Social Key Terms

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

The study of people’s thoughts, behaviour and beliefs, how these things are constructed within a social context, and how they are influenced by others around them.

Question 2

Schema

Answer 2

Mental models of the world; they organise knowledge, enable meaningful encoding of new information, and guide anticipation of additional information.

Question 3

Stereotype

Answer 3

Beliefs about social categories regardless of their accuracy.

Question 4

The broad types of cognitive processes.

Answer 4

– System 1 (intuitive, automatic) – faster, less awareness, less effortful.
– System 2 (rational, controlled) – slower, more awareness, more effortful.

Question 5

Social Brain Hypothesis

Answer 5

More social information → larger capacity (specifically neocortex, outer-most part of the brain)

Question 6

Dispositional Attribution

Answer 6

(internal), ‘explaining’ behavioural outcome by referring to stable, dispositional causes.

Question 7

Situational Attribution

Answer 7

(external), ‘explaining’ behavioural outcome by referring to transient, situational causes.

Question 8

Attribution

Answer 8

Explanations that we form spontaneously, often at an intuitive level without complete awareness of the process.

Question 9

Correspondence Bias/Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 9

We tend to assume that observable outcome corresponds to underlying disposition

Question 10

Three types of self-awareness

Answer 10

Subjective self-awareness – distinguish self and environment, regulate own internal processes (all organisms?).

Objective self-awareness – become the object of one’s own attention, be aware of own state of mind, theory of mind ability (those capable of mirror self-recognition?).

Symbolic self-awareness – represent the self through language, communicate the self to others, set future goals for self, perform goal-guided actions, evaluate outcomes of those actions, possess extensive self-schemas (only humans?).

Question 11

The watching-eye effect

Answer 11

Seeing one’s own mirror image makes people more prosocial and honest.

Question 12

The spotlight effect

Answer 12

People tend to overestimate the extent to which others notice them.

Question 13

The illusion of transparency

Answer 13

People tend to overestimate the extent to which their internal states (thoughts, emotions) are apparent to others.

Question 14

Self control

Answer 14

The capacity to regulate thoughts and behaviours in the face of conflict (important for group living).

Question 15

Delay of gratification.

Answer 15

Passing up a smaller immediate reward for a larger later reward, an eg of self-control.

Question 16

Ego depletion and The Model of Self-Control (Baumeister et al.)

Answer 16

Self-control ability is a finite resource that can be temporarily used up.

Question 17

Self-esteem

Answer 17

One’s overall evaluation of one’s worth.

Question 18

Maslow’s Hierarchy

Answer 18

Physiological needs
Safety needs
Belongingness and love needs
Esteem needs
Self-actualisation

Question 19

Social pain

Answer 19

An acute aversive experience that demands immediate attention, may overlap with ‘state’ self-esteem.

Question 20

Motives and Motivation.

Answer 20

Specific internal drivers of behaviour.
A state of arousal that promotes goal-directed behaviour.

Question 21

Inter vs Intra sexual selection.

Answer 21

Intra = characteristics that facilitate direct competition eg weaponry.
Inter = seemingly useless traits that are attractive eg colour.

Question 22

Fluid compensation

Answer 22

An attempt to restore one’s sense of meaning using any available means.

Question 23

Mere exposure effect

Answer 23

Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases positive feelings, even when the exposure is subliminal.

Question 24

Passionate vs Companionate love

Answer 24

Passionate love – an experience involving feelings of euphoria, intimacy, and intense sexual attraction (a few months ~ 2 years).

▪ Companionate love – also called compassionate love, an experience involving affection, trust, and concern for a partner’s wellbeing (slower to develop, much longer lasting).

Question 25

Brennan et al’s model of adult attachment.

Answer 25

• Secure (low anxiety/avoidance) – It is easy for me to become emotionally close to others. I am comfortable depending on others and having others depend on me. I don’t worry about being alone or having others not accept me.
• Dismissing (low anxiety / high avoidance) – I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is very important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient, and I prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on me.
• Preoccupied (high anxiety / low avoidance) – I want to be completely emotionally intimate with others, but I often find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I am uncomfortable being without close relationships, but I sometimes worry that others don’t value me as much as I value them.
• Fearful (high anxiety/avoidance) – I am uncomfortable getting close to others. I want emotionally close relationships, but I find it difficult to trust others completely, or to depend on them. I worry that I will be hurt if I allow myself to become too close to others.

Question 27

Altruism

Answer 27

A special type of prosocial behaviour that is characterized by:

➢ a particular motive, namely promoting the welfare of others without conscious regard of one’s personal benefits (even though such benefits may still be an unintended consequence…).

➢a personal cost to the prosocial actor (e.g., money, time, energy).

Question 28

The Social-Exchange Theory of Prosociality

Answer 28

much prosocial behaviour can be described as a transaction between people who exchange rewards and/or costs.

… exchanged rewards/costs can be external (e.g., gain or loss of money, time, reputation etc.) and/or internal (e.g., gain or loss of self-worth, feelings of guilt/shame etc.)

… people are likely to act prosocially when they feel that the rewards of doing so outweigh costs (noteworthy exceptions: true altruism!)

… people do not consciously monitor costs and rewards for every single exchange, but often adopt a habitual approach.

Question 29

Machiavellianism, Trait empathy, Agreeableness.

Answer 29

Personality factors affecting prosocial behaviour.
1. willingness to exploit and manipulate others to achieve one’s own goals (reduces prosociality).
2. ability and willingness to put oneself in the shoes of others to experience events and emotions as they do (enhances prosociality).
3. a person’s general tendency to be warm, friendly, and tactful as well as to
get along well with others (enhances prosociality).

Question 30

Bystander Effect

Answer 30

Describes when numerous people fail to help a stranger in an emergency situation.

Question 31

Instrumental, hostile and displaced aggression.

Answer 31

Instrumental Aggression: premeditated & goal directed.
Hostile Aggression: impulsive. A response to an unpleasant internal state, such as frustration, anger or pain.
Displaced Aggression: directed against an innocent target that is easily accessible/non-threatening, but that did not cause the internal state which triggered the aggression in the first place.

Question 32

Violence

Answer 32

• a special type of aggressive behaviour that is characterised by

⇒ a particular motive, namely the intention to cause extreme physical or emotional harm eg extreme enough to require medical/psychological treatment.

Question 33

Attitude

Answer 33

A relatively enduring (positive, negative, mixed, or neutral) evaluation of a given entity (including objects, events, issues or people).

Question 34

Attitude strength

Answer 34

Term refers to the durability and the impact of attitudes (not their extremity) → strong attitudes characterized by…

❖ persistence over time
❖ strong resistance to change
❖ habitual impact on a person’s life

Question 35

Belief

Answer 35

Assumed knowledge (that may or may not be true) about a given entity (including objects, events, issues, or people).

Question 36

Theory of Planned Behaviour

Answer 36

Tries to understand relationship between a person’s cognition (i.e.,
beliefs) and behaviour.
argues that intention (willingness) to act in a certain manner is
determined by three types of beliefs (and how well they are aligned…):

❖Behavioural Beliefs: an individual’s belief that a behaviour will produce a
specific desired or undesired outcome (i.e., ‘Vaping will make me sick’)

❖Normative Beliefs: an individual’s belief that others expect them to perform
or suppress a specific behaviour (e.g., ‘my peers expect me [not] to vape’)

❖Control Beliefs: an individual’s beliefs about the factors that may facilitate or hinder
performing the behaviour (i.e., ‘I want to use vapes and I know where to buy them’)

Question 37

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Answer 37

• an unpleasant state that arises when a person realises the inconsistency of their affect, behaviour, and/or cognition.
• the theory argues that people who experience CD usually try to alleviate it (see also McGrath, 2017).
• one approach: restoring alignment within one’s attitudes via changing one’s affect, beliefs or behaviour

Question 38

Types of persuation

Answer 38

systematic appeals/persuasion: a change in attitude brought about by appeals to logic or reason.

heuristic appeals/persuasion: a change in attitude brought about by appeals to emotion or habit.

Question 39

Social Influence

Answer 39

A modification of a person’s attitudes, by a real or imagined other.

Thecontrolofoneperson’sbehaviourbyanother,andthosewhoknowhowtoexertsuchinfluencecanhaveandbejustaboutanythingtheyplease.

Question 40

Conformity

Answer 40

A change in one’s behaviour to accord with others and/or social norms. This can either be due to:

▪ acceptance- conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with others (e.g., an attitudinal change after feeling persuaded by others, such as joining in astanding ovation and meaning it).

▪ compliance- conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with others even if privately disagreeing (e.g., joining in a standing ovation but privately thinking the performance wasn’t that great).

▪ obedience- acting in accord with a direct order by an authority (occasionally without privately thinking anything other than that the order must be followed).

Question 41

Informational vs Normative influence

Answer 41

Informational Influence = change of attitude/behaviour because other people’s behaviour provides information about what is the correct thing to do.
Normative Influence = change of attitude/behaviour because other people’s behaviour provides information about what is the appropriate thing to do.

Question 42

Risky shift phenomenon

Answer 42

Groups tend to take more risks than individuals.

Question 43

Group polarisation

Answer 43

Normative views become more polarised over time.

Question 44

Group think

Answer 44

Extreme polarization that involves deterioration in mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment due to group isolation and an excessive desire to achieve/maintain consensus.

Question 45

Group classifications

Answer 45

size, entitativity, purpose…
entitativity considered particularly useful:
extent to which a group of individuals are perceived to be cohesive, interconnected, similar, interactive.

Question 46

Social facilitation and inhibition

Answer 46

Social Facilitation (Triplett, 1898): improved individual performance (e.g., in athletics) in the company of others depending on…
Social Inhibition (e.g., Bond & Titus, 1983): impaired individual performance (e.g., memory)
in the company of others depending on…

a) how skilled people are at what they are doing.
b) how much people (over)estimate that others pay attention to them.
c) how worried people are that others will judge them.

Question 47

Social loafing

Answer 47

People seem to expend less effort when working in a group than when working alone.

Question 48

Intergroup behaviour

Answer 48

Loosely refers to any perception, cognition, affect or behaviour that is influenced by people’s recognition that they and others are members of distinct social groups.

Question 49

Culture

Answer 49

An instance of group memory that lays out ideas about the world and ways to act in it that are considered appropriate by the group.

▪cultural ideas often guide our feelings, thoughts and behaviour so subtly that we hardly sense their existence (until we enter a new culture).

Question 50

Minimal group paradigm

Answer 50

People favour ingroup members (and may derogate outgroup members) even under conditions that erase past/societal structure.

Question 51

Stereotyping

Answer 51

Repertory of fixed impressions” about other people based on their group memberships.

Exaggerated beliefs associated with a category” that can lead to prejudice as “an antipathy based on a faulty generalisation

Question 52

Social categorisation

Answer 52

(Alleged) Knowledge of a person’s group membership.

Question 53

Prejudice

Answer 53

Feelings towards individuals based on knowledge of their group membership.

Question 54

Discrimination

Answer 54

Actions towards individuals based on knowledge of their group membership.

Question 55

Hostile, benevolent, ambivalent sexism.

Answer 55

hostile sexism (HS) – negative attitudes towards women.
❖ benevolent sexism (BS) – positive attitudes towards women.
❖ ambivalent sexism – describes the state of being high in both HS and BS.

Question 56

Cognitive biases

Answer 56

▪ Accentuation Bias (Tajfel & Wilkes, 1963): people consider others who belong to the same group
more similar (= within-group assimilation) than people who belong to different groups (= between-group contrast).

▪ Correspondence Bias (Gilbert & Malone, 1995): humans tend to see others’ behavior as reflecting their inner dispositions (rather than social roles/situational pressures).

▪ Illusory Correlations (Hamilton & Gifford, 1976): humans inclined to associate members of minority groups with uncommon attributes and members of majority groups with common attributes (even when no actual association exists).

Question 57

Motivational biases

Answer 57

▪ Need for Distinctiveness (e.g., Brewer, 1999): people aspire to an optimal balance of inclusion and distinctiveness → group membership allows them to fit in (with ingroup members) and stand out (compared to outgroup members).

▪ Need To Belong (e.g., Baumeister & Leary, 1995): humans aspire to belong by forming groups → group
membership prompts them to prefer ingroup members over outgroup members.

▪ Need For Self-Enhancement (e.g., Sedikides et al., 2008): humans are motivated to perceive themselves positively and better than others => easily inclined to attribute positive qualities to ingroups, negative qualities to outgroups.

Question 58

Tokenism

Answer 58

People make small concessions to members of certain social groups in order to deflect accusations of prejudice and discrimination

Question 59

Biased impression formation

Answer 59

Stereotypic expectations influence how info about them is sought out, attended to, interpreted, and remembered.