Psych ch 12

What is the major difference between the focus of sociology and social psychologists?

Unlike sociology, which studies societies and social groupings, social psychologists focus more on how individuals view and affect one another

What does attribution theory state?

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

What does the foot-in-the-door phenomenon state?  AND What is the door-in-the-face effect?

Foot-in-the-door: a small, initial request that increases the chances of a second larger one

Door-in-the-face: making an unreasonable ask so a second, smaller ask is more likely to be accepted

What is cognitive dissonance?

When we become aware that our attitudes and actions don’t coincide and then we experience tension (cognitive dissonance)

What is tight culture vs. loose culture?

Tight culture: places with clearly defined and reliably imposed norms

Loose culture: places with flexible and informal norms

What is the chameleon effect in relation to social contagion?

• Social contagion affects emotions 

  • The likeliness of a natural mimicracy of an activity (seeing someone yawn makes you yawn)

We (human) chameleons take on the emotional tones of those around us (expressions, voice tones and even grammar

Which psychologist conducted the famous and controversial experiments on obedience to better understand why so many participated in the atrocities of the Holocaust?

Stanley Milgram

What is social loafing?

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

• People may feel less accountable 

• View individual contributions as dispensable

• Overestimate their own contributions 

• Free ride on others’ efforts

What is the behavioral effect of social loafing?

Decreased effort

(And those from individualistic cultures like our own are more likely to view their individual contribution to the group as dispensable leading to that decreased effort)

We are most likely to NOT conform when we __________.

1. Are made to feel incompetent or insecure 

2. Are in a group with at least five people

Are in a group with at least five people

What is prejudice?

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves negative emotions stereotype beliefs and a predisposition to discriminatory action 

(And in even more general terms: a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience)

The odds of helping are highest when ________________.

1. We are feeling guilty 

2. We are focused on ourselves and preoccupied

We are feeling guilty

What are social scripts?

A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

Which would be TRUE about aggression? 

1. Genes do not influence aggression 

2. High testosterone is linked to aggression

High testosterone is linked to aggression

FRQ: As noted in the New York Times (2020), Black Lives Matter may be the largest movement in the U.S. history, garnering massive support in the United States and across the world. In your opinion, how has the research illustrated in “Thinking Critically About: How to Be Persuasive” galvanized this movements?  

• BLM has explicitly stated its shared values and goals that are common to other large movements (similar to Equal Rights Amendment)

• BLM has engaged its audience by consistently restating its message and by acting on it (protests) This also goes with making the message vivid since these images are often easily recalled later on to boost participation. 

• Repeated message to make more people believe in and support the movement along with appealing toward others morals with the messages being conveyed 

• Reworded/rephrased statements that appeal to others’ motives

FRQ: Stanley Milgram’s use of deception and stress in his obedience research sparked a great deal of debate over his research ethics. If you wanted to replicate such a study today, what steps could you take to ensure that your research plans would be approved by your school’s Institutional Review Board?

• First, the researcher should have made sure that participants knew there could be some psychological and physical distress 

• Make sure there is informed consent from all participants 

• A description of how deception may be used (remember for this one and the bullet point above that the deception can’t be revealed meaning full informed consent isn’t possible since it would impact results) 

• The researcher should have ended the experiments as soon as there were noticeable signs/evidence of distress on the participants (and making sure participants are fully aware from the start that they have the right to end their participation at any point if feeling distress) 

• There would also need to be a full debriefing including revealing the person who was receiving the “shocks” to show that no harm was caused to others and prevent further psychological distress.