Exam 2

What is self-handicapping?

actions people take to handicap their own performance in order to build an excuse for anticipated failure

What are the ABC's of attitudes?

affect, cognition and behavior

What is NOT a way that we resist persuasion attempts?

ego-depletion

What do we use self-handicapping?

preserves self-esteem

Why are implicit attitudes important to study?

Allow us to examine attitudes that are often influenced by social desirability when self-reported

What is usually true of a persuasive communicator?

An attractive communicator is more persuasive than an unattractive communicator.

What is sterotyping?

Generalized beliefs about social groups and the traits or characteristics they are believed to share

Jennifer is an elementary school teacher. The boys and the girls in her class decide that they don't like each other, and refuse to sit near each other or play together during recess. Jennifer wants to reduce this "us" versus "them" mentality. What should she do?

Make the boys and girls work together on a project to earn an extra hour of recess

Research shows that, on average, ___________________________________________.

Men have higher self-esteem than women.

What is prejudice?

Negative emotional responses to or dislike of others based on group membership

What is self control?

Refraining from actions we like and engaging in actions we don't enjoy to attain a goal

What is the most common method used to measure personal self-esteem as an overall assessment of self-evaluation?

The Rosenberg Scale

How do prejudiced people come to perceive themselves as unprejudiced?

They compare themselves to extreme bigots and feel that they don't match up.

What is discrimination?

Treating others differently (usually negatively) based on group membership

What is plaurisitc ignorance?

We believe others have different attitudes than we do, even when they don't

What is the social comparison theory?

We compare ourselves to others in many domains and for many attributes.

What is the self-evaluation model?

We distance ourselves from those who perform better than us and move closer to others who perform worse than us (Protects our self-esteem and helps us maintain positive views of ourselves)

How can introspection be misleading?

We don't always know or have conscious access to the reasons for our actions.

When are women more likely to gain access to high-status positions?

When companies are in a time of crisis

According to the theory of planned behavior, what type of process precedes the decision to engage in a particular behavior?

a rational process

Calvin feels that he ought to be a straight A student, but actually gets mostly Bs. How does Calvin feel as a result?

anxious

What is ingratiation?

attempting to convey to others that we like them by flattering or praising them

What is self-promotion?

attempting to present our positive characteristics to other people

What are the self-serving biases?

better than average effect, self-serving attributions and unrealistic optimism

Terry went to lunch with his sister and her boyfriend. He finds his sister's boyfriend very irritating, but sat through lunch without lashing out. When he gets home, he opens his refrigerator and sees an apple, carrots, and a slice of cake. Which is Terry most likely to eat?

cake

According to the elaboration-likelihood and the heuristic-systematic models of persuasion, the two key factors that will determine whether we engage in effortful or effortless processing of information are one's ________.

capacity to process information and level of motivation

Encouraging majority members to think about the advantages they have enjoyed as a result of their majority status increases their ________ guilt, which, in turn ________ racism.

collective; reduces

One approach to reducing prejudice and bias is to encourage individuals to recategorize outgroup members and ingroup members as both being part of a larger single social entity. This approach is known as the ________ model.

common ingroup identity

What is intergroup comparison?

compare our group to other groups

We form attitudes via classical conditioning by ______________________.

developing associations

LaPiere's research with the Chinese couple pointed out the ________.

difficulty of predicting actual behavior from reported attitudes

What is ego depletion?

diminished ability to exert self-control after we have previously done so

Anna encounters someone who practices a different religion than she does. This person threatens her values. What emotional component of prejudice is Anna likely to experience toward this person?

disgust

Comparing yourself to someone less competent than you is called _________________, whereas comparing yourself to someone more competent than you is called _________________.

downward social comparison; upward social comparison

Some people feel that certain groups of people have some underlying, biologically-based features that distinguish that group from other groups. These supposed distinguishing features are known as ________.

essences

What attitudinal factor describes the extent of how strongly an individual feels about an issue?

extremity

Introspection is an effective means of understanding ourselves when the ________.

focus is on a conscious decision making process

One result of tokenism is that it ________.

helps to maintain the perception that the existing system is fair

What is self-depreciation?

implying that we're not as good as other people by building others up or bringing ourselves down

The contact hypothesis is based on the idea that ________.

increased contact between members of different social groups can help to reduce prejudice between the groups

What is self-verification?

we want others to agree with our views of ourselves

Research on self-control has demonstrated that engaging in self-regulation ________.

is like a muscle in that the more we practice self-control, the easier it becomes to self-regulate.

We hold values similar to, and identify with, ________.

members of our reference group(s)

Cognitive dissonance arises when we notice a discrepancy between our attitudes and our behaviors. One way we can reduce the dissonance is by ________.

modifying either the attitude or the behavior to be more consistent with each other

In a study, participants were told an African American student had been discriminated against in the grading of a paper, and had either complained about it or dealt with it by accepting responsibility. Participants evaluated the student ________ in the ________ condition than in the ________ condition.

more negatively; complaint; responsibility

Sandra isn't religious, but her mom tells her she has to go to church with her family until she moves out of the house. Because of this, Sandra goes to church anyway. Sandra is likely to __________________.

not change her attitude towards religion

According to the theory of planned behavior, our behavioral intentions are determined in part by our perceptions of whether others will approve or disapprove of the behavior, our perceptions of our ability to perform the behavior, and ________.

our attitudes toward a particular behavior

To whom do we compare ourselves?

people who are similar to ourselves (people in the same domains)

What is personal-versus-social identity continuum?

perceive ourselves as unique individuals at the personal level and as social group members at the social level

Ingratiation involves __________, whereas self-deprecation involves __________.

praising another person or using flattering language; lowering an audience's expectations of one's abilities

The belief that we can achieve a particular goal through our own actions is known as ________.

self-efficiency

Maria has an important job interview that knows she's unprepared for. She chooses to go out with her friends the night before the interview. When she gets rejected from the job, she blames the fact that she was hungover. What is this an example of?

self-handicapping

Brad goes to an accountant to have his taxes done. When he gets to the office, he is surprised to learn that the accountant is a woman. She seems to be very good at math, and also warm and friendly. Which piece of information is Brad most likely to remember about her?

she is warm and friendly

Training individuals to refute their own stereotypes is known as ________ training and has the effect of ________ stereotype activation.

stereotype negation; reducing

Positive self-talk such as "I am a lovable person" tends to ________.

sometimes decrease happiness for people with low self-esteem

John is relaxing and watching TV and sees a commercial for vitamins. John cares about his health and knows a lot about physical fitness. What aspect of the commercial is John likely to be persuaded by?

the quality of the message

What statement about implicit biases is FALSE?

they are usually controllable

Your brother feels good about his salary at his summer job until he realizes your salary is higher. This is an example of ______________________.

upward social comparison

What is the better than average effect?

view ourselves as above average on almost all traits

What is social identity theory?

we perceive ourselves and identify as members of a social group

Why do we engage in self-presentation?

to impress others

Alex doesn't really like the bar he and his friends go to on the weekends. He goes anyway because he thinks his friends really like it. However, his friends also don't really like that bar. What is this an example of?

pluralistic ignorance

Allison got a C on her biology exam. Her friend Mike got a B and her friend David got a D. Who is Allison likely to talk to after class?

David

Do attitudes effect behavior?

Depends on: ~ Situational factors ~ Attitude extremity ~ Immediate or distant impact ~ Attitude clarity and correctness ~ Personal experience

Due to the fact that we can define ourselves differently at any time, we have many selves. Can we say that one of these selves is the "true" self?

No, because all selves can be accurate, depending on the context and comparative dimension.

Gender-based discrimination affects a substantial proportion of the population by ________.

blocking women's progress in the workplace

What is intragroup comparison?

compare ourselves to other people who are members of our group(s)

What are the characteristics of an effective communicator?

~ Seem credible ~ Argue against their own self-interests ~ Are physically attractive ~ Are people we already like ~ Are people we feel we know already

How do we engage in self-presentation?

though self promotion, self verification, ingratiation and self-depreciation

Fred (male) and Ethel (female) live in the same retirement community. Both were born and raised in the United States. Who has higher self-esteem?

they both have the same levels of self-esteem

Introspection makes us think about what?

what makes us who we are

Social context determines what?

when attitudes predict behavior

What is the comparison of personal and social identity?

when we are categorizing ourselves using personal identity we use intragroup comparison so we can experience ourselves as an individual whereas when we are categorizing ourselves using social identity we use intergroup comparison so we can experience ourselves as a member of a group

Two football teams are playing against each other. Upon arriving at the stadium, the players shout insults at members of the other team. When the game is about to start, the lights go out in the stadium. What would reduce the teams' prejudice against each other?

working together to fix the lights

Rachel is about to take an exam in her statistics class. In order to ensure no one cheats, her teacher announces that she's giving female students Form A of the exam and male students Form B. It's likely that the female students will perform ____________ than the male students because ______________.

worse; gender was made salient

What are the characteristics of effective messages?

~ Are spread by word of mouth ~ Are subtle ~ Aren't based on fear

What are explicit attitudes?

~ Attitudes you are aware of ~ Controllable ~ Self-reported ~ "Slow" thinking - deliberative

What are implicit attitudes?

~ Attitudes you may not be aware of, or that are more subtle ~ Difficult to control ~ Various ways to assess these ~ "Fast" thinking - intuitive

How does classical conditioning contribute to attitude development?

~ Can affect attitudes using one of two pathways: Direct route- positive stimuli paired with target, transfer affect to target Indirect route- create "memory link" by pairing target with a specific stimuli ~ Can occur through subliminal conditioning- conditioning that occurs outside of conscious awareness ~ Newly formed attitudes influence behavior

What are the characteristics of effective persuasion?

~ Communicator (person doing the persuading) ~ Message (what's used to persuade) ~ Audience (people being persuaded)

What is cognitive dissonance's role in attitude change?

~ Dissonance is stronger when we lack justification for acting against our attitudes -Small rewards = greater attitude change -When we believe the action was freely chosen ~ Changing our attitudes to be consistent with our behaviors reduces dissonance

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

~ Heuristic processing ~ Use mental shortcuts, believe experts, trust what makes you feel good ~ Less effortful, automatic

Your mom wants to start exercising regularly. What is something that would help you figure out whether she'll follow through?

~ How she feels about exercising ~ How her family and friends feel about exercising ~ How much control she believes she has over exercising

What is the social identity theory?

~ Motivated to view our social groups positively ~ Other members of our social group can make us feel positive when they perform well ~ Compare yourself to other person as an individual - feel negatively ~ Compare yourself to other person as social group member - feel positively

What are positive self views?

~ Motivated to view ourselves positively ~ More powerful than desire to be accurate

What is self-discrepancy theory?

~ People's specific emotional reaction to a discrepancy depends which self-guide they do not meet ~ Actual - Ideal = Sad ~ Actual - Ought = Anxious ~ Actual - Feared = Relief

What is the theory of planned behavior?

~ Rationally make a decision to engage in a behavior ~ Consider multiple behavioral options and the consequences/outcomes of each ~ Make a decision about whether or not to act ~ Make behavioral intentions ~ Sometimes make a plan to implement our intentions ~ Intentions determined by three factors: 1. Attitudes toward behavior 2. Subjective norms 3. Perceived behavioral control

How do we resist being persuaded?

~ Reactance- negative reactions to others telling us what to do ~ Forewarning- resist persuasion when we know in advance that we're going to be targeted ~Selective avoidance- don't pay attention to information that challenges our attitudes ~ Counterarguments- come up with arguments that undermine attitudes different from our own

How do attitudes guide behavior?

~ Reasoned thought (Theory of planned behavior) ~ Spontaneous behavioral responses (Attitude-to-behavior process model)

What is the sociometer theory?

~ Self-esteem is an internal cue that monitors our social standing. ~ Informs us whether we are included or excluded by others ~ High self-esteem - relationships are going well ~ Low self-esteem - relationships are not going well

How do we form attitudes?

~ Social learning- learning by interacting with or observing other people ~ Conditioning- learning by association

What is the attitude to behavior process model?

~ Something activates our attitude ~ That attitude influences our perception ~ Knowledge about what's appropriate is also activated ~ Attitude and what's appropriate shape definition of event

How does instrumental conditioning contribute to attitude development?

~ Strengthening of responses that lead to positive outcomes or avoidance of negative outcomes ~ Learn which views are the "right" ones to hold ~ New contexts can change these attitudes

What is the central route to persuasion?

~ Systematic processing ~ Carefully consider message content and ideas ~ Effortful, deliberate

What is cognitive dissonance?

~ We experience discomfort when we realize our attitudes and behavior don't line up ~ We like consistency, so we don't like when our attitudes and behavior are inconsistent ~ Can sometimes lead us to change our attitudes

What is self-perception theory?

~ We look to our behavior when we feel uncertain about our feelings or beliefs ~ Alternative to cognitive dissonance theory

Why do we have self-serving bias?

~ We notice our own behavior more than others' behavior ~ We are motivated to self-enhance

What is a discrepancy?

~ a mismatch between our actual self and a self-guide ~ motivate change and result in emotional reactions

Explicit attitudes are ______________, whereas implicit attitudes are _______________.

~ deliberative; intuitive ~ measured directly; measured indirectly

What is "basking in reflected glory"?

~We feel good about ourselves when a member of our social group does well (we reflect their success onto ourselves)