SOC 340 Final Exam

Advertising and Attitudes

What advancement made it so that cigarettes could be advertised to the masses?

• Mass production and mass media (especially radio, magazines, and later TV) made cigarettes widely advertised. The industrial revolution and marketing techniques like emotional appeals played major roles.

Why are attitudes important?

• Attitudes influence behavior, guide decision-making, and affect how individuals perceive and interact with the world. They are crucial predictors of actions.

Do twins share similar attitudes?

• Yes, to some extent. Studies show that identical twins often have more similar attitudes than fraternal twins, even when raised apart, suggesting a genetic component to attitudes.

Types of Attitudes

What are affectively based, behaviorally based, and cognitively based attitudes and what is their function?

Learning and Attitude Formation

What is a sensory reaction?

• A sensory reaction is a basic emotional response to sensory input, like finding a food delicious or a sound unpleasant, which can influence attitudes.

Differences between classical and operant conditioning?

Explicit vs. Implicit Attitudes

What are explicit and implicit attitudes?

• Explicit attitudes: Consciously held, easy to report.

• Implicit attitudes: Unconscious, automatic responses influencing behavior without awareness.

Social Influence and Conformity

What was the ice bucket challenge used for in the book?

• It was used as an example of social influence, showing how behaviors spread via conformity and group norms, often tied to charitable causes (ALS awareness).

US attitudes toward conformity

• Americans value individualism, but still show conformity, especially in ambiguous situations or among close social groups.

What are the two motivations to conform?

1. Normative Social Influence: Desire to be liked/accepted.

2. Informational Social Influence: Desire to be correct or accurate.

What are normative and informational social influence?

• Normative: Conforming to fit in.

• Informational: Conforming because the group seems right.

What is the autokinetic effect?

• An optical illusion where a stationary point of light in a dark room appears to move — used by Sherif to study informational social influence.

What does informational social influence often lead to?

• Private acceptance — genuinely believing that others are correct.

Sherif’s experiment

• Muzafer Sherif showed that people would conform to group norms when unsure, using the autokinetic effect as the setting.

Groups and Group Behavior

What constitutes a group and how is a group defined?

• A group is two or more people who interact and are interdependent, influencing each other's behavior.

What is deindividuation?

• A psychological state where people lose self-awareness and feel less accountable, often leading to impulsive acts, especially in crowds.

What are social norms and what happens when a person violates them?

• Social norms: Rules for expected behavior.

• Violating them can lead to sanctions, exclusion, or punishment by society.

What is an Internet Troll?

• Someone who deliberately provokes or upsets people online by posting inflammatory or off-topic messages.

Relationships and Attraction

In terms of relationships, has research shown that opposites attract?

• No, research consistently finds that similarity, not opposites, promotes attraction and relationship success.

What is the role of similarity in friendship and romantic relationship formation?

• Similarity in interests, attitudes, and backgrounds fosters stronger, longer-lasting relationships.

What is propinquity?

• Physical proximity — living close to someone increases chances of forming a friendship or romantic relationship.

Know Festinger, Schachter, and Back’s research on friendship formations in an apartment complex

• Found that physical proximity predicted friendship; neighbors and people near stairways (high-traffic areas) formed more friendships.

What is functional distance?

• How often people's paths cross, not just physical closeness — more interactions lead to more friendships.

What is the mere exposure effect?

• Repeated exposure to a person or thing increases liking.

What is reciprocal liking?

• Knowing someone likes you increases your attraction to them.

When is physical attraction considered most desirable?

• At first meetings, physical appearance strongly influences attraction because there is little else to judge yet.

What do men and women report to be attractive features?

• Men: Physical beauty, youthful appearance.

• Women: Status, ambition, financial security — although physical attractiveness also matters.

What is the Halo Effect?

• The tendency to assume that attractive people have other positive qualities (like intelligence or kindness).

Mental Health

Signs vs. symptoms

• Signs: Observable indicators (e.g., crying, erratic behavior).

• Symptoms: Internal experiences reported by the person (e.g., sadness, anxiety).

What % of the US population will qualify for a diagnosable disorder?

• Roughly 46% of adults will experience a diagnosable mental health disorder at some point.

What is deinstitutionalization?

• Movement during the 20th century to discharge mental health patients from hospitals into community-based care — often without adequate support.

Why don’t people seek psychiatric help?

• Stigma, cost, lack of access, lack of awareness about symptoms.

% of suicides linked to depression

• About 60–70% of suicides are linked to depression or mood disorders.

Is there a manic-only disorder?

• No, mania without depression is rare; it usually falls under Bipolar I Disorder, where manic episodes occur with or without depressive episodes.

What is anxiety?

• A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome; can be both normal and a clinical disorder if excessive.