Chapter 11 Social Psychology

In Milgram's classic obedience study, what percentage of participants eventually used the highest setting on the shock generator -- 450 volts -- to shock the learner?

65 percent

Which of the following features was not one that participants were accurate at detecting or determining, based on viewing a photograph, having a brief interaction, or only watching brief video clips?

A person's artistic ability

Which of the following features were participants accurate at detecting or determining, based on viewing a photograph, having a brief interaction, or only watching brief video clips?

A person's romantic interest in the participant A person's propensity for violence A person's sexual orientation

In which of the following situations is groupthink most likely to occur?

A powerful leader is surrounded by people of lower status.

Giving aid to another person, even if it incurs a cost to oneself

Altruism

Which of the following summarizes the evolutionary psychology explanation of altruistic behavior?

Altruism is more likely to occur among family members, so helping a relative also means promoting the survival of the family's genes.

_____ are evaluations of people behaviors, beliefs, and concepts.

Attitudes

The view that people are motivated to discover the underlying causes of behavior, theirs as well as others

Attribution theory

What is the tendency for individuals to not help someone in need if other people are around?

Bystander effect

Which of the following are ways to reduce cognitive dissonance?

Change the attitude causing the dissonance. Change the behavior causing the dissonance.

Modifying attitudes, rationalizing attitudes, and/or changing behavior are all ways to reduce what?

Cognitive dissonance

What is the term for the conflict that occurs when a person holds two contradictory attitudes?

Cognitive dissonance

_____ cultures value the group and cooperation.

Collectivistic

What type of love occurs later in a relationship and is characterized by strong affection we have for those with whom our lives are deeply involved?

Companionate love

Which of the following are contributing factors in prejudice?

Cultural learning Feeling bad about oneself Competition for resources that are scarce

_____ occurs when being part of a group reduces personal identity and erodes a sense of personal responsibility.

Deindividuation

_____ can produce altruistic behavior even toward members of rival groups.

Empathy

_____ is the term used to describe a situation in which a person favors their own ethnic group over other groups. This does not simply mean taking pride in one's ethnic group; it also involves asserting the group's superiority over other groups.

Ethnocentrism

_____ psychologists focus on gender differences in the accounting of attraction. The goal for both sexes, by this account, is to procreate.

Evolutionary

Which type of psychology researchers have used personal ads as evidence of sex-based differences in mate selection?

Evolutionary psychologists

When research participants were in a room filling with smoke, they were less likely to get help if they were alone than if another bystander was present. (T or F)

False

Which of the following is an example of mere exposure?

Finding a person attractive because you bump into him or her frequently

_____ is a type of thinking in which group members share such a strong motivation to achieve consensus that they lose the ability to critically evaluate alternate points of view.

Groupthink

_____ people are more likely to help others.

Happy

_____ are cognitive shortcuts that enable us to make decisions rapidly.

Heuristics

______ racism refers to prejudicial attitudes that exist on a deeper, unconscious level.

Implicit

What is the Implicit Associations Test (IAT) designed to assess?

Implicit racism

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation, in which Whites and Blacks attended separate schools, was unconstitutional. This illustrates which strategy to diminish the effects of prejudice and discrimination?

Increasing contact between majority and minority groups

_____ cultures value personal accomplishments, differences, and uniqueness.

Individualistic

Which of the following has not been identified as a contributing factor in prejudice?

Meaningful contact with diverse individuals

_____ is a change in behavior in response to the commands of others.

Obedience

_____ is behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority.

Obedience

Groupthink is more likely to occur when the group does which of the following?

Overestimates their power and morality

What type of love is a state of intense absorption in someone that includes intense physiological arousal?

Passionate

The processes by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others

Person perception

What would a social psychologist be most likely to study?

Personal attitudes and the perception of others

_____ involves trying to change someone's attitudes and/or behavior.

Persuasion

An unjustified negative attitude or a positive attitude toward an individual based on his or her group membership

Prejudice

_____ love is also called passionate love and has strong components of sexuality and infatuation.

Romantic

expectations about a future event or behavior that act to increase the likelihood that the event or behavior will occur

Self-fulfilling prophecies

If people think that members of a specific group lack ambition, they may treat them in a way that actually brings about a lack of ambition. What does this illustrate?

Self-fulfilling prophecy

The way in which individuals think in social situations

Social cognition

_____ states that the way we define ourselves in terms of our group memberships is a crucial part of self-image and a valuable source of positive feelings about ourselves.

Social identity theory

one's fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype about his or her group.

Stereotype threat

Ethnocentrism involves which of the following?

Taking pride in one's group Asserting one's group as superior over other groups Encouraging in-group/out-group thinking

The physical attractiveness of an individual delivering a message can affect how persuasive the message is. (T or F)

True

Critics of evolutionary psychology theory cite which of the following findings to bolster their criticism of evolutionary theory in attraction?

Variation in mate preference Cross-cultural variation in gender behavior

When are attitudes more likely to guide behavior?

When a person has strong attitudes When a person rehearses and practices his or her strong attitudes When a person is very aware of his or her own attitudes

Which of the following is a circumstance in which researchers would not expect attitudes to guide behavior?

When the person's attitudes changed recently

_____ love is also called companionate love, and it occurs when an individual has a deep, caring affection for another.

affectionate

In "smoke-filled room" studies, smoke billowed from a vent in a room. If the research participant in the room was _____, he or she was more likely to get help quickly. If the participant was ____, he or she was likely to either take much longer to get help or not get help at all.

alone; with another bystander

In the field of social psychology, the term _____ describes an opinion or perspective that someone has towards a person, a behavior, a belief or a concept.

attitude

In an effort to maximize our sense of self-esteem, we may come to think that our own group (in-group) is _____ groups to which we don't belong (out-groups).

better than

A change in behavior brought about by following the standards of others

conformity

We all adhere to the rules and norms of society to some degree. The fact that we attend work or school clothed, rather than nude, is an example of _____.

conformity

Research consistently has shown that increasing the amount of interaction between people can _____ (increase or decrease) negative stereotyping.

decrease

A negative or harmful action toward a member of a group simply because they are a member of that group is called _____.

discrimination

To reduce dissonance by rationalizing the amount of effort we put into something is called _____.

effort justification

Giving aid to another person to ensure reciprocity is called _____.

egoism

_____ involves giving to another person to ensure reciprocity, to gain self-esteem, or to present oneself as powerful or caring.

egoism

The _____ likelihood model theory identifies two ways by which a message can be persuasive.

elaboration

A key social emotion in altruism is _____, a person's feeling of oneness with the emotional state of another.

empathy

Critics of _____ psychology theory argue that humans have the decision-making ability to change their gender behavior and are not locked in to past behavior patterns.

evolutionary

The _____ perspective of reciprocity is to secure the survival of the family's genes, even if the helped individual isn't actually family.

evolutionary

Social _____ occurs when an individual's performance improves due to the presence of others.

facilitation

The tendency for observers to overestimate the importance of internal traits and underestimate the importance of external situations when they seek explanations is referred to as ______.

fundamental attribution error

Communicators who are physically and socially attractive produce _____ attitude change compared to those who are less attractive.

greater

People are more likely to perceive variety and differences in members of an _____-group, whereas they are more likely to view members of an _____-group as "all looking the same."

in; out

We inflate the positive aspects of our _____-group and at the same time devalue other _____-groups.

in; out

We _____ the positive aspects of our in-group and at the same time _____ those of out-groups.

inflate; devalue

The influence other people have on us because we want to be correct is referred to as _____.

informational social influence

The bystander effect makes it ______ (more/less) likely an individual will help someone in need when other people are around.

less

When several students are assigned to do a group presentation, only three of the four actually do the required work. A social psychologist would refer to this as social _____.

loafing

The _____ effect means that the more we encounter someone (or something), the more likely we are to start liking the person or thing.

mere exposure

People are _____ likely to detect variations among individuals who belong to their in-group, compared to individuals who are part of their out-groups.

more

The influence other people have on us because we want them to like us is ____.

normative social influence

Milgram's classic study involving teachers, learners, and electric shock was designed to examine the power of _____.

obedience

_____ refers to the processes by which we use social stimuli to form impressions of others.

person perception

Evolutionary psychologists propose that sex differences in mate selection relate to biological differences in the production of offspring. Evolutionary psychologists have used _____ as evidence of these evolutionary differences.

personal ads

Group _____ effect is the solidification and further strengthening of an individual's position as a consequence of a group discussion.

polarization

Evolutionary psychologists focus on gender differences in the accounting of attraction. The goal for both sexes is to _____.

procreate

Social loafing occurs when an individual exerts less effort in a group because of the ______ (increased/reduced) accountability for individual effort.

reduced

the tendency to take credit for one's own successes and to deny responsibility for one's own failures.

self-serving bias

When someone is asked to identify themselves and they answer with the religious or ethnic group affiliations, this is stating their _____ identity.

social

_____ identity is a way individuals define themselves in terms of their group membership.

social

______ is the area of social psychology that explores how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information.

social cognition

The study of how people think about, influence, and relate to other people

social psychology

A _____ is a generalization about a group's characteristics that does not consider any differences.

stereotype

Checking a box that asks respondents to indicate their ethnicity can, in turn, activate _____.

stereotype threat

A person who experiences stereotype ______ is well aware of stereotypical expectations for him or her as a member of a group.

threat