Social psych

Question 1

Social psych

Answer 1

The scientific investigation of how people think about, interact with, influence, and are influenced by the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of others

Question 2

Social influence

Answer 2

The ways in which other people alter their behaviour or attitudes because of a direct or indirect influence of others

Question 3

Social facilitation

Answer 3

A boost in performance due to the presence of others

Question 4

Social inhibition

Answer 4

The presence of others leads to a worse performance

Question 5

Yerkes and Dodson (1908)

Answer 5

Discovered that people generally perform best at a moderate level of arousal
Drops off when they are not sufficiently aroused and when they are over aroused
Optimal level depends on task
Simple/well learned: high
Difficult/new: low

Question 6

Triplett, as cited in Myers 2007

Answer 6

Noticed that cyclists rode faster when they raced against each other rather than against a clock

Question 7

Group

Answer 7

A collection of two or more people who interact with and influence one another and who share a common purpose

Question 8

Group polarisation

Answer 8

Discussions within groups tends to strengthen opinions, when individuals are in groups with others who hold similar attitudes or beliefs.

Question 9

Myers and Bishop (1970)

Answer 9

When students who are low in racial prejudice discuss racial issues they become more accepting, however the reverse is true for those who are highly prejudiced (they become more prejudice)

Question 10

McCauley 2002

Answer 10

Terrorist mentality arises when people with shared grievance get together and talk in a group where there are no moderating influences

Question 11

Obedience

Answer 11

Occurs when we follow the commands of someone with authority, or the rules of the law of our society

Question 12

Compliance

Answer 12

Involves changing one’s behaviour in response to a request to do so, it does not necessarily involve an authority figure

Question 13

Conformity

Answer 13

The tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with accepted standards about how a person should behave in certain situations

Question 14

Milgram (1963) AIM

Answer 14

Researched how far a person would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person

Question 15

Factors affecting obedience

Answer 15

Social proximity
Legitimacy of authority figure
Group pressure

Question 16

Asch (1955) AIM

Answer 16

To investigate the extent to which social pressure form a majority group could affect a person to conform.

Question 17

Factors that affect conformity

Answer 17

1) Group size (increase up to 4)
2) Unanimity (Complete agreement, ally affect)
3) Informational influence (Need for direction/ feels incompetent/ thinks other people are more informed)
4) Normative influence (Guided by the social norms/ desire to be liked)
5) Culture (Collectivist cultures more likely to conform eg Asia and Africa)

Question 18

Deindividuation

Answer 18

Loss of individuality and gain a sense of anonymity in a group setting

Question 19

Social Learning theory

Answer 19

All our behaviours are learned and occur as a result of whether they are rewarded or punished

Question 20

Status

Answer 20

The importance of an individual’s position in a group, as perceived by the members of that group

Question 21

Power

Answer 21

An individual’s or group’s ability to control or influence the thoughts, feelings or behaviour of another person or group

Question 22

Social hierarchy

Answer 22

Shows the order of dominance of different members of a group, with the most dominant individual (leader) at the top, and the least dominant at the bottom

Question 23

Attribution theory

Answer 23

Explains how we infer the behaviour of others

Question 24

Internal attribution (Dispositional) (Heider, 1958)

Answer 24

The process of assigning the cause of behaviour to some internal characteristic, rather than to outside forces.

Question 25

External attribution (Situational) (Hieder, 1958)

Answer 25

The process of assigning the cause of behaviour to some situation or event outside a person’s control rather than to some internal characteristic

Question 26

Fundamental attribution error (Heider, 1958)

Answer 26

The tendency for an observer, when interpreting and explaining the behaviour of another person, to underestimate the situation and to overestimate the personal disposition

Question 27

Jones and Harris (1967)

Answer 27

Asked students to judge the true attitude of a person after reading limited info presented in either an essay or speech by him on a controversial topic
In one of their studies they read debates on ‘Castro’s Cuba is a legitimate member of the family of nation’.
Speeches either supported or opposed (assigned)
Findings: Still inferred debator held an attitude towards Castro that was close to what they had debated

Question 28

Crick and Doge (1994)

Answer 28

Reactive aggression: An angry response to frustration or provocation
Proactive aggression: A deliberate attempt to get a desired goal

Findings: Children showing reactive aggression are likely to show attribution bias and interpret situations as hostile when no hostility is intended

Question 29

De Michele and colleagues (1998)

Answer 29

Suggests that we distort facts and make situational attributions to maintain self-esteem = self seving bias
EG: Dispositional: “I bought the bag because I needed it”
Situational: “I bought the bag because the shop assistant pressured me into it”

Question 30

Covariation (Kelley, 1967)

Answer 30

A person has info from multiple observations, at different times and situations, and can perceive the covariation of an observed effect and its causes

Question 31

Consensus

Answer 31

The extent to which other people behave in the same way in a similar situation.

Question 32

Distinctiveness

Answer 32

The extent to which the person behaves in the same way in similar situations

Question 33

Consistency

Answer 33

The extent to which the person behaves like this every time the situation occurs

Question 34

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 34

Festinger (1957)
Suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance)

Question 35

Dissonance can be reduced in one of three ways

Answer 35

1) Forced compliance behaviour
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)
2) Decision Making
Brehm (1956)
3) Effort
Aronson and Mills (1959)