Psych 110: Chapters 11 & 14 Test Review

what are attribution errors in regards to processes that maintain stereotypes?

-negative behaviors of other individuals are internally attributed -positive behaviors of other individuals can be externally attributed

what is the Asch Conformity Study?

-participant is asked to state which comparison line matched the standard line in a room full of actors giving the wrong answer -8 people around the table, 7 actors -1st round = everyone says correct answer -2nd round = others start answering incorrectly -results: 75% of participants conformed to the group's wrong answer on at least 1 of 12 trials and across all 12 trials, participants conformed to the wrong answer 37% of the time

what is the psychoanalytic theory (freud's theory)?

-psychic determinism = we do not choose our actions but are driven by unconscious forces -childhood experience (early experiences form our adult personality) -personality = interplay between id, ego, and superego -differences in relative strength = differences in personality

what are the 3 elements of bias?

-stereotypes (cognitive) -prejudice (affective) -discrimination (behavioral)

what is the recurring theme in the lesson about conformity and obedience?

-we underestimate the power of the situation to affect how we behave -good people will do bad things if placed in the correct situation (ex: conformity, deindividuation, authority figures)

when are we less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error?

-we've been in the same situation -if we have been encouraged to feel empathetic toward others who we are observing

what are the 4 techniques of persuasion?

1) Central vs. Peripheral Route 2) Foot-In-The-Door Technique 3) Door-In-The-Face Technique 4) Low-Ball Technique

what are processes that maintain stereotypes?

1) Illusory Correlation 2) Attribution Errors 3) Out-Group Homogeneity Effect 4) In-Group Bias 5) Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

what are the 3 mechanisms to reduce cognitive dissonance (aka change attitudes)?

1) change thought #1 2) change thought #2 (or behavior) 3) add a new thought that resolves the inconsistency

what is the model of helping?

1) notice an event 2) interpret an event as an emergency 3) assume responsibility 4) know how to help 5) decide to implement help

what are the theories of personality?

1) psychoanalytic 2) behavioral 3) social cognitive 4) humanistic 5) trait

what are the roots of prejudice?

1) realistic conflict theory 2) just-world hypothesis 3) sociohistorical theory

what is another famous example of deindividuation? describe it:

Abu Ghraib (2003): -US military guards severly abused Iraqi inmates -similar environment as Zimbardo's prison study -shockingly similar results of Stanford prison experiment

what is the most famous example of deindividuation? describe it:

Stanford Prison Experiment: -randomly assigned male Stanford college students to be guards or prisoners -promoted anonymity bc given dark sunglasses and they forgot they were being recorded -lowered sense of accountability bc Zimbardo was the "prison warden" allowing it to happen -these students actually fell into the roles assigned and began to take on that job seriously

what is an example of the 3 mechanisms to reduce cognitive dissonance?

change thought #1 = original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I smoke" change: "smoking isn't so bad" "I smoke" change thought #2 (behavior) = original: original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I smoke" change: "smoking has negative health consequences" "quit smoking" add a new thought (rationalization) = original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I smoke" change: original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I'm going to die anyway" "I smoke" or original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I smoke" change: original: "smoking has negative health consequences" "I don't smoke very much" "I smoke"

what is a microaggression?

"term used for brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward any group, particularly culturally marginalized groups" either that you engage in or that you witness -ex: a cashier asks for ID from an African-American man before accepting his credit card but does not ask for white customers (implies a belief that Black people steal) -ex: someone asks an Asian-American person, "So where are you really from?" (implies that they are a foreigner in their own country)

what happened in the blue eyes, brown eyes experiment?

(1969) Jane Elliot (3rd grade teacher) assigned students to have preferential or poor treatment based on eye color -day 1 = began treating the blue-eyed children as superior to brown-eyed children -groups began to conform to expectations (blue-eyed children felt superior and called the brown-eyed children names while the brown-eyed children became submissive and insecure) -teachers repeated this throughout the 1970s to teach the dangers of discrimination

what is the barnum effect?

- tendency of people to accept high base rate descriptions (descriptions that apply to almost everyone) as accurate

what are some examples of deindividuation?

-KKK -Internet Trolls -Riots -Stanford Prison Experiment -Abu Ghraib

what can we do to combat prejudice and discrimination?

-become aware -be willing to modify your stereotypes in a light of disconfirming evidence -combat prejudice by increasing cooperative and enjoyable contact between groups -watch out for microaggressions

what is aversive racism?

-conscious = sincere desire to be nonracist -unconscious = prejudiced -bias "leaks out" under certain conditions -when you are racist in the way of trying to not be racist. You are trying so hard because you want to be a 'good person' and all, but then that can 'leak out' when put in a situation where you can blame your actions on other things besides racism and make excuses for yourself (know the chart for bystander effect & selection decision)

what is explicit prejudice?

-consciously aware of it (less common now)

what are the 3 components of personality?

-id -ego -superego

what is downward social comparison?

comparing ourselves with people who seem inferior to use in some way

what is upward social comparison?

comparing ourselves with people who seem superior to use in some way (ex: comparing ourselves to people we are competing with for a job, scholarship, etc)

what is a belief?

conclusion about factual evidence (ex: that door is green)

what is normative influence?

conforming to fit in and gain acceptance within a group (don't want to be an outlier or go against the group)

what is mass hysteria?

contagious outbreak of irrational behavior (ex: few people panic = spreads to everyone & can transmit a collective delusion)

what is the just-world hypothesis?

deeply rooted need to view the world as fair and that all things happen for a reason - "blaming the victim" which makes us feel safe bc we feel as though we have the power to prevent the event from happening to us (ex: "they should have known better than to be walking alone at that hour")

how can we prevent groupthink?

encourage disagreement and critical thinking

what is social facilitation?

enhancement of performance when others which only occurs when we find the task easy

what is pluralistic ignorance?

error of assuming that no one in a group perceives things as we do -"it must just be me" -in ambiguous situations, we look to others for behavioral cues....but everyone else is doing the same thing

what is the central route of persuasion?

evaluate merits of persuasive arguments carefully and thoughtfully -focus on informational content of argument (ex: when shopping for a car = is it safe? good gas mileage? reliable? last a long time?)

what is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

expecting an outcome and unknowingly contributing its occurrence -have an expectation of another person or what a person is like which influences how they act toward that person which causes that person to behave consistently with the original person's expectations (ex: if a society believes that a particular group is stupid and uneducable, it will act in accordance with beliefs -educational resources will not be provided to that group -consequence = group will not attain adequate education -result = society's original belief will be confirmed)

what is a situational influence with attributions?

external; outside factors ex: your instructor came into class angry because he's having a bad day

what is the stereotype element of bias? (definition, how they are different, and be able to apply them)

generalization about a group of people in which identical characteristics are assigned to virtually all members of the group, regardless of actual variation among the members -resistant to change on basis of new information -are a form of schema -helps us process lots of info quickly (lump people together) -not adaptive if we cling to them inflexibly & are unwilling to modify them in light of disconfirming evidence -can impact our perception of events/stimuli (ex: blonds are dumb)

what is group polarization?

group discussion strengthens the dominant positions already held by individual group members (convince each other we are right - not helpful!)

what is the prejudice element of bias? (definition, how they are different, and be able to apply them)

hostile or negative attitude toward people in a distinguishable group, based solely on their membership in that group (could be positive, too - in favor or against) (ex: sexism)

what are the two reasons we conform?

informational influence & normative influence

what is a dispositional influence with attributions?

internal; enduring characteristics (like personality traits, attitudes, intelligence) ex: your instructor came into class angry because he's a mean and angry person

how does deindividuation work?

it increases feelings of anonymity, lowers sense of accountability, and increases obedience to group norms

what is the peripheral route of persuasion?

leads us to respond to persuasive arguments on the basis of snap judgements based on appealing aspects -focus on surface aspects of the argument (ex: when shopping for a car = red and shiny! looks like it goes vroom vroom! my neighbor would be soo jealous! I'd look so hot driving that car!)

what is the realistic conflict theory?

limited resources lead to conflict between groups and this results in increased prejudice and discrimination between groups -scapegoat hypothesis (need to blame other groups for our misfortunes) frustration = aggression = blame others

what is the foot-in-the-door technique?

making a small request before making a bigger one (ex: you ask your professor for a one day extension on an assignment first before asking for a longer extension)

what is door-in-the-face technique?

making an unreasonably large request before making the small request we're hoping to have granted (ex: asking for a 10% pay raise knowing you'll be turned down so that you can get 5%) -may work because initial large request induces guilt in recipients

what is superego?

morality principle (tells us what is right and wrong) -often the very strict and uptight part of us that tells us when we are doing something wrong

how are conformity and obedience different?

obedience is following orders whereas conformity is how someone adjusts their behavior (willingly) to go along with a group

when does the ultimate attribution error occur?

occurs when in-group members... 1) attribute negative outgroup behavior to internal causes (such as dispositional) 2) attribute positive outgroup behavior to external causes (such as luck, fluke, or exceptional circumstances)

what is implicit prejudice?

outside of your awareness -more common now because some stereotypes are in our cultural experience (ex: media, news coverage of events) so we learn them -increasing awareness can help reduce them -uncorrelated, at least in some domains

what is the bystander effect?

people are less likely to intervene when others are present -90% of the time, people are more likely to help when they're alone -higher number of bystanders = less likely it is that any one of them will help

what is social loafing?

people are prone to exert less effort in a group than when alone

what is diffusion of responsibility?

people in groups feel less responsible for a project when one of a group than when by themselves -the more people present at an emergency, the less each person feels responsible for the negative consequences that occur from not helping -presence of others makes us feel less responsible

what is personality?

people's typical way of thinking, feeling, and behaving -pervasive pattern -something consistent across different situations -separates our personality from our attitudes -traits not states -becomes mores table over time -combination of nature + nurture

what is out-group homogeneity effect?

perception of out-group members as more similar to one another than are in-group members -tendency to view all individuals outside our group as highly similar -not something we are born with -tendency for members of a group to see themselves as more diverse than they are seen by an outgroup (ex: Italians see themselves as quite diverse and different from one another whereas Americans view Italians as more similar to each other)

what is the behavioral theory?

personality determined by: -genetic influences -contingencies/con sequences in the environment (personality is largely a result of learning + rewards/punishments) personality does not cause behavior (it consists of behavior)

what is the Id?

pleasure principle (do what feels good) -animalistic part of brain that tell us to give into our urges

what is a projective personality test?

projective personality tests (test-taker must interpret ambiguous stimuli = people project aspects of personality onto the stimuli & allow person to respond freely (ex: Rorschach example = tell me what you see out of the picture)

what is ego?

reality principle (balances out the id and superego) -helps us to make realistic choices in our day to day lives

what is social psychology?

scientific study of our thoughts, feelings, and behavior about other people and how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior

what are the trait models?

search for the underlying characteristics/traits of personality to categorize people (temperament, enduring characteristics, and abilities) -big 5 if most popular/researched (NEO personality assessment) ----Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (OCEAN) - assumes we are aware and can name personality traits (contrast with Freud)

how does social contagion relate to mass hysteria?

social contagion leads to mass hysteria because if people look to others to see how they respond and they panic (social contagion) then everyone begins to panic (mass hysteria) ??

what is social contagion?

spread of emotions, ideas, or behaviors through a group of people (ex: when situation is ambiguous so you look to others to see how they respond - fire alarm goes off)

what is the low-ball technique?

start by getting a commitment to something first then adding on more after the fact (ex: ask someone to hold a book, when they say yes, ask them to hold 10 other items) -already committed = harder to back out

how are stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination different?

stereotypes are common generalizations about a group of people (not sensitive to individuals) where prejudice is one's feelings about someone strictly because of their group their in and discrimination is acting upon those negative feelings

what is deindividuation?

tendency of people to engage in uncharacteristic behavior when stripped of usual identities

what is the ultimate attribution error?

tendency to attribute negative behaviors of entire groups to their shared (internal) characteristics ex: cheerleader gets bad grade so she's not smart = evidence cheerleaders aren't smart cheerleader gets good grade so she's lucky = exception to the rule

what is groupthink?

tendency to choose group agreement over critical thinking -don't want to dissent in group situations = focus on agreeing -don't want to be the only one = social pressure to keep quiet -leads to bad decisions! = increases confidence in decisions -cults use this to their advantage

what is in-group bias?

tendency to favor individuals within our group over those outside of our group tend to feel more empathy for people who are part of our in-group (ex: volunteer fans are the best)

what is the fundamental attribution error?

tendency to rely on dispositional (internal) attributions for others' behavior // assigning responsibility to others' internal characteristics for their behavior & underestimate the power of the situation for others & less likely to do this to ourselves (ex: when someone cuts you off in traffic, you assume it's because they're a bad driver - less likely to think this when you cut someone off in traffic)

what is a stereotype threat?

the apprehension experienced by members of a group that their behavior might confirm a cultural stereotype

what are the sociohistorical theories?

the historical and systemic construction of groups have created and perpetuated prejudice -slavery and racism -racism as a social construction (ex: meaning of "white" has changed over time as Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans used to be seen as inferior white races)

what is the illusory correlation?

the perception that there is a relationship between two things, but in reality no relationship exists (a false impression that two variables correlate) -happens because of a joint occurrence of two distinct or memorable events (Group B and negative event) -people are more likely to remember a minority group member + a distinctive event (White Americans overestimate the arrest rate (distinctive event) of African Americans (minority) ex: phone always rings when you're in the shower

what are attributions?

the process by which individuals explain the causes of behaviors and events

what is the need-to-belong theory?

theory that humans have a biologically-based need for interpersonal connections

what is the social comparison theory?

theory that we evaluate our beliefs, attitudes, and abilities by comparing them with others

what is the social cognitive theory?

thinking is an important part of personality key components: -interpretation of experience -personality = interaction between cognition, behavior, and environmental factors -observational learning (good and bad habits)

what is the discrimination element of bias? (definition, how they are different, and be able to apply them)

unjustified negative or harmful action toward the members of a group simply because of their membership in that group (ex: not considering someone for a job because of their race)

what is cognitive dissonance?

unpleasant mental experience of tension resulting from two conflicting thoughts or from a conflict between our thoughts and behaviors

what is the difference between upward and downward social comparison?

upward social comparison can generally make us feel bad about ourselves whereas downward social comparison can make us feel good about ourselves and is comforting

what are the humanistic models?

we are free to choose our own path key components: -conscious awareness and free will (we will deliberately make choices and have agency) -self (our self-concept, beliefs about who we are, influence us) -conditions of worth (what do we need to do in order to feel worth? (ex: never make mistakes), often formed in childhood, when conditions broken = feel unworthy) -self-actualization = our desire to develop our inner potential to our greatest extent -Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: -to achieve self-actualization, need to accomplish other tasks first -important to focus on physiological and safety needs before social ones and esteem

what is informational influence?

we see other people as a source of information to guide our behavior (copy others when we do not know how to behave)

how does social loafing work?

when people are in groups, they slack off which can lead to diffusion of responsibility

when does diffusion of responsibility get in the way of helping?

when people are trying to assume responsibility

when does pluralistic ignorance get in the way of helping?

when people are trying to interpret an event as an emergency

when are people more likely to be aggressive?

when they are both physically aroused and experiencing a strong emotion such as anger -people tend to lash out at those who make them angry or to displace, or redirect, their anger toward children, pets, or other defenseless targets

when are people more likely to help?& what conditions are necessary?

when they are by themselves

what is social disruption?

worsening of performance when others are present which occurs when we find the task difficult

how is an attitude different from a belief?

a belief is based on factual evidence whereas an attitude includes an emotional component/opinion

what is conformity?

a change in behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people

what is the difference between a projective personality assessment and objective personality assessment?

a projective personality assessment is where people project aspects of one's personality on the stimuli and allows for more creativity whereas an objective personality assessment has a fixed set of answers to choose from

how is a stereotype threat different from self-fulfilling prophecy?

a self-fulfilling prophecy is where someone will act on their beliefs which results in the group acting in accordance with those beliefs whereas stereotype threat is where the group is aware of the stereotypes and are afraid that their behavior will confirm those

what is obedience?

adherence to instructions from those of higher authority (ex: Milgram Shock Experiment)

what is aggression?

any action intended to harm another person

what are implicit attitudes?

attitudes that are automatic

what are explicit attitudes?

attitudes we are aware of

what is an attitude?

belief that includes an emotional component -can be positive, negative, ambivalent, or neutral (ex: I like that the door is green)

what is an objective personality assessment?

Structured personality tests (objective measures) -"Structured" =respondents only chose from fixed set of answers -rate statements on a scale of "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" or as "true" or "false" in describing you -"objective" = no interpretation in scoring (ex: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) & NEO Personality Inventory)