Social psychology is defined as the scientific study of how people.

think about, influence, and relate to one another.

The attributions a person makes for his or her spouse’s acid remark depends upon the happiness of the marriage. What concept does this portray?

Social behavior is a function of how a situation is construed.

What is a topic that is NOT an example of what social psychologists study?

intelligence

The best statement about objective reality is

that reality is filtered by our values and beliefs.

According to Myers’ discussion of intuition, which statement is TRUE?

A) Our intuitions about ourselves are usually true.

B) Intuitions are carefully considered beliefs.

C) Intuition is both powerful and perilous.

D) Intuition is not important.

Intuition is both powerful and perilous.

Which of the following is an example of how our attitudes and behaviors are shaped by external social forces?

A) Our personality disposition affects our choices.
B) Our inherited human nature predisposes us to react in certain ways.
C) Our political attitudes influence our voting behavior.

D) Our standards regarding promptness, beauty, and equality vary with our culture.

Our standards regarding promptness, beauty, and equality vary with our culture.

When explaining topics such as dating and mating, evolutionary psychologists consider how natural selection might

predispose our attitudes.

Myers points out that our social behavior is shaped by

other people, our attitudes and personality, and our biology.

Social representations are

socially shared beliefs, including our assumptions and cultural ideologies.

The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next is referred to as

culture.

You ask your academic advisor what to major in, as you can’t seem to decide. She suggests psychology; however, it is important to remember that this answer likely reflects her

values.

Whether we label a woman as “ambitious” or “aggressive” is a reflection of our

values.

Another name for the “I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon” is the?

hindsight bias.

The belief that others are paying more attention to one’s appearance and behavior than they actually are is referred to as the _____ effect.

spotlight

The illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others is referred to as the illusion of

transparency.

The fact that we usually attribute more responsibility to our partners than to ourselves when problems arise in a relationship is an example of how

self-interest colors our social judgment.

When you give a presentation in class and feel extremely nervous you will tend to _____ what others think about your nervousness.

overestimate

According to the author of the text, no topic in psychology today is more researched than?

the self.

A person’s answer to the question “Who am I?” comprises his or her?

self-concept.

_______ is defined as the beliefs about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information.

Self-schema

Images of what we dream of or dread becoming in the future are called our?

possible selves.

The extent to which we evaluate our abilities and opinions by comparing ourselves to others is called

social comparison.

You prefer that professors post exam scores (by identification number), rather than returning them individually. It makes you feel better to see how you did in comparison to other students. This is an example of what social psychology phenomenon?

social comparison

Giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals, and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications is the definition of?

individualism.

Self-esteem is more personal and less relational in what type of culture?

individualistic

The planning fallacy is the tendency to?

underestimate how long a task will take.

A) We really know ourselves well and accurately.
B) Our account of our predicted intensity and duration of feelings is accurate.
C) We know and can predict our behavior better than others can.
D) We really don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do.

We really don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do.

People with low self-esteem are _____ to have clinical problems, including anxiety, loneliness, and eating disorders.

more likely

Activating particular associations in memory is called?

priming.

Sometimes the basis for one’s belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives. Social psychologists refer to this as?

belief perseverance.

While waiting to cross the street, you witness a man running a red light—causing a three-car accident. Just after it happens, the man who ran the stoplight gets out of the car to talk to you. He tells you that the light was yellow. Later you tell police that you remembered the light being yellow, not red, when the man went through the intersection. This scenario illustrates

the misinformation effect.

“Explicit” thinking that is deliberate, reflective, and conscious is called?

controlled processing.

The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one’s beliefs is called the?

overconfidence phenomenon.

When we are eager to seek information that verifies our beliefs but less inclined to seek evidence that might disprove our beliefs, the _______ has occurred.

confirmation bias

The process of judging something by intuitively comparing it to our mental representation of a category uses the _____ heuristic.

representativeness

Although travelers in the United States are more likely to die in an automobile crash than on a commercial flight covering the same distance, people often assume that flying is more dangerous than driving. What type of heuristic are people using when they make this assumption?

availability heuristic

The tendency to imagine alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened but did not is called

counterfactual thinking.

Research on gambling has found that throwing the dice or spinning the wheel increases people’s confidence. This illustrates the?

illusion of control

A favorable or unfavorable evaluation reaction toward something or someone is what social psychologists call a(n)

attitude.

In 1964, Leon Festinger concluded that the evidence to date?

did not show that attitudes guide behaviors.

A set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave is what social psychologists call a(n)?

role.

The effect of _______ on _______ was vividly demonstrated in Zimbardo’s (1971) classic study of a simulated prison.

roles; behaviors

Higgins and Rholes (1978) found that when people say something positive to others when told to supported the research that?

saying it changes our beliefs or feelings.

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later to a larger request is called the _______ phenomenon.

foot-in-the-door

A variation of the foot-in-the-door technique is often used by car dealers, because it typically results in people complying with higher and higher requests. It is called the _______ technique.

lowball

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision to desegregate schools, the percentage of European-Americans favoring integrated schools more than doubled. This is an example of how?

moral actions feed moral attitudes.

Research indicates that harming an innocent victim, especially voluntarily, leads one to?

disparage the victim to justify the behavior.

Which of the following theories assumes that to reduce discomfort, we justify our actions to ourselves?

cognitive dissonance theory

The evolutionary process by which nature selects traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environmental niches is called?

natural selection.

______ is the study of the evolution of behavior using principles of natural selection.

Evolutionary psychology

One of the most important similarities in humans is our capacity?

to learn and adapt.

Rules for accepted and expected behavior are called?

norms.

A) Social norms make social interactions run more smoothly.
B) Social norms cause us to feel uncomfortable when they are violated.
C) Social norms control us so successfully that we hardly sense their presence.
D) Social norms are not affected by culture.

Social norms are not affected by culture.

In psychology, the characteristics by which people define male and female, whether biologically or socially influenced, is referred to as?

gender.

Maccoby (2002) found that girls tend to _______ compared to boys.

talk more intimately

Being a student of social psychology, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that _______ are more likely to contribute to charitable organizations.

women

Worldwide, women’s vocational interests, compared to men,

relate to people rather than things.

The vicarious experience of another’s feelings or ability to put oneself in another’s shoes is?

empathy

When men and women want empathy and understanding, they are most likely to turn to a?

Woman

Women’s wages in industrial nations are ___ percent of men’s.

70 – 90%

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that males are sexually assertive while females are more selective of sexual partners because?

each strategy is likely to promote gene survival.

Evolutionary psychology would explain the male tendency to be attracted to woman’s physical features of youth and health because of?

reproductive fitness

Evolutionary explanations of gender differences have been criticized because they?

do not explain cultural changes in behavior that occur over relatively short periods of time.

A change in behavior or belief to accord with others is called?

conformity

Even though you really dislike wearing a dress, you decide to wear one to your cousin’s wedding. This is an example of?

compliance

When our behavior is a result of our boss telling us to do something, it is a form of?

compliance

After hearing a great deal about the benefits of soy products from your friends, you decide to drink soy milk instead of cow’s milk. Your behavior is an example of?

acceptance

After hearing so much about the dangers of smoking cigarettes from the media and seeing numbers of people who quit the habit, Jacob finally realizes that smoking is dangerous and therefore he quits. His behavior is an example of?

conformity

A classmate across the room yawns and then several other students yawn. This is an example of

the chameleon effect

How did Asch’s studies of conformity differ from those of Sherif?

Asch’s participants could clearly see the correct judgment.

Milgram’s studies explored _______; Asch’s studies explored _______.

obedience; conformity

The results of both the Sherif and Asch studies are startling because their studies did not employ any?

open, obvious pressure to conform

When participants in Milgram’s experiments wanted to quit, they were given?

up to four verbal prods to keep them going

When Milgram conducted his first series of experiments with a sample of 20- to 50-year-old men, he found that over 60 percent of them?

went all the way to 450 volts

In follow-up experiments to his initial study, Milgram made the learner’s protests more compelling by having him complain of a heart condition, then scream and plead for release, and finally refuse to answer. With this added condition,

the majority of participants still fully obeyed the experimenter’s demands.

In Milgram’s research, when the experimenter gave the commands by telephone instead of in person, full obedience?

dropped to 21 percent

_______ is the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Persuasion

Americans’ support for the Iraq war increased after the war began mainly because of the

persuasive messages in the U.S. media.

You are more likely to be persuaded when a message is?

clear and easy to comprehend and the arguments are convincing.

The _____ route to persuasion occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

peripheral

Suzy is interested in purchasing a DVD player, and is overwhelmed by the many different models available at her local electronics store. She decides to purchase a shiny, metallic-looking model, as it is the best-looking one in the store. Suzy has been persuaded to purchase this particular DVD player because of the _______ route to persuasion.

peripheral

According to Myers, advertisers for beverages and clothing tend to adopt marketing strategies that use the _______ route to persuasion.

peripheral

You are attending a lecture by a banker and you expect her to advocate bank savings accounts. However, she advocates stock investments instead. Since her message goes against her own self-interest, you perceive her as _______ and the message as _______.

sincere; persuasive

Arguments, especially emotional ones, are often more influential when they come from beautiful people. This exemplifies which characteristic of attractiveness?

physical appeal

Abelson and his colleagues (1982) found that voting preferences in the United States could be reasonably predicted from voters’?

emotional reactions to the candidates

Fear-arousing messages work best when they

try to prevent a bad outcome, such as cancer.

Studies have shown that if people are aware of opposing arguments, a _______ presentation is more persuasive and enduring.

two-sided

When Asch (1946) presented students with a description of someone as “intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious,” they rated the person _______ than if the opposite order of adjectives was presented.

more positively

According to Myers, the most effective instructors?

get their students to think actively.

A cult has all of the following characteristics EXCEPT?

the use of mind-altering drugs.

People most vulnerable to cults are usually?

under the age of 25 and facing a personal crisis

Kiesler (1971) recommended that one way to stimulate people’s thinking so that they become more committed to their positions is to?

mildly attack their position

Exposing people to weak attacks on their attitudes, which then stimulates thinking in support of the initial attitude, is known as?

attitude inoculation

According to social psychologists, a group exists when two or more people interact with and influence each other, and

also perceive themselves as “us.”

On exam day, a student you do not know sits near you. This person is best described as a(n)?

Co-actor

Triplett (1898) conducted one of social psychology’s first laboratory experiments by asking children to wind string on a fishing reel. The results of the study indicated that there was a positive relationship between the speed at which the children wound the reel and the presence of other children. Later studies found the same pattern and dubbed it?

the social facilitation effect.

The larger the crowd, the _______ a person tends to be _______.

more; aroused

Because of the relationship between crowding and arousal, you are likely to _______ on a difficult exam in a densely packed classroom.

do poorly

The concern for how others are evaluating us is called?

evaluation apprehension

When giving a speech in class, you spend most of the first five minutes wondering what your audience is thinking of you. This is a good example of _____ instead of thinking about what you are saying.

driven by distraction

Sam has a tendency to contribute little effort to group assignments, as he thinks others will be sure to pick up the slack in an effort to get a good grade. This is an example of?

social loafing

People in groups will loaf less when the?

task is challenging, appealing, or involving

Term for: A society's widely held ideas and values, including assumptions and culture ideologies. Our social representations help us make sense of our world.

social representations

Term for: An integrated set of prenciples that explain and predict observed events

theory

Term for: A testable proposition that describes a relationship that may exist between events.

Hypothesis

 Term for: Research done in natural, real-life settings outside the laboratory.

Field research

Term for: The study of the naturaly occuring relationships among variables.

Correlational research

Term for: Studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (independent varables) while controling others (holding them constant.)

Experimental research

Term for: The illusion that our concealed emotions leak out and can be easily read by others

Illusion of transparency

Term for:  What we know and believe about ourselves.

self-concept

Term for: A person's overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth.

Self-esteem

Term for: protecting one;s self-image with behaviors that create a handy excuse for later failure.

self-handicapping

Term for: Persistenc eof one's initial conceptions, such as when the basis of one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives.

belife perseverance

term for: incorporating "misinformation" into one's memory of the event, after witnessing an event and receiving misleading infomration about it.

Misinformation effect

Term for: "Explicit" thinkgin that is deliberate, reflective and conscious.

Controlled processing

Term for: "implicit" thinking that is effortless, habitual, and without awareness: roughly corresponds to "intution."

Automatic processing

Term for: The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overextimate the accuracy of one's beliefs.

Overconfidence phenomenon

Term for: A tendency to search for information that confirms one's preconceptions.

Confirmation Bias

Term for: The tendency to presume, sometimes despite contrary odds, that someone or something belongs to a particular group if resembling (representing) a typical member.

Representativeness heuristic

Term for: A cognitive rule that judges the likelihood of things in term sof their availability in memory.  If instances of something come readily to mind, we presume it to be commonplace.

availability heuristic

Term for: Imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn't

counterfactual thinking.

Term for: Attributing behavior to the person's disposition and traits.

Disponsitional attribution

Term for: Attributing behavior to the environment

situational aattribution

Term for: The tendency for obervers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior.

Fundamental aattribution error

Term for: A type of self-fulfilling prophecy whereby people's social expectations lead them to behave in ways that cause others to confirm their expectations.

behavioral confirmation

Term for: A favorable or unfaavorable evaluative reaction toward something or someone.

attitude

Term for: A set of norms that defines how people in a given social position ought to behave.

Role

Term for: Tension that arises when one is simultaaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions.  For example, dissonaance may occur when we realize that we have, with little justification, acted contraary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another.

cognitive dissonance

Term for: The evolutionaary process by which heritaable traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environments are passed to ensuing generations.

natural selection

Term for: The study of the evolution of cognition and behavior using principles of natural selection.

Evolutionary psychology

Term for: Standard for acceptaed and expected behavior.

Norms

What are the four norms?

Expressiveness

Punctuality

Rule-Breaking

Personal Space

Term for: The vicarious experience of another's feeling; putting oneself in another's shoes.

Empathy

Term for: A change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure

conformity

Term for: Conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disaagreeing.

Compliance

Term for: Acting in accord with a direct order or commend.

Obedience

Term for: Conformity that involves both acting nd believing in accord with social pressures.

acceptance

Term for: Conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill others' expectations, often to gain acceptance.

Normative Influence

Term for: Occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Central route

Term for: Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

Peripheral route

Term for: Other things being equal, information persented frist usually has the most influance.

Primacy effect

Term for: Information presented lasat sometimes has the most influence.

Recency effect

Term for: The motivation to thing and analyze.  Aassessed by agreement with items such as "The need of thinking abstratly is appealing ot me" and disagreement with items such as "I only think as hard as I have to."

need for cognition

Term for: A group typically characterized by 

1) distinctive rituals and beliefs related to its devotion to aa god or person

2) isolation from the surrounding "evil" culture.

3) a chrismatic leader.

Cult

Term for: Exposing people to weak attacks upon their attitudes so that when stronger attacks come, they will have refutations avilable.

attitude inoculation

Term for: Orginal meaning: the tendency of people to preform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present

2) Current meaning: the strengthening of dominant (prevaalent, likely) responses in the presence of others.

Social facilitation

Term for: Concern for how others are evaluating us.

Evluationm apprehension

Term for: Loss of self-awareness and evaaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad.

deindividuation

Term for: A delayed impact of a message that occurs when an initally discounted message becomes effective, such as we remember the message but forget the reason for discounting it.

Sleeper effect