Ch.9 Social Psychology

Compare and contrast situational influences and dispositional influences and give an example of each. Explain how situational influences and dispositional influences might explain inappropriate behavior.

A situationism view is that our behaviors are determined by the situation—for example, a person who is late for work claims that heavy traffic caused the delay. A dispositional view is that our behaviors are determined by personality traits—for example, a driver in a road rage incident claims the driver who cut her off is an aggressive person. Thus, a situational view tends to provide an excuse for inappropriate behavior, and a dispositional view tends to lay blame for inappropriate behavior.

In Milgram's controversial study on obedience, nearly ________ of the participants were willing to administer what appeared to be lethal electrical shocks to another person because they were told to do so by an authority figure.

2/3

Prejudice is to ________ as discrimination is to ________.

feelings; behavior

The process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication is called

persuasion. Persuasion is process of changing our attitude toward something based on some form of communication.

Typically, bullying from boys is to ________ as bullying from girls is to ________.

physicals harm, emotional harm

Ageism is ________ and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age.

prejudice Ageism has both attitude and a behavior components.

The saying, "I scratch your back, you scratch mine." best fits with the concept of

reciprocity.

Recent economic problems combined with a refugee crisis has led many countries to blame refugees for taking jobs and inciting terrorist activities. In this example, refugees are victims of ________, as they are blamed because of frustration experienced within an in-group.

scapegoating Scapegoating refers to the act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal.

A person's knowledge about the appropriate behavior and sequence of events to follow in a new situation is called a/an ________.

script Scripts are about one's knowledge about expected behaviors in a specific context.

On his first day of soccer practice, Jose suits up in a t-shirt, shorts, and cleats and runs out to the field to join his teammates. Jose's behavior is reflective of ________.

scrpit

At his interview for a new position, Richard explains to the hiring committee, "As a sales representative for a major company, I often meet my sales quota and make lots of sales because of my hard work and skill. Sometimes, I don't make the quota, but it's because the company doesn't give me a list of potential customers."

self serving bias

Jeremy earned an A in his philosophy class and concluded that he had quite a talent for writing coherently and thinking logically. When he earned a C in his sociology class, he expressed dissatisfaction with the course content, the teaching ability of the professor, and the quality and clarity of the exams.

self serving bias

Making internal attributions for your successes and making external attributions for your failures is an example of ________.

self serving bias

The Westlake Hills Little League team just played a double-header. They won the first game, but lost the second one. Afterwards, the Westlake Hills coach said, "We played better than ever today. We would have won the second game also, but the umpires made some really bad calls."

self serving bias

Intrapersonal things focus on topics like emotions, attitudes that things that affect the ________, whereas interpersonal things examine topics like prejudice, discrimination, relationships, and ________ behavior.

self; group

As a field, social psychology focuses on ________ in predicting human behavior.

situational factors

Collectivistic cultures would be more likely to understand ________ factors when analyzing behavior, whereas individualistic cultures would be more likely to emphasize ________ factors.

situational; dispositional

Wendy is a good runner. In her last half marathon, her speed improved at every mile marker, where people were there to cheer her on. Her improved performance can be explained by

social facilitation. Social facility refers to improved performance when an audience is watching versus when the individual performs the behavior alone. In this case, Wendy is running well because other people are watching her run.

Imagine you are just learning how to play the piano, so you are not very good. You are practicing by yourself when suddenly your mother and her friends walk into the room to listen. You notice that your performance has changed. Research on ________ is most relevant to predicting how your performance will change in this situation. Specifically this research suggests that your performance will ________.

social facilitation; worsen

A(n) ________ is a set of group expectations for appropriate thoughts and behaviors of its members.

social norm

The Stanford prison experiment mostly showed that

social roles have an impact on behavior. The study demonstrated that social roles may lead people to do things they normally wouldn't do. However, Zimbardo's study has been criticized for its lack of methodological rigor.

A ________ is a widely held belief about the characteristics of a particular group that attributes those characteristics to all members of the group.

sterotype

In order for the central route to persuasion to be effective, the audience must be ________ and ________.

Analytical and motivated

One reason that people are willing to obey persons in authority who order them to engage in destructive behaviors is that ________.

the authority figure relieves those who obey of responsibility for their own actions.

Sam sees a woman stumbling and clumsily tripping over her feet on her way to her car. She looks like she is either drunk or ill in some way. Sam wants to help, but has groceries in his hand and sees other people who are closer to her car and will probably step up to help. This failure to act is called

the 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. Sam assumes that other people will help probably help her, so he doesn't need to.

Following his initial study, Milgram conducted several experiments on factors that might increase or decrease obedience to authority. In one of these experiments, Milgram showed that participants (that is, "the teachers") were less likely to obey the experimenter's orders if ________.

the experimenter's request to continue were issued over a telephone.

Joe Banks is running for mayor. First, he has a team walk through neighborhoods to handout buttons and small fliers. A week later, another team goes by to ask if people would be willing to put small signs in their yards. Two weeks after that, he goes through the neighborhood to ask for help on voting day. He is using methods of ________

the foot-in-the-door phenomenon The foot-in-the-door refers to when one person encourages another person to agree to a small favor, or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a larger item. Joe is asking starting with a small favor, and eventually asks for a big favor, which might have seen like a big deal had he asked about it right away.

The peripheral route to persuasion

typically results in less permanent behavior changes. The peripheral route is an indirect route that relies on association of peripheral cues (such as positive emotions and celebrity endorsement) to associate positivity with a message. Because of this shallow route to behavior change, it tends to lead to more fleeting behavior changes.

The concept of altruism refers to ________.

unselfish behavior that benefits others without regard to consequences for the self

Under what conditions will informational social influence be more likely?

when the answer is unclear; when the group has expertise

Peter's instructor was rather short-tempered the first day of class. Peter assumed the instructor was a rude woman. He did not know that she had woken up late, had a car accident on the way to work, and had been locked out of her office.

Fundamental attribution error

Regina has just learned that her neighbor's teenage son Anthony was involved in an automobile accident at a nearby intersection. She then remarked to her husband, "Well, Anthony's recklessness has finally got him into trouble!"

Fundamental attribution error

Sally did very poorly on her last math test. Her fifth-grade teacher concluded that Sally did poorly because she is not motivated to do well in school.

Fundamental attribution error

Compare and contrast social loafing and social facilitation.

In social loafing individual performance cannot be evaluated; however, in social facilitation individual performance can be evaluated. Social loafing and social facilitation both occur for easy or well-known tasks and when individuals are relaxed.

Before registering for the next semester, Karen asks her friends about a professor she doesn't know. They all say the professor is a great teacher. Consequently, Karen assumes that this person is a great teacher and enrolls in the course. Which type of conformity is this?

Informational conformity

According to the frustration aggression theory, what would you expect to happen after Mekayla bombs her performance at the piano recital?

Mekayla kicks her cat. . The frustration aggression theory predicts that when people are prevented from achieving their goals (e.g., performing well), that leads to negative affect, which people interpret as anger. Then, people express that anger in the form of aggression (e.g., kicks a cat).

________ designed the obedience study to test if subjects would give "learners" electric shocks when they missed test questions.

Milgram . Milgram's shocking experiment demonstrate obedience, which is a change of behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid aversive consequences.

Ken hates to wear ties but wears one to his sister's wedding to avoid his family's disapproval.

Normative conformity

Lucy publicly agrees with her seventh-grade classmates that parents should allow 13-year-olds to date. Later that day, she writes in her diary that she actually believes parents should prohibit kids from dating until they are at least 16 years old.

Normative conformity

While sitting at their Saturday morning coffee, one of John's friends told a joke that John thought was childish and stupid, but he laughed anyway because everyone else was laughing.

Normative conformity

Sam, a 17-year-old high school student, has just moved to a new city and enrolled in a new school. At his old school, there were strong social norms against teenagers smoking cigarettes. At his new school, several of his friends regularly smoke and say that "It's no big deal." As a result, Sam begins smoking also. Which type of conformity is this?

Normative conformity Normative conformity is based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance. Sam most likely started smoking once he enrolled in the new school in order to fit in and gain acceptance.

Which of the following statements is correct regarding social exchange theory?

People are motivated to maximize the benefits of social exchanges, or relationships, and minimize the costs.

Jeanette is a woman who highly values financial security, yet her fiance is financially irresponsible. How can Jeanette reduce the anxiety that she is feeling as a result of her cognitive dissonance? Please choose the best response.

She can either end her relationship or minimize the importance of financial stability, focusing on her fiancé's positive attributes.

________ is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings.

Situationism Situationism refers to view that our behaviors are determined by our environment (or the current situation that we're in), and not because of enduring dispositions like personality. For example, if someone cuts us off in traffic, we're likely to say that that person probably was in a hurry or that the weather conditions made it difficult for that person to see us.

A group of operating room nurses were asked about their beliefs and best practices in the operating room. When a doctor ordered some things during a procedure, all of the nurses obeyed, even if that meant doing things they previously said they would not do. This behavior is supported by

Stanley Milgram's obedience studies.

Lissana was waiting in line at the grocery store for about twenty minutes. When she finally got to the cashier, Lissana was angry that the cashier seemed to be so annoyed. Lissana wondered why the cashier worked there, believing that she was temperamental and had poor social skills and therefore, was in the wrong profession. Which bias does this best illustrate?

The fundamental attribution error Correct! Lissana was possibly making a fundamental attribution error, which occurs when we overestimate the cause of someone else's behavior to their disposition, rather than considering the role of the situation.

Imagine a group of corporate managers are experiencing groupthink. Which of the following is a symptom of this phenomenon?

When reaching a consensus is valued over critically evaluating the facts.

Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered in front of several eyewitnesses who did not intervene or call for help. According to social psychologists, this failure to assist Kitty was due to ________.

a diffusion of responsibility Diffusion of responsibility is the belief that others will or should take the responsibility for providing assistance to a person in need. This is more likely to occur when there are several bystanders, as in the tragic case of Kitty Genovese's murder.

Believing that old people think slowly is an example of ________, but refusing to hire a person because they are advanced in age is an example of ________.

a stereotype; discrimination Stereotypes are mental schemas, or quick mental representations of people or associations (e.g., old people are slow). Discrimination is an unjustifiable negative behavior toward others (e.g., not hiring someone).

It makes Stetson happy to see women excelling in what used to be seen as male-dominated jobs. This is an example of the ________ component of an attitude.

affective

Shaquallah gets upset if she sees anyone litter. This is an example of the ________ component of an attitude.

affective

Inferences that we make about the causes of our own and others' behavior are termed ________.

attributions Attribution is the term that we use when we make assumptions or inferences about the causes of our own and others' behavior.

Trevor votes for gun control laws and supports organizations that want to restrict access to guns.

behavioral

Dominic doesn't want to contribute to polluting his city, so he rides his bike to school each day instead of taking his car. This is an example of the ________ component of an attitude.

behavioral The behavioral component of an attitude includes the effect of attitudes on behaviors/actions. Riding his bike is an example of an action/behavior.

Phillip believes that affirmative action is an unfair policy that gives minorities preferential treatment. This is an example of the ________ component of an attitude.

cognitive

Giselle understands the harmful effects of smoking, and yells at her parents for smoking, but smokes anyway. She feels some psychological discomfort from her hypocritical behavior. This discomfort is called

cognitive dissonance Cognitive dissonance describes the psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person's behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to one's positive self-perception. The inconsistency between the fact that she understands that smoking is bad for her and her behavior of smoking leads to cognitive dissonance.

Michelle has spent five years and thousands of dollars getting her degree in journalism. Having finished, she is dismayed to find that she can't get the job she wants and settles instead for a less desirable job. As a result, Michelle comes to highly value her education as a learning experience. Michelle's feelings about her education can be understood in terms of ________.

cognitive dissonance theory

Diego teaches third grade and has heard that one of his students, Farrah, is coming to his class next year. She's supposedly a big troublemaker who likes to talk back to teachers, so Diego is not surprised when she talks back to him on the second day of school. He didn't recognize that she had been obedient and respectful o the first day, however. This experience is an example of ________.

confirmation bias When people engage in confirmation bias, they only attune to information that confirms their preconceptions or beliefs and do not seek out or pay attention to information that counters what they already believe.

Cognitive dissonance causes discomfort because it disrupts our sense of

consistency

The bystander effect likely occurs due to ________.

diffusion of responsibility

Attitudes describe our ________ of people, objects, and ideas.

evaluations

Examples of cues used in peripheral route persuasion include all of the following except ________.

factual information

When it comes to buying clothes, teenagers often follow social norms; this is likely motivated by ________.

fitting in

Which type of persuasion may account for the fact that Jane is willing to drive her friend an hour to the airport after her friend first agreed to only drive her to the store?

foot-in-the-door The foot-in-the-door refers to when one person encourages another person to agree to a small favor, or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a larger item. In this instance, Jane got her friend to agree to the smaller task first before asking about the bigger favor.

Bobby performed poorly during his soccer game, and gets in a fist fight with his brother later that night. According to the ________, Bobby became aggressive because of is disappointing performance.

frustration aggression theory The frustration aggression theory predicts that when people are prevented from achieving their goals (e.g., performing well during a soccer game), that leads to negative affect, which people interpret as anger. Then, people express that anger in the form of aggression

If group members modify their opinions to align with a perceived group consensus, then ________ has occurred.

groupthink

Question Cedrick is the floor manager at a restaurant. He calls a meeting with his staff to discuss scheduling, and he gives his idea first. Everyone quickly agrees with him and his new idea is implemented. This is an example of

groupthink. Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group makes a poor decision as a result of flawed group processes and strong conformity pressures. It seems that Cedrick, as the floor manager, has influenced others to agree with him. That is, his staff might not have wanted to disagree with him regardless of whether it was a bad idea out of fear or intimidation.

According to a study done by Sarah Master and her colleagues, which was most helpful in reducing pain?

holding hands of a loved one

Social loafing occurs when the task is easy and ________.

individual performance cannot be evaluated

According to the actor-observer bias, we have more information about ________.

influences on our own behavior

After hearing respected medical authorities lecture about the value of regular exercise, Rick, who has rarely exercised, begins to run and regularly goes to the gym.

informational conformity

The group we identify with and feel a part of is known as our ________.

ingroup Our in-group allows us to have a connection with a group and separate ourselves from others. This can occur over trivial differences.

Sternberg argues that the healthiest relationships have consummate love, which includes

intimacy, passion, and commitment.

The ________ is the belief that people get the outcomes they deserve.

just world hypothesis

In the Asch experiment, participants conformed due to ________ social influence.

normative

Celebrity endorsements of produces utilize the ________ to persuasion.

peripheral route The peripheral route is an indirect route that relies on association of peripheral cues (such as positive emotions and celebrity endorsement) to associate positivity with a message.