Social Psychology

Question 1

What is social thinking?

Answer 1

Involves thinking about others, especially when engaging in unexpected things.

Question 2

What is attribution theory proposed by Fritz Heider?

Answer 2

The theory that we explain someone’s behaviour by crediting either the situation or person’s disposition.

Question 3

What is fundamental attribution error theory?

Answer 3

Tendency to overestimate the impact of personal disposition and underestimate the impact of the situations in analysing the behaviours of others

Question 4

What are the effects of attribution?

Answer 4

• How we explain someone’s behaviour influences how we react to it
• Likely to make error with people we don’t lknow

Question 5

What is self-serving bias?

Answer 5

People tend to see themselves in a more positive light than others
-Excuse their failures, accept credit for our successes and see ourselves as better than average

Question 6

What is an attitude?

Answer 6

A belief and feeling predisposes a person to respond in a particular way to objects, other people and events

Question 7

What is peripheral route of persuasion?

Answer 7

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cue

Question 8

What is central route of persuasion?

Answer 8

Occur when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favourable thoughts

Question 9

What is attitude strength?

Answer 9

Durability and impact of an attitude

1) Attitude importance: personal relevance
2) Attitude accessibility: ease with which an attitude comes to mind

Question 10

What is the foot-in-the-door phenomenon?

Answer 10

Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with larger request

Question 11

What is door-in-the-face phenomenon?

Answer 11

Tendency to agree to a small request following a larger one

Question 12

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 12

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognition) are inconsistent

Question 13

What is conformity?

Answer 13

Going along with the crowd/yielding to group pressure

Question 14

What is obedience?

Answer 14

Behaving as instructed

Question 15

What is normative social influence?

Answer 15

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid rejection

Question 16

What is informational social influence?

Answer 16

The group may provide valuable information or resources

Question 17

What are conditions that strengthen conformity?

Answer 17

1) One is made to feel incompetent or insecure
2) The group has at least 3 people
3) Group is unanimous
4) One admires the group status and attractiveness
5) One has no prior commitment to a response
6) The group observes one’s behaviour
7) One’s culture strongly encourages respect for a social standard

Question 18

What is social facilitation?

Answer 18

Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in presence of others.

Question 19

What is social loafing?

Answer 19

Tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling with others toward a common goal than when individually accountable.

Question 20

What is deindividualisation?

Answer 20

Loss of self awareness and restraint found in social situations fostering and anonymity.

Question 21

What is prejudice?

Answer 21

An unjustifiable attitude toward a group and its members

-Prejudice is attitude component, discrimination is related behaviour

Question 22

What is aggression?

Answer 22

Any physical or verbal behaviours intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.