Terms

Question 1

Motivated Reasoning + Example

Answer 1

coming to a conclusion that makes you feel good

example: people’s reluctance to admit they’re wrong, reluctance to admit even flaws in our heroes

Question 2

The Above-Average Effect + Example

Answer 2

tendency of people to believe they are above average in valued domains,

example: people think they are better at driving than they actually are

Question 3

The Dunning-Kruger Effect + Example

Answer 3

those with lower skills tend to exhibit above average effect in domain, conversely those who have higher skills underestimate themselves

example: a spectator watching a professional sports game claims he can do better than the players on the court despite only playing recreationally

Question 4

The Actor-Observer Bias + Example

Answer 4

tendency to see others’ behavior as a product of their internal states, but our own behavior as affected by the situation

example (us vs. others): doing poorly on a test , getting into a fight, firing someone

Question 5

Experiment + Examples

Answer 5

participants randomly assigned to different and varying conditions, all variables are controlled

examples:
1. Alport Conformity Experiment: smells
2. Sherif: illusion of moving light
3. Asch Conformity: change view of line based on group

Question 6

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy + Example

Answer 6

false definition evoking a new behavior which makes original false conception true

example: a teacher telling a student they are good at math, and the student believing it improving their effort into the subject, actually making them good at math

Question 7

Descriptive Norms + Example

Answer 7

Patterns of behavior that are common, normal, popular

example: clothing choices, giving a girl flowers on a date

Question 8

Morals + Example

Answer 8

beliefs about what is right and wrong that are strongly held, seen as universally applicable, viewed to be correct, and backed by emotion

example: not cheating whether on a test or with a relationship

Question 9

The Fundamental Attribution Error + Example

Answer 9

tendency to overestimate dispositional factors & underestimate situational factors in attributions of others behaviors

example: students from wealthy school districts seen as more talented/intelligent, not taking in the vast amount of resources and opportunities they have access to

Question 10

The “Holier Than Thou” Effect:

Answer 10

tendency for people to believe they are above average in moral domains

example: people believing they are above the prisoner’s dilemma in taking advantage of power to their own benefit

Question 11

The Two Universal Dimensions of Social Cognition

Answer 11

Warmth: trustworthy, moral, friendly

Competency: resourceful, intelligent

Question 12

Confirmation Bias

Answer 12

tendency to pick something to confirm what we believe to be true or pre existing assumptions

Question 13

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 13

tendency to construct consistent ideas (cognitive consistency) of the world to allow navigation in order to avoid discomfort of holding incompatible or logically inconsistent thoughts about ourselves, others, or the world

Question 14

Different Ways to Achieve Dissonance Reduction

Answer 14

Disregard: forget or ignore incident

Change: revise perspective, ability

Distort: pretend situation was something else, focus on other things

Add: add a new behavior or make an excuse to explain situation

Question 15

“When Prophecy Fails” study

Answer 15

collective faith supposedly saves people in cult from flood, after being promised that they would be saved by aliens after a massive flood would hit their town

—> Related to path of least resistance: members were isolated, committed, spent money/time

Question 16

“Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance” Study (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959), $1/$20 experiment

Answer 16

• Participants asked to persuade others that tasks of turning pegs was interesting
• $1 felt more dissonance than $20
• Acting in a manner inconsistent with beliefs

—> Large amount of dissonance: no good reason to do so, large attitude change

—> Small amount of dissonance: good reason to do so, small attitude change

Question 17

“The Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking for a Group” Study (Aronson & Mills, 1959)

Answer 17

• People like groups that have severe initiation ritual
• Women asked to read explicit message, mild, or nothing before listening to a boring passage on sexual behavior in animals

Result: Severely initiated women rated the discussion and group members higher than women who were mildly initiated or not initiated

Question 18

Spreading of Alternatives

Answer 18

after a decision we tend to increase liking for option we choose and/or decrease liking for rejected options

Question 19

Cartesian Model of Rational Thought

Answer 19

human thought out to be cold, logical/rational, deliberate, conscious, defensible, reasonable

Question 20

Cognitive Biases

Answer 20

seen as exception to rationality

Question 21

Social cognition

Answer 21

the study of way in which we process, store, and remember information about people, focused on exception rational perception

Question 22

Attribution (Dispositional + Situational)

Answer 22

inferred causes of another’s behavior

Dispositional: attributing others behavior to the actors internal states like personality

Situational: attributing others behavior to the actors environment and situation

Question 23

Heider’s “Naïve Psychology”

Answer 23

people go around trying to make explanations of other behavior and events to stable factors which leads to underestimation of situational influences over internal factors

Question 24

Jones & Harris (1967) (the Castro essay study)

Answer 24

• participants given anti/pro Castro essay and asked to identify writer’s attitude
• people generally tended to underweigh situational factor (dispositional attrib.)

Question 25

Ross et al. (1977) (Quiz show study)

Answer 25

• Participants randomly assigned to be questioner, answerer, observer

Results: observers and answerers rated the questioner more knowledgeable but not questioners

Question 26

Focalism

Answer 26

bias in attribution, tendency to place too much focus on a single factor when making judgment

Question 27

Steps of Scientific Method

Answer 27

1. Use questions to develop a claim or a theory
2. “Operationalize” it by making a testable hypothesis and appropriately defined conditions and variables (run an experiment)
3. Derive (modest) conclusions and publish
4. Repeat

Question 28

Independent Variables

Answer 28

The factors that vary naturally (or are manipulated) and affect the dependent variable

Question 29

Dependent Variables

Answer 29

factors measured to see if they are affected by the independent variable

Question 30

Conditions

Answer 30

different circumstances created by the manipulation of a variable

Question 31

First Conformity Experiment (Allport, 1924)

Answer 31

Participants rated the un/pleasantness of odors in groups or alone

Results: Participants avoided making extreme judgments in the presence of others (Moderation Effect)

Conclusion: Instinctual submission to the group

Question 32

Sherif “Autokinetic Effect” Experiments (1936)

Answer 32

Light shown on wall of totally dark room and participants told it is moving and asked to identify how much

Conditions: Individual vs. Group

Individual to Group: extreme judgement –> initial diversity to convergence

Group to Individual: moderate judgement –> influence perpetuated, quicker convergence

*Everyone in Sherif’s studies conformed to some degree

Question 33

Asch Conformity Experiments + Reasons

Answer 33

people conformed 32% of the time to line experiment

Reasons for Conformity:
1. Distortion of action: knew the group was wrong but didn’t want to seem different
2. Distortion of judgment: decided perceptions were inaccurate
3. Distortion of perception: reported they saw what the majority saw

individual variance, 75% conformed once

Normative Influence: learning from others to do what is appropriate or right

Question 34

Obedience

Answer 34

compliance with the directives of an authority figure

Question 35

Norm Breaching

Answer 35

The purposeful breaking of social norms (usually descriptive, sometimes injunctive)

Question 36

Norm Internalization

Answer 36

Difficulty of breaching offers insight on norm enforcement

Question 37

Threshold

Answer 37

Number of others who must join collective behavior before individual will

Question 38

Forces Upholding Social Norms

Answer 38

1. Socialization
2. Maintenance of social fluidity
3. Sanctioning

Question 39

Injunctive Norm + Example

Answer 39

patterns of behavior that are commonly approved of, evaluated positively, violation is disapproved of

example: not littering, slow traffic on right, sharing cable accounts