Social Psychology Flashcards
(113 cards)
1
Q
What is social psychology?
A
- Study of how people influence others’ behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes
- We tend to believe only others are vulnerable to social influence but not ourselves
2
Q
On average, how many people can one person maintain interpersonal connections with?
A
• Robin Dunbar
o Suggested 150 is the average size of social group humans are capable of forming interpersonal connections with
• Research suggests it’s based on the size of our cortex compared with brain size
o Animals with smaller ratios have smaller groups
3
Q
What is the need to belong theory?
A
• Need to belong theory
o Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary
o We have biological need for interpersonal connections
o Negative psychological and physical effects if we cannot
• Even threat of social isolation leads to self-destructive behaviour
4
Q
Describe the interaction between evolution and social behaviour. When does it become maladaptive?
A
• Social behaviour naturally selected because it has served us well over time
o Only backfires occasionally
• Social influences becomes maladaptive only when they are blind or unquestioning
• When we accept social influence without evaluating critically, we are at the mercy of others
5
Q
What is social contagion and what are some examples of irrational behaviours or beliefs held because of this?
A
Social Contagion
• Social behaviour is often contagious
• We look to others in ambiguous situations to figure out what we believe
• Often works, but if others are thinking or acting irrationally, we may do the same
Mass Hysteria
• Outbreak of irrational behaviour that is spread by social contagion
• Can lead to collective delusions
Urban Legends
• False stories that have been repeated so many times that people believe them to be true
• Often oversimplified through retelling to make for a better story
6
Q
What is attribution?
A
o The process of assigning causes to behavior
o Can be internal or external causes to the person
7
Q
What are dispositional influences?
A
o Enduring characteristics such as personalities traits, attitudes, etc.
8
Q
What is the fundamental attribution error? What cultures are less likely to be affected?
A
o Tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people’s behaviour
o Tendency to underestimate the impact of social influences on other’s behaviour
o We only make this error with judging others behaviour, not our own
o Less likely to make this error if we have been in their shoes before
• Japanese and Chinese are less likely to be affected
9
Q
What is conformity?
A
• Tendency of people to alter their behaviour as a result of group pressure
10
Q
What were the Asch studies on conformity?
A
• Solomon Asch, 1955
• Used confederates
o Agents of the researcher disguised as a participant
• Used line trials with 1 participant and 7 confederates
• About 75% of people identified the incorrect answer to conform with the incorrect answer given by the confederates
• Participants reported being confused and distressed because their own perceptions did not match other perceptions
11
Q
What were some influences to social influences on conformity that were noted during the Asch studies?
A
Unanimity
• If confederates all gave wrong answer, participant more likely to conform
• If 1 confederate gave a correct response, conformity decreased
Difference in Wrong Answer
• If confederate gave a different answer than the others, even he gave another wrong answer, conformity decreased
Group Size
• Size only mattered to 5 or 6 in the group, after that, size didn’t matter
12
Q
What do imaging studies show us about conforming behaviours?
A
• Conforming behavior associated with activity of amygdala, triggering anxiety response
• Occipital and parietal lobes also engaged
o May indicate change in perception
o May indicate doubt and rechecking initial perception
13
Q
What are some individual differences that can increase or decrease conformity?
A
- Decreased self esteem leads to increase in conformity
- Asians have increased conformity vs Americans
- Female conformity decreased with female experimenters but increased with male experimenters
14
Q
What is deindividuation?
A
• Tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behaviour when they are stripped of their usual identities
• Most prominent factors are
o Feeling of anonymity
o Lack of individual responsibility
• Makes us more vulnerable to social influences
• Impersonal communications (i.e., text), wearing masks, etc. contributes to anonymity
15
Q
Briefly describe the Stanford prison study?
A
- Philip Zimbardo
- Volunteers for prison study, randomly assigned to guards or inmates
- Guards instructed to only refer to inmates by numbers
- Prisoners arrested by real police, stripped, and held in cells
- Guards became extremely sadistic
- Test ended 8 days early
- An attempt to replicate failed
16
Q
Describe the effects of deindividuation with Abu Ghraib
A
- Guards were US soldiers
- Guards disturbingly similar to Sandford
- Dehumanization due to situation may have contributed
- Many guards in same circumstances did not abuse prisoners
- Individual differences play a role
- Deindividuation doesn’t make us bad; for good or bad, it makes us behave as a member of a group than as an individual
17
Q
Describe mob psychology basics
A
- Actions of people in crowds depend largely on whether others are acting prosocially or antisocially
- Vast majority of large crowds results in no violence
- Some crows may generate prosocial behaviour like helping during disasters
18
Q
What is groupthink?
A
- Emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking
- Groups can make good decisions if group members are free to contribute opinions not swayed by the group
- Poor decisions made when people do not make decisions independent of others
- Groups tend to rely on common knowledge rather than unique knowledge
19
Q
When does groupthink really become an issue? What was a real world example of this?
A
- Not speaking up when someone knows there is an issue
* Challenger explosion, knew it would fail if frozen
20
Q
What are some symptoms of groupthink?
A
- Invulnerability – we can’t fail
- Unanimity – obviously we all agree
- Morality – we know we are right
- Conformity pressure – don’t rock the boat
- Stereotyping out-group – they’re all morons
- Self-censorship – don’t say anything even though the idea is bad
- Mind guards – self appointed individual who stifle disagreement
21
Q
What are some solutions for groupthink?
A
- Have a devil’s advocate
- Independent experts
- Encourage discourse
22
Q
What is a cult and how do they promote groupthink?
A
• Cult
o Group of people who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause
• May be dangerous
• Promote groupthink by
o Pervasive leader who fosters loyalty
o Disconnecting group members from the outside world
o Discouraging questioning the groups assumptions
o Training practices that gradually indoctrinate members
• Leaders often suffer mental illness but followers often psychologically normal
• Controversy about existence of brainwashing
23
Q
What is the inoculation effect?
A
- Approach to convincing people to change their mind about something by first introducing reasons why their perspective might be correct and then debunking those reasons
- Works like a vaccine by giving them a small dose activating the bodies natural defences
24
Q
What is obedience?
A
- Adherence to instructions from those of higher authority
* Becomes an issue when people stop asking why
25
Who was Stanley Milgrin and what test did he develop?
• Student of Solomon Asch
• Wanted to know how holocaust could have occurred
• Developed study about teacher shocking the learner
o Confederates played the learner
o Not actually shocked, just acting the part
26
What were the general themes found in Stanley Milgrin's test about obedience?
* The greater the psychological distance between teacher (participant) and experimenter, the less the obedience
* The greater the psychological distance between teacher and learner, the more the obedience
27
What are some individual differences caused people to be more or less obedient in Stanley Milgrims experiment?
* Higher morality scores led to an increase in defiance
* Authoritarianism personality trait more likely to comply
* No sex differences
* Rates in Americans similar to other countries
28
What did we learn from Stanley Milgrims test about obedience?
* Authority figures are greater influence than imagined
| * Most underestimate situational influences on behaviour
29
What are the prevailing thoughts regarding not helping in an emergency situation?
• Original thoughts were of bystander apathy
• John Darley and Bibb Latane
o Suspected it was due to phycological paralysis
They want to help but find themselves frozen
o Believed the presence of others make people less likely to help, not more
• Research shows we are more likely to help if we are alone than if we are in a group
• Two major factors
o Pluralistic ignorance
o Diffusion of responsibility
30
What is pluralistic ignorance as it relates to bystander non-intervention?
* Error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do
* If we see that no one else thinks this is an emergency, we assume it’s just us, so it must not actually be an emergency
31
What is diffusion or responsibility as it relates to bystander non-intervention?
* Reduction in feelings of personal responsibility for negative consequences of not helping in the presence of others
* It’s not MY fault idea
32
What is social loafing?
* Phenomenon whereby individuals become less productive in groups
* People in individualism countries more prone than collectivist countries
* Best cure is to ensure each person in the group is identifiable
33
What is altruism?
* Helping others for unselfish reasons
| * Help others not because it makes us feel good, but just because it will help someone else and we have empathy for them
34
What are situational influences on altruism?
* More likely to help if they cannot easily leave the situation
* Characteristics of the victim play a role
* Being in a good mood increases likelihood of helping
* Exposure to altruistic role models
* More likely to help if we are not in a hurry
35
What is the enlightenment effect as it pertains to altruism and bystander non-intervention?
* Learning about psychological research can changes real-world behaviour for the better
* Learning about bystander non-intervention makes one more likely to help
36
What are individual differences as it relates to prosocial behaviour and altruism?
* Those less concerned with approval and are less traditional are more likely to help
* Extroverts more likely to help than introverts
* Emergency workers more likely to help even when off duty
* Men more likely to help women, especially if they are attractive
* Women less likely to help if physical or social risk is involved
37
What is aggression?
• Behaviour intended to harm others, either verbally or physically
38
What are situational influences of aggression?
* Interpersonal provocation
* Frustration
* Media influences
* Aggressive cues such as weapons being present
* Arousal of our autonomic nervous system
* Alcohol and other drugs may lower inhibitions to violent behaviour
* Temperature (increased temperatures related to increase in violence)
39
What are some individual differences as it relates to aggression?
• About 5% of people account for half or more of all crimes
• Personality traits related to higher aggression
o High levels of negative emotions
o Impulsivity
o Lack of closeness to others
• Males more violent than females
o May be due to higher testosterone levels
o Only related to direct aggression
• Relational aggression
o Form of indirect aggression involving spreading rumours, gossiping, and nonverbal putdowns for the purpose of social manipulation
o More common in females
o Suggests women are just as aggressive as males
• Cultural differences
o Violent crime less prevalent among Asians than Caucasians
o Culture of honour
Social norm of defending your reputation
Prevalent in southern US
40
How do attitudes and behaviour relate to each other?
* Only moderate correlation between attitude and behaviour
* Attitudes that come easily to mind tend to be strongly predictive of behaviour
* Attitudes more predictive if they are a long standing and firmly held
41
What is an attitude?
• Belief that includes an emotional component (how we feel about something)
42
What is a belief?
• Opinion based regarding factual evidence
43
What is the recognition heuristic?
* More likely to believe something we’ve heard many times
| * Can fall prey to “it’s too good to be true”
44
What is cognitive dissonance?
o Unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or beliefs
45
What is the cognitive dissonance theory?
* Leon Festinger
| * Alter our attitudes because we experience cognitive dissonance between two or more conflicting thoughts
46
What is the cognitive dissonance test?
• Test run with having to explain to the next participant that the super boring task you just did was in fact very interesting
o Those offered $20 to do so could tell themselves they were lying for good reason (the money)
o Those offered $1 to do so suffered cognitive dissonance, so they changed their attitude about how fun the task was to resolve the conflict
47
What are some alternatives to the cognitive dissonance theory?
Alternatives to Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Only conflicts challenging views of who we are cause cognitive dissonance
• Answer may be a combination of multiple explanations
Self-Perception Theory
• Theory that we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviours
Impression Management Theory
• Theory that we don’t really change our attitudes, but report that we have so that our behaviours appear consistent with our attitudes
48
What are the 2 models of persuasion?
Central Route
• Focus on informational content of argument
• Carefully consider information
• Attitudes acquired this way tend to be strongly held and relatively enduring
Peripheral Route
• Use snap judgements
• Focus on surface aspect of arguments
• Most likely occur when we can’t look into it further
• Weaker and less reliable attitudes formed but affect short-term choices
49
What are some popular persuasion techniques?
• Focus on the peripheral route of persuasion
Foot-in-the-Door Technique
• Makes small request before making a larger one
• May feel the need to justify their initial commitment due to cognitive dissonance
Door-in-the-Face Technique
• Makes an unreasonably large request before making the small request we’re hoping to have granted
• If request is too outrageous, method backfires
Lowball Technique
• Seller shows low price and then shows all the add-ons they can have, further increasing the price, sometimes way over what the person would have paid
Messenger Characteristics
• More likely to buy if
o Someone famous or attractive is in the commercial
o Believe source has high credibility
• Implicit egotism effect
o More likely to be persuaded if we believe they resemble us
50
How do people use persuasion techniques to market psuedoscience?
```
• Creation of phantom goal
o Capitalize on desire to accomplish unrealistic objective
• Vivid testimonials
• Manufacturing source credibility
o Using “experts”
• Scarcity heuristic
o Its rare so it must be valuable
• Consensus heuristic
o If most people believe it works, is must work
• The natural commonplace
o What’s natural is good
• Goodness-within commonplace
o Belief we have mystical side that western medicine neglects
```
51
What are sterotypes?
* Belief, positive or negative, about the characteristics of members of a group that is applied generally to most members of the group
* Work as a schema to help process information about a large group of people
* May be only a little true or largely accurate
* Building blocks of prejudice
* Once made, hard to break out of
52
How does the illusory correlation interact with stereotypes?
* Erroneous association between minority group and a characteristic
* Massive overgeneralizations
53
What is the ultimate attribution error?
* Assumption that behaviours among individual members of a group are due to their internal dispositions
* Contributing negative behaviour of an entire group on their disposition (race, sex etc.)
* Often linked to attributing positive behaviours of disliked group to luck
* Leads us to underestimate the impact of situational factors of people’s behaviour
54
Describe prejudice?
• Drawing negative conclusions about a person, group of people, or situation prior to evaluating the evidence
• Means to pre-judge
• Prejudiced people do not try to resist stereotypes about minority groups
o Neuroimaging supports that we all have stereotypes, nonprejudiced people just fight them
55
What is adaptive conservation as it relates to prejudice?
* Evolutionary principle that creates a predisposition toward distrusting anything or anyone unfamiliar or different
* People may have deep rooted tendency towards prejudice
56
What is in-group bias?
* Tendency to favour individuals within our group over those from outside our group
* Imaging shows we have more empathy for in-group people than out-group people
57
What is out-group homogeneity?
* Bias that out-group people are all highly similar
| * Allows us to attribute negative characteristic to the entire group so we don’t need to get to know them
58
What is descrimination?
• Negative behaviour toward members of out-groups
59
What are some of the consequences to discrimination?
* Held back to due sex or race
* Can negatively impact performance during interviews
* Even subtle behaviours negatively affect the quality if interpersonal interactions
60
What is a test where discrimination was created?
• The blue/eyed brown eyed experiment in the classroom
61
What is the scapegoat hypothesis?
* Claim that prejudice arises from a need to blame other groups for our misfortunes
* Can also stem from competition over scarce resources
62
What is the just-world hypothesis?
* Claim that our attributions and behaviours are shaped by a deep-seated assumption that the world is fair and all things happen for a reason
* Leads to prejudice against people that are already in a disadvantaged situation
* Can result in victim blaming
63
How may conformity affect prejudice?
• Prejudice may stem from wanting to fit in with social norms
64
What are individual differences that play a role in prejudice?
• Authoritarian personalities and people with a need to put people into distinct categories more likely to have high levels of prejudice against many groups
• Extrinsic religiosity
o Use religion for personal gain or social status
o Tend to have high levels of prejudice
• Intrinsic religiosity
o Deeply religious and it’s part of who they are
o Equal or lower levels or prejudice than nonreligious people
65
What is explicit prejudice?
* Prejudice we’re aware of regarding the characteristics of an out-group
* Interracial prejudice of this sort has declined over the past 4 decades
66
What is implicit prejudice?
* Prejudice we’re unaware of regarding the characteristics of an out-group
* Interracial prejudice of this sort still alive and well
67
What is the Implicit Association Test (IAT)?
* Can show preference for skin colour
* Uses good and bad words with light and dark-skinned images
* No significant correlation with explicit measures of prejudice
* Unknown how well it correlates to real world prejudice
68
What are some ways we can combat prejudice?
• Encourage working together to accomplish a higher goal
• Jigsaw classroom
o Educational approach designed to minimize prejudice by requiring all children to make independent contributions to a shared project
69
At a crowded park Kayla sees an old man clutching his heart and stumbling. If Kayla does nothing because she assumes that someone else will help the old man, then she is experiencing the phenomenon known as
diffusion of responsibility.
70
Which of the following should increase obedience in an experiment like Milgram’s shock experiments?
a) Having the experimenter stand next to the participant.
b) Having the experimenter send instructions by telephone or email.
c) Having participants with low levels of authoritarianism.
d) Having a second researcher present, who disagrees with the first researcher.
A
71
All of the following are symptoms of groupthink EXCEPT
a) openness to differing opinions.
b) feeling that the group is invulnerable.
c) perceiving that everyone in the group shares the same opinion.
d) the belief that the group is superior.
A
72
You are in the market for a new car. You go from dealer to dealer and find they all follow the same procedure: Every salesperson offers you a soda and asks you to take a test drive. Which psychological technique is behind the offer of the soda and the test drive?
The foot-in-the-door technique
73
As the number of people present during an emergency increases, the likelihood that any one individual will help ____________.
decreases
74
Which of the following features of a culture should lead to the highest level of conformity?
a) collectivism
b) individualism
c) egalitarian ideals
d) traditional ideals
A
75
Drawing conclusions about a person, group of people, or situation prior to evaluating the evidence is known as
prejudice
76
Being part of a large crowd that stampedes into a store for a massive Boxing Day Sale would be an example of
deindividuation.
77
Examples such as UFO sightings, and urban legends demonstrate how _________________ can lead to mass hysteria and collective delusions.
social contagion
78
In which of the following scenarios, based on the Asch studies of conformity, would you be most likely to conform by giving the same response as the confederates?
a) Twelve confederates give the same wrong answer and one confederate provides the correct response.
b) Eight confederates give the same wrong answer and one provides a different incorrect response.
c) Four confederates give the same wrong answer and all of the responses are the same.
d) Two confederates give the same wrong answer and one provides another incorrect answer.
C
79
What is the correct definition of cognitive dissonance?
A state of tension that occurs when a person’s behaviour does not correspond to their attitude
80
Which of the following is associated with strong political conservatism?
a) greater tolerance of uncertainty
b) more fear
c) extraversion
d) agreeableness
B
81
Ralph, a white student who grew up in Alberta, is about to enter the university on an athletic scholarship. He assumes that many of his teammates will be black and also assumes that they will dislike him and ostracize him. Ralph’s attitude is best described as an example of______.
Prejudice
82
There are cultural influences on vulnerability to the fundamental attribution error. Compared to North American participants, which of the following is more likely among Chinese participants in studies of attribution?
a) greater emphasis on internal factors to explain behaviour
b) more conformity and obedience
c) more guilt associated with their own responses
d) greater emphasis on external factors to explain behaviour
D
83
High levels of which personality trait has been associated with increased obedience in Milgram’s shock experiments?
Authoritarianism
84
Which personality trait is associated with the lowest level of prejudice?
Intrinsic religiosity
85
Factors like the recognition heuristic and the attractiveness of a speaker can affect how persuasive an argument can be. Which type of processing is most affected by these sorts of factors?
Peripheral route
86
When Sam went looking for a new car, he met a beautiful saleswoman who described the beauty of the car and the flashiness, and how good Sam would look driving it instead of the poor gas mileage, the exorbitant price, and poor road performance. Sam made a snap decision to buy the car from the persuasive saleswoman. Sam was using which alternative pathway in making a decision?
The peripheral route
87
You get on an elevator. Everyone is facing to the right. You turn and also face to the right. This is an example of
conformity
88
Which of the following statements is true about brainstorming?
a) More heads are better than one.
b) Brainstorming groups come up with better ideas than individuals.
c) Group brainstorming generally results in ideas that are less creative than does individual brainstorming.
d) Individual brainstorming often fails to produce any original ideas.
C
89
Helping others for unselfish reasons is called
altruism.
90
________ theory proposes that we don't actually change our attitudes but that we report that we have done so to make our behaviours appear consistent with our attitudes.
Impression management
91
According to Dunbar’s research about the size of human social groups, what is the approximate number of people that each of us knows reasonably well?
150.
92
After a group of gang members learned that their friend had died in a seemingly random accident, several of the friends started blaming a rival gang for the death. Even though there was no evidence whatsoever that the death had been intentional, the more the friends talked the more passionate they became in their belief that an act of revenge was necessary. What concept from social psychology may contribute to an act of violent revenge in this case?
Groupthink
93
Which theory proposes that we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviours?
Self-perception
94
Which of the following reduces social loafing for group projects?
a) Have the group brainstorm ideas for the project together.
b) Allow students to choose their own groups for a project.
c) Ensure that individual contributions can be identified and evaluated
d) Emphasize that everyone will get the same grade for the final product.
C
95
Miranda received a phone call from a telemarketer for a local charity. The telemarketer asked for a $1000 donation. When Miranda refused, the telemarketer then asked for $25 to which Miranda agreed. This is an example of
the door-in-the-face technique.
96
Unlike most species where males have higher levels of aggression, among spotted hyenas the females are the most physically aggressive members of a group. What is associated with this sex difference?
high levels of testosterone
97
What process describes the use of social influence to cause other people to change their attitudes and behaviour?
Persuasion
98
According to research on the fundamental attribution error, we are more likely to attribute our own behaviour to
situational factors.
99
The mental shortcut that helps a person to make typically accurate snap decisions is called
a heuristic.
100
David just found out that his new coworker is also named David, so he jokes that the new guy must be really smart and capable just based on his name! What is consistent with David’s reaction?
implicit egotism
101
The finding that we're more positively predisposed toward people, places, or things that resemble us is called
the implicit egotism effect.
102
A person asks you if you would volunteer to counsel delinquent youths at a detention centre for two years. When you refuse, she asks you if you could supervise these youths during a trip to the zoo. She is using the ______ technique.
door-in-the-face
103
Some critics of the Implicit Association Test argue that this test is really measuring _________________ rather than unconscious racial attitudes.
our awareness of stereotypes
104
Which personality trait has been associated with an increased proneness to violence?
a) psychological dependence
b) authoritarianism
c) behavioural rigidity
d) impulsivity
D
105
What term is used for false stories that are surprising but plausible, spread through social contagion, and tend to elicit strong negative emotions?
urban legends
106
What term is used for behaviours that are designed to manipulate others, including gossip, social exclusion, and spreading rumours?
relational aggression
107
Cults are to _______________ as riots are to _______________.
a) deindividuation; groupthink
b) obedience; conformity
c) groupthink; deindividuation
d) conformity; social loafing
C
108
In Festinger’s studies of cognitive dissonance, some participants claimed to enjoy the boring task they were asked to do and some participants indicated that they found the task boring. What independent variable differed between the groups, to cause this difference in attitude?
a) The ‘bored’ participants were not paid for the task.
b) The ‘bored’ participants were well-paid for the task.
c) The ‘bored’ participants had personality traits that made them resistant to the manipulation.
d) The ‘bored’ participants had personality traits that made them become bored more quickly.
B
109
Ava came running into the classroom just as the test was starting. She tripped over someone’s backpack as she tried to take her seat, and that caused a lot of noise and disruption. Ava was late because her bus broke down and she made the decision to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to school, making it just in time. She was actually pretty proud of herself for making it, despite that setback. As she got settled into her seat, she was feeling pretty relieved. She looked up at her professor and smiled, but her professor scowled back at her in return. Ava thought “Wow. Somebody is in a bad mood today.” Ava had no idea that her stumbling had interrupted her professor just as he was giving instructions for the test, and that the rest of the students were agitated by the interruption. After the exam was over, Ava turned her test in to her professor and he was rather abrupt to her. Ava decided that professors just don’t have much personality, and she headed out the door.
When Ava decides that ‘professors just don’t have much personality’, which term describes her attribution?
Ultimate attribution error
110
Ava came running into the classroom just as the test was starting. She tripped over someone’s backpack as she tried to take her seat, and that caused a lot of noise and disruption. Ava was late because her bus broke down and she made the decision to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to school, making it just in time. She was actually pretty proud of herself for making it, despite that setback. As she got settled into her seat, she was feeling pretty relieved. She looked up at her professor and smiled, but her professor scowled back at her in return. Ava thought “Wow. Somebody is in a bad mood today.” Ava had no idea that her stumbling had interrupted her professor just as he was giving instructions for the test, and that the rest of the students were agitated by the interruption. After the exam was over, Ava turned her test in to her professor and he was rather abrupt to her. Ava decided that professors just don’t have much personality, and she headed out the door.
When Ava’s professor makes an attribution about Ava’s lateness, which of the following is most likely?
a) She is disorganized and inconsiderate
b) She must have had some sort of delay
c) That he must not have been clear enough about the time
d) That the clock must be off
A
111
Ava came running into the classroom just as the test was starting. She tripped over someone’s backpack as she tried to take her seat, and that caused a lot of noise and disruption. Ava was late because her bus broke down and she made the decision to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to school, making it just in time. She was actually pretty proud of herself for making it, despite that setback. As she got settled into her seat, she was feeling pretty relieved. She looked up at her professor and smiled, but her professor scowled back at her in return. Ava thought “Wow. Somebody is in a bad mood today.” Ava had no idea that her stumbling had interrupted her professor just as he was giving instructions for the test, and that the rest of the students were agitated by the interruption. After the exam was over, Ava turned her test in to her professor and he was rather abrupt to her. Ava decided that professors just don’t have much personality, and she headed out the door.
Which term is used for Ava’s attribution that the professor must be in a bad mood?
Fundamental attribution error
112
Ava came running into the classroom just as the test was starting. She tripped over someone’s backpack as she tried to take her seat, and that caused a lot of noise and disruption. Ava was late because her bus broke down and she made the decision to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to school, making it just in time. She was actually pretty proud of herself for making it, despite that setback. As she got settled into her seat, she was feeling pretty relieved. She looked up at her professor and smiled, but her professor scowled back at her in return. Ava thought “Wow. Somebody is in a bad mood today.” Ava had no idea that her stumbling had interrupted her professor just as he was giving instructions for the test, and that the rest of the students were agitated by the interruption. After the exam was over, Ava turned her test in to her professor and he was rather abrupt to her. Ava decided that professors just don’t have much personality, and she headed out the door.
If Ava expects all future professors to be similarly abrupt or scowling, then which term represents this expectation?
Prejudice
113
Ava came running into the classroom just as the test was starting. She tripped over someone’s backpack as she tried to take her seat, and that caused a lot of noise and disruption. Ava was late because her bus broke down and she made the decision to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way to school, making it just in time. She was actually pretty proud of herself for making it, despite that setback. As she got settled into her seat, she was feeling pretty relieved. She looked up at her professor and smiled, but her professor scowled back at her in return. Ava thought “Wow. Somebody is in a bad mood today.” Ava had no idea that her stumbling had interrupted her professor just as he was giving instructions for the test, and that the rest of the students were agitated by the interruption. After the exam was over, Ava turned her test in to her professor and he was rather abrupt to her. Ava decided that professors just don’t have much personality, and she headed out the door.
If Ava learned about these social psychological processes in another class, which term represents the beneficial effects associated with knowing about our biases?
Enlightenment effect
