Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Question 1

Casual attribution

Answer 1

An inference about what caused a persons behavior

Question 2

Situational attributions

Answer 2

Attributions that explain someone’s behavior in terms of the circumstances rather than aspects of the person

Question 3

Dispositional attributions

Answer 3

Attributions that explain someone’s behavior in terms of factors internal to the person, such as traits or preferences

Question 4

Individualistic cultures

Answer 4

Cultures in which people are considered fundamentally independent and which value standing out by achieving private goals

Question 5

Collectivistic cultures

Answer 5

Cultures in which people are considered fundamentally interdependent and which emphasize obligations within ones family and immediate community

Question 6

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 6

The tendency to attribute behaviors to a persons internal qualities while underestimating situational influences

Question 7

Implicit theories of personality

Answer 7

Beliefs about what kind of behaviors are associated with particular traits and which traits usually go together; used to develop expectations about people’s behavior

Question 8

Stereotypes

Answer 8

Schemas that are often negative and are used to categorize complex groups of people

Question 9

Prejudice

Answer 9

A negative attitude towards another person based on that persons group membership

Question 10

Out-group homogeneity effect

Answer 10

The tendency for a member of a group (the in-group) to view members of another group (the out-group) as “all alike” or less varied than his or her own group

Question 11

Self fulfilling prophesies

Answer 11

Beliefs about how a person will behave that actually make the expected behavior more likely

Question 12

A fairly stable evaluation of something as good or bad that makes a person think, feel, or behave positively or negatively about some person, group or social issue.

Answer 12

Attitude

Question 13

The process involved in attitude change when someone carefully evaluates the evidence and the arguments

Answer 13

Central route to persuasion

Question 14

The process involved in attitude change when someone relies on superficial factors, such as the appearance or charisma of the person presenting the argument

Answer 14

Peripheral route to persuasion

Question 15

An uncomfortable inconsistency among ones actions, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings. People attempt to reduce it by making their actions, beliefs, attitudes or feelings more consistent with one another

Answer 15

Cognitive dissonance

Question 16

The theory that we know our own attitudes and feelings only by observing our own behaviors and deciding what probably caused them, just as we do when we try to understand others

Answer 16

Self-perception theory

Question 17

A change in behavior due to explicit or implicit social pressure

Answer 17

Conformity

Question 18

A reason for conformity based on people’s desires to be correct

Answer 18

Informational influence

Question 19

A reason for conformity based on people’s desire to be liked (or not appear foolish)

Answer 19

Normative influence

Question 20

A change in behavior in response to an instruction or command from another person

Answer 20

Obedience

Question 21

Thinking about the social world in ways that serve the emotional need, such as when people hold beliefs that help them feel less anxious

Answer 21

Motivated social cognition

Question 22

Thinking about a potential victim in ways that make him seem inhuman (as vermin, for example, or as a mere number): this view makes aggression towards the victim more likely and less troubling to the aggressor

Answer 22

Dehumanization of the victim

Question 23

A change in behavior in response to a request

Answer 23

Compliance

Question 24

The social standard that suggests that a favor must be repaid

Answer 24

Norm of reciprocity

Question 25

A sales method that starts with a modest offer, then improves on it. The improvement seems to require reciprocation, which often takes the form of purchasing the item

Answer 25

That’s-not-all technique

Question 26

Changes in a persons behavior due to another persons presence

Answer 26

Mere presence effect

Question 27

The tendency to perform simple or well-practiced tasks better in the presence of others than alone

Answer 27

Social facilitation

Question 28

The tendency to perform complex or difficult tasks more poorly in the presence of others

Answer 28

Social inhibition

Question 29

A pattern in which people working together in a task generate less total effort than they would have if they had each worked alone

Answer 29

Social loafing

Question 30

A state in which an individual in a group experiences a weakened sense of personal identity and diminished self-awareness

Answer 30

Deindividuation

Question 31

Philip Zimbardo’s study of the effects of roles on behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to play either prisoner or guard in a mock prison. The study was ended early because of the “guards” role-induced cruelty

Answer 31

Stanford prison experiment

Question 32

A pattern in group discussions in which each member’s attitudes become more extreme, even though the discussion draws attention to arguments that could have moderated the views

Answer 32

Group polarization

Question 33

A pattern in which a group appears mire wiling to take chances or to take an extreme stance than any individual members would have been in their own

Answer 33

Risky shift

Question 34

A pattern if thinking that occurs when a cohesive group minimizes or ignores members differences of opinion

Answer 34

Groupthink

Question 35

A type if misunderstanding that occurs when members of a group don’t realize that the other members share their perception (often, their uncertainty about how to react to a situation). As a result, each member wrongly interprets the others inaction as reflecting their better understanding of the situation

Answer 35

Pluralistic ignorance

Question 36

One reason people fail to help strangers in distress: the larger the group a person is in, the less likely he is to help, partly because no one in the group thinks it is up to him to act

Answer 36

Bystander effect

Question 37

Altruism

Answer 37

Helping behavior that does not benefit the helper

Question 38

The tendency to assume that people that have one good trait also gave other good traits

Answer 38

Halo effect

Question 39

The tendency of like to mate with like

Answer 39

Homogamy

Question 40

An emotional state characterized by idealization of the beloved, obsessive thoughts of this person, and turbulent feelings

Answer 40

Romantic love

Question 41

The intensification of romantic love that can occur when the couples parents oppose the relationship

Answer 41

Romeo-and-Juliette effect

Question 42

An emotional state characterized by the affection for those whose lives are deeply intertwined with ones own

Answer 42

Compassionate love