Social Psychology Reading Quiz

What do social psychologists do?

Use scientific methods to study how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. They study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations

Fritz Heider

proposed the attribution theory

attribution theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's disposition

Dispositional attribution

attributing behavior to the person's stable, enduring traits

Situational attribution

attributing behavior to the environment

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others' behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

What can affect attributions?

Culture, self-serving bias, and personal sensitivity

Two exceptions to our usual view of our own actions include...

our deliberate and admirable actions we often attribute to our own good reasons, not to the situation

attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, the predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events. Our attitudes affect our actions, and our actions affect our attitudes

Elaboration likelihood model

theory identifying two ways to persuade: a central route and a peripheral route

peripheral route persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness

Central route persuasion

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts

attitudes-follow-behavior principle

we cannot control all our feelings, but we can influence them by altering our behavior

foot-in-the-door phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

Role

a set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave. When you adapt to a new role, you strike to follow the social prescriptions

Phillip Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment

college students were randomly assigned to roles of prisoners or guards in a study that looked at how social situations influence behavior. It was very controversial.

What does the Stanford Prison Experiment show?

peoples' behavior depends to a large extent on the roles they are asked to play

Cognitive dissonance theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes

The more dissonance we feel...

the more motivated we are to find and project consistency, such as changing our attitudes to help justify the act

we can act ourselves into a way of thinking about as easily as what?

as we can think ourselves into a way of thinking

behavior is...

contagious

Is social contagion confined to behavior?

no

Mimicry-type of social contagion

Can also be called the chameleon effect, likening it to the chameleon lizards' ability to take on the color of their surroundings. For example, just hearing someone reading a neutral text in a happy or sad voice creates mood contagion in the reader

Natural mimicry enables us to do what?

empathize and explain why we feel happier around happy people. This also translates to mood linkage

positive herding

when positive ratings generate more positive ratings. Social networks are contagious pathways for moods.

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Solomon Asch's conformity experiment

Asch conducted a study where a participant had to identify which of the 3 lines presented was identical to the line next to the 3. This pressured students into giving certain answers to the questions asked.

Solomon Asch's conclusions

More than 1/3 of time time, "intelligent" college students were "willing to call white black" by going along with the group

We are more likely to conform when...

we are made to feel incompetent or insecure, are in a group with at least three people, are in a group in which everyone else agrees, admire the group's status and attractiveness, have not made a prior commitment to any response, know that others in the group will observe our behavior, and are from a culture than strongly encourages for social standards

Normative social influence

influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Informational social influence

influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

Stanley Milgram Experiment

a study that involved the role of a "teacher" who shocked a "learner". every single person administered some shock to the learner, and about two-thirds of the participants, of all ages and from all walks of life, obeyed to the fullest extent. gender, age, and ethnicity had no effect on the likelihood of obeying

What did Stanley Milgram's experiment demonstrate?

Strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or give in to cruelty

Obedience (in Milgram's experiment) was highest when what?

the person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as the legitimate authority figure, the research was supported by a prestigious institution, the victim was depersonalized or at a distance and there was no role models for defiance

A small minority that consistently expresses its views may do what?

sway the majority, as may even a single committed individual

Social facilitation

improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others. When you do well, you are likely to do it even better in front of an audience, especially a friendly audience. What you normally find difficult may seem all but impossible when you are being watched

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

When people act as part of a group, they may feel less accountable and therefore...

worry less about what others think, view their individual contributions as dispensable, overestimate their own contributions, downplaying others' actions, and slack off if they share equally in the benefits, regardless of how much they contribute. Unless highly motivated and strongly identified with the group, people may "free ride" on others' efforts

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity. It can thrive in many different settings

Group polarization

the enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group. It can be beneficial or toxic. Like minds polarize.

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal or alternatives

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. Humans differ across cultures but also have a great capacity for it

Are all cultures the same?

No. Cultures differ across time and space and can impact people in different ways.

How do psychologists study implicit prejudice?

testing for unconscious group associations, considering unconscious patronization, and monitoring reflexive bodily response

Prejudice

an unjustifiable (and usually negative attitude) toward a group and its members

Three components of prejudice

beliefs (often stereotypes), emotions, and predispositions to action (discimination)

Explicit and Implicit prejudice in North America

Explicit prejudice in North America has decreased over time, but implicit prejudice continutes

implicit prejudice

an unthinking knee-jerk response operating below conscious awareness

explicit prejudice

prejudicial attitudes that are consciously held, even if they are not publicly expressed

Prejudice involves both explicit and implicit negative attitudes toward what?

people of a particular racial or ethnic group, gender, sexual orientation, or belief system

Prejudice springs from what?

A culture's divisions, the heart's passions, and the mind's natural workings

just-world phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Victims of discrimination may react with....

self blame or anger, and either can feed each others' prejudice through the classic blame-the-victim dynamic

We define our social identity partly in terms of...

groups. We think of "us" and "them"

ingroup

"us"-people with whom we share a common identity

outgroup

"them"-those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup

ingroup bias

tendency to favor our own group

humans naturally have a need to...

belong, to live and love in groups

Do negative emotions nourish prejudice?

Yes

Scapegoat theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Outgroup homogeneity

uniformity of outgroup attitudes, personality, and appearance

Other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races

The cognitive roots of prejudice grow from what?

Our natural ways of processing information: forming categories, remembering vivid cases, and believing that the world is just

Monitoring our feelings and actions, as well as developing new friendships, can help us do what?

Free ourselves from prejudice

What genes influence aggression?

The Y chromosome and MAOA gene (MAOA breaks down neurotransmitters, and low levels of it can cause aggression)

How do neural traits influence aggression?

There can be activity in given key brain areas. Brains have neural systems that, given provocation, will either inhibit or facilitate aggression

How do biochemicals influence aggression?

Excess testosterone in the bloodstream, alcohol in the bloodstream

Aggression

any act intended to harm someone physically or emotionally

Aggression results from what?

the interaction of biology and experience

Frustration-aggression principle

the principle that frustration-the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal-creates anger, which can generate aggression

What can alter natural aggressive reactions?

Learning via reinforcement. IN situations where experience has taught us that aggression pays, we are likely to act aggressively again

Media portrayals of violence provide what?

social scripts that children learn to follow

Viewing sexual violence contributes to what?

greater aggression toward women

Playing violent video games increases what?

aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors

How can people like each other (romance)

Proximity, attractiveness, and similarity

How does proximity breed the most liking?

The mere exposure effect

Mere exposure effect

the phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them

Online/Speed dating relationship strengths

Online matchmaking is slightly more likely to last longer than other relationships. Speed dating pushes the search for romance into high gear.

People who fear rejection often do what?

elicit rejections

given more options for love, people make more (realistic/superficial) choices

superficial

Who is choosier with their speed dates? Men or women?

Women

Physical attractiveness increases what?

social opportunities and improves the way we are perceived

True or false: we like those who like us

True

If love endures, what happens to temporary passionate love?

It will mellow into a lingering companionate love

Passionate love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship

Two-factor theory of emotion

Emotions have two ingredients (physical arousal and cognitive appraisal) and arousal from any source can enhance one emotion or another, depending on how we interpret and label the arousal

Sexual desire + a growing attachment \=

passionate love

Companionate love

the deep attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined

Equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give it. When equity exists, two partners' chances for sustained and satisfying companionate love have been good

Self-disclosure

the act of revealing intimate aspects of ourselves to others, and it is a part of sharing between partners

Self-disclosing intimacy + mutually supportive equity \=

enduring companionate love

Altruism

an unselfish regard for the welfare of others

John Darley and Bibb Latane's findings

Attributed their inaction to an important situational factor-the presence of others. Given certain circumstances, most of us behave similarly. We will help only if the situation enables us to first notice the incident, then interpret it as an emergency, and finally assume the responsibility for helping

bystander effect

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present

The odds of helping are highest when...

the person appears to be in need and deserve help, the person is in some way similar to us, the person is a woman, we have just observed someone else being helpful, we are not in a hurry, we are in a small town, we are feeling guilty, we are focused on others and not preoccupied, and we are in a good mood

happiness breeds...

helpfulness

Social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

Reciprocity norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who helped them

Social-responsibility norm

an expectation that people will help those needing their help

conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas