Social Psychology Midterm

Question 1

What Is Social Psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people

Social psychology is also an experiment-based science

Question 2

Social Psychology Compared with Sociology

Answer 2

Both share an interest in situational and societal influences on behaviour.

They differ in their level of analysis.
- Social Psychology studies individuals (Ex: risk of job loss and tendency to help the next-door neighbour).
- Sociology examines broad societal factors (and, usually, how such factors affect groups like countries, cultures and cities).

Question 3

What are some human nature “universals”?

Answer 3

Thinking about how we are perceived, family dynamics, emotions, and sexual jealousy

Question 4

The Power of the Situation

Answer 4

The social environment has a powerful influence on human behaviour.

However, people often underestimate the impact of their situation and how it affects their behaviour.

Ex: victim blaming, such as “Why didn’t you leave?” You deserved it. We blame the victim because we overestimate that it is something about the victim.

Question 5

What is Attribution

Answer 5

Explaining the causes of our own and others’ behaviour.

Question 6

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 6

is that we tend to overestimate the role of stable internal dispositional causes of others’ behaviour

Ex: if you see someone making a weird face, you assume something about them, like ”they are a jerk”

Question 7

The Actor-Observer Effect

Answer 7

We attribute outcomes as due to stable internal causes when it’s someone else, but when it’s us, we blame the circumstances.v

Question 8

Self-Serving Bias

Answer 8

we attribute our positive outcomes to internal causes, but negative outcomes to circumstances.

Question 9

What are the sources of bias in attribution? Why would we show these biases?

Answer 9

Fundamental Attribution Error
The Actor-Observer Effect
Self-Serving Bias

We want to feel good about ourselves, you want to feel better than others

Question 10

Construal

Answer 10

How people perceive, comprehend, and interpret their social world.
Construals are subjective interpretations of social phenomena.

Question 11

Basic Human Motives (MAIN THEMES)

Answer 11

The need to be accurate about ourselves and our social world

The need to feel good about ourselves

Question 12

The Self-Esteem Approach

Answer 12

Self-esteem is an evaluation of one’s self-worth.

Most people need to maintain a positive view of themselves.

We may sacrifice the need to be accurate to protect our self-esteem.

Question 13

Self-Justification

Answer 13

We may alter our recollections of past actions about which we are unhappy, upset, or ashamed, in order to feel good about our past actions and decisions.

Question 14

Social Cognition

Answer 14

Refers to how people think about themselves and their social world.

How people select, interpret, remember, and use social information.

Question 15

The Social Cognition Approach

Answer 15

The incorporation of human cognitive abilities into theories of social behaviour.

E.g., reasoning abilities, decision-making, judgments about others, explanations of others’ behaviour, etc.

Question 16

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 16

Someone’s expectations of something affect that person’s idea of you.
ex: If a prof tells another prof that a certain student is very smart, that prof will give that person a good mark or view their work as good

Question 17

Hindsight Bias

Answer 17

The tendency for people to overestimate how well they could have predicted an outcome (past event or research finding), after it has already occurred.

Question 18

Formulating Hypotheses & Theories

Answer 18

They develop a theory, test specific hypotheses derived from that theory, and, based on the results, revise the theory and formulate new hypotheses

A theory is an organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena. A good theory leads to…

A hypothesis is a testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables.

Question 19

Operational Definition

Answer 19

The precise specification of how variables are measured or manipulated (turned into numbers)

Question 20

Research Design Types

Answer 20

Observational method
Correlational method
Experimental method

Question 21

The Observational Method

Answer 21

A technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour.

Question Answered: What is the nature of the phenomenon

Question 22

The Correlational Method

Answer 22

The technique whereby researchers systematically measure two or more variables and assess the relationship between them.

Allows the computation of the degree to which one variable can be predicted by the other

Positive correlations indicate that an increase in one variable (x) is associated with an increase in the other (y).
Negative correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other.

Question Answered: What is the relation between variable X and Y

Question 23

The Experimental Method

Answer 23

The only way to determine causation is through experimentation.

The researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical, except for the independent variable(s).

Question 24

Independent vs Dependent Variable

Answer 24

The independent variable is the variable the researcher changes or varies to see if it affects some other variable.
The dependent variable is the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable

Question 25

Random assignment

Answer 25

Random assignment to conditions is the process whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment.

Question 26

Psychological Realism

Answer 26

Having the experiment trigger the same perceptions, thoughts, and decision-making as would occur in everyday life.

Question 27

Generalizability

Answer 27

is the extent to which we can generalize from the people who participated in the experiment (the sample) to people in general (the population).

Question 28

External validity 

Answer 28

Is the validity of applying the conclusions of a scientific study outside the context of that study

Question 29

Basic research vs Appplied Research

Answer 29

Basic research is conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity. Often considered ‘knowledge for knowledge's sake. Applied research involves studies designed to solve a particular social problem. Building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the problem.

Question 30

Automatic Thinking

Answer 30

Thinking is unconscious, unintentional, involuntary, and effortless. Ex: recognizing a common object (sunglasses)

Question 31

Schemas

Answer 31

Mental structures people use to organize their knowledge about the social world. Schemas influence the information we notice, think about, and remember. Universal Schemas: Emotions/recognizing emotions

Question 32

The Functions of Schemas

Answer 32

Help us organize, and make sense of our world, and to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. Helps us to have continuity and to relate new experiences to our past ones.

Question 33

Chronically Accessible -Schemas

Answer 33

Due to past experience.

Question 34

Temporarily Accessible - Schema

Answer 34

Because they are related to a current goal.

Question 35

Priming - Schemas

Answer 35

The process by which recent experiences increase a schema or trait’s accessibility. A recent experience increases the likelihood that a particular schema will be accessed.

Question 36

Embodied Cognition

Answer 36

Bodily sensations can influence the particular schemas that are primed.

Question 37

Judgmental Heuristics

Answer 37

People use mental shortcuts, called judgmental heuristics, in order to make judgments and decisions quickly and efficiently.

Question 38

Availability Heuristic

Answer 38

A mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment about something based upon the ease with which they can bring something to mind.

Question 39

Representativeness Heuristic

Answer 39

A mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case

Question 40

Base Rate Information

Answer 40

Information about the frequency of members of different categories in the population.

Question 41

Cultural Determinants of Schemas

Answer 41

The content of our schemas is influenced by our culture. People from Western cultures tend to have an analytic thinking style, whereby they focus on the properties of objects/people without People from East Asian cultures tend to have a holistic thinking style, in which they focus on the whole picture

Question 42

Controlled Thinking

Answer 42

Thinking that is conscious, intentional, voluntary, and effortful. Provides checks and balances for automatic thinking. New things often require controlled thinking.

Question 43

The Power of Automatic Thinking

Answer 43

Automatic (unconscious) thinking is often used for making judgments and decisions. There is evidence that our unconscious minds may make better decisions on some tasks than our conscious minds This reflects that there is more going on than we are aware of

Question 44

Counterfactual Thinking

Answer 44

Mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been. Usually conscious and effortful, but not always voluntary and intentional. “If only….” or “What if…”

Question 45

Positive of Counterfactual Thinking

Answer 45

- Focuses people’s attention on ways that they can cope better in the future, and by - Motivating them to take steps to prevent similar outcomes from occurring in the future

Question 46

Overconfidence Barrier

Answer 46

The barrier that results when people have too much confidence in the accuracy of their judgments.

Question 47

Social Perception

Answer 47

Defined as the study of how we form impressions of other people and make inferences about them. An important source of information about other people is their nonverbal behaviour.

Question 48

Nonverbal communication and Nonverbal cues

Answer 48

Nonverbal communication: the way in which people communicate, intentionally or unintentionally, without words. Non-verbal cues: include facial expressions, tones of voice, gestures, body position and movement, the use of touch, and eye gaze.

Question 49

Primary Uses of Nonverbal Behaviour:

Answer 49

Expressing emotion Conveying attitudes Communicating personality Substitution for verbal messages

Question 50

Encode vs Decode of Nonverbal Communication

Answer 50

Encode: to express or emit nonverbal behaviour, such as smiling or patting someone on the back. Decode: to interpret the meaning of the nonverbal behaviour other people express. E.g., deciding that a pat on the back is an expression of condescension and not kindness or support.

Question 51

Display Rules

Answer 51

Culturally determined rules about which nonverbal behaviours are appropriate to display. E.g., it may be more socially acceptable for men to display anger than women.

Question 52

Emblems

Answer 52

Are nonverbal gestures that have well-understood definitions within a given culture.

Question 53

First Impressions

Answer 53

We can form impressions of others, usually based on facial expressions within milliseconds. First impressions can be influenced by schemas about the personality qualities believed to accompany certain features Ex: What is beautiful is good

Question 54

Implicit Personality Theories

Answer 54

A type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits. E.g., Someone who is kind must also be generous.

Question 55

Internal Attribution

Answer 55

An inference that a person’s behaviour is due to something about him or her, such as his/her attitude, character, and/or personality.

Question 56

External Attribution

Answer 56

An inference that a person’s behaviour is because of something about the situation he or she is in

Question 57

The Covariation Model: Internal vs. External Attributions

Answer 57

How do people choose between an internal and an external attribution when judging a person’s behaviour? According to Kelley’s Covariation Model, we do so by noting the pattern between the presence (or absence) of possible causal factors and whether or not the behaviour occurs. Think of asking to borrow a friend’s car: Do others lend you their car (consensus)? Do they lend it to others (distinctiveness)? Have they let you borrow it before (consistency)?

Question 58

Consensus Information

Answer 58

Information about the extent to which other people behave the same way as the actor does toward the same stimulus.

Question 59

Distinctiveness Information

Answer 59

Information about the extent to which one particular actor behaves in the same way to different stimuli.

Question 60

Consistency Information

Answer 60

Information about the extent to which the behaviour between one actor and one stimulus is the same across time and circumstances.

Question 61

When we make attributions, we go through a two-step process...

Answer 61

First, we make an internal attribution, assuming the person’s behaviour is caused by something about that person. Second, we attempt to adjust this attribution by considering the situation the person was in.

Question 62

When people’s self esteem is threatened, they make self-serving attributions..

Answer 62

A tendency to take credit for one’s own successes A tendency to blame others or the situation for one’s own failures Can cause a person to overestimate their contribution to a shared task

Question 63

Another way to deal with threats to self-esteem is to develop defensive attributions...

Answer 63

Explanations for behaviour that help us avoid feelings of vulnerability and mortality. Example: Belief in a just world – “Bad things happen to bad people, so they shouldn’t happen to me.”

Question 64

Belief in a Just World

Answer 64

The assumption that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. Allows us to be optimistic about the future, BUT also creates a tendency to engage in victim blaming i.e., that bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people.

Question 65

Self-Concept and Self Awareness

Answer 65

Social Concept: is defined as knowledge we have about who we are. Self-awareness: The act of thinking about ourselves.

Question 66

Self-schema

Answer 66

An organized body of knowledge about the self (e.g., attitudes, preferences, traits) that influences what people notice, think about, and remember about themselves.

Question 67

Self-Concept Clarity

Answer 67

The extent to which knowledge about the self is stable, clear, and consistently defined.

Question 68

Independent view of self-concept vs inter dependent view

Answer 68

Independent: Defining oneself in terms of one’s own internal thoughts, feelings, and actions, and not in terms of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of other people. Interdependent: Defining oneself in terms of one’s relationships to other people and recognizing that one’s behaviour is often determined by the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others.

Question 69

Introspection

Answer 69

Is the process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives. Even when people use introspection (not often), the reasons for their feelings and behaviours can be hidden from conscious awareness

Question 70

Self-awareness theory

Answer 70

proposes that when people focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behaviour to their internal standards and values.

Question 71

Judging Why We Feel the Way We Do: Casual Theories

Answer 71

Theories about the causes of one’s own feelings and behaviours. Often we learn such theories from our culture (e.g., “absence makes the heart grow fonder”). These theories can often be flawed, however.

Question 72

Self-Perception Theory

Answer 72

When we are unsure about our attitudes or feelings toward something, we look to our relevant behaviour for answers.

Question 73

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic

Answer 73

Intrinsic Motivation The desire to engage in an activity because we enjoy it or find it interesting (e.g., piano). Extrinsic Motivation The desire to engage in an activity because of external rewards or pressures (e.g., a job).

Question 74

Overjustification Effect

Answer 74

The case whereby people view their behaviour as caused by extrinsic reasons.

Question 75

Looking-Glass Self

Answer 75

Describes the phenomenon of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others and incorporating their views into our self-concept.

Question 76

Social comparison theory

Answer 76

Proposes that we compare ourselves to similar others when we experience some uncertainty about ourselves in a particular area

Question 77

Downward social comparison

Answer 77

The process whereby we compare ourselves to people who are worse than we are in a particular trait or ability

Question 78

Upward social comparison

Answer 78

The process whereby we compare ourselves to people who are better than we are in a particular trait or ability

Question 79

Self-Enhancement vs Self Effacement

Answer 79

Self-Enhancement: An unrealistically positive view of oneself. Can result in higher self-esteem and life satisfaction. Self-Effacement: A tendency to hold a negative view of oneself.

Question 80

Self-Verification Theory

Answer 80

Suggests that people have a need to seek confirmation of their self-concept, whether the self-concept is positive or negative.

Question 81

Attitude

Answer 81

An attitude is an evaluation of an attitude object. That object could be a person, a place, a thing, an emotion, etc.

Question 82

Affectively Based Attitude

Answer 82

An affectively based attitude is based primarily on people’s emotions and feelings about the attitude object. - Is linked to people’s values. - Is not the result of rational analyses of an issue. - Is not governed by logic.

Question 83

Cognitively Based Attitude

Answer 83

A cognitively based attitude is based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object.

Question 84

Behaviourally Based Attitude

Answer 84

A behaviourally based attitude is based primarily on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude object.

Question 85

Explicit vs. Implicit Attitudes

Answer 85

Explicit Attitudes: We can consciously endorse and easily report. Are likely rooted in recent experiences. Implicit Attitudes: Involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious. Tend to be rooted in childhood experiences.

Question 86

Persuasive communication

Answer 86

A communication (e.g., a speech or television advertisement) advocating a particular side of an issue.

Question 87

Yale Attitude Change Approach

Answer 87

The study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages.

Question 88

The effectiveness of the communication depends on:

Answer 88

- The Source of the Communication - The Nature of the Communication - The Nature of the Audience

Question 89

Heuristic-systematic model of Persuasion

Answer 89

The Heuristic-systematic model of persuasion suggests that there are two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: systematic and heuristic processing.

Question 90

Systemic processing and Heuristic processing

Answer 90

Systemic processing: People process the merits of the arguments. Heuristic processing: People use mental shortcuts (heuristics), such as “Experts are always right”.

Question 91

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Answer 91

There are two ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change. The central route occurs when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication. The peripheral route occurs when people do not pay attention to the arguments but are instead swayed by surface characteristics.

Question 92

The “Mere Exposure Effect”

Answer 92

“The tendency for repeated contact with an object, even without reinforcement, to increase liking for the object” (Olson, Breckler, & Wiggins, 2008, pg. 206).

Question 93

Fear-Arousing Communication

Answer 93

Fear-arousing communication is a persuasive message that attempts to change people’s attitudes by arousing their fears. A moderate level of fear followed by recommendations to enable change is the most effective way to use fear-arousing communication.

Question 94

Subliminal Messages

Answer 94

Subliminal messages are words or pictures used to persuade that are not consciously perceived.

Question 95

Attitude Inoculation

Answer 95

The process of making people immune to attempts to change their attitudes by exposing them to small doses of the arguments against their position (like some vaccines).

Question 96

Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 96

A feeling of discomfort caused by the realization that one’s behaviour is inconsistent with one’s attitudes or that one holds two conflicting attitudes. The discomfort from cognitive dissonance motivates us to take one of the following three steps to reduce it: - Change the attitude. - Change the behaviour. - Change the cognition.

Question 97

Post-decision dissonance

Answer 97

Dissonance that is inevitably aroused after a person makes a decision.

Question 98

Justification of Effort

Answer 98

The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.

Question 99

External Justification and Internal Justification

Answer 99

External Justification: a person’s reason or explanation for dissonant behaviour that resides outside the individual (e.g., in order to receive a large reward). Internal Justification: the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., one’s attitude or behaviour).

Question 100

Insufficient punishment

Answer 100

The dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in the individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object

Question 101

The Hypocrisy Paradigm

Answer 101

Sometimes people are not aware that they are behaving in a manner that is inconsistent with their stated values. By bringing this to their attention through hypocrisy induction, dissonance is aroused and this can lead to attitude and behaviour change.

Question 102

Self-Affirmation Theory

Answer 102

When the typical strategies for reducing dissonance fail, one can find relief through self-affirmation, that is, affirming their competence on some dimension unrelated to the threat.