Psych. Ch. 12 Social Psychology

Remington, a successful lawyer, is hiring a new administrative assistant for his office. As he sorts through the applications for the position, he makes the comment, "I hope none of these applicants are blondes. I just hate blondes. They're all dumb, and they're ruining this country, in my opinion." In this example, Remington is exhibiting:

Discrimination

There is a cognitive basis to prejudice and often an emotional component as well. When prejudice is displayed behaviorally it is called:

Discrimination

During a discussion about junk food with her two adolescent children, Ms. Kozena made it very clear that she thought junk food was disgusting and it upset her to see her children eat it. Ms. Kozena's negative feeling about junk food best illustrates the ______ component of attitudes.

Emotional

The common tendency in individualistic cultures to attribute the behavior of others to internal, personal characteristics, while ignoring or underestimating the effects of external, situational factors is called:

Fundamental attribution error

When Eileen told her father that someone had stolen her new cell phone at school, he said that she should have known better than to take her phone to school. "It was bound to happen," he said. This example most clearly illustrates:

Hindsight bias

Before Mark had even heard the details of Allison's car accident, he commented, "Allison is so absentminded, I'm sure it happened because she was probably talking on her cell phone and not paying attention." Mark's response illustrates

Blaming the victim

Kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in the middle of the night, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was held captive for over nine months by a drifter and his female companion. When police finally found her and the details of her captivity were widely publicized, some observers publicly questioned why the girl never tried to escape or get the attention of the police. Such responses illustrate an attributional pattern called:

Blaming the victim

The most widely used test to measure implicit attitudes and preferences is the ____, developed by psychologist Anthony Greenwald and his colleagues.

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Nadine is a casual dresser who loves wearing jeans and hates worrying about clothes. However, when she went for a job interview she decided to wear a good tailored suit. Nadine's behavior best illustrates the importance of...

Normative social influence

The textbook defines _______ as behavior that is motivated by the desire to gain social acceptance and approval.

Normative social influence

The performance of a behavior in response to a direct command is called:

Obedience

Your textbook discusses a number of problems associated with stereotyped thinking. Which of the following is one of those problems?

Once formed, stereotypes are very hard to change.

_________ is defined as a negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group.

Prejudice

Which of the following is a criticism of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that was discussed in the text?

The ease with which certain associations are made may reflect familiarity with cultural stereotypes, rather than personal bias prejudice.

In Milgram's original study, fir the "teacher" protested that he wished to stop or that he was worried about the "learner's" safety, what did the experimenter do?

The experimenter said, "the experiment requires that you continue."

Muzaffer Sherif's work will 11-year old boys at a summer camp demonstrated that:

When situations were created that required cooperation and the joint efforts of both groups, conflict and hostility between them were reduced,

Soloman Asch set up an experimental situation in which participants were asked to identify which of three comparison lines was identical to a standard line. His research was designed to answer a straightforward question, namely:

Would people still conform to the group if the group opinion was clearly wrong?

According to the textbook, an attitude is formally defined as:

a learned tendency to evaluate some object, person, or issue in a particular way that may be either positive, negative or mixed.

Milgram described the details of his experimental design to three groups: psychiatrists, college students, and middle-class adults. He asked each group to predict how subjects would behave. The results of this survey showed:

all three groups were wrong in their predictions

While eating at a restaurant, you see a waiter's serving tray tilt and an avalanche of food and beverages splatters on four people. "What a careless, clumsy idiot," you mumble to yourself as you resume eating. You have just committed an attributional bias called:

fundamental attribution error

If a teacher uses the jigsaw classroom technique, it is likely that the children will:

have higher self-esteem and greater liking children in other ethnic groups.

Frank, who is an engineering student, thinks that his fellow engineering students are really a very diverse bunch of individuals. It appears that frank views his in-group as being quite:

heterogeneous

______ are evaluations that are automatic, unintentional, difficult to control, and are sometimes, but not always, unconscious.

implicit attitudes

Victoria is a fifth-grader in Zender Elementary School. Like most students in her school she believes that her school is the best in town. This ex: best illustrates:

in-group bias

The tendency to judge the behavior of the members of your group more favorably than the behavior of members of other groups is called:

in-group bias.

Nestor belongs to the cross-country ski club at his college but is not a member of the downhill ski club. In terms of basic social categories, Nestor's cross-country club members are the _____, and the members of the downhill ski club are the _____.

in-group; out-group

The social group to which a person belongs is called the _____, and the social group to which a person does not belong is called the _____.

in-group; out-group

When we want to be correct but are uncertain or doubt our own judgment, we may look to the group as a source of accurate information. This is referred to as:

informational social influence

Steve frequently expresses his extreme attitude about gun control legislation. He is very knowledgeable about the topic, and he has a vested interest in the subject. According to your textbook, Steve:

is very likely to behave in accordance with his attitudes.

Zelda is researching the topic of prejudice for a term paper. If she does a thorough job, she is likely to conclude that:

racial and ethnic groups are far more alike than they are different.

When their community was threatened with flooding, two rival groups ended up working together to try to save the town from the overflowing river. Based on Muzafer Sherif's findings, it is probable that the joint effort of the two groups to achieve a common goal may lead to:

reduced conflict and increased harmony between the two groups.

Student did poorly on exam and blamed her low score on the unfair exam and lousy professor. When the grades in the course were curved and she received an A, she conducted that she had real talent and mental capacity for logical scientific thinking. This illustrates:

self-serving bias

Although the ______ is common in individualistic cultures such as Australia and the United States, in collectivistic cultures, such as Japan and China, the ______ is more common.

self-serving bias; self-effacing bias

Social psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on a broad range of topics. According to the textbook, the two key research areas in social psychology are:

social cognition and social influence

The textbook defines _____ as a cluster of characteristics that are associated with all members of a specific social group, often including qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define the group

stereotype

Being aware that your social group is associated with a particular stereotype can negatively impact your performance on tests or tasks that measure abilities thought to be associated with that stereotype. This is a description of:

stereotype threat

Half the female participants were told that males typically did better than females on the math test they were about to take, and the other half were told that the test did not produce gender differences. The first group scored lower on the test than did the second group. These results are explained by a phenomenon called:

stereotype threat

Ms. Lovejoy thinks that all teenagers are reckless, promiscuous, irresponsible delinquents. Ms. Lovejoy appears to be associating qualities that are unrelated to the objective criteria that define this particular age group. This ex. illustrates:

stereotyped thinking

What is the Just-World hypothesis?

tendency of people to believe that the world is fair and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

What is not a common attributional bias or explanatory pattern?

the bystander effect

Ms. Juarez divides her class into small, ethnically diverse groups. She then requires each student to become an "expert" in one aspect of an overall project and then teach it to other members of his of her group. Ms. Juarez is using:

the jigsaw classroom classroom technique

The tendency to see members of out-groups as very similar to each other is called:

the out-group homogeneity effect

When Catherine decided to major in engineering, her parents thought she should reconsider her decision because engineering majors are "logical, analytical, conservative, aggressive, and always male." Her parent's' view that all engineering majors are similar illustrates:

the out-group homogeneity effect

Milgram's first obedience study was conducted with 40 male subjects. Andrea is participating in a replication of one of Milgram's obedience experiments, in which the 40 subjects are all female. You can safely predict that:

the results of the female-only study will probably be the same as the male-only study

Students hard work and ability landed a big contract for her company, she would not accept the credit, insisting it was pure luck. When she failed to get the contract in another situation, however, she said it was her fault for not trying hard enough. This ex. illustrates:

the self-effacing, or modesty, bias.

The tendency to attribute successful outcomes of one's own behavior to internal causes and unsuccessful outcomes to external, situational causes is called:

the self-serving bias

Hindsight bias is:

the tendency, after an event has occurred, to overestimate one's ability to have foreseen or predicted the outcome

For as long as she can remember, Farrah has avoided talking to any Yumtucks because she thinks that all Yumtucks are self-centered and irresponsible. However, when Farrah's 4year old wandered out of the yard and strayed a couple blocks, it was the Yumtucks who found the child and brought him home safely. Based in the direct experience with a Yumtuck, Farrah is likely to:

think that this particular Yumtuck is an exception to the stereotype

Blaming the victim is the tendency:

to blame an innocent victim of misfortune for having somehow caused the problem or for not having taken steps to avoid or prevent it

In a science fiction story about hostility aliens invading Earth, the major opposing political powers join together to combat the extraterrestrial threat. Generalizing from Muzafer Sherif's research, it would be safe to conclude that this act of cooperative behavior would lead to:

Reduced conflict and increased harmony between the major powers.

Student is interested in how we form impressions of other people, how we interpret the meaning of other peoples behavior, and how our behavior is affected by out attitudes. Student's interest most closely resembles an area of social psychology called:

Social Cognition

Dr studies questions such as why we conform to group norms, what compels us to obey authority figures, and the condition under which people will help a stranger. Dr's research focuses on an area of social psychology called:

Social Influence

The branch of psychology that studies how a person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by the presence of other people and by the social and physical environment is called:

Social Psychology

________ is the social psychologist who is best known for his pioneering studies of conformity.

Soloman Asch

If you were a subject in Milgram's original obedience experiment, it is very likely that:

you would play the role of the teacher and get to "shock" that he actually received.

Social psychologists have found that we are most likely to behave in accordance with our attitudes when:

we have a vested interest in the subject.

In Milgram's original obedience experiment, subjects who were assigned the role of "teacher":

were deceived about the real role of the learner and the4 level of shock that he actually received.

To remove any doubts about the legitimacy of the shock generator in Milgram's obedience study, the:

"teachers' were given sample shock

According to the discussion in your text, which of the following is TRUE about the effect of attitudes on behavior?

Attitudes do influence behavior in many instances.

In a seminar discussion on death penalty, Bertha said she believed that the ultimate penalty should be applied to the ultimate crime of murder. Bertha's statement best reflects the_____ component of attitudes.

Coginitive

Adjusting your opinions, judgements, or behavior do that they match the opinions, judgements or behavior of other people, or the norms of a social group or situation is called:

Conformity

When Justine made an oral presentation in class, Meagan joined her classmates in applauding at the end, even though she did not think the presentation was very clear or well organized. Meagan's behavior in this example illustrates:

Conformity

Milgram was influenced by Asch's conformity research, but he wanted to take Asch's research a step further and investigate a more important question. What was the question that Milgram wanted to study?

Could people be pressured by others into committing an immoral act or taking an action that violated their conscience, such as hurting a stranger?

What were the basic results of psychological Stanley Milgram's original obedience study?

Despite hearing protests from the learner in another room, two-thirds of the subjects continue to administer shocks all the way to the 450-volt level.

Natalie suggests that the aggressiveness of her brother's new friend is the result of his friend's low self-esteem. Natalie's inference about the cause of the behavior of her brother's friend is an example of:

an attribution

The mental process of inferring the causes of people's behavior, including one's own, is called:

attribution

Leslie is concerned about the environment and consistently sorts her garbage by placing paper, plastic, metal, and glass in their respective recycling containers. This example best illustrates the _____ component of attitudes.

behavioral

Attitudes:

can have cognitive, behavioral, and emotional components.

Stereotypes are in-group/out-group bias form the _______ basis for prejudicial attitudes.

cognitive

After Judy made a choice between two fairly equal alternatives, she emphasized the negative features of the choice she rejected, which is called a "sour grapes" rationalization, and she focused on the positive features of the choice she committed to, a "sweet lemons" rationalization. This ex. illustrates the effects of:

cognitive dissonance

Before Jackie left for college, she told her friend Lisa that she thought sororities were filled with snobs and that she would never consider joining one. But during Jackie's first week on campus, she was approached by a sorority member who invited her to a social function and encouraged her to pledge. After Jackie attended the party, she told Lisa, "Sororities do a lot of good things for the community. They're really service organizations." Jackie's change in attitude to match her behavior reflects which of the following concepts?

cognitive dissonance

Roger was not sure which of two candidates to vote for in the race for mayor. However, after he cast his vote, he felt much more confident that he had made the correct choice. The change in the strength of Roger's attitude about the candidate he voted for is probably the result of:

cognitive dissonance

The "sour grapes" rationalization and the "sweet lemons" rationalization that occur after a person has made a choice between two relatively equal alternatives are examples of the effects of ______

cognitive dissonance

When people experience an unpleasant state of psychological tension resulting from two inconsistent thoughts or perceptions, they are said to be experiencing:

cognitive dissonance