PSYCh-CH. 12- Examples

How can group interaction enable groupthink & group polarization?

In group polarization, group discussions with the like-minded others cause us to feel more strongly about our shared beliefs and attitudes. Internet communication magnifies this effect, for better and for worse.Groupthink is driven by a desire for harmony within a group, causing its members to overlook important alternatives.

Causes of Aggressive Behavior

Instinctive behavior - Aggressive drives Learned behavior - Unintentional training - Unknown training

Olivia, a 21-year-old university student, is quiet, relaxed, reflective, and politically liberal. Research suggests that she would MOST likely become a good friend of:

Philip, who is reflective and quiet.

How is implicit prejudice studied/measured.

The IAT is usually administered as a computerized task where participants must categorize negatively and positively valenced words together with either images or words, e.g. white faces and black faces for a Race IAT

What are some social, emotional, and cognitive roots of prejudice?

The social roots of prejudice include social inequalities and divisions. Higher-status groups often justify their privileged position with the just-world phenomenon. We tend to favor our own group (ingroup bias) as we divide ourselves into "us" (the ingroup) and "them" (the outgroup). Prejudice can also be a tool for protecting our emotional well-being, as when we focus our anger by blaming events on a scapegoa

Mr. Rogers thinks that all teenagers are reckless, promiscuous, irresponsible delinquents. Mr. Rogers appears to be associating qualities that are unrelated to the objective evidence that define all members of this particular age group. Mr. Rogers is demonstrating:

a stereotype

what are the three components to prejudice?

cognitive, affective, behavioral Prejudice is an attitude composed of beliefs, emotions, and predispositions to action. The beliefs are frequently stereotypes (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized beliefs). The emotions are most often negative, and the action is usually discrimination (unjustifiable negative behavior).

The adage that "familiarity breeds contempt" is _____ by research on the _____ effect.

contradicted; mere exposure

Refusing to hire qualified job applicants because of the color of their skin is to engage in:

discrimination

Sara and a colleague are having dinner together. While they wait on their order, a Muslim family enters the restaurant and the woman is wearing a Hijab. Sara's colleague leans closer to her and says "I am not sure how she expects to eat with all of that junk covering her face." Her colleague is demonstrating:

prejudice

After the Greenway family accepted their neighbor's invitation to Thanksgiving dinner, Mrs. Greenway felt obligated to invite the neighbors to Christmas dinner. Sense of obligation BEST reflects the:

reciprocity norm

How is our behavior affected by the presence of others?

- social facilitation = mere presence of others arouses us, improving our performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing it on difficult ones. - social loafing = participating in a group project makes us feel less responsible, and we may free ride on others' efforts. - we may experience deindividuation—loss of self-awareness and self-restraint.

What did Milgram's obedience experiments teach us about the power of social influence?

- strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or give in to cruelty

what factors affect our attributions

1. Cultural factors2. When we explain our own behavior, we are sensitive to how behavior changes the situation.3. We are also sensitive to the power of the situation when we explain the behavior of people we have seen in different situations.4. Is most likely to occur when judging others' behaviors, not our own, and especially when a stranger acts badly.

What Are the Consequences of Our Attributions

A person's friendliness may be attributed to romantic interest or politeness. Unemployment and poverty may be attributed to personal dispositions. Our attributions-to a person's disposition or the situation-have real consequences.

how do conformity experiments reveal the power of social influence?

Automatic mimicry (the chameleon effect), our tendency to unconsciously imitate others' expressions, postures, and voice tones, is a form of conformity. Solomon Asch and others have found that we are most likely to adjust our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard when (a) we feel incompetent or insecure, (b) our group has at least three people, (c) everyone else agrees, (d) we admire the group's status and attractiveness, (e) we have not already committed to another response, (f) we know we are being observed, and (g) our culture encourages respect for social standards. We may conform to gain approval (normative social influence) or because we are willing to accept others' opinions as new information (informational social influence).

Bill was a very aggressive and violent youth. He often got into fistfights with the other boys and was even charged with assault when he was in his mid-twenties. Bill is now 65 years old and it takes a lot to make him angry. Why is this the case?

Bill's levels of the hormone testosterone have decreased.

A 14-year-old student slams a 13-year-old into a metal locker. A 15-year-old student spreads a cruel rumor about a classmate. Based on this information, which of these students who is being aggressive

Both the 14-year-old and the 15-year-old are being aggressive.

Who is MOST likely to have high levels of testosterone?

Daniel, who is 20 years old and has a wide face

How do attitudes and actions interact

attitudes are especially likely to affect behavior when external influences are minimal, and when the attitude is stable, specific to the behavior, and easily recalled.

what are the differences between implicit and explicit prejudice? how easy is it to alter or change each of these types of prejudices? what does each of these predict?

implicit prejudice (automatic)- gut responses that are biased and uncontrolled (standing further apart from a group you are biased against)explicit prejudice (conscious)- voiced attitudes against a group can be overt (traditional) and covert/subtle (modern)yesimplicit is not predicted by any of the big 5 personality factorsexplicit is predicted by some of the big 5 personality factors (higher openness to experience and higher agreeableness)Implicit (automatic) prejudice = gut responses that are biased and uncontrollableexplicit (conscious) = voiced attitudes against a group, can be overt (traditional) or cover/subtle (modern)both can be changed easier to change explicit

If researchers found that people take longer to identify words such as assertive and bold as strong when the words are associated with female faces, rather than with male faces, this finding would illustrate:

implicit prejudice.

A jury deliberated on a rape case for more than eight hours. Some of the jurors commented that the rape victim had a history of going out to various bars and had been dressed too provocatively. These jurors said that by looking like that, she had been asking to be assaulted. Their opinion is BEST explained in terms of the:

just world phenomenon

Bullying younger children earns Diego the attention and respect of many classmates. As a result, his bullying behavior increases. This MOST clearly suggests that his aggression is a(n):

learned response

The excitement that lingers after a frightening event can often facilitate passionate love. This is BEST explained by the _____ theory.

two factor

While visiting the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shortly after World War II, one German civilian is said to have remarked, "What terrible criminals these prisoners must have been to receive such treatment." This reaction is BEST explained in terms of:

the just-world phenomenon.