Chapter 13 - Social Psychology

Question 1

Attributions

Answer 1

judgments about the causes for our own behaviours and other people’s behaviours

Question 2

Personal/Internal Attributions

Answer 2

behaviour is caused by characteristics of the person

Question 3

Situational/External Attributions

Answer 3

behaviour is caused by aspects of the situation

Question 4

Actor-observer Bias

Answer 4

how we perceive our own behaviour and how other people perceive our behaviour may be different

Question 5

Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)

Answer 5

we view attributions for other’s behaviours as more personal; while viewing attributions for our own behaviours as more situational

Question 6

Self-serving Bias

Answer 6

tendency to attribute our successes to personal factors and attribute our failures to situational factors

Question 7

Judgments of others

Answer 7

research tends to show that there is a stronger tendency for FAE in individualistic culture

Question 8

Judgments of self

Answer 8

collectivistic cultures tend to take less credit for successful interactions and more responsibility to failures

Question 9

Primacy Effect

Answer 9

initial information that we get is more important when learning about another person

Question 10

Recency Effect

Answer 10

most recent information is given more weight

Question 11

When is the recency effect used most often?

Answer 11

when we are:

• asked to avoid making snap judgments
• asked to think about the information more critically
• made accountable for our judgments

Question 12

Attitude

Answer 12

a positive or negative evaluation of a person, object, or idea

Question 13

3 components of Attitudes

Answer 13

1. Affective = feelings and emotions towards an attitude object
2. Behavioural = tendency to act in a particular response to the attitude object
3. Cognitive = beliefs and ideas about an attitude object

Question 14

3 Attitude Dimensions

Answer 14

1. Attitude Strength = stronger attitudes are harder to change, can have strong influence on behaviour
2. Attitude Accessibility = how often we think about the attitude object, how quickly the attitude comes to mind, positively correlated with attitude strength
3. Attitude Ambivalence = hold both positive and negative attitudes toward the attitude object, harder to predict behaviour

Question 15

Kelley’s Experiment

Answer 15

• guest lecturer experiments
• Students were told that the guest lecturer was either “warm” or “cold”
• then exposed to lecturer for 20 minutes
• Students rated their impressions of the lecturer
• students who expected him to be warm gave him better ratings and participated more in the discussion/lecture

Question 16

LaPiere’s Experiment

Answer 16

• traveled with chinese couple, no restaurants turned them away
• sent survey to all restaurants visited to ask if they would serve chinese people
• over 90% said they would not even though they did

Question 17

Factors that influence the relation between attitudes and behaviours

Answer 17

1. dimensions of attitudes are not always taken into account
2. the way in which attitudes are measured
3. situational influences

Question 18

Cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 18

feel uncomfortable when:
- our behaviours are not inline with our attitudes (OR)
- our conditions are not consistent
people are motivation to reduce the uncomfortable feelings from dissonance

Question 19

Social influence

Answer 19

• when people’s own responses (behaviours, attitudes, judgements) are influenced by the action of others
• changes in beliefs or behaviours caused by real or imagined social pressure

Question 20

3 types of social influence

Answer 20

conformity, obedience, compliance

Question 21

2 levels of conformity

Answer 21

1. Private acceptance = changing public responses and private beliefs or attitudes
2. Public compliance = altering public responses, but not true private beliefs or attitudes

Question 22

Two reasons why people conform

Answer 22

Normative Influence = wanting to be liked
public compliance without private acceptance
- higher conformity when in people
Informational Influence = wanting to be right
- higher conformity when task is difficult
- higher conformity when more concerned with being right

Question 23

Obedience

Answer 23

form of compliance, people follow direction commands typically coming from someone in a position of authority

Question 24

Two criteria for satisfying the need for affiliation

Answer 24

1. frequent and pleasant interactions

2. temporarily stable interactions involving concern

Question 25

Why do we have this need to affiliate with others? (4)

Answer 25

1. positive stimulation 2. emotional support 3. attention 4. social comparisons

Question 26

3 factors that lead us to affiliate with others

Answer 26

1. Proximity 2. Similarity 3. Physical attractiveness

Question 27

Mere Exposure effect

Answer 27

suggests that the more we are expose to a stimulus, he more we tend to like the stimulus

Question 28

2 theories of increasing attraction

Answer 28

1. Self-discolure = disclosing personal information, increases emotional involvement, increases relationship satisfaction 2. Social exchange theory = rewards and costs are weighed to decide whether or not we want to continue with a relationship

Question 29

The three-component triangular theory of love (Sternberg)

Answer 29

1. Intimacy = feelings of closeness and connectedness that leads to experiences of warmth 2. Passion = drive that leads to romance, physical attraction, sexual consummation that leads to the experiences of passion 3. Commitment = (1) in the short-term it means the decision to love another and (2) in the long-term it means to make a commitment to maintain that love

Question 30

Prejudice

Answer 30

a negative attitude toward people based on heir membership in a group

Question 31

Discrimination

Answer 31

overt behaviour involves treating people fairly based on the group to which they belong

Question 32

Overt Prejudice

Answer 32

unfair treatment that is blatant

Question 33

Covert Prejudice

Answer 33

subtle, passive, either intentional or unintentional

Question 34

Realistic Conflict Theory

Answer 34

prejudice is promoted when groups compete for limited resources

Question 35

Self Identity Theory

Answer 35

- prejudice comes from our desire to enhance our self esteem, but our self esteem can also come from groups - associating with groups enhances our self esteem, but threats to our groups can threaten our self esteem

Question 36

The equal status contact principle (4)

Answer 36

1. continual close contact 2. equal status 3. work towards a common goal that requires cooperation 4. support by broader social norms

Question 37

4 different helping behaviours

Answer 37

1. casual helping (e.g. lending a pencil) 2. substantial person helping (e.g. giving a friend a ride) 3. emotional helping (e.g. providing emotional support) 4. emergency helping (e.g. offering help after an accident)

Question 38

Two norms relevant to prosocial behaviour

Answer 38

1. norm of reciprocity | 2. norm of social responsibility

Question 39

Empathy-altruism hypothesis

Answer 39

altruism exists when there is empathy

Question 40

Empathy

Answer 40

the ability to put oneself in the place of another and to share what that person is experiencing

Question 41

Negative state relief model

Answer 41

- high empathy can lead to feelings of distress if we know someone else is suffering - helping can help reduce our own stress - relieving our own distress is a self-focused goal and not altruism

Question 42

Kitty Genovese

Answer 42

stabbed, nobody helped

Question 43

Bystander Intervention - 5 step process

Answer 43

- notice an event? - interpret as an emergency? - assume responsibility for helping? - know how to help? - decide to help

Question 44

Some people are more likely to be held than others based on three factors

Answer 44

1. similarity 2. gender 3. perceived responsibility

Question 45

3 factors that increase prosocial behaviour

Answer 45

1. exposing individuals to prosocial modelling 2. developing feelings of empathy and affiliation with others 3. learning about factors that drive the bystander effect

Question 46

Factors that influence destructive obedience

Answer 46

- Distance of the victim - Closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure - Cog in a wheel - Personal characteristics