General Psychology - Exam 4

Internal (dispositional) attribution

The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about them, such as their personality, character, attitudes, or abilities

• It assumes the individual has direct control over their behavior

  • “He didn’t reply because he is rude.”

External (situational) Disposition

The inference that a person is behaving a certain way because of the situation they are in

• It implies that the environment or context is responsible for the behavior

  • “He didn’t reply because he is incredibly busy.”

What is the fundamental attribution error?

Tendency to make internal attributions for others’ behavior, even when situational causes are apparent

What was Jones and Harris’s (1967) study in which participants read essays supporting or opposing Fidel Castro?

Participants read pro- or anti-Castro essays, even when told the writers had no choice in their assigned, forced position. Despite situational constraints, participants still attributed pro-Castro attitudes to writers of pro-Castro essays while knowing they were forced to write that opinion

What is the actor-observer effect?

Where individuals attribute their own actions to external situational factors, while attributing others' behaviors to internal personality traits

• Focused on comparing yourself to others

  • When I get a poor grade its due to a hard test (external), while someone else's poor grade is due to lack of intelligence (internal).

What is the self-serving attribution?

Tendency to attribute one’s positive outcomes to internal causes but negative outcomes to external causes

• Focuses on yourself

  • Getting an 'A' and claiming "I am smart" (internal) vs. getting a 'C' and claiming "The test was unfair" (external).

Social roles

Behavior that is expected of a person who is in a specific social position

• influences behavior by providing social norms and scripts that dictate how to act in different situations

• Individuals conform to these roles to meet expectations, gain acceptance, and navigate social environments efficiently

What was Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?

A controversial two-week simulation of prison life led by psychologist Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University

• It examined how situational variables and assigned roles(guards or prisoners) influence behavior

  • It was halted after six days due to guard brutality and severe prisoner distress, demonstrating that good people can act abusively under situational pressure.

What is cognitive dissonance?

The mental discomfort experienced when a person holds conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors simultaneously, or acts in a way that contradicts their values

• “Why did I say that? I don’t actually believe it.”

  • Knowing smoking is harmful but doing it anyway

What are the factors involved in cognitive dissonance?

• Counterattitudinal behavior

• Insufficient justification

• Choice

• Effort

Counterattitudinal behavior

Behavior that is inconsistent with person’s attitudes

Insufficient justification

Dissonance is strongest when there isn’t a good external reason (reward, punishment, pressure) for your behavior

• You wait an hour for food that turns out just okay.

  • Since there’s no strong reason for waiting, you may convince yourself: “It was worth it.”

Choice

Dissonance increases when you feel you freely chose your behavior

• If you decide to do something that conflicts with your beliefs, you’re more likely to feel tension.

• If you were forced, there’s less dissonance because you can blame the situation.

  • You are forced to write an opposing view point → its okay because you were forced to

  • You chose to write an opposing view point → “wait why did I do this do I actually believe this”

Effort

When a person puts significant effort (time, money, or pain) into achieving a goal, but the outcome is not as valuable as expected

• To avoid feeling that the effort was wasted, individuals will often increase their liking for the outcome, even if it is underwhelming

  • “I worked so hard for this, so it must be worth it.”

What was Festinger and Carlsmith’s (1959) study on cognitive dissonance ($1 vs. $20)?

Participants performed extremely dull, repetitive tasks where were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant that the task was enjoyable

• $20 Group: Had sufficient external justification for lying and did not change their belief that the task was boring since they felt that $20 was a good amount of money and therefore worth it

• $1 Group: Experienced cognitive dissonance because they had insufficient justification for lying, forcing them to change their attitude and believe the task was actually interesting, according to from.

Normative Social Influence

Social influence based on the desire to be liked or accepted

Informational social influence

Social influence based on the desire to be correct

What was Asch’s study of conformity? What type of social influence did it demonstrate?

Participants were shown a "line" and asked to match it to one of three others. The real participant answered last, following several actors who were instructed to give the same wrong answer

• Individuals often conform to an obviously incorrect group majority to avoid social rejection or due to uncertainty

  • Demonstrated normative social influence

What was Milgram’s study of obedience? About what proportion of participants continued “shocking” the “learner” after he stopped responding?

Participants, instructed by a scientist to administer increasing, fake, and painful electric shocks for incorrect answers, continued to obey, often ignoring screams and eventually silence, despite feeling immense stress and discomfort

• While 35% of participants stopped before the maximum, a significant majority (65%) continued to the final 450-volt switch even after the learner stopped responding (after 330 volts)

  • The study demonstrated that, under pressure from an authority figure, ordinary people are likely to follow orders to hurt another person

What is social loafing?

Reductions in motivation and effort when individuals work collectively in a group

• A few members do the majority of work, while others contribute minimal input

What is deindividuation?

Psychological state characterized by reduced self‐awareness and reduced social identity

• Riots, mobs, costumes often result in vandalism or violence they would never commit alone, feeling anonymous and reducing personal accountability

What is group polarization?

The tendency for groups to make decisions or adopt views that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of their members

• Online forums creating echo chambers that radicalize views or political groups becoming more partisan

What is groupthink?

Where the desire for group cohesion and conformity overrides critical analysis, resulting in poor, irrational, or disastrous decision-making

• The challenger explosion → rocket launched despite weather risks/warnings

Prejudice

A hostile or negative attitude toward a distinguishable group of people

• Prejudging someone based on their race or ethnicity, such as assuming a minority individual is less qualified for a position

Stereotyping

A generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group

• “All bankers are evil”

Discrimination

Differential actions toward members of specific social groups

• Paying women less money than men

Explicit prejudice

Prejudice that can be overtly expressed

• You know you are aware of your prejudice

  • A person stating a belief that one race is superior to another

Implicit prejudice

Prejudice that the individual may not be aware of and/or cannot overtly express

• An employer unintentionally favoring a male candidate over a female candidate

  • Implicit Association Test: measures implicit prejudice

Just world phenomenon

A cognitive bias where people believe the world is inherently fair, meaning actions always have fitting consequences

• When witnessing injustice or suffering, people may blame the victim rather than acknowledging random misfortune or systemic issues

  • “they must have done something to deserve this"

What is realistic conflict theory?

Idea that competition for limited resources leads to conflict between groups and

results in increased prejudice and discrimination

What was Sherif’s Robber’s Cave experiment?

By dividing 22 boys into two, "Eagles" and "Rattlers," and introducing competitive tasks, researchers triggered intense prejudice and hostility

• Hostility arises quickly when groups fight for the same limited resources

• Shared "superordinate goals" can reduce prejudices and create cooperation.

How does social identity theory explain prejudice?

Prejudice is a byproduct of categorizing people into "in-groups" (us) and "out-groups" (them) to boost self-esteem

• By favoring their own group (in-group favoritism) and devaluing others (out-group derogation), individuals enhance their social identity and self-worth

What are minimal groups?

Groups united by trivial/meaningless similarities

What was the minimal group experiment (Tajfel, 1971)?

Showed that merely categorizing people into groups, even without pre-existing hostility or competition, causes individuals to favor their own group (in-group) and discriminate against others (out-group).

How does categorization explain stereotyping?

Categorization causes individuals to exaggerate similarities among members of a group, leading to the assumption that all members share the same attributes.

How does the confirmation bias explain stereotyping?

People focus on evidence that fits their preconceived notions (e.g., noticing only lazy behavior in a group stereotyped as lazy) while ignoring examples of hard work.

What is the contact hypothesis? Is it supported?

Suggests that interpersonal contact between members of different groups (e.g., different races, religions, or sexual orientations) reduces prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination

• Mere contact alone may not be effective

• When there is a common goal and they members are forced to work together, the chance of effectiveness increase

What is cooperative interdependence?

Relationship in which the outcomes of multiple people or groups depend

on each others’ actions

How did Sherif reduce prejudice in the Robber’s Cave study?

He made the opposing groups cooperate and work together to meet a common goal

Jigsaw classroom

Each student has a unique skill or piece of information where they are then put in a group where they have to teach it to the others in their group

• Eliminates competition

• Students learn from each other and learn to cooperate

What is the drive theory of aggression?

Aggression results from situations that stimulate the internal motive to harm others

Catharsis

The idea that expressing aggression or watching others engage in aggressive behaviors reduces aggressive drive

• Participating in a rage room

  • Not supported in reducing aggression

What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis?

Frustration increases probability of aggressive behavior

How do similarity and proximity predict liking?

• People who are similar to each other have more in common and are morel likely to get along and therefore “flock together”

• If you are in close proximity to someone, overtime you get used to their presence and could grow to like them

What is the mere exposure effect?

Repeated exposure to a person increases our liking for the person

• Studies involving photos of faces, participants frequently reported higher liking for faces they had been exposed to more often

• We prefer the mirror image of ourselves since thats what we see most

What is the bystander effect?

The presence of other people makes it less likely that anyone will help a stranger in distress

• “Someone else will handle it”

Diffusion of responsibility

The presence of other people makes each individual feel less personally responsible

• “There were 10 other people who could’ve called 911”

Pluralistic ignorance

Bystanders assume nothing is wrong in an emergency because other bystanders

don’t appear concerned

• Students don't ask questions, believing they are the only ones confused, while peers are equally puzzled

Evaluation apprehension

Concern about social approval or disapproval

• Individuals worry that if they act, they will appear foolish, overreacting, or incompetent