Social Psychology

Question 2

Attribution Theory

Answer 2

provides a framework to understand the reasons behind the actions of others
accuracy of assessment varies due to bias + other factors

Question 3

when interpreting actions of others, there are 2 basic attributions that can be made

Answer 3

dispositional/internal causes
situational/external causes.

Question 4

dispositional causes

Answer 4

result of personality traits and characteristics
they were late bc they don’t care

Question 5

situational causes

Answer 5

result of environmental factors outside of control
I was late because my car won’t start, I can’t find my keys, traffic

Question 6

flowchart of deciding which attribution

Answer 6

something within the person we observe = internal attribution = we make a dispositional attricutuin

caused by something outside the person we observe = external attribution = we make a situational attribution.

Question 7

Kelley’s covariation model

Answer 7

a single exposure isn’t enough to form accurate attributions, multiple observations of behaviour over time in multiple diff contexts

Question 8

3 factors that need consideration when making attributions

Answer 8

consistency, distinctiveness, consenus

Question 9

consistency

Answer 9

if a person acts in the same way in the same situation/context across time

Question 10

distinctiveness

Answer 10

whether the person behaves similarly across different situations/contexts

Question 11

consensus

Answer 11

extent to which an indv’s behaviour ressembles the behaviour of others.

Question 12

factors that contribute to internal attribution

Answer 12

high consistency
low distinctiveness
low consensus

Question 13

factors that contribute to external attributions

Answer 13

high consistency
high distinctiveness
high consensus

Question 14

fundamental attribution error

Answer 14

the tendency to attribute the behaviour to internal causes rather than external causes

Question 15

actor-observer bias

Answer 15

more likely to assign internal attribution to others but external attributions when explaining our own behaviour

due to limited info we have on their situations, we say they are acting like this bc that’s who they are.

Question 16

Self serving bias

Answer 16

when indv credit their success to internal causes and their failures to external causes.
to preserve self esteem

Question 17

false consensus effect

Answer 17

when we overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs.
people assume that the ideas and opinions they have are correct sound and are shared.

Question 18

impression formations

Answer 18

how we formulate pos. or neg. feelings and opinions about indv or groups.

we quickly access if we like or dislike the person

heavily influenced by info initially available

Question 19

first impression

Answer 19

most imp part of how you perceive others and how others perceive you
based on the primacy effect

tend to be enduring, whether + or -,
with neg. typically has more weight more than positive info. when formulating impressions. esp when neg. info is presented first.

Question 20

primacy effect

Answer 20

once an initial impression if formed,
dec amounts of attention are given to the following informations

the first impression gets cemented.

Question 21

confirmation bias

Answer 21

we are more likely to attend to and process facts that are consistent with initial impressions

if we dislike someone, well process info that is consistent with that impression
* pay attention to info that is consistent with ones beliefs and discard info that is not

Question 22

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 22

if you believe something to be true to have a high degree of certainty about an outcome, you may produce the expected results, w/o being aware of it.

being confident, feel good= more + attention

being confident = display positive characteristics + high esteem= inadvertently act in ways to bring expected results = people will like her nad want to talk to her.

Question 23

social norms

Answer 23

behaviours that vary across contexts, cultures and times

perscribed behaviours that vary across context. s
ex. cheering for rivals school when they score a goal = going against social norms

Question 24

individualistic societies

Answer 24

focus on indv gains, more than the betterment of the group

Question 25

collectivistic sociétés

Answer 25

benefit of the group supersedes that of the indv

Question 26

social scripts

Answer 26

learned behaviours that are expected across a variety of situations

Question 27

conformity

Answer 27

extent to which indv modify their behaviour to be consistent with the behaviours of others in the group

Question 28

factors infleiuce liklihood of conformity

Answer 28

size of grp inc and familiarity of the task decs. also depends on personal characteristcs if participant level of distress women agree to incorrect answers more than men people in collectivistics culture tend to conform more.

Question 29

groupthink

Answer 29

faulty decision making that occurs when hthe need for conformity and group cohesions are so high that any opposing/differing ideas and opines are discourages and excluded3

Question 30

3 basic components that contribute to poor decsision making

Answer 30

overestimation the group = thinking nothing can go wrong (illusion of invulnerability) and belief in the inherent morality of the group (no matter the decsision, it is the right one, we can't do no wrong) close-mindedness = ignores other viewpoints and objections, (collective rationalism) (stereotyped views) pressure for uniformity = self censorship, pressure on those who agree, illusions of unanimity

Question 31

characteristics that can be found in groupthink situations

Answer 31

illusion of invulnerability collective rationalism belief in inherent morality stereotyped views direct pressure on dissenters self censorpship illusion of unanitmyt

Question 32

bystander effect

Answer 32

a person in need of help is less likely to receive assistance as the number of onlookers/bystanders increase level of inaction of others inc as the number of bystanders inc help is more likely with fewer bystanders present

Question 33

lady in distress experiment

Answer 33

researcher asked participants a few questions, then left saying ill brb then tape played fro adj room of her falling and asking for help if alone = 70% helped if with another participant = 40% if 2 participants were friends = 70 if paired with an unconcerned and nonrespondive confederate = help dropped to 7%

Question 34

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 34

explains why there is an inverse relationship bn numbers of bystanders and whether help is received when multiple people are present, responsibility is spread out among all present not one single person is held accountable most bystanders think someone else will help, and none do.

Question 35

social norms in this context

Answer 35

when uncertain may look at the action of the group and imitate but that is assuming the group is in the right + don't take into account, other people may be looking for help from the group as well.

Question 36

pluralistic ignorance

Answer 36

when people fait to act bc they unwittingly rely on social cues from others to guide their behaviours without realizing that the others also face uncertainty failure to act bc relent on faulty scocial cues im uncertain so I look at what person B is doing, and there doing nothing, but only bc theyre also uncertain and looking at me doing nothing, so no one does anything

Question 37

stereotypes

Answer 37

are attitudes and opinions about people based on the group they are affiliated with we assume that all members of a group share identical traits sometime there is friction of truth behind a stereotype but applying it universally is wrong. categorizing people = faster social cognitive processing

Question 38

people can differr in

Answer 38

gender, ethnicity, age, sexual preference, body size and more characteristics

Question 39

heterogeneous group

Answer 39

when group member are diverse and posses a mix of diff characteristics everyone in the group is unique

Question 40

homogeneous

Answer 40

when members of a group are/perceives as highly similar

Question 41

stereotype threat

Answer 41

the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about your social group, which can actually hurt your performance in that area. self fulfilling prophecy

Question 42

prejudice

Answer 42

inherently negative assoc w hate and consist of negative attitudes directed at groups which share a similar characteristic ex. racism and bigotry, but can extend to gender, ethnicity, religion, country of origin, skin color, sexual preference, body size, etc. prejudicial attitudes are learned, from parents, peers, experiences and conditioning. relates to attitude

Question 43

discrimination

Answer 43

relates to action/behaviour now illegal to discriminate against a person/a group bc of a characteristic ex. gender, disability, age, race, religion, colour, country of origin

Question 44

why a certain grp are targets of prejudice and discrimination

Answer 44

in urban areas, minorities have high levels of prejudice and discrimination towards other minutes based on concept of scapegoat

Question 45

scapegoat

Answer 45

people can feel more empowered when they exert power over others who have less power than themselves so groups channeling their inner rage ant another minnoryt group with even less power

Question 46

realistic conflict theory

Answer 46

another explanation for hatred across minotieid there are few desirable jobs available so the competition for these limited resources creates conflicts

Question 47

how to reduce discrimination

Answer 47

for people of equal status to work towards a common foal

Question 48

in group favorism

Answer 48

the belief that the group a person belongs to is /perceives to be as superior to other groups

Question 49

mutual interdependence

Answer 49

need for indv of opposing groups to work together towards a common goal

Question 50

the reciprocity norm

Answer 50

reciprocal = give and take between two or more people if others help us, we should provide soothing in return people are happiest when they Geel that theres relations have equitable reciprocity also in costco ex. if you try a free sample, you may feel compelled to buy the product.