social psychology

Question 1

what is attribution?

Answer 1

-how we make judgements about the causes of behavior
-both our own and others behavior

Question 2

what are the 2 types of attribution and define them?

Answer 2

-dispositional: behavior due to internal factors (ex. personality, intelligence)
-situational: behavior due to external factors (ex. environmental setting, distractions, circumstance)

Question 3

what are the 6 attributional errors discussed in lecture?

Answer 3

-correspondence bias
-fundamental attribution error
-actor-observer bias
-self-serving bias
-group-serving bias
-just-world belief

Question 4

what is correspondence bias?

Answer 4

general tendency to overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors

Question 5

what is fundamental attribution error?

Answer 5

-similar to correspondence bias
-FAE somewhat earlier theory
-complete failure to consider situational factors; reliance on disposition factors

Question 6

what is actor-observer bias?

Answer 6

-emphasizes dispositional factors to explain behavior of others
-emphasizes situational factors to explain own behavior

Question 7

what is self-serving bias?

Answer 7

-attribute our own successes to dispositional factors
-attribute our own failures to situational factors

Question 8

what is group-serving bias?

Answer 8

-attributions made by a group or organization
-attribute group’s successes to dispositional factors
-attribute groups failures to situational factors

Question 9

what is just-world belief?

Answer 9

-assume that good things happen to good people
assume that bad things happen to bad people

Question 10

what are attitudes?

Answer 10

favorable or unfavorable evaluations that predispose behavior toward a person, object, or situation

Question 11

what question does attitude formation ask?

Answer 11

where do our attitudes come from?

Question 12

where do our attitudes come from?

Answer 12

-attitude adoption as social inclusion
-learning: operant and classical conditioning; observational learning
-genetic influences

Question 13

what is attitude change?

Answer 13

-influence of cognitive dissonance (festinger)
-uncomfortable cognitive state due to perception of contradictory information
-action does not match beliefs

Question 14

what is the elaboration likelihood model (ELM)?

Answer 14

-explanation for response to persuasive messages

Question 15

what is belief perseverance?

Answer 15

the tendency to cling to one’s initial belief even after receiving new information that contradicts or disconfirms the basis of that belief

Question 16

what is the backfire effect?

Answer 16

given evidence against their beliefs, people can reject the evidence and believe even more strongly

Question 17

what is prejudice?

Answer 17

attitude or prejudgment about others, usually negative

Question 18

what are stereotypes?

Answer 18

simplified sets of traits associated with group membership

Question 19

what is the influence of confirmation bias?

Answer 19

we search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms our preexisting beliefs and hypotheses

Question 20

what is the process of stereotyping?

Answer 20

-arises from our tendency to categorize and generalize
-stereotyped categories can contain accurate information, BUT become inaccurate by oversimplifying, exclusion of information

Question 21

what is in-group favoritism?

Answer 21

-says we tend to favor people in our own group
-says we tend to view people in an out-group negatively

Question 22

What was the Robbers Cave Experiment (Sherif)?

Answer 22

-assigned boys to 2 groups at summer camp: rattlers and eagles
Tasks were:
1. groups separated at first; in-group bonding
2. competitive events between groups
3. integration, social activites
4. required cooperation (superordinate goals)
-Results: groups showed a lot of in-group favoritism and some even wanted to figt those in other group

Question 23

What does the Implicit Association Test (IAT) test for?

Answer 23

-tests unconscious attitudes

Question 24

What is stereotype threat?

Answer 24

-feeling of being at risk of conforming to stereotypes about your social group
-priming of stereotype information
-“im aware theres a stereotype out there about ___, knowledge of that leads to self-fulfilling prophecy (negative)

Question 25

what are social norms and the types?

Answer 25

-rules for behavior in social settings
-2 types implicit and explicit
-explicit ex: no smoking indoors
-implicit ex. ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes

Question 26

what is conformity?

Answer 26

matching behavior and appearance to perceived social norms

Question 27

what is compliance ?

Answer 27

agreement to requests from others wit no perceived authority

Question 28

what is obedience?

Answer 28

compliance to requests from authority figures

Question 29

Why do people conform?

Answer 29

-useful in new or ambiguous situations
-reduces risk of social rejection

Question 30

what are 2 compliance techniques?

Answer 30

-foot-in-the-door: a small request is followed by compliance with a larger request that might otherwise have been rejected
-door-in-the-face: (2nd)compliance with a target request is preceded by a large, unreasonable request (1st)

Question 31

what is deindividuation?

Answer 31

immersion of individual withing group, leading to anonymity

Question 32

what is dehumanization?

Answer 32

depriving a person or group of positive human qualities

Question 33

what is social facilitation?

Answer 33

the presence of others changes individual performance

Question 34

On average, what occurs with social facilitation and why?

Answer 34

-on familiar or simple tasks: better performance
-on unfamiliar or complex tasks: worse performance
-why? heightened arousal for complex tasks : link to Yerkes-Dodson Law

Question 35

what is social loafing?

Answer 35

lower effort and motivation when working in a group vs. working alone
-ex. working on group class assignments
–less social loafing if task is found intrinsically enjoyable

Question 36

what is group polarization?

Answer 36

during discussion, members tend to take more extreme positions in direction they were already inclined to old
-why?
–conformity
–like-minded people tend to affiliate with one another

Question 37

what is group think?

Answer 37

group does not question its decisions critically;often leads to flawed decisions
-ex. pearl harbor

Question 38

what are the symptoms of groupthink (janis)?

Answer 38

-unquestioned belief in the morality of the group; causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions
-rationalizing warnings that might challenge the group’s assumptions
-stereotyping those who are opposed to the group
-self-censorship of ideas that deviate from apparent groups consensus
-illusions of unanimity among group members; silence viewed as agreement

Question 39

what are the 2 routes according to the elaboration likelihood model?

Answer 39

-central route
-peripheral route

Question 40

what is the central route?

Answer 40

consider arguments carefully and thoughtfully
-quality of argument

Question 41

what is the peripheral route?

Answer 41

• evaluation shortcuts
  -number of arguments; how message is presented; characteristics of speaker
  -requires less attention

Question 42

attitude change in response to our own cognitive processes is?

Answer 42

reduction of cognitive dissonance

Question 43

what is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 43

the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

Question 44

attitude change in response to efforts from others is?

Answer 44

persuasion

Question 45

what does the implicit association test avoid?

Answer 45

social desirability effects