Social Psychology

Question 1

The field of ___________ _____________ looks at behaviour and mental processes, including the social world in which we exist. It is the scientific study of how a person’s behaviour, thoughts, and feelings influence and are influenced by social groups.

Answer 1

social psychology

Question 2

Social interactions provide opportunity for the presence of other people to directly or indirectly influence the behaviour, feelings, and thoughts of each individual. That influence is called ___________ influence.

Answer 2

social

Question 3

The process of explaining one’s own behaviour and the behaviour of others is called _____________ ____________.

Answer 3

attribution theory

Question 4

_____________ ___________ was originally developed by social psychologist Fritz Heider as a way of explaining why things happen and why people choose the particular explanations of behaviour that they do.

Answer 4

Attribution theory

Question 5

What are the two kinds of explanations for behaviour in the attribution theory?

Answer 5

External or situational causes and internal or dispositional causes.

Question 6

What is a situational cause in attribution theory?

Answer 6

When the cause of behaviour is assumed to be from external sources, such as weather, traffic, educational opportunities, it is said to be a situational cause.

Question 7

What is a dispositional cause in attribution theory?

Answer 7

If the cause of behaviour is assumed to come from within the individual, it is called a dispositional cause.

Question 8

It is important not to engage in _____________-____________ _____________ for attribution theory because there is usually an interaction in both dispositional and situational causes that may affect one’s behaviour.

Answer 8

either-or thinking

Question 9

____________________ ___________________ ____________________ is an interpersonal bias (towards others) the tendency for people observing someone else’s actions to overestimate the influence of internal factors in determining behaviour while underestimating the influence of external factors.

Answer 9

Fundamental attribution error

Question 10

Is fundamental attribution error more prominent in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures?

Answer 10

Fundamental attribution error appears to be more prominent in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures.

Research has shown that collectivistic cultures tend to assume that external situational factors are more responsible for the behaviour of other people than internal dispositional factors, a finding that is the reverse of the fundamental attribution error common in other individualist cultures.

Question 11

_______________-________________ __________________, an intrapersonal (towards self) bias, is the heuristic to attribute one’s own success to internal or disposition factors, but to attribute one’s own failure to external or situational factors.

Answer 11

Self-serving bias

Question 12

Why does the self-serving bias exist?

Answer 12

The main purpose of this bias may be due to protecting one’s self-esteem as we want others to see ourselves positively.

Question 13

Do individuals with higher self-esteem or lower self-esteem exhibit the self-serving bias more? Why is it so?

Answer 13

Individuals with higher self-esteem are thought to have more to protect in their self-image, and therefore exhibit the self-serving bias more than those individuals with lower self-esteem.

Question 14

_______________-______________ _____________ is the tendency to attribute behaviours of others to internal or disposition factors (i.e., fundamental attribution error), and our own behaviours to external or situational factors.

Answer 14

Actor-observer bias

Question 15

In the case where the outcomes are negative, we will often blame the situation or circumstances rather than ourselves. In the actor-observer bias, if the same situation were to happen to someone else, where would we put the blame on?

Answer 15

When something negative happens to another person, we may more often blame the individual for their personal choices, behaviours, and actions, also known as dispositional factors.

Question 16

Why does the actor-observer bias occur frequently?

Answer 16

This bias tends to occur as when we are the actor or participant in a given situation, we have a more difficult time seeing the situation objectively. However, when we are the observers, we can view the situation from a more distant perspective.

Question 17

An __________ is the tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain person, object, idea or situation.

Answer 17

attitude

Question 18

______________ are developed through people’s experiences as they live and work with others, and can affect the way they behave towards those ideas, people, objects, and situations.

Answer 18

Attitudes

Question 19

What are the three different components that make up an attitude?

Answer 19

The affective component, behaviour component and the cognition component. It is also known as the ABC model of attitudes.

Question 20

The ___________ component of an attitude is the way a person feels towards the object, person, or situation. _________ is used in psychology to mean “emotions” or “feelings,” hence it can also be referred to as the emotional component.

Answer 20

affective, affect

Question 21

The _____________ component of an attitude is the action a person takes in regards to the person, object, or situation.

Answer 21

behaviour

Question 22

The ____________ component of an attitude is the way a person thinks about themselves, an object, or a situation. These thoughts, or ___________, include beliefs and ideas about the focus of the attitude.

Answer 22

cognitive, cognitions

Question 23

Are stronger or weaker attitudes more likely to predict behaviour?

Answer 23

Stronger attitudes.

Question 24

___________ __________ is the result of a number of different influences, these influences all include forms of learning.

Answer 24

Attitude formation

Question 25

____________ _____________ is essentially contact with a person, idea, situation, or object that is the focus of the attitude, which leads to a formation of an attitude.

For example, a child who tries and dislikes brussels sprouts will form a negative attitude about brussels sprouts.

Answer 25

Direct contact

Question 26

____________ ____________ are given either by parents or some other individual (possibly authority figures), which leads to a formation of an attitude

For example, parents may tell their children that smoking cigarettes is dangerous and unhealthy.

Answer 26

Direct instructions

Question 27

______________ _______________ _________________ may lead to attitudes being formed because the person is around other people with that similar attitude.

If a person’s friends, for example, all hold the attitude that smoking is cool, that person is more likely to think that smoking is cool. (peer pressure)

Answer 27

Instruction with others

Question 28

___________________ ____________________ is a form of observational learning, where attitudes are learned through the observation of other people’s actions and reactions to various objects, people, or situations.

Answer 28

Vicarious conditioning

Question 29

_________________ __________________ is a sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person’s behaviour does not correspond to that person’s attitude.

Answer 29

Cognitive dissonance

Question 30

When a person experiences ________________ _______________, the resulting tension and arousal are unpleasant, and their motivation is to change something so that the unpleasant feelings and tension are reduced or eliminated.

Answer 30

cognitive dissonance

Question 31

What are things that people can do to reduce their cognitive dissonance?

Answer 31

Change conflicting behaviour to match their attitude

Change conflicting cognition/attitude to justify their behaviour

Form new cognitions/attitudes to justify their behaviour

Question 32

A ___________ _________ is a set of socially defined patterns of behaviour (what, how, why, and when) that is expected of a person who is in a particular social position or given setting/group.

Answer 32

social role

Question 33

A police officer wears a blue uniform and is tasked with upholding the law and catching criminals. This is an example of a ___________ ___________.

Answer 33

social role

Question 34

__________ __________ are unwritten rules or expectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for its members’ attitudes and behaviours in a group.

Answer 34

Social norms

Question 35

What are some of the effects of social roles?

Answer 35

As we take on different social roles dependent on the social setting or context, certain roles can cause people in said roles to behave differently.

Popular examples are orientation camps or fraternity/sorority hazing in universities, where seniors may exploit/abuse their seniority to juniors and make them perform uncomfortable acts.

Question 36

What is conformity?

Answer 36

Conformity is the changing of one’s own behaviour to match that of other people.

Question 37

The need to act in ways that we feel will let us be liked, accepted, approved, and not rejected by others is called _____________ _______________ _________________

We use the behaviour and attitudes of other people as our “measuring stick” of what is “normal”. We then judge how we are doing against that “norm”.

Answer 37

normative social influence

Question 38

The need to take our cues for how to behave from other people when we are in an ambiguous situation is called ________________ ________________ ______________.

The behaviour of the people around us provides us with information about how we should act, and so we conform to their actions. We desire to be correct and to understand the correct way to act in any given situation.

Answer 38

informational social influence

Question 39

Why does conformity exist?

Answer 39

It is believed to be due to both normative and informational social influence.

Question 40

What are some factors that may increase conformity?

Answer 40

Group is unanimous

Size of the group (until 4)

Judgement task is difficult or ambiguous

Majority has high status, is knowledgeable, competent or important

Individuals with low self-esteem

Responses are publicly given

Cultures with higher collectivism

Question 41

_________________ is a phenomenon that occurs when people place more importance on maintaining group cohesiveness than on assessing the facts of the problem with which the group is concerned.

Answer 41

Groupthink

Question 42

What are some factors that may decrease conformity?

Answer 42

Presence of an ally

Independent individuals

Cultures with more focus on individualism

Responses are privately given

Question 43

What are the 8 symptoms of groupthink as described by Irving Janis?

Answer 43

Invulnerability (Members feel that they cannot fail)

Rationalisation (Members explain away warning signs and help each other rationalise their decision)

Lack of Introspection (Members do not examine ethical implications of their decision because they believe they cannot make immoral choices)

Stereotyping (Members stereotype their enemies as weak, stupid, or unreasonable)

Pressure (Members pressure each other not to question the prevailing opinion)

Lack of Disagreement (Members do not express opinions that differ from the group consensus)

Self-Deception (Members share in the illusion that they all agree with the decision)

Insularity (Members prevent the group from hearing disruptive but potentially information from people who are outside the group)

In Real Life, Stupid People Like Stupid Ideas

Question 44

What are some things that can be done to minimise the possibility of groupthink?

Answer 44

Leader remaining impartial

The entire group should seek opinions of people outside the group

Voting being done in secret ballots

Being made clear that group members will be held responsible for decisions made by the group.

Question 45

________________ _________________ is the tendency for members involved in a group discussion to take somewhat more extreme positions and suggest riskier actions when compared to individuals who have not participated in a group discussion.

Answer 45

Group polarisation

Question 46

A jury tries to decide on punitive damages during a civil trial, studies have found that if members of a jury individually favoured a relatively low amount of punitive damages before deliberation, after deliberation the punitive amount usually lessened further. Similarly, if the jurors favoured stiffer penalties, the deliberation process resulted in even higher penalties.

This is an example of _____________ ________________.

Answer 46

Group polarisation

Question 47

Why does group polarisation occur?

Answer 47

Group polarisation is thought to be due to both normative social influence and informational social influence.

Question 48

________________ _______________ occurs when the presence of others creates just enough increased arousal to increase performance.

Answer 48

Social facilitation

Question 49

In ______________ _______________, the presence of others produces too high a level of arousal, resulting in decreased performance.

Answer 49

social impairment

Question 50

What is social loafing?

Answer 50

People who are lazy tend not to do as well when other people are also working on the same task, however, they can do quite well when working on their own, this phenomenon is called social loafing.

Question 51

How does social loafing occur?

Answer 51

Social loafing depends on the assumption that personal responsibility for a task is severely lessened when working with a group of other people.

A lazy person (a “loafer”) hides laziness when working in a group of people, because it is less likely they will be evaluated alone.

When a social loafer is working alone, the focus of evaluation will solely be on themselves, hence they tend to work harder because there is no one else to whom the work (or blame) can be shifted.

Question 52

__________________ occurs when people are gathered in a group. It is the lessening of their sense of personal identity and personal responsibility when in a group.

Answer 52

Deindividuation

Question 53

When deindividuation occurs inside a group, what may happen?

Answer 53

It can result in a lack of self-control when in the group that would not be as likely to occur if the individual were acting alone.

For example, people in a crowd feel a degree of anonymity (being unknown and unidentified) and are more likely to act impulsively as a result. Mob mentality.

Question 54

What is consumer psychology?

Answer 54

Consumer psychology is a branch of psychology that studies the habits of consumers in the marketplace.

Question 55

________________ is the changing of one’s behaviour as a result of other people directing or asking for the change. The person or group asking for the change in behaviour typically does not have any real authority or power to command a change.

Answer 55

Compliance

Question 56

What is the ‘foot-in-the-door’ compliance technique?

Answer 56

When compliance with a smaller request is followed by a larger request, people are likely to comply as they have already agreed to the smaller one and they want to behave consistently with their previous response.

Question 57

What is the ‘door-in-the-face’ compliance technique?

Answer 57

In this method, the larger request comes first, which is usually refused. However, this is followed by a second smaller and more reasonable request, which often gets compliance.

Question 58

What is the ‘lowball’ compliance technique?

Answer 58

A very attractive initial offer is made to induce a person to accept the offer and subsequently the terms are made less favourable, however the individual continues to commit to accepting the offer as they already accepted the initial offer.

Question 59

Why are people in collectivistic cultures less susceptible to compliance techniques?

Answer 59

People in collectivistic cultures are not as concerned with being consistent with previous behaviour because they are less focused on their inner motivation than people in individualistic cultures.

Question 60

________________ is when an individual changes their behaviour at the command of an authority figure, either to please an authority figure (a person with social power), or to avoid aversive consequences.

Answer 60

Obedience

Question 61

What are some factors that affect obedience?

Answer 61

Peer modelled obedience (when a peer also obeys, or when a peer rebels)

Anonymity

Surveillance

When authority had higher relative status

Question 62

The ______________ effect is the effect that the presence of other people has on the decision to help or not help in emergencies, studies have shown that help becomes less likely as the number of people around increase.

Answer 62

bystander

Question 63

The bystander effect tends to occur due to a phenomenon called _____________ _____________ _____________ where a person fails to take responsibility for either action or inaction because of the presence of other people who are seen to share the responsibility.

Answer 63

diffusion of responsibility

Question 64

The bystander effect and diffusion of responsibility might lead to inaction from others. Are there any other reasons as to why there might be inaction?

Answer 64

Conformity (The inaction of others may lead to a perception that not helping is the social norm, making us conform to that inaction)

Ambiguous Situation (It is unclear if help is needed, as we do not want to be perceived as a “busybody”, we may decide not to render assistance at all)

Less Qualifications To Help (We may perceive ourselves as not having the skill sets to actually provide actual assistance, we may also have the fear that we may make the situation worse)

Confusion of Responsibility (Other bystanders may perceive us as the ones who caused the problem, hence refraining us from helping to avoid being blamed by others for causing the problem)

Perceived Costs (Pertaining to costs to ourselves, such as time or social perception)

Question 65

What are the 5 steps in the decision model of helping?

Answer 65

Noticing (Realising there is a situation or an emergency)

Defining an Emergency (Interpreting information from the situation to define it as an actual emergency)

Taking Responsibility (Personally assuming the responsibility to act)

Planning a Course of Action (Deciding how to help and what skills may be needed)

Taking Action (Actually helping)