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Flashcards in Exam 1 Deck (69)
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1
Q

Most people we study are people that are and what is it called? *

A
  1. White
  2. Sophomores
  3. 19 years old
  4. Middle-class

Called “The Study of the College Sophomore

2
Q

Define Social Psych

A

the scientific study of the nature and causes of individual behaviors and cognition in social situations

3
Q

What is the difference between Social Psych and Sociology?

A

Sociology: focus on society and social institutions

Social Psych: study of individual and group dynamics

4
Q

Social Psych and Personality

A

Early Personality Psych: internal dynamics and individual differences

Social Psych: focus on social situations that affect common humanity

5
Q

What is the difference between the philosophical issues in social psych of Nature vs. Nurture?

A

Nature: heredity and genetic traits determine a persons behavior

Nurture: environment determines behavior

6
Q

What is the difference between the philosophical issues in social psych of Free Will vs. Determinism?

A

Free Will: individual alone has control over personal behavior

Determinism: belief that all events are shaped and governed by forces beyond control of individual

7
Q

What is the experimental method?

A

the objective and systematic method of research in any scientific analysis

  1. Hypothesis
  2. Sample size (n)
  3. Replication
8
Q

What are the goals of research in the experimental method and how do they do this?

A

determine if a variable influences some form of behavior

Two Basic Steps:

  1. vary the quantity and quality of the variable
  2. see if the variables had an impact on behavior
9
Q

What is the independent variable (IV)?

A

factor or variable being studied

10
Q

What is the dependent variable (DV)?

A

behavior being studied; involves some measure

11
Q

What is the goal of the correlational method?

A

to see if two (or more) variables are related by careful observation of both

correlation does not imply causation

12
Q

What are the advantages of a laboratory experiment?

A
  1. control of IV
  2. random assignment of participants
  3. simplify world (control behavior)
13
Q

What are the disadvantages of a laboratory experiment?

A
  1. low mundane realism
  2. low external validity
  3. demand characteristics
  4. experimenter expectations
  5. evaluation apprehension
14
Q

What is mundane realism?

A

degree to which the experiment resembles real-world events

15
Q

What is external validity?

A

degree of “generalizability” of the findings to other people

16
Q

What are demand characteristics?

A

cues that reveal the hypothesis under study

17
Q

What is evaluation apprehension?

A

participants concern about being observed during study

18
Q

What are the two types of field experiments?

A
  1. overt

2. covert

19
Q

What is an overt field experiment?

A

participants know they are being observed

20
Q

What is a covert field experiment?

A

participants are unaware of being observed

21
Q

What are the advantages of a field experiments?

A
  1. high external validity
  2. high mundane realism
  3. covert studies avoid evaluation apprehension and demand characteristics
22
Q

What are the disadvantages of field experiments?

A
  1. IV must be salient (noticeable)
  2. DV is often simple (behavior is either present of absent)
  3. practical problems = little control over the real world and unexpected events may destroy study
23
Q

What was the study done by Milgram (1963) and why is it controversial?

A

studied obedience to authority

soldiers and prisoners

violence and psychological damage

started the conversation on ethics in psychology

24
Q

What was the study done by Middlemist, Knowles & Matter (1976)?

A

invasion of personal space

25
Q

What was the study done by Croyle & Hunt (1991)?

A

anxiety study: reactions to medical test results

research participants were told they tested (+) for a (fictitious) enzyme deficiency

26
Q

What is the risk-benefit ratio?

A

ratio of risk to participants vs. benefit to society

27
Q

What was the old view on the risk-benefit ratio?

A

benefits will outweigh any costs

28
Q

What is the new view (1960’s) on the risk-benefit ratio?

A

humane concern for participants overrides any benefit to science

29
Q

What was done to ensure humane experiments?

A

guidelines established by American Psychology Association (APA) & National Institutes of Health (NIH)

30
Q

How does deception play a role in the problem of demand characteristics?

A

deception: research methods that conceal or mislead participants about “true” aspects of the study

  1. want to avoid demand characteristics
  2. may produce low self-esteem in participants
  3. safeguards against deception
31
Q

What are the safeguards against deception?

A
  1. informed consent
  2. debriefing
  3. human and animal research committees
32
Q

What is informed consent? *

A

get participants approval before the experiment (may produce demand characteristics)

33
Q

What is debriefing? *

A

full explanation of experiment (after the study is over)

34
Q

What is social perception?

A

process through which we seek to know and understand other persons

  1. verbal communication
  2. nonverbal communication
35
Q

What is nonverbal communication?

A

exchange of information based on facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and body movements

36
Q

What are the six basic facial emotions?

A
  1. happiness
  2. sadness
  3. surprise
  4. fear
  5. anger
  6. disgust
37
Q

What did Charles Darwin (1872) say about facial expressions? *

A
  1. facial expressions are universal and innate *
  2. human facial expressions evolved from animal emotions and expressions
  3. facial expressions have survival value
  4. insanity = primitive stage of emotional development
38
Q

What was the study done by Paul Eckman on facial expressions? *

A
  1. Hypothesis: facial expressions carry same meaning regardless of cultural context or language
  2. Eckman & Friesen (1975): emotional expressions in tribal people
  3. Mapping facial muscles
  4. Micro-Momentary Expressions (MME)
  5. “Telling Lies” (1985)
  6. Eckman & O’Sullivan (1991): lie detection with law enforcement personnel *
  7. MME analysis and clinical intervention
39
Q

How many muscles does the human face have?

A

a total of 44 muscles

40
Q

How many anatomical combinations in facial muscles did Eckman find?

A

10,000 anatomical combinations in facial muscles

41
Q

How long does the average expression last?

A

1 to 1.5 seconds

42
Q

What are Micro-Momentary Expressions (MME)?

A

brief, contradictory facial expression of emotion

43
Q

What is masking?

A

substitute one facial expression with another one (hiding true emotion with another expression)

44
Q

What is the percentage of the population that are natural liars?

A

about 5%

45
Q

What is facial deception?

A
  1. blinking and false smiles
  2. masking
  3. display rules: cultural rules that dictate the appropriate conditions for displaying emotions
46
Q

What was the study does by Eckmand & O’Sullivan (1991) on facial expressions? *

A
  1. lie detection with law enforcement personnel
  2. brought in agents from CIA, FBI, police, forensic psychiatrists, secret service, and students
  3. the one group that was better in catching lies: U.S. Secret Service (only group that could accurately detect liars)
47
Q

What is the development of facial expressions?

A
  1. Newborns: born with all but one facial muscle in operation (develops within first 3 years)
  2. Most infants smile shortly after birth
  3. Babies only 36 hours old can imitate happy, sad and surprised emotions
48
Q

What is body language (cue in non-verbal communication)?

A
  1. gestures, movements and postures
  2. different cultures have different gestures that mean different things
  3. emblems: body movements with a highly specific meaning in a given culture
49
Q

What is gazing and what does it mean?

A

high level of eye contact = sign of liking, friendliness and attention

50
Q

How does gazing play a role in job interviews?

A

people with high levels of eye contact received more positive ratings

51
Q

How to people react to prolonged gazing (starring)?

A
  1. common reaction = hostility or escape

2. starring may induce guilt - effective in persuasion

52
Q

What is the Affective Communication Test (ACT)?

A
  1. measures your level of expressiveness
  2. successful professionals score high on ACT especially if jobs involve interactions
  3. doctors score low
53
Q

How does gender play a role in the differences in non-verbal cues?

A
  1. females are superior to males in the social use of cues
  2. females are more effective at both reading and transmitting unspoken messages
  3. socialization: we talk more to girls, encourage boys to be more active
54
Q

What is social cognition?

A

the cognitive processes people use to interpret, analyze and remember social information (what we think about people at a later date)

55
Q

What is the attribution theory?

A

our need to attribute cause to things that happen in our lives

56
Q

What is the causal attribution theory?

A

process of explaining the causal nature of events

  1. personal attribution
  2. situational attribution
57
Q

What is personal attribution?

A

attribution based on internal characteristics (personality, talent, moods, effort)

58
Q

What is situational attribution?

A

attribution based on external factors (luck, government, religion)

59
Q

What idea did Julian Rotter create?

A

Locus Control

60
Q

What is Locus Control?

A

we have a need to know where our sense of control begins

61
Q

What is Locus of Control?

A

generalized beliefs about the control of one’s personal and situational behavior (and behavior of others)

  1. Internal LOC
  2. External LOC
62
Q

What is Internal Locus of Control (ILOC)?

A

individual assumes personal responsibility for life events

63
Q

What is External Locus of Control (ELOC)?

A

person accepts uncontrollable forces that determine life events

64
Q

What is the development of Locus of Control expectancies?

A
  1. people who have an ILOC report more happiness than ELOC
  2. ILOC related to high parental expectations and autonomy in childhood
  3. ELOC related to restricted, hostile upbringings
65
Q

What is the relationship between LOC and achievement?

A
  1. ILOC –> higher levels of education and GPA

2. ELOC –> higher dropout rates

66
Q

As we age, are we more likely to drift towards ILOC or ELOC? *

A
  1. aging is associated with an increase in ILOC (exception: terminal illness)
  2. trauma may produce shift to ELOC
67
Q

What is Fundamental Attribution Error/Bias (FAE)? *

A
  1. tendency to overestimate personality/dispositional factors & ignore situational factors
  2. tendency to assume that someone’s behavior is due to their personality (when it might just be the situation)
  3. they are who they are because of their behaviors
68
Q

What is the Actor-Observer Difference?

A

tendency to attribute our behavior to situational causes &/but the behavior of others to personality/dispositional causes

69
Q

What is the False-Consensus Effect?

A
  1. tendency to overestimate commonality of one’s opinions, beliefs, attributions & behaviors (tend to think everyone agrees with us)
  2. people ignore consensus info in favor of self-generated attributions –> believe their behavior is “typical”