Social psychology

Question 1

Social construction of self

Answer 1

1. Social comparison- Festinger. People evaluate themselves in relation to others
2. Reference groups- categories of people to which you see yourself belonging and to which you habitually compare yourself
3. Relative deprivation- the belief that, no matter how uch you are getting in terms of money, status, recognition, it is less that you deserve

Question 2

Social perception and the role f schemias

Answer 2

Influence what we pay attention to and what we ignore. Tend to process information about the other person more quickly if it confirms our beliefs about that person’s gender or ethnic group
Influence what we remember, our judgement, can create self-fulfilling prophecies, leading people to act in ways that bring out in others behaviour that is consistent with first impressions

Question 3

Attribution theory

Answer 3

Heider
explaining causes of people’s behaviour, including our own
either to internal or external causes

Question 4

Harold Kelly attribution theory

Answer 4

To understand behaviour, need to know 3 things

1. Consensus- if high degree of consesnus between others and self behaviour, attributed to internal cause
2. Consistency- degree to which behaviour occurs repeatedly in a particular situation
3. Distinctiveness- similar stimuli elicit the same behaviour. External attribution high

Question 5

The primary (fundamental) attribution error

Answer 5

refers to a tendency to overattribute the behaviour of others to internal factors
it may generate overconfidence about impressions of other people
leads to underestimates of the extent to which another person’s behaviour is due
to external causes, and thus how much that person’s behaviour might vary across
situations
it explains why, despite the fact that situations often influence our behaviours
more than traits, most people believe that traits are the major cause of our
behaviours

Question 6

The ultimate attribution error

Answer 6

positive actions performed by people from a different ethnic or social group are
attributed to external causes, while their negative actions are attributed to internal
causes

Question 7

The self protective functions of social cognition

Answer 7

unrealistic optimism->people tend to believe that positive events are more likely
to happen to themselves, and vice versa

unique vulnerability-> people tend to judge other’s actions as being high risk and
believe
themselves to be at lower risk

self handicapping strategy-> protects self
esteem by providing a way for one’s
failings to be attributed to an external cause, not negative internal characteristics

Question 8

The structure of attitudes

Answer 8

consist of 3 components:
1. cognitive (beliefs)
2. affective (feelings)
3. behavioural (actions)
•cognitive theories propose that attitudes consist of evaluations of an object that are
stored in memory
•this suggests that the likelihood of attitude
behaviour consistency depends
on:
•accessibility of evaluations in memory
•subjective norms
•perceived control over the behaviour
•prior direct experience with the attitude object
•how closely people monitor the behaviour of others

Question 9

Forming attitudes

Answer 9

Classifical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Mere-exposure effect

Question 10

Changing attitudes

Answer 10

Changing attitudes
•the effectiveness of persuasive messages in changing attitudes is influenced by:
1. the characteristics of the person who communicates it
2. its content -repetition increases the persuasiveness
3.the audience that receives it
•the elaboration likelihood model
is based on the premise that persuasive
messages can change people’s attitudes through one of two routes:
1. the peripheral route when it is activated, we devote little attention to the
central content of the persuasive message and tend to be affected by
peripheral persuasion cues
such as the confidence, attractiveness of the person delivering the method
2. the central route when activated the content of the message becomes
more important

Question 11

Likelihood of attitude change

Answer 11

rapid speakers are more persuasive than slow deliberate speakers
• an optimum distance is required between the communicator and recipient
•more distraction leads to a higher chance of being persuaded
•there is an inverted U shaped relationship between the anxiety level of recipients
and the fear content of a message

Question 12

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 12

Leon Festinger (1957)
• holds that inconsistency between cognitions about attitudes and cognitions about
behaviour creates discomfort that often results in tension reducing attitude change
• the power of cognitive dissonance to change attitudes may be greater in the
individualist cultures of Europe and North America where group rather than
individual values and goals are emphasized, behaving at odds with one’s personal beliefs may create less discomfort

motivating, explains behaviour markedly at variance with the initial attitude of an individual

high dissonance is likely when there is:
•awareness of personal responsibility for the conse quences of an action
•an expected unpleasant consequence of the behaviour for others
•low pressure to comply with an action
•high perceived choice between actions
•high arousal

cognitive dissonance can be reduced by:
•justification of effort
•changing attitudes
•rationalizing the information creating the dissonance
•counter attitudinal advocacy

ego-dystonic

Question 13

Self-perception theory

Answer 13

Daryl Bem (1967)
•suggests that people sometimes
infer from their behaviour what their attitudes are,
if they are in a position where they are not sure
•seems to apply best when people have no prior attitude

Question 14

Balance theory

Answer 14

Heider
each individual attempts to organise their attitudes, perceptions and beliefs so that theyr are in harmony with each other

Question 15

Thurstone scale

Answer 15

•
dichotomous scale indicating agreement/ disagreement with a statement
•
it is an equally appearing interval scale
•
disadvantages:
•
different response patterns may result in the same mean score
•
setup is unwieldy
•
ranking may be biased

Question 16

Likert scale

Answer 16

5 point interval scale indicating level of agreement

advantages:
increased sensitivity
easily administered

disadvantages:
different response patterns may result in the same mean score

Question 17

what is prejudice

Answer 17

prejudice which is a negative attitude, or a cluster of
negative beliefs, toward an individual based simply on his or her membership in
some group

Question 18

discrimination

Answer 18

differential treatment of individuals who belong to different groups, or negative
action towards a minority

Question 19

reversed discrimination

Answer 19

bending over backwards to be friendly with a minority group member

Question 20

Motivational theories of stereotypes

Answer 20

•suggest that some people have a need to derogate and dislike others
•prejudice may be especially likely among people whose parents used punishment
or harsh words to instill the belief that they must defer to and obey all t
hose with a
higher status than themselves
•encourages the development of a cluster of traits called the
authoritarian
personality
•they protect themselves from threat by strongly identifying with their own ethnic,
cultural, or social group their
in group and to reject and dislike people who are members of other groups, or
out group members

Question 21

Cognitive theories of stereotypes

Answer 21

people categorize others into groups in order to reduce social complexity
•
people must use schemas and other cognitive shortcuts to organize and make
sense of their social world
•
noticeably objective behaviour by even a few members of an easily identified
ethnic group may lead people to see and
illusory correlation
between that
behaviour and ethnicity
•
people may be more likely to recall negative stereotypes when they are in a
negative mood

Question 22

Learning theories of stereotypes

Answer 22

stereotypes, prejudice, and discriminatory behaviours can be learned from parents,
peers, and the media

Question 23

Reducing prejudice

Answer 23

Cook
the contact hypothesis proposes that intergroup contact can reduce prejudice and lead to more favourable attitudes towards the stereotyped group

Conditionslikely to reduce prejudice

1. cooperative effort
2. personal acquaintance
3. equal status
4. exposure to non stereotypic individuals

Question 24

Deindividuation

Answer 24

deindividuation
is a psychological state in which people temporarily lose their
individuality, their normal inhibitions are relaxed, and they may perform
aggressive or illegal acts that they would not perform otherwise
•caused by:
1. the belief that one cannot be held personally accountable for one’s actions
2. a shifting of attention away from internal thoughts and standards and
toward the external environment (e.g. standing in robes around a burning
cross)

Question 25

Motivation and the presence of others

Answer 25

• social facilitation
describes circumstances in which the mere presence of other
people can improve performance
• social impairment
is the opposite effect
arousal
increases the tendency to perform those behaviours that are
most dominant and this tendency may help or hinder performance
when a group performs a task, it is not possible to identify each person’s
contribution and some people exert less effort than when performing alone ->social
loafing

Question 26

Conformity and compliance

Answer 26

conformity
occurs as a result of unspoken group pressure, real or imagined

compliance
occurs when people adjust their behaviour because of a
direct request
e.g. “please pass the salt”

Question 27

When do people conform

Answer 27

1. ambiguity
2. unanimity and size of the majority
3. gender- no difference exists

Question 28

Social impact theory

Answer 28

social impact theory: holds that a group’s impact on an individual depends not only
on the group size, but also on how important and close the
group is to the person

Question 29

Inducing compliance

Answer 29

•foot in the door technique
consists of getting people to agree to small requests
and then working up to larger ones
•door in the face
procedure begins with a request for a favour that is likely to be denied the person making the request then substitutes a lesser request, which was
what they really wanted anyway
• the low ball approach
involves getting someone to make a commitment (usually oral) and then increase the cost of fulfilling it, often because of an ‘error

Question 30

Factors affecting obedience

Answer 30

prestige- increases
presence of others who disobey
personality-> authoritarianism more likely to comply

Question 31

Why are people aggressiv

Answer 31

Genetic and biological
Learning and cultural
Frustration-aggression hyothesis
Arousal
Environmental- high temps, air pollution, noise, crowding

Question 32

Cost-reaward theory of helping people

Answer 32

proposes that people find the sight of a victim distressing and anxiety provoking,
and this experience motivates them to do something to reduce the unpleasant
arousal
•the more physiologically aroused bystanders are, the more likely they are to help
•before helping, the bystander evaluates two aspects of the situation: the costs of
helping and the costs of not helping
•when the costs of helping and not helping are both high, helping is more likely if:
1. there is a clear need for help
2. the presence of others
tends to inhibit helping behaviour
•the bystander effect indicates that the more people who witness and
emergency, the less likely someone will help
•the tendency to deny any personal responsibility is known as
diffusion of responsibility
•one is more likely to help if there are small children around rather
than adults
3. environmental factors
• people in urban areas are generally less helpful than those in rural areas
4. the helper has helped in the past with good outcomes
5. there is a perception that the positive consequences outweigh the negative ones
6. the victim is perceived as being not responsible for his predicament
7. the freedom of the helper is not limited by helping
8. males are more likely to help, females are likely to receive help more often
than males

Question 33

Empathy-Altruism theory

Answer 33

maintains that people are more likely to engage in altruistic, or unselfish, helping
even if the personal cost is high, if they feel empathy towards the person in need

Question 34

Evolutionary theory

Answer 34

•
views many human social behaviours as echoes of actions that
contributed to the
survival of our prehistoric ancestors
•
kin selection
may produce genetic benefits for the helper

Question 35

4 theories of interpersonal attraction

Answer 35

1.
Equity theory
(Hatfield & Traupmann)
a) the cost benefit ratio of the relationship is felt to be equal for both
2. Reinforcement theory
(Newcomb)
a) reciprocal reinforcement of attractions occurs with rewards in both directions
3. Proxemics
a) relates to the interpersonal space body buffer zone
4. Social exchange
(Homans)
a) people prefer relationships that offer optimum cost benefit ratio

Question 36

The prisoners dilemma

Answer 36

•
when given a choice between cooperation and competition, people often compete 
with one another
•
this is even true when, as in the 
prisoners dilemma game
, they receive fewer 
rewards for competing than for cooperat
ing

Question 37

Group leadership- task/person oriented, contingency theories

Answer 37

task oriented
leaders are most effective when:
• the task is structured or clear
• the group is working under time pressure

person oriented leaders are most effective when:
• the task is unstructured
• there are no severe time limitations

contingency theories of leadership effectiveness propose that success depends on
the extent to which a leader’s style fits the characteristics of the group and its tasks
• autocratic style is more effective for example, in army training
• laissez faire groups yield greater productivity when a highly original product is required
• a directive leader improves the performance of a group when intellectual ability is less
• in experiments by Lewin, democratic leaders were as equally effective as autocratic leaders
• in the absence
of a leader, members in a laissez faire group become aggressive
towards each other

Question 38

Groupthink

Answer 38

•
Irving Janis (1989)
•
groupthink
occurs when group members are unable to realistically evaluate the
options available to them or to fully consider the potential negative consequences
of a contemplated decision
• it is
particularly likely when:
1. the group is isolated from outside influences
2. the group is working under time pressure or other intense stressors
3. the leader is not impartial

Question 39

Total institutions

Answer 39

total institutions
 (Goffman, 1961, in ‘Asylums’)
• are organizations in which a large number of like situated individuals, cut off 
from the wider social world, together le
ad an enclosed, formally administered 
round of life, for example:
• prisons
• hospitals
• monasteries
• large ships

Question 40

Mortification process

Answer 40

the 
mortification process
 is the process whereby an individual becomes an 
inhabitant of a total institution
according to Goffman, patients were said to show various possible reactions to the 
mortification process including:
• withdrawal
• open rebellion
• colonization 
 the patient pretends to show acceptance
• conversion
• institutionalization 
 actual acceptance both outwardly and inwardly

Question 41

The health-belief model and medication compliance

Answer 41

• compliance depends on:
1. patient’s perceived readiness to act
2. estimation of the costs and benefits of compliance
3. need of a cue to action, i.e. indication that something is wrong, e.g. perceived 
severity of illness
Medication Compliance is reduced by:
• prophylactic medication
• lack of warning symptom
s, e.g. hypertension, glaucoma
• excessive information is provided
• feelings of lack of control

Question 42

the sick role

Answer 42

Parsons (1951)
•defined as the role given by society to a sick individual and it carries two rights:
• exemption from normal responsibilities, such as work
• exemption from blame for the illness

and two responsibilities:
• the wish to recover as soon as possible
• cooperation with medical investigations and acceptance of medical advice and
treatment

Question 43

Illness behaviour deerminants

Answer 43

Mechanic
1.
the visibility and recognizability of symptoms
2.
the extent to which symptoms are seen as being serious
3.
knowledge and cultural understanding of the symptoms
4.
basic needs leading to denial
5.
competition between needs and illness responses
6.
competing interpretations assigned to symptoms
7.
availability and proximity of treatment resources and the costs in terms of
time, money, effort, and stigma