GVSU PSY 101 Galen Final Exam with 100% correct answers 2025

Emotions

mental states/feelings associated with our evaluation of our experience

Discrete Emotions Theory

- small number of distinct emotions, even if they combine in complex ways

- biological roots/evolutionary functions

- emotions (limbic system) precede thoughts about them (cortex)

7 Primary Emotions

1) happiness

2) disgust

3) fear

4) sadness

5) surprise

6) anger

7) pride/contempt (questionable)

Primary Emotions Definition

- emotions believed by some theorists to be cross-culturally universal

- if evolutionary, should be universal and early appearing in kids

Secondary Emotions

combined primary emotions

Cultural Difference in Expression

- cultures differ in display rules

- doesn't influence emotion itself, but instead it's overt expression

- differences in display when alone vs with others

Duchane Smile

genuine smile (with eyes)

Pan Am Smile

fake smile (without eyes)

Cognitive Theories of Emotion

- James-Lange theory

- Cannon-Bard theory

- Schachter-Singer's Two Factor theory

James-Lange Theory

event --> arousal --> interpretation --> emotion

Cannon-Bard Theory

event --> arousal/emotion (simultaneous)

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

event --> arousal --> cognitive labels --> emotion

Schachter/Singer Epinephrine Experiment

- gave participants either adrenaline or saline

- told some truth others false

- participants sat with actors with different emotions

- context changed in emotional state only with heightened arousal

Misattribution of Emotion: Love on the Bridge Study

- rickety bridge = arousal

- attractive surveyor (flirt with guy/give her number)

- more people called her if the went on bridge rather than regular area

- misattributes adrenaline from bridge as sexual arousal

Unconscious Influences on Emotion

- priming

- mere exposure

- facial feedback

Priming

subliminal stimuli

Mere Exposure

habituation/familiarity

Facial Feedback

emotions influenced by facial features

Lying/Lie Detection

- many stereotypes not predictive

- people tend to be overconfident at detection skills

- polygraphs are not very valid

- newer measures attempt to use brain scans

- many confessions are false

Happiness Correlates With...

- marriage

- many friends

- graduating college

- fitness/health

- deeply religious

- flow

Happiness Doesn't Correlate With...

- youth

- intelligence

- attractiveness

- life events

- wealth (beyond middle class)

Why income doesn't = happiness

- habituation expectations escalate once a higher level is achieved

- relative comparison

- mutually exclusive with other things that can make us happy

Affective Forecasting

efforts to predict one's emotional reactions to future events

Affective Forecasting College Student Study

- only recent events mattered

- after temporary change, happiness defended set point

Durability Bias

overestimate duration of future emotional reactions

Focalism

future events don't occur in vacuum, other events will occur simultaneously

Ordination

new/specific events become a part of normal life

Hedonic Treadmill

moods adapt to external circumstances

Flawed Imagination

mind fills in assumed details, but inability to think about absent data

Presentism

an attitude toward the past dominated by present-day attitudes and experiences

Rationalism

belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge

Myotonia

arousal, increases in muscular tension

Vasocongestion

- heart rate

- blood pressure

- erection

- vaginal engorgement

- testes

- nipples

- facial areas

Sex-Response Cycle

excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

Sexual Orientation Twin Studies

- genes influence orientation

- monozygotic more likely than dizygotic to be same orientation

Prenatal Sexual Orientation Theory

- prenatal exposure to androgens implicated in sexual orientation

- CAH example

60 Minutes Sexual Orientation Research

- sexuality identifiable at young age

- Diane Sawyer watched home videos and guessed orientation (got it right mostly)

- rats injected with testostorne become more masculine

Fraternal Birth Order

- gay men have greater than expected proportion of older brothers

- with each older brother, homosexuality attraction (not behavior) increases by 1/3

- accounts for 1/7 gay men

- hypothesis: maternal immune response

Attraction Major Influences

- proximity

- similarity

- reciprocity

- physical attractiveness

Sex Differences/Similarities in Attractions

- men emphasize looks, youth

- women emphasize financial resources, status, older males

- both value intelligence, dependability, kindness

Cross Culturally, men and women tend to ____________ on who is attractive

agree

Men like waist-to-hip ratios at....

0.7

Why men value youth in women

peak fertility

Why symmetry is attractive

- marker for good health

- average faces are more attractive

Percent men/women attracted to same sex

men: 6%

women: 4%

Percent men/women self-identified as gay

men: 2.8%

women: 1.4%

Why do sexual orientation statistics vary?

- phrasing of question

- behavior vs attraction

- some traditional cultures believe only the passive male recipient is gay

- women have more sexual fluidity

Situationalism

overarching view of social psychology

Self Esteem Heavily Based On...

social comparison

Compare upward to superiors can...

- lower self esteem

- help us improve

Compare downward to inferiors...

when esteem is threatened, it can boost esteem

Negative effects of social isolation/ostracism

can be equivalent to physical pain

Situational Attributions

explanations of people's behavior that refer to external events

Dispositional Attributions

internal explanations of someone's behavior, such as traits or preferences

Attributions

process of assigning causes to behavior

Fundamental Attribution Error

- we overestimate other's dispositional influences, and underestimate other's situational influences

- do the opposite for own behavior

Social Facilitation

mere presence of others enhances performance

Social Disruption

"choking"

Mass Hysteria

contagious outbreak of irrational behavior that spreads

Conformity

tendency to alter behavior as a result of group pressure

Asch Experiment

- experimented how people would rather conform than state their own individual answer even though they know the group's answer is wrong

- horizontal influence

Vertical Influence

the tendency to do what people of higher authority tell us to do

Horizontal Influence

reciprocity and interactions and expectations on an even platform

Obedience in Milgram's Paradigm More Likely When...

- high status of authority figure

- lack of peer support

- remote-feedback

- proximity of authority figure

- farther touch-proximity

Milgram's Paradigm

electric shock study

Deindividuation

engaging in atypical behavior when stripped of visual identity

Zimbardo's Prison Study

assigned the roles of guards and prisoners to random students and found that guards and prisoners developed role-appropriate attitudes

Groupthink

- tendency to seek unanimity rather than critical thinking or objectivity or originality

- can cause group polarization and clustering

Cults

- groups exhibiting intense/unquestioning devotion to a single cause

- most members not mentally ill, but leaders are

- not brainwashed since techniques don't permanently change beliefs

Cult Factors promoting groupthink

- persuasive leader who fosters loyalty

- disconnect members from outside world

- discourage questioning of assumptions

- gradual indoctrination

Prosocial Behavior

behavior intended to help others

Bystander Nonintervention

when people see someone need but fail to help them

Samaritan Studies

- seminary students asked to prepare talk based on good samaritan parable OR job expectancy

- then walked past actor needing help

- some helped some didn't

- time pressure was most influential variable

Pluralistic Ignorance

majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume incorrectly that most others accept

Diffusion of Responsibility

person less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present

Aggression: Contextual Factors

- provocation

- frustration

- arousal

- media/context clues

- intoxication/disinhibition

- temperature

Agression: Person Factors

- impulsivity

- prone to negative emotions

- poor social skills

- young age

- males: physical

- females: relational

- honor culture

Contagion

spread of a behavior pattern, attitude, or emotion from person to person or group to group

Social Cognition: Attribution

explanation for the cause of an event or a person's behavior

Attitude

- belief including emotional component

- direct relationship with behavior

Cognitive Dissonance

unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs

Festinger and Carlsmith "Measure of Performance" Study

subjects induced to act inconsistently with true feelings often changed those feelings

Post-Decisional Dissonance

- feel dissonance after making a decision (regarding the possibility of it being wrong)

- change perceptions to reduce dissonance and make decision seem more attractive

Just World Belief

assumption that the world is fair

Self-Perception Theory

we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviors

Impression Management Theory

we don't change our attitudes but report that we have for consistency

Stereotype

generalized belief about a group of people applied to an individual

Prejudice

arrive at a negative attitude before evaluating evidence

Discrimination

unequal treatment of members of different groups

Adaptive Conservatism

- we all have some prejudices

- functions as heuristics minimizes cognition

Social Identity Theory

social world is perceived as either in-group or outgroup

Ingroup

people with whom we share a common identity

Outgroup

those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

Scapegoat Theory

outgrip members are blamed for misfortune

Realistic Conflict Theory

competition for scarce resources creates prejudices

Robbers Cave Experiment

experiment which showed that even arbitrary group distinctions (camp teams) can cause a bitter rivalry and discrimination, thus demonstrating in-group/out-group biases

Authoritarianism

1) obedience to authority

2) aggress against outgroups

3) conformity

Belief in Dangerous World

world is a scary place

Social Dominance

prefer social hierarchy

Closed vs Open/Unconventional vs Traditional

mindset