Social Psychology

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

Study of social behavior: how peoples thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others

Question 2

Components of Attitude

Answer 2

1. Cognition or Beliefs
2. Feelings
3. Behavioral predisposition

*** is expressed in opinion statements

Question 3

Consistency Theories

Answer 3

People prefer consistency and will change or resist changing attitudes based upon this preference

Question 4

Balance Theory

- (Fritz Heider)

Answer 4

Three Elements:

1. The person whom we’re talking about
2. Another person
3. thing, idea or another person

When there is not balance, there will be stress and a tendency to remove this stress by achieving balance

Question 5

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

- (Leon Festinger)

Answer 5

The conflict that you feel when you attitudes are not in sync with your behaviors

Question 6

Free Choice Dissonance

Answer 6

Person makes a choice between several desirable alternatives

Question 7

Post-Decisional Dissonance

Answer 7

Dissonance (conflict felt when attitudes are not in sync with your behavior) emerges after a choice has been made

Question 8

Spreading of Alternatives

Answer 8

The relative worth of two alternatives is spread apart

• one is more positive than the other (better alternative)
• one is more negative than the other (worse alternative)

Question 9

Forced Compliance Dissonance

Answer 9

Individual is forced into behavior in a manner that is inconsistent with his or her beliefs / attitudes.
The force may come from either anticipated punishment or reward

Question 10

Minimal Justification Effect

Answer 10

• Behavior can be justified by means of external inducements (ex: money) - then there is no need to change internal cognitions
• When the external justification is minimal, you will reduce your dissonance by changing internal cognitions

Question 11

Main Principles of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Answer 11

1. If a person is pressured to do or say something contrary to his privately held attitudes - there will be a tendency for him to change those attitudes
2. The greater the pressure to comply, the less this attitude change. Ultimately, attitude change generally occurs when the behavior is induced with minimum pressure

Question 12

Self Justification Theory

- (Daryl Bem)

Answer 12

If attitudes about something are weak or ambiguous, people will infer their attitudes based upon observing their own behavior

Ex: I like wine because i’m always drinking it

Question 13

Sleeper Effect

- (Carl Hovland)

Answer 13

When communicating a message with the intent to persuade someone:

             - Persuasive impact of his credibility source will decrease
              - Persuasive impact of the low-credibility source will increase

Question 14

Analogy of Inoculation

- (William McGuire)

Answer 14

If you expose someone to a “weakened attack,” they prepare refutations or “protection” for stronger arguments later

This strengthens pre-existing attitudes, beliefs and opinions

Question 15

Cultural Truism

Answer 15

Beliefs that are seldom questioned

Question 16

Belief Perseverance

Answer 16

People will hold beliefs even after those beliefs have been proven to be false

Question 17

Social Comparison Theory

- (Leon Festinger)

Answer 17

People drive to gain accurate self-evaluations

Question 18

Social Comparison Theory Principles

Answer 18

1A. People prefer to evaluate themselves by objective, nonsocial means
1B. If above is not possible, will compare themselves to other people
2. If someone is very different from you (opinions, & abilities), you are less likely to compare yourself to them
3. When there is a discrepancy in opinions & abilities - there is a tendency to change one’s position so as to move it in line with the group.

Question 19

Reciprocity Hypothesis

Answer 19

We tend to like people who indicate that they like us

We tend to those who dislike us

Question 20

Gain - Loss Principle

Answer 20

Evaluation that changes will have more of an impact than an evaluation that remains constant

• Liking someone more if their liking for us has increased (gain)
• Disliking someone more for if their liking for us has decreased (loss)

Question 21

Social Exchange Theory

Answer 21

A person will weigh the rewards and costs of interaction with another.

Maximize Reward ; Minimize cost

Question 22

Need Complementarity

Answer 22

Opposites Attract: People choose relationships so that their needs are mutually satisfied

Question 23

Mere Exposure Hypothesis

Answer 23

Mere repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to enhanced liking for it

Question 24

Batson’s Empathy Altrusim

Answer 24

When faced with situations in which others may need help, people may feel distress (mental pain, anguish) and / or they might feel empathy

Question 25

Frustration - Aggression Hypothesis

Answer 25

When people are frustrated, they act aggressively

Question 26

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Answer 26

Aggression is learned through modeling (direct observation) or through reinforcement

Question 27

Autokinetic Effect

Answer 27

If you stare at a point of light in an otherwise dark room, the light will appear to move (an illusion)

Question 28

Conformity

Answer 28

Yielding to group Pressure

Question 29

Soloman Asch’s Conformity Study

Answer 29

Experiment: compare the length of lines
Result: majority of people chose the incorrect line when those before him did the same

Question 30

Stanley Milgram’s Experiment

Answer 30

Experiment: Shock another person (subjects really thought they were hurting someone) who delivers wrong answer to your questions - Experimenter will push the subject if they do not deliver the shocks

Result: Every subject was willing to hurt someone at the experimenters command. Some were completely obedient despite the fact that the experimenter had no special authority to enforce his commands

Question 31

Compliance

Answer 31

Change in behavior that occurs as a result of situational or interpersonal pressure

Question 32

Foot in the Door effect

Answer 32

Demonstrates that compliance with a small request increased the likelihood of compliance with a larger request

Question 33

Door in the Face Effect

Answer 33

People who refused a large initial request are more likely to agree to a later smaller request

Question 34

Primary Effect

Answer 34

First impressions are more important than subsequent impressions

Question 35

Recency Effect

Answer 35

Recent information about an individual is most important in forming our impressions

Question 36

Attribution Theory

Answer 36

Tendency for individuals to infer the causes of other people’s behavior

Question 37

Dispositional Causes

Answer 37

Relate to the feature of the person whose behavior is being considered - include beliefs, attitudes and personality

Question 38

Situation Causes

Answer 38

Causes are external and relate to the features of the surroundings

Question 39

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 39

Tendency toward dispositional causes; personality flaws

Question 40

Proxemics

Answer 40

Study of how individuals space themselves in relation to others

Question 41

Social Loafing

Answer 41

Tendency for people to put forth less effort when part of a group than when acting individually

Question 42

Prison Simulation Experiment

- (Phillip Zimbardo)

Answer 42

Experiment: Mock prison with guards and prisoners randomly assigned

Result: people are more likely to commit antisocial acts when they feel anonymous within a social environment & Deindividuation

Question 43

Deindividuation

Answer 43

Loss of self-awareness and of personal identity

Question 44

Groupthink

Answer 44

Tendency of decision making groups to strive for consensus by ignoring information that goes against them

Question 45

Risky Shift

Answer 45

Group decisions are riskier than the the average of the individual choices

Question 46

Group Polarization

Answer 46

Tendency for a group discussion to enhance the group’s initial tendencies towards riskiness or caution

Question 47

Super-ordinate Goals

Answer 47

Goals best obtained through inter-group (2+ groups) cooperation