal
interpersonal attraction: reciprocity
the phenomenon whereby people like others better when they believe the other person likes them.
• Even if you disagree, if you think they like you, you will have increased interest in them.
interpersonal attraction: proximity
being physically close to someone
• Part of this is convenience.
• Ex: same dorm, sit close in class.
• Mere exposure effect or familiarity effect: people prefer stimuli that they have been exposed to more frequently.
o Ex: hearing a song and not liking it but then beginning to like it after 5 more times.
mere exposure/familiarity effect
people prefer stimuli that they have been exposed to more frequently.
o Ex: hearing a song and not liking it but then beginning to like it after 5 more times.
aggression
a behavior that intends to cause harm or increase social dominance. Physical and verbal
o Threat display can lead to bodily and physical harm ensuing or withdrawal of one of the parties
o Evolutionarily aggression offers protections against perceived and real threats.
o Parts of the brain contribute to violent behavior
Amygdala: part of the brain responsible for associating stimuli and their corresponding rewards or punishments.
• Tells us if something is a threat. When activated it increases aggression. The prefrontal cortex can pump the breaks on this.
o Cognitive neoassociation model: states that we are more likely to respond to others aggressively when we are feeling negative emotions, such as being tired, sick, frustrated, or in pain.
o Viewing violent behavior increases aggression.
amygdala and aggression
part of the brain responsible for associating stimuli and their corresponding rewards or punishments.
• Tells us if something is a threat. When activated it increases aggression. The prefrontal cortex can pump the breaks on this.
cognitive neoassociation model
aggression
states that we are more likely to respond to others aggressively when we are feeling negative emotions, such as being tired, sick, frustrated, or in pain.
attachment
an emotional bond between a caregiver and a child
o Development of attachment begins during infancy and is very important for the first two years of a child’s life.
o In attachment, a secure base is a caregiver who is consistent, available, comforting, and responsive.
attachment involves
child and caregiver (doesn’t have to be parent)
what are the four main attachment styles
secure attachment
avoidant attachment
ambivalent attachment
disorganized attachment
secure attachment
a child has a consistent caregiver and is able to go out and explore, knowing that he or she has a secure base to return to.
• Important for child’s social development
• Upset when the caregiver leaves and happy when comes back.
• Trusts that the caregiver will be there for comfort but will also take comfort form others.
avoidant attachment
the caregiver has little or no response to a distressed child.
• No distress when caregiver leaves and no relief when returns
• Show no preference between caregiver and stranger.
ambivalent attachment
the caregiver has an inconsistent response to child’s distress, sometimes responding appropriately, sometimes neglectfully.
• Distressed when caregiver leaves but mixed emotion when returns.
disorganized attachment
show no clear pattern of behavior in response to the caregiver’s absence or presence, but instead can show a mix of different behaviors.
• Associated with erratic behavior and social withdrawal by the caregiver
• Red flag for abuse.
sometimes exhibits repetitive behaviors or seems dazed and confused
secure base
is a caregiver who is consistent, available, comforting, and responsive.
social support
the perception or reality that one is cared for by a social network.
o Although it is present at all times, it is most pronounced and necessary when someone suffers a personal or family tragedy.
what are the different categories of social support
emotional support esteem support material support informational support network support
emotional support
listening, affirming, and empathizing with someone’s feelings
• Ex: I’m sorry for your loss card or visiting someone in the hospital
esteem support
touches more directly on affirming the qualities and skills of a person
• Ex: telling a school friend that has missed a lot of school that making up the work will be easy because they are smart.
material support
syn: tangible support
any type of financial or material contribution to another person.
• Ex: donating money or making a meal
informational support
providing information that will help someone
• Ex: doctor to patient explaining diagnoses.
network support
gives a person a sense of belonging.
• Ex: physical hug, gestures, group activities.
network support
gives a person a sense of belonging.
• Ex: physical hug, gestures, group activities.
social support provides _____ benefits
health
foraging
seeking out and eating food, driven by biological, psychological, and social influence.
Bio: sensation of hunger is driven by the hypothalamus, genes dictate who in the group will do what foraging roles.
Cognitive skills such as spatial awareness, memory, and decision making play a role in the success of foraging.
• Species that forage as a group: learned through observation
lateral hypothalamus and what happens if damaged
hunger, always full
ventromedial hypothalamus and what happens if damaged
satiety, never full
mating system
describes the organization of a group’s sexual behavior.
monogamy
refers to an exclusive mating relationship
polygamy
o Polygandry: a male having exclusive relationships with multiple females
o Polygyny: female having exclusive relationships with multiple males
polygandry
a male having exclusive relationships with multiple females
polygyny
female having exclusive relationships with multiple males
promiscuity
a member of one sex mating with a member of the opposite sex, without inclusivity.
A member of one sex mating with ANY member of the opposite sex
mate choice or intersexual selection
dthe selection of a mate based on attraction
mate bias
how choosy members of the species are while choosing a mate.
• Evolutionary aimed at increasing the fitness of the species
• Direct benefits: providing material advantages, protection, or emotional support
• Indirect benefits: promoting better survival of offspring
5 mechanisms of mate choice
- phenotypic benefits
- sensory bias
- Fisherian or runaway selection
- indicator traits
- genetic compatibility
direct benefits
mate bias
providing material advantages, protection, or emotional support
indirect benefits
mate bias
promoting better survival of offspring
Direct benefits provide advantages to the ____. Indirect benefits provide advantages to the ____
mate
offspring
phenotypic benefits
mate choice
observable traits that make a potential mate more attractive to the opposite sex. Indicate increased production and survival of offspring.
Ex: males that are more nurturing
sensory bias
mate choice
development of a trait to match a preexisting preference that exists in the population.
Ex: pillar crabs building a specific territory that attracts mates (tricks them into thinking it is a food source)
Fisherian or runaway selection
mate choice
a positive feedback mechanism in which a particular trait that has no effect or a NEGATIVE effect on survival becomes more and more exaggerated over time.
Ex: peacock plumage, trait is attractive, more likely to get passed on
indicator traits
mate choice
traits that signify overall good health and well-being of an organism increase attractiveness to mates.
Ex: female cats like male cats with clean coat.
genetic compatibility
mate choice
the creation of mate pairs that, when combined, have complementary genetics.
Ex: being attracted to people who are very different reduces the probability of offspring being homozygotic for a disease-carrying allele.
altruism
a form of helping behavior in which the person’s intent is to benefit someone else at some cost to himself. Can be motivated by selflessness or egoism such as public recognition.
Empathy: the ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another
• Influences helping behavior
Empathy-altruism hypothesis: one explanation for the relationship between empathy and helping behavior: one individual helps another person when he or she feels empathy for the other person, regardless of the cost.
• Debated: maybe only when benefits outweigh costs.
empathy
the ability to vicariously experience the emotions of another
• Influences helping behavior
empathy-altruism hypothesis
one explanation for the relationship between empathy and helping behavior: one individual helps another person when he or she feels empathy for the other person, regardless of the cost.
• Debated: maybe only when benefits outweigh costs for the individual helping
game theory
attempts to explain decision-making behavior.
used to study decision making
A game is defined by its players, the information and actions available to each player at decision points, and the payoffs associated with each outcome.
evolutionary stable strategy
via natural selection, strategies are inherited traits passed along within the population, with the object of the game being becoming more fit than competitors.
hawk-dove evolutionary game
• Choose hawk or dove
o Two hawks: one will win and one will lose
o Hawk and dove: hawk always wins
o Two doves: will share food resources
• Payoff based on value of reward and cost of fighting
• 4 alternatives for competitors when dealing with strategic interactions:
o Altruism: the donor provides a benefit to the recipient at a cost to him
o Cooperation: both the donor and recipient benefit by cooperating
o Spite: both the donor and recipient are negatively impacted
o Selfishness: the donor benefits while the recipient is negatively impacted
hawk-dove: altruism
the donor provides a benefit to the recipient at a cost to him (be dove for them to be hawk)
hawk-dove: cooperation
both the donor and recipient benefit by cooperating
both dove
hawk-dove: spite
both the donor and recipient are negatively impacted (both hawk)
hawk-dove: selfishness
the donor benefits while the recipient is negatively impacted
(donor is hawk, recipient dove)
inclusive fitness
a measure of an organism’s success in the population
Based on the number of offspring, success in supporting the offspring, and the ability of the offspring to then support others.
Promoting the survival of related individuals such as relatives can lead to genetic success.
• Or the group all protect the young
Promotes the idea that altruistic behavior can improve the fitness and success of the species as a whole.
social perception
: how we form impressions about the characteristics of individuals and groups of people. Also referred to as social cognition: provides the tools to make judgements and impressions regarding people.
o We feel the need to understand the behavior of others.
o Three Components of social perception:
- perceiver
- target
- situation
social perception: perceiver
influenced by experience, motives, and emotional state. Experience dictates attitude toward new and future experiences, motives determine what we pay attention to and emotional state flavors our interpretation of an event.
social perception: target
the person about which the perception is made. Could be affected by our experiences with them.
social perception: situation
a given social context can determine what information is available to the perceiver.
impression bias theory
initially meet someone, take in all social and target cues. Categorize the target. And then additional time is spent with the target to confirm the categorization. The additional cues are selectively taken in to paint a consistent picture of the target
Primacy effect: first impressions are often more important than subsequent impressions.
Recency effect: when it is the most recent info that is most important in forming impressions.
Reliance on central traits: individuals tend to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics that are the most relevant to the perceiver.
Implicit personality theory: describes the categories we place others in, states that there are sets of assumptions people make about how different types of people, their traits, and their behavior are related.
impression bias theory: primacy effect
first impressions are often more important than subsequent impressions.
impression bias theory: recency effect
when it is the most recent info that is most important in forming impressions.
impression bias theory: reliance on central traits
individuals tend to organize the perception of others based on traits and personal characteristics that are the most relevant to the perceiver.
impression bias theory: implicit personality theory
describes the categories we place others in, states that there are sets of assumptions people make about how different types of people, their traits, and their behavior are related.
Stereotyping: making assumptions about people based on the category in which they are placed.
halo effect
cognitive bias in which judgements about a specific aspect of an individual can be affected by one’s overall impression of the individual.
I like Judy, Judy is good at all of these things.
People are often inaccurate when evaluating people that they either believe to be generally good or bad.
Attractiveness can result in this effect.
just-world hypothesis
someone is getting what they deserve because they are a bad or good person. Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.
self-serving bias
syn: self-serving attributional bias
skews self-identity and perception, individuals will view their success based on internal factors and view their failures based on external factors.
Used to protect our self-esteem.
Locus of control influences this.
Ex: did well on a test cause you’re smart or bad on a test cause the teacher is bad.
Self-enhancement: focuses on the need to maintain self-worth and can be done through internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures.
Strangers are more likely to blame others.
locus of control
plays a role in self serving bias. Whether you believe you are in control or the environment is in control
self ehancement
self serving bias
focuses on the need to maintain self-worth and can be done through internal attribution of successes and external attribution of failures.
attribution theory
the tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behaviors
o Dispositional and Situational Causes
Dispositional (internal): attributions that relate to the person whose behavior is being considered, including his or her beliefs, attitudes, and personality characteristics.
Situational (external): attributions that relate to features of the surroundings, such as threats, money, social norms, and peer pressure.
Ex: a friend winning an award is attributed to his hard work or luck
o Cues: used to understand the behavior of others
Cues: consistency, consensus, distinctiveness
attribution theory: dispositional causes
internal
attributions that relate to the person whose behavior is being considered, including his or her beliefs, attitudes, and personality characteristics.
Ex: a friend winning an award is attributed to hard work
attribution theory: situational causes
external
attributions that relate to features of the surroundings, such as threats, money, social norms, and peer pressure.
Ex: a friend winning an award is attributed to luck
cues
used to understand the behavior of others
attribution theory: consistency cues
refer to the consistent behavior of a person over time. The more consistent the behavior, the more we associate it with the person.
attribution theory: consensus cues
relate to the extent to which a person’s behavior differs from others. If it is different we will make an internal attribution about them.
attribution theory: distinctiveness cues
the extent to which a person engages in similar behavior across a series of scenarios. If it varies in different scenarios situational attribution.
correspondent inference theory
focuses on the intentionality of others behaviors. Unexpected behaviors are dispositionally attributed.
Actor-observer asymmetry or bias
results from the self-serving bias (by the actor) and the fundamental attribution error (by the observer). Actor-observer bias holds that, due to our own unique knowledge about our own actions, we are more likely to make situational attributions for the self as compared to others. Ex: if you don’t finish an assignment, consider the situation factors more cause you experienced them.
fundamental attribution error
we are generally biased toward making dispositional attributions rather than situational attributions, especially in negative contexts.
Ex: team member cannot finish their part of the project so we attribute this to him being lazy rather than potentially a family tragedy occurring.
attribute substitution
occurs when individuals must make judgements that are complex, but instead they substitute a simpler solution or apply a heuristic.
Answer less complex questions instead without even realizing it sometimes.
Ex: birds in picture are the same size but the 3D cues affect our interpretation of the image.
cultural attribution
The type of culture an individual is a part of plays a major role in the types of attributions the individual makes
individualist: focus on individual, personal goals and independence
collectivist: focus on group conformity and interdependence
Individualists make more fundamental attribution errors than those in collectivist cultures.
stereotypes
the expectations, impressions, and opinions about the characteristics of members of a group. Actually useful for categorizing and for having expectations of something.
o Ex: what a certain cuisine will taste like
o Def: occur when attitudes and impressions are based on limited and superficial information about a person or group of individuals.
stereotype content model
o Stereotype content model: attempts to classify stereotypes with respect to a hypothetical in-group using two dimensions: warmth and competence.
Warm groups: those that are not in direct competition with the in-group
Competent groups: those that have high status within society
4 combos:
paternalistic, contemptuous, envious, admiration
stereotype content model: warm groups
those that are not in direct competition with the in-group
stereotype content model: competent groups
those that have high status within society
stereotype content model: paternalistic
those in which the group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed, or ignored (high warmth, low competence)
stereotype content model: conemptuous
the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance, or anger (low warmth, low competence)
stereotype content model: envious
the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness, or distrust (low warmth, high competence)
stereotype content model: admiration
the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings (high warmth, high competence)
self-fulfilling prophecy
conformations of expectations regarding certain groups of individuals.
New surgeons know that people think of them as not being able to tie knots well and thus they are nervous and don’t do it well completes the self-fulfilling prophecy
stereotype threat
the concept of people being concerned or anxious about confirming a negative stereotype about one’s social group
Ex: woman driving
Due to awareness of stereotypes, individuals may perform worse or avoid performance altogether.
Depends on how strongly one identifies with a particular stereotype.
May create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
prejudice
overall attitude and emotional response to a group, an irrational positive or negative attitude toward a person, group, or thing, prior to an actual experience with that entity.
o Can be prejudiced about a car brand, objects, races, or even environments.
propaganda
way in which large organizations and political groups attempt to create prejudices in others.
what are the social factors that influence prejudice
Power: the ability of people or groups to achieve goals despite any obstacles, and their ability to control resources.
Prestige: the level of respect shown to a person by others.
Class: socioeconomic status
power
prejudice
the ability of people or groups to achieve goals despite any obstacles, and their ability to control resources.
prestige
prejudice
the level of respect shown to a person by others.
class
prejudice
person by others.
Class: socioeconomic
ethnocentrism
the practice of making judgements about other cultures based on the values and beliefs of one’s own culture, especially when it comes to language, customs, and religion.
o Ethnic pride or violent supremacy groups
in-group
a social group in which a person experiences a sense of belonging or identifies as a member.
out-group
a social group with which an individual does not identify.
Dislike toward out-group might just be out of favoritism of the in group.
cultural relativism
to avoid ethnocentrism, the perception of another culture as different from one’s own, but with the recognition that the cultural values, mores, and rules of a culture fit into that culture itself.
One culture is not superior, they are all just different.
discrimination
differences in actions toward different groups, occurs when prejudicial attitudes cause individuals of a particular group to be treated differently from others.
o Discrimination is carrying out behaviors that reflect prejudiced attitudes.
just because there is ____ does not mean there is ____
prejudice
discrimination
individual discrimination
one person discriminating against a particular person or group
• Conscious and obvious, just address the person.
institutional discrimination
the discrimination against a particular person or group by an entire institution.
• Built into the structure of society.
• Perpetuated by maintaining the status quo.
Does outward appearance play a role in attraction?
yes
humans are attracted to individuals with certain body proportions approximating the _____
golden ratio
does all aggression cause bodily harm?
no, insults or gestures
what are the benefits of aggression?
it can lead to the avoidance of threat, access to resources, or passing on of one’s genes
the amygdala is responsible for _______ threat
telling us whether or not something is a threat
relationship between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala and aggression
the prefrontal cortex can calm down an activated amygdala to reduce aggression
how do hormones contribute to aggression?
more testosterone = more aggression
what is the name for the the model that explains the following: riots are more likely to occur on hot days
cognitive neoassociation model
more likely to act aggressively under certain conditions (tired, sick, frustrated, in pain, uncomfortable)
what is a synonym for material support?
tangible support
how do humans differ from animals in terms of mating?
no dominant system, some reliance on social stuff
have formal relationships too
phenotypic benefits vs. indicator traits
phenotypic is more genetic
the hawk and dove coexist as evolutionary stable strategies if _____
neither has the advantage: cost of fighting is not so high and value of resources is not so high
for behavior to be considered aggressive does it have to have the intent to cause harm?
no, it could be to increase relative social dominance
what preference does a child with avoidant attachment show for caregiver or stranger
does not care
______ allows us to explain and understand the behavior of others
attribution
what is the self-serving bias used to protect?
our self-esteem
individuals with ____ self esteem are more likely to perform self-serving bias
high
if a person’s behavior deviates from what is socially expected then we are likely to make a ____ attribution about them
dispositional
if a person’s behavior changes based on the situation, we are likely to make a ____ attribution to explain it
situational
individualists are more likely to attribute behavior to ____ factors whereas collectivists are more likely to attribute behavior to _____
dispositional
situational
does positive prejudices exist?
yes
prejudice: attitude/affective
power, prestige, and class all influence prejudice through unequal distribution of ___, ____, and _____
wealth, influence, and resources
