Unit 9: Social Psychology

Question 1

Social psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Question 2

Attribution theory

Answer 2

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition

e.g.Juliet is quiet at lunch and Jack is talkative, therefore we assume Juliet is shy and Jack is outgoing

Question 3

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 3

the tendency for observers, when analyzing other’s behavior, when analyzing others behaviors, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of the personal disposition

e.g. Juliet is quiet at lunch and Jack is talkative, therefore we assume Juliet is shy and Jack is outgoing, but Jack may be quiet in class and Juliet may shine on stage

Question 4

Self-serving bias

Answer 4

the readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Question 5

Attitudes

Answer 5

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to response in a particular way to objects, people, and events

Question 6

Peripheral route persuation

Answer 6

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues such as a speaker’s attractiveness

e.g. endorsements by beautiful/famous people to encourage us to buy things

Question 7

central route persuasion

Answer 7

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments that respond with favorable thoughts

e.g. to persuade people to purchase a particular phone an ad might itemize it’s greatest features

Question 8

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Answer 8

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

e.g. asking friends for a smaller loan will make them more likely to give you a larger one later

Question 9

Role

Answer 9

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

Question 10

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 10

• randomly assigned participants as prisoners or guards; dressed them up, and put them inside a faux prison
• guards were instructed to enforce certain rules; initially they hardly complied but as time went on they stepped so heavily/violently into these roles that Zimbardo was forced to end the experiment

Question 11

Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Answer 11

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent; when our attitude and actions clash/create dissonance, we often change our attitudes to match our actions

e.g. if you are asked to positively advertise something bad, you may start to belive those positive ideas over time to reduce dissonance

Question 12

Norms

Answer 12

Understood roles for accepted and expected behavior. Norms prescribe “proper behavior”

Question 13

Chamelion effect

Answer 13

behavior is contagious – we take on the emotions and actions of those around us

Question 14

Conformity

Answer 14

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Question 15

Asch’s conformity experiments

Answer 15

• a group asked to match a singular line up to one in a set of three
• all but one in the group are actors, intentionally giving the wrong answer
• the person was much more likely to give the wrong answers when influenced by others wrong answers

Question 16

Normative social influence

Answer 16

influence arising from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disproval

Question 17

Informative social influence

Answer 17

influence arising from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Question 18

Milgram’s obedience experiments

Answer 18

• people are asked as teachers to administer a brief electric shock, and with each subsequent wrong answer the voltage increases
• more than 60% complies with instruction until the last switch
• testing what level people refuse to obey authority

Question 19

When is obedience highest? (Milgram)

Answer 19

• when the person was close at hand when giving instructions and appeared to be a legitimate source of authority
• when the instructor was supported by a powerful institution
• when the victim is personalized/in a separate space
• when there are no role models for defiance

Question 20

Social facilitation

Answer 20

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

– we do this because when others observe us, we become aroused, and this arousal amplifies our reactions?

Question 21

Social loafing

Answer 21

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts towards attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

e.g. tug of war, group projects

Question 22

Deindividuation

Answer 22

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

e.g. online discussions/comment sections, aggressive crowds at sports events

Question 23

Group polarization

Answer 23

the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group

Question 24

Groupthink

Answer 24

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

Question 25

Prejudice

Answer 25

an unjustifiable attitude toward a group and it’s members

• combination of negative emotions, stereotypes, a predisposition to discriminate, ethnocentricism

Question 26

Just-world phenomenon

Answer 26

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

e.g. rich people see the rich’s wealth and the poor’s misfortune as justly deserved

Question 27

Ingroup

Answer 27

” us” - people with whom we share a common identity

(ingroup bias - the tendency to favour our own group)

Question 28

Outgroup

Answer 28

“them” - those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

Question 29

Scapegoat theory

Answer 29

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for angry people by providing someone to blame

e.g. after the 911 attack, some people lashed out against innocent Arab-Americans

Question 30

Other-race effect

Answer 30

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of others

Question 31

Availability heuristic

Answer 31

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come to mind readily, we presume they are common

Question 32

Hindsight bias

Answer 32

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have forseen it

Question 33

Aggression

Answer 33

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally

combination of genetic, neural, and biochemical influences

Question 34

Frustration-aggression principle

Answer 34

the principle that frustration - the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal - creates anger, which generates aggression

e.g. pitchers are more likely to hit batters on a baseball team if they had been frustrated with a previous play/error

Question 35

Social scripts

Answer 35

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

e.g. increases in porn viewing subsequently increased sexual violence rates

Question 36

Mere exposure effect

Answer 36

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to a novel stimuli increases your liking of it

Question 37

Reward theory of attraction

Answer 37

we will like those whose behavior is rewarding to us, including those who are willing/able to help us achieve our goals

Question 38

Passionate love

Answer 38

an aroused state of positive absorption in one another, usually present at the beginning of a relationship

Question 39

Compassionate love

Answer 39

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

necessary components of equity (a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it) and self-disclosure (the act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves to others)

Question 40

Alturism

Answer 40

unselfish regard for the wellfare of others

Question 41

Bystander effect

Answer 41

the tendency for ay given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

e.g. Kitty Genovese - she was raped and stabbed and called for help; neighbors heard her but did not call authorities because they assumed someone else had done it

Question 42

Social exchange theory

Answer 42

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Question 43

Reciprocity norm

Answer 43

An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them

Question 44

Social-responsibility norm

Answer 44

an expectation that people will help those needing their help

Question 45

Conflict

Answer 45

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas

Question 46

Social traps

Answer 46

a situation in which the conflicting parties, by each persuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, became caught in mutually destructive behavior

Question 47

Mirror-image perceptions

Answer 47

mutual views often held by conflicting people, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other as aggressive/evil