Unit 2: AOS 1 Test

Question 1

What is an attitude?

Answer 1

An attitude is a positive/negative evaluation of a person, belief, situation, object or idea that influences a person’s behaviour.

Question 2

Define explicit attitude + give an example.

Answer 2

An explicit attitude is obvious and externally expressed (where the person openly states/acts out this attitude). Example:
Attitude: Exercise is good for my health.
Action: Visit the gym daily.

Question 3

(Attitudes and behaviour) What is attitude salience?

Answer 3

Attitude salience (or strength) refers to the notion that the stronger the attitude, the quicker the responding attitude.

Question 4

(Attitudes and behaviour) What is attitude specificity?

Answer 4

Attitude specificity refers to particular behaviours that indicate a highly specific attitude. For example, specifically liking one brand of shampoo and hence insisting on only buying that one brand.

Question 5

What is the tri-component model of attitude structure? (ABC)

Answer 5

A - Affective: how you feel
B - Behavioural: how you act
C - Cognitive: what you know/think you know

Question 6

How are attitudes formed? (3 main forms of learning + 2 other forms of learning).

Answer 6

Main types of learning:
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
Other types of learning:
- Direct experience
- Mere exposure

Question 7

Define classical conditioning:

Answer 7

(Association)
Through a series of steps, a neutral stimulus (a stimulus you have no attitude toward) is linked to an unconditioned stimulus (generally a stimulus you have a positive attitude toward). After a period of time the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus through association with the unconditioned stimulus. Experiencing the conditioned stimulus now produces a (positive) conditioned response.

Question 8

Define operant conditioning:

Answer 8

(Positive/negative reinforcement)
If a [desirable] behaviour has a pleasant consequence it is more likely to be repeated. This is positive reinforcement.
If an [undesirable] behaviour has an unpleasant consequence it is less likely to be repeated. This is negative reinforcement.

Question 9

Define observational learning:

Answer 9

(Modelling)
This is where children watch and learn from the behaviour of influential adults in their lives. (Eg, parents, teachers, celebrities etc).

Question 10

Define direct experience:

Answer 10

Direct encounters with a person, object or idea can cause the formation of strong attitudes - for example, a painful experience at the doctors can cause a negative attitude toward all doctors in the future.

Question 11

Define mere exposure:

Answer 11

Sometimes repeated exposure to an object can result in a positive/negative attitude toward it. The more a person is exposed to something the stronger their positive/negative attitude toward it will grow. For example, hearing a song you hate on the radio often.

Question 12

What are the three main sources of learning attitudes?

Answer 12

• Parents (attitudes toward broader issues such as religion)
• Peers (attitudes toward things such as music, fashion etc)
• Mass media (general publics opinion)

Question 13

(Attitude change) What is persuasive communication?

Answer 13

Persuasive communication uses arguments/reasoning to try to change people’s attitudes (how they think, feel and act). It includes the elements: recipient, source, medium, and message.

Question 14

What is the elaboration-likelihood model?

Answer 14

The elaboration-likelihood model is a model that explains whether the ‘content’ or ‘superficial characteristics’ of a message are more likely to affect the recipient, and hence whether they will take the central or peripheral route to persuasion.
Central route: Content/logic, high processing/thinking, longer lasting.
Peripheral route: Superficial characteristics, low thinking, less lasting.

Question 15

What does cognitive dissonance refer to? Hence, what is ‘effort justification’?

Answer 15

Cognitive dissonance refers to when people behave in a way that is contradictory to their attitude, this generally causes an unpleasant psychological sensation.
Effort justification is where people will then change their attitudes in order to alleviate this feeling.

Question 16

(Cognitive dissonance) Outline the Festinger and Carlsmith study:

Answer 16

Participants were given either $1 or $20 to lie to another participant and say that they had enjoyed the [boring] experiment. Later, when asked about their true feelings, the $1 people said they actually enjoyed the experiment, whereas the $20 people stated they did not enjoy the experiment.
This indicated that the $1 people had felt uncomfortable lying about the boring experiment - hence changed their attitudes in order to feel better.
However the other people felt that $20 was a sufficient reason to lie and need not change their attitude that the experiment was in fact unenjoyable.

Question 17

Define pro-social behaviour + give an example.

Answer 17

Pro-social behaviour is helpful behaviour that benefits society/other people. It is usually voluntary, intended to benefit others and can be an immediate (automatic) response, deliberate, or occur over time. (For example, charity, rescuing, sharing, trust, aiding, co-operation, assisting, etc).

Question 18

How is pro-social behaviour explained? (Biological, environmental and biological/environmental).

Answer 18

• Biological: Pro-social behaviour is genetic, humans assist others to protect our gene pool.
• Environmental: It is learned through classical/operant conditioning, observational/social learning.
• Biological/environmental interaction: Born with innate tendency to help others, but how exactly to act is a product of social learning.

Question 19

What 4 factors influence pro-social behaviour?

Answer 19

• Situation: is it a emergency/non-emergency, bystander intervention/bystander effect, decision-stage model of helping, setting, danger, clarity.
• Social norms: reciprocity principle (do unto others as they do unto you), social responsibility norm (help those in need).
• Personal factors: empathy (emotional response), mood (good mood/bad mood), competence (can I deal with this?).
• Altruism: (selflessness) helping others for no personal gain.

Question 20

What is bystander intervention/bystander effect?

Answer 20

Bystander intervention is where someone voluntarily helps the person in need.
Bystander effect refers to the fact that people are more likely to help when alone than when surrounded by other bystanders. (Eg, Kitty Genovese case where NO BODY CALLED THE COPS because they thought someone else would).

Question 21

Define anti-social behaviour + give an example.

Answer 21

Behaviour that has a negative impact on society, harmful to others/the community. Can be ‘hostile’ (immediate situation, eg emotion-driven fighting in a bar) or ‘instrumental’ (planning over a period of time, eg a deliberate murder).

Question 22

How is anti-social behaviour explained? (Biological, environmental and biological/environmental).

Answer 22

Biological: Genetic, humans instinctively protect themselves/other members and compete for resources.
Environmental: Learned through classical/operant conditioning, and observational learning all through the socialisation process.
Biological/environmental interaction: Born with innate tendency to perform anti-social behaviour but how we act in anti-social ways is a product of learning.

Question 23

What 4 factors influence anti-social behaviour?

Answer 23

• Situation: The situation will determine whether a person will behave in a pro or anti social way.
• Bystander effect: The more bystanders there are, the less likely is is that one of them will help.
• Cost benefit analysis: A bystander will weigh up the costs and benefits of providing help compared to not providing help. (Physiological arousal, labelling the arousal, evaluating the consequences).
• De-individuation: Individuals are more likely to behave anti-socially when in a situation where they cannot be identified individually (eg in a large crowd).

Question 24

What did the Latane and Darley studies show about bystander effect?

Answer 24

The Latane and Darley studies showed that the number of bystanders present influenced whether or not people attempted to help the victim of a seizure and also how long it took to provide that help. (More bystanders meant less people helped and it took them longer to help).

Question 25

(Bystander effect) Outline the Kitty Genovese case study:

Answer 25

She was getting stabbed and at least 12 people were witness to this yet not one person called the police because they thought someone else would do it.

Question 26

Why does the bystander effect occur? (5 main reasons).

Answer 26

• Diffusion of responsibility: feel less responsible in a group.
• Audience inhibition: fear of social blunders, self concious.
• Social influence: reaction of other bystanders, do they appear concerned/unconcerned?
• Proximity: greater distance = feels less responsible whereas closer to victim = feels more responsible.
• Nature of bystander: includes characteristics such as; past experience, awareness of norms, moral development, personality, similarity/relationship to victim, mood.

Question 27

What is the social learning theory?

Answer 27

Social learning theory suggests that pro and anti social behaviour can be learned through vicarious experience where the behaviour is watched and the consequences observed. If the learner sees pro/anti social behaviour resulting in a reward it is likely the learner will imitate the behaviour.

Question 28

(Aggression/social learning theory) Outline the Bandura experiment:

Answer 28

Adults beat up Bobo dolls and kids watch this aggressive behaviour. When in the presence of the Bobo dolls, the kids beat them up. This indicates that social learning has occurred, specifically in regards to aggression.

Question 29

What is the difference between hostile and instrumental aggression?

Answer 29

• Hostile: Emotional, impulsive, driven by pain or distress, intended to hurt another person.
• Instrumental: Deliberate planning, aggressor has no personal feeling toward whom they are hurting. (eg bank robber, assassin).

Question 30

What are the biological explanations of aggression?

Answer 30

• Psychodynamic explanations: suggests that aggression stems from built-up bodily tensions that must be released.
• Ethological explanations: considers evolutionary purpose of aggression, allows for species survival because the strongest animals eliminate the weaker animals.

Question 31

List the factors that can influence aggression:

Answer 31

• Personal factors: (age, gender, culture, experiences, self-esteem, frustration tolerance, mood, personality, grief, provocation, alcohol/illicit drugs).
• Circumstances of the aggressor: (discomfort caused by the physical environment, temperature, crowdedness, invasion of personal space, traffic congestion).
• Perceived disadvantage: (comparison of socio-economic circumstances leading to the ‘disadvantaged’ person acting aggressively to improve their lot).
• De-individuation: (more likely to behave badly when aggressors are de-individuated, more likely to be treated badly when victims are de-individuated).
• Conformity to norms: (people behaving in a way which is acceptable within their culture/community but not to the greater majority of society - eg gangs compared to the rest of society).

Question 32

How can levels of aggression be reduced? (5 ways)

Answer 32

• teaching people self-control
• rewarding pro-social behaviour
• observing non-aggressive models
• displaying unpredictable responses
• teaching use of cognitive strategies

Question 33

Define prejudice + give examples.

Answer 33

Prejudice is an unfavourable/negative attitude towards a group of people based on insufficient or incorrect information. Example, disliking the Jewish community based on the idea that they are money-hungry.

Question 34

Define discrimination and explain how it relates to prejudice.

Answer 34

Discrimination is the action that expresses the attitude of prejudice.

Question 35

How does the ABC model apply to prejudice?

Answer 35

Affective - Feelings that are friendly/hostile towards a group of people.
Behavioural - Behaviour toward a group of people (discrimination).
Cognitive - The categorisation of people and beliefs about the people, especially stereotyping.

Question 36

What are some of the effects of prejudice? (4)

Answer 36

• Low self-esteem
• Disadvantage/failure
• Self-fulfilling prophecies
• Violence and genocide

Question 37

The two ways prejudice is formed/maintained is through ‘learning’ and ‘competition’ Explain what is meant by competition + the ways it leads to prejudice. (Intergroup conflict, social identity theory etc…)

Answer 37

Whenever there is competition between social groups for scarce resources it is likely that hostility/prejudice can develop (eg, competition for jobs).

• intergroup conflict (us vs them)
• threatening of social identity (need to belong to the best group so put others down)
• social categorisation and stereotyping (human tendency to classify people into groups based upon characteristics we perceive them to have in common)
• stigmatising (another group is perceived to have undesirable qualities and is therefore rejected)
• scapegoating (frustration-aggression theory)

Question 38

List five ways prejudice can be prevented and reduced:

Answer 38

• Education (schools learning about tolerance etc)
• Intergroup contact (direct contact between groups)
• Cognitive interventions (information)
• Superordinate goals (common goals)
• Direct experience (experiencing another culture)

Question 39

Define a ‘group’:

Answer 39

• 2 or more people
• Interaction between individuals over a period of time
• Individuals must influence each other
• Common purpose

Question 40

What are the six sources of power?

Answer 40

• Reward power (ability to provide a desired response)
• Coercive power (ability to provide an unpleasant response)
• Information power (having knowledge that others desire)
• Expert power (power due to knowledge and skills)
• Referent power (power from other’s desire to relate to the person)
• Legitimate power (power is given by a higher authority, role or position)

Question 41

Explain the three styles of leadership:

• Democratic
• Authoritarian
• Laissez Faire

Answer 41

• Democratic: equal negotiation amongst the group.
• Authoritarian: one person makes all decisions.
• Laissez Faire: leader does very little.

Question 42

What was discovered in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment?

Answer 42

Status within a group affected the power of the individuals involved, and this power could be artificially created within an experiment.

Question 43

Outline Milgrim’s experiment + what the results showed.

Answer 43

Obedience experiment - shock machine. Results show that the participants would obey an authority figure despite causing severe pain to another living person.

Question 44

What factors affect conformity?

Answer 44

• normative influence (want to fit in)
• culture (individualist/collectivist)
• informational influence (others know better)
• group size (conformity increases at 3-4 confederates)
• unanimity (if one confederate doesn’t conform then conformity drops)
• de-individuation (higher in face to face groups)
• social loafing (reduce effort in a group)

Question 45

How does the peer group/peer pressure influence behaviour?

Answer 45

• Direct pressure: someone(s) tells you what you should be doing.
• Indirect pressure: behaving in a certain way in different groups.
• Individual pressure: pressure from within yourself to avoid feeling different.

Question 46

What risk taking behaviours are common in adolescence?

Answer 46

• Thrill-seeking behaviour (socially acceptable but challenging).
• Reckless behaviour (negative social/health effects, eg unprotected sex, drink-driving).
• Rebellious behaviour (rites of passage, ok for adults but not teens).
• Anti-social risk behaviour (negative, social/legal consequences, eg bullying, graffiti, cheating).

Question 47

Define implicit attitude + give an example.

Answer 47

An implicit attitude is not obvious and is involuntary/unconscious. The person who holds the attitude may not even be aware they feel that way (until it is expressed).
Example:
Attitude: Moths are harmless.
Action: Scream on seeing a moth.

Question 48

(Attitude change) In terms of persuasive communication, outline the elements: Recipient, source, medium, and message.

Answer 48

• Recipient: (Audience) Characteristics of the audience include mood, self esteem, concentration, personality, existing attitude, intelligence, and persuadability.
• Source: (Communicator) More effective if they have high credibility, appeal and similarity to the recipient.
• Medium: (Format) Can be electronic, written, in person.
• Message: (What) Presentation and content of message need to be considered; presentation order, one-sided/two-sided arguments, repetition, emotion-arousing messages.

Question 49

What is risk-taking behaviour?

Answer 49

Participation in behaviour which involves potential negative consequences (or loss) balanced in some way by perceived positive consequences (or gain).