Social Psychology

Question 1

Define attitude.

Answer 1

A positive or negative evaluative reaction towards a stimulus, such as a person, action, object or concept

Question 2

Define prejudice.

Answer 2

To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members

Question 3

Define conformity.

Answer 3

The adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard

Question 4

State three factors that affect conformity.

Answer 4

Group size – increases up to a group size of 5 or 6 (no increase thereafter)

Presence of a dissenter – one person disagreeing greatly reduces conformity

Culture – greater in collectivistic cultures

Question 5

Describe the Asch study and what it showed.

Answer 5

Tested CONFORMITY

Set a very simple vision test comparing the lengths of lines and put a subject in the room with several actors who all chose the wrong answer

Majority of people conformed when everyone else chose the wrong answer

In the control group, less than 1% conformed

Question 6

Define obedience.

Answer 6

Compliance with commands given by an authority figure

Question 7

State some factors influencing obedience.

Answer 7

Remoteness of the victim
Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
Diffusion of responsibility (obedience increases when someone else takes the blame)
NOT personal characteristics

Question 8

Describe the Milgram experiment.

Answer 8

Tested OBEDIENCE

There was one learner and one teacher

They were told that the experiment studied the effect of punishment on memory and they were told to deliver more and more intense shocks as the actor made more and more mistakes

Even though the shock had reached a fatal level when the actor seemed unconscious or even dead, the majority of subjects still obeyed the commands

Question 9

Define Social Loafing.

Answer 9

The tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone

Question 10

State some factors that make social loafing more likely to occur.

Answer 10

The person believes that the individual performance is not being monitored

The task or the group has less value or meaning to the person

The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success

The person expects that other group members will display high effort

Question 11

Describe the effects of gender and culture on social loafing.

Answer 11

Social loafing is more likely to occur in:
All male groups
Individualistic cultures

Question 12

When might social loafing disappear?

Answer 12

Individual performance is being monitored
Members highly value their group or the task goal
Groups are smaller
Members are of a similar competance

Question 13

Define group polarisation.

Answer 13

The tendency for people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently

Question 14

Define group think.

Answer 14

The tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek agreement

Question 15

State some factors that make group think more likely to occur.

Answer 15

Group think is more likely to occur if the group:
 is under high stress to reach a decision
 is insulated from outside input
 has a directive leader
 has high cohesiveness

Question 16

What are the 5 steps of the Bystander effect?

Answer 16

Notice the event
Decide whether it really is an emergency (social comparison – see how others are responding)
Assuming responsibility to intervene (diffusion of responsibility –believe that someone else will help)
Self-efficacy when dealing with the situation
Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis)

Question 17

State some methods of overcoming the Bystander effect.

Answer 17

Reduce restraints on helping
 Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
 Enhance guilt and concern for self-image

Socialise altruism 
 Teaching moral inclusion 
 Modelling helpful behaviour  
 Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives  
 Education about barriers to helping

Question 18

Describe the experiment by Darley and Latane and describe the results it obtained.

Answer 18

Tested THE BYSTANDER EFFECT

Participants were invited to take part in a discussion about ‘personal problems’ over the radio

An actor in the adjacent room pretended to have a seizure

When by themselves – the majority of participants helped

When in a group of 4 – only around 30% helped

When in a group of more than 4 – hardly anyone helped

Question 19

Outline the three leadership styles described by Kurt Lewin.

Answer 19

Authoritarian/autocratic style – all decision making done by leader

Democratic/participative – makes decisions after consulting group

Laissez-faire or free reign style – leaves the group entirely to itself

Question 20

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 20

The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result when your beliefs run counter to your behaviors
For example, ‘I am a smoker’ but ‘Smoking causes cancer’

Question 21

How can cognitive dissonance be resolved?

Answer 21

Change behaviour: In the case of smoking, this would involve quitting, which might be difficult and thus avoided

Acquire new information: Such as seeking exceptions e.g. “My grandfather smoked all his life and lived to be 96”

Reduce the importance of the cognitions(i.e. beliefs, attitudes). A person could convince themself that it is better to “live for the moment”

Question 22

What is framing?

Answer 22

whether a message emphasizes the benefits or losses of that behavior

Positive and negative

Question 23

When is positive and negative framing most appropriate?

Answer 23

If a behavior leads to a relatively certain outcome, then gain-framed messages work well.
When we want people to take up behaviors aimed at detecting health problems or illness (e.g. HIV testing) loss-framed messages may be more effective e.g. if you dont get tested then you could die

If a behavior leads to a more uncertain outcome, then loss-framed messages are more effective
When we want people to take up behaviours aimed at promoting prevention behaviours (e.g. condom use) gain-framed messages may be more effective e.g. if you wear condoms then you’ll be healthy and wont have herpes

Question 24

Define stereotype

Answer 24

Generalisations made about a group of people or members of that group, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. Or more specific such as different medical specialisations (e.g. surgeons)

Question 25

Define discrimination

Answer 25

Behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups