SOCIAL 1

Question 1

Bystander effect

Answer 1

A phenomenon where individuals fail to help a victim when others are around; the more people are around, the less likely people are to help themselves.

Question 2

Social psychology

Answer 2

The science of the causes and consequences of social behavior, from cooperation to coercion

Question 3

Humans are eusocial

Answer 3

1. We take care of offspring that are not ours.
2. We live in groups with overlapping generations of people
3. We divide into specialized labor groups

Question 4

Theory of mind

Answer 4

The ability to represent the beliefs and desires of people who are not you (especially when their thoughts and beliefs differ from your own)

Question 5

How do we use the theory of mind?

Answer 5

We do this by reasoning about other people, using logic

Suggest that we stimulate the minds of others, engaging in a kind of empathetic process.

Question 6

Benefits of working in groups

Answer 6

1. Combine effort to do more than any single person can
2. Divide labor so that each person can become specialized
3. Pass knowledge to each other over time

Only happens when everyone cooperates equally

Question 7

Costs of groups

Answer 7

1. People tend to stereotype and discriminate against other groups
2. People tend to loaf and do less in a group then on their own
3. People can show extremely high levels of aggression (including wars)

Question 8

Theory of mind you can:

Answer 8

1. Predict what other people will do
2. Explain motives behind their actions
3. Reason about where you agree and disagree with them.

Question 9

Right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ)

Answer 9

A brain region that is selectively active when we think about the thoughts of others (i.e. unique and dedicated for ToM).

The rTPJ is selectively active when reading stories about people’s thoughts but not about their sensations.

Question 10

Controversy about theory of mind

Answer 10

Tom is a kind of conscious and learned reasoning process that can improve with time and experience.

A simulated experience: imagining what it’s like to be another person and inferring they will do the same as you would.

Question 11

Mirror neurons

Answer 11

Neuronal regions that activate when an individual performs an action or observes another individual performing the same action.

Question 12

Attribution

Answer 12

An inference about the cause of a person’s behavior; typically - it is their disposition/ personality or the situation they are in.

Question 13

What pushes us towards a dispositional attribution?

Answer 13

High consistency, low distinctiveness, low consensus

Question 14

What pushes towards situational attributions?

Answer 14

Low consistency, highly distinctive behavior for them, high consensus

Question 15

Consistency

Answer 15

Does this person act this way in similar situations?

High consistency = disposition
Low consistency = situation

Question 16

Distinctiveness/ uniqueness

Answer 16

does this person act this way in different situations?

Low distinctiveness = disposition
Highly distinctive behavior for them = situation

Question 17

Consensus

Answer 17

do other people act this way in similar situations

low consensus = disposition
high consensus = situation

Question 18

This person always complains in restaurants
This person complains in many other places
Nobody else complains in this restaurant

Answer 18

high consistency
low distinctiveness
low consensus

disposition

Question 19

This person rarely rates movies as “sorry films”
This person is not usually negative towards other things, like music, food, etc.
Many other people hate this movie, too.

Answer 19

low consistency
high distinctiveness
high consensus

Situational

Question 20

Fundamental Attribution error

Answer 20

The general tendency for people to make dispositional attributions of others, even when readily available situational factors are available:
(bad drivers, instead of no time to stop)

Question 21

Actor-Observer Effect

Answer 21

The general tendency for people to make situational attributions of ourselves (even when they would make dispositional ones of others in the same situation)

Question 22

Social norms

Answer 22

culturally-specific expectations of appropriate vs inappropriate behavior of which everybody in the culture is supposed to act in accordance with

Breaking of social norms is almost always considered a dispositional cause, and individuals who break norms are often quickly shunned

Question 23

Why are social norms extremely useful?

Answer 23

They allow us to have cultural expectations about groups that make attributions quick and easy.

Question 24

Social norms can be manipulated and exploited

Answer 24

1. Social norms are hard to change but often embody many things that are deeply problematic,
2. Social norms are not cross-culturally universal, leading to problems in relying on them across groups, countries
3. Can be used to change people’s behaviors even without them realizing you are using them.