Social psychology and individual differences (year one)

Question 1

Give dimensions of the group and give examples for each

Answer 1

Numbers – family, sex
Longevity – jury, religion
Spatial concentration – flight crew, world leaders
Structure – army, crowd of shoppers
Purpose – assembly line, teenage gang
Autocracy/democracy – army, commune

Question 2

Give terms and definitions for different types of groups

Answer 2

Common bond groups : close in proximity
Common identity group : psychologically related people
Social aggregate : group of people who don’t think of themselves as a group

Question 3

define entitativty

Answer 3

the extent to which a group is seen as a distinct, coherent and bounded entity

Question 4

explain group cohesiveness

Answer 4

Solidarity, team spirit, esprit de corps
Uniformity of conduct and mutual support
May be the ‘essence’ of ‘groupness’
Based on ‘social attraction’ – liking based on shared group membership and the other person’s proto-typicality within the group

Question 5

Explain group socialization and the stages of being in a group

Answer 5

■ Groups are dynamic over time
■ Members come and go and all leave their impression on the group (and the group on them)
– Investigation : thinking about joining the group, will find out about the group
– Socialisation : taught expectations of the group
– Maintenance – negotiation : maintained as a group member, may be periods of person wanting to change things the group does
– Resocialisation : when a change occurs in a group based on a suggestion/ change to group values (e.g if a person suggests a change and it is adopted, the whole group is resocialised)
– Remembrance : when an individual leaves a lasting effect in a group / group has an effect on the person

Question 6

Explain norms

Answer 6

■ Shared beliefs about appropriate conduct for group members
■ Usually relate to behaviours, but can also relate to beliefs, values and goals
■ Define group membership and differentiate between groups
■ Co-ordinate group actions towards goals
■ Violation of group norms usually provokes sanctions and potentially ostracism

Question 7

Explain status within the group and the factors which contribute to high status

Answer 7

■ High status members have:
– Consensual prestige
– Tendency to contribute ideas (obligation and influence)
■ Status = influenced by context
■ Often become institutionalised over time
■ Factors that contribute to high status include: assertiveness, high group orientation, specific status characteristics, diffuse status characteristics (white, male, well educated)

Question 8

explain marginal group members

Answer 8

• Disliked by group – often more than outgroup members (‘black sheep effect’) – e.g. traitors
• Vilification of marginal members can increase group cohesion
• Ingroup criticism = taken more seriously than outgroup criticism. Marginal members can be important agents of change

Question 9

Explain the shift from personal identity to social identity

Answer 9

Personal identity - idiosyncratic aspects of self
Social identity
Transcend the personal self
Self-categorisation – ingroups and outgroups
Norms of beliefs, values, behaviour, goals
Prototype – the ideal group member
Dynamic – framed by outgroups

Question 10

Explain Tajfel’s (1971) minimal groups study

Answer 10

Reduce groups to the minimum then add components until intergroup bias appears
Red group or blue group
Choose from pairs of numbers – first number is assigned to ingroup, second number to the outgroup. 
4:3 = minimise outgroup score
51: 49 = maximise ingroup score
19: 4= maximise intergroup difference
3:5 = outgroup bias
10:10 = fairness

Question 11

Explain self categorization

Answer 11

Self = Personal identity + numerous social identities that will be salient depending on context and chronic accessibility
We self categorise and then, through a process of depersonalisation, we act in accordance with the group prototype (ideal member)
Identity categories fall into hierarchies. The basis for these hierarchies can change, in turn altering the ordering of the hierarchy

Question 12

Give some advantages of social identification

Answer 12

1). Self-enhancement = main emphasis of Tajfel’s original formulation
Mixed support from research
Intergroup differentiation tends to heighten self esteem
But low self esteem does not motivate intergroup differentiation
2). Uncertainty reduction = associates self categorisation and social categorisation with general human categorisation processes

Question 13

Explain the methods and results found in Group Cohesiveness Boyd, Kim, Ensari & Yin (2014)

Answer 13

■ Demonstrate the relationship between motivational climate and cohesion in sports teams
■ Contrasts a task involving climate with an ego involving climate in basketball and football (soccer) teams
■ Task involving climate: An atmosphere of effort and personal improvement, that all team members matter and mistakes are a chance to learn
■ Ego involving climate: Most skillfull players are celebrated, mistakes are socially punished, inter-personal rivalry thrives
■ Researchers found that task involving climate promotes group cohesiveness

Question 14

Give some group socialisation research examples

Answer 14

■ Lauger (2014) Street Socialization
■ Interviews and observations with gang members or former gang members (in USA). Identifies aspects of a within gang micro-culture with its own norms of conduct
■ Decker, Pyrooz & Moule (2014) – leaving a gang
■ Mixture of surveys and interviews.
■ Results: Leaving a gang occurs in stages. How many stages and how long it takes depends on the level of embeddedness of the individual in the gang
■ Stages include e.g., first doubts, considering alternative lifestyles, turning points (especially concern for family), validation following leaving

Question 15

Explain the research findings of group Norms: McNeill, Kerr & Mavor (2013)

Answer 15

■ Study on norms of medical students in Australia
■ Medical students suffer from stress, mental distress, drug abuse and burnout
■ These are contributed to by a ‘work hard, play hard’ micro-culture, including norms of working hard, partying hard and being strong (not seeking help)
■ Results: Overall identifying as a medical student had a beneficial effect on well being (probably due to social support)
■ Students who identified strongly with a staying strong norm suffered reduced well being
■ Results for identifying with the ‘partying hard’ norm had mixed findings as partying was still a source of social support

Question 16

Explain the research findings of Marginal members: Abrams, Palmer & Rutland (2014)

Answer 16

■ Children and their reaction to ‘disloyalty’
■ Tested children between 5 and 12 years old
■ Children responded to either a normative or non normative ingroup member
■ Normative behaviour was going to a fair which was described as fun and was raising money for charity, non normative was wanting to stay at home and not go to the fair
■ Children viewed not wanting to go to the fair as strange
■ Children of 6 years or less were unconcerned by normative deviancy
■ Children of 8 years and older viewed non normative behaviour negatively and expected their friends to feel the same

Question 17

Explain the realistic conflict theory

Answer 17

■ Sherif
■ Study with 12 year old boys
■ Formed into groups – Eagles and Rattlers, with social norms
■ The groups competed for trophy and prize of medals and pocket knives – mutually exclusive goals
■ Groups attacked each other
■ Researchers promoted peace with co-operative tasks (super-ordinate goals)

Question 18

Explain the commons dilemma

Answer 18

■ Game – provides excellent control of variables but poor ecological validity
■ Participants are kept separate but told others are playing
■ Each player can graze either one or two cows on common land each turn
■ Player receives a reward for each cow grazed
■ If too many cows are grazed in one turn the common land is destroyed and the game ends
■ E.g., 20 players; each paid £1 for each cow grazed per turn. If 30 or more cows are grazed in a turn the game ends. Maximum of 50 turns are planned
■ If players share a common identity and this is made salient before play the common land is more likely to be maintained

Question 19

Give some advantages of social identification

Answer 19

■ 1). Self-enhancement = main emphasis of Tajfel’s original formulation
■ Mixed support from research
– Intergroup differentiation tends to heighten self esteem
– But low self esteem does not motivate intergroup differentiation
■ 2). Uncertainty reduction = associates self categorisation and social categorisation with general human categorisation processes

Question 20

Explain some strategies for improving social identity

Answer 20

■ Social identities are arranged in a status hierarchy – influences their impact on self – esteem
■ Permeable intergroup boundaries lead to individual social mobility
■ Fixed boundaries lead to social creativity or social competition. The choice of which to adopt is dependent on two factors: legitimacy and stability of the social hierarchy

Question 21

Explain social creativity

Answer 21

■ If hierarchy of groups is viewed as legitimate or stable or both, then either:
■ 1). Seek New dimensions of comparison
■ 2). Redefine the value of existing dimensions
■ 3). Compare with a different outgroup

Question 22

Explain why social competition occurs

Answer 22

■ If status hierarchy is viewed as illegitimate and unstable then competition occurs in which low status groups seek to change the status hierarchy through political action, collective protest, revolution, war etc.

Question 23

Give the positive and negative symptoms of psychosis

Answer 23

 Positive symptoms (excess of normal function)
 Delusions (e.g., paranoid, grandeur)
 Hallucinations (auditory and/or visual)
 Disorganised thinking/speech
 Abnormal motor behaviour

	Negative symptoms (reduction of normal function)
	Apathy
	Emotional blunting
	Alogia
	Social withdrawal
	Anhedonia

Question 24

Explain what paranoid delusions are

Answer 24

A person is said to be paranoid if they have a persistent belief that a person or group is attempting to deliberately harm them in some way (Bentall, Corcoran, Howard, Blackwood, & Kinderman, 2001).

• If the belief is detached from reality and evidence, and only held by one person, then it is said to be a delusion.
• To be a paranoid delusion, the belief needs to be inconsistent with a person’s pre-existing belief system and social context

Question 25

Describe the link between paranoia and social identification

Answer 25

Paranoia - Lack of trust in people - Associated with low self-esteem - Associated with lack of control - Unusual beliefs resistant to challenge by outsiders Social identification - Trust in people - Associated with high self-esteem - Associated with increased control - Unusual beliefs challenged by ingroup members

Question 26

Explain the social identity factors than can feed into paranoia

Answer 26

* Locus of control * Self esteem * Ingroup influence * Community belonging

Question 27

Explain the extrinsic and intrinsic values of friendships

Answer 27

```  Extrinsic value of friendship: • It is good for our wellbeing • It provides social support • It strengthens community and sense of belonging  Intrinsic value of friendship: • We have friends because we are human • Because it is nice • Even if there is no extrinsic value, most people have friends ```

Question 28

Explain the direct effects hypothesis

Answer 28

 Support is beneficial regardless of amount of stress/a lack of social support is detrimental to health even in the absence of stress. • High levels of social support provide greater sense of belongingness, self-esteem than low levels, thus producing a positive outlook and healthier lifestyles. • Social support has a physiological route to health by virtue of reduced blood pressure reactivity, thought to arise from positive stress appraisals and emotions. • Social support effects may be via enhanced endocrine or immune system functions, although there are less consistent findings in this area (Uchino, Cacioppo & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1996).

Question 29

Explain the buffering hypothesis

Answer 29

 Social support protects the person against negative effects of high stress. • either by influencing the person’s cognitive appraisals of a situation so they perceive their resources as greater to meet threat • or by modifying the person’s coping response to stressor after it has been appraised as stressful (e.g. they do not cope alone).

Question 30

Explain reinforcement theories

Answer 30

* ‘ we feel friendly towards those who have treated us well’ (Aristotle) * when another person is present when something good happens to us, we are likely to be attracted to him or her (Byrne & Clore, 1970)

Question 31

Explain social exchange and equity theories

Answer 31

* Focus on reward * Go further, and look at maintenance * Comparison of current friendships with past and present (exchange; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) * Compare our friend’s friendship outcomes (equity: Hatfield & Traupmann, 1981)

Question 32

Explain cognitive consistency theories

Answer 32

* Balanced relationship | * Triadic – between yourself, the friend, an object (attitudes) (Heider , 1958)

Question 33

Give some factors in friendship formation maintenance and dissolution

Answer 33

 Formation (Fehr, 1996): • Environmental – proximity: school, residential, workplace • Individual – exclusion criteria (dislike, disregard); inclusion (physical attractiveness, social skills, responsiveness, shyness, similarity) • Situational - future interaction, exposure, outcome dependency, availability • Dyadic – reciprocity of liking, self-disclosure  Maintenance • After it has started one is still faced with having to make the friendship work (Harré, 1977, p. 341) • Managing anger and conflict • Explicit and implicit strategies – self-disclosure, supportiveness rewards  Dissolution • Deterioration • Revisiting formation criteria • Boredom

Question 34

Give the 5 domains of friendship

Answer 34

* Similarity, * Reciprocity * Compatibility * Structural – proximity, duration * Role model

Question 35

Give Matthews 3 styles of friendship

Answer 35

Independents • Self- reliant, no particular person in friendship biography, do not identify as having friends • Determined by circumstance • Discerning • Specific standards, small group of friends • Determined by biography • Acquisitive • Collected variety of friends, throughout life, whatever situation they find themselves in • Determined by both circumstance and biography

Question 36

Describe masculine styles of friendships

Answer 36

 Study of over 400 men, collected over a number f years often as student projects (Greif, 2009)  Four categories of male friendships • Must • Men they need to see to keep them happy • Trust • Men who have been around for a long time • Rust • Sounding board friends but less intimate • Just • Men they hang out with

Question 37

Describe findings on masculinity and friendship

Answer 37

 Men’s friendships (Nardi, 1992; Riggs, 1997) • Longstanding but not regular contacts; • Shared activities; • Younger men’s friendships from quasi public to private spaces; • New friends through shared experiences; • Use proxy indicators of friendship (Bleiszner & de Vries, 2000)  Little research has focused on men who live alone

Question 38

Describe research on older widowed women's friendships

Answer 38

 Friendship is very important to widowed women  However, friendship changes following widowhood and it distresses widowed women  Widows often feel they are dropped by their married friends  Are they and if so why? Perhaps because: • Awkwardness of seeing couples or being with couples • Awkwardness of communication - for example over meal bills • Requiring more support than can be given, or more support than given previously • Widows seen as a threat to married women  New friendships formed by being in the same boat  Homophily

Question 39

Give some reasons for why it is useful to form relationships

Answer 39

- Need to form positive and lasting interpersonal relationships - Lack of social contact can cause serious long term consequences - Harlow monkey research - Self-regulation of social contact, but Individual differences - Korean and Caucasian Americans (You & Malley-Morrison, 2000). Caucasian Americans reported more intimate friendships and higher expectations

Question 40

Give some variables associated with loneliness

Answer 40

* Dispositional factors * Social circumstances * Social cognitive tendencies

Question 41

Give research findings on physical attractiveness

Answer 41

- Broad cross-cultural agreement re physical attractiveness - Attractive people rated more positively (“beauty is good” effect) and attractiveness influences romantic relationships - Friends tend to be of similar attractiveness (Bleske-Rechek & Lighthall, 2010) - Range of physical characteristics are important

Question 42

Explain the finding from Hendrie and Brewer (2012)

Answer 42

- normal, natural teeth were seen as the most attractive teeth - Wide, yellow teeth rated least attractive

Question 43

Explain research findings for proximity and similarity

Answer 43

- Proximity allows familiarity, availability, and expectation of continued interaction - Important consequences for design of housing, workplaces etc - Implications for both the formation and maintenance of relationships - Proximity and similarity may be particularly important for elderly men and women living in residential care (Roberts, 2018) - Co-presence leads to friendship in elderly meeting in Beijing public parks (Richaud, 2018) - Important outcomes (Costa, Kahn, Roudiez, & Wilson, 2018) - Assortative mating – background, personality etc - Increased similarity over time

Question 44

Give research findings about contextual factors which impact upon friendships

Answer 44

- Killias (2018) - Iranians (mostly students) living in Malaysia viewed others with suspicion - Potential friends (from the same cultural background) were perceived to pose a risk of betrayal and political infiltration - Due to formal and informal monitoring within the apartment complex, they often chose to maintain a distance from those of a similar background

Question 45

Give research findings on reciprocity

Answer 45

■ We like those that like us and dislike those that do not like us ■ Important individual differences ■ Attachment ■ Self-esteem ■ Situation – gain loss hypothesis ■ We like most those who initially dislike us but then start to like us ■ We dislike most those who initially like us but then become cold or distant

Question 46

Explain research findings on disclosure

Answer 46

■ Premature disclosures ■ Dishonest disclosures ■ Factual disclosures ■ Failure to notice the information or dismiss the disclosure as unimportant ■ Laurenceau et al., (2005) self disclosure predicts partner responsiveness, which predicts stronger feelings of closeness ■ Disclosure important for the formation of both romantic relationships and friendships (Kudo & Simkin, 2003)

Question 47

Give research findings on signalling commitment’

Answer 47

- Yamaguchi et al. (2015) - The pro-relationship acts used to signal commitment to a friend or romantic partner are similar - Costly commitment signals are more effective than non-costly commitment signals - Failing to display appropriate signals of commitment (e.g., forgetting a birthday) is more detrimental to romantic relationships than friendships

Question 48

Explain research findings on shared activities

Answer 48

- In romantic relationships, declining expressions of affection and perceived responsiveness after the first two years (Hudson et al. 2001) - Aron and Aron (1996) “typical honeymoon then years of blandness pattern” - Self expansion model – desire to enrich identities, may share perspectives - Shared activities lead to additional opportunities for understanding each other, disclosure - Shared activities can lead to relationship satisfaction (Reissman et al. 1993)

Question 49

Explain research findings on support

Answer 49

- Support provided by a partner is unique and difficult to replace - Supportive relationships are more satisfied - Perceived support can be beneficial - Received support can be beneficial or detrimental

Question 50

- The partners response to positive events are also important

Answer 50

- Broaden and Build Theory (Frederickson, 2001) - Experience and expression of positive emotions • Expands how we attend and respond to events • Builds resources for maintaining wellbeing

Question 51

Explain the intimacy process model

Answer 51

- Relationship maintenance - behaviours and strategies to ensure that the relationship will continue - Maintaining strong relationships, avoiding relationship decline, repairing poor relationships - Intimacy Process Model (Reis & Patrick, 1996; Reis & Shaver, 1988) - Framework for understanding daily exchanges and their impact on intimacy

Question 52

Explain research findings on interpreting information

Answer 52

Information Processing - The same events may be interpreted very differently, by different people or at different times - Felmless (1995, 1998, 2001) fatal attraction phenomenon - Qualities that are initially attractive in a partner become the same qualities that end the relationship Memory bias - McFarland and Ross (1987) memories of past feelings are distorted by current feelings about a relationship - Memory bias allows us to forget information which may threaten our current feelings about the relationship

Question 53

Explain research findings on long distance relationships

Answer 53

■ May include a range of categories, e.g. college students, military couples, dual career commuter couples ■ LDRs typically report higher levels of dedication, relationship quality, trust, and commitment (e.g. Kelmer, et al. 2013; Jiang & Hancock, 2013) ■ LDRs appear to engage in more adaptive self-disclosures which may promote intimacy (Jiang & Hancock, 2013) ■ Neustaedter and Greenberg (2012) - importance of digital technologies (particularly video chats). Allow people to spend time together over extended periods of time which enhances intimacy. Remaining issues include time zone distances, technical issues

Question 54

Give research findings on forgiveness

Answer 54

- Various hurts and betrayals e.g. infidelity, breaking promises, divulging information - Baumeister et al. (1998) - Intrapersonal level - anger and blame to charity and compassion Interpersonal level - express and demonstrate those feelings - Intrapersonal change only – silent forgiveness - Interpersonal change only – hollow forgiveness - Important factors, minor acts, empathic emotionally stable victim, apologies and expressions of remorse, committed satisfied relationship

Question 55

Give the prevalence and causes of dissolution

Answer 55

- Relationship dissolution is a common experience (Robak & Weitzman, 1998) - Issues leading to relationship dissolution may include a partner’s failure to meet expectations (including sexual dissatisfaction), a desire for freedom, love that is not reciprocated - External challenges include conflicting work patterns, family and friend involvement. Even the time of year influences the likelihood of breakups

Question 56

Give the 4 factors indicating the end of a relationship

Answer 56

* A new life seems to be the only solution * Alternative partners are available * There is an expectation that the relationship will fail * There is a lack of commitment to a continuing relationship

Question 57

Give some methods of dissolution

Answer 57

■ The Break Up Strategies Questionnaire (Collins & Gillath, 2012) ■ Avoidance / withdrawal “I avoided scheduling future meetings with my partner whenever possible” ■ Positive tone / self-blame “I tried to convince my partner that the break up was in both our interests” ■ Open confrontation “I openly expressed to my partner my desire to breakup” ■ Cost escalation “I became unpleasant to my partner in the hopes that s/he would make the first move” ■ Manipulation “I promoted new relationships for my partner to make the breakup easier” ■ Distant / mediated communication “I terminated the relationship indirectly (through email, text-messaging, or other unidirectional methods of communication)” ■ De-escalation “I procrastinated in saying or doing anything in the hopes that things would improve”

Question 58

Give some of the factors than predict a break up strategy

Answer 58

Women high on Machiavellianism are more likely to use, - avoidance / withdrawal - cost escalation - manipulation - distant / mediated communication (Brewer & Abell, 2016)

Question 59

Explain the stages of duck’s relationship dissolution model

Answer 59

* Intrapsychic Phase * Dyadic Phase * Social Phase * Grave-dressing Phase

Question 60

Explain research findings on consequences and distress

Answer 60

■ Those initiating the breakup report lower levels of distress after the break up (Sprecher, et al. 1998), but both typically report distress (Akert, 1998) ■ The termination of a relationship has important consequences for physical and mental health (Davis, et al. 2003) ■ Distress following breakup is associated with commitment, satisfaction, having few perceived alternatives (Sprecher, et al. 1998) ■ McCall and Johnson (2015) ■ Association between relationship quality and psychopathology (e.g., depression) consistent across cultures, but… ■ Yip, et al. (2015) ■ Divorced people from Asian countries have a higher suicide rate than divorced people from non-Asian countries ■ Risk of suicide was associated with the individualism-collectivism, long-term orientation, survival / self-expression, and gender inequality score of the country ■ McNamee and Smyth (2018) ■ Following divorce, parents of Caucasian women are more likely to encourage moving on whereas parents of Latina women are more likely to discourage it and view the first marriage as sacred

Question 61

Describe griffin’s (2017) findings about reasons for staying friends with an ex

Answer 61

 Griffith et al. (2017)  Reasons for staying friends with an ex:  Security (e.g., not wanting to lose the emotional support)  Practical (e.g., shared possessions)  Civility (e.g., avoiding confrontation)  Unresolved Romantic Issues (e.g., romantic feelings for the person)  Staying friends due to security or practical issues resulted in positive outcomes  Staying friends due to unresolved romantic issues led to negative outcomes  Friendships based on practicality or civility were less likely to last long-term

Question 62

Define social cognition

Answer 62

How we respond to another person is influenced by the ‘primacy effect’ – we put more weight on the first information about them which we receive (Asch, 1946)

Question 63

Give research findings for the halo effect

Answer 63

* A person’s appearance is often the first information about them which we receive * We assume that physically attractive people are good (both more skilled and morally superior) (Dion, Berscheid & Walster, 1972) * Taller men receive higher starting salaries than shorter men (Knapp, 1978)

Question 64

Define schema

Answer 64

‘A schema is a set of inter-related cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes) that allow us quickly to make sense of a person, situation, event or place on the basis of limited information. Certain cues activate a schema. The schema then ‘fills in’ missing details’ (Hogg and Vaughan, 2008, p 49).

Question 65

Give the types of schemas

Answer 65

Scripts – e.g. how to behave in a restaurant Self schemas – e.g. actual self, ideal self and ought self Person schemas: schematic impression of a specific person – e.g. our best friend or a famous celebrity Role schemas: e.g. a lecturer or a pilot – an impression of how they should behave

Question 66

Explain the role of stereotypes

Answer 66

* If our person schema or role schema is based on widely held social assumptions about that person or role, due to their group identity, we are using a stereotype * Stereotypes can be true or false, but even if true they tend to be generalised and sweeping * At their best they allow us to function swiftly and effectively in a complex social world * We struggle to process information which contrasts with the stereotype we hold about a person - the intelligent boxer, the shy celebrity. Incongruous information is often ignored or forgotten (Haire & Grune, 1950)

Question 67

Discuss the effects of prejudice

Answer 67

* Social Stigma – developed with negative stereotypes * Devaluation of a social identity * Can be visible (obesity) or hidden (AIDS sufferer) * Increased prejudice against ‘controllable’ stigma * Allows for downward comparisons (perhaps for a number of groups), which may boost self esteem * Justifies unjust power systems * Defends the ‘worldview’ * Evolutionary basis – avoid poor social exchange partners who would limit our access to resources

Question 68

Explain the effects of self fulfilling prophecies

Answer 68

* Snowball effect * Rosenthal & Jacobson (1968) * Reacting a certain way towards someone may cause them to change THEIR behaviour towards you, which then effects you * Eden (1990) * Good evidence for gender, less good for race and poor for socio-economic status - review by Jussim & Fleming (1996)

Question 69

Explain attributional ambiguity

Answer 69

* Overt discrimination replaced by subtle discrimination – requiring implicit measures * Contrast between hostile and benevolent sexism * Attempts to redress discrimination – tokenism and reverse/positive discrimination * Aversive racism – anxiety and apathy (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008; Trawalter et al, 2009) * All leads to attributional ambiguity – suspicion and mistrust in relationships

Question 70

Give explanations for prejudice

Answer 70

* Inherent fear of the unfamiliar – as omnivores we are neophilic and neophobic * Mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 1968) * Learned * Barrett & Short (1992): 5 – 10 year old children prefer Spaniards to Germans * Parental prejudices passed on through: modelling, operant conditioning, classical conditioning

Question 71

Explain research findings into sexism

Answer 71

Stereotypes of the sexes tend to fall into subtypes (Deaux & LaFrance, 1998, Fiske, 1998) Women: housewife, sexy woman, career woman, feminist/athlete/lesbian Men, businessman, macho-man Both males and females view women as more homogenous (Lorenzi-Cioldi, Eagly & Stewart, 1995) Three arguments are presented in a highly politicised debate: Men and women are fundamentally and biologically different and so tend towards different roles (evolutionary explanation) Male and female roles in society have been shaped by cultural forces – as these cultural forces changed so did the roles of men and women Male and female roles are socially constructed. These roles have been constructed to favour men as men had the power in society

Question 72

Explain theories on the evolution of the sexes

Answer 72

* Evolutionary explanations contend that tendencies selected for on the savannah of Africa, among hunter gatherer societies, hundreds of thousands of years ago are still apparent in human behaviour today * Most of the evolutionary pressures on males and females were the same – find food, stay within the group, find sexual partners, stay away from danger * However, sex has different consequences for males and females: males - no consequence, females – pregnancy * Pregnancy is dangerous in such a setting – need for more food, loss of mobility, dangers of giving birth * Females seek a loyal food gathering male to support her during pregnancy. This has evolutionary advantage for males also – a child with two supporting parents is more likely to survive * Therefore roles of male food gatherer (breadwinner) and female carer are based in evolution – biological essentialism

Question 73

Explain the cultural-historical explanation of sexism

Answer 73

■ Men and women traditionally occupied different roles in society for a number of historical reasons: – Value of children due to lack of welfare system – Only women could feed babies – Many jobs required physical strength (agricultural societies) – Impact of menstruation ■ These practical and social pressures built a culture of male breadwinner and female carer ■ Welfare societies (state pension), bottle feeding, more information based (not strength based) work, contraception, menstrual hygiene products ■ In western societies WWII factory work by women did much to undermine taboos about working women

Question 74

Explain ‘woman’ as a social construction

Answer 74

■ Simone de Beauvoir “The Second Sex”. ■ ‘Femininity’ is a social construction of the quintessential other ■ Women are the second sex – defined in relation to men due to male power ■ E.g., femininity = use of make-up, removal of body hair, dieting and skinny body shape ■ And through behaviour – lack of education, female passivity, dependence on men ■ Femininity was culturally defined by men so that women became a foil before which men appeared active, capable, necessary and strong ■ Women were also presented (by society) as overly emotional; expressions of women’s anger or pain was dismissed as hysteria

Question 75

Explain the findings of moss-racusin et al

Answer 75

- Participants = 127 members of science faculties (biology, chemistry & physics) from a range of Universities across the USA - Believed they were evaluating a real student who wished to pursue a career in science - Received the student’s CV; only the sex of the applicant was varied - Participants rated the student’s perceived competence, their own likelihood of hiring the student, an annual starting salary they would offer, how much mentoring they would provide to the student - Both male and female faculty members viewed the female student as being less, competent, were less likely to hire them, would start them on a lower starting salary and would give them less mentoring

Question 76

Explain findings of recent psychology studies into racism

Answer 76

- Black students are more likely to be expelled from school than white students because white students are perceived as being more compliant (Okonofua et al, 2016) - White home-owners are perceived as cleaner and more responsible than black homeowners leading to disparities in perceived property value (Bonam et al, 2016) - Archival review of police shootings (1980 – 2000) controlled for criminal activity of the suspect and found black suspects were still disproportionately more likely to be shot than white suspects

Question 77

Give real world examples of racism research

Answer 77

 Attempts to demonstrate racism in real world settings can be made difficult by the messiness of real life – multiple variables make clear explanations harder  Healthcare is a relatively simple context in which to examine bias. After controlling for relevant variables (e.g. obesity, age) all patients should receive the same care and treatment  BAME patients are less likely to receive appropriate cardiac medications, undergo bypass surgery, receive kidney dialysis and kidney transplants and are more likely to receive undesirable procedures such as lower limb amputation for diabetes (US Institute of Medicine Report, 2002)

Question 78

Explain the findings of Hoffman, trawalter, axt and oliver

Answer 78

 Black Americans are less likely to be prescribed pain medication when reporting pain to a doctor (e.g., Smedley, Stith & Nelson, 2013)  Study 1: 121 ps reported the amount of pain they would feel if an event occurred (e.g., caught hand in car door). Then speculated on level of pain felt by a target.  Ps rated black target as experiencing less pain than white target  This effect was enhanced by belief in false aspects of biology (e.g., Black people have thicker skin than white people). P’s endorsed 22.5% of the false beliefs  Study 2: 222 medical students read mock medical statements and made pain ratings for the mock patients. The medical students endorsed 11.5% of the false beliefs. P’s who endorsed false beliefs rated black targets as feeling less pain than white targets

Question 79

Explain the frustration aggression theory

Answer 79

 Dollard et al (1939)  Frustration is lessened by achievement of goals or aggression  Hovland and Sears (1940) found a negative correlation between price of cotton and number of murders by lynching in southern U.S.  Miller and Bugelski (1948): Summer camp study. Participants denied a night out showed increased bias against minority groups

Question 80

Explain the weaknesses of the frustration aggression theory

Answer 80

 Frustration does not necessarily result in aggression  Aggression can occur in the absence of frustration  Does not explain why some frustrated groups in the same historical and social context are aggressive and others are not  Generally viewed as overly simplistic and passive

Question 81

Explain the authoritarian personality

Answer 81

 Adorno et al (1950)  Arose from consideration of Holocaust  Proposes that harsh parenting leads to ambivalence towards parents (love/hate) leading to authoritarian personality  Excessive respect for authority, obsession with status, displaces anger onto weaker others, intolerance of uncertainty, difficulties with intimacy  Lots of research but mixed evidence

Question 82

Explain right wing authoritarianism

Answer 82

- Altemeyer (1998) - Attitudes rather than personality - Measured with RWA scale - Conventionalism, authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission - May vary with context (Stenner, 2009)

Question 83

Explain social dominance theory

Answer 83

 Social Dominance Orientation = acceptance of myths which justify unequal status quo (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999)  People at the top defend the status quo  System Justification theory (Jost & Van der Torn, 2012)  Defence of status quo so as to avoid uncertainly anxiety  Even if this results in personal inferiority  Relates to internalised racism (David et al, 2019)

Question 84

Explain the social identity explanation for racism

Answer 84

 We categorise ourselves and others  We seek positive differentiation so as to enhance our self esteem  Patterns of bias become established as defining norms  Hierarchies of identities are formed

Question 85

Describe research on type A personalities (Matthews, 1982)

Answer 85

 Overactive, very competitive  Aggressive to competitors (Carver & Glass, 1978)  More prone to abuse children (Strube et al., 1984)  Managers who are type A, more in conflict with peers and those who work under them (Baron, 1989)

Question 86

Describe how alcohol effects the brain

Answer 86

 Effects cortical control (where thinking and other cognitive functions are carried out, balance, judgement and increases activity in other, more primitive areas - e.g. areas that affect breathing, heartbeat)

Question 87

Describe the link between alcohol and aggression

Answer 87

 Link between alcohol and aggression (e.g Bartholow et al., 2003)  People who drink more can be more aggressive (Bailey & Taylor, 1991)  People who don’t usually consume alcohol are more aggressive when they do (LaPlace et al., 1994)

Question 88

Define disinhibition

Answer 88

A reduction in social rules that stop us from behaving antisocially or in an immoral or illegal way (aggressively)

Question 89

Give Suler’s factors for disinhibition online

Answer 89

``` Dissociative anonymity Invisibility Asynchronicity Solipsistic introjection Dissociative imagination Minimisation of authority ```

Question 90

Define asynchronicity in the terms of online aggression

Answer 90

- Words online are not seen immediately after they are posted, so there may be a delay before a target reads a message and responds - Hit and run aggression

Question 91

Define solipsistic introjection

Answer 91

 Feel like you know people who are online |  Make up conversations with them, feel like you can tell them anything

Question 92

Explain dissociative imagination in terms of online aggression

Answer 92

- Online feels like a fantasy role, so people will behave in certain ways as they feel like it is a game

Question 93

Define and explain deindividuation

Answer 93

 Situational changes that make people lose their identity and therefore influence the level of aggression exhibited  Lower risk of being punished  Presence of others (other people won’t see me do it)  Anonymity (they won’t know who it was)  Diffusion of responsibility (I’m not responsible)  Group size (greater the group, the greater the DoR)  Collective aggression such as crowd baiting

Question 94

Describe the findings of the st pauls riots

Answer 94

 St Paul’s Riots, 1980, London  Violence against individuals and property  Police and camera operators were only intentional targets  21 police vehicles damaged  Private vehicles damaged – suspected unmarked police vehicles and person associated with police  Violence was limited to 2 roads and streets backing off them  Damage to property was limited to accidentally broken windows  Crowd acts according to group norms

Question 95

Explain urban environment findings

Answer 95

 Population density can be linked to crime rate  Household density & neighbourhood density correlated with feelings of aggression and withdrawal from stranger interactions

Question 96

Define dehumanisation

Answer 96

- Thinking of another person as anonymous, without thoughts feelings or emotions and then this being a justification for violence. - Torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad, Iraq.

Question 97

Explain the role of temperature in aggression

Answer 97

Maes et al. (1994) ■ Belgium – archive data ■ Significant correlation between ambient temperature and violent suicide ■ Relates to annual rhythm – May 15th peak for violent suicides Kenrick & Mac Farlane (1986) ■ Arizona, USA ■ Consecutive Saturdays April to August ■ Car remained stationary for 12 seconds while green light indicated ‘go’ ■ Counted number of horn honks ■ Honking was significantly related to temperature

Question 98

Explain Dollard’s frustration-aggression theory

Answer 98

 Theory of contextual influence seeking to address lynching murders in Southern USA in 1930s  Frustration leads to aggression  Both goal completion and aggression are cathartic  Too limited

Question 99

Define social learning theory

Answer 99

Learning by direct experience – operant conditioning Learning by vicarious experience – modelling and imitation  Bobo doll study (Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1963).

Question 100

Explain research findings on computer games and aggression

Answer 100

 Netherlands  10 – 14 year olds  No relationship between computer playing and aggression.  Correlation with intelligence (r = 0.09)  Significant negative correlation with pro-social behaviour (game players less likely to be helpful) r = - 0.12

Question 101

Explain cooperation and competition in peaceful societies | 25 societies examined

Answer 101

■ Almost completely without violence – either inter-personal or inter-group Chewong – Malay peninsula. No words for quarrelling, fighting, aggression, warfare Ifaluk – Micronesia. In 12 months one tiny act of aggression Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites – USA & Canada. Hutterites never a recorded murder Kadar – India. Crime totally absent according to local police Jains – India – habitual criminality unknown. Competitive and join military.

Question 102

Explain bonta’s themes in peaceful societies

Answer 102

 Co-operation and group success rather than individual competition and achievement  Humility, modesty  Cherished to age 3, then ignored  Positive interpersonal relations must be constantly re-enforced  Competition is associated with aggressiveness and violence  Self perpetuating – non violence leads to non violence  Re-enforced by rituals emphasising co-operation and individual humility  1997 study

Question 103

Explain how culture influences aggression

Answer 103

Culture influences how we: name, frame, and try to tame conflict  What we see as threatening?  Different actions, peoples’ motivations  Who is threatening?  People that threaten you or your group (in-groups / outgroups)  Why is it threatening?  Physical threat, threat to status  How to respond?  Retaliation, punishment or resolution

Question 104

Explain honour systems

Answer 104

* The South of the USA has more homicides than North * Particularly in males * Particularly amongst people who know each other * One possible reason is cultural response to threats against social status ‘honour’ * Minor conflicts can escalate very quickly

Question 105

Explain research findings on honour systems

Answer 105

 Cohen et al (1996) ran a study whereby participants needed to walk down a narrow hallway  A confederate bumped in to them (they didn’t know they were part of the study)  Participants from the North were less likely to believe they had been threatened  Had lower testosterone levels afterwards (biological response)  People from the South were less likely to yield to a subsequent confederate

Question 106

Explain cohen and nisbett (1997) research findings of honour systems

Answer 106

 Cohen and Nisbett (1997) sent letters to potential employers with two different stories  Story 1: to half the employers, the applicant reported that he had impulsively killed a man who had been having an affair with his fiancée and then taunted him about it in a crowded bar  Story 2: to the other half, the applicant reported that he had stolen a car because he needed the money to pay off debts.  Employers in the South were more likely to respond in an understanding manner to the first story (killing someone out of honour) than people in the North  Both sets of employers responded negatively to the car theft story as not related to honour

Question 107

Explain why honour systems exist in America

Answer 107

1) Historical issues with levels of policing • There was little law enforcement in the south, so it was necessary to rely on reputation and honour 2) Origins of settlers in these regions • People in the north were farmers • People in the south were cattle herders

Question 108

Give Hosftede’s cultural values (1980,2001)

Answer 108

``` Individualism / collectivism Uncertainty avoidance Power distance Masculinity/ Femininity ```

Question 109

Give factors of collectivist and individualist cultures

Answer 109

collectivist Interdependent construal of self  Attend to others  Rely on others and they rely on you  Make less of a distinction between individual and group goals  Obeys ‘in-group’ authority  Distrust out-groups An individualist  Independent construal of self  Assert the self  Exchange relationships  Promoting own achievements and initiatives  Links between members of society are weaker  People want to stand out. Being ‘ordinary’ seen as negative

Question 110

Explain fujihara’s findings of justifiable behaviour

Answer 110

 Fujihara et al (1999) asked students from Japan, Spain and the USA about past aggressive behaviours  Identified 3 types: – Indirect verbal aggression (being sarcastic and hindering) – Direct verbal aggression (shouting and rage) – Physical aggression (punching, kicking) • Indirect aggression seen as acceptable in individualistic cultures • Direct verbal aggression seen as more justifiable in collectivist cultures • Physical aggression seen as more acceptable in individualistic cultures • Physical aggression seen as acceptable in collectivist cultures if defending yourself

Question 111

Explain how aggression has developed in cultures

Answer 111

* Individualistic cultures focused on personal desires * Self-assertiveness important * Need to look after yourself * Many collectivist societies focused on Confucianism * Emphasises importance of social harmony, avoidance of conflict and obligation to others * Aggression viewed as shameful and socially damaging * Self-assertiveness seen as selfish and antisocial

Question 112

Define in groups and out groups

Answer 112

In-groups When a person psychologically identifies being a member (e.g., by interests, gender, occupation, age) Out-groups When a person does not psychologically identify being a member (e.g., by interests, gender, occupation, age)

Question 113

Explain Tajfel’s findings on in and out groups

Answer 113

* A person chooses an in-group because it maximises positive social identity * People are generally ethnocentric about in-group * One way of improving status within your in-groups is by discriminating towards out-groups * Some even actively promote aggression towards out-groups (e.g., sports teams, gangs)

Question 114

Explain how culture influences in/out groups

Answer 114

* Collectivistic cultures more focused on the distinction between out-groups and in-groups (Bell & Chaibong, 2003) * Nearly all cultures restrict aggression against in-groups. * But observed more frequently in collectivist cultures * Will try and deescalate conflict within in-groups * But indifferent to out-groups * Collectivists more aggressive towards out-groups (Brown et al, 1992) * If values clash, more likely to be hostile

Question 115

Give some characteristics of collectivist cultures

Answer 115

* Less affluent, complex, mobile * More densely populated * In-groups greatly influence social behaviour * In-group member relationships more * Caring and intimate * Communal * Less exchange relationships (I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine)

Question 116

Explain the findings from Forbes et al (2009)

Answer 116

* So I-C affects what's seen as justifiable (e.g. high in I – can use it to self-assert yourself) but does it influence actual behaviour? * Forbes, Zhang, Doroszewicz, & Haas (2009) * Examined the effect of I-C and gender on levels of aggression in college students (China, Poland and USA) * Direct = punching, kicking * Indirect = exclusion from social groups, spreading rumours, making fun of, manipulating guilt, ignoring people ``` Direct and indirect aggression • Individualistic > collectivistic • Subtle differences between Type of aggression • Indirect > direct Gender • Men usually more aggressive • Moderated by culture and type of aggression ```

Question 117

Give limitations with the I-C dimension

Answer 117

• Independent dimensions (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; Kağitçibasi, 1994) • Not all members of a collectivist society will be collectivist (same for individualistic cultures) • Depends on the situation • Researchers assume participants are either I or C without measuring first o e.g. Forbes et al (2009); Fujhara et al (1999) assumed that all participants from USA were individualists • Qualitative differences between ‘collectivistic cultures’ (Dien, 1999) o Chinese - Authority-orientated orientation o Japanese – Peer-group orientated

Question 118

Give some limitations of cross-cultural research

Answer 118

* Concepts from Western Psychology and impose them on other cultures * Reliance on positivistic methods * Use of Western researchers * Translating Western measurements for non-Western purposes * Back-translation

Question 119

Give some ethical considerations of I-C dimensions

Answer 119

 Stereotyping ◦ Stating that differencing between groups studied = differences between all people in those groups  Cultural attribution fallacy (Campbell, 1961) ◦ Concluding that the source of difference is cultural when it might not be  Informed consent ◦ Crucial that cultural informants collaborate to ensure participants are giving informed consent

Question 120

Describe milgram’s obedience study

Answer 120

* Obedience * Compliance with orders derived from another’s authority. * Stanley Milgram (1974) * Teacher (participant) and a learner (confederate) * Learner had to remember and recall a list of paired associates * Teacher administered an electric shock to the learner after every error made. * Teacher administered progressively larger shocks to the learner.

Question 121

Define agentic state

Answer 121

* 65% of participants administered shocks to the highest level (450v) * Milgram (1963) – people are socialised to respect authority * ‘Agentic state’ – unquestioning obedience in which personal responsibility is transferred to the person giving orders

Question 122

Give some factors influencing obedience and research findings

Answer 122

Sunk cost fallacy • Foot-in-the-door-technique of persuasion Immediacy of the victim • Milgram (1974) • When victim was neither seen nor heard – 100% • When the victim was visible (in the same room) – 40% • When the teacher had to hold victims hand down – 30% • ↑ immediacy of victim may prevent dehumanisation of victim Immediacy of authority figure • When experimenter relayed instructions via telephone – 20.5% • When no orders were given at all – 2.5% • Presence of two disobedient peers – 10% • Presence of two obedient peers – 92.5%  

Question 123

Define conformity and give research findings

Answer 123

■ Conformity – Deep-seated private and enduring change in behavior and attitudes due to group pressure. ■ Social influence can also operate in a less direct manner than obedience, through conformity to social or group norms ■ Convergence effect (Sherif, 1936) – Linked with group norms: the need to be certain that a behaviour is correct and appropriate ■ Frame of reference – Middle positions perceived to be more correct than fringe positions – Allport (1924) – people in groups give less extreme judgements of odours and weights in groups, as compared with when they are alone.

Question 124

Explain whether people conform in unambiguous situations

Answer 124

■ Sherif’s (1936) may have been considered ambiguous – Participants likely felt uncertain regarding the level of movement – a norm arose and guided uncertain behaviour. ■ Might it be true that if one is confident about what is appropriate and correct, then others’ behaviour will be irrelevant and less influential?

Question 125

Give Asch’s findings

Answer 125

■ Control group – performed the same task privately – Fewer than 1% of responses were incorrect – confirmation of unambiguity ■ Main findings – 25% of naïve participants did not conform to confederates incorrect responses at all – 50% conformed to the erroneous majority on six or more trials – 5% conformed on all twelve erroneous trials – Overall conformity rate of 33%

Question 126

Explain why participants conform

Answer 126

■ Feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt – Evolving into self-consciousness, feelings of anxiety ■ Many participants knew that they saw differently to how the group responded – This led to some doubting themselves – Others believed they were correct but went with the majority to avoid standing out. ■ Self-presentational concerns ■ Neuroimaging data show stronger amygdala response to nonconformity (Berns, Chappelow, Zink, Pagnoni, Martin-Skurski, & Richard, 2005)  

Question 127

Explain the variations of Asch's task

Answer 127

■ Incorrect majority responded publicly but participant wrote their response down privately – 12.5% conformity rate ■ Deutsch and Gerard (1955) – Three conditions ■ Responded face-to-face with three confederates ■ Responded anonymously and privately in a cubicle ■ Responded face-to-face with confederates and was told to be as accurate as possible as a group goal – Subjective certainty was also manipulated ■ Half of the participants responded whilst the stimulus was present ■ Half of the participants responded after the stimulus had been removed (increased uncertainty).

Question 128

Give some individual and group characteristics of conformity

Answer 128

■ Lack of expertise/familiarity may increase conformity – Sistruck and McDavid (1971) ■ Males and females faced group pressures in identifying various stimuli – Stimuli were either: ■ Typically masculine ■ Typically feminine ■ neutral. ■ Cultural Variation – Individualist vs collectivist cultures ■ Bond and Smith (1996): Meta-analysis of the Asch paradigm in seventeen countries – People who score high on Hofstede’s (1980) collectivism scale conform more than people who score low. – Conformity may be more favourable in collectivist cultures ■ Acting as a form of social glue

Question 129

Explain situational factors in conformity

Answer 129

■ Group Size – Asch (1952) – as the unanimous group increased, conformity increased. ■ Group unanimity – Conformity rates are significantly reduced if the majority is not unanimous – Presence of a correct reporter – reduces conformity from 33% to 5.5%

Question 130

Describe informational influence

Answer 130

■ Informational influence – Accepting information from another as evidence about reality. – Affects us when we are uncertain ■ Ambiguity ■ Social Disagreement – Likely present in Sherif’s (1936) study

Question 131

Describe normative influence

Answer 131

– Normative Influence – To conform to the positive expectation of others to gain approval or avoid social disapproval. – Likely present in Asch’s (1951) experiments

Question 132

Describe the inhibitory norm model of eating

Answer 132

■ Herman, Roth, and Polivy (2003) – Significant concern for most people is being seen to eat excessively. ■ Often negative stereotypes have been applied to those who eat excessively. ■ Eaters may then take care to ensure that their food intake is not perceived as excessive. – People might engage in social comparison to avoid this  

Question 133

Explain referent informational influence

Answer 133

■ Dual-Process model of social influence may be an oversimplification – More to social influence than only normative and informational forces. ■ Social Identity theory – Group membership based on self-categorisation and social comparison. ■ Referent Informational Influence – Pressure to conform to a group norm that defines oneself as a group member.

Question 134

Explain whether Asch’s study actually measured minority influence

Answer 134

■ Moscovici and Facheux (1972) – Asch’s lone participant was a member of a large majority confronted by a small minority ■ Those outside of the experiment who identify the lines ‘correctly’ vs the confederates who identified the lines ‘incorrectly’ ■ Three social influence modalities – Conformity – majority influence – majority persuades the minority – Normalisation – mutual compromise leading to convergence – Innovation – minority creates a conflict in order to persuade the majority.

Question 135

Explain consistency in minority influence

Answer 135

■ Argued to be the most important component for effective minority influence because it: – Disrupts the majority norm and produces uncertainty and doubt. – Draws attention to the minority as an entity. – Creates the impression that an alternative, coherent view exists. – Demonstrates certainty and commitment to this view. – Shows that to resolve the social conflict, one must adopt the minority’s viewpoint.

Question 136

Explain conversion theory

Answer 136

■ Moscovici (1980) argued that majorities and minorities exert influence through different processes: – Majority Influence: ■ Direct public compliance through normative or informational dependence. ■ Comparison processes: focussing on how others behave to know how to fit in ■ Majority views are accepted passively ■ Public compliance involves little/no private attitude change – Minority Influence ■ Produces private change in opinion due to cognitive conflict ■ Validation processes: examine the validity of their beliefs ■ Outcome: Little/no overt public agreement with minority but private internal change. ■ Conversion Effect – Sudden internal change in the attitudes of the majority

Question 137

Give evidence for conversion theory

Answer 137

■ Moscovici and Personnaz (1980) – Used the blue-green paradigm described earlier – Individuals judged the colour of clearly blue slides, varying in intensity – Exposed to a single confederate who always called the slides ‘green’ – Participants were led to believe that either most (82%; majority influence) or very few (18%; minority influence) people would respond the same way. – Participants publicly called out the colour of the slide. The slide then disappeared and the participant had to write down the colour of the after-image ■ Blue slides: Yellow after-image ■ Green slides: Purple after-image

Question 138

Explain convergent-divergent theory

Answer 138

■ Nemeth (1986) ■ When we have attitudes which are in disagreement with the majority, we find this surprising and stressful – Leads to narrow-focused (convergent) thinking. ■ In contrast, disagreement with the minority is not stressful (but expected) and may allow for more divergent views. ■ Minority influence improves performances on tasks related to divergent thinking, as compared with majority influence (Martin & Hewstone, 1999) ■ Nemeth (1986) – using Asch and blue-green paradigm, showed that exposure to minority influence stimulated divergent, novel, creative thinking.

Question 139

Explain social identity theory and minority influence

Answer 139

■ Referent informational influence theory: – Prototypical in-group members are the most reliable source of information. – Therefore, surely minorities should be particularly ineffective at influencing a majority. ■ Minority must cause the majority to focus on intergroup comparisons which are shared. – E.g., a radical faction within Islam may have more influence within Islam if there is a focus of intergroup comparisons between Islam and the west.

Question 140

Explain leniency contract

Answer 140

■ Typically when a message involves strong attitudes, it is difficult for minority influence to prevail. ■ However, the minority is already part of the in-group – Majority may be more reluctant to reject this message. ■ Leniency contract: – There is a greater leniency towards in-group minorities because they are unlikely to want to destroy the majority’s core attributes. – Outgroup minority does not invite leniency

Question 141

Give a psychological definition of personality

Answer 141

“a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings” (Allport, 1961, p.11).

Question 142

Give some of the aims of studying personality

Answer 142

Psychologists are interested in what people are like, why they behave as they do, and how they became that way. Personality theorists seek to: Explain the motivational basis of behaviour Determine the basic nature of human beings Provide descriptions / categorisations of how people behave Measure personality Understand how personality develops Assist in the development of interventions to facilitate behaviour change Assess the effects of heredity versus the environment

Question 143

Describe the idiographic approach to studying personality

Answer 143

Strategy: Emphasises the uniqueness of individuals. Goal: Develop an in-depth understanding of the individual. Research method: Qualitative methods to produce case studies. Data collection: Interviews, diaries, narratives, treatment session data. Advantages: Depth of understanding of the individual. Disadvantages: Difficult to make generalisations from the data.

Question 144

Describe the nomothetic approach to studying personality

Answer 144

Strategy: Focus on traits that occur consistently across groups of people. People are unique in the way their traits combine. Goal: Identify the basic/underlying structure of personality, and the minimum and finite nr of traits required to describe personality universally. Research method: Quantitative methods to explore the structures of personality. produce measures of personality. explore the relationships between variables across groups. Data collection: Self-reported personality questionnaires. Advantages: Discovery of general principles that have a predictive function. Disadvantages: Superficial understanding of any one person.

Question 145

Describe the nomothetic approach to studying personality

Answer 145

Strategy: Focus on traits that occur consistently across groups of people. People are unique in the way their traits combine. Goal: Identify the basic/underlying structure of personality, and the minimum and finite nr of traits required to describe personality universally. Research method: Quantitative methods to explore the structures of personality. produce measures of personality. explore the relationships between variables across groups. Data collection: Self-reported personality questionnaires. Advantages: Discovery of general principles that have a predictive function. Disadvantages: Superficial understanding of any one person.

Question 146

Explain strands of personality theorising

Answer 146

The clinical strand Developed from case studies of the mentally ill. Sigmund Freud is considered the founder. The individual differences strand Documents differences in personality through research and statistical methods. The major advance in psychological research in individual differences was caused by Francis Galton. There are many different personality theories within these two strands.

Question 147

give background information on Sigmund freud

Answer 147

Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian Neurologist. Interested in hypnosis and ‘hysteria’, particularly what drove patients to develop hysteria in the first place. Adopted the approach of encouraging his patients to talk about their problems while he listened. Led him to start developing his own theory and psychoanalysis. Regularly treated patients for 8-9 hours each day, then wrote each evening and on Sundays. Founder of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychology.

Question 148

Explain what freud's theory of personality comprises of

Answer 148

Levels of consciousness The nature of human beings and the source of human motivation The structure of personality The development of personality

Question 149

Describe freud’s theory of levels of consciousness

Answer 149

Freud (1940) suggested that there are 3 levels of consciousness: Conscious mind Thoughts, feelings, memories we are aware of at any given time. Preconscious mind Thoughts, feelings, memories that are unconscious now, but can be easily recalled into our conscious mind. Unconscious mind Thoughts, feelings, memories, desires, fantasies we are unaware of because they are being kept in our unconscious, due to their unacceptable nature. Freud called the active process of keeping material unconscious repression.

Question 150

Describe freud’s role of dreaming

Answer 150

Freud (1901) argued that a person’s dreams were a direct route into a person’s unconscious, and that there were two elements to dreams: Manifest content of dreams The description of the dream as recalled by the dreamer. Not a true representation of a person’s unconscious mind, as the dreamer “censors” the true meaning of the dream to avoid anxiety. Latent content of dreams The “true” meaning of the dream, as identified by the analyst. Identified dream symbols that represent latent content. The patient would be asked to keep a dream diary and report the manifest content of the dream, and Freud would analyze this material to uncover the latent content.

Question 151

Describe freud’s role of dreaming

Answer 151

Freud (1901) argued that a person’s dreams were a direct route into a person’s unconscious, and that there were two elements to dreams: Manifest content of dreams The description of the dream as recalled by the dreamer. Not a true representation of a person’s unconscious mind, as the dreamer “censors” the true meaning of the dream to avoid anxiety. Latent content of dreams The “true” meaning of the dream, as identified by the analyst. Identified dream symbols that represent latent content. The patient would be asked to keep a dream diary and report the manifest content of the dream, and Freud would analyze this material to uncover the latent content.

Question 152

Describe thoughts of the source of human motivation

Answer 152

Freud (1901) argued that three biological drives are the primary motivators of all human behavior: Sexual drives to reproduce (libido) Life-preserving drives Death instinct (Thanatos)

Question 153

Describe fraud's structure of personality

Answer 153

Id Develops first in the child. Unconscious part of the personality, which includes instinctive/primitive behaviours. Irrational and operates based on the pleasure principle; an innate urge to have our needs met immediately. Ego Develops second, as the child develops. Conscious and executive part of the personality, responsible for dealing with reality. Rational and operates based on the reality principle; a learnt tendency to operate according to reality, striving to satisfy id's desires in realistic ways. Super ego Develops last. Considered the conscience of the child. This aspect of personality holds our values and morals learnt from parents and society. 

Question 154

Explain intra-psychic conflict

Answer 154

These personality structures are in constant conflict, which Freud called intra-psychic conflict.  The ego mediates the impulsive demands of id and the restraining demands of superego.

Question 155

Give Freud's psychosexual stages

Answer 155

``` Oral stage Anal stage Phallic stage Latency stage Genital stage ```

Question 156

Describe the Oral stage (birth to 1 year)

Answer 156

Pleasure zone is the mouth (feeding, sucking, chewing, biting). Over or under-stimulation leads to fixation and abnormal personality development. Over-stimulation leads to an oral receptive personality type (overly trusting, accepting, dependent). Under-stimulation leads to an oral aggressive personality type (envy and use others).

Question 157

Describe the Anal stage (18 months to 3 years)

Answer 157

Pleasure zone is the anal region (bowel and bladder elimination). Inappropriate toilet training leads to fixation and abnormal personality development. Excessive control leads to an anal-retentive personality type (overly orderly, stubborn, stingy). OR an anal-expulsive personality type (untidy, disorganised, disobedient).

Question 158

Describe the Phallic stage (~ 3 to 5 years)

Answer 158

Pleasure zone is the genitals (e.g., masturbation). Boys develop the Oedipal complex, a sexual attachment to their mother. Boys envy their father for “having” the mother, but also fear the father. To resolve anxiety, boys identify with, and become as, the father. Girls develop the Electra complex, a sexual attachment to their father. Girls envy their mother for “having” the father, but also fear the mother. To resolve anxiety, girls identify with, and become as, the mother. Inability to cope with sexual feelings leads to fixation and abnormal personality development.

Question 159

Describe the latency stage (~ 5 to 12 years)

Answer 159

Resting period in the child’s development. Energies are taken up in socialisation and learning. The child develops defence mechanisms.

Question 160

Describe the genital stage (~ 12 to 18 years)

Answer 160

Puberty and more mature sexual interest in others occurs. | Conflicts left from previous stages.

Question 161

Describe defense mechanisms

Answer 161

Freud proposed that the conflicting demands of the id, ego, and superego create anxiety. To cope with this anxiety, defence mechanisms are developed. The purpose of defence mechanisms is to protect us from pain.

Question 162

Give all of Freud's defence mechanisms

Answer 162

``` Repression Regression Denial Displacement Reaction formation Conversion reaction Rationalisation Intellectualisation/Isolation Phobic avoidance Projection Sublimation Undoing ```

Question 163

give research findings on the unconscious mind

Answer 163

Research has examined subliminal perception, suggesting it provides evidence for a dynamic unconscious (Patton, 1992). A review of evidence of emotion, motivation, decision-making and attitudes concluded that there is evidence for the operation of unconscious processes as conceptualized by Freud (Norman, 2010).

Question 164

Give research findings on the structure of personality

Answer 164

Early studies developed measures of individual differences in ego strength, ego control, and ego resilience (Barron, 1953; Block, 1993). A review concluded there is evidence to support oral and anal personalities, and weak evidence to support Oedipal / Electra complex (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996).

Question 165

Give research findings on defence mechanisms

Answer 165

Research supports reaction formation, isolation, denial, projection, and repression (Baumeister et al., 1998; Taylor & Armor, 1996; Newman et al., 1997). Some people have a repressive coping style, underreporting feeling anxious (Myers, 2000). A review concluded that 20-60% of therapy clients who had suffered sexual abuse reported not being able to recall the abuse for long periods of their lives (Brewin & Andrews, 1998). Cognitive avoidance is similar to Freud’s defence mechanisms and is thought to operate in a similar way to protect people from anxiety (Brewin & Andrews, 1998).

Question 166

Give research findings for dream content

Answer 166

Some believe Freud's dream theory is on the right track given findings in neuropsychology E.g., the idea of censorship in dreaming (Hobson, 1999; Solms, 2000). Ps instructed to suppress thoughts of a person before going to bed dreamt more of the person (Wegner et al., 2004). Dreams from REM (vs. non-REM) sleep consist of more aggressive acts (Mcnamara, 2005). Freud could have used these findings as evidence for suppressed material (e.g., aggressive impulses) in the unconscious mind playing out in our dreams.

Question 167

give criticisms of Freud's theories

Answer 167

BUT many studies examining Freud’s work have methodological issues. Freud’s work lack empirical support, remain untested, and are unfalsifiable. Criticized for having a narrow motivational basis to explain human behavior; sexual drives the major motivation of human behavior? Emphasis on biological factors in shaping personality; ignores social influences. Deterministic (little free will). Presents a negative view of humans. Personality fully developed at age 5? The view of women and non-heterosexuals in Freudian theory is problematic. Freud’s work is considered out of date and is generally no longer accepted.

Question 168

Describe the Rorschach test

Answer 168

Inspired by Freud’s work, the Rorschach test was created in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach. The test is a widely used assessment tool for projective examination of personality. A psychologist shows the participant 10 ink blot cards and direct them to respond to each with what the inkblot looks like. Elements scored in the RT: How respondents describe the image (e.g., human, animal) Time to respond Location of the inkblots that triggered the response Determinants (e.g., form, colour) Popularity or originality of the responses A standardized scoring system has been developed by John Exner for interpreting the test (i.e., the Rorschach Comprehensive System; RCS).

Question 169

Give research findings for the Rorschach test as a tool for measuring personality

Answer 169

Psychologists use the Rorschach test in research studies (e.g., Kimoto et al., 2017).  Aim: Examine the differences in responses to the Rorschach test between Dementia and Alzheimer patients. Method: Dementia (n = 32) and Alzheimer (n = 26) patients, as well as controls (n = 14) were recruited. The full Rorschach test was conducted by one clinical psychologist, who scored a protocol. Quantitative and qualitative responses were obtained. Key findings: 6 variables were significantly higher (e.g., gave more unusual detail), and 3 variables were significantly lower in Dementia versus Alzheimer patients. Implications: Dementia patients perceive objects in the inkblot differently from Alzheimer patients, suggesting that the Rorschach test may be used when differentiating Dementia from Alzheimer.

Question 170

Give some research criticisms of the Rorschach test

Answer 170

- Wood et al., 2000 Aim: Are Rorschach scores related to psychiatric diagnoses? Method: Reviewed prior research that has examined the links between Rorschach scores and various psychiatric diagnoses. Key conclusions: Only a few Rorschach scores have a well-demonstrated relationship to psychiatric disorders. Implications: The Rorschach test should not be used when formulating psychiatric diagnoses (including most personality disorders).

Question 171

Give research findings on how the Rorschach test depends on demographic variables

Answer 171

Boys and girls score differently on the Rorschach test, and so does Iranian and non-Iranian children (Delavari et al., 2013). Different cultures classify objects differently. French subjects often identify a chameleon in card VIII, which is may otherwise classed as an "unusual" response (Weiner, 2003). Education and age (but not ethnicity and gender!) predicted differences in Rorschach scores (Meyer et al., 2015).

Question 172

Give the background of Carl Jung

Answer 172

Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swizz psychoanalyst inspired by Freud’s work. Worked with Freud for many years. Could not accept the Oedipal complex and other aspects of personality development (e.g., personality is developed at age 5!). Split with Freud and later started developing his own theory. He was a traveller interested in how culture influence mental life. Founder of analytical psychology.

Question 173

Describe Jung’s theory of personality

Answer 173

Jung called the total personality the psyche; a complex structure consisting of opposing forces/conflicts. The opposing forces create energy that motivates our behaviour. Called this energy life-process energy. Termed the system of creating life-process energy within the psyche the principles of opposites Jung (1954) believed that personality development continues throughout life, and that behaviour is affected by past experiences and future goals. Endpoint of personality development is self-realisation (self-acceptance and feeling at peace with oneself) Self-realisation demands life experience and can only be achieved later in life.

Question 174

give the components of Jung's theory of personality

Answer 174

``` According to Jung (1965), there are four main structures within the psyche (i.e., the personality): Ego Personal unconscious Collective unconscious Archetypes ```

Question 175

Describe Jung’s theory of personality

Answer 175

The psyche operates according to 2 principles: The principle of equivalence: activity increase in one part of the psyche, it decrease correspondingly in another part. The principle of entropy: drive to create balanced energies in the psyche so that we express more of ourselves in our behaviour. Thus, the development of our personality needs to be balanced to allow all the parts that make up our psyche to come into harmony.

Question 176

Describe Jung’s ego

Answer 176

Jung (1965) believed that the ego (sometimes called the self) is the unifying force in the psyche at the centre of our consciousness. Contains conscious thoughts and feelings about our own behaviour / feelings, and memories of past experiences. Responsible for our feelings of identity and continuity as human beings.

Question 177

Describe Jung’s personal unconscious

Answer 177

Contains all personal experiences that have been blocked from our awareness. Similar to Freud’s concept of the unconscious, this structure contains repressed “unacceptable” material. This material can be brought into our consciousness in psychoanalysis or hypnosis.

Question 178

Describe the collective unconscious

Answer 178

Observed similarities across cultures; argued that there are structures of the unconscious mind that are shared among all humans. Added a “layer of unconsciousness” to his theory, called the collective unconscious. Lies deep within the psyche; consists of innate, inherited, and universal instincts that goes beyond personal experiences. Humans are born with certain fears and instincts that are stored within the collective unconscious: fear of the unknown, the dark, snakes, fire, and flight or fight instincts. Called these universal instincts archetypes.

Question 179

Describe Jung’s Archetypes

Answer 179

Universal themes or symbols within the collective unconscious, which can influence our current experiences. Jung (1959) argued that God is an archetype because, in every culture, people appeal to some form of God when placed in threatening / stressful situations. Fear activates the archetype of God in the collective unconscious, which then influence behaviour (e.g., praying,).

Question 180

Describe Jung’s archetypes : the persona

Answer 180

The Persona The mask/role we adopt to deal with other people and to present ourselves to the world. Helps us to disguise inner feelings and impulses and respond in socially appropriate ways. We have personas for all our roles. It is adaptive but, when used to extremes, it may result in the loss of our true selves.

Question 181

Describe Jung’s archetypes : the shadow

Answer 181

The Shadow The dark side of our nature, consisting of repressed material in our personal unconscious and universal images of evil in our collective unconscious. We never truly know the shadow side of ourselves; it is too frightening to explore our potential to do harm or think evil thoughts. Expressed in unexplained moods (e.g., uncontrollable anger), psychosomatic pain, and desires to do harm.

Question 182

Describe Jung’s archetypes : the anima

Answer 182

The feminine element in the male psyche, consisting of inherited ideas of what constitutes a woman, derived from men’s evolutionary experience of women and mothers. Consists of feminine qualities – emotionality, sensitivity, irrationality, vanity and moodiness.

Question 183

Describe Jung’s archetypes : the animus

Answer 183

The male element in the female psyche, derived from women’s evolutionary experience of men and fathers. Consists of masculine qualities – reason, logic and social insensitivity. Anima/Animus help males and females to understand each other.

Question 184

Describe Jung’s archetypes : the self

Answer 184

Drives the process of individuation; the quest to create balance within the psyche, to accept ourselves, and to reach our fullest potential.

Question 185

Describe the role of archetypes

Answer 185

Archetypes can influence dreams, fantasies, and real-life situations (e.g., behaviour). E.g., a man’s anima (so his inherited ideas of what women are like) may become activated in his relationship with a woman. Different archetypes become activated and influence us in different situations, allowing us to have predetermined ways of thinking about situations and dealing with objects and events.

Question 186

Describe Jung’s theory on personality types

Answer 186

Jung wanted to understand the root of his interpersonal difficulties with Freud. Studied Freud’s disagreements with Alfred Adler. Analysed a patient’s case history from Freudian and Adlerian perspectives. Concluded that both perspectives were valid, but that disagreements arose because the men saw the world differently due to different personalities. Must be at least two personality types; one that focuses on the external world (like Freud), and one that is internally oriented (like Adler).

Question 187

Describe Jung’s two personality types

Answer 187

Extraversion “an outgoing, candid and accommodating nature that adapts easily to a given situation, quickly forms attachments, and, setting aside any possible misgivings, often ventures forth with careless confidence into an unknown situation” Introversion “a hesitant, reflective retiring nature that keeps itself to itself, shrinks from objects, is always slightly on the defensive and prefers to hide behind mistrustful scrutiny”

Question 188

Explain Jung’s theory on how people relate to the world

Answer 188

Jung (1968) felt that differences existed within introverts and extraverts, and classified how people relate to the world, proposing 4 approaches: Sensing: Registering that something exists without evaluation. Thinking: Interpreting stimuli using reason and logic. Feeling: Evaluating the value / worth of what has been presented. Intuitive: Relating to the world with minimum interpretation / reasoning; instead we form hunches.

Question 189

Describe Jung’s theories on personality

Answer 189

Thinking and feeling are opposites. Both are rational functions as they involve the cognitive processes we use to form conclusions/make judgments. Thinkers use logic and analysis Feelers use values, attitudes, and beliefs Sensation and intuition are opposites. These are less planned activities and happen reflexively. Sensors respond reflexively to situations based on what they perceive to be happening with little reflection/evaluation Intuitors also respond reflexively, looking for meaning in terms of past/future events From the 2 major attitudes (introversion, extraversion), and the 4 approaches (sensing, thinking, feeling, intuitive), Jung developed a classification of 16 psychological types, mainly focusing on 8.

Question 190

Give characteristics of Jung’s extraverted sensitive types

Answer 190

Impulsive Pleasure seeking Socialiable More typical of men

Question 191

Describe Jung's introverted sensitive types

Answer 191

Sensitive Calm passive

Question 192

Explain how empirically valid Jung’s theory is

Answer 192

Jung’s theory is difficult to test and lacks scientific research (e.g., how do we test “the shadow”?). His theory suggests that the most crucial part of our unconscious (collective unconscious) is inherited, and not shaped by our experiences. Criticised for being mystical; Jung's archetypes have not been viewed positively in psychology and are often studied as a historical artefact than a scientific contribution. Criticised for providing a stereotypical view of femininity and masculinity (Anima/Animus). He did, however, contribute to Psychology in important ways. Coined the term self-realisation, or internal harmony, which remains an important concept in Psychology. His introversion-extroversion typeology, and his four functions (thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting), remains significant. A personality test, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), has been developed to measure Jungian personality types

Question 193

Explain how the Myers-Briggs type indicator measures personality

Answer 193

Inspired by Jung’s work, the MBTI was developed by Myers and Briggs during WWII. 2 functions, judging and perceiving, have been added to Jung’s original 4, resulting in 16 personality types. It is an introspective self-report questionnaire with the purpose of indicating psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Ps respond to statements. For each, they choose one of two possible answers. The MBTI is scored, and the participant is provided with a report that tells them about their preference in each category. One of the most commonly used personality instruments in occupational settings and research studies, demonstrating that different personality types pursue different interests, report different memories, and have different job preferences etc.

Question 194

Explain the MBTI scores

Answer 194

Scales are composed of pairs of opposite preferences; Extraversion-Introversion (EI), Sensing-Intuition (SN), Thinking-Feeling (TF), and Judgement-Perception (JP). EI focuses on whether one’s general attitude toward the world is oriented outward (E) or is internally oriented (I). SN was designed to reflect whether a person prefers to rely on observable facts detected through the five senses (S) or intuition (N), which relies on insight. TF contrasts logical thinking and decision processes (T) with a more subjective, interpersonal feeling (F) approach. JP decision-making attitude distinguishes between making prompt decisions, a preference for planning and organizing activities (J) vs. a preference for flexibility and spontaneity (P).

Question 195

Explain research findings of applying MBTI to academic performance

Answer 195

Ihm et al., 2017) Students with a judging (vs. perceiving) type achieved better academic performance. Researchers argued that personality analysis would be beneficial for dental faculty members to understand the extent to which learning would work smoothly.

Question 196

Describe a study investigating whether personal values differed depending on personality types

Answer 196

Pestana & Codina, 2019) Aim: Investigate whether personal values (e.g., about power and achievement) differed depending on personality types. Method: 45 students (future CEOs) completed the MBTI, developed a story about him/herself as the main hero/heroine, and completed a questionnaire about personal values. Key findings: Students with a thinking (vs. feeling) type personality scored higher in values about achievement. The perceiving (vs. judging) type scored higher in heroism and benevolence. The sensing (vs. intuition) type scored higher in benevolence. Implications: MBTI appears to be useful to determine the personality and values of future leaders.

Question 197

Evaluate the MBTI

Answer 197

The MBTI has been highly criticised. Poor validity and reliability review found that 37% of test takers saw at least one change to their primary type after a retest. Measures categories that are not independent e.g., thinking and feeling as opposites when they are actually not independent. The test is not comprehensive Ignores key elements of personality e.g., emotional stability vs reactivity. Wrongly classifies people as either an extravert or introvert, and ignores that people can be both.

Question 198

Define the Barnum effect

Answer 198

A problem with personality tests is that ps are provided with a report that tells them about their personality, which people endorse. Constantly exposed to different tests that are intended to measure and tell us about our personality.

Question 199

Describe the Barnum effect in personality assessment

Answer 199

The tendency for people to endorse, as uniquely their own, personality descriptions that are actually fake or so general that they can describe almost anyone is a psychological phenomenon called the Barnum Effect (Emery & Lilienfeld, 2004).

Question 200

Describe Mason & Budge’s (2011) findings of the Barnum effect

Answer 200

Key findings: Means fell between 3.28 and 3.41 on a 5-point scale, indicating a bias to endorse the fake personality profiles. Self-referential thinking and schizotypy predicted agreement with Barnum measures. Implications: The Barnum Effect exists for many types of fake personality statements (even negative ones!), and is particularly evident in certain types of people.

Question 201

Describe susceptibility to peer influence

Answer 201

Increases between childhood and early adolescence and peaks around age 14 Declines slowly during secondary school years (Begin to separate themselves from parents) – Seek peer approval Study

Question 202

Give the two routes to adolescent delinquency

Answer 202

Early-Onset – behavior begins in middle childhood Biological risk factors and child-rearing practices combine Late-Onset – behavior begins around puberty

Question 203

Describe the early onset route to adolescent delinquency

Answer 203

``` Related to genetic/ biological vulnerability – Starts in childhood Impulsiveness Attentional problems Affects children into adulthood Criminality Influence matters less ```

Question 204

Describe the route to late-onset adolescent delinquency

Answer 204

``` Has no genetic/ biological vulnerability Good relationships with pro-social peers Shows delinquency in adolescence Begins in adolescence Desists after adolescence Imitate early-onset youth May hang-out with early-onset youth and engage in delinquency ```

Question 205

Describe abnormal development in aggression

Answer 205

Developmental psychopathologists are concerned especially with the issue of continuities and discontinuities or Quantitative differences and qualitative differences Homotypic continuity – both form and process stay the same Heterotypic continuity – the form may change while the process underlying the problem is the same

Question 206

Describe callous-unemotional traits

Answer 206

Hallmark of the construct of personality disorder- psychopathy Poor recognition of distress (Blair et al., 2001; Dadds et al., 2006; Marsh & Blair, 2008; Muñoz, 2009; Wolf & Centifanti, 2013; Centifanti, Stickle, et al., under review) Less attention to victims (Centifanti et al.) Exhibit high rates of aggression Greater delinquency & recidivism

Question 207

Describe research findings into aggression in children

Answer 207

Mixed group of reactive and proactive aggressive children self-reported high levels of anger Hubbard et al. (2002) second graders competed with a peer high reactive aggression & low proactive aggression - heightened physiological reactivity (i.e., change in skin conductance) high on both reactive and proactive aggression showed lower levels of emotional reactivity on psychophysiological indices. Pitts (1997) - reactively aggressive boys responded with increased autonomic reactivity to provocation, whereas boys in a proactive-reactive group did not. Expression of anger can be separate (i.e., disconnected) from the experience of anger

Question 208

Give background information on wundt

Answer 208

Psychologists placed people into categories depending on their personality type (e.g., extrovert OR introvert). Wilhelm Wundt changed the categorical types of personality into trait dimensions. German Physiologist and the founding father of modern day psychology. Opened the very first laboratory dedicated to Psychology in 1879.

Question 209

Describe Wundt's approach to personality traits

Answer 209

Classified personality according to two dimensions: mood stability and strength of emotions. People were placed along these dimensions, rather than being placed in one category.

Question 210

Describe how the trait approach defines personality traits

Answer 210

“a trait is a dimension of personality used to categorize people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic” (Burger, 1997). Two assumptions underlie trait theory: Traits are relatively stable over time. Traits show stability across situations. Also assume that personality traits influence behaviour. Personality traits are continuous dimensions, and people can be placed along the dimension depending on how much of the trait they possess

Question 211

Explain what trait theorists are interested in

Answer 211

Trait theorists are interested in typical group behaviour. e.g., how people high in aggression typically behave in a debate. Interested in making comparisons among people e.g., compare the behaviour of a group of people high (vs. low) in aggression in a debate. Trait theorists have little to say about personality change and tend to be academic psychologists.

Question 212

explain Sheldon's theory of somatotypes

Answer 212

Sheldon (1899-1977) was an American Psychologist and founding figure of trait psychology. Described personality according to somatotypes, which is based on physique and temperament. After surveying thousands of people, Sheldon (1970) concluded that there are 3 basic types of physique: Endomorphy Mesomorphy Ectomorphy Using correlational techniques, he showed that each body type was associated with a particular temperament. Sheldon felt that people were different in terms of which organs that were most prominent in their bodies and thus where their body’s focus lay. Sheldon’s work marked the start of the utilisation of psychometric approaches to the study of personality; conducted surveys of large populations, collected different measures from people using questionnaires and applied statistical techniques to analyse the data.

Question 213

Explain early lexical approaches to personality

Answer 213

Early researchers used dictionaries to identify and count the nr of words that describe personality traits. Sir Francis Galton (1884) provided the first documented source of a dictionary/thesaurus used to elicit words describing personality. Lexical hypothesis – the personality traits and differences that are the most important to people become a part of their language as single terms/trait descriptors. Frequency of use correspond with importance. Number of words in a language that refer to each trait will be related to how important that trait is in describing personality. According to the lexical hypothesis, this should apply cross-culturally (Norman, 1963)

Question 214

Describe the work of Gordon allport

Answer 214

Lexical researchers counted the terms used, identifying synonyms, and producing lists of these words. One of the first psychologists to produce such a list was Gordon Allport. Allport and Odbent (1936) identified 18,000 words, of which 4,500 described personality traits. Published the first psychology text on personality traits in 1921; Personality Traits: Their Classification and Measurement. Taught the first course on Personality in the US in 1924. Adopted a unified approach to personality; it is how traits come together that produces the uniqueness of people. These traits produce a unified personality that is capable of evolution and change. Adopted a positive view of humans, suggesting that humans are rational, creative, active, self-reliant, and capable of change

Question 215

Explain allport’s personality traits

Answer 215

Distinguished between nomothetic and idiographic approaches (Week 7); felt that both bring unique insights into our understanding of personality. Allport (1961) suggested that the nomothetic approach allows the identification of common personality traits. Saw common traits as ways of classifying groups of people. Did not find comparisons based on common traits useful when it comes to understanding personality. Allport (1961) suggested that the idiographic approach allows the identification of the personal disposition of the individual. Represents the unique characteristics of each person. Found this to be a useful approach towards developing a real understanding of personality.

Question 216

Give Allport's personality traits

Answer 216

Allport (1961) further described three types of personality traits: Cardinal traits Single traits that dominate an individual’s personality and heavily influence behaviour. Central traits 5-10 traits that best describe an individual’s personality. Secondary traits Concerned with an individual’s preferences and are not a core component of their personality. Become apparent in certain situations.

Question 217

Describe Raymond cattell’s work

Answer 217

Cattell (1905-1998) was keen to apply empirical methods (factor analysis) to discover the basic structure of personality. Existing list of traits should be reduced to a smaller nr that would represent the basic structure of personality. Identified a range of traits, and became interested in the ways traits and situational variables interact to influence behaviour. Distinguished between constitutional traits (genetically determined traits) and environmental-mold traits (traits that are the result of environmental experiences). Developed multiple abstract variance analysis (MAVA) to calculate the influence that genetic and environmental factors have in the development of a personality trait.

Question 218

Give cattells personality traits

Answer 218

Cattell (1965) defined three types of traits: Ability traits How well you deal with a situation reach your goal in that situation. e.g., intelligence. Temperament traits Individual differences in the styles people adopt when pursuing goals. e.g., some people may be laidback / easygoing; others may be irritable / anxious. Dynamic traits Motivate us and energise behaviour. e.g., a person may be motivated to succeed and be competitive, or driven to care for others. Three types: attributes, sentiments, and ergs.

Question 219

Explain Cattell's three dynamic traits

Answer 219

Attitudes Hypothetical constructs that express our particular interests in people or objects in specific situations. Help to predict how we will behave in a specific situation. Sentiments Complex attitudes that include our opinions and interests that help determine how we feel about people or situations. Ergs Innate motivators and drives. Cause us to recognize and attend to some stimuli more readily than others, and to seek satisfaction of our drives.

Question 220

What did Cattell distinguish between?

Answer 220

Cattell further distinguished between: Common traits Traits shared by many people (e.g., sociability, intelligence, dependency). Unique traits Rare traits that emphasise the uniqueness of humans. Specialised interests that motivate us to pursue certain related activities. Cattell argued that people are unique because each person has a different mixture of different common traits.

Question 221

Explain cattells surface and source traits

Answer 221

Surface traits Collections of trait descriptors that cluster together in many individuals and situations. E.g., sociable people are also carefree, hopeful, & content. When measuring a person on each of these traits, their scores on each will be correlated with all the others. Source traits Underlying traits identified by factor analysis. Responsible for the observed variance in the surface traits. In our example, it is the source trait of extraversion, because extraversion is measured by the scores on the surface traits of sociability, carefreeness, hopefulness, & contentedness.

Question 222

Describe the interaction between Cattell's personality traits

Answer 222

Surface traits relate to the overt behaviours people display. A source trait is responsible for the behaviours people display (i.e., the surface traits). Being high in the source trait extraversion causes you to display behaviours that are more sociable and to have more hopeful attitudes etc. Cattell used various approaches to uncover the source traits: After carrying out extensive work using factor analysis of huge data sets, Cattell identified 16 major source factors and claimed that they represent the basic structure of personality. The Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF) questionnaire was developed as a measurement tool.

Question 223

Give the ranking of some of cattells personality traits

Answer 223

Factor A, Outgoing–Reserved (Affectothymia–Schizothymia) Factor B, Intelligence (High – Low) Factor C, Stable–Emotional (High ego strength–Low ego strength) Factor E, Assertive–Humble (Dominance–Submissiveness) Factor F, Happy-go-lucky–Sober (Surgency–Desurgency) Factor G, Conscientious–Expedient (High superego–Low superego) Factor H, Venturesome–Shy (Parmia–Threctia) Factor I, Tender-minded–Tough-minded (Premsia–Harria). Factor L, Suspicious–Trusting (Protension–Alaxia) Factor M, Imaginative–Practical (Autia–Praxernia) Factor N, Shrewd–Forthright (Shrewdness–Artlessness) Factor O, Apprehensive–Placid, (Guilt-proneness–Assurance) Factor Q1, Experimenting–Conservative (Radicalism– Conservatism) Factor Q2, Self-sufficiency–Group-tied (Self-sufficiency–Group adherence) Factor Q3, Controlled–Casual (High self-concept–Low integration) Factor Q4, Tense–Relaxed (High ergic tension–Low ergic tension).

Question 224

Describe the work of Hans Eysenck

Answer 224

Hans Eysenck (1916-1997) was a German Psychologist Published ~ 45 books and hundreds of research papers; founded the journal Personality and Individual Differences. When beginning his work in personality, he recognised two schools within psychology: Theory development with no emphasis on evaluating them with empirical evidence. Experimental psychologists with no interest in individual differences. Stressed that these schools needed to be integrated. His goal became to identify the main dimensions of personality, devise means of measuring them, and test them using experimental quantitative procedures.

Question 225

Describe Eysenck’s supertraits

Answer 225

Defined personality as the way a person’s character, temperament, intelligence, physique, and nervous system are organised. Traits are relatively stable, long-lasting characteristics of the individual. Used factor analysis to develop a hierarchical model of personality types. Observed habitual responses at the bottom level of his model; typical behaviours that come together to make up personality types. Used factor analysis of large samples to identify three supertraits (or personality types) that he claimed make up the basic structure of personality.

Question 226

Give Eysenck’s three types of supertraits

Answer 226

Extraversion: sociability. Neuroticism: emotional stability. Psychoticism: severe psychopathology.

Question 227

Give research evidence for EPQ extraversion

Answer 227

Extraverts prefer to socialise compared to introverts, and they like louder music and brighter colours (Eysenck, 1965). Extraverts are more likely to engage in risky behaviours such as smoking, gambling, drinking, skipping school, and sexual activities (Eysenck, 1965; Jiang, Huang, & Tao, 2018). Because of their need for variety, extraverts have more career and job changes, and they change relationship partner more often (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975).

Question 228

Give research evidence for EPQ neuroticism

Answer 228

Aim: explore the relationship between neuroticism and night eating, and the mediating role of psychological distress. Method: 578 college students were assessed on the Eysenck personality questionnaire short scale (e.g., “Are you a worrier?”), the night eating questionnaire (e.g., “When you get up in the middle of the night, how often do you snack?”), and the depression anxiety stress scale. Key finding: neuroticism was significantly and positively related to night eating. This relationship was partially mediated by psychological distress. Potential implication: the treatment and intervention for night eating may benefit from our attention to personality traits such as neuroticism and psychological distress.

Question 229

Give research evidence for Eysenck's types

Answer 229

The primary factors have been found in 24 countries in women and men, and in children and adults. Eysenck concluded that the three-factor structure has a genetic basis and represents the basic structure of personality. Longitudinal studies have showed that the three-factor personality structure is stable across time. High level of support for Eysenck’s theory; the neuroticism and extraversion scales have proved to be particularly good & reliable measures psychometrically. But, the psychoticism scale is more problematic, with much lower internal reliability statistics.

Question 230

Describe Costa and McCrae's big five model

Answer 230

Researchers increasingly agree that five supertraits make up the basic structure of personality. Those described by Costa and McCrae (1992) are most widely used (i.e., Big Five Factors): Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Measured with the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness Personality Inventory (NEO-PI). The Big Five model is a data-derived hypothesis as opposed to a theoretically based hypothesis. The hypothesis that five factors represent the basic structure of personality has come from collected data and factor analysis.

Question 231

Describe the NEO-PI

Answer 231

Different forms of the NEO-PI NEO-PI-R = Form R is for observer ratings and is phrased in the third person. NEO-PI-S = Form S is for self-reports and is phrased in the first person. Consists of 240 items that measure the Big Five factors (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness), and 30 specific traits, or facets, that define the factors (6 facets for each trait). All questions are rated on a 5-point scale, anchored at "strongly agree" and "strongly disagree."  It takes 30 to 40 minutes to complete the full questionnaire.

Question 232

Describe openness

Answer 232

This factor refers to the individual having an openness to new experiences. It includes the characteristics of showing intellectual curiosity, divergent thinking, and willingness to consider new ideas and active imagination. People with high scores are unconventional and independent thinkers. People with low scores are conventional and prefer the familiar to the new.

Question 233

Describe conscientiousness

Answer 233

This factor describes our degree of self-discipline and control. People with high scores are determined, organised, and plan for events in their lives. People with low scores are careless, easily distracted from their goals and undependable

Question 234

Describe extraversion

Answer 234

This factor is a measure of the individual’s sociability (same as Jung’s and Eysenck’s extraversion factors). People with high scores (i.e., extraverts) are sociable, energetic, optimistic, friendly and assertive. People with low scores (i.e., introverts) are reserved, independent, and even-paced.

Question 235

Describe agreeableness

Answer 235

This factor relates to characteristics of the individual that are relevant for social interaction. People with high scores are trusting, helpful, soft-hearted, and sympathetic. People with low scores are suspicious, antagonistic, unhelpful, sceptical, and uncooperative.

Question 236

Describe neuroticism

Answer 236

This factor measures an individual’s emotional stability and personal adjustment. People with high scores experiences wide mood swings and they are unstable in their emotions. People with low scores are calm, well adjusted and not prone to extreme maladaptive emotional states.

Question 237

Describe research findings of openness

Answer 237

Study 1: Openness was related to artistic AND scientific creative behaviours. Study 2: Openness was related to artistic creative behaviours, but was NOT related to scientific creative behaviours.

Question 238

Describe research findings into conscientiousness

Answer 238

The coefficient of .27 from self-discipline to health behaviours shows its unique contribution to health behaviours, after controlling for the general Conscientiousness trait. People with high self-discipline are more likely to engage in healthy behaviours.

Question 239

Describe research findings into extraversion

Answer 239

Extraversion was positively related to social support seeking and negatively related to avoidance. Extraverts are more likely to approach others for help in stressful situations

Question 240

Give research findings of agreeableness

Answer 240

``` High agreeableness (and high conscientiousness and low neuroticism) in self and partner predicted greater relationship satisfaction in the UK and AU samples. High agreeableness (and high conscientiousness and low neuroticism) in self and partner predicted greater life satisfaction in the UK, AU, and DEU samples. ```

Question 241

Give research findings of neuroticism

Answer 241

Neuroticism predicted preferences to recall worrisome memories before the speech, suggesting that people high in neuroticism preferred to feel worried before giving a speech.

Question 242

Give research findings for the big five model

Answer 242

High level of support for the Big Five model; many agree that the five factors represent the universal structure of personality. Factor analysis of the scores on the MBTI has found support for a five-factor structure. The five-factor model is also compatible with Catell’s 16-factor measure and Eysenck’s 3-factor measure. The latest version of the 16PFI even allows scoring on the Big Five! The NEO-PI-R (and other versions) has been translated into several languages, and the same five factor structure has been replicated. The five factors have been found in different languages, ages of people, and races. Longitudinal studies have found that the observed personality differences are stable over time and have genetic basis.

Question 243

Define grit

Answer 243

It is a personality trait linked to self-control which also predict success in life. Defined as “passion for and perseverance toward especially long-term goals” (Duckworth & Gross, 2014). Grit is also associated with many of the positive outcomes predicted by self-control, such as educational attainment and professional success. Self-control is the moment-to-moment regulation of behaviour in pursuit of a goal, whereas grit is sticking with that goal and not abandoning it.

Question 244

What does grit predict?

Answer 244

Duckworth et al. (2007) found that grit predicted: Educational attainment among 2 samples of adults (N=1,545 and N=690) Grade point average among Ivy League undergraduates (N=138) Retention in 2 classes of United States Military Academy (N=1,218 and N=1,308) Ranking in the National Spelling Bee (N=175). Thus, the authors found substantial evidence that individual differences in grit predict success in life. People who score high in grit are also more likely to have a growth oriented mindset (Kannangara et al., 2018). So, maybe grit can be achieved by adapting a growth mindset.

Question 245

Describe dweck’s work on mindsets

Answer 245

Fixed Mindset: Intelligence is a fixed trait Priority: Appear intelligent to others Strategy: Don’t work harder than you need to When faced with setbacks: Conceal mistakes Goal orientation: Performance goals Growth Mindset: Intelligence can be developed Priority: Learn Strategy: More effort = more reward When faced with setbacks: Learn from mistakes Goal orientation: Mastery goals

Question 246

Explain how mindsets influence educational achievement

Answer 246

People with growth mindsets (also known as incremental theories) respond better to setbacks and perform better academically

Question 247

describe the importance of mindsets

Answer 247

Beliefs about non-academic abilities, such as dieting and athletics, also predict performance. Burnett et al. (2012) meta-analysed 113 studies in many areas, and found that implicit theories (a.k.a. mindsets) had a consistent effect on achievement. This effect was partly explained through the association between implicit theories and learning goals.

Question 248

Explain how growth mindsets influence success

Answer 248

One important mechanism is how people respond when things are difficult People with a fixed mindset avoid challenges, give up easily, ignore useful negative feedback, and feel threatened when others succeed People with a growth mindset embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, learn from criticism, and feel inspired by others’ success

Question 249

Give research findings on whether mindsets can change

Answer 249

Study: Reading a growth versus fixed mindset article People who read a growth mindset article changed their mindset and their persistence in the face of setbacks (Bergen 1992) Study: Intervention teaching a growth mindset (vs. lesson on memory) to 7th graders Those adapting a growth mindset demonstrated increased motivation, effort and earned better grades (Blackwell et al., 2007) Study: 5th graders were praised for their intelligence versus their effort Children praised for effort cared more about mastery (vs. performance) goals, displayed more task persistence, task enjoyment, and better task performance

Question 250

Define self control

Answer 250

“the ability to override impulses to act as well as the ability to make oneself initiate or persist in boring, difficult, or disliked activity” Carver (2010, p.766)

Question 251

What is trait self control?

Answer 251

Trait self-control is the dispositional ability to self-control across time and situations, which tend to emerge early in life

Question 252

Give some benefits of self control

Answer 252

Follow-up studies on the marshmallow test kids find that ability to delay gratification predicts many outcomes later in life better academic achievement in high school (Mischel et al., 1988) fewer mental health disorders (Ayduk et al., 2008) lower BMI 30 years after the tests (Schlam et al., 2013)

Question 253

Describe the brief self control scale

Answer 253

Most common measure of trait self-control. It is a shorter version of the full Self-Control Scale. Considered to be a “good” scale. Participants rate their agreement with 13 statements that tap self-control behaviours on a 5-point scale (1 = not at all like me; 5 = very much like me). Calculate a mean trait self-control score (9 items are reverse scored), with higher scores indicating higher levels of trait self-control and greater dispositional ability to self-control.

Question 254

explain research findings of high self control

Answer 254

We DO know that people with high TSC: Hold different beliefs about which emotions that are useful to help them achieve their goals (Tornquist & Miles, 2019). Are more effective at regulating emotions (Paschke et al., 2016). Are more likely to regulate emotions (Hennecke et al., 2018).

Question 255

Describe instrumental emotion regulation

Answer 255

People regulate emotions because of the immediate benefits of the emotion, e.g. maximising performance Instrumental Theory of ER holds that people regulate emotions to achieve their goals This may involve making oneself feel unpleasant in the short-term in order to achieve longer-term gains

Question 256

Explain research findings of trait self control

Answer 256

People with high (vs. low) trait self-control rated positive emotions as more useful, and negative emotions as less useful to their self-control success. People with high (vs. low) TSC rated positive emotions as more useful and negative emotions as less useful to their performance. These beliefs did not translate into preferences to regulate emotions. TSC did not predict choice to regulate emotions. People with high TSC felt more positive and less negative emotions after the emotion regulation task. These emotions enhanced their subsequent self-control performance.

Question 257

Give some factors influencing “intelligence”

Answer 257

``` Parents overpraise Lucky exam results Easy exams Good school Privileged environment Lucky to have social capital? Sociologists’ views tend to differ from psychologists’ views Bottom line – we have implicit theories of intelligence ```

Question 258

Describe the history of Francis Galton

Answer 258

Born in 1822, child prodigy Maths degree at Cambridge Also interested in heredity (a cousin of Darwin) Interested in psychology and intelligence (he thought individual differences & heritable) Coined the term ‘nature versus nurture’ An explorer Created the first weather maps Created a hearing test Developed statistical concepts: regression to the mean; correlation First used survey as data collection method Introduced fingerprinting to Scotland Yard Pioneer in eugenics

Question 259

Describe the history of Alfred Binet

Answer 259

Law degree but interested in psychology (especially intelligence); Studied natural sciences at The Sorbonne Researcher (w. Charcot) in neurology at Salpêtrière hospital, Paris until 1890; From 1891, worked at the Sorbonne until his death (lab director from 1894) studying mental processes, esp. on two daughters 1904, set up commission for the French government on alternative education needs of so-called ‘retarded’ children: how to identify special needs?

Question 260

Describe Galton's ideas on intelligence

Answer 260

Francis Galton (1822-1911) first proposed idea of differences in intelligence Seen as forefather of intelligence tests (alongside Binet) Highly intelligent individuals can respond to large amounts of information Low intelligence (“idiotic”) individuals less responsive to a lot of sensory information Examples: Heat vs. cold Good/poor sight or hearing Ability to distinguish colours Reaction times Bottom line – Galton’s was first attempt at thinking how to measure/test intelligence

Question 261

describe Binet's ideas on intelligence

Answer 261

Used associationism (John Stuart Mill) to explain intelligence Sensory experience → information combined → consciousness (J. S. Mill) Commissioned by French Ministry of Public Instruction to identify SEN children Created first intelligence test with Theodore Simon: The Binet-Simon scale (1911) Each level matched developmental (ages 3-10). N = 50 children; 30 Qs of increasing difficulty. Examples included: Follow lighted match with your eyes Word definitions/fill in missing words in sentences Shaking hands Tested intelligence and compared to same age group performance So-called mental age was Binet’s lasting contribution and a significant milestone in ψ

Question 262

Describe US developments to Binet-Simon

Answer 262

Lewis Terman (1877-1956) used Binet-Simon in California Needed to revise the norms, revised some items and created some new items The new Stanford-Binet test in was published in 1916 for 4-14yr-olds Tested child’s intelligence AND compared it to other children Stanford-Binet examples (4yr-olds) Copy a square What day of the week is it? N = 1000 (cf. Binet N = 50)

Question 263

Describe Stern’s IQ work

Answer 263

Used ratio of real age to mental age to develop his concept of intelligence quotient (IQ)

Question 264

Describe Yerkes army alpha test

Answer 264

Robert Yerkes, Head of APA committee to help war effort 1917 U.S. in WWI need fast assessment for soldiers (Binet time-intensive) Army Alpha test designed with Terman for literate groups: oral and written test of cognitive abilities, knowledge base Eight subtests - examples Follow oral directions – comprehension of simple and complex language directions Practical judgement – choose correct judgement in different scenarios Synonyms–antonyms Analogies

Question 265

Describe the army beta test

Answer 265

Comparable to the Alpha but not so language/literacy focused Sent for Beta test if 1. <6yrs speaking English; or 2. Alpha showed individual as a poor reader Examples: Maze task – find the best routes using a picture of the maze Cube analysis Match numbers to symbols Complete an unfinished picture (jigsaw) Over 1.75 million people tested by Yerkes 1919 National Intelligence Test sold half million copies in first year Post-war, businesses picked up testing

Question 266

Describe general intelligence

Answer 266

Charles Spearman – known for factor analysis and concept of general intelligence ‘g’ General ability Specific abilities Two main tests devised for adults in general population that measure ‘g’ The Weschler tests The Raven’s progressive matrices.

Question 267

Describe Weschler’s method of measuring g

Answer 267

``` Average score for all ages as comparator Weschler-Bellevue (1939) Weschler adult intelligence scale (WAIS) Weschler scale for children (WISC) (1955) Examples: Verbal arithmetic Block design Vocabulary ```

Question 268

Describe Raven’s method of measuring g

Answer 268

``` John Carlyle Raven Raven’s progressive matrices (1938) Based on Spearman theory of g Abstract Infer relationships between objects Aim – free from cultural influence (incl. language and general knowledge) ```

Question 269

Define the dark triad

Answer 269

Constellation of inter-related traits that vary in a continuum Share the core of manipulation and coldness (Jones & Figueredo, 2013) Each trait has unique aspects too Narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism

Question 270

Define primary psychopathy

Answer 270

(interpersonal-affective features): Cold, callous, lack of guilt, empathy, fear Secondary psychopathy (antisocial-impulsive features): Impulsive, risk-taking, future-discounting

Question 271

Explain evolutionary adaptations of traits

Answer 271

In personality research, these are not categorical differences between people, but traits vary in a continuum Personality variation could be adaptive, and variation at different levels of a trait could help in survival and reproduction in different circumstances In harsh and unpredictable environments, more adaptive to mature/ start sexual activity /have offspring early- Fast Life History strategy within the Life History Theory framework

Question 272

Explain how the dark triad is measured

Answer 272

Several questionnaires, long and short versions (see Chapter 1 from Lyons, 2019) Benefit of longer measures (e.g., 124 questions)- captures the diversity of narcissism and psychopathy, but…higher drop-out rates Shorter measures common (e.g., 12-item Dirty Dozen; 27-item Short SD-3) Most current studies are cross-sectional and correlational- correlating Dark Triad questionnaire scores to a scores on another questionnaire Problems with WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic ; Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010) samples

Question 273

Give some examples of dark triad questions

Answer 273

Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Introducing the Short Dark Triad (SD3) A Brief Measure of Dark Personality Traits. Assessment, 21, 28-41 It's not wise to tell your secrets - machiavellianism 2. I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so - narcissism 3. It's true that I can be mean to others - primary psychopathy 4. I enjoy having sex with people I hardly know - secondary psychopathy

Question 274

describe explicit theories of intelligence

Answer 274

Explicit theories of intelligence devised by experts The experts (e.g., psychologists or other scientists) run tests/tasks devised to elicit intelligent functioning; that is, they are explicitly constructed Implicit theories of intelligence are constructs people hold implicitly People have everyday ideas about what constitutes intelligence; that is, they are implicit personal constructs In practical terms, people are guided by implicit theories Borrowing lecture notes Parent-child interactions Job recruitment?

Question 275

Explain implicit theories

Answer 275

People tend to have one of two implicit theories of intelligence: Entity theory - intelligence is a fixed, stable quality Incremental theorists – intelligence is malleable and can be changed through effort Rickert, Meras, and Witkow (2014) found that strength of students’ entity theory was positively associated with: self-handicapping behaviours procrastination

Question 276

Describe the four implicit theories of intelligence

Answer 276

Four reasons for implicit theories (Sternberg, 2001) Implicit theories: 1. Are important to everyday life (meaning-making; perceptions; evaluations; conclusions) 2. Can generate formal theories (which can be investigated/empirically tested) 3. Can be investigated if explicit theory is wrong (springboard to better theory) 4. Can inform theoretical/psychological constructs (e.g., other cultures)

Question 277

Describe Sternberg et al.s findings of implicit and explicit theories

Answer 277

Three dimensions of intelligence emerged from Sternberg et al.’s samples: Practical problem-solving Verbal ability Social competence

Question 278

Describe Sternberg’s Laypersons theories of intelligence

Answer 278

N = 47 adults asked to think of an intelligent person’s characteristic behaviours Analysis - 40 descriptors of ‘intelligent behaviours’ emerged N = 40 Yale students did sorting task of behaviours found together in a person Results – six aspects to intelligence: Practical problem-solving ability Verbal ability Intellectual balance and integration Goal orientation and attainment Contextual intelligence Fluid thought

Question 279

Describe implicit theories across cultures

Answer 279

Universal? (reliable, valid constructs?) Western cultures emphasise the individual (e.g., speed of mental processing) Eastern cultures include social, historical aspects of everyday interactions Also include consideration of family and friends (wiser?) African & Asian cultures emphasise harmonious intergroup relations e.g., Ruzgis and Grigorenko (1994) May include spiritual needs (consequence for soul?)

Question 280

Explain yang and Sternberg’s intelligence findings

Answer 280

Participants were Taiwanese Chinese people (N = 68, study 1; N =434, study 2) Study 1 – asked to characterise intelligence; Study 2 – rate/sort the (120) attributes in order of frequency and importance Factor analysis and five factors emerged (frequency) General cognitive factor of intelligence (e.g., problem solving, abstract ideas) Interpersonal intelligence (e.g., good at understanding others’ feelings) Intrapersonal intelligence (e.g. own life philosophy; controls desire to show off) Intellectual self-assertion (e.g., puts own interest first; thinks self v. intelligent) Intellectual self-effacement (e.g., likes to think quietly or day dream) Four factors emerged (importance) – 1, 2, & 3, 4 (in bold) above plus intellectual enjoyment Yang and Sternberg (1997) concluded: General cognitive ability similar in U.S & Taiwanese Chinese (TC) sample Taiwanese conception of intelligence more akin to older adults (cf. younger adults in other Sternberg work) Greater emphasis on practical aspects of intelligence outside the U.S. Taiwanese results nearer to broader theories of intelligence (practical, social, inter/intrapersonal)

Question 281

Describe cross cultural findings of intelligence

Answer 281

Bråten, Lien and Nietfield (2017) gave students in Norway and in the U.S. a rational thinking task (involves e.g., motivation & effort) called the Cognitive Reflection Test. Brief ‘one-shot’ instructions for the task aligned with either incremental or fixed intelligence views Expt 1. N = 74 undergraduates in Norway Thee conditions: 1) learning & motivation; 2) innate ability; 3) control (just ‘solve it’) Results - No significant difference between conditions Why? Authors’ discussion considered limitations: Students hadn’t listened to instructions Educational science course - students had learned related theory (affected results?) Low attendance (revision prioritised) so could not explore gender (fewer ♂)

Question 282

Explain theories on whether intelligence is stable across time

Answer 282

``` Theories change over time Western emphasis on cognitive components widened to include non-cognitive factors Theory of multiple intelligences (e.g., Gardner, 1993) Emotional intelligence (e.g., Bar-On, 1985) Cross-cultural changes over time Lim, Plucker and Im (2002) suggested Western and Korean concepts of intelligence might be converging over time Individual intelligence changes over time (i.e., across lifespan) ```