Psy 120 Exam 4

What is social cognition?

How people process, store and apply information about other people and social situations
Focuses on role that cognitive processes play in our social interactions

Is physical appearance an important determinant of first impressions? Why or why not?

Yes, because it gives us subtle, subconscious information about who it is we are interacting with

What is a schema? Specifically, what is a social schema?

Concept that informs a person about what to expect from a variety of experiences and situations

What is stereotyping vs prejudice vs discrimination?

Stereotype - generalized belief (knowledge structure) about traits/characteristics of members of a group

Prejudice - generalized attitude toward members of a group or evaluation of a group

Discrimination - behaviors directed toward people on the basis of their group membership

How is the confirmation bias an important cognitive source of prejudice? Why does the confirmation bias make it hard to get rid of prejudice?

We are attuned to the information that supports our biases, and blinded to the information that contradicts it

What is social identity theory? How/why does social identity theory provide an explanation of a motivational source of prejudice?

1. We want to feel good about ourselves
2. Much of our identity comes from the groups to which we belong
3. Just as individual social comparison can boost self-esteem, comparing our group with other groups that are less well off can raise our self-esteem

What is meant by institutional support as a social source of prejudice?

Social institutions (schools, government, media) can reinforce biased beliefs

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? What are the results of the Snyder telephone study and how did the women's conversational styles demonstrate a self-fulfilling prophecy effect?

Believing the desired result is the case, then interpreting the results to align with the desired results

Thought the woman was pretty, she was somehow 'nicer'

Thought she was average, she wasn't 'as nice'

What is meant by implicit vs. explicit prejudice? Why do dual attitudes make it difficult to get rid of all our prejudices?

Implicit - feeling you are not aware of

Explicit - feelings you're aware of

People have explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) attitudes toward social groups

What does IAT stand for? What does it test for? How does it work? What do the results of the test mean?

Implicit Association Test, attempts to measure implicit responses

Labels presented on screen

Words or pictures quickly flashed

What is the basic difference between how a social psychologist would measure an explicit attitude vs an implicit attitude?

Implicit Attitudes Test to test for implicit attitudes

Explicit through survey, observation, etc.

Do explicit or implicit attitudes usually tend to be more negative? Why? What kind of behavior does an explicit attitude best predict and what kind of behavior does an implicit attitude best predict?

Implicit tend to be more negative

based partially on associations rather than prejudice

Explicit attitudes are too positive because are subject to self-report bias

Explicit - conscious, self-directed behavior
Implicit - uncontrollable behavior

What is an attribution?

Causes/explanations for behavior

According to the covariation model of attribution, what are the 3 pieces of information that help us make the appropriate inference or attribution of someone else's behavior?

Consistency - covariation of behavior across time

Distinctiveness - degree of uniqueness of behavior to particular situation

Consensus - covariation of behavior across different people

What is an internal vs. external attribution? What has to be true of distinctiveness, consistency and consensus in order for someone to make an internal vs an external attribution?

External - circumstantial

Internal - characteristic trait

What is meant by the fundamental attribution error?

Overestimate internal attributes in others and underestimate external ones

What is the actor-observer effect?

Tendency to attribute one's own actions to external causes, while attributing other people's behaviors to internal causes

What is the self-serving bias?

We attribute our failures to external causes and our successes to internal causes

What is an attitude?

Favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone

What are the 3 main components of an attitude?

A - affective

feelings/emmotions about the attitude object
B - behavioral

the way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave
C - cognitive

involves a person's belief/knowledge about an attitude object

What is the elaboration likelihood model, the central route to persuasion, and the peripheral route to persuasion?

Dual process theory describing the change of attitudes form

Explains different ways of processing stimuli, why they are used, and their outcomes on attitude change

What is cognitive dissonance?

Unpleasant state that occurs whenever an individual simultaneously holds two or more cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent

When is strong cognitive dissonance most likely to occur?

People who feel the most unpleasant arousal with the lowest reward and thus the greatest need to reconcile the situation

What are the details of the "studying and being bought a car" example? How does it demonstrate cognitive dissonance at work? Did buying a car to get kids to study make them start to study more often? Did buying a car make them feel like they liked studying more than they had before? Why would buying a car to encourage studying make kids start to study more often, but also make them feel like they like studying less?

Hate studying, being offered a car to study, then deciding they like studying

Sometimes need external source of motivation to initiate activity

What were the methods and findings of Festinger's 1959 dissonance study? How do they illustrate the principles of cognitive dissonance theory?

Over-rewarding behavior makes people think they actually like doing what they did

Tedious task, turning pegs, offer no reward for telling people they enjoyed it, $1 for telling people they enjoyed it, $20 for telling people they enjoyed it
- $20 made people happier than $1

What were the bars on the results graph? What happened in the no pay, $1, and $20 condition? Who said they enjoyed the experience the most?

$20 made people enjoy the study the most, $1 made them enjoy it slightly more than $0

What are the 3 main ways one can eliminate dissonance?

- Change one of the cognitions by changing a belief, opinion, attitude or behavior
- Acquire new information or add cognitions to reduce the dissonance
- Make one of the dissonant cognitions less important than the others

What is self-perception theory? How does it provide an alternative explanation for the results of Festinger's cognitive dissonance study?

- It's hard to know our own attitudes

we gain insight into our own attitudes by observing our own behavior

We see what we did (told people we enjoyed something) so we tell ourselves that our attitude was that we enjoyed it

What is meant by social facilitation?

People perform differently when in presence of others than when alone

What is meant by social interference?

Presence of other people sometimes impair performance

What is altruism?

Belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others

What is the story of the Kitty Genovese incident and what is meant by the bystander effect? What is meant by diffusion of responsibility and how does it contribute to the bystander effect?

The more people present during an emergency, the more time it takes for someone to call for help

- Someone else will do it!
- We don't take upon ourselves the responsibility because we figure it isn't ours but rather someone else's

What is social loafing?

People are prone to exert less effort on a task if they are in a group versus when they work alone

What is deindividuation?

Loss of self-awareness in groups

What did the Zimbardo prison study demonstrate?

Roles have profound effect on our behavior, thoughts and feelings
Role - social position that has set of rules for proper behavior

What are the 3 main types of social influence?

Conformity - tendency to change one's belief or behaviors in ways that are consistent with social norms

Compliance - change in behavior due to the intentional influence of others

Obedience - change in a behavior that is in response to someone who is in authority or someone who has power over you

What is meant by societal norms?

Acceptable ways of behaving and thinking in order to maintain positive social status

What are the results of the Asch line study, and how does it demonstrate conformity at work?

When people in a group setting say something that is false, we change our answer to fit the group instead of basing it off of what we knew was right

What are Cialdini's 6 principles of compliance?

1. Social validation
2. Authority
3. Scarcity
4. Consistency/commitment - foot in the door
5. Reciprocity
6. Liking

What are the methods and results of Milgram's obedience study?

75% continued to shock 'student' after he begged for release, and then became silent
Over 60% went all the way

What is meant by group polarization and groupthink?

Group Polarization - group's dominant view become stronger with time

Groupthink - Group members become interested in finding consensus, and start to suppress any dissenting viewpoint

What is attraction?

Anything that draws two or more people together, making them want to be together and possibly to form a lasting relationship

What are the 5 big predictors of attraction?

1. Proximity
2. Physical attractiveness
3. Similarity vs. complementarity
4. Liking those who do things for us to make us feel good
5. Liking those who like us (reciprocity)

What did the Westgate West floorplan study demonstrate?

How proximity increases attraction or predicts the likelihood of becoming friends with people

What is the mere exposure effect and how does it help explain the impact of proximity?

What is familiar is good

occurs without our awareness

influences our own perceptions

What is the physical attractiveness stereotype?

Assumption that attractive people possess other positive qualities
- more kind, outgoing, intelligent, and successful
- women were rated kinder and more sensitive after plastic surgery

Why do people prefer composite faces?

Attractive features do not tend to differ too much from average

attractive faces are symmetrical

Which wins in predicting attraction - similarity or complimentarity?

We like those similar to us

Research doesn't support complimentarity, but it might evolve as relationship progresses

What is the reward theory of attraction?

We like those who reward us or who we associate with rewarding events
People who do us favors
People who give us praise

What were the methods and findings of the Lewicki study?

Reward theory of attraction can also work by association

What is one reason we might tend to like people who like us?

Social reciprocity norm

What is meant by passion, intimacy, and commitment? Do each of these increase or decrease over time?

Passion - physiological arousal, longing, sexual attraction
Intimacy - close bond, sharing, support
Commitment - willing to define as love, long term

What is passionate love and companionate love?

Passion and intimacy without commitment

According to Rusbult, what are 3 components that keep people together?

Intimacy and commitment without passion

What are the four main proposed criteria for defining abnormal behavior?

Statistical deviance -

Cultural deviance -

Emotional distress -

Dysfunction -

Are 'normal' vs. 'abnormal' rigid categories, such that human behavior fits into one or the other?

No, they are not

What is meant by the legal concept of insanity, and how is it different from psychological disorder?

1. A person's ability to tell right from wrong (not guilty by reason of insanity)
2. A person's ability to understand the legal proceedings (competency to stand trial)
3. Whether the person is a direct danger to self or others (involuntary commitment to a mental hospital)

There is a lack of ability

they are not just weird and messed up

What is the medical model of diagnosis when it comes to psychological disorders?

Abnormal behavior is caused by an underlying disease that could be cured with appropriate therapy

Describes symptoms and typical age of onset or other characteristics of the disorder

What are some criticisms of the medical model?

Over-diagnosis
Labeling
Serious problems vs. 'normal' problems
Subjective nature of determining a disorder

What is meant by diagnostic labeling effects? What were the results of the Rosenhan study?

We focus so much on how to label people that we can't appropriately diagnose them

We can't distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals

the dangers of dehumanization and labeling in psychiatric institutions was highlighted

What is the DSM?

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

What is an anxiety disorder? Examples

Excessive levels of negative emotions, such as nervousness, tension, worry, fright and anxiety

Generalized anxiety disorder: vague, uneasy sense of general tension and apprehension that lasts for years

Panic disorder: pattern of anxiety in which long periods of calm are broken by intensely uncomfortable attacks of anxiety

Phobic disorder: intense, irrational fear

Specific phobia: fear of one specific thing

Social anxiety disorder: fear of social interactions, particularly those with strangers or those in which the person might be viewed negatively

Agoraphobia: fear of leaving one's home rooted in fear that further panic attacks will occur - associated with panic disorder

PTSD: experiencing anxiety, irritability, upsetting memories, dream, and realistic flashbacks of a traumatic event

What is obsessive compulsive disorder? What is meant by obsessions and compulsions?

Obsessions: intrusive anxiety provoking thoughts

Compulsions: irresistible urges to engage in specific irrational behaviors

What is meant by a somatic symptom disorder? What is a conversion disorder?

Form of mental illness that causes one or more bodily symptoms, including pain

Person has blindness, paralysis or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation

What is meant by a dissociative disorder? Examples

Conditions involving sudden cognitive changes, such as changes in memory, perception or identity

separation of conscious awareness from previous thoughts or memories

Dissociative amnesia

Dissociative fugue: accompanied by escape or flight

Dissociative identity disorder: individual appears to shift abruptly and repeatedly from one 'personality' to another

What is meant by depressive/bipolar disorder?

Psychological disorders involving prolonged/disabling disruption to emotional state

What is a major depressive episode? What are the symptoms and what are examples of people suffering from it? What is meant when major depression is described as recurrent vs Dysthymic disorder?

Characterized by episodes of deep unhappiness, loss of interest in life, and other symptoms

Recurrent: has occurred more than once, separated by period of more than 2 months

Dysthymic: relatively continuous depressed mood lasting for at least 2 years but with milder symptoms

What is a bipolar disorder? What is meant by a manic episode and a depressive episode and how are these both present?

Periods of mania that alternate with periods of severe depression

Mania: disturbance in mood in which the individual experiences a euphoria characterized by unrealistic optimism and heightened sensory pleasure (dangerous because leads to risky behavior and loss of sleep and sometimes loss of touch with reality)

What are the major risk factors associated with suicide?

Family history of suicide
Family history of child maltreatment
Previous suicide attempts
History of mental disorders, particularly clinical depression
History of alcohol and substance abuse
Feelings of hopelessness
Impulsive or aggressive tendencies

What is schizophrenia? What are the positive symptoms, the negative symptoms, and the cognitive symptoms

Positive: Delusions, delusion of grandeur, delusion of persecution, hallucinations, disorganized speech, catatonia

Negative: Flat affect

Cognitive Symptoms: disorganized thinking, emotions and behavior

fragmented thoughts, incoherent speech, inappropriate behavior

What is meant by personality disorders?

Believed to result from personalities that developed improperly during childhood

What are symptoms and examples of people suffering from the following personality disorders?

Antisocial personality disorder: lack of guilt about violating social rules and laws and taking advantage of others (formerly 'psychopath' or 'sociopath')

Narcissistic personality disorder: unrealistic sense of self-importance, preoccupied with fantasies of future success, required constant attention and praise, reacts very negatively and aggressively to criticism, lacks genuine concern for others

Borderline personality disorder: impulsive and unpredictable behavior, unstable relationships, anger, constant need to be with others and a lack of identity (frequent suicidal gestures and very likely to seek treatment)

What is meant by the following different contributors to mental illness: biology, cognitive, environmental

Biology: neurotransmitter imbalances, structural problems, genetic contributions

Cognitive factors: maladaptive attributions, learned helplessness

Environmental factors: rule of culture, conditioning

What is meant by psychotherapy?

Specialized process in which a trained professional uses psychological methods to help a person with psychological problems

What is a biomedical therapy? Examples

Using medicine to attack biological causes for psychological disorders

Drug therapy, ECT, Pyschosugery

What is drug therapy? Specifically, what do antidepressants treat and what neurotransmitters do they typically work on? What do anti-anxiety drugs treat? What do antipsychotic drugs treat?

Most widely used medical treatment for psychological disorders

Antidepressants: treat depressive disorders, elevate levels of serotonin and norepinephrine

Anti-anxiety: mild anxiety, not to be used for long time periods

Antipsychotic: inhibits dopamine, reduces delusions, hallucinations, thought disorganization

What is ECT?

Electroconvulsive therapy

People are shocked, which produces a convulsive brain seizure

used with severely depressed or psychotic individuals

What is psychosurgery? Is it common?

Surgically cutting the neural fibers that connect the frontal lobes with the limbic system

Thought it would prevent disturbing thoughts and perceptions from reaching the brain and prevent emotional outbursts

Who was the father of psychoanalysis? How is psychoanalysis rooted in the resolution of unconscious conflicts?

Freud

Tries to bring unconscious conflicts to awareness

What is meant by free association, dream analysis, transference, and resistance?

Free Association: talked about whatever comes to mind (uncensored)

Dream Analysis: 'royal road to unconscious'

Transference: client transfers emotions from inner life onto therapist

Resistance: any unconscious attempt to subvert the therapy process

How does psychodynamic therapy (modern day psychoanalysis) differ from Freud's original psychoanalysis?

Therapist, in early stages, offers their own interpretations to help patients find insight

Therapists encourage transference by having the patient role play

More attention given to improving interpersonal and social skills, less given to sexual and aggressive drives

What is a cognitive therapy? What is rational-emotive therapy?

Teaches individuals new cognitions (thoughts), adaptive beliefs, expectations, and ways of thinking in order to eliminate abnormal emotions and behavior

What is a humanistic therapy approach? What is client-centered therapy and what is meant by unconditioned positive regard?

Treat human spirit and gain insight into self-worth

CCT: Carl Rogers, emphasizes relationship between therapist and client (warmth, empathy)

Unconditioned Positive Regard: therapist must always respect and like the client

What is Family Therapy?

Emphasizes an understanding of the roles of each family member and how the family functions as a system (usually conducted with all members of the family, but it can be practiced individually)

What is a behavioral therapy? What is systematic desensitization? What is meant by graduated exposure and flooding?

Behavioral Therapy: helping clients unlearn self-defeating behaviors

Systemic Desensitization: complex procedure involving progressive relaxation and graded exposure to phobic stimuli

Graduated Exposure: exposing mildly fearful stimuli and then gradually exposing more and more fearful stimuli

Flooding: confronting the client with high levels of fearful stimuli until the fear response is extinguished

What is social skills training? What is role playing?

Skills training: teach skills that someone may be lacking

Role playing: therapeutic technique in which the therapist and client act out different scenarios that might be problematic to the client

What is the definition of stress?

State of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances