Social Psychology

Front 1

mass sociogenic illness

Back 1

This illness refers to a phenomenon that occurs in the absence of real biological symptoms and is spread rapidly among people in a group setting.

Front 2

Give an example for mass sociogenic illness

Back 2

Melbourne airport, 2005 where an employee of a news agency collapsed at the bottom of escalator.

Front 3

What is social psychology?

Back 3

the study of how people influence others' behaviour beliefs and attitudes- for both good and bad

Front 4

What did Robin Dunbar's magical number of 150 refer to?

Back 4

It refers to the amount of people that each of us knows reasonably well. It explains that our brains are predisposed to form intimate,large networks but only that large.

Front 5

Explain Baumeister and Leary's "need to belong theory"!

Back 5

We seek out social bonds when we can and suffer negative psychological and physical consequences when we cannot.

Front 6

Explain the cyberball experiment!

Back 6

Online, person plays computerized ball tossing game and at some point the other participants start tossing the game to only one another.

Front 7

Possible consequences of the cyberball experiment...

Back 7

...lowers self- esteem. Makes people feel dehumanized and activates the same brain region that becomes active during physical pain.

Front 8

According to the evolutionary approach, are social influences negative?

Back 8

No, social influence are selected naturally, because they serve us well over the course of evolution.

Front 9

Which forms of social influences can become maladaptive when they are not being questionned?

Back 9

Obedience, conformity- Therefore social influence must always be approached critically

Front 10

Social facilitation

Back 10

The presence of others improves our performance, it generally occurs on tasks we find easy to manage

Front 11

Social disruption

Back 11

The presence of others worsens our performance. Usually on tasks we find difficult.

Front 12

attributions

Back 12

process of assigning causes to behaviour

Front 13

Why are attributions also called dispositional?

Back 13

They refer to person's enduring tendencies, such as personality traits, attitudes or abilities.

Front 14

fundamental attribution error

Back 14

tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional influences on other people's behaviour- e.g. the complimenting sales person must be nice and the sacking boss bad (we do not consider circumstances).

Front 15

Are there cultural differences when it comes to the fundamental attribution error?

Back 15

Yes, Japanese and Chinese cultures seem to be less prone than Western cultures.

Front 16

Who imposed the social comparison theory?

Back 16

Leon Festinger

Front 17

What is the social comparison theory?

Back 17

We evaluate our beliefs, abilities and reactions by comparing them with those of others.

Front 18

Mass hysteria

Back 18

the contagiously spread of irrational behaviour

Front 19

collective delusions

Back 19

people simultaneously become convinced of bizarre things that are false, e.g. UFO

Front 20

Urban legends

Back 20

False stories, repeated so many times that people believe they are true (especially associated with negative emotions)

Front 21

We are especially unlikely to engage in social comparison when a situation is unambiguous. True/ False

Back 21

False

Front 22

What is conformity?

Back 22

The tendency of people to change behaviour due to group pressure.

Front 23

Who conducted the most famous conformity study in the 1950's?

Back 23

Solomon Asch.

Front 24

Did people conform in Asch's experiment?

Back 24

Yes

Front 25

Parametric studies

Back 25

the independent variable is manipulated in different ways in order to measure the effects on the dependent variable.

Front 26

What are the three independent variables that researchers found to influence the dependent variable (conformity)?

Back 26

Unanimity (if one participant gave right answer, conformity dropped), difference in the wrong answer and size (conformity drops with increased size of participants)

Front 27

Which parts of the brain are associated with conformity?

Back 27

Amygdala (triggers anxiety in response to danger cues), parietal and occipital lobes (visual perception)

Front 28

What is the autokinetic effect?

Back 28

perceptual illusion, light projected on the wall in dark room, after a few moments light seems to move even though it is stationary --> autokinetic effects results from tiny movements from the eye muscle.

Front 29

What were Sheriff's findings in the autokinetic effect experiment?

Back 29

He found that when participants were together with other participants they would conform to the other answer. If initial estimation of light movement was 20 cm and the other participants said 50 cm, you would say 35cm in second session

Front 30

deindividuation

Back 30

the tendency of people to engage into uncharacteristic behaviour when they are stripped of their usual identities

Front 31

What are consequences/ results of deindividuation? How does it influence the individual

Back 31

feeling of anonymity, lack of responsibility as individual, vulnerable to social influences

Front 32

Give an example for deindividuation in research!

Back 32

Zimbardo, Stanford prison study, pao alto

Front 33

Reicher and Haslam (BBC prison study) argued that participants in their study did not actually engage in their group. True/False

Back 33

False, participants in their study actively identified with their group.

Front 34

What conclusions can we make considering the results of Reicher and Haslam's study?

Back 34

The groups we belong to gives us a certain identity, predictability and belonging and enable us to achieve shared goals and positive social change.

Front 35

Does deindividuation automatically make us behave badly?

Back 35

No, it makes us more likely to conform in whatever situation we are in. According to research, deindividuation makes people more likely to engage in prosocial and helping behaviour.

Front 36

What was a real life example/scandal for deindividuation?

Back 36

American soldiers torturing prisoners in Iraq

Front 37

Why do crowds elicit irrational behaviour?

Back 37

Crowds are more anonymous which allows individuals to act on their impulses

Front 38

People in crowds normally limit their social interactions to minimise conflict. Give an example in everyday life.

Back 38

Generally, people in crowded buses and lifts avoid staring at each other.

Front 39

Groupthink

Back 39

An emphasis on group unanimity at the expense of critical thinking. Group agreement is so much of value that individuals stop evaluating issues objectively.

Front 40

What are symptoms of groupthink? (Name at least 3)

Back 40

invulnerability, illusion of groups unanimity, moral correctness, conformity pressure, stereotyping of the out group, self- censorship, mindguards ("Oh you think you know better than us?")

Front 41

group polarisation

Back 41

it is the tendency to strengthen the dominant view of individuals in a group discussion

Front 42

cults

Back 42

groups of individuals who exhibit intense and unquestioning devotion to a single cause

Front 43

How do cults promote group think?

Back 43

persuasive leader, disconnecting group members from outside world, discouraging questioning of group members, establishing training that brainwashes members

Front 44

Why do we believe that members of cults must be mentally ill?

Back 44

Fundamental attribution error- we believe it is more their own traits rather than social influences

Front 45

inoculation effect

Back 45

Helps to resist indoctrination of cults. Gently introduce them why their belief seems to be correct but then debunking (refuting) these reasons.

Front 46

obedience

Back 46

adherence to instructions from those of higher authority

Front 47

What is the most known experiment of obedience?

Back 47

Milgram's paradigm

Front 48

What did Milgram believe was the cause of aggression against other individuals in the past?

Back 48

the unquestioning acceptance of authority

Front 49

Psychiatrists thought that most participants would disobey in Milgram's experiment. However, 62% went all the way up to 450 V. What did psychiatrists not consider?

Back 49

They underestimated the fundamental attribution error. Namely, that being in a certain situation can have major effects on an individual's action.

Front 50

In parametic studies of Milgram's experiment, how could obedience be reduced? (Below 50%)

Back 50

Proximity condition (learner and teacher are in the same room), touch proximity condition (teacher is required to hold learner's hand on shock plate), telephone condition (instructions from researcher over phone), second experimenter condition, less prestigious setting for study (original study was held in Yale university)

Front 51

In which setting did almost all of the participants (93%) comply the full 450 V?

Back 51

When teachers direct different person to administer shocks. (they feel less responsible)

Front 52

What are typical bystander non- interventions in everyday life?

Back 52

Sexual abuse, domestic violence, bullying

Front 53

What are the two possible reasons for the bystander effect?

Back 53

pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility

Front 54

Pluralistic ignorance

Back 54

error of assuming that no one in the group perceives things as we do. Looking around, no one reacts, maybe situation is not that severe

Front 55

Diffusion of responsibility

Back 55

the more people are present at an emergency, the less each person feels responsible for the negative consequences

Front 56

Social loafing

Back 56

phenomenon were people slack off in groups

Front 57

Is brainstorming more efficient when in groups or when alone?

Back 57

According to several studies, brainstorming for ideas seems to be more efficient when alone. Groups tend to come up with fewer and fewer good ones.

Front 58

altruism

Back 58

helping others for unselfish reasons

Front 59

What was believed before altruism?

Back 59

That we help others in discomfort because we enjoy the feeling of helping others and it makes us feel better- so for selfish reasons.

Front 60

What is a crucial variable that increases the likelihood of helping others?

Back 60

Empathy

Front 61

In which situations are people more likely to help others?

Back 61

When they cannot easily escape the situation and run away (crowded train, than pavement), depending on the person in need (person with cane vs. drunk person), exposure to role models, and being in a good mood

Front 62

enlightenment effect

Back 62

learning about psychological research can change real- world behaviour for the better

Front 63

Helping- are there individual differences?

Back 63

Yes. Participants who are less concerned about social approval and are less traditional are more likely to help and intervene in emergencies.

Front 64

aggression

Back 64

is associated with the behaviour to harm others (physically or verbally)

Front 65

In which situations are people most likely to express aggressive behaviour?

Back 65

interpersonal provocation, frustration (when not achieving a goal), media influences (observational learning), aggressive cues (weapons), arousal (when autonomic nervous system is hyped up we may mistakenly attribute this arousal to anger), drugs, temperature (warm temperature make people losing their temper more easily).

Front 66

What could be a cure for aggressive behaviour?

Back 66

Glucose

Front 67

spotted hyena (also called the 'laughing hyena')

Back 67

females are more aggressive than males

Front 68

relational aggression

Back 68

More commonly expressed by females (spreading rumours, gossiping)

Front 69

Are there cultural differences in aggression? In which cultures?

Back 69

Yes, Asian cultures seem to be less physically aggressive than Western societies.

Front 70

Culture of honour

Back 70

More present in the South of US than in North. Defending someone's reputation in case of perceived insults

Front 71

belief

Back 71

conclusion regarding factual evidence

Front 72

attitude

Back 72

Is referred to as a belief with an emotional component, it is how you feel about an issue or person.

Front 73

Can behaviour predict attitudes and vice verse?

Back 73

Behaviour seems to predict attitudes but not vice verse.

Front 74

What is a classical example for when attitudes do not predict behaviour?

Back 74

R. LaPiere asking 128 hotel managers if they would serve Chinese hotel guests. 90% of participants said no. Yet, when LaPiere and the Chinese couple toured through the country 127/128 have served the couple.

Front 75

When can attitudes predict behaviour?

Back 75

Attitudes that are highly accessible (which come to mind easily), tend to strongly predict behaviour (e.g. asking for chocolate ice cream, leads to wanting chocolate ice cream), and for people with low self monitoring

Front 76

What is self- monitoring?

Back 76

personality trait that assesses the extent to which people's behaviour reflects their true feelings and attitudes.

Front 77

Attitudes are shaped by....

Back 77

....experiences

Front 78

Something we have heard many times makes us more likely to believe it.

Back 78

Recognition heuristic

Front 79

Who makes a lot of use of this heuristic?

Back 79

Advertisers

Front 80

When messages are delivered by phony authority figures, we have to avoid....

Back 80

maladaptive gullibility (Leichtglaeubigkeit)

Front 81

What is the implicit egotism effect?

Back 81

If the messenger sending the message seems similar to us. We react more positively towards people, things that resemble us.

Front 82

Name- letter effect

Back 82

Tendency towards objects and people with similar letters to name.

Front 83

Cognitive dissonance theory

Back 83

unpleasant mental state we experiences when stuck between two conflicting thoughts.

Front 84

How does cognitive disonance theory explain the change of attitudes?

Back 84

we either eliminate one of the attitudes or believes or come up with a third better thought.

Front 85

You know sue is really nice but you also know she recently stole a wallet, you are in cognitive disonance because...

Back 85

It creates a conflict between the two thoughts.

Front 86

Who introduced the cognitive disonance theory?

Back 86

Leon Festinger

Front 87

What is a real life example?

Back 87

The cult and Mrs. Kelch waiting for UFOs to come on December 21. Cognitive dissonance made individuals believe even more in theory because they think their prayers have been heard and god saves us from UFOs.

Front 88

Why does the cognitive dissonance theory apply more to participants who have been given $20 than those who received $1 only in Leon Feistinger's experiment?

Back 88

Because people who have been given $20 can say they have been bribed which is an external justification whereas $1 is not enough to be an external justification. They have to convince themselves that they enjoyed the task.

Front 89

self- perception theory

Back 89

we acquire our attitudes by observing our behaviours. This suggests participants believe they must have liked the taks since they told the other participant and they only got paid $1.

Front 90

impression management theory

Back 90

We don't necessarily change our mind about the task but we tell the researcher and the participant since we don't want to sound inconsistent with our responses.

Front 91

What is the dual process model of persuasion?

Back 91

It involves two ways of influencing others: Central route and peripheral route

Front 92

The peripheral route allows us to evaluate persuasive routes carefully and thoughtfully. True/False

Back 92

False- The peripheral route leads us to respond to persuasive arguments on the basis of snap judgements, e.g. influenced by good looks

Front 93

Foot- in- the- door- technique

Back 93

start with a small request before making a bigger one

Front 94

Door- in- the- face- technique

Back 94

making an unreasonably large request before making the small request we hope to have granted

Front 95

low- ball- technique

Back 95

seller mentions low- price of product and then starts mentioning all the 'add ons'.

Front 96

Attitude inferences are less likely if the behaviour is freely chosen.

Back 96

False, attitude inferences are more likely if the behaviour is freely chosen.

Front 97

An odd number of positive relationships in the balance theory means...

Back 97

That we have achieved a balanced triad.

Front 98

What is a function of an attitude?

Back 98

we adjust attitudes in order to remain internal cognitive consistency.

Front 99

Describe Bem's self- perception theory

Back 99

We observe our own behaviour and attribute to it external (situations) or internal (form attitudes), attitude inferences are more likely if the behaviour was freely chosen, best for weak attitudes

Front 100

An even number of positive relationship is an unbalanced situation. True- False

Back 100

True

Front 101

Unbalanced triads create a tension....

Back 101

....which motivates us to restore balance.

Front 102

What is the IAT?

Back 102

Implicit Attitude Test

Front 103

Prejudice

Back 103

To arrive at a conclusion before we have evaluated all the evidence

Front 104

Adaptive conservatism

Back 104

Evolutionary principle that creates predisposition towards distrusting anything/anyone familiar.

Front 105

What are the two major biases associated with our tendency to adaptive conservatism?

Back 105

In group bias and out group homogeneity

Front 106

What is in group bias?

Back 106

The tendency to favor individuals inside our group relative to people outside our group

Front 107

Out group homogeneity

Back 107

The tendency to view people outside of our group highly similar. (they all share at least one undesirable characteristic)

Front 108

Discrimination

Back 108

Behaviour- treating people outside of the group differently compared to people inside of the group

Front 109

the crucial difference between prejudice and discrimination?

Back 109

Discrimination refers to behaviour whereas prejudice refers to attitude

Front 110

In the interview experience what can be implicated when a prejudiced interviewer engages in discriminating behaviour?

Back 110

That the individual engages exactly for that reason in the undesired behaviour and confirms interviewer's view.

Front 111

Stereotype

Back 111

A belief about a group's characteristic that we apply to most members of that group

Front 112

What are cognitive misers?

Back 112

We strive to simplify reality in order to save mental energy

Front 113

What is the key difference between prejudiced people and non- prejudiced people?

Back 113

Non prejudiced people are trying to resist stereotypes much more than prejudiced people.

Front 114

Do stereotypes come to us naturally?

Back 114

Yes, once we have learned them (when very little). It is hard mental work to overcome them.

Front 115

Implicit and explicit stereotypes

Back 115

Stereotypes we are un/aware of

Front 116

How are prejudices tested?

Back 116

Through implicit association test

Front 117

Ultimate attribution error

Back 117

The mistake of attributing behavior to dispositions of entire group

Front 118

Scapegoat hypothesis

Back 118

Prejudices rises from a need to blame groups for our misfortunes

Front 119

Just- world hypothesis

Back 119

Implies that we have a deep seated need to perceive the world as fair, to believe all things happen for a reason

Front 120

Social dominance orientation

Back 120

people prefer hierarchies in society

Front 121

Jigsaw classrooms

Back 121

Children are given different tasks and need to collaborate to complete project. Meant to reduce prejudices.

Front 122

What can be implied of jigsaw model and the experiment at Robber's Cave?

Back 122

Increased contact between racial groups is rarely sufficient on its own to reduce prejudices.

Front 123

How can the attitude- behaviour rleationship be improved?

Back 123

reducing the social influence on expressed attitudes, measuring attitudes that are specific to the observed behaviour, attitude strength- personal involvement and knowledge

Front 124

The theory of planned behaviour takes all influences on the particular behaviour- attitude link into account and therefore that link becomes stronger.

Back 124

True.

Front 125

Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of discomfort because the attitude is strong but the individual does not act on that attitude.

Back 125

False, the individual experiences discomfort because she performs and action that is inconsistent with one's attitude.

Front 126

Who imposed the Cognitive Dissonance Theory?

Back 126

Leon Festinger

Front 127

In Zimbardo's experiment about eating grasshoppers: Which group liked eating them? The one group with the positive officer or the group with the formal officer?

Back 127

The group with the formal officer.

Front 128

According to Festinger, cognitive dissonance also appeared when prophecy fails. What happened?

Back 128

People believed that they were given more time to prepare for the apocalypse.

Front 129

What is the post- decision dissonance?

Back 129

When we doubt our decisions, we look for evidence that supports our decisions