Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Question 1

Social Psychology

Answer 1

To understand, predict and explain our thoughts, behaviors and feelings, by imagining or actual presence of others.

Question 2

Attitudes (ABC)

Answer 2

Stable and enduring evaluations of things and people. A = Affective (how we feel. Secure)
B = Behaviour (went to work because they felt safe)
C = Cognition (believed they were safe)

Question 3

Mere Thought Effect

Answer 3

More time to think. These thoughts become consistent thoughts.

Question 4

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 4

When we hold a belief that contradicts our behavior. It is a state of emotional discomfort, so unpleasant we want to eliminate or remove it. When it is COMPLETELY out of character.

Question 5

Self-perception theory

Answer 5

Infer our attitudes from our behaviors. Behave only slightly out of character or unsure of our attitude.

Question 6

Attitude specificity

Answer 6

The more specific an attitude, the easier it is to predict behavior. (ex. Love Taylor Swift, listen to her new album day of)

Question 7

Attitude strength

Answer 7

Stronger attitudes predict behavior more than weak attitudes. (ex. Passionate about gay rights, will likely join demonstration or protests in favor of gay rights)

Question 8

Social desirability

Answer 8

Respond to how it would be accepted by society

Question 9

Implicit attitudes

Answer 9

People are not always aware of their true attitudes, attitudes below the level of consciousness awareness.

Question 10

Mere categorization effect

Answer 10

Categorizing individuals into us or them

Question 11

Realistic conflict theory

Answer 11

Competition arises between different groups because of conflict over scarce resources.

Question 12

Social identity theory

Answer 12

In social situations, individuals often identify as members of the group.

Question 13

Social categorization

Answer 13

Affiliates with a specific group as figuring out how to act and react in the world.

Question 14

Social identity

Answer 14

Person forms an identity within the group

Question 15

Central route

Answer 15

Uses factual information and logical arguments to persuade. Fair amount of effort on the receivers end

Question 16

Peripheral route

Answer 16

Superficial information. How attractive the spokesperson is and how amusing the message is.

Question 17

Foot in the door technique

Answer 17

Getting someone to agree to a small request and then a larger one. (Why? We strive to be consistent)

Question 18

Door in the face technique

Answer 18

Make an absurd first request and then follow with a smaller request

Question 19

Appeals to fear

Answer 19

Seen in anti-smoking ads. Makes the receivers know something bad will happen if they don’t comply.

Question 20

Attributions

Answer 20

Why people, including ourselves, do things. This is causal explanations of behavior

Question 21

Dispositional or internal

Answer 21

Peoples traits as the cause of their behavior

Question 22

Situational or external

Answer 22

Environmental factors as the cause of behavior

Question 23

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 23

Attributions to explain the behavior of other people (ex. Someone speeding down the highway may have a sick child in their car)

Question 24

Self-serving bias

Answer 24

Tend to attribute our successes to internal causes and failure to external causes. (ex. Failed a test because the grading wasn’t fair, if you passed probably wouldn’t blame external causes). It is protective for our self-esteem.

Question 25

Norms

Answer 25

Society is filled with rules how to act (provides order and stability)

Question 26

Descriptive norms

Answer 26

What the typical person does, rules they follow (tipping, its an option but they expect)

Question 27

Injunction norms

Answer 27

Agreed-on expectations about what members ought to do (speaking quietly at a library)

Question 28

Social role

Answer 28

Set of norms to a person's social position, expectations, duties associated with the individual's position in the family, at work and in the community.

Question 29

Conformity

Answer 29

Yield to real or imagined group pressure. (ex. Attend a school with liberal beliefs, you may have liberal beliefs as you grow older)

Question 30

Asch experiment

Answer 30

People conformed to the norm and gave incorrect responses at least once

Question 31

Tyranny of the majority

Answer 31

Unanimity, one group member drastically reduces the likelihood that participants will conform to an incorrect group norm. Size, fewer choices, increase in conformity.

Question 32

Milgram’s experiment

Answer 32

Willingness of individuals to follow orders of authorities when orders conflict with their moral judgment. We are inclined to obey even when we would have never predicted we would behave that way.

Question 33

Group dynamics

Answer 33

Membership or participation in a group influences our thoughts and behaviors

Question 34

Conjunctive task

Answer 34

Members are only as weak as its weakest member (ex. Hiking up a mountain)

Question 35

Disjunctive task

Answer 35

Requires single solution, works better in large groups since there is someone who has the most ideas

Question 36

Divisible task

Answer 36

simultaneous performance of several different activities (works better in large groups when there are more people)

Question 37

Social facilitation

Answer 37

our performance is enhanced when we are in the presence of others. Not just physically, also mentally

Question 38

Social loafing

Answer 38

Also known as free riding. People exert less effort on a collective task than they would in a group taskMen are more likely than women to free ride

Question 39

Group polarization

Answer 39

Intensification of an initial tendency of individual group members brought by group discussion (attitudes and inclination already in place, becomes more intense).

Question 40

Faulty group decision making

Answer 40

Relies on overfocused and biased thinking. Occurs when group members reach premature conclusions in a misguided effort to achieve unanimity.

Question 41

Altruism

Answer 41

concern or acting to help others without any expectation of compensation or reciprocation.

Question 42

Relational aggression

Answer 42

snubbing, gossiping and excluding others as a means of venting frustration or anger

Question 43

Companionate love

Answer 43

high on intimacy and commitment but low on passion

Question 44

Consummate love

Answer 44

High on all three components

Question 45

Secure attachment

Answer 45

Relatively easy to become close to others and are comfortable depending on lover and being depended on

Question 46

Avoidant

Answer 46

somewhat uncomfortable being close to others and have difficulty trusting others and depending on them

Question 47

Social neuroscience

Answer 47

Combination of brain regions that operate together when people function socially. Is also known as social brain

Question 48

Orbitofrontal cortex

Answer 48

subregion of the prefrontal cortex. Social reasoning, reward evaluation, reading other people and eliciting emotional state.

Question 49

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Answer 49

subregion of the prefrontal cortex. Processes rewards and punishments (non-verbal social information)

Question 50

Insula

Answer 50

region of cortex beneath the frontal cortex. Empathy and in reading others. Activated when we observe others in physical or emotional pain

Question 51

Amygdala

Answer 51

control of emotions in the temporal lobe. Emotional facial expression of other people to pay particular attention to stimuli that may be unpredictable.