S.P. oral exam questions

1. Explain the difference between informational and normative social influence.

Informational social influence occurs when people conform because they believe others have better information, especially in ambiguous or crisis situations. It often leads to private acceptance.
Normative social influence occurs when people conform to be liked or accepted by others. In this case, people may publicly agree with the group even if they privately disagree.

2. Describe one classic experiment on conformity.

Asch’s experiments showed normative conformity. Participants judged line lengths in a group where confederates gave wrong answers. Even though the task was easy, 76% conformed at least once. When answers were anonymous, conformity dropped, showing that fear of social judgment caused conformity.

3. Why did people believe the War of the Worlds broadcast was real?

People believed it was real because the broadcast used a realistic news format, occurred during a period of international tension, and many listeners missed the introduction saying it was fiction. Informational social influence and emotional contagion spread fear as people looked to others for confirmation.

4. How does the brain react to conformity and non-conformity?

When people conform, perceptual brain areas are activated, meaning social pressure can change what people actually see. When people resist the group, brain areas linked to fear, anxiety, and social pain become active. This shows that non-conformity is emotionally costly.

5. Why is obedience to authority dangerous?

Obedience to authority is dangerous because people may follow orders even when they are harmful or immoral. Milgram’s experiment showed that ordinary people were willing to administer extreme shocks when instructed by an authority, especially when responsibility was shifted away from them.

6. How can conformity be both positive and negative?

Conformity can be positive because it promotes cooperation, social harmony, and rule-following. However, it can also lead to harmful behaviors, such as bullying, hazing, or obedience to immoral authority, when people stop thinking critically.

1. Why do people join groups?

People join groups mainly to satisfy the need to belong, which is considered innate and important for survival. Groups also provide information that helps us understand social situations. They contribute to social identity, meaning they shape how we see ourselves, and they allow a balance between belonging and distinctiveness, especially in smaller groups.

2. Explain social facilitation.

Social facilitation refers to how the presence of others affects performance. When performance can be evaluated, arousal increases. This improves performance on simple or well-learned tasks but worsens performance on complex or new tasks. The effect is caused by evaluation apprehension, increased alertness, and distraction.

3. Explain social loafing.( acting like a bread)

Social loafing occurs when individuals put in less effort when working in a group than when working alone. It happens due to diffusion of responsibility, low visibility of individual contributions, reduced motivation, and reliance on others to compensate. It is more common in men and in Western cultures.

4. What is groupthink and how can it be prevented?

Groupthink is a decision-making failure that occurs in highly cohesive and isolated groups with strong leaders. Members prioritize unity over critical evaluation, leading to poor decisions. It can be prevented by encouraging dissent, using non-directive leadership, consulting outside opinions, forming independent subgroups, and using anonymous voting.

5. What is group polarization? (polarised-more)

Group polarization occurs when group discussion leads members to adopt more extreme positions than they originally held. This happens because people hear persuasive arguments that support their initial views and because of social comparison, where members shift toward more extreme positions to align with the group norm.

6. What predicts interpersonal attraction?

Interpersonal attraction is strongly predicted by propinquity, meaning physical or psychological closeness, and by the mere exposure effect, where repeated exposure increases liking. Similarity in values, opinions, and personality is also a key predictor, especially in long-term

1. What is prosocial behavior and how is it different from altruism?

Prosocial behavior refers to any action intended to benefit another person, regardless of motivation. Altruism is a specific type of prosocial behavior in which helping occurs with no expectation of reward and often involves a personal cost. Therefore, all altruistic acts are prosocial, but not all prosocial behaviors are altruistic.

2. What are the main evolutionary explanations for helping behavior?

Evolutionary explanations include kin selection, where people help relatives to ensure genetic survival; the norm of reciprocity, where helping is expected to be returned; and group selection, which suggests that cooperative groups survive better than non-cooperative ones. These mechanisms explain how helping can evolve despite personal costs.

3. Explain Social Exchange Theory in relation to helping.

Social Exchange Theory argues that helping is based on a cost–benefit analysis. People help when the perceived rewards, such as social approval, reduced guilt, or increased self-esteem, outweigh the costs, like time, effort, or stress. According to this theory, helping is ultimately self-interested.

4. What is the Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis?

The Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis, proposed by Batson, states that when people feel empathy for someone in need, they help purely to benefit that person. This type of helping is genuinely altruistic and occurs even when there are no rewards, when helping is costly, and when no one is watching.

5. How does Batson define empathy in his theory?

Empathy is defined as a deep emotional response that involves taking another person’s perspective, feeling what they feel, and understanding their emotional state. It shifts attention away from the self and toward the needs of the other person, which motivates altruistic helping.

6. Describe the Toi & Batson (1982) experiment.

Participants listened to a story about a student named Carol who was injured and needed help with class notes. Researchers manipulated empathy by asking participants to either take her perspective or remain objective, and manipulated the cost of not helping. Helping behavior was measured by willingness to assist her.

7. What were the main results of the Toi & Batson study?

When empathy was high, participants helped regardless of personal cost, supporting the idea of true altruism. When empathy was low, helping depended on cost–benefit considerations, consistent with Social Exchange Theory. This showed that empathy can override self-interest.

8. Why is the Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis important?

It provides strong evidence that genuine altruism exists and that helping is not always driven by self-interest. The theory shows that empathy can motivate helping even when it is costly, unrewarded, and invisible, challenging purely egoistic explanations of prosocial behavior.

9. What are some limitations of empathy–altruism research?

Limitations include the use of self-reported helping, low-stakes scenarios, and possible social desirability effects. Participants may also imagine social judgment even when it is not explicit. However, the core finding that empathy leads to helping regardless of cost remains robust.

10. How do individual and cultural differences affect helping?

Personality can influence helping, but situation matters more. Men tend to engage in heroic, risk-taking helping, while women show more nurturing, long-term helping. People are more likely to help in-group members, and helping patterns vary across cultures depending on norms and values.

11. How do mood and environment influence prosocial behavior?

People in a good mood are more likely to help, known as the “feel good, do good” effect. People in a bad mood may also help if it reduces guilt. Helping is less common in cities due to the urban overload hypothesis, where people are overwhelmed by stimuli.

12. What is the bystander effect?

The bystander effect refers to the finding that the more people present in an emergency, the less likely any one individual is to help. This occurs because responsibility is diffused across bystanders and people look to others to interpret the situation.

13. Explain Latané and Darley’s 5-step model of helping.

According to Latané and Darley, helping requires five steps: noticing the event, interpreting it as an emergency, assuming responsibility, knowing how to help, and deciding to help. Failure at any step prevents helping behavior.

What is conformity?

Conformity is changing one’s behavior to match the behavior or

expectations of others.

Imagine a bystander witnesses a car accident in a

crowded street but does not intervene. Using at

least two different theories from the course,

explain why this might happen.

Two theories help explain the inaction:

• Bystander Intervention Model (Latané & Darley).

The bystander may fail at several decision steps:

• Noticing the event (distraction, noise).

• Not interpreting it as an emergency (others look calm, creating pluralistic

ignorance).

• Not taking responsibility (diffusion of responsibility: “someone else will help”).

Any failure stops intervention.

• Social Exchange Theory.

The bystander may subconsciously weigh costs vs. benefits.

Costs: danger, embarrassment if misjudging the situation, time.

Benefits: helping the victim, social approval.

If perceived costs outweigh benefits, the person may choose not to act.

• Together these models explain how situational cues and internal cost-

benefit evaluations produce non-intervention even in serious events.

Explain cognitive dissonance and give a real-

life example of how people reduce it.

Cognitive dissonance is the psychological discomfort that arises

when a person holds two inconsistent beliefs or when behavior

conflicts with a belief.

People reduce dissonance by changing their beliefs, changing

their behavior, or adding justifications.

Example:

A student cheats on a test but sees themselves as honest. To

reduce dissonance, they might say, “Everyone else was cheating,”

or “It was just a small test.” This restores internal consistency.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

It is the tendency to overestimate personal dispositions and

underestimate situational factors when explaining someone

else’s behavior.

For example, assuming someone is rude because of their

personality rather than considering they might be under stress.