Social Psychology Exam 3

  1. Altruism: Selfless concern for the well-being of others, typically leading to helping behaviors without expectation of personal gain.

  1. Authoritarian Personality: A personality type characterized by rigid beliefs, respect for authority, and intolerance for outgroups. Predictors include childhood experiences of harsh discipline and high conformity.

  1. Biology and Aggression: Aggressive behavior can be influenced by genetic, hormonal, and neurological factors, including testosterone and brain areas like the amygdala.

  1. Bobo Doll: An experiment by Albert Bandura showing that children who saw adults act aggressively toward a doll were more likely to imitate those aggressive behaviors.

  1. Benevolent and Hostile Sexism:

    • Benevolent: A seemingly positive but patronizing attitude toward women, viewing them as needing protection.

    • Hostile: Negative attitudes and behaviors toward women, including gender-based hostility.

  1. Blind Auditions (Orchestras): A method used by orchestras to reduce bias in hiring musicians by having them audition behind a curtain.

  1. Bystander Effect: The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency when other people are present.

  1. Category Salience and Stereotypes: Stereotypes become more prominent when certain categories (e.g., race, gender) are more noticeable or relevant in a particular situation.

  1. Catharsis and Revenge:

    • Catharsis: The idea that expressing aggression can reduce future aggressive behavior (debunked by research).

    • Revenge: Retaliating against someone who has harmed you, often increasing conflict rather than resolving it.

  1. Contact Hypothesis: The theory that intergroup contact can reduce prejudice and improve relations, especially under conditions of equal status, common goals, and cooperation.

  1. Darley and Latane: Psychologists who studied the bystander effect, showing that people are less likely to help when others are present due to diffusion of responsibility.

  1. Discrimination and Prejudice:

  • Prejudice: A negative attitude or feeling toward an individual based solely on their group membership.

  • Discrimination: Unfair treatment of people based on their group membership.

  1. Egoistic Altruism: Helping others for personal gain, such as expecting a reward or avoiding guilt.

  1. Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.

  1. Ethnocentrism: The belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others.

  1. Evaluation Apprehension: The fear of being evaluated by others, which can affect performance in social situations.

  1. Evolutionary Perspective on Helping: Helping behaviors can be seen as an evolutionary strategy to increase the survival of genetic relatives (kin selection) or to gain social approval (reciprocity).

  2. Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: The theory that frustration leads to aggression, as people are motivated to reduce the feelings of discomfort caused by being blocked from achieving a goal.

  1. Gender Stereotypes: Beliefs about the traits and behaviors that are typically associated with males and females.

  1. Good Samaritan Study: A study by Darley and Batson showing that people are less likely to help in emergencies when they are in a hurry.

  1. Groups, Benefits of: Groups can provide social support, shared resources, and protection, and contribute to personal identity and social influence.

  1. Groupthink: A tendency for group members to conform to a consensus and suppress dissent, often leading to poor decision-making.

  1. Helping on the Subway: Refers to a study on helping behavior in public places, finding that people are more likely to help when they feel personally responsible.

  1. Honor Cultures: Cultures in which individuals are expected to defend their honor and reputation, often through aggression in response to insults.

  1. Implicit Stereotypes: Unconscious associations or attitudes toward different social groups, often influencing behavior without awareness.

  1. Ingroups and Outgroups:

  • Ingroup: A group to which a person belongs and identifies with.

  • Outgroup: A group to which a person does not belong and may view negatively.

  1. Institutional Discrimination (Racism): Systematic discrimination built into societal institutions, often perpetuating inequality for racial or ethnic minorities.

  1. Jigsaw Classrooms: A cooperative learning technique where students work in small groups to become "experts" on different aspects of a topic and then share their knowledge with others.

  1. Kin Selection: The idea that individuals are more likely to help relatives, as it increases the chances of their genes being passed on.

  1. Kitty Genovese: A woman who was murdered while 38 witnesses reportedly did not intervene, a case that helped highlight the bystander effect.

  1. Latane and Darley 5-Step Model: A model outlining the steps people go through when deciding whether to help: (1) Notice the event, (2) Interpret it as an emergency, (3) Assume responsibility, (4) Know how to help, (5) Decide to help.

  1. Long-term Helping: Prolonged, consistent helping behaviors, often driven by empathy and the social responsibility norm.

  1. Maltreatment Effects: Negative psychological, emotional, and physical effects that result from being mistreated, such as abuse or neglect.

  1. Mere Presence Effect: The phenomenon where the mere presence of others can influence individual behavior, often improving performance on simple tasks and hindering performance on complex tasks.

  1. Microaggressions: Small, often unintentional, discriminatory remarks or actions directed at a marginalized group.

  1. Minimax Strategy: A social exchange theory principle that suggests people try to minimize costs and maximize rewards in relationships.

  1. Patty Hearst: The heiress who was kidnapped and later participated in criminal activities, illustrating the concept of Stockholm syndrome.

  1. Pornography, Effects of: Research suggests that exposure to pornography can influence attitudes and behaviors toward sex, often reinforcing negative stereotypes and promoting objectification.

  1. Provocation, Stages of: A model describing how aggression can escalate in stages, from mild irritation to violent response, often triggered by frustration or insults.

  1. Psychology of the Token: The psychological experience of being the only member of a minority group in a setting, often leading to feelings of isolation and pressure.

  1. Racism: Prejudice and discriminatory behavior based on race, often institutionalized and perpetuated through societal systems.

  1. Reciprocity Norm: The social norm that suggests we should return favors and kindnesses shown to us by others.

  1. Righteous Gentiles: Non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust, risking their own lives to save others.

  1. Risky Shift or Group Polarization: The tendency for group discussions to lead to more extreme decisions than individuals would make alone, often making riskier or more extreme choices.

  1. Rewards, Types of:

  • Intrinsic rewards: Internal satisfaction from an action (e.g., helping because it feels good).

  • Extrinsic rewards: External incentives, like praise or money, for actions.

  1. Robber’s Cave Experiments (Sherif): A series of studies on group conflict and cooperation, showing that competition can increase hostility between groups, while cooperative tasks can reduce it.

  1. Scapegoating: Blaming an outgroup for problems or frustrations faced by the ingroup, often leading to prejudice and discrimination.

  1. Situational Determinants of Helping: External factors such as time pressure, ambiguity of the situation, and the presence of others that influence whether people help.

  1. Social Exchange Theory (on Helping): The theory that helping behavior is motivated by a cost-benefit analysis, where people help when the rewards outweigh the costs.

  1. Social Facilitation: The tendency for people to perform better on simple or well-practiced tasks when others are present.

  1. Social Learning Theory: The theory that people learn behaviors through observing others and imitating their actions, especially when those actions are rewarded.

  1. Social Loafing: The tendency for people to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone.

  1. Social Responsibility Norm: The belief that individuals should help others who are in need, especially when they are unable to help themselves.

  2. Social Role Theory: The theory that gender differences arise from the societal roles that individuals are socialized into, rather than biological differences.

  1. Stereotype Content Model (Warmth, Competence): A framework for understanding how people perceive others based on two dimensions: warmth (friendliness) and competence (ability).

  1. Stereotype Threat: The fear of confirming negative stereotypes about one's group, which can lead to underperformance on tasks.

  1. Stockholm Syndrome: A psychological condition where hostages develop positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes leading to identification with them.

  1. Tit for Tat (Provocation Hypothesis): A strategy for conflict resolution where one responds to others' aggression with equivalent aggression, potentially leading to escalation.

  1. Violence and the Media: Research shows that exposure to violent media can increase aggressive behaviors and desensitize individuals to violence.

  1. White Privilege: The societal advantages that white people have over people of color, often unconscious and unearned.