Unit 2: Social Psychology Test

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

The study of why people act different in different situations.

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

How are beliefs, traditions, and the environment around us shape the way we think and how we view the world.

Question 3

Social thinking

Answer 3

The process we go through in our minds to make sense of our own and others’ emotions, thoughts, and feelings.

Question 4

Schema

Answer 4

The cognitive shortcuts we create in our minds that come together to make assumptions about the world around us.

Ex. If you see someone wearing a stethoscope, you will assume they are a doctor.

Question 5

Self-serving bias

Answer 5

The tendency for us to attribute our successes with internal personal factors and to attribute our failures with external situational factors.

Question 6

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 6

The tendency for observers to overestimate the impact of the situation and underestimate the impact of personal traits/biases.

People will attribute one’s actions to their character rather than thinking about the situational factors that caused that behavior.

Question 7

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 7

The theory that we act to reduce dissonance/discomfort when our thoughts/cognitions are inconsistent.

We change our attitude to fix mental discomfort from holding inconsistent/opposite beliefs.

Ex. you know that smoking is bad for your health, but you want to do it anyway.

Question 8

Social influence

Answer 8

The process of inducing change in people.

Question 9

Social facilitation

Answer 9

When you are in the presence of others, you will perform better on tasks that you are good at and worse on tasks that you are bad at.

Question 10

Social loafing

Answer 10

The tendency for people to exert less effort and do less work in a group setting when trying to attain a common goal than they would if they were on their own.

Ex. In group projects, there is always that one person that sits around and does nothing.

Question 11

Deindividuation

Answer 11

The loss of self-awareness and restraint in a group setting because we feel a sense of anonymity.

When we shed self-awareness and restraint, we become more active in the group.

Ex. someone bullying someone else online because they are hidden by their profile and exist in a larger group (the internet).

Question 12

Group polarization

Answer 12

The enhancement of a groups prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

As peoples opinions (positive or negative) are discussed, they become more extreme.

Ex. individuals go along with a poorly planned idea that amplifies the true desires of the group because everyone else is going along with it.

Question 13

Groupthink

Answer 13

The mode of thinking in a decision-making group setting when the desire for harmony overrides any alternate ideas.

It avoids creativity and individual responsibility because you go along with what the majority of the group wants just to make a decision.

People will conform to the group opinion rather than stating their own ideas.

Ex. when working on a group project, you may not share your unique idea because the majority of the group wants to do it another way.

Question 14

Obedience

Answer 14

A change in behavior in response to a command from another person.

Ex. you take your dog for a walk because your mom said “take the dog for a walk”

Question 15

Milgram Obedience Experiment

Answer 15

A group of 40 participants that ranged in age, income levels, and education were brought together. They were all test subjects who were asking a random person (the actor) questions who was sitting in an electrical chair. They were told to shock the man and up the voltage every time he got a question wrong. The man was yelling in pain for them to stop as he kept getting shocked and only 14/40 people stopped because they morally couldn’t hurt the man anymore. 26/40 people made it to the last level because they felt the need to obey.

Question 16

Conformity

Answer 16

A change in a persons behavior to fit in with those around them.

They feel a real or imagined pressure to change the way they think or simply go along with the group.

We conform due to real or imagined pressure.

Question 17

Asch Line Experiment

Answer 17

A group of men were shown a series of lines on a screen and were told to tell the researcher which line was the shortest out of the ones that were being shown. There was a clear answer. All of the men that were brought in were actors except for one who was the test subject. At first, when the men were shown the lines, the actors and the subject gave the correct answer. Then, the actors started purposely giving the same wrong answer, and the subject gave the answer that the actors did. He conformed because he felt an imagined pressure to say the same thing as them. Later, some actors would give the correct answer while the other actors gave the incorrect answer, and the subject gave the correct answer in this situation because other people were now giving the same answer.

Question 18

Normative social influence

Answer 18

A reason for people to conform where they observe their surroundings and do what the people around them are doing, even if they don’t agree with or want to do it.

Ex. waiting in the halls before class because all of your friends are.

Question 19

Informational social influence

Answer 19

Another reason why people conform where they change their thinking or behavior because we believe someone has accurate information, so there is an imagined pressure to agree with it.

Ex. someone might not want to get vaccinated but their doctor tells them it is good for them and gives them the information, so then they get vaccinated.

Question 20

Compliance

Answer 20

Changing behavior due to a direct request (NOT an order). The person can be asked to change or not without consequence.

Question 21

Foot-in-the-door technique

Answer 21

A way of getting someone to comply to your requests by asking for a small request first and then moving your way up to bigger requests every time you ask for something.

Ex. 1) ask someone to put a sign in their yard. 2) ask for a $5 donation
3) ask for a $50 donation
4) ask them to run a fundraiser

Question 22

Door-in-the-face technique

Answer 22

A way of getting someone to comply to your requests by requesting something really large first and working your way down to your desired request to seem more reasonable.

Ex. 1) ask parents for a pony
2) ask parents for a dog
3) ask parents for a gerbil. Yes!

Question 23

Altruism

Answer 23

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others. Acting in a selfless way that puts the wellbeing and desires of others above your own.

Ex. living in a war torn country and helping those in need while risking your life.

Question 24

Bystander effect

Answer 24

The tendency for people to be less likely to give help in situations where bystanders are present.

Ex. If you drop a penny in an elevator with only one other person, they will most likely help you pick up the penny. However, if you drop a penny in an elevator multiple people, they will be less likely to help pick it up.

Question 25

Reciprocity norm

Answer 25

An expectation that we will help, not hurt, those who have helped us. We should give as much as we receive or “pay it forward”.

Ex. a homeless man finds a backpack on the streets full of money and returns it to the owner. The owner will then give him some money to make his life better.

Question 26

Social-responsibility norm

Answer 26

An expectation that people will help others who are in need of help even if the cost outweighs the benefit of helping.

Ex. caring for those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic even though the people helping are putting themselves at risk of getting sick.

Question 27

Prejudice

Answer 27

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude towards a certain group of people.

Prejudice usually involves negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and predisposition do discrimination.

Ex. disliking obese people and thinking they are gluttonous.

Ingredients of prejudice include negative emotions, stereotypes, and predisposition to discrimination.

Question 28

Explicit prejudice

Answer 28

We are aware that we are being prejudiced.

Question 29

Implicit prejudice

Answer 29

We think prejudiced thoughts but are not aware we are doing so because it is our natural thinking response.

Question 30

Discrimination

Answer 30

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Ex. not hiring someone because they are obese.

Question 31

Ingroup

Answer 31

“Us” - the people with whom we share a common identity

Question 32

Outgroup

Answer 32

“Them” - those perceived as different from the ingroup/us.

Question 33

Just world hypothesis

Answer 33

The tendency for people to believe that the world is just and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Good is rewarded and evil is punished.

This makes people think that those who succeed are good while those who fail are bad when that might not be the case.

Question 34

Scapegoat

Answer 34

The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

You will more likely blame the people you are prejudiced towards for something that is not their fault.

Ex. during COVID-19 pandemic, people were blaming Asians for being responsible for the pandemic.

Question 35

Other-race effect

Answer 35

The tendency for people to have better facial recognition for faces of their own race than another race. This happens when someone lives in a community of mostly one race.

Question 36

Victim blaming

Answer 36

When people try to cope with the bad things that have happened to others by blaming the victim of the tragedy or trauma.

Ex. if a women gets raped, people will say that she probably did something to provoke the man so its her fault.

Question 37

Institutional discirmination

Answer 37

Discrimination that is reflected in the policies and practices of organizations that impose negative conditions on certain groups.

Question 38

Conscious processing

Answer 38

A way of reducing our own biases and changing our behaviors by being attentive to your initial thoughts and assessing if they are reasonable or not.

Is what you are thinking true or is it the first thing that came to mind?

It involves being attentive to your own thought patterns about the differences between two people and actively confronting your own beliefs and questioning them.

Question 39

Cooperation, not competition

Answer 39

Learning to work with people rather than against them reduces prejudice and stereotypical thought patterns you have about others.

Question 40

Superordinate goals

Answer 40

A strategy for reducing our own biases and changing our behavior that includes cooperating with others rather than competing with them.

You want to cooperate with people to achieve goals that represent the larger group rather than the individual.

Question 41

1-1 contact

Answer 41

Another strategy for reducing biases and changing behavior where we have meaningful interactions with people who are different than us.

Having meaningful interactions may mean sharing life experiences and really getting to know them.

This is way more meaningful and effective than just being around someone who is different than you.