chapter 13 psych exam

What is social psychology?

Social psychology is the study of how people think about, influence, and relate to others.

What is the difference between situational and dispositional influences on behavior

Situational is Behavior is caused by the environment or situation and Dispositional: Behavior is caused by personality or internal traits.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

It is the tendency to overestimate personality (dispositional factors) and underestimate situations when explaining other people’s behavior.

What is an attitude?

An attitude is a learned way of thinking or feeling about something, which influences how we act.

How are attitudes changed internally through cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance happens when our actions and beliefs don’t match, causing discomfort. To fix this, we change our attitudes to match our behavior.

How are attitudes changed externally through persuasion?

Persuasion is when someone else tries to change your attitude through messages, arguments, or advertising.

What are the central and peripheral routes to persuasion?

• Central route: You focus on facts and logic to decide.

• Peripheral route: You are influenced by surface factors (like attractiveness or emotions), not deep thinking.

Central route: You focus on facts and logic to decide.

Peripheral route: You are influenced by surface factors (like attractiveness or emotions), not deep thinking.

What are prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, and how are they different?

Prejudice: A negative attitude or feeling about a group.

Stereotypes: Generalized beliefs about a group (not always negative).

Discrimination: Unfair actions or behaviors toward a group

What are some examples of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination?

Prejudice: Disliking someone just because of their race or gender.

Stereotype: Believing all members of a group act the same way.

Discrimination: Refusing to hire someone because of their background.

Why do prejudice and discrimination exist?

They can come from:

Social learning (taught by family or culture)

In-group vs. out-group thinking (favoring “us” over “them”)

Fear or lack of knowledge about other groups

What is aggression?

Aggression is behavior intended to harm someone, either physically or verbally.

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is bullying that happens online, such as through social media, texts, or messages.

What is the bystander effect?

The bystander effect is when people are less likely to help someone in need when others are around, because they assume someone else will help.

What is altruism?

Altruism is helping others without expecting anything in return.

What conditions influence the formation of relationships?

Relationships are more likely to form when people have:

• Proximity: being physically close

• Familiarity: seeing each other often

• Similarity: having similar interests or values

What attracts people to each other?

People are attracted to others because of:

Physical attractiveness

Similarity (shared interests or beliefs)

Personality traits (like kindness or humor)

Proximity (being nearby)

What is the triangular theory of love?

Love has three parts:

Intimacy: emotional closeness

Passion: physical attraction

Commitment: deciding to stay together

What is social exchange theory in relationships?

Social exchange theory says relationships are based on a cost-benefit analysis. People stay in relationships when the benefits outweigh the costs.

Which of the following is an example of a self-serving bias?

Leonard attributes earning a good grade in his psychology class to the fact that he is an exceptionally hard working student who is also incredibly smart. He blames the poor grade he received in his sociology class on having a bad instructor who gave hard exams.

Why are girls more likely than boys to be victims of cyberbullying

because it is a less direct and nonphysical form of bullying

Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding social exchange theory?

People are dissatisfied if their social exchanges create more costs than benefits unless the relationship is an example of consummate love.

A negative attitude and feeling toward an individual that is based solely on that person’s membership in a specific group is called ________.

Prejudice

Kara gets an F on her social psychology exam. Then she goes home and gets into an argument with her roommate, Lee. Lee assumes Kara is yelling at him because she is just a nasty person, and does not consider that she may just have had a bad day and is venting. Lee is demonstrating ________.

the fundamental attribution error

Suppose you are walking down a street. A woman has fallen down, but because there are so many people around it does not occur to you that you should help. You just assume someone else is about to help her and keep walking. This is an example of ________.

diffusion of responsibility

Which of the following is the best example of central route persuasion?

anti-smoking advertisements that use charts and graphs to show how many people die from smoking-related causes each year

What is the single most important fact that predicts the person with whom you will become friends or have a romantic relationship?

the amount of contact you have with people

Jasmin belongs to the chess club on her campus. She prefers to associate with other members of the chess club while avoiding people that do not belong to this group. She thinks that those who do not play chess must be less intelligent than those who do, and thus she doesn’t want to spend time with them. Jasmin has a(n) ________ bias.

In group

Erikah has just arrived at the funeral of her friend’s father. Even though Erikah is usually very outspoken and jovial, she keeps her voice down, expresses her sympathy to the family members, and sits quietly and respectfully during the religious service. Erikah is following the ________ of how to behave in this particular situation.

Script

What is a social role?

a pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group