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social psychology exam 1 > social psych test 1 > Flashcards

social psych test 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is social psychology?

A

the scientific study of the way people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people

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2
Q

social influence

A

The effect of the words, actions, or mere presence of other people on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors

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3
Q

Social Psychology vs common sense

A

Common sense = folk wisdom
- Social psychologists predict behavior by forming hypotheses and testing them scientifically

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4
Q

Social Psychology vs philosophy

A

Address many of the same questions
- Social psychology explores them scientifically

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5
Q

what is the difference between social psychology and other social sciences?

A

level of analysis.

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6
Q

Personality Psychology

A

Studies the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from each other

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7
Q

Social Psychology vs Personality Psychology

A

Focuses on individual differences
- Ignores the powerful role played by social influence

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8
Q

Social Psychology vs Cognitive Psychology

A

Focus on sequence of basic internal processes that underlie more complex behavior
- Ignores influence of others/society

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9
Q

Sociology

A

Focuses on society at large

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10
Q

Social psychology

A

Focuses on the individual in the context of a social situation

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11
Q

Goal of social psychology

A

To identify universal properties of human nature that make everyone susceptible to social influence, regardless of social class or culture

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12
Q

Goal of sociology

A

To identify why a particular society or group within a society produces behavior (e.g., aggression) in its members

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13
Q

what is the major difference between the goal of sociology and social psychology?

A

Sociology looks toward society at large rather than the individual

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14
Q

Max Wertheimer Gestalt theory

A

The basic thesis of gestalt theory might be formulated thus: there are contexts in which what is happening in the whole cannot be deduced from the characteristics of the separate pieces

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15
Q

who is the founding father of Social Psychology

A

Kurt Lewin
B = f(P, E); behavior is a function of the person and their environment
Applied Gestalt theory to social perceptions

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16
Q

attributions

A

How we explain behavior
Person (dispositional) variables
Enduring traits (Personality)
Attitudes- Situational variables

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17
Q

Fundamental Attribution Error

A

Over-estimation of the extent to which people’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors
under-estimation of the role of complex situational factors.

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18
Q

When we underestimate the power of social influence…

A

we gain a feeling of false security.
- Increases personal vulnerability to possibly destructive social influence
- Lulls us into lowering our guard

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19
Q

By failing to fully appreciate the power of the situation..

A

we tend to
- Oversimplify complex situations
- Decrease our understanding of the true causes
- Blame the victim when people are overpowered by social forces

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20
Q

social psychology is ___ concerned with the objective nature of social situations and is ___ concerned with subjective

A

not
more

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21
Q

construal

A

the way in which people perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world

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22
Q

social cognition

A

how people think about themselves and the social world. How they make sense of it. The need to be accurate.

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23
Q

Social cognition motive

A

Takes into account how people think about the world
We try to gain accurate understandings so we can make effective judgments and decisions
But we typically act on the basis of incompletely and inaccurately interpreted information

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24
Q

what are the goals of scientific research?

A

describe
predict
explain

25
Q

Observational method

A

The technique whereby a researcher observes people and records measurements or impressions of their behavior.
describing social behavior
-What is the nature of the phenomenon?

26
Q

correlational method

A

describing social behavior
-What is the nature of the phenomenon?

27
Q

experimental method

A

the method in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable
answering causal questions
-Is variable X a cause of variable Y?

28
Q

archival analysis

A

Can be used as an observational method of examining documents or archives of a culture.

29
Q

observational method limitations

A

Frequency with which behavior occurs, where behaviors occur
•Confined to what is observed, that is –
-the people
-the setting
-the activity
•Real world data is extremely messy!

30
Q

correlation

A

estimates the relationship between two variables. How much can one variable be known based on the other?

31
Q

direction

A

Whether a correlation is positive or negative

32
Q

magnitude of correlations

A

Ranges from -1.0 to +1.0
- 1.0 = perfect negative relationship
0.0 = no relationship
+1.0 = perfect positive relationship

The closer to 1 (in either direction) the stronger the correlation.

33
Q

survey research

A

the researcher directly approaches subjects and asks them questions.

in the experimental method, the dependent variable…

34
Q

in the experimental method, random assignment…

A

the process of assigning participants to levels of your independent variable.
Crucial to true experimental research

35
Q

basic research

A

studies that are designed to find the best answer to the question of why people behave the way they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity.

36
Q

social cognition is…

A

how people select, interpret, and remember social information to judge and make decisions

37
Q

automatic thinking

A

thinking that is non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless
- Count from 1-10

38
Q

controlled thinking

A

thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful
- Count from 1-10 in alphabetical order…starting with eight.

39
Q

schemas

A

mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world around themes or subjects.

40
Q

situation ambiguous

A

Warm/cold labels affected view of lecturer.
- Humorous
- Sociable
- Considerate
How did warm/cold label affect participation?

41
Q

situation unambiguous

A

lecturer extremely self-confident
How did warm/cold labels affect view of lecturer?
- Immodest?
- Humorous?

42
Q

Information that is ____ with our schemas is easier to recall than information that is ____ with our schemas.

A

consistent
inconsistent

43
Q

memory is reconstructive

A

We remember some information and what we do not catch or what we forget, our schemas “fill in” for us.

44
Q

accessibility

A

the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds

45
Q

priming

A

is the process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema

46
Q

self-fulfilling prophecy

A

People have an expectation about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person
and causes that person to behave consistently with people’s original expectations

47
Q

Judgmental Heuristics

A

mental shortcuts people use to make judgments quickly and efficiently

48
Q

Representativeness Heuristic

A

a mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

49
Q

base-rate fallacy

A

the tendency to ignore base-rate information

50
Q

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

A

a mental shortcut whereby people use a number or a value as a starting point and then adjust insufficiently from this anchor

51
Q

False Consensus

A

The tendency to overestimate the commonality of one’s opinions and one’s undesirable or unsuccessful behaviors

52
Q

False Uniqueness

A

The tendency to underestimate the commonality of one’s abilities and one’s desirable or successful behaviors.

53
Q

Controlled thinking

A

thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful.
Requires energy and capacity.

54
Q

automatic believing

A

initial acceptance of information

55
Q

controlled believing

A

Assess truthfulness of accepted beliefs
Unaccept if necessary

56
Q

Thought Suppression

A

the attempt to avoid thinking about something we would just as soon forget.

57
Q

what are the processes of thought suppression?

A

Monitoring Process
- scans for unwanted thoughts
Operating Process:
- controlled, attempts to distract from unwanted thoughts

58
Q

Counterfactual thinking

A

mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been.

59
Q

Overconfidence Barrier

A

the finding that people usually have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgment
- people’s judgments are usually not as correct as they think.

social psychology exam 1 (1 decks)

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