Social Final Exam Review

Weapon-focus effect

the tendency for the presence of a weapon to draw attention and impair a witness's ability to identify the culprit

When does the weapons-effect occur?

--occurs in the presence of a weapon or if there is a picture of a weapon
--presence of a weapon leads to aggressive behavior

What is the cross-race identification bias?

the tendency for people to be more accurate at recognizing members of their own racial group than of other groups

Is our memory a perfect playback of what happened?

memory for faces + events tend to decline over time (not all memories fade, other factors can influence the accuracy of memories)

What is the misinformation effect?

the tendency for false post-event information to become integrated into the memory of an event

How did Elizabeth Loftus research the misinformation effect?

by showing participants clips of someone who is armed robbing a bank (participants were so focused on the weapon that they failed to identify the culprit in a criminal lineup)

How does confirming feedback affect our confidence?

Confirmation boosts a person's confidence

What are some factors that improve identification of perpetrator in a line up?

--lineup construction
--lineup instructions to the witness
--format of the lineup
--familiarity-induced biases
--lineup procedure (double-blind is best)

Why might people confess to a crime when they didn't actually do it?

--compliance to authority, especially in a state of fatigue or despair, and when there is a sense of urgency to stop a stressor
--internalization of guilt as a result of the interrogation process
--lack of clear memory of the event in question
--presentation of false evidence
--minimizing the seriousness of the offense or promising leniency

During trial, how is the fundamental attribution error implicated in confessions?

--more likely to believe people who make statements against their own self interest
--confessions usually contain many details
--confessions are so persuasive that they can corrupt other evidence

How are juries selected?

--random selection of eligible citizens from the jury pool
--undergo voir dire: get asked questions to find out if they have any implicit biases
peremptory challenges: get rid of random potential juries
--intuitive selection
--scientific selection: selecting juries through surveys that yield correlations between demographics and trial-relevant attitudes
--racial influences
--death qualification: a jury-selection procedure used in capital cases that permits judges to exclude prospective jurors who say they would not vote for the death penalty

How does pretrial information affect a juror's decision-making process?

--voir dire: pretrial interviews of prospective jurors by the judge or opposing lawyers to uncover signs of bias
--peremptory challenge: a means by which lawyers can exclude a limited number of prospective jurors without the judge's approval

What is jury nullification?

the jury's power to disregard, or "nullify", the judge's instructions when they disagree with the law

What is sentencing disparity?

inconsistency of sentences for the same offense from one judge to another

What are some irrelevant factors that might influence sentencing?

--anchoring effect: the tendency for a person to rely heavily on the first piece of info they receive when making decisions
--racial stereotyping

How are the adversarial and inquisitorial models of justice different?

--adversarial model: a dispute resolution in which the prosecution and defense present
--inquisitorial model: a dispute resolution system in which a neutral investigator gathers evidence from both sides and presents the findings in court

What is Industrial/Organization (I/O) Psychology?

The study of human behavior in business and other organizational settings

What is the Hawthorne effect?

simply observing workers increased their productivity (modification of behavior as a result from being observed)

How is cybervetting used in personnel selection ?

cybervetting is utilized to obtain informal, noninstitutional data about applicants that they did not choose to share with the employers via the internet

What are some alternatives to traditional interviews?

--standardized intelligence tests: intellectual + cognitive abilities, job specific knowledge + skills, and street smarts + common sense
--personality tests
--integrity tests: overt + covert types

What are soft vs. hard forms of affirmative action?

soft: preferential treatment is necessary both to overcome historical inequities and to bring the benefits of diversity to the workplace (outreach programs designed to recruit, identify, or specially train applicants from underrepresented groups)
hard: policy results in unfair reverse discrimination (give preference in hiring to applicants from targeted groups who are equally or less qualified than others)

What are some issues basing evaluation off of only a supervisor's ratings of a subordinate?

--appraisal related problems
--halo effect: positive impressions in one area positively influences one's opinion/feelings in other areas
--contrast effect: unconscious bias that happens when two things are being judged at once, compared to assessing them individually
--restriction of range problem

What are upward evaluations?

--when workers are asked to evaluate their supervisors
--self evaluations are subject to many biases because people like to present themselves favorably to others
--self evaluations put both subordinates and female employees at a disadvantage

How is the 360-degree performance appraisal the best way to evaluate someone?

use multiple evaluators and collect + combine assessments

What are the different components of the 360-degree performance appraisal?

employee's performance is rated by different people (superiors, peers, subordinates, etc.)

What is the classic trait approach to leadership?

--characteristic traits of leaders: ambition, intelligence, a need for power, self-confidence, high energy, flexibility, and adaptability
--emergence of a given leader depend on time, place, and circumstances

What is the contingency model of leadership?

--leaders are either primarily task-oriented or relations-oriented
--task-oriented leaders are most effective in clear cut situations that are either low or high in control
--relations-oriented leaders perform better in situations that afford a moderate degree of control

Transactional leaders

--compliance and support from followers is gained by setting clear goals, offering tangible rewards, providing assistance, and fulfilling psychological needs
--effectiveness depends on the leader's willingness and ability to reward subordinates who perform as expected

Transformational Leadership

--motivates followers to transcend personal needs in the interest of a common cause
--articulates a clear vision of the future and then mobilizes others to join in that vision

How are men and women different in their leadership style?

--men are more controlling
--women are more democratic in their approaches

What is intrinsic motivation?

doing an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some reward

What is extrinsic motivation?

motivation that is driven by external rewards

What is equity theory?

--strike a balance between an employee's input and output in a workplace
--people want rewards to be equitable (being over/underpaid will cause distress)

Endowment effect

tendency to inflate the value of objects, goods, or services already owned

Escalation effect

the tendency for people to persist in falling investments to avert loss, which causes losses to mount (when one is faced with negative outcomes from a decision they continue this behavior instead of altering courses)

What are the disciplines of health psychology and psychoneuroimmunology? book

Problem-focused coping

--cognitive and behavioral efforts to reduce stress by overcoming the source of a problem (better to confront + control rather than avoid them)
--a reactive way of coping

Emotion-focused coping

--involves cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage emotional reactions to stressors rather than trying to change the stressors themselves
--emotional reactions include positive thinking, shutting down, opening up, + self focus
--reactive way of coping

Proactive coping

--involves upfront efforts to ward off/modify the onset of a stressful event
--proactive strategies include having a social support system or turning to a religion

Catastrophes

an overwhelming reaction to a traumatic event that is beyond the limit of normal life

Examples of catastrophes

Violence, life-threatening accidents, death of a loved one, natural disasters, and prison

Major life events

--change itself may cause stress by forcing us to adapt to new circumstances (social readjustment rating scale)
--impact of change depends on the person and how change is interpreted
--not as stressful as catastrophes (although they could be)

Examples of major life events

Death of spouse, divorce, death of close family member, personal injury or illness, marriage, and dismissal from work

Daily hassles

--most common source of stress that irritate us every day
--"microstressors" create a constant strain of stress
--accumulation of these stressors contributes more to illness than major life events do

Examples of daily hassles

job burnout, commuting, and financial pressure

How are stressors measured?

--self reports: life event checklist, daily diaries, and interviews
--psychological measures: stress hormone levels, recording autonomic arousal, and cortisol levels

What are the components of the general adaptation syndrome?

--there are three components of GAS: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion
--alarm: initial reaction to the stressor
--resistance: body tries to withstand the stress from the situation
--exhaustion: stress from major life event cannot be prolonged anymore and leads to illness

Type A personality

--overcontrolling
--stress inducing
--hostile

How is hostility related to the cardiovascular system?

--coronary heart disease: narrowing of blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle, leading cause of death in the U.S
--Hostility is the primary toxic ingredient in CHD, results in constriction of arteries, thus increasing the chance of a heart attack

How does stress affect the immune system?

--brief stressors can enhance the immune system
--chronic life stressors can suppress the immune response over time (more toxic compared to acute stressors)

What is learned helplessness?

--an acquired mindset that one cannot control important outcomes
--"stress always happens therefore you can't avoid it"

Depressive explanatory style

a tendency to attribute bad events to factors that are internal rather than external, stable rather than unstable, and global rather than specific

Self-efficacy

--personal feelings of competence; varies from one specific task and situation to another
--the greater the feelings of self-efficacy regarding a particular task, the greater the willingness to take on the task, persist, and succeed

Self-awareness theory

focusing attention on the self initiates an autonomic comparison of self to standards

How is money related to happiness

--relationship between money and happiness is complex (the more materialistic people are the less satisfied they are)
--perceptions of wealth are relative to certain standards, not absolute (social comparison)
--people use their own recent past as a basis of comparison (adaption level theory; person becomes insensitive to the effects of a constant stimulus)

stress and coping process