Topic 6 - Social Psychology

Question 1

Define attitude.

What are the 3 components?

Answer 1

An association between an act or object

• Cognitive component or belief
• Emotional or evaluative component
• A behavioural disposition

Question 2

What is attitude strength and accessibility?

Answer 2

Attitude strength: refers to the durability and impact of an attitude on behaviour.

Attitude accessibility: The ease with which an attitude comes to mind.

Question 3

What is attitudinal ambivalence?

Answer 3

Attitudinal ambivalence: the extent to which a given attitude object is associated with conflicting evaluative responses.

Question 4

Define persuasion.

Answer 4

refers to deliberate efforts to change an attitude.

Question 5

what are the 5 components of persuasion that affect the effectiveness of persuasive appeals.

Answer 5

Source, message, channel, context and receiver

Question 6

What are the central and peripheral routes in persuasion?

Answer 6

central route = inducing the receiver to think about the argument.
Peripheral route = appealing to less thoughtful processes.

Question 7

What is the Elaboration likelihood model?

Answer 7

states the central route to attitude persuasion is more effective when the person is both motivated and able to think about the arguments, whereas the peripheral route is more effective when the likelihood that the person will engage in high-effort cognitive processing is low.

Question 8

What are 3 reasons that people express concern for the environment but still participate in harmful behaviours?

Answer 8

Learned helplessness - the problem is already out of control
Time lag before consequences become apparent
Human behaviour can defy logic

Question 9

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 9

Occurs when a person experiences a discrepancy between an attitude and a behaviour or between an attitude and a new piece of information.

Discrepancy = tension = motivation to change behaviour or perception.

Question 10

Define the behaviourist alternative to cognitive dissonance?

Answer 10

Self perception theory: holds that individuals infer their attitudes, emotions and internal states by observing their own behaviour.

Question 11

Define social cognition.

Answer 11

The processes by which people make sense of themselves, others, social interactions and relationships.

Question 12

Define identity.

Answer 12

Our sense of who we are and is influenced by our environment, including our social and cultural experiences, and by the roles we perform in our everyday life.

Question 13

What is the halo effect?

Answer 13

The tendency to assume that positive qualities cluster together. People who are physically attractive are assumed to possess a number of other favourable qualities.

Question 14

Define stereotype.

Answer 14

characteristics attributed to people based upon their membership of groups.

Question 15

Define prejudice

Answer 15

judging people based on (usually negative) stereotypes.

Question 16

Define discrimination.

Answer 16

Behaviours that follow from negative attitudes toward group members,

Question 17

What is an authoritarian personality?

Answer 17

characterised by a tendency to hate people who are different or down trodden.

Question 18

What is social identity theory?

Answer 18

people derive part of their identity from the groups to which they belong.

Question 19

What is a superordinate goal?

What are they useful for?

Answer 19

Goals requiring cooperation for the benefit of all.

Reducing group antagonism & enhancing cooperation

Question 20

Define social influence.

Answer 20

the effects of the presence of others on the way people think, feel, and behave.

Question 21

What is deindividuation?

Answer 21

when people in a crowd lose their personal identities and ability to judge right from wrong.

Question 22

What are the Milgram experiments and what did they demonstrate?

Answer 22

The Milgram experiments demonstrated that most people will obey, without limitations of conscience, when they believe the order comes from legitimate authority.

Milgram experiments = where they believed they were shocking the person.

Question 23

What are the Asch experiments and what did they demonstrate?

Answer 23

The Asch experiments demonstrated that people tend to conform rather than be the lone dissenting voice.

Asch experiments = one with the lines and people had to say out loud which one matched the other picture.

Question 24

What are 3 factors that impact conformity?

Answer 24

Low self esteem, culture, socioeconomic status.