Social Psychology

Question 1

Norman Triplett

Answer 1

conducted first official social psychology experiment in 1897 on social facilitation. cyclists performed better when paced by others than when on their own

Question 2

Kurt Lewin

Answer 2

founded the field - applied Gestalt ideas to social behavior. field theory: total of influences upon individual behavior. life space = collection of forces upon individual, e.g. valence, vector & barrier

Question 3

Fritz Heider

Answer 3

Attribution theory

Balance theory: making feelings & actions consistent to preserve psychological homeostasis

Question 4

Lee Ross

Answer 4

subjects made to believe statement then later told it was false. subjects continued to believe statement

Question 5

Richard Nisbett

Answer 5

we lack awareness of why we do what we do

Question 6

Base-rate fallacy

Answer 6

overestimating general frequency of things we are most familiar with

Question 7

M. J. Lerner’s just world bias

Answer 7

good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people

Question 8

representativeness heuristic

Answer 8

typical assumptions override logic

Question 9

availability heuristic

Answer 9

thinking there are more of something because those things come to mind easier

Question 10

Leon Festinger

Answer 10

cognitive-dissonance theory

Question 11

Daryl Bem’s self-perception theory

Answer 11

people look at their own behavior to figure out their beliefs if they are unsure of them -> overjustification effect: assumption that we must not like things we are paid to do

Question 12

social exchange theory

Answer 12

people interact to maximize reward and minimize costs

Question 13

social facilitation

Answer 13

Robert Zajonc: others will help with easy tasks but hinder complex ones

Question 14

Morton Deutsch

Answer 14

cooperation vs. competition: prisoner’s dilemma & trucking company game (same but with economics)

Question 15

Stanley Milgram’s stimulus-overload theory

Answer 15

urbanites less prosocial than country people because they don’t need any more interaction

Question 16

conformity

Answer 16

compliance: going along publicly but not privately
acceptance: changing beliefs to conform

reactance: refusal to conform, possibly as a result of blatant attempt to control. people will also not conform if they are forewarned that others will attempt to change them

Question 17

Stanley Milgram

Answer 17

“teacher” experiment where teacher was told to give shocks to the “learner” for wrong answers

Question 18

Solomon Asch

Answer 18

which lines on a board are equal - Ps agree with clearly incorrect opinion about 33% of time

Question 19

Sleeper effect

Answer 19

persuasive communication from a source of low credibility may become more acceptable after the fact

Question 20

McGuire’s inoculation theory

Answer 20

people’s beliefs are vulnerable if they have never faced challenge

Question 21

population density & antisocial behavior

Answer 21

Philip Zimbardo - antisocial behavior positively correlates with population density

Question 22

Group polarization

Answer 22

James Stoner: group discussion strengthens already dominant POV. explains risky shift - groups will take greater risks than individuals

Question 23

Pluralistic ignorance

Answer 23

most people privately disagree with something but incorrectly believe that most people agree

Question 24

doll preference studies

Answer 24

Kenneth & Mamie Clark - African-American children thought white dolls were better. showed that group segregation negatively impacted self-esteem

Question 25

Why are we attracted to people?

Answer 25

1. Propinquity
2. Physical attractiveness
3. Similar attitudes
4. Reciprocity

Question 26

Excitation transfer theory

Answer 26

attributing physiological arousal to one thing rather than another

Question 27

Mere-exposure effect

Answer 27

we rate things more positively the more we experience them

Question 28

Richard Lazarus

Answer 28

studied stress & coping

• problem-focused coping (changing the stressor)
• emotion-focused coping (changing our response)

Question 29

Door-in-the-face

Answer 29

sales tactic: people ask for more than they would ever get and “settle” for less

Question 30

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Answer 30

doing a small favor makes people more willing to do larger ones later

Question 31

J. Rodin and E. Langer

Answer 31

nursing home residents with plants to care for have better health

Question 32

Bogus pipeline

Answer 32

instrument that measures physiological reactions to measure truthfulness of attitude self-reporting

Question 33

Peter principle

Answer 33

people are promoted until reaching a level of incompetence

Question 34

Stuart Valins

Answer 34

students in long-corridor dorms feel more stressed and withdrawn than students in suite-style dorms

Question 35

Leonard Berkowitz’s frustration-aggression hypothesis

Answer 35

relationship between frustration and show of aggression

Question 36

M. Rokeach

Answer 36

racial bias & similarity of beliefs.

- people prefer to be with like-minded people rather than like-skinned people

Question 37

M. Fischbein & I. Ajzen: theory of reasoned action

Answer 37

behavior is determined by attitude about situation

Question 38

Elaine Hatfield - love

Answer 38

• passionate love: intense longing, physiological arousal

- companionate love: affection for those with whom our lives are entwined

Question 39

Paul Ekman

Answer 39

humans have 6 basic emotions

• sadness
• happiness
• fear
• anger
• surprise
• disgust

Facial Action Coding System (FACS)

Question 40

Reciprocal socialization

Answer 40

two parties (e.g. kids and parents) are socialized by each other e.g. parents using kids’ slang, kids respecting rules/traditions

Question 41

Hawthorne effect

Answer 41

(Henry Landsberger) people’s performance changes when being watched

Question 42

Robbers Cave Experiments

Answer 42

3 phases of group dynamics at a summer camp. in- group bonding phase, friction phase, integration phase