PSY 2600 Social Psychology Test 2 Study Guide

What is an attitude?

An evaluation (positive, negative, or mixed) of people, places, objects, and ideas.

What is the difference between an attitude and a fact?

An attitude contains an evaluative component (positive or negative). A fact is a statement such as 'Coffee contains caffeine.'

What are the ABCs of attitudes?

Affect: Emotions; Behavior: Actions or approach/avoid tendencies; Cognitions: Thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs.

What is affect?

The emotional core of an attitude, describing how much you like or dislike something.

What is the behavioral component of an attitude?

Attitudes are associated with approach and avoidance tendencies.

What is the cognitive component of an attitude?

The thoughts, knowledge, beliefs, and memories associated with an attitude object.

What does 'bad is stronger than good' mean?

Negative experiences tend to have a stronger impact than comparable positive experiences.

Why do we have attitudes?

Attitudes help us quickly determine whether something is good or bad, safe or dangerous.

What is confirmation bias?

The tendency to interpret new information in ways that support our existing beliefs and attitudes.

What is attitude polarization?

When attitudes become even stronger after considering evidence that supports one's original attitude.

What are implicit attitudes?

Automatic, uncontrollable, and sometimes unconscious attitudes.

What is the difference between implicit and explicit attitudes?

Explicit attitudes are conscious and recognized; implicit attitudes are automatic associations outside conscious awareness.

What is the Theory of Planned Behavior?

A theory explaining how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence behavioral intentions.

According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, what is the best predictor of behavior?

Behavioral intention.

What are subjective norms?

Perceived expectations or social pressures from others regarding whether someone should perform a behavior.

What are situational constraints?

Situations or circumstances that prevent someone from behaving consistently with their attitudes.

Why don't attitudes always predict behavior?

Attitudes can conflict, general attitudes may not predict specific behaviors, situational constraints can affect behavior, and implicit attitudes can bypass conscious attitudes.

Why are specific attitudes better predictors of specific behaviors?

Because attitudes that closely match the behavior are more informative.

What is cognitive dissonance theory?

Inconsistency among thoughts, feelings, and actions creates dissonance, motivating people to restore consistency.

How can people resolve cognitive dissonance?

By changing their behavior or changing their attitudes, thoughts, or feelings.

What three situations commonly produce cognitive dissonance?

Decisions, effort, and induced compliance.

What is post-decision dissonance?

Discomfort after making a difficult decision due to the attractive features of the rejected option.

How do people reduce post-decision dissonance?

By convincing themselves that the chosen option is better and the rejected option was not as good.

What is effort justification?

Convincing ourselves that something is valuable because we invested significant time, money, or effort into it.

What is the IKEA effect?

People tend to value something more when they assemble it themselves, provided the assembly succeeds.

What did Lord et al. (1979) investigate in the attitude polarization study?

Whether people evaluated arguments objectively or favored arguments supporting their original attitudes.

What did researchers find in the attitude polarization study?

People favored arguments supporting their original attitudes, and everyone's attitudes became stronger.

What was the bar study investigating?

Whether people's stated attitudes toward condom use matched their actual condom-use behavior.

What were the findings of the bar study?

Almost 100% felt positively about using condoms, but only 56% used one during their last casual encounter.

What does the bar study demonstrate?

What people say they believe does not always match what they actually do.

What was the Horse Race Study by Knox and Inkster (1968)?

Horse enthusiasts rated their horse's chances of winning before and after placing a bet.

What were the findings of the Horse Race Study?

Participants rated their horse's chances as better after placing their bets.

What does the Horse Race Study demonstrate?

Post-decision dissonance; people change their evaluations after making a decision.

What was the Psychology of Sex Study by Aronson and Mills (1959)?

College students volunteered to join a group discussing the psychology of sex with varying initiation conditions.

What were the three conditions in the Psychology of Sex Study?

Severe initiation, mild initiation, and control (no screening).

What did the Psychology of Sex Study find?

Participants who experienced severe initiation liked the discussion more than those with mild or no initiation.

What does the Psychology of Sex Study demonstrate?

Effort justification; people value something more when they invest effort to obtain it.

What was the induced-compliance toy study by Aronson and Carlsmith (1963)?

Nursery-school children rated toys and were told not to play with their second-favorite toy.

What were the two threats used in the toy study?

Mild threat: 'I'll be annoyed.' Severe threat: 'I'll be very angry and take all the toys and never come back.'

What did the induced-compliance toy study find?

Neither group played with the toy. However, children receiving the mild threat later liked the toy less, while those receiving the severe threat liked it the same or even more.

Why did the mild-threat children change their attitudes toward the toy?

They had no strong external justification for not playing with it, so they reduced dissonance by convincing themselves they did not like the toy as much.

What is persuasion?

An attempt to change a person's attitudes.

What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model?

A theory explaining two different routes through which people can be persuaded: the central route and peripheral route.

What is the central route to persuasion?

Carefully thinking about a message and being influenced by the strength and quality of its arguments.

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

Being influenced by superficial cues rather than carefully evaluating the actual message.

Which route produces more durable attitude change?

The central route.

What two factors determine which persuasion route someone uses?

Motivation and ability.

What situations encourage central-route persuasion?

Personally relevant information, knowledge about the subject, personal responsibility, strong arguments, and enough cognitive ability to evaluate the message.

What situations encourage peripheral-route persuasion?

Low personal relevance, being distracted or tired, limited ability to evaluate the message, incomplete or difficult-to-understand information, and superficial cues such as attractiveness or charisma.

What is an example of central-route persuasion?

Someone researches the evidence behind a political candidate's healthcare policy and changes their opinion because of the strength of the arguments.

What is an example of peripheral-route persuasion?

Someone supports a political candidate because the candidate is attractive, charismatic, or famous without carefully considering their policies.

What was the Senior Comprehensive Exams Study?

Students listened to a speech proposing that all college seniors should be required to take a comprehensive exam before graduating.

What three variables did researchers manipulate in the Senior Comprehensive Exams Study?

Personal relevance, speaker prestige, and argument strength.

What was the dependent variable in the Senior Comprehensive Exams Study?

How much students agreed with the speech.

What did the Senior Comprehensive Exams Study find when exams were personally relevant?

Students relied on the central route, and the strength of the arguments influenced persuasion.

What did the study find when exams were not personally relevant?

Students relied more on the peripheral route, and the prestige of the speaker became more influential.

What is reactance theory?

People become less persuadable when they feel their freedom is being threatened.

What is attitude inoculation?

Being exposed to small doses of arguments makes people more resistant to stronger attempts to change their attitudes later.

What is forewarning?

Being warned in advance that someone will attempt to change your attitudes.

What did the Teen Driving Forewarning Study investigate?

Students attended an assembly where a speaker discussed why teenagers should not be allowed to drive, with some students warned beforehand.

What did the Teen Driving Forewarning Study find?

Students who were not forewarned were more persuaded than those who were forewarned.

What did the Smoking Study investigate?

Researchers compared fear only, information only, and fear plus information approaches.

What does the lecture say about using fear to persuade people?

Fear can be persuasive, but it is best to provide information explaining how people can act on that fear.

What is social influence?

The ways people adjust their behavior to meet the real or imagined expectations of others.

What is conformity?

Changing behavior because of the real or imagined influence of other people.

What is compliance?

Changing behavior because another person makes a request.

What is obedience?

Changing behavior because an authority figure gives a command.

What is informational social influence?

Conforming because we believe other people have correct information that we do not have.

When is informational social influence especially likely?

When people feel uncertain and want to be correct.

What is normative social influence?

Conforming to fit in, gain acceptance, and avoid social rejection.

What is private acceptance?

Actually accepting and internalizing other people's perceptions, even when responding privately.

What is public compliance?

Agreeing with a group publicly while continuing to disagree privately.

What is the difference between informational and normative social influence?

Informational influence involves believing others are correct and accepting their opinions privately, while normative influence involves agreeing publicly to fit in.

What was the autokinetic effect study?

Participants estimated the movement of a stationary dot of light in a dark room.

What happened during the two phases of Sherif's study?

Participants estimated the light's movement alone, then joined a group and gave their estimates aloud.

What did Sherif find?

Participants' estimates gradually became similar and converged toward a group norm.

Why does Sherif's study demonstrate informational social influence?

Participants were uncertain about the light's movement and relied on others for accurate information.

How did Sherif demonstrate private acceptance?

Participants continued giving group-consistent answers privately and still gave similar estimates when tested alone a year later.

What was the line perception study?

Participants judged the lengths of lines while other group members intentionally gave incorrect answers.

What did Asch find?

76% conformed to the incorrect majority at least once, and participants conformed on approximately one-third of the trials on average.

Why does Asch's study demonstrate normative social influence?

Participants knew the correct answer but sometimes agreed with the group to fit in.

What happened when Asch participants could write their answers privately?

Their written answers were consistently correct, showing that public agreement did not necessarily mean private acceptance.

How did group size affect conformity in Asch's studies?

Conformity increased as the group grew, but only up to approximately four people.

What happened when a dissenter disagreed with the majority in Asch's studies?

Conformity decreased, even if the dissenter was also incorrect.

What was the Hand Washing Study?

Researchers observed women using a public restroom with an experimenter present in one condition.

What did the Hand Washing Study demonstrate?

The presence of another person influenced hand-washing behavior, demonstrating normative social influence.

What is nonverbal mimicry?

Nonconsciously copying another person's behaviors.

What is the Chameleon Effect?

Nonconsciously mimicking another person's behavior, which can increase liking and make interactions smoother.

What happened in Study 1 of the Chameleon Effect?

Participants worked alongside two confederates, one rubbing their face and the other shaking their foot.

What happened in Study 2 by Chartrand and Bargh (1999)?

One condition involved a confederate subtly mimicking the participant, while another condition did not involve mimicry.

What did Study 2 find?

Participants who were mimicked liked their partner more and felt their interactions were smoother.

What did the synchrony study by Hove and Risen (2009) find?

Participants liked an experimenter more when the experimenter tapped a pencil in time with them rather than out of time.

What did the walking study by Wiltermuth and Heath (2009) find?

Groups walking in step felt more connected, trusted one another more, and cooperated more in an economic game.

What was Stanley Milgram's obedience study?

Participants were instructed to administer increasingly powerful electric shocks to a learner when the learner answered questions incorrectly.

What percentage of participants delivered the maximum shock in Milgram's study?

63%.

What percentage went up to 360 volts in Milgram's study?

80%.

What happened when participants were brought closer to the learner in Milgram's study?

Obedience decreased.

Why did proximity to the learner decrease obedience?

Being closer increased awareness of the learner's suffering and promoted empathy.

What happened when the experimenter gave instructions from another room?

Obedience decreased because participants were farther away from the authority figure and feared their disapproval less.

How did moving the experiment from Yale to a run-down office building affect obedience?

Obedience decreased because the study and its authority appeared less legitimate.