Exam 2

Question 1

Natural Selection

Answer 1

the evolutionary process by which heritable traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environments are passed to ensuing environments

Question 2

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 2

the study of the
evolution of cognition and behavior using
principles of natural selection.

Question 3

Sex

Answer 3

the two biological categories of male and female.

Question 4

Gender

Answer 4

in psychology, the characteristics, whether biological or socially
influenced, that we associate with males and females.

Question 5

Transgender

Answer 5

someone whose psychological sense of being male or
female differs from their birth sex.

Question 6

what is one way that biology influences sex differences?

Answer 6

hormones

Question 7

Testosterone

Answer 7

a hormone more prevalent in males than females that is linked to dominance and aggression.

Question 8

androgynous

Answer 8

the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics.

Question 9

Culture

Answer 9

the enduring behaviors,
ideas, attitudes, and traditions
shared by a large group of people
and transmitted from one
generation to the next.

Question 10

Norms

Answer 10

standards for accepted and expected behavior.

Question 11

Persuasion

Answer 11

the process by which a message induces
change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Question 12

Central route to persuasion

Answer 12

occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
-system 2

Question 13

Peripheral route to persuasion

Answer 13

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.
- system 1

Question 14

Sleeper effect

Answer 14

a delayed impact of a message that occurs
when an initially discounted message becomes effective, such as we remember the message but forget the reason for
discounting it.
- While Yara tells Sophie that she intends to buy the product, Sophie, who is a
dermatologist, warns her that the shampoo has harsh chemicals that could be harmful
to the scalp and hair. After hearing this, Yara decides not to buy the shampoo. Over
the next few months, the advertisement is often played on TV. Yara forgets Sophie’s
warning and buys the shampoo.

Question 15

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Answer 15

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
-get your friend to drive you to the store today before asking them to help you move

Question 16

Lowball technique

Answer 16

people who agree to an initial request will
often still comply when the requester ups the ante. People who receive only the costly request are less likely to comply.
-for only 200 dollars… sorry that excludes taxes

Question 17

Door-in-the-face technique

Answer 17

after someone first turns down a
large request (the door-in-the-face), the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request.

Question 18

Primacy effect

Answer 18

other things being equal, information
presented first usually has the most influence.

Question 19

Recency effect

Answer 19

information presented last sometimes has the most influence.

Question 20

Channel

Answer 20

the way the message is delivered—whether
face-to-face, in writing, on film, or in some other way.

Question 21

Two-step flow of communication

Answer 21

from the media to certain individuals (i.e., the opinion leaders) and from them to the public.

Question 22

What are two audience characteristics

Answer 22

age and thoughtfulness.

Question 23

Need for cognition

Answer 23

the motivation to think and analyze

Question 24

Conformity

Answer 24

a change in behavior or belief as the result
of real or imagined group pressure.
-ordering dessert because everyone else had

Question 25

Three varieties of conformity

Answer 25

Acceptance
Compliance
Obedience

Question 26

Acceptance

Answer 26

involving both acting and believing in accord with
social pressure.
-occurs when you genuinely believe in what the group has persuaded you to do
-you might exercise because you accept that exercise is healthy

Question 27

Compliance

Answer 27

involving publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing.
-She actually thinks the new girl seems nice, but she is afraid that if she says so, her friends might pick on her, too, so she also makes fun of the new girl.

Question 28

Obedience

Answer 28

involving acting in accord with a direct
order or command.
-He would rather stay outside and play with his friends, but he is worried about the consequences if he disobeys his mom, so he goes inside.

Question 29

Solomon Asch’s studies of conformity

Answer 29

Asch offered a series of comparisons for which six confederates gave incorrect answers to see if a participant would agree even when he knew they were not correct.
-conformity

Question 30

Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies.

Answer 30

One experiment required one participant to teach a list of word pairs to another participant and punish errors by delivering shocks of increasing intensity.
-obdience

Question 31

Group

Answer 31

two or more people who, for longer than a
few moments, interact with and influence one
another and perceive one another as “us.”

Question 32

Different groups help us meet different human needs.

Answer 32

• To affiliate.
• To achieve.
• To gain a social identity.

Question 33

Social facilitation: original meaning

Answer 33

the tendency of people to perform
simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present.

Question 34

Social facilitation: current meaning

Answer 34

the strengthening of dominant
(prevalent, likely) responses in the presence of others.

Question 35

In many cases, others’ presence boosts
performance on easy tasks but impairs
performance on difficult tasks.

Answer 35

In many cases, others’ presence boosts
performance on easy tasks but impairs
performance on difficult tasks.

Question 36

Evaluation apprehension

Answer 36

concern for how others are
evaluating us

Question 37

Life cycle explanation

Answer 37

attitudes change as people grow older.