PSY 252: Social Psychology Final Exam

What differences are found by research? Does the research support the "gender binary"?

- Males: Mental rotation, spatial perception, assertiveness, body esteem, direct aggression, masturbation, porn -Females: Spelling, language, speed, production, indirect aggression -masculinity and femininity exist on a continuum

What is differential gender socialization and how does it occur (differential reinforcement & differential modeling)?

-differential reinforment: reward children for appropriate gender behavior, punish for wrong behavior -differential modeling: gender is learned observationally, children hear that gender matter

According to the evolutionary (biosocial) explanation for gender differences, why are the genders different? What criticisms of this approach were given in class?

-gender differences are the result of evolution and contributed to survival of the species -successful societies are gender equal -cant prove differences aren't culturally constructed, differences not large enough to justify gender discrimination

How do social psychologists explain disparagement/derogation humor (i.e., racist/sexist/heterosexist jokes)? Why do they believe we make jokes at the expense of other groups and why do they think such jokes are problematic

-provide a source of downward comparison, we feel good about our group and ourselves because were better than whoever were making fun of -laughter projects prejudice, can be interpreted as a microaggresion

What is sexual objectification and self-objectification? What are their negative effects?

-sexual objectification: reduction of women to object, worth based on sex appeal -self-objectification: body shame, sexual dissatisfaction, conformity

How does Myers use this to explain cross-cultural differences in murder rates?

-social norms may encourage or discourage aggression -weapons trigger aggression-cause us to appraise the situation with a more aggressive mindset

Latane and Darley's helping "decision tree"

-step 1: notice the situation, barrier distraction -step 2: interpret situation as one where help is needed, barrier bystander apathy, pluralistic ignorance -step 3: take responsibility, barrier diffusion of responsibility -step 4: decide how to help, barrier don't know what to do -step 5: take action, barrier embarrassment or awkwardness

What is cooperative education? Why does it work? What is the jigsaw classroom?

-students meet in ethnically diverse classrooms, each student must teach something to their group -reduces prejudice in 3 months, increases minority performance

What are the three components of the male role? In what ways do they create problems for men and boys?

-success: stress-related illness, low self-esteem -toughness: risky activities, aggressive, control emotions, reduced social support, drug alc abuse -anti femininity norm: restrictive emotionality, conflict between work and family, restricted affection between men

How does empathy motivate helping? How do Batson's and Cialdini's perspectives on this differ?

-when you feel anothers distress you want to help them relieve it -batson empathetic altruism hypothesis: pure altruistic helping occurs when we experience empathy for the victim -cialdini negative-affect theory of empathy and helping: empathy creates distress for us so we help to relieve it

What is the gender pay gap and why does it occur? What is the glass ceiling and how is it explained? What is the gender leisure gap?

-women make 76.5% of mens earnings -invisible barrier on how high women and minorities can go -gender leisure gap: women spend 27 hours/week doing household labor compared to mens 16 hours

How do individual-level variables interact with situational variables to affect the processes (such as cognitive appraisal and physiological arousal) leading to aggression?

...

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

1. Expectations of people or events are formed. 2. The expectations with various cues are communicated. 3. People tend to respond to these cues by changing their behavior to match them. 4. The original expectation then becomes true.

What was the Robbers Cave Study (Sherif study at the boys' camp) and how did it demonstrate the role of competition in creating intergroup conflict and superordinate goals in reducing it?

3 week camp for 11 year old boys, separated crated conflict but when working together they cooperated to solve problems

What are stereotypes? Where do they come from?

Generalized beliefs about a group come from social info, dramatic personal experiences

What are some common effects of prejudice on the "targets" of prejudice: What is minority stress? What is behavioral confirmation?

Minority Stress - being a target of prejudice can be painful and stressful behavioral confirmation: when our stereotypes influence how we behave towards someone that leads them to confirm our negative expectations

What evidence is there of increased materialism in the US? How does wealth affect happiness? Are rich people happier? How does the adaptation-level phenomenon and social comparison explain the relationship between materialism and life satisfaction?

UCLA says rich people are happier our tendency to judge our experience relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

What is discrimination

When prejudice leads to biased behavior towards "targets"

What are the effects of viewing violent pornography

aggression towards women, less support for gender equality

animal aggression vs human aggression

aggressive animals are more likely to mate and eat humans, aggression is more cultural hostile and deadly

What is prosocial behavior

any act that helps or is intended to help

Berkowitz's work on guns as aggressive cues (the weapons effect)

availability of weapons increases violence subjects shown guns gave more electric shocks

What is confirmation bias

beliefs about a group and its members guide info processing making more likely to notice behavior consistent with stereotypes

justification-suppression model

blaming someones personal characteristics on their race

What is the frustration-aggression hypothesis

blocked up goals lead to frustration which leads to aggression

How does gender as a social identity motivate us to perceive gender differences to be greater than they are?

boosts collective self esteem, boosts ingroup solidarity

What is the role of contact in prejudice reduction? What conditions need to be present before contact will reduce prejudice?

contact can make a difference, conditions necessary: equal status contact, personal interaction, cooperation towards a superordinate goal, social support

What is the sociocultural perspective on gender? How do we teach our children about what is expected of them based on their gender?

culture encourages gender differences in activites, expressions, and appearance gender learned as part of socialization process during childhood

What is the role of education in prejudice reduction What is the role of "controlled processing" in prejudice reduction

discourages prejudice due to social norms we can override automatic processing by choosing to ignore our stereotypes

What is displaced aggression? How might it explain the high rates of violence in the U.S. relative to many other countries?

displaced aggression: cant attack true source so transfer to safer target tv fuels perception of deprivation, gap between standard of living and what you want/expect

mirror imagery

each side has the same distorted view of the other

What is catharsis? Does it work?

emotional release by acting or thinking of acting aggressive, not supported

consequences of global warming

environmental destruction, population increases lead to demand increase for resources to produce food clothing and shelter

conflict spiraling

escalating sequence of attack/counter attack

perceptual distortion

everything they do bothers you

prosocial aggression antisocial aggression

ex-spanking ex-mugging

negative affect reciprocity

eye for an eye

What is ingroup-outgroup bias? How do prejudice and ingroup-outgroup bias boost self-esteem? Why do people from traditionally discriminated-against groups often score higher on collective self-esteem?

favor our own group, other is bad feel better when we belong to a group, see our group as superior

How can prejudice arise from frustration and displaced aggression

frustrated group blames misfortunes on another group

Once we have gender stereotypes, how do these lead us to perceive differences as larger than they might really be? In other words, how do gender stereotypes operate as gender schemas that lead to confirmation bias?

gender stereotypes lead to role assignment which lead to more stereotypes

What genetic/biological influences are there on aggression? How does alcohol affect aggression? How about testosterone?

heredity influences sensitivity to aggressive cues alcohol unleashes aggression when people are provoked, deindividuates and disinhibits high testosterone=high aggression

What is prejudice

hostile or negative attitude toward a group and its members

How might teachers' expectations influence student performance

if a teacher thinks you will perform well, youre likely to do better and if they think youll perform poorly it is likely you will

Regression towards the Average

if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average on its second measurement—and if it is extreme on its second measurement, it will tend to have been closer to the average on its first.

How can self-fulfilling prophecies result in "behavioral confirmation"

if someone expects you to behave in a certain way then you will

What do social psychologists recommend to reduce aggression

ignore aggressive behavior, reinforce nonaggressive teach conflict resolution strategies, prevent early

what are the five consistent effects of violent video games on aggression

increases arousal, increases aggressive thinking, increases aggressive feelings, increases aggressive behaviors, decreases prosocial behaviors

How can we learn to be aggressive? Bandura (1963) study showing how children may learn aggression from "modeling

learn how and who to harm from observation children who see adults beat bobo model the behavior

What does research say about the effects of viewing violence on television? Why does TV violence viewing have these effects (social learning theory/imitation, disinhibition, & priming)?

media primes aggressive behavior regular association to media violence causes desensitization

gender role conflict

negative consequences of "not being a man"

negative-affect theory of empathy and empathic-joy hypothesis

negative-affect theory of empathy and helping: empathy creates distress for us so we help to relieve it empathetic joy hypothesis: helping motivated by the helpers high

autistic hostility

not talking to each other

What is "old-fashioned" prejudice? What is modern prejudice?

old prejudice was blatant, modern is subtle

what environmental influences are there on aggression

painful incidents, heat, attacks, and crowding

What is social identity theory? What is collective self-esteem?

part of self concept derived from group membership gain self-esteem from group identifications

What does it mean to say "prejudice is often a social norm"? How can it be encouraged via normative pressure? How can it be fostered via informational pressure?

people are prejudice because they don't know what to think/want to fit in

What is the outgroup homogeneity effect

perception that outgroup members are more similar than ingroup members

how do psychologists define aggression, instrumental aggression, hostile aggression

physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone aims to injure arrises out of anger and impulse

meta-conflict

reciprocal negative acts create additional sources of conflict

What are the two main social norms that motivate helping

reciprocity norm and the social-responsibility norm

From a social categorization point-of-view, how does ingroup-outgroup bias contribute to biased processing of ingroup-outgroup actions and result in the ultimate attribution error?

selective memory, positive schema for our group, negative for outgroup

smoke-filled room and seizure experiments.

smoke pouring into testing room was more likely to be reported by individuals working alone than groups of 3

What is institutional discrimination

societal and organizational practices that perpetuate the subordination of a group

How does superstitious behavior arise out of illusory correlations

something happens one time, assume it'll happen everytime and create superstitious behavior

What are microaggressions

subtle discrimination

What is the situational model of helping

the decision to help is complex and is influenced by situational factors

What is the gender similarities hypothesis? Do most studies find gender differences? Of the studies that find differences how big are the differences?

the genders are more similar than we think, most studies find no differences, most differences found are very small

Illusions of Control

the tendency for human beings to believe they can control, or at least influence, outcomes that they demonstrably have no influence over.

How are stereotypes a cognitive source of prejudice leading to "implicit bias"?

to believe is to see, prejudice operates subconsciously

How does prejudice arise out of just-world thinking?

uncomfortable with injustine, attribute to lack of abilty, effort, or inferiority

What are the disadvantages of the traditional female gender role

unfairly restricts individuals and interferes with self-actualization

What is the cognitive (social cognition/social categorization) approach to prejudice? What is the typical way that people handle cases that contradict their stereotypes?

us vs. them, categorize people as ingroup out group we create an "exception to the rule" if our beliefs are contradicted

How do our preconceptions control our interpretations

we see the world through tinted glasses, our biases control how we perceive things

How does social exchange theory explain helping

we weigh the costs and benefits of helping

What is an illusory correlation

when two things that "stand out" or are more salient are seen as going together, when in actuality there is no relationship between them. (overgeneralize a few, vivid instances)

How can our prejudices lead to self-fulfilling prophecies/behavioral confirmation? Word, Zanna, & Cooper study

white college students interview whites and blacks, treat blacks worse and then they perform worse. when they treat whites the same way they also perform poorly