PSYCH Exam 2

Three self serving biases (3)

Bias that the world is fair

Three self serving biases (2)

Bias that we are better, smarter, and kinder than others

Three self serving biases (1)

Bias to choose the most flattering and forgiving explanations of our own behavior

The types of intelligence (2)

Bodily-kinesthetic (Coordinating your mind with your body)

Propositions lead to

Cognitive schemes (framework for the way we think about particular things/the world)

Cultural values and experiences affect many things besides responses to specific test items like

Comfort in test settings, attitude toward testing, rapport with test giver, competitiveness, comfort in solving problems independently

Stereotype boast

Enhances performance (People in asian cultures tend to be good at math - lessens anxiety and increases motivation and performance)

The types of intelligence (7)

Existential (Tackling the questions of why we live, and why we die)

G factor

General ability (Meaning overall intelligence)

Effective strategy for reducing us-them thinking: Interdependence

Having both sides work together to reach a common goal

Humans are sensitive to inconsistencies between

actions and beliefs

Conformity

adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Though we like to think we are good mutlitaskers and can take on a lot of tasks cognitively, research shows that we ________.

are not

Social norms, or mores

are the unwritten rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a group or society

Breaking norms

can result in a formal punishment, such as being fined or imprisoned, or an informal punishment, such as being stared at or shunned by others

Mental images influence our

cognitive schemes

In multicultural societies such as the United States and Canada, different social identities sometimes

collide

Concepts can be

complex/abstract (like justice) or concrete (like birds)

But obedience can also lead to actions that are:

deadly, foolish, illegal

Diffusion of responsibility is likely to occur under conditions that promote

deindividuation

People want to belong and want approval, those who go against norms may receive

disapproval

Human nature

dispositional

We _______ have unlimited cognitive capacity to take on more and more tasks at the same time.

do not

Subconscious processes allow us to

handle more information and perform more complex tasks than if we had to depend on conscious processing entirely

"Conformity _____ just acting as other people act, it is being affected by how they act. It is acting differently from the way you would act alone"

is not

Performing tasks subconsciously (is/is not) the same as multitasking.

is not

The excuse that Nazi Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann used to explain his involvement in the Holocaust is

just following orders

Basic features of diffusion of responsibility

lacking a sense of personal responsibility, minimizing the feeling of guilt, looking to others for guidance, increasing with group size

Diffusion of responsibility

observation of the phenomena that one feels less responsible to act in a large group

According to the conclusion of Zimbardo experiment, our behavior is drastically affected by the

situation

Diffusion of responsibility

spreading the responsibility out between many people. (You feel less responsible for doing something bad if other people are also involved)

Factor analysis

statistical method that helps identify which basic abilities underlie performance on various items (Identifies clusters of correlated items that measure same common ability or factor)

Infer a certain degree of intelligence based on characteristics we can see and measure directly

such as outcomes of rational decisions and answers to standardized tests

Multitasking

switching between two tasks that are not automatic

Even things we think we are skilled at/are routine can be dangerous like...

talking on the phone while in the car

Ethnocentrism

the belief that one's own ethnic group or religion is superior to all others, promotes "us-them" thinking

In order to organize this staggering amount of information,

the brain has developed a file cabinet of sorts in the mind called concepts

Anger, happiness, sadness fit into

the concept of emotion

Deindividuation

the loss of one's individuality (prime reason for mob violence)

Two basic, beneficial motives for conformity are:

the need for social acceptance, the need for information

Performing tasks subconsciously (e.g., knowing exactly where to drive on your way home from school without consciously thinking about it), IS NOT

the same as multitasking

Scientists who study cognition are searching for ways to

understand how we integrate, organize, and utilize our conscious cognitive experiences

Informational social influence

we accept information about reality provided by the group

Power of the situation

we all have good and bad character traits that reveal themselves depending on the situation

Experiments indicate that conformity increases when

we feel incompetent or insecure

IQ tests have been criticized for being biased in favor of...

white, middle class people (did not measure kinds of knowledge and skills that indicate intelligent behavior in minority groups)

Upon waking each morning,

you begin thinking

Society functions with direct rules and

expectations

"Us" versus

"not us"

Intelligence is made up of ___ main components

2

In Milgram's study, the participants claimed that they administered the shocks for three reasons:

Authority seemed trustworthy, the cause was good (scientific research), and they believed that if anything bad happened the researcher would take full responsibility

Who found that under certain conditions, people will conform to a group's judgment, even when it is clearly incorrect?

Solomon Asch

Certain traits increase obedience and a willingness to inflict pain on others:

Hostility, narcissism, rigidity

Situational attribution

Identify the cause of an action as something in the environment. EXTERNAL (Joe stole the money because his family is starving)

Dispositional attribution

Identify the cause of an action as something in the person, such as a trait or motive. INTERNAL (Joe stole the money because he is born a thief)

The types of intelligence (6)

Spatial (Visualizing the world in 3D)

The types of intelligence (3)

Interpersonal (Sensing people's feelings and motives)

The types of intelligence (9)

Intra-personal (Understanding yourself, what you feel, and what you want)

Crystallized IQ

Knowledge and skills (math, define words, make decisions. Heavily dependent on education and tends to remain stable)

The types of intelligence (5)

Linguistic (Finding the right words to express what you mean)

Without power authority usually has _______ influence, and therefore the authority figure is of _____ standing

Little, low

The types of intelligence (4)

Logical-mathematical (Quantifying things, making hypotheses and proving them)

Concept

Mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties.

The types of intelligence (1)

Musical (discerning sounds, their pitch, tone, rhythm, and timbre)

The types of intelligence (8)

Naturalist (Understanding living things and reading nature)

Who created an experiment to see if participants would follow orders even when the requested behavior went against their moral beliefs or good judgment?

Stanley Milgram

Conditions that help reduce two groups' mutual prejudices and conflicts:

Passing laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people, gaining public support and awareness for anti-prejudice social norms, making people aware of the inconsistencies in their own beliefs, increased contact with members of other social groups

Just-world hypothesis

People have a need to believe the world is fair and that good people are rewarded and bad people are punished

Social identity

Portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group

_______ and ______ are both aspects of authority that are important in society

Power, obedience

Fluid IQ

Reason and use of info to solve new problems (Relatively independent of education and tends to decrease in old age. Processing speed)

Stereotype threat

Reduces performance (People often feel a burden of doubt about their abilities and creates an insecurity. Threat occurs when people believe they won't do well)

Obedience

Result of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct order from an authority figure

Cognition

Simply put, it is thinking, and it encompasses the processes associated with perception, knowledge, problem solving, judgment, language, and memory.

Robbers Cave Experiment

Teaches a cooperative goal can bring two hostile groups together, thus reducing the competition and enhancing cooperation

Ethnocentric bias

Tendency to interpret behaviour from the viewpoint of our own culture. What's normal for us is assumed to be normal for everyone, but this may not be true.

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to overestimate personality factors and underestimate the influence of the situation when explaining someone else's behavior

This study illustrates the power of norms and roles to affect individual actions

The Milgram Shock Experiment in 1963

Validity effect

The tendency of people to believe that a statement is true or valid simply because it has been repeated many times

Familiarity effect

The tendency of people to feel more positive toward a person, item, product, or other stimulus the more familiar they are with it

What can distort communication, impede the resolution of conflicts, and lead to serious misunderstandings?

The three self serving biases

Attribution theory

Theory that people are motivated to explain their own and others' behavior by attributing causes of that behavior to a situation or a disposition

Common results of multitasking are:

Usually inefficient (increases time to complete tasks), makes errors(not paying close enough attention to each task), and can be dangerous

In the Zimbardo experiment, the test subjects who, at first saw each other as equal, soon began

behaving as the role they were assigned (prisoner and guard)

Cross cultural work shows academic performance differences are strongly influenced by

beliefs about origins of mental abilities, parental standards and upbringing, and educational attitudes

Normative social influence

conform to gain social approval

Not all mental processes are

conscious (meaning we are not aware of mental processes all the time)

Norms can change according to the

environment, situation, and climate

People develop social identities based on their:

ethnicity (including nationality) religion, occupation, other social memberships

Psychometric approach

how well people perform on standardized tests (Designed to measure ability to acquire skills and knowledge)

Concepts simplify and summarize info so that it is

more manageable (relational connections) or to process info more quickly (so we can make decisions quickly and efficiently)

Intellectual achievement also depends on

motivation, hard work, and self discipline

Performance on IQ tests depend on

ones own expectations on how they will do, which is influenced by cultural stereotypes

Intelligence or IQ if difficult to define

only has invisible quality to it

Subconscious processes

outside awareness, but can be brought into consciousness if necessary

Even things like ________________ takes away your attention to the task you are doing.

overhearing someone's cell phone conversation

Conformity

permits the smooth running of society, and allows people to feel in harmony with others like them

Concepts lead to

propositions (made up of concepts to express knowledge or beliefs)

Norms function to

provide order and predictability in society

Groupthink (coined by Irving Janis)

psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group (Think alike, censor themselves, suppress disagreements, and feel like decisions are invulnerable)

Increasing efforts now to make culture free tests but

results have been disappointing (Cultures emphasize different problem solving strategies, but IQ tests do not account for this)