Social Psych

Question 1

person perception

Answer 1

the process of forming impressions of others

Question 2

positive effects of physical appearance

Answer 2

People ascribe desirable personality traits to those who are good looking. More likely to believe that they’re competent and friendly etc.

Question 3

cognitive schemas

Answer 3

mental structures or frameworks that an individual uses to organize knowledge and guide cognitive processes and behavior. Developed schemas through experience.

Question 4

social schema

Answer 4

mental structure or framework and scripts or expectations an individual forms about how things operate within their environment. ex: knowing you need to dress up for prom

Question 5

stereotypes

Answer 5

widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. Product of schema.

Question 6

illusory correlation

Answer 6

To see a correlation that doesn’t exist in reality.
when people estimate that they have encountered more confirmations of an association between social traits than they have actually seen.

Question 7

spotlight effect

Answer 7

phenomenon in which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they actually are

Question 8

Evolutionary perspective of person perception

Answer 8

argue that person perception is swayed by physical attractiveness because attractiveness was associated with reproductive potential in women and with health

Question 9

ingroup vs. outgroup

Answer 9

ingroup - a group that one belongs to and identifies with
outgroup - a group that one does not belong or identify with

Question 10

implicit bias

Answer 10

Unconscious bias that causes people to unintentionally have negative associations for people and unintentional stereotypes and may lead to discrimination

Question 11

Implicit Associations Test

Answer 11

Harvard researchers developed The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and it measures the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations or stereotypes to reveal an individual’s hidden or subconscious biases.

Question 12

attributions

Answer 12

inferences that people make out about the causes of events and behavior. people make attributions in order to understand their experiences

Question 13

internal (dispositional) attributions

Answer 13

people infer that an event or a person’s behavior is due to personal factors such as personality traits, character etc.

Question 14

external (situational) attributions

Answer 14

people believe that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors

Question 15

fundamental attribution error

Answer 15

observers have bias in favor of internal attributions in explaining the behavior of other people as opposed to external factors

Question 16

actor-observer bias

Answer 16

Explains the Fundamental Attribution error. the tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes, while attributing our own behavior to external causes

Question 17

defensive attribution

Answer 17

tendency to blame victims for their misfortune, so that one feels less likely to be victimized in a similar way

Question 18

self-serving bias

Answer 18

people’s tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors

Question 19

individualistic vs. collectivist

Answer 19

Individualism stresses individual goals and the rights of the individual person.
Collectivism focuses on group goals, what is best for the collective group, and personal relationships.

Question 20

matching hypothesis

Answer 20

proposes that males and females of approximately equal physical attractiveness are likely to select each other as partners

Question 21

evolutionary perspective on love

Answer 21

proposes that love functions to attract and retain a mate for the purpose of reproducing and then caring for the resulting offspring

Question 22

components of attitude

Answer 22

Cognitive- our conscious thought process in attitude development.
Emotional - attitude is impacted by how you feel
Behavioral- attitude is reflected by our actual behaviors.

Question 23

What do studies indicate about relationship between attitudes and behavior?

Answer 23

The cognitive and emotional aspects of attitude don’t always match up with behavior.

Question 24

persuasion

Answer 24

the process of changing our attitudes toward something based on some kind of communication. Much of the persuasion we experience comes from outside forces

Question 25

source factors

Answer 25

expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness of the source

Question 26

message factors

Answer 26

characteristics of the message itself in terms of structure and wording which can affect the effectiveness of the message:
repetition
fear
two sided arguments

Question 27

receiver factors

Answer 27

age, sex, level of education, self-esteem, resistance to persuasion, level of involvement, incentives for participation

Question 28

Learning/ Behaviorist view of attitude formation

Answer 28

only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind. believe people learn attitudes through classical, observational, and operant conditioning. (reinforcement histories, punishment)

Question 29

cognitive dissonance

Answer 29

A person experiences tension when they possess inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and attitudes. The unpleasant experience of this tension can motivate person to change attitude

Question 30

Festinger’s experiment- cognitive dissonance

Answer 30

Subjects are required to perform an extremely boring task and then are asked to lie to a group of people and state that it was a worthwhile, interesting task

Question 31

bem’s self perception theory

Answer 31

describes the process in which people, lacking initial attitudes or emotional responses, develop them by observing their own behavior and coming to conclusions as to what attitudes must have driven that behavior

Question 32

central route (elaboration likelihood model)

Answer 32

The “substance argument”. uses facts and information to logically persuade and change attitudes

Question 33

peripheral route (elaboration likelihood model)

Answer 33

The “style argument”. The route by which persuasion uses a more shallow, less logical form of argument. Based on emotion, attractiveness of source etc.

Question 34

conformity

Answer 34

Yielding to real or imagined social pressure

Question 35

normative conformity

Answer 35

Person yields to social pressure to fit in with social norms.

Question 36

informational conformity

Answer 36

Person conforms because they want to be correct about situations and conform to other people for guidance in ambiguous situations.

Question 37

asch test

Answer 37

Subjects were in a group with 5 other confederates.
They were supposed to state which line was the largest of 3 lines. The experimenters gave a false answer to what was biggest line. Then they recorded whether the subject agreed with confederates on wrong answers.

Question 38

findings from Asch test

Answer 38

1/3rd of subjects agreed with the experimenters and stated the wrong lines thus showing the power of conformity (either informational or normative).

Question 39

milgram’s studies

Answer 39

the (fake) electric shock chair experiment that found that over 60% of subjects were willing to shock the students to the maximum level, even with subjects begging and screaming to stop. People often obey commands from an authority figure to take immoral actions

Question 40

Historical applications of Milgram’s studies

Answer 40

Explanation for war crimes and the holocaust as the Nazis argued that they were just following orders.

Question 41

ethics controversy in Milgram’s study

Answer 41

Deception – the participants actually believed they were shocking a real person and were unaware the learner was a confederate of Milgram’s.
However, Milgram Argued that “illusion is used when necessary in order to set the stage for the revelation of certain difficult to get at truths.” Some argue that there was psychological harm; but others disagree.

Question 42

Zimbardo’s Prison Simulation

Answer 42

Stanford students were randomly assigned to be either a prisoner or a guard. The prisoners were arrested and booked and placed in a mock prison. The guards were informed only that they could not physically put hands on prisoners.

Question 43

Conclusions drawn from Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Answer 43

prison guards were extremely abusive with forced exercise, sleep deprivation, humiliation, etc.
The prisoners played the victim and very few rebelled. Could have just left the experiment and none of the subjects opted out. situational roles determined the behavior of prisoners and the guards.

Question 44

bystander effect

Answer 44

The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation. More likely to help when alone than in a group.

Question 45

Kitty Genovese case

Answer 45

Murder of Kitty G. inspired research in bystander effect. She was murdered in NYC while 38 people were witnesses and nobody called the police

Question 46

ambiguous situations

Answer 46

Someone isn’t confident on their perception about what is happening so they don’t do anything (causes of bystander effect)

Question 47

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 47

don’t act because you believe that other people are going to take action.

Question 48

social loafing

Answer 48

refers to the concept that people are prone to exert less effort on a task if they are in a group versus when they work alone. Ex. groupwork in schools

Question 49

social facilitation

Answer 49

when being in a group increases production. Ex.- exercise harder in a group workout

Question 50

group polarization

Answer 50

when group discussion strengthens a groups dominant point of view and produces a risky shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction

Question 51

groupthink

Answer 51

occurs when members of a cohesive group emphasize concurrence/agreement at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision

Question 52

causes of groupthink

Answer 52

Dominant Directive leadership
External threats
Insular (isolated) group
Homogenous group- ( people the same, no diversity)
(Bay of Pigs, Iraq War)

Question 53

group cohesiveness

Answer 53

refers to the strengths of the relationships linking group members to each other and to the group itself

Question 54

Deindividuation

Answer 54

loss of identity or self-awareness, when in a group setting. Creates a loss of control over actions. One explanation for mob behavior.

Question 55

foot in door technique

Answer 55

getting people to agree to a small request to increase the chances that they will agree to a large request later.

Question 56

Reciprocity norms or reciprocity effect

Answer 56

the rule that we should pay back in kind what we receive from others

Question 57

low ball technique

Answer 57

getting someone to commit to an attractive proposition before its hidden costs are revealed.

Question 58

bait and switch

Answer 58

action of luring someone into that an apparent good deal, with the intention of substituting inferior or more costly.

Question 59

door in face

Answer 59

The persuader requests something very large or significant that is rejected. Then follows that up with a small request that is accepted.