Social Psychology Exam 4 Review

The negative state relief model and the arousal: cost-reward model both suggest that people help for ________ reasons.

egoistic

The ______ model suggests that people who put themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagine how they feel will help even if it involves a cost to them.

empathy-altruism

What would someone with the hostile attribution bias think if someone stepped on his foot?

"That person was trying to hurt me!"

At what age are humans the most aggressive?

1 to 3 years old

Other-oriented empathy

A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who have a strong sense of social responsibility, empathize with and feel emotionally tied to those in need, understand the problems the victim is experiencing, and have a heightened sense of moral obligations to be helpful.

Helpfulness

A component of the prosocial personality orientation; describes individuals who have been helpful in the past and, because they believe they can be effective with the help they give, are more likely to be helpful in the future.

Agreeableness

A core personality trait that includes such dispositional characteristics as being sympathetic, generous, forgiving, and helpful, and behavioral tendencies toward harmonious social relations and likeability

Cost-benefit analysis

A decision-making process that compares the cost of an action or thing against the expected benefit to help determine the best course of action.

Prosocial personality orientation

A measure of individual differences that identifies two sets of personality characteristics (other-oriented empathy, helpfulness) that are highly correlated with prosocial behavior.

Altruism

A motivation for helping that has the improvement of another's welfare as its ultimate goal, with no expectation of any benefits for the help

Egoism

A motivation for helping that has the improvement of the helper's own circumstances as its primary goal.

Perceived social support

A person's perception that others are there to help them in times of need

Empathic concern

According to Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis, observers who empathize with a person in need (that is, put themselves in the shoes of the victim and imagine how that person feels) will experience empathic concern and have an altruistic motivation for helping.

Personal distress

According to Batson's empathy-altruism hypothesis, observers who take a detached view of a person in need will experience feelings of being "worried" and "upset" and will have an egoistic motivation for helping to relieve that distress.

Reciprocal altruism

According to evolutionary psychology, a genetic predisposition for people to help those who have previously helped them.

Kin selection

According to evolutionary psychology, the favoritism shown for helping our blood relatives, with the goals of increasing the likelihood that some portion of our DNA will be passed on to future generations.

Violence

Aggression intended to cause extreme physical harm, such as injury or death

Which of the Big-5 personality traits is most closely related to prosocial behavior?

Agreeableness

Empathy-altruism model

An altruistic theory proposed by Batson (2011) that claims that people who put themselves in the shoes of a victim and imagining how the victim feel will experience empathic concern that evokes an altruistic motivation for helping.

Weapons effect

The increase in aggression that occurs as a result of the mere presence of a weapon.

Negative state relief model

An egoistic theory proposed by Cialdini et al. (1982) that claims that people have learned through socialization that helping can serve as a secondary reinforcement that will relieve negative moods such as sadness.

Arousal: cost-reward model

An egoistic theory proposed by Piliavin et al. (1981) that claims that seeing a person in need leads to the arousal of unpleasant feelings, and observers are motivated to eliminate that aversive state, often by helping the victim. A cost-reward analysis may lead observers to react in ways other than offering direct assistance, including indirect help, reinterpretation of the situation, or fleeing the scene.

Aggression

Any behavior intended to harm another person who does not want to be harmed

Why do psychologists sometimes avoid using the term "happiness"?

Because it refers to different things to different people

Why do many people assume that levels of violence in the world have increased over time?

Because of frequent exposure to violent images in mass media.

Why are people more likely to like people who like them back?

Because people tend to seek reciprocity in friendships

According to evolutionary psychology, what is the cause of prosocial behavior?

By helping our family we increase our chances of survival and passing on family DNA

Amy loves all animals so when she sees an injured squirrel she moves it to safety even though she is worried that the squirrel may bite her. What theory of prosocial behavior explains Amy's behavior?

Cost-benefit analysis

Who is more likely to help a friend with personal problems?

Women

What is the relationship between alcohol and aggression?

Experimental evidence indicates that alcohol causes an increase in aggression

Catharsis

Greek term that means to cleanse or purge. Applied to aggression, catharsis is the belief that acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry feelings and aggressive impulses into harmless channels.

________ is often the most important goal for many people, but it can be difficult to describe or define and even harder to achieve.

Happiness

Punishment

Inflicting pain or removing pleasure for a misdeed. Punishment decreases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.

Relational aggression

Intentionally harming another person's social relationships, feelings of acceptance, or inclusion within a group.

How does Companionate Love differ from Consummate Love?

It does not include passion

If you've just recently moved to a new city and know few people, who are you likely to become friends with?

People who live near you

________ refers to the tendency to help blood relatives more than others.

Kin selection

An eight-year-old likes to hit her younger sister. How should her punishment be administered to make it the most effective?

She should be punished consistently and be told how to act when she gets angry at her sister.

Daniel gets really mad at Ed and thinks to himself, "I hate him so much and wish I could punch him in the face." Is this an example of aggression?

No, it is not aggression because aggression must involve a harmful action

Prosocial behavior

One person is in need and the other acts to eliminate the person's need

What finding from research on couple relationships supports the matching hypothesis?

People tend to marry others who are similar in age, education, and social class

Proximity

Physical nearness

________ occurs when people incorrectly decide that help is not necessary based on others' reactions to the situation.

Pluralistic ignorance

Helping

Prosocial acts that typically involve situations in which one person is in need and another provides the necessary assistance to eliminate the other's need.

________ refers to helping others who have helped us in the past.

Reciprocal altruism

Pluralistic ignorance

Relying on the actions of others to define an ambiguous need situation and to then erroneously conclude that no help or intervention is necessary.

What effect does violent media have on aggression?

Research shows that all forms of violent media can increase aggression

Prosocial behavior (vocab)

Social behavior that benefits another person

_______ is the scientific term for happiness and life satisfaction - thinking and feeling that your life is going well, not badly.

Subjective well-being

According to Durkheim, a person with no close relationships would face what risk?

Suicidal feelings

Received social support

The actual act of receiving support (e.g., informational, functional)

Functional distance

The frequency with which people cross paths with others

Functional distance (vocab)

The frequency with which we cross paths with others

Mere-exposure effect

The notion that people like people/places/things merely because they are familiar with them

Support support network

The people who care about and support a person

Bystander intervention

The phenomenon whereby people intervene to help others in need even if the other is a complete stranger and the intervention puts the helper at risk.

Hostile expectation bias

The tendency to assume that people will react to potential conflicts with aggression.

Availability heuristic

The tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood of an event by the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.

Hostile attribution bias

The tendency to perceive ambiguous actions by others as aggressive

What is one of the key beliefs of people who are high in the characteristic of helpfulness?

They feel helping is something they're good at

Who helps more, men or women?

They help about the same, but in different ways

______ events such as social rejections, hot temperatures, loud noises, and crowding can all cause aggression.

Unpleasant

Diffusion of responsibility

We're less likely to help if there are other potential helpers

Diffusion of responsibility

When deciding whether to help a person in need, knowing that there are others who could also provide assistance relieves bystanders of some measure of personal responsibility, reducing the likelihood that bystanders will intervene.

One child calls another child "mean and smelly". Is this an example of aggression?

Yes, it is aggression because it involves intentional harm

Julie starts a rumor that Wendy only showers once a week. This makes the other kids at their school avoid being friends with Wendy. Is this an example of aggression?

Yes, it is relational aggression

Someone just parked in a parking space you were waiting for. What should you think about in order to feel less irritated?

You should imagine that the person has to get to a bathroom quickly

Research on the "weapons effect" showed that participants decided to administer more intense shocks when they saw ________ on the table.

a gun

Research on sexual desire's impact on the brain finds that sexual desire ________.

activates the part of the brain that responds to food and drugs

Individual differences in ______ are positively correlated with violent behaviors.

aggressiveness

What is the maximum number of people we can really know?

around 150

In Moreland and Beach's (1992) study of mere exposure, people liked the woman who ________.

attended the most classes

When Maurice's boss gives him a compliment, or his girlfriend surprises him with a special dinner, he becomes elated. These small moments add up to his overall happiness and are examples of ________ happiness processes.

bottom up

Trying to understand why people do not always help a stranger in need is the focus of _______ research.

bystander intervention

Intimacy

caring, closeness, and emotional support

One of the most basic principles of attraction is that people prefer ________ stimuli.

familiar

What are the three components of Sternberg's triangular theory of love?

intimacy, passion, and commitment

Aggression refers to any behavior that ______ another person who does not want to be harmed.

is intended to harm

When ________ we often check what others nearby are doing to help us decide whether or not to take action.

it isn't clear if help is needed

How does the effectiveness of online dating compare to face-to-face?

it's still not clear

Which type of social networks are most beneficial to people's health and well-being?

large and diverse social networks

Close friends help protect our ________ during stressful times.

mental and physical health

People who play hockey to "get out their aggression" will likely be ______ aggressive compared to those who do not.

more

Individual differences in psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and ________ are related to aggression.

narcissism

Alex has compassion for suffering, understands what others are going through, and wants to help them. Alex can be described as being high in ________.

other-oriented empathy

The prosocial personality orientation includes ______ and helpfulness.

other-oriented empathy

Experiencing high levels of ________ is consistently associated with increased happiness and well-being.

perceived social support

Females are much more likely than males to engage in ______ aggression.

relational

When people are ________, gender differences in aggression shrink.

strongly provoked

What motivates altruism?

the desire to improve the welfare of others

Actions that involve ______ would be considered both aggressive and violent.

the intent to cause extreme physical harm

Actions that involve ______ would be considered aggressive but not violent.

the intent to cause extreme psychological harm

Hostile perception bias

the tendency to perceive social interactions in general as being aggressive

What does research show about the quality of online friendships in comparison to face-to-face?

they can be equally or more intimate

According to the diffusion of responsibility phenomenon, why would someone be less likely to offer help when in a crowd than if they were alone with a person in need?

they feel less personal responsibility in a crowd

How do people with close friends at work compare to those who do not in terms of job satisfaction?

they report being much more satisfied

Who may benefit the most from Internet friendships?

those who lack face-to-face social skills

Why do people help according to the negative state relief model?

to make themselves feel better

Shavonne is a very optimistic person. She tends to see the good in situations, and others say she is "perpetually pleasant." This is an example of a ________ happiness process.

top-down

Researchers found that in workplaces where friendships between employees could be developed and maintained people ________.

were less likely to leave their job