Social and Multicultural Psychology

Question 1

Heider

Answer 1

originator of attribution theory; proposed people either make dispositional or situational attributions

Question 2

Kelley

Answer 2

proposed that when people make attributions, they consider three types of information : consistency (over time), distinctiveness (across situations), and consensus (whether other people in same situation respond similarly)

Question 3

Weiner

Answer 3

added stability to study of attributions (whether attributions are made to stable or unstable factors)

Question 4

Actor-observer bias

Answer 4

attribute own actions to situational factors and minimize dispositional elements, but attribute others’ behavior to dispositional factors

Question 5

Self-serving (Hedonic) bias

Answer 5

when we explain our own behavior, we tend to attribute our own successes to internal or personal factors, and our failures to external or situational factors; Bradley

Question 6

Representative heuristic

Answer 6

make judgments about other people or events based on what they believe is a typical example of a particular category (e.g., assume rape survivor is female)

Question 7

Simulation heuristic

Answer 7

people develop mental images of situations, and then use these mental images to make judgments about facts in their lives (e.g., physicians who imagined themselves contracting AIDS from patients believed themselves at greater risk)

Question 8

George Kelly

Answer 8

described ordinary people as scientists, who are constantly forming, testing, and revising hypotheses about the world around them; Personal Construct Theory

Question 9

Personal Construct Theory

Answer 9

George Kelly; we perceive the world according to what we expect to see

Question 10

Repertory Grid Technique

Answer 10

developed by George Kelly to map a client’s conceptual model of the world (i.e., constructs) without contamination by the interviewer’s constructs based on Personal Construct Theory

Question 11

Situational constraint

Answer 11

idea proposed to explain discrepancy between attitude-based thoughts or feelings and behavior

Question 12

Consistency theories

Answer 12

propose that attitude formation and change are organized by a need to impose structure and order on one’s understanding of the environment

Question 13

Balance theory

Answer 13

Heider; explains attitude change when two people have attitudes toward the same object or activity; elements are attitude toward object and relationship; balanced when all positive or one positive and two negative (e.g., friends and both dislike); unbalanced when all negative or two positive and one negative (e.g., friends and one likes but one dislikes); imbalance prompts change

Question 14

Symmetry theory

Answer 14

Newcomb; extends balance theory by considering intensity of relationship; stronger the bond between the two people, the more intense any imbalance (lack of symmetry) will be felt and the stronger the motivation will be to change attitudes

Question 15

Congruity theory

Answer 15

Osgood; extends balance theory by predicting which attitudes will change; posits that a person will favor the object toward which he or she already feels the most affinity

Question 16

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 16

Festinger; consistency theory that proposes that people change their attitudes to reduce the aversive arousal they experience when they become aware of inconsistency in their cognitions; people change attitudes to match actions

Question 17

Postdecisional dissonance

Answer 17

circumstance for cognitive dissonance when person becomes upset with not choosing alternative options and then emphasizes positive features of chosen option

Question 18

Effort justification

Answer 18

cognitive dissonance when person is upset at having spent significant effort on a goal that turns out not to be worthwhile and then emphasizes positive qualities of goal

Question 19

Insufficient justification

Answer 19

cognitive dissonance when person performs undesirable behavior for small inducement

Question 20

Insufficient deterence

Answer 20

cognitive dissonance when person does not perform desirable action because of small deterrent

Question 21

Deryl Bem

Answer 21

self-perception theory

Question 22

Self-perception theory

Answer 22

Bem; competing theory to consistency theories; people infer their attitudes as well as their emotions by observing their own behavior; appears most applicable when current behavior is in same direction as past behavior (cognitive dissonance when discrepancy)

Question 23

Overjustification hypothesis

Answer 23

related to self-perception theory; posits that people lose interest in previously desirable activities after performing them for too much justification

Question 24

Self-verification theory

Answer 24

Swann; people motivated to confirm self-concept, even if negative

Question 25

Behavioral confirmation

Answer 25

people are motivated to confirm the expectations that others have of them

Question 26

Self-enhancement theory

Answer 26

people are motivated to think favorably of themselves and behave in ways that cause others to see them favorably as well

Question 27

Factors that influence effectiveness of persuasion

Answer 27

source of communication (likeability, similarity, and attractiveness for unimportant matters; credibility on important matters), message (some evidence for logic, some for emotion especially fear; primacy and recency effect), audience (moderate self-esteem, moderate discrepancy in attitude, higher vulnerability, higher level of involvement with idea/product)

Question 28

Sleeper effect

Answer 28

people forget about source of communication over time (which would impact influentialness in moment) but remember message

Question 29

Primacy effect

Answer 29

when long gap between message and desired action, message received first will have most impact

Question 30

Recency effect

Answer 30

when smaller gap between message and desired action, most recent message will have most impact

Question 31

Hovland persuasion studies

Answer 31

most effective to present both sides of the argument when the listener is initially opposed, well informed, and intelligent; presenting one side works better when the listener initially favors the argument, is poorly informed, and not intelligent

Question 32

Resistance theory

Answer 32

people will not comply with requests or attempts to be persuaded if feel freedom is threatened

Question 33

Elaboration likelihood model of persuasion

Answer 33

proposes that there are two ways in which people are persuaded, through either the peripheral route (focus on aspects not central to message such as speaker’s attractiveness, expertise) or through the central route (elaborating on message’s arguments); central attitude change is relatively enduring, resists further change, and predicts behavior

Question 34

Inoculation

Answer 34

technique to increase resistance to persuasion; person given mild argument against belief then practices refuting this argument

Question 35

Approach-avoidance conflict

Answer 35

person must choose whether to do one thing that will have both desirable and undesirable results; typically approach tendency strongest initially, then avoidance becomes stronger as one approaches goal

Question 36

Avoidance-avoidance conflict

Answer 36

choose between two unpleasant alternatives that will lead to negative results no matter which choice is made; most difficult conflict to resolve and generates most stress

Question 37

Personality trait associated with prejudice

Answer 37

authoritarianism

Question 38

Displaced aggression and prejudice

Answer 38

idea that when the source of frustration is either bigger or capable of retaliating, or when the cause of frustration is ambiguous, people displace aggression, or scapegoat, innocent victims

Question 39

Best way to combat prejudice

Answer 39

encourage cooperation rather than competition; importance of superordinate goals; increasing contact can sometimes decrease prejudice as well, especially when negative stereotypes disconfirmed

Question 40

Sherif

Answer 40

Robber’s Cave study

Question 41

Superordinate goals

Answer 41

higher than individual goals, and are goals that can only be achieved with both groups working together, and are of benefit to both parties

Question 42

James-Lang theory

Answer 42

emotions result from perceiving bodily reactions or responses; not supported by research

Question 43

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 43

proposes emotions and bodily reactions occur at same time; Some support for this theory comes from research that has demonstrated that animals that have been surgically prevented from experiencing physiological arousal nevertheless display emotional behavior

Question 44

Schachter’s two-factory theory

Answer 44

posits that emotion results from information from two systems: internal (e.g., hypothalamus and limbic system) and external (e.g., context); emotion is a function of both physiological arousal and cognitive labeling; supported bi Schacther and Singer’s epinephrine studies

Question 45

Rosenhan’s study

Answer 45

normal people called for appointments at hospitals and reported hearing voices, otherwise were truthful and acted normally; all admitted, all but one diagnosed with schizophrenia, continued to be treated as patients

Question 46

Upward social comparisons

Answer 46

comparing oneself to persons who are slightly superior; can raise self-esteem by suggesting improvement is possible but can lower by suggesting person is not performing adequately

Question 47

Downward social comparisons

Answer 47

comparing oneself to persons who are slightly worse; can raise self-esteem by suggesting the person is doing well, or can lower self-esteem by reminding the person that his or her own performance could easily deteriorate

Question 48

Matching hypothesis

Answer 48

proposes that people of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other

Question 49

Social exchange theory

Answer 49

looks at how attraction is affected by the costs and benefits of being in a relationship

Question 50

Schacter

Answer 50

experiment in which people were led to believe that they were about to receive either painful or non-painful shock; Those who believed that they would receive painful shock became anxious, and they chose to affiliate with one another

Question 51

People most likely to stop and help someone

Answer 51

those who have useful skills (e.g., doctor) and those who have been in similar situation

Question 52

Instinctual theories of aggression

Answer 52

Freud proposed inborn, ethologists proposed contributes to survival of fittest; social psychologists reject

Question 53

Aggression centers in the brain

Answer 53

hypothalamus, amygdala, other parts of limbic system

Question 54

Frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 54

Dollard; aggression is always due to frustration, and frustration always leads to some form of aggression; conflicting evidence

Question 55

Group membership and aggression

Answer 55

deindividuation increases aggression; group roles can increase aggression

Question 56

Autokinetic effect

Answer 56

tendency for people to experience a stationary point of light to be moving in a darkened room; Sherif found that the individual’s judgment depended on the group’s judgment

Question 57

Sherif studies

Answer 57

autokinetic effect and conformity

Question 58

Asch studies

Answer 58

one-third conform to incorrect answer about line length when all other participants provide incorrect answer; group size and unanimity were contributing factors; peaked at group size of 7

Question 59

Three factors that affect conformity

Answer 59

normative social influence (pressure to conform based on a need for approval and acceptance by the group), informational social influence (pressure to conform based on the assumption that the other person has more information than you), and reference groups (people we admire, like and want to resemble)

Question 60

Factors that influence likelihood of minority opinion influencing group

Answer 60

persists in expressing his or her position, is firm yet flexible, and is logically consistent and coherent

Question 61

Idiosyncrasy credits

Answer 61

earned by initially conforming to the group’s norms; group more tolerant when individual later deviates from group norms

Question 62

Milgram

Answer 62

studies on obedience using shock; 65% of the subjects obeyed the commands of the experimenter and administered the most severe levels of shock

Question 63

Key factors in obedience

Answer 63

power of persons in positions of authority, placement of responsibility, and gradualism; factor influencing disobedience is witnessing a disobedient model