LECTURE 15

Question 1

What do we use as an indicator of health

Answer 1

• Attractivenes
• Youth (baby-face)
• Symmetry of face

Question 2

Stereotyping

Answer 2

The tendency to attribute personality characteristics to people on the basis of their external appearance or their social group memberships. Stereotyping is unfair to the people we judge because stereotypes are based on our preconceptions and negative emotions about the members of the group.

Question 3

Prejudice

Answer 3

The tendency to dislike people because of their appearance or group memberships. Stereotyping is closely linked to prejudice.

Question 4

Discrimination

Answer 4

Negative behaviors toward others based on prejudice

Question 5

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 5

When our expectations about the personality characteristics of others lead us to behave toward those others in ways that make those beliefs come true.

Question 6

Evolutionarily disposiition to stereotyping.

Answer 6

Because our primitive ancestors needed to accurately separate members of their own kin group from those of others, categorizing people into “us” (the ingroup) and “them” (the outgroup) was useful and even necessary.

Question 7

Social identity

Answer 7

The positive emotions that we experience as a result of our group memberships

Question 8

Stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination

Answer 8

Whether they are consciously or unconsciously applied, make it difficult for some people to effectively contribute to society and may create both mental and physical health
problems for them

Question 9

Causal attribution

Answer 9

The process of trying to determine the causes of people’s behavior, with the goal of learning about their personalities

Question 10

Person attribution

Answer 10

The behavior was caused primarily by the person

Question 11

Situation attribution

Answer 11

The behavior was caused primarily by the situation;

Question 12

Self-serving attributions

Answer 12

Judging the causes of our own behaviors in overly positive ways.

One error that we frequently make when making judgments about ourselves

Question 13

Fundamental attribution error (or correspondence bias)

Answer 13

Tendency to overestimate the role of person factors and overlook the impact of situations in judging others

Question 14

We should not be too quick to judge other people

Answer 14

But these attributions may frequently over-emphasize the role of the person, resulting in an inappropriate and inaccurate tendency to blame the victim.

Question 15

Attitude

Answer 15

Our relatively enduring evaluations of people and things. Frequently (but not always) predict behavior

Question 16

persuasive communications

Answer 16

People who wish to change behavior frequently try to
change attitudes through the use of this

Question 17

Persuasive Communication techniques

Answer 17

• Choose effective communicators: Communicators who are attractive, expert, trustworthy, and similar to the listener are most persuasive. Consider the goals of the listener. If the listener wants to be entertained, then it is better to use a humorous ad; if the listener is processing the ad more carefully, use a more thoughtful one.

-Use humor: People are more easily persuaded when they are in a good mood.

Use classical conditioning: Try to associate your product with positive stimuli such as funny jokes or attractive models.

Make use of the listener’s emotions: Humorous and fear-arousing ads can be effective because they arouse the listener’s emotions.

Use the listener’s behavior to modify his or her attitude: One approach is the foot-in-the-door technique. First ask for a minor request, and then ask for a larger request after the smaller request has been accepted

Question 18

Self- monitoring

Answer 18

The tendency to regulate behavior to meet the demands of social situations. People high in self-monitoring tend to change their behaviors to match the social situation and thus do not always act on their attitudes.

The match between the social situations in which the attitudes are expressed and the behaviors are engaged in also matters, such that there is a greater attitude-behavior correlation when the social situations match.

Question 19

Self-perception

Answer 19

When we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings

Question 20

foot-in-the-door technique

Answer 20

A method of persuasion in which the person is first persuaded to accept a rather minor request and then asked for a larger one after that.

Question 21

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 21

the discomfort we experience when we choose to behave in ways that we see as inappropriate

Question 22

Altruism

Answer 22

any behavior that is designed to increase another person’s welfare, and particularly those actions that do not seem to provide a direct reward to the person who performs them

Question 23

Reasons for engaging in Altruism

Answer 23

-Positive moods: We help more when we are in a good mood
-Similarity: We help people who we see as similar to us, for instance, those who mimic our behaviors
-Guilt: If we are experiencing guilt, we may help relieve those negative feelings.
-Empathy: We help more when we feel empathy for the other person
-Benefits: We are more likely to help if we can feel good about ourselves by doing so
-Personal responsibility: We are more likely to help if it is clear that others are not helping.
-Self-presentation: We may help in order to show others that we are good people

The tendency to help others in need is in part a functional evolutionary adaptation.

Question 24

Reciprocal altruism

Answer 24

the principle that, if we help other people now, those others will return the favor should we need their help in the future.

The reciprocity norm reminds us that we should follow the principles of reciprocal altruism. If someone helps us, then we should help them in the future, and we should help people now with the expectation that they will help us later if we need it.

Question 25

Social Responsibility norm

Answer 25

We should try to help others who need assistance, even without any expectation of future paybacks

Question 26

Latané and Darley model of helping

Answer 26

Emergency -> Notice the event -> Interpret the event as an emergency -> Assume responsibility -> Know appropriate form of assistance -> Provide help

Question 27

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 27

Occurs when we assume that others will take action and therefore we do not take action ourselves

Question 28

Conformity

Answer 28

A change in beliefs or behavior that occurs as the result of the presence of the other people around us.

We conform not only because we believe that other people have accurate information and we want to have knowledge (informational conformity) but also because we want to be liked by others (normative conformity).

Question 29

Variables That Increase Conformity

Answer 29

Number in majority: As the number of people who are engaging in a behavior increases, the tendency to conform
to those people also increases. People are more likely to stop and look up in the air when many, rather than few,
people are also looking up
Unanimity: Conformity reduces sharply when any one
person deviates from the norm. In Solomon Asch’s line-matching research, when any one person gave a different
answer, conformity was eliminated.
Status and Authority: People who have higher status, such as those in authority, create more conformity. Milgram (1974) found that conformity in his obedience studies was greatly reduced when the person giving the command to shock was described as an “ordinary man” rather than a scientist at Yale University

Question 30

Obedience

Answer 30

The tendency to conform to those in authority.

In the end, 65% of the participants continued giving
the shock to the learner all the way up to the 450 V maximum, even though that shock was marked as
“danger: severe shock” and no response had been heard from the participant for several trials.

Question 31

Minority influence

Answer 31

A smaller number of individuals is able to influence the opinions or behaviors of the larger group

Question 32

Psychological reactance

Answer 32

A strong emotional reaction that leads people to resist pressures to conform.

Reactance is aroused when our ability to choose
which behaviors to engage in is eliminated or threatened with elimination. The outcome of the experience of reactance is that people may not conform at all, in fact moving their opinions or behaviors away from the desires of the influencer. Reactance represents a desire to restore freedom that is being threatened

Question 33

Working Together in Groups

Answer 33

The ability of a group to perform well is determined by the characteristics of the group members (e.g., are they knowledgeable and skilled?) as well as by the group process—that is, the events that occur while the group is working on the task. When the outcome of group performance is better than we would expect given the individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group process gain, and when the group outcome is worse than we would have expected given the individuals who form the group, we call the outcome a group process loss

Question 34

Social loafing

Answer 34

A group process loss that occurs when people do not work as hard in a group as they do when they are working alone.

Question 35

Groupthink

Answer 35

A phenomenon that occurs when a group made up of
members who may be very competent and thus quite capable of making excellent decisions nevertheless ends up, as a result of a flawed group process and strong conformity pressures, making a poor decision.

Groupthink is more likely to occur in groups whose members feel a strong group identity, when there is a strong and directive leader, and when the group needs to make an important decision quickly. The problem is that groups suffering from groupthink become unwilling to seek out or discuss discrepant or unsettling information about the topic at hand, and the group members do not express contradictory opinions.

Question 36

Causes and Outcomes of Groupthink

Answer 36

Antecedent condition: Time pressure and stress, high cohesiveness and social identity, isolation from other sources of information, directive, authoritative leadership.

Symptoms of groupthink: Illusions of - invulnerability, unanimity + in group favoritism, little search for new information, belief in morality of group, pressure on dissenters to conform to Group norms. All these lead to poor decision-making.

Question 37

Social psychology

Answer 37

The scientific study of how we feel about, think about, and behave toward the other people around us, and how those people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Question 38

social situation

Answer 38

the people with whom we are interacting

Question 39

social cognition

Answer 39

the part of human thinking that helps us understand and predict the behavior of ourselves and others