CH 1

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

Scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by the (actual, imagined, or implied) presence of others.

Question 2

Define “behavior”.

Answer 2

It is what people actually do, that can be objectively measured. Feelings, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, intentions and goals.

Question 3

What is the “social” aspect in social psychology?

Answer 3

It studies how people are affected by other people’s presence.

Question 4

Define “thought”.

Answer 4

It is an internalized and private activity that can occur when we are alone and is based on implied presence.

Question 5

Explain why is social psychology considered a science?

Answer 5

It uses the scientific method using empirical research to arrive at conclusions which are based on data.

Question 6

What disciplines are related to social psychology?

Answer 6

Environmental psychology, Cognitive psychology, Economics, Individual Psychology, Social Anthropology, Sociology,…

Question 7

What is the difference between social psychology and sociology or social anthropology?

Answer 7

The latter 2 are social sciences, while social psychology is a behavioral science. - different approaches to research

Question 8

Explain confirmation bias.

Answer 8

It is the tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing explanations for the cause of the event.

Question 9

What are subject effects?

Answer 9

Subject effects are effects that are not spontaneous due to demand characteristic/participants trying to please the experimenter.

Question 10

Explain demand characteristics.

Answer 10

Features of an experiment that seem to demand a certain response.

Question 11

Explain “experimenter effects”.

Answer 11

These are effects produced/influenced by clues to the hypotheses under examination, accidentally communicated by the experimenter.

Question 12

What are field experiments? Name advantages and disadvantages.

Answer 12

Field experiments are experiments outside of the lab. Participants don’t know they are being studied. High external validity, low internal validity.

Question 13

What is “discourse” as a non-experimental research method?

Answer 13

It is a communicative event located in situational and socio-historical context.

Question 14

What are the most important ethical guidelines?

Answer 14

Protection from harm, right to privacy, deception, informed consent, debriefing.

Question 15

What is social identity theory?

Answer 15

Explains how behavior of people in group relates to their self-conception as group members.

Question 16

What is meant by “metatheory”?

Answer 16

Theory about what theory/type of theory is appropriate.

Question 17

What is “radical behaviorism”?

Answer 17

It explains observable behavior in terms of reinforcement schedules, without taking into consideration any intervening unobservable constructs.

Question 18

What is “neo-behaviorism”?

Answer 18

It attempts to explain observable behavior in terms of contextual factors and unobservable intervening constructs such as beliefs, feelings, and motives.

Question 19

What does the behaviorist perspective emphasize?

Answer 19

The role of situational factors and reinforcement/learning in social behaviors.

Question 20

Describe briefly the reinforcement-affect model of interpersonal attraction.

Answer 20

It states that people grow to like other people more with whom they associate positive experiences.

Question 21

Describe social exchange theory.

Answer 21

Social interactions depend on people’s evaluation of the rewards and costs involved.

Question 22

What is social modeling?

Answer 22

People learn indirectly social behaviors that they see reinforced/rewarded in others.

Question 23

What is “drive theory”?

Answer 23

The strength of a learnt response influences how well you perform when perceiving the presence of others.

Question 24

How do we explain behavior with cognitive theories?

Answer 24

In terms of the way people actively interpret and represent their experiences and then plan action.

Question 25

What are attribution theories?

Answer 25

They focus on how people explain the causes of their/others’ behavior.

Question 26

How do we explain behavior through “evolutionary social psychology”?

Answer 26

Extension of evolutionary psychology which views social behavior as adaptive. Argues that much of human behavior is grounded in the past of human species.

Question 27

Explain reductionism.

Answer 27

It offers explanation of a phenomenon in terms of the language and the concepts of a lower level of analysis. Problem: can leave the original scientific question unanswered.

Question 28

What are levels of explanation?

Answer 28

Types of concepts, mechanisms, and language used to explain a phenomenon. If level of explanation doesn’t match the level of research question - it remains unanswered.

Question 29

What are the levels of explanation in social psychology?

Answer 29

Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and situational, Positional, Ideological

Question 30

What is “Positivism”?

Answer 30

Non-critical acceptance of science as the only way to arrive at true knowledge - “science as religion”

Question 31

What is “Völkerpsychologie”?

Answer 31

early predecessor of social psychology, study of the collective mind

Question 32

Which study is Sherif famous for?

Answer 32

Norm formation.

Question 33

Which study is Asch famous for?

Answer 33

Group pressure.

Question 34

Which study is Festinger famous for?

Answer 34

Cognitive dissonance.

Question 35

Which study is Milgram famous for?

Answer 35

Obedience.

Question 36

Which study is Tajfel famous for?

Answer 36

Group categorization - enough for discrimination. Social identity theory.

Question 37

Which study is Zimbardo famous for?

Answer 37

Prison experiment - deindividuation - impact of roles.

Question 38

Define “culture”.

Answer 38

It refers to different aspects of our living environment and behavior, such as patterns in social behavior, habits/traditions, social norms and rules, the organization of societies.

Question 39

What is the difference between social and cross-cultural psychology?

Answer 39

Social - looks for similarities in behavior, cross-cultural: looks for differences between cultures.