Chapter 12: Social Psychology Norton InQuizitive, Social Psychology inquizitive
low-balling example
After a man decides to buy a plane ticket for $300, he finds that the final amount including taxes and fees is $365, but he still goes ahead with the purchase.
What are some of the results of the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype?
Attractive people are thought to be more intelligent. Attractive people are paid more for doing the same work. Attractive people are given lighter sentences for crimes. Attractive people are thought to be happier and more successful.
Sylvia is home alone with nothing to do except watch television. She finds herself paying close attention to an infomercial, which outlines five good reasons she should purchase her own food dehydrator. Sylvia is persuaded and decides to place an order. According to the elaboration likelihood model, this infomercial's persuasion took which route?
central
A person knows that soda is bad for her, so she makes up a reason to justify buying it.
cognitive dissonance
Someone who knows his blood pressure medication works but must be taken regularly, and yet doesn't make an effort to take it regularly, has a ______attitude toward taking his medication.
complex
Myra agrees to pick her sister up at the airport.
compliance
agreeing to do things requested by others
compliance
When Sally sees all her friends dressed in jeans for the school dance, she goes home and changes into her jeans
conformity
altering one's behaviors to match the behaviors or expectations of others
conformity
Implicit attitudes may affect a person's
decisions without her complete awareness.
cognitive dissonance
disconnect between attitude and behavior
If an audience is _____, the most convincing argument is one that _________. If an audience is ______ or already agrees with the person delivering the message, the best argument is one that ______.
If an audience is skeptical, the most convincing argument is one that considers both sides of an issue. If an audience is gullible or already agrees with the person delivering the message, the best argument is one that is one-sided.
Nowadays, it is not unusual for people to harbor racial prejudice even as they reject racist beliefs. This so-called modern racism, which is associated with a tendency to believe that
discrimination is no longer a serious problem, shows up when people are asked what they think about race-related social issues instead of what they think about other races.
Justification of effort happens when we
do something difficult, painful, or embarrassing in order to achieve a goal. Once that goal is met, we find it even more valuable than before.
Insufficient justification occurs when we
do something that we do not find enjoyable, without receiving a reward. Because we cannot change our behavior, we adjust our attitude.
When our behavior contradicts our attitude, the attitude is called complex. An example would be believing that a medication is
effective and yet not taking it.
explaining a person's actions by his personality without considering the situation
fundamental attribution error
What can we expect from a couple who have been married for two years?
*They will have sex about half as frequently as they did in their first year of marriage. *Their relationship is based on social support, friendship, and intimacy.
How does the just world hypothesis help us feel like the world is a saner, safer place?
-When bad things happen, we make personal attributions to a victim rather than situational attributions. -We try to use attributions to help us predict future events. -We justify crime by assuming that the crime victim was doing something wrong that caused the crime
Psychologists Latané and Darley conducted a study in which foul-smelling smoke started coming through heating vents in a room where participants were filling out a questionnaire. Place the participants in order based on how likely they were to go for help within six minutes, from most to least likely.
1. alone 2. naive participants 3.calm confederate
example- implicit attitude
A person does not recall seeing an advertisement for a certain brand of tea, but when shopping, she buys the tea.
example-- implicit attitude
A person does not recall seeing an advertisement for a certain brand of tea, but when shopping, she buys the tea.
What did Sherif (1961) find in his study on competition and cooperation among boys at a summer camp?
Both groups set aside their animosity when they had to work together to achieve a goal. Engaging in athletic competitions against each other caused hostility and tension between groups.
What types of attitudes most strongly predict one's behavior?
CORRECT: personally relevant formed through direct experience easy to remember
A group of movie executives is trying to decide which movie to produce. Under what circumstances would they be likely, due to groupthink, to produce an action film that most of them think is terrible? .
Correct Answer(s) The company is under pressure from investors to produce a hit. They are hoping for a quick meeting without a lot of discussion
After a hurricane breaks all the windows in the stores on Commercial Street, under what circumstances is Mark likely to start looting local businesses due to deindividuation?
Correct Answer(s) The town is large and Mark doesn't know many people there. Mark is emotionally aroused by the devastation of the storm.
social loafing
Individual effort decreases as group size increases.
Match the descriptions of relationships with whether they apply to passionate love or companionate love. Passionate Love = O Companionate Love = %
O - People feel an intense longing and sexual desire. O - Bob couldn't wait until the next time he could see Jeanne and kept daydreaming about kissing her. % - People feel a strong commitment to care for and support a partner. % - Wanda and Stuart enjoy taking long walks together and talking about their day.
social exposure
Our attitudes are influenced by our parents, peers, and societies. Correct label:
risky-shift effect
People in groups tend to make bolder decisions than people on their own.
An athlete runs against other athletes to try to get her best time.
Social Facilitation
What factors would make two people more likely to develop interpersonal attraction and friendship?
They are both kind and trustworthy. They have similar attitudes and backgrounds. They come into contact frequently. They look familiar to one another. They find each other physically attractive.
implicit attitude
attitude we are unaware of
classical conditioning
We form positive attitudes about a neutral object if it is paired with something that we are attracted to.
operant conditioning
We form positive attitudes about neutral behaviors that we are rewarded for.
What types of faces might we perceive as attractive?
a symmetrical face a composite image of 10 attractive faces averaged together a composite image of 30 normal faces averaged together
Wally believed the person who cut him off on the highway was inconsiderate and selfish, but he would cut someone off if he was in a hurry.
actor/observer bias
using personal attributions to explain someone else's actions, but using situational attributions to explain one's own actions
actor/observer bias
compliance
agreeing to do things requested by others
conformity
altering one's behaviors to match the behaviors or expectations of others
door in the face example
an refused to buy a $20 package of wrapping paper from the student fund-raiser, but then agreed to buy a $5 bar of chocolate.
Sitting in his car in traffic, Jasper sees two people fighting on a bridge, but no one can see him, so he does not feel the need to help.
anonymity
explicit attitude
attitude we are conscious of
social norms
expected standards of conduct
A blind woman needs help crossing a busy street in a crowded plaza, but the passers-by all think someone else will help her.
expecting others to help
personal attributions
explaining a person's actions based on his traits or personality
situational attributions
explaining a person's actions based on the context or external factors
fundamental attribution error
explaining a person's actions by his personality without considering the situation
Shelby sees a man lying on the sidewalk in a big city, but she doesn't help because she cannot determine whether the man is sleeping, drunk, or injured.
fear of making a social blunder
obedience
following the orders of a (Factors that influence people to follow the orders given by an authority.)
John believed the person who cut him off on the highway was inconsiderate and selfish.
fundamental attribution error
informational influence
going along with the crowd due to the belief that others have a good reason for their behavior
normative influence
going along with the crowd to fit in and avoid looking silly
A person does not recall seeing an advertisement for a certain brand of tea, but when shopping, she buys the tea.
implicit attitude
During lunchtime, Rolf noticed a long line of people at a food truck he had never seen before, and he joined the line
informational influence
Sally was a few minutes late to class, but when she got to the building where her class was held, she noticed all of the other students in her class leaving, so she turned around and left, too.
informational influence
Dana does a small favor for her neighbor, whom she doesn't know very well, and justifies it by telling herself that she likes her neighbor.
insufficient justification
Carl's first job was as a camp counselor. The hours were grueling and the pay was practically nothing. Carl spent most of the summer broke, miserable, and wondering why he'd accepted the job. However, 10 years later, his outlook was different. He remembered this job fondly and considered it a worthwhile life experience. Which effect describes his shift in thinking?
justification of effort
Efram decides to drive an hour away to go to a restaurant, and once he gets there he thinks the food is much better than at restaurants closer to home.
justification of effort
stereotype
mental shortcut for categorizing people
mere exposure effect
mere exposure effect -The more we see something, the more we like it.
prejudice
negative beliefs about people based on a stereotype
When Flint walks into class, he sees two girls laughing in the corner and gesturing at another girl and he perceives that they are making fun of her. He immediately thinks the two girls are mean-spirited people. This brief period of observation that was the basis for Flint's judgment is called
thin slice of behavior
Dominic just saw a red truck rear-end a little white sedan at a stoplight. When a teenage driver stepped out of the truck, Dominic felt sure that the teen either had been careless, had been texting while driving, or both. Dominic's bias can be explained by which of the following?
the fundamental attribution error
Compliance is
the tendency to do things requested by others
When the policeman tells the high school students to get out of the bathroom, they immediately leave.
obedience
following the orders of a person in authority
obedience
Social facilitation occurs when
one's performance is enhanced by the presence of others
When our behavior agrees with our attitude, the attitude is called simple. An example would be refusing to take a medication
out of a sincere belief that it is ineffective
Social loafing occurs when
people do not work as hard in groups because they expect others to pick up the slack.
The bystander apathy effect
people will fail to respond to a troubling situation when others are present, has been upheld in many subsequent studies
explaining a person's actions based on his traits or personality
personal attributions
Adrienne decides to go on vacation to Cambodia rather than Thailand, and once she arrives in Cambodia she thinks about how much better it is than Thailand
postdecisional dissonance
Jan cut a person off on the highway but told herself it was justified because she was late to work.
situational attributions
explaining a person's actions based on the context or external factors
situational attributions
Explicit attitudes are attitudes that
someone is aware of.
Which of the following facts about facial expressions are true?
true : Babies less than an hour old prefer to look at a human face rather than a picture of a blank head. The face communicates one's emotional state, interest, and trustworthiness. Westerners tend to view a person who looks them in the eyes as truthful and friendl false: Across cultures, looking people in the eye is considered a sign of trustworthiness.
discrimination
unfair treatment of a person as a result of prejudice
actor/observer bias
using personal attributions to explain someone else's actions, but using situational attributions to explain one's own actions
Postdecisional dissonance happens when
we have to choose between two desirable options. Once the choice is made, we tend to focus on the positives of the chosen option and negatives of the other.
Misha decides not to intervene in a bar fight between two large men for fear of getting hurt.
weighing the risks and benefits of helping
Festinger and Carlsmith demonstrated that
when people experience cognitive dissonance, they are motivated to change the attitude that conflicts with their actions, in order to reduce tension.
In Milgram's laboratory study, professionals predicted that 1 in 1,000 people would follow the orders of an authority figure even when it appeared that following these orders would harm another person. What were the actual results?
*When the participants could see or had to touch the confederate, obedience decreased. *When the authority figure gave orders over the phone, participants were less obedient. *When the authority figure ordered the participants to administer extremely high-voltage shocks, nearly two-thirds of them followed his orders.
Which of the following factors can lead to aggression?
*feeling frustrated *being raised with a culture of honor *feeling hot or afraid *watching violent movies
Determine whether the following ways of thinking about an argument are typical of the central or the peripheral route of persuasion according to the elaboration likelihood model. peripheral
*forming attitudes quickly *forming attitudes that are weaker and more likely to change *acting impulsively *influenced by attractiveness or status of the person making the argument
Determine whether the following ways of thinking about an argument are typical of the central or the peripheral route of persuasion according to the elaboration likelihood model. central
*using rational cognitive processes *forming strong attitudes that persist over time *thinking carefully and deeply about an argument *considering all information relating to an argument
example- cognitive dissonance
A person knows that soda is bad for her, so she makes up a reason to justify buying it.
foot in the door
A person signed a petition for her town to build a youth center. The next week, the same person agreed to help raise funds for the building.
Social psychologists Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) paid some participants $20 and other participants $1 to lie and say that a boring task was not boring. What were the results of the study?
Correct Answer(s) Those paid $1 later said they found the task more enjoyable. Those paid $1 experienced cognitive dissonance. Those paid $20 later still said they found the task boring.
What are some of the ways that prejudice can be reduced?
Correct Answer(s) cooperating with outgroup members on shared goals learning in a jigsaw classroom
group polarization
Group members believe something even more strongly after discussing it.
group think
Groups can make bad decisions based on pressure to maintain the group's cohesiveness
two main reasons that people conform to what others are doing
Normative influence (the tendency to follow social norms) and informational influence
Based on the bystander apathy effect, in which of the following situations are people more likely to offer help?
correct: *One person approaches another and asks for a dollar to buy a bus ticket home. *A person on an isolated hiking trail falls and asks the next hiker who walks by to help him to his car. *There are only two people in a parking lot and one of them is having trouble starting his car.
Solomon Asch was a social psychologist who did early research on conformity. He hypothesized that participants would not conform to give obvious wrong answers on an easy visual comparison task. What were some of the results of his research (1955)?
correct: *Participants conformed and gave obvious wrong answers when there were five confederates. *The reason participants conformed was to fit in with the group. *When there was a dissenter, the participant did not conform to give an obvious wrong answer.
Brenda is usually a very reserved young woman. When she goes out with her friends one night, her friends start dancing wildly on the dance floor. Brenda joins the group, begins to lose her self-awareness, and starts dancing wildly even though it would normally embarrass her. In this situation, Brenda's actions are best explained by
deindividuation
Clarence noticed that everyone in India was eating with their hands, so he ate with his hands also
normative influence
Though it would be easier to pick our noses, we use tissues instead
normative influence
A person goes out of his way to buy Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
explicit attitude
Which of the following are aspects of happy romantic relationships?
expressing concern for each other while disagreeing attributing good outcomes to each other and bad outcomes to the situation overlooking bad behavior in one's partner
