social psych

Question 1

what are the 3 levels that identity can be constructed at

Answer 1

individual level, social level, cultural level

Question 2

what is self construal and what are the 2 types

Answer 2

how people define themselves, in terms of their culture. there is individualist (or independent), when the self is autonomous and individuality should be celebrated, and collectivist (or interdependent), where the self is connected to other people and people should seek to fit in a community and fulfil appropriate roles

Question 3

what are the four engrained psychological needs we have, that are benefited by being with others

Answer 3

belonging, self-esteem and control (being capable of achieving goals) and meaning

Question 4

what is the sociometer hypothesis

Answer 4

argues that things that make us feel good about ourselves (self-esteem) are also things that make others accept and like us (belonging)

Question 5

what is social comparison theory

Answer 5

that we seek to gain accurate self-evaluations and that comparisons with other people allow us to do this

Question 6

2 types of social comparisons

Answer 6

downwards, where we compare ourselves to others we think are worse then us, to make us feel better about ourselves, and upwards, where we compare ourselves to others we think are better than us, which can make us feel bad about ourselves

Question 7

what is the self-evaluation maintenance model

Answer 7

where we seek to maintain or imrpove our evaluation of ourself (we dont want accurate comparisons, we just want to feel good) - this can happen through either reflection, where other people who are better then us in a dimension we dont care about, so we still feel good because we share in their success. However, through comparison, we can worsen our self-evaluation as they are better then us in a domain that we care about

Question 8

what is BIRG-ing

Answer 8

basking in reflected glory, others success becomes our success by alligning ourselves publicly with them, such as by being happy and publicly supporting that your sport team won`

Question 9

what is CORF-ing

Answer 9

cutting of reflected failure, where others failure becomes our failure and we publicly distance ourselves from those others (such as taking down political signs after the party you support loses)

Question 10

what is the better than average effect

Answer 10

most people tend to view themselves above average in many domains, such as kindness, which is not possible when majority of people can’t be above average

Question 11

three explanations for why loneliness may be contagious

Answer 11

inductions (emotions are contagious within a network), homophily (similar people are connected, like with like) and shared environment (exposure to the same challenges and upheavals within a social network)

Question 12

reasons why we may ostracise

Answer 12

to strengthen a group (make it more cohesive), protect the group (from unacceptable behaviour), or to feel more powerful or in control (more personal reasons)

Question 13

what are the 2 hypothesise for the effects of social media

Answer 13

stimulation hypothesis, which states that social media can strengthen existing relationships if we work to actively engage with others through it, and the displacement hypothesis, which states that social media can negatively impact our social ties if it replaces meaningful offline interactions and is used passively (monitoring others lives and making social comparisons)

Question 14

what is thin slicing

Answer 14

reffering to how little information we need of a person to make an accurate judgement

Question 15

what are the 2 primary dimensions that we seem to judge people on

Answer 15

warmth and competence

Question 16

what is the inuendo effect

Answer 16

where if people find out where someone scores on one of warmth or competence, but not the other, they are more likely to assume that the person will fall short on the other, unknown

Question 17

what are the 2 main ways that we update a first impression and combine information to make overall judgements on a person

Answer 17

algebraically, where we add up all of their individual traits (the importance of each specific trait to us) to form an overall impression, and configurationally, where rather than adding up specific pieces of information, we produce an impression on the whole person (rather than a sum of parts)

Question 18

what did milgram do

Answer 18

the shock study, you know the one

Question 19

what was found in milgrams studies that made people less likely to obey

Answer 19

a non-commited experimenter, a close relation with the ‘learner’, the presence of other people disobeying the experimenter, or the phrase ‘you have no choice but to continue’ - people want to feel in control

Question 20

what did zimbardo do

Answer 20

the stanford prison experiment

Question 21

what are 2 levers we can use when ‘appealing to the head’

Answer 21

norm or reciprocity (when someone does something for us, we feel pressure to help in return) and the power of commitment (once a choice has been made, people feel pressure to act consistently with that commitment, even if that commitment becomes more costly)

Question 22

what are the 2 door related methods of persauding people

Answer 22

door in the face (ask for a very large favour that will be refused, and then follow with a more mild request that will seem insignificant in comparison) and foot in the door (make a small request which people will agree to, then follow it up with a larger request that was the real motive all along)

Question 23

what are the 2 pathways of the elaboration likelihood model

Answer 23

the central pathway (people will think carefully and deliberately about the content of a message. more likely to occur if the persuader is knowledgable or the argument is personally relevant) and the peripheral pathway (where people attend to easier to process cues such as argument length or who is delivering it. more likely to occur if the issue isnt personally relevant, or the message is incomplete/hard to comprehend)

Question 24

what are the factors that impact majority influence

Answer 24

anonymity (more likely to conform if our answer can be identified to us) expertise and status (more likely to conform to people we think are experts on the topic), group size (if more people are conforming then we are more likely to follow), group unanimity (if even one person dissents, we are less likely to conform)

Question 25

what is social loafing and reasons why it occurs

Answer 25

the combined efforts of a group can often be less than the sum of the individuals. Deindividuation (people feel they can hide in the crowd and avoid the negative consequences of slacking off), equity (people assume that others wont try as hard, so they match this lack of effort), reward (they believe that their personal effort wont be recognised or rewarded, so no need to try)

Question 26

proposed motivations for altruism

Answer 26

social reward (people value kind people), personal distress (reduce our own distress about other’s suffering), empathetic concern (identifying with someone need and genuinely wanting to alleviate their suffering)

Question 27

three factors that may cause the bystander effect

Answer 27

diffusion of responsibility (the presence of other people reduces peoples sense of responsibility), pluralistic ignorance (if their is a lack of reaction from other people, a bystander may assume that there is no real danger) evaluation apprehension (people fear making mistakes and appearing foolish)

Question 28

what are the ABC components of an attitude

Answer 28

affective, cognitive, behavioural

Question 29

what is ambivalent sexism

Answer 29

recognises that prejudiced attitudes can contain both negative and positive features

Question 30

what are the perspectives explaining where prejudice comes from

Answer 30

the economic perspective (intergroup tensions arise between groups that compete for the same resources), the motivational perspective (hostility and prejudice can arise simply because an out group exists, not for a particular reason), the cognitive miser (prejudice is a byproduct of our tendency to categorise things, and stereotyping is cognitively easier than considering individual differences)

Question 31

what is the minimal group paradigm

Answer 31

the minimal conditions required for in group favouritism, and therefore out group derogation to occur)