Chapter 11: Social Psychology

Professor Stewart wrote a very positive letter of recommendation for a student, despite his doubts about her competence. After writing the letter, he began to develop a more favorable attitude about the student's abilities. Which theory best explains why?

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Behaviorally displayed prejudice is called _____.

Discrimination

Yoko was late for work because traffic was particularly heavy. When she arrived at the office, she apologized to her boss, insisting that it was her fault for being late; if she had been less lazy, it wouldn't have happened. According to the Culture and Human Behavior box in your text, blaming an accidental occurrence on an internal, personal disposition rather than on situational factors is called the _____ bias.

Self-Effacing Bias

One's tendency to attribute one's own successes to internal, personal causes, while attributing failures to external, situational causes, is called the _____ bias.

Self-Serving Bias

What is our tendency to take credit for our successes and downplay our role in our losses?

Self-Serving Bias

When a person attributes the successful outcomes of one's own behavior to internal causes and outcomes that are unsuccessful to external, situational causes, the person likely has an explanatory style known as:

Self-Serving Bias

The Culture and Human Behavior box features a type of explanatory style more often found in collectivist cultures, known as the _____ bias, which involves blaming our failures on internal, personal factors and attributing our successes to external, situational factors.

Self-effacing bias

Dr. Yen is designing an experiment on obedience to authority. She will set up a learning laboratory, and will have participants deliver loud blasts of sound as punishment for incorrect answers (which will be given by a confederate of the researcher). How can Dr. Yen increase the likelihood of the participants' obedience?

She can make sure the participants know that she has a Ph.D. from a prestigious university.

According to the notion of the bystander effect, if you have a heart attack in public, it is probably better for you if there is a _____ around.

Small group of people

Martha walks into the library at her college and sees a classmate. Martha whispers, "Hi." Her whispering is likely in concordance with the "rules" or expectations for appropriate behavior in a particular social situation, referred to in social psychology as _____.

Social Norms

Pietro notices that when there are empty seats on the bus, nobody ever sits beside a stranger. However, when the bus is crowded, people sit beside strangers all the time. He notices that the same thing happens in movie theaters, the school cafeteria, and even the classroom. Pietro's observations suggest that people's behavior in these situations is governed by:

Social Norms

Walter is visiting New York City for the first time. He takes the subway and notices that, although people sit very close together on the subway, they do not make eye contact. This would likely be described by social psychologists as an example of behavior that is conforming to:

Social Norms

_____'s experiments at Yale University involved deception and are among the most famous studies of obedience.

Stanley Milgram

Which is MOST clearly associated with prejudice?

Stereotypes

One of Manfred's college classmates was from Turkey, and the guy loved turkey sandwiches, turkey pizza, turkey burgers, and turkey sausages. Manfred now believes that the main diet of all people from Turkey is centered around meals made from turkey meat, and he has little doubt why the country is called Turkey. Manfred's beliefs about the culture of Turkey reflect ethnic _____.

Stereotyping

Mrs. Torre sends her children to private elementary school and has gotten to know several fellow parents at the school. Mrs. Torre's neighbor, Mrs. Klucik, home-schools her children. Mrs. Torre does not take part in the activities and group events which Mrs. Klucik does as a home-schooling mother. Social psychologists would consider Mrs. Torre to be part of the _____of the elementary school parents and Mrs. Klucik to be part of the _____ of the home-school parents.

in-group; out-group

The fundamental attribution error is more apparent in _____ than it is in _____.

individualistic Western countries; East Asian cultures

A phenomenon in which the presence of other people makes it less likely that any individual will help someone in distress because the obligation to intervene is shared among all the onlookers is called:

the Bystander Effect

The concept of diffusion of responsibility helps to explain the _____, which occurs when the presence of other people makes it less likely that an individual will help someone in distress.

the Bystander Effect

While walking 30 yards from the ocean shoreline, Mr. Hughes heard a swimmer cry for help. However, he continued walking because he figured that one of the many swimmers in the vicinity would provide help if it was needed. His reaction BEST illustrates:

the Bystander Effect

During a discussion on fast food and fast-food outlets, Reginald stated, "Fast food is great. I just love southern fried chicken, fries, coleslaw, and milkshakes." This statement represents the _____ component of Reginald's positive attitude toward fast-food restaurants.

Affective

The likelihood of helping another person, with no expectation of personal reward or benefit, describes _____.

Altruism

Cynthia thinks that her new neighbor is mean and snobbish. This _____ will likely influence Cynthia to act negatively toward her neighbor.

Attitude

The learned tendency to evaluate an object, person, or issue in a particular way, which could be positive, negative, or ambivalent, is called a(n):

Attitude

According to your text, political thoughts are MOST clearly:

Attitudes

During President Obama's campaign, he worked to instill hope, change, and international cooperation in voters. He was working to change:

Attitudes

When raising children, you work to instill in them a sense of good and bad. You are MOST clearly instilling:

Attitudes

_____ are feelings that are based on beliefs. They predispose people to react in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Attitudes

Jeanine has just been admitted to two colleges, College A and College B, both of which she is equally interested in attending. She finally decides to attend College A after lots of internal conflict and confusion. After sending in her deposit to College A, she can't stop thinking about all the negative things about College B and how she knows she made the right decision. Jeanine's original confusion is now resolved, reducing the _____ dissonance she experienced.

Cognitive

If you've been telling your new date how much you love watching football, and then your date mentions having season tickets for the local team, you will probably experience _____ if you actually lied to impress your date and you don't actually like football at all!

Cognitive Dissonance

Members of an _____ typically see themselves as being quite varied, or heterogeneous.

In-Group

Kyle is in sixth grade and, like most children in his school, believes that his school is better than all the other schools in town. Kyle's belief illustrates:

In-Group Bias

At a meeting in your office, three of your colleagues agree that the plan is correct "as is." You're not sure if the plan is correct or not, but you feel the pressure to get the plan out today, and if three of your colleagues think the plan is correct, they are probably right, so you agree with them. Your behavior illustrates:

Informational Social Influence

Part of why Joseph likes his job is because he can wear jeans and shorts to work. However, when he is invited out to a fancy dinner with his co-workers, he wears a suit and tie. Joseph's behavior illustrates the power of _____ social influence.

Normative

Fraser loves wearing sandals and hates wearing shoes. However, when he went out to dinner with his girlfriend's family, he wore shoes because he did not want to evoke their disapproval. Fraser's behavior illustrates the importance of:

Normative Social Influence

In making wedding preparations, Jason conforms to the expectations of his future bride's family, simply to win their favor. His behavior illustrates the importance of:

Normative Social Influence

The definition of _____ involves the performance of an action in response to the direct orders of an authority or person of higher status.

Obedience

Those perceived as different or apart from one's in-group, are called _____.

Out-Group

The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics and motives of others is referred to as:

Person Perception

_____ refers to the negative attitude toward people who belong to a specific social group.

Prejudice

Any behavior that helps another person, whether the underlying motive is self-serving or selfless, can be characterized as _____ behavior.

Prosocial behavior

People are likely to perceive themselves favorably. This is known as:

a self-serving bias

The behavioral component of an attitude is most reflected through:

action