Social Psychology

Question 1

Define attitudes?

Answer 1

Attitude: a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object, or concept
Attitudes influence behaviour more strongly when situational factors that contradict our attitudes are weak

Question 2

Describe the theory of planned behaviour?

Answer 2

See slides

Ajzen 1991 - smooking cessation

Question 3

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 3

Conflict between ideas.

I’m a smoker vs Smoking causes cancer

Question 4

How do you resolve dissonance?

Answer 4

• 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 5

How can you changing attitudes?

Answer 5

Message more effective if:

• Reaches recipient
• Is attention-grabbing
• Easily understood
• Relevant and important
• Easily remembered

Message more effective if:

• Reaches recipient
• Is attention-grabbing
• Easily understood
• Relevant and important
• Easily remembered

Question 6

Define framing?

Answer 6

Refers to whether a message emphasises the benefits or losses of that behaviour

Research shows that:

When we want people to take up behaviours aimed at detecting health 	problems or illness (e.g. HIV testing) loss-framed messages may be 	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

See slides for examples

Question 7

Define sterotypes

Answer 7

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 8

Define prejudice

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Define discrimination

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What are some case studies on sterotypes and prejudice?

Answer 10

See slides

Question 11

Define social loafing?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

When is social loafing/diffusion of responsibility more likely to occur?

Answer 12

• The person believes that individual performance is not being monitored
• The task (goal) 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 13

What does social loafing/diffusion of responsibility dependent on?

Answer 13

• Occurs more strongly in all-male groups

- Occurs more often in individualistic cultures (western cultures)

Question 14

When does social loafing disappear

Answer 14

• Individual performance is monitored
• Members highly value their group or the task goal
• Groups are smaller
• Members are of similar competence

Question 15

Describe some confomrity study?

Answer 15

Asch 1956 (lines)
Medical students and knee aspiration

Question 16

What factors affect conformity?

Answer 16

Group size:

• Conformity increases as group size increases
• No increases over five group members

Presence of a dissenter:
- One person disagreeing with the others greatly reduces group conformity

Culture:
- Greater in collectivistic cultures

Question 17

What is bystander apathy?

Answer 17

Related with the diffusion of responsibility. Woman was murdered - 37 people saw the murder didn’t call the police.

People are more likely to help if they are by themselves. If there are other people we feel as if everything is ok

Question 18

Describe the Darley and latane experiment ?

Answer 18

Helping student having an epileptic seizure in an adjacent room.

87% helped if they believed it was just them and the other student.

But only 31% helped when they believed they were in a group of 4 people, hardly anyone helped if group was above 4.

If participant had not acted within first 3 minutes they never acted.

Question 19

Describe the 5-step bystander decision process?

Answer 19

1. Notice the event
2. Decide if the event is really an emergency
   Social comparison: look to see how others are responding
3. Assuming responsibility to intervene
   Diffusion of Responsibility: believing that someone else will help
4. Self-efficacy in dealing with the situation
5. Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis e.g. danger)

Question 20

How do you increase helping behviour?

Answer 20

Reducing restraints on helping:

• Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility
• Enhance concern for self image

Socialise altruism:

• Teaching moral inclusion
• Modelling helping behaviour
• Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives
• Education about barriers to helping

Question 21

Describe a study concerning the bystander effect in medical care?

Answer 21

“who is my doctor?”

Francis report

Question 22

What are factors that influence obedience?

Answer 22

Shock learning study

Factors That Influence Obedience:

• Remoteness of the victim
• Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
• Diffusion of responsibility: obedience increases when someone else does the dirty work
• Not personal characteristics

Question 23

Define Groupthink and give a clinical example

Answer 23

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

Clinical study with surgery and MDT

Question 24

Define group polarization

Answer 24

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

Question 25

When is groupthink more likely to occur?

Answer 25

• Is under high stress to reach a decision
• Is insulated from outside input
• Has a directive leader
• Has high cohesiveness

Question 26

What are the different types of leadership styles?

Answer 26

Autocratic or authoritarian style
Participative or democratic style
Laissez-faire or “free rein” style

Question 27

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different leadership styles?

Answer 27

See slides