Term
| What is the definition of social psychology? |
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Definition
| -The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the imagined presence of other people. |
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Term
| What is a construal? What needs influence the way we construe situations? |
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Definition
A. Construal is the way in which we perceive, comprehend, and interpret the social world
B. It is not enough to say we simply construe situations based on a person’s behaviors. Our past experiences and current goals influence the way we construe situations as well. Naiive realism – the conviction we have that we perceive things as they really are. |
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Term
| Be able to compare how social psychology differs from sociology and personality psychology. |
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Definition
- Other social sciences are more concerned with broad social, economic, political, and even historical factors that influence events in a given society or group. (Ex. Poverty/crime rates amongst homeless women)
-For the social psychologist, the level of analysis is in the individual in the context of the social situation
-Personality psychologists study how individuals are different, while social psychology studies what people have in common. |
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Term
| What are the benefits and drawbacks to automatic thinking? |
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Definition
-Fast, unconscious, and accurate
-Not always completely accurate
(Controlled thinking) – Effortful, deliberative, reflective (sometimes confuses people with options) |
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Term
| How does accessibility and priming affect automatic thinking? |
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Definition
-Accessibility –The extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of the mind and are therefore lesslikely to be used when making judgments about the social world.
-Priming – The process by which recent experiences increase the accessibility of a schema, trait, or concept. |
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Term
| What is a schema and why do we have them? Where do they come from? How do we choose which ones to apply? |
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Definition
- Schemas are mental structures that organize our knowledge of the social world. They are the blueprint or background of how you will “interpret” the situation.
-We have them to organize and make sense of the world, fill in gaps of our knowledge, and reduce ambiguity.
-They come from the culture we grow up in.
Accessible/apply for 3 reasons:
1. Some schemas are chronically accessible due to past experience
2. Something can become accessible because it is related to a certain goal
3. Schemas can become temporarily accessible because of our current experiences. |
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Term
| Which type of cognitive processing (automatic vs. controlled) would you want to rely on when evaluating complex situations in a short amount of time according to the research in the text? |
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Definition
| I’m told controlled but I’d think automatic. |
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Term
| What is counterfactual thinking? Who is most likely to engage in this type of thinking? |
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Definition
-Mentally changing some aspect of the past as a way of imagining what might have been.
-If you just got an 88 on a test, you could imagine if you studied harder you’d get a 90. This is counterfactual thinking. |
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Term
| Why is it so difficult not to think about something? What is that called? |
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Definition
-Thought suppression: The attempt to avoid thinking about something we would prefer to forget.
-If trying to not think about something while tired or preoccupied, the thoughts are likely to spill in unchecked.
-montoring process (automatic) vs. operating process – very difficult to forget because its more relevant to us. |
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Term
| Why is it sometimes difficult to read emotions on people’s faces? Why might this also be more difficult in reading emotions from individuals from different cultures? |
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Definition
| Display rules – Are particular to each culture. Men are supposed to suppress grief in America, fewer facial expressions in Japan. American culture values eye contact and personal space. |
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Term
| What are emblems? Are they universal? |
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Definition
| -Nonverbal gestures that have well-understood defintions within a given culture; they usually have direct verbal translations (such as the “OK” sign) |
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Term
| How is the covariation model used to differentiate between internal and external attributions? |
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Definition
| -To form an attribution about what caused a person’s behavior, we systematically note the pattern between the presence or absence of causal factors and whether or not the behavior occurs. |
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Term
| What is the correspondence bias (otherwise known as the fundamental attribution error)? |
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Definition
| -The tendency to believe that people’s behavior matches (corresponds to) their dispositions (internal attributions) |
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Term
| What is the actor observer difference? |
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Definition
-Similar as the actors know more about themselves than observers, we tend to see behavior as dispositionally caused.
-Perceptual salience and information available differs from actors to observer. |
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Term
| What is a self-serving attribution? Why do we make them? |
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Definition
-Explanations for ones successes that credit internal, dispositional factors.
-Blaming failures for external, situational factors.
-We make these attributions to protect our ego. |
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Term
| What is a self-concept? How is this different than self-awareness? Why are these parts of self important? |
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Definition
-A descriptive component of the self that is the basis for self understanding
-Provides a person with a sense of continuity and framework for understanding the past and present, as well as guiding future behavior.
-Organizes coherence of self
-Someone will believe facts that are in accordance to how they see themselves, and not believe those that are not in accordance. |
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Term
| How do men, women, and people from Asian cultures define themselves – in general? |
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Definition
-Western culture has a more independent view of the self (judges things in terms of one’s own feelings)
-Eastern culture has a more interdependent view of the self (judges things in terms of relating to other people)
-Women in general show more interdependence then men. |
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Term
| What does the research say about introspection in terms of it being ultimately helpful/unhelpful to us in understanding why we feel the way we feel? |
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Definition
-Introspection – The process whereby people look inward and examine their own thoughts, feelings, and motives.
-People do not rely on this source of information as often as you might think (around 8%)
-Even when people do introspect, their reasons for their feelings and behavior can be hidden from their conscious awareness. |
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Term
| What is the self-perception theory? |
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Definition
-The self-perception theory implies using your behavior to explain morals and feelings
-Self-awareness is having a sense of if your actions match your morals. |
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Term
| What does overjustification theory suggest to us about how we should be raising children to be intrinsically motivated? |
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Definition
-Overjustification theory – The tendency of people to view their behavior as caused by compelling extrinsic reasons, making them underestimate the extent of which it was caused by intrinsic reasons.
-The danger of reward problems is children will think they are reading for money, instead of reading for reading. |
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Term
| What is the best type of reward system for producing/sustaining intrinsic motivation? |
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Definition
NOT –Task-contingent rewards: Rewards that are given for performing a task, regardless of how well it is donw
BUT –Performance-contingent rewards: Rewards that are based on performance in a task
-Such as grading system in classes – rewarded based on performance. |
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Term
| What is the difference between Schacter’s two factor theory of emotion and appraisal theories of emotion? |
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Definition
-Schachter’s 2 factor theory of emotion and appraisal: 1. Experience physiological arousal, then..
2. Seek an appropriate explanation for it.
-Appraisal theories of emotion – Theories holding that emotions result from people’s interpretations and explanations of events, even in the absence of physiological arousal. |
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Term
| How does misattribution of arousal occur? |
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Definition
| Misattribution of Arousal – The process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do. Residual arousal from one source (caffeine, exercise, fights) can enhance the intensity of how the person interprets other feelings |
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Term
| Define cognitive dissonance and be able to explain ways that people reduce dissonance |
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Definition
-Most of us have a need to see ourselves as reasonable, moral, and smart. When we are confronted with information implying that we may have behaved in ways that are irrational, immoral, or stupid, we experience a good deal of discomfort. This feeling of discomfort caused by performing an action that runs counter to one’s customary (typically positive) conception of oneself is referred to as cognitive dissonance.
-3 ways to reduce dissonance: 1) By changing our behavior to bring it in line with dissonant cognition.
2) By attempting to justify our behavior through changing one of the dissonant cognitions.
3) By attempting to justify our behavior by adding new cognitions. |
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Term
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Definition
-The idea that the pain of disappointment will be more intense than it actually is
-Can reduce discomfort if it is a past behavior, but people often do this for a future behavior. |
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Term
| Be familiar with the Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment about cognitive dissonance and counterattitudinal advocacy |
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Definition
-In this experiment people were told to do a boring task for a long period of time.
-After the experiment, half of the participants were paid $1 and half were paid $20 to say the task was fun
-After all of this, they were told to rate how fun the task actually was. Those who paid $1 rated the task as more enjoyable.
-:People who didn’t receive extrinsic motivation ($20) created intrinsic motivation to say the task was worth doing. |
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Term
| What does the research say about insufficient punishment? |
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Definition
-Weaker punishment works better than stronger punishment, as weaker punishment facilitates an internal change taking place.
-Punishment must be prompt and mild to have strong effectiveness. |
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Term
| What is an attitude? What are the three parts that make up an attitude? |
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Definition
-Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects, and ideas.
1) Affective – An attitude that is rooted more in emotions and values than on an objective appraisal of pluses and minuses.
2) Cognitive – The extent that people’s evaluation is based primarily on their beliefs about the properties of an attitude object. The purpose of this type of attitude is to classify the pluses and minuses of an object so that we can quickly tell whether we want to have anything to do with it.
3) Behavioral – This stems from people’s observations of how they act toward an object. This may seem a little odd-how do we know how to behave if we don’t already know how we feel? Under certain circumstances, people don’t know how they feel until they see how they behave (self-perception theory). For example, if you ask someone how much they like to exercise and they say “I go to the gym 4 times a week, so a lot”, their attitude is behavioral. |
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Term
| What are the differences between explicit and implicit attitudes? |
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Definition
- Explicit Attitudes – Attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report.
- Implicit Attitudes – Attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious.
-3 parts that make up an attitude and form our evaluation of the “attitude object”: |
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Term
| What does the Yale Attitude Change Approach tell us about the effectiveness of persuasive communication? |
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Definition
-Designed to increase morale in soldiers, yielded a great deal of info on how people change attitudes in response to persuasive communication.
-Many aspects of persuasive communication are important, but it is unclear which are more important than others. |
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Term
| Explain the role of fear in attitude change and the factors needed to make this approach effective. |
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Definition
| -Fear-arousing communication – Attempting to change people’s attitudes by stirring up their fears. |
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Term
| *What is attitude inoculation? |
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Definition
-Giving counterarguments to challenge someone and solidify personal beliefs
-If you tell someone they aren’t smart, they may study more to try and prove you wrong. |
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Term
| What is the difference between informational social influence and normative social influence? When does this lead to private acceptance and public compliance? |
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Definition
-Informational Social Influence – The influence of other people that leads us to conform because we see them as a source of information to guide our behavior. We conform because we believe that other’s interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more accurate than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action. An important feature of informational social influence is that it can lead to private acceptance.
-Private acceptance – Conforming to other people’s behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right.
-Normative Social Influence – The influence of other people that leads to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them; this type of conformity results in public compliance with the group’s beliefs and behaviors but not necessarily private acceptance of those beliefs and behaviors. |
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Term
| Under what conditions do people conform to informational social influence? Under what conditions do people conform to normative social influence? |
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Definition
-Asche experiment (line lengths, people agreeing even though its wrong)
-Groupthink/social loafing/diffusion of responsibility
-Public compliance – Conforming to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what the other people are doing or saying. |
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Term
| Why is it difficult to deviate from the group? What typically happens to deviant members? |
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Definition
-It is important for most people to be accurate, but often people conform to the group even if it is wrong so they do not risk social disapproval, even in cases of strangers. At times, conforming for normative reasons can be spineless and weak; it can have negative consequences.
-The desire to be accepted is part of human nature
-If you disregard norms and fail to conform, two things likely happen:
1) The group tries to “bring you in the fold”, mostly through increased communication with you. Teasing comments/long discussions ensue.
2) Likely to say negative things and start to withdraw from you. Now you are in effect rejected. |
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Term
| Understand the implications of the Milgram shock experiments. |
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Definition
-People will shock to near dangerous levels if there is a doctor telling them to do so(normative)
-Doctor says the shocks are nonlethal though evidence suggests otherwise (informational)
-Authority figures have a very compelling effect on people
-People do drastic things they normally wouldn’t to fit in. |
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Term
| Social Facilitation vs. Social Loafing |
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Definition
-Social Facilitation – The tendency for people to do better on simple tasks and worse on complex tasks when in the presence of others and their individual performance can’t be evaluated.
-Zajonc found that when performing a task with or in the presence of others, you become physically aroused. While this arousal exists, it is easier to do something simple but harder to do something complex or learn something new.
-The findings are consistent that while in the presence of others, a simple well-learned task is done better. |
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Term
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Definition
Social Loafing – The tendency for people to relax when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance cannot be evaluated, such that they do worse on simple tasks but better on complex tasks.
-When people’s individual effort cannot be distinguished from those around them, they tend to do worse on simple tasks.
-Since people are not being evaluated, the are relaxed. This relaxation impairs performance on simple tasks but improves performance on complex tasks.
-Max Ringelman (1913) – When a group pulled on a rope, people would exert less effort than when pulling a rope alone. |
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Term
| What is deindividuation? What are the consequences of deindividuation? Is deindividuation always a bad thing? |
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Definition
-The loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people can’t be identified (such as when people are in a crowd)
-ex. KKK, fans in mosh pit beating each other down
-Makes people feel less accountable by: 1) Reducing likeliness that a single person will be blamed
2) Obeying group norms by becoming deindividuated
-Could be good in some situations. The army certainly deindividuates soldiers. |
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Term
| Process loss: what is it, and how does it happen |
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Definition
-Process loss: An aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
-Can occur because:
-Groups may not try hard enough to find out who the most competent member is
-The most competent member may find it difficult to agree with everyone else
-Communication problems can arise. |
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Term
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Definition
– A kind of thinking in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts in a realistic manner.
-Irving Janis theory – Groupthink is most likely to occur when:
1) Group is highly cohesive
2) Group is isolated from contrary opinions
3) Rules by a directive leader who makes his or her own wishes known |
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Term
| What is group polarization? – |
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Definition
| -The tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of its members |
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Term
| How would you structure a group to decrease the amount of process loss and avoid groupthink? |
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Definition
-To avoid groupthink and process loss, a leader can:
1) Remain impartial
2) Seek outside opinions
3) Create subgroups
4) Seek anonymous opinions |
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Term
| What are the different kinds of leaders? When are they most effective (e.g., contingency theory of leadership)? |
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Definition
-Great Leader Theory – The idea that certain key personality traits make a person a good leader, regardless of the situation
-Leaders tend to be more intelligent, extraverted, confident, charismatic, socially skilled, driven for power, open to new experience, less neurotic
-Different types of leaders:
Traditional Leaders – leaders who set clear, short term goals and reward people who meet them
Transformational Leaders – Leaders who inspire followers to focus on common long term goals
-Contingency theory of leadership: 2 basic leader types
Task-oriented leader: A leader who is concerned more with getting the job done than with feelings and relationships.
Strong in: High control work situations (leader-subordinate relationships are excellent, work clearly defined)
Low control work situations (leader-subordinate relationships are poor, work not clearly defined)
Relationship-oriented Leader: A leader who is concerned primarily with works feelings and relationships.
Strong in: Moderate control work situations, the wheels are turning smoothly but some attention to poor relationships and feelings is needed. |
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Term
| What is the propinquity effect? |
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Definition
| -Propinquity is proximity. It is one of the simplest determinants of interpersonal attraction. The people who you see and interact with the most often are most likely to become your friends and lovers. Proximity and attraction = the propinquity effect. |
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Term
| Be able to explain the relationship between similarity and attraction |
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Definition
-Propinquity increases familiarity, which leads to liking, but something else is needed to fuel a relationship.
-Similarity – a match between our interests, attitudes, background, or personality and those of another person.
-Research shows that similarity and not complementary (“opposites attract”) is overwhelmingly more likely to draw people together. |
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Term
| What is “beautiful is good stereotype”? |
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Definition
-This stereotype differs between eastern and western cultures.
-When looking at “beautiful” people:
Easterners – are likely to assign traits to them such as integrity and concern for others
Westerners – are likely to assign traits to them such as personal strength and interdependence.
-In both cultures, physically attractive people are seen as having more characteristics that are valued in that culture |
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Term
| Be able to explain Social Exchange theory and Social equity theory? |
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Definition
-Social Exchange Theory – Relationships operate on an economic model of costs and benefits, much like the marketplace, and this has been expanded by psychologists and sociologists into complex theories of social exchange.
-According to the Social Exchange Theory, how people feel about their relationships is based on 3 factors:
1) Their perception of the rewards they receive from the relationship
2) Their perception of the costs they encounter
3) The perception of what kind of relationship they deserve and the probability they could have a better relationship with someone else.
-Social Equity Theory – The idea that people are happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs experiences and the contributions made by both parties are roughly equal.
-Some theorize people aren’t out to get the most reward for the least cost, also concerned about equity. These theorist describe equitable relationships as the happiest and most stable. |
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Term
| What are the attachment styles? How do these styles impact adult relationships? |
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Definition
Secure Attachment Style – Characterized by trust, lack of concern with abandonment, and the view that one is worthy and well liked. Infants with a secure attachment style typically have caregivers who are responsive to their needs and who show positive emotions when interacting with them.
Avoidant Attachment Style – Characterized by a suppression of attachment needs, because attempts to be intimate have been rebuffed; people with this style find it difficult to develop intimate relationships. Infants with an avoidant attachment style typically have caregivers who are aloof and distant, rebuffing the infant’s attempts to establish intimacy.
Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment Style – Characterized by a concern that others will not reciprocate one’s desire for intimacy, resulting in higher-than-average levels of anxiety. Infants with an axious/ambivalent attachment style typically have caregivers who are inconsistent and overbearing in their affection. These infants are usually anxious because they can never predict when and how their caregivers will respond to their needs.
-It currently appears that one’s genes account for 20-45% of the anxious and avoidant styles, while one’s environment accounts for the rest. |
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Term
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Definition
-Altruism – The desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper.
-Altruistic Personality – Qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations. |
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Term
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Definition
-Altruism – The desire to help another person even if it involves a cost to the helper.
-Altruistic Personality – Qualities that cause an individual to help others in a wide variety of situations. |
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Term
| How do the following theories: evolutionary psychology, social exchange theory, and the empathy-altruism hypothesis explain helping behavior? |
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Definition
-Kin Selection (evolutionary)– The idea that behaviors that help a genetic relative are favored by natural selection
-Because blood relatives share genes, natural selection should favor “altruistic” acts directed toward genetic relatives
-Social Exchange Theory – Argues that much of what we do stems from the desire to maximize our rewards and minimize our costs
-Assumes that people in their relationships try to maximize the ratio of social rewards to costs.
-Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis – The idea that when we feel empathy for a person, we will attempt to help that person purely for altruistic reasons, regardless of what we have to gain. |
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Term
| What are the gender differences in helping behavior? |
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Definition
-Men are more likely to help in “heroic” acts. Such as rushing the cockpit of United flight 93 to fight terrorists
-Women are more likely to help in long-term situations. Such as helping a disabled neighbor with chores around the house. |
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Term
| How does mood impact helping behaviors? |
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Definition
-Study: 84% of people who found coins on the ground went on to help a man pick up papers in one study
-Only 4% of people who did not find coins on the ground helped pick up the papers
-This implies that people in a good mood are likely to engage in helping behaviors. |
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Term
| What is the negative state relief hypothesis? |
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Definition
-Negative-state relief: Feel bad, do good
-One kind of bad mood clearly leads to an increase in helping – feeling guilty
-People often act on the idea that good deeds cancel out bad deeds. |
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Term
| What is the bystander effect? Know the steps that people take before helping. |
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Definition
-Bystander effect – The greater the number of bystanders who witness an emergency, the less likely any one of them is to help the victim.
-Steps people take before helping: (what causes failure to help)
1) Notice the event – (Distracted/In a hurry) -> Fail to notice
2) Interpret the event as an emergency – (Pluralistic ignorance) -> Interpret as a nonemergency)
3) Assume Responsibility – (Diffusion of responsibility) -> Fail to assume personal responsibility
4) Know appropriate form of assistance – (Lack of knowledge/Lack of competence) -> Can’t offer appropriate help
5) Implement decision – (danger to self/legal concerns/embarrassment) -> Costs of helping too high |
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Term
| Know the differences between hostile aggression and Instrumental Aggression |
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Definition
-Instrumental aggression is typically in order to gain someone, not entirely based on ill will
-Hostile aggression is more to inflict discomfort, in order to hurt someone else.
-Instrumental aggression can turn into hostile aggression. |
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Term
| What does Frued say about aggression? |
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Definition
-Freud elaborates on the more pessimistic view that brutish traits are simply a part of human nature.
-Humans are born with an instinct toward life called eros, and an equally powerful instinct toward death called thanatos
-Aggression is situational, instinctual, and optional |
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Term
| Know the biological structures/ chemicals involved in the initiation and inhibition of aggression |
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Definition
-Aggressive characters in human beings, as well as lower animals, are associated with an area in the core of the brain called the amygdala.
-When the amygdala is stimulated, docile organisms become violent
-Similarly, when neural activity in that area is blocked, violent organisms become docile.
-Serotonin – A chemical substance that occurs naturally in the midbrain, seems to inhibit impulsive aggression.
-When the flow of serotonin is disrupted, increases in violent behavior frequently follow
-Violent criminals tend to have particularly low levels of serotonin
-Too much Testosterone (male sex hormone) can also lead to increases in aggression
-Mice injected with testosterone become more aggressive
-Higher levels of testosterone in violent criminals as opposed to nonviolent criminals |
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Term
| Know the main findings about Gender and aggression |
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Definition
-When you de-individuate a person aggressive attitudes are amplified
-In a “war game”, women significantly out-attacked men only when deindividuated. Implies higher level of social aggression when social gender is reduced.
-Males are theorized to aggress in order to establish dominance and ensure their mates are not copulating with others. This ensures paternity.
Who is more overtly aggressive? – males tend to be more overtly aggressive
Who is more covertly aggressive? – females tend to be more covertly aggressive
-females likely to be penalized for displaying aggression (gossibing, backbiting, false rumors)
What are the differences when provoked or insulted?
-Though men are far more aggressive in passive situations, the gender difference is mitigated when the person is actually provoked. |
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Term
| How do the following things relate to aggression: Alcohol, pain, discomfort? |
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Definition
-Alcohol – Alcohol serves as a disinhibitor. The frontal lobe of the brain is shut down which reduces inhibition, allowing aggression to surface.
-People who do not usually appear aggressively and people who have not been provoked can become aggressive when abusing alcohol.
-Pain/Discomfort – Almost all animals attack when cornered. Humans act more aggressively in situations of discomfort, such as:
Pain/Heat/Humidity/Air pollution/offensive odors |
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Term
| How does frustration relate to aggression? What leads to a greater likelihood of frustration and thus aggression? |
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Definition
-Frustration-aggression theory – The idea that frustration – the perception that you are being prevented from attaining a goal, increases the probability of an aggressive response.
-Being provoked and reciprocating; aggression often stems from a need to reciprocate after being provoked by aggressive behavior from another
-Pain/heat/humidity/air pollution/offensive odors |
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Term
| Understand how violent “cues” in the environment increase aggression. |
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Definition
-Aggressive stimulus – An object that is associated with an aggressive response and whos mere presence can increase the probability of aggression
-An object that is associated with aggressive responses and whos mere presence can increase probability of aggression
-Imitation and aggression |
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Term
| Review main findings about Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment. How do these findings generalize to TV and video games? |
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Definition
-Social Learning Theory – The idea that we learn social behavior by observing others and imitating them
-Kids saw violence against the bobo doll, then generalized all sorts of violence against it.
-When the bobo doll was treated well, the children reacted accordingly |
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Term
| Does pornography increase aggression towards women? |
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Definition
| -Only pornography that involves violence is shown to increase domestic violence. |
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Term
| Does punishment decrease aggressive acts? – Why or why not? Under what conditions? |
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Definition
-If punishment takes the form of an aggressive act, the punishers are actually modeling aggressive behavior.
-The threat of relatively severe punishment does not make commiting a transgressing less appealing to a preschooler
-The threat of mild punishment (enough to temporarily stop activity) leads child to justify restraint and this makes the behavior less appealing. The child made an internal change.
-Punishment can act as a deterrent for violent adults IF:
1) It is prompt
2) It is unavoidable |
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Term
| Is catharsis helpful to curbing aggression? What does the research say? |
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Definition
-Conventional wisdom suggests to reduce feelings of aggression one can do something aggressive
-“get it out of your system” is a common piece of advice
-This belief is based on an oversimplification of the psychoanalytic notion of catharsis
-Catharsis – The notion that blowing off steam by performing an aggressive act, watching others engage in aggressive behaviors, or engaging in a fantasy of aggression relieves built-up aggressive energies and hence reduces the likeliness of further aggressive behavior.
-The research states:
-Watching others execute violent acts increases violence
-Engaging in aggression seems to reduce inhibitions against further aggression. |
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Term
| How does wartime effect the aggression in the societies of countries at war? |
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Definition
-At a Societal level, the fact that a nation is at war:
1) Weakens the population’s inhibitions against aggression
2) Leads to imitation of aggression
3) Makes aggressive responses more acceptable
4) Numbs our senses to the horror of cruelty and destruction, making us less sympathetic toward the victims.
-Crime rates for 110 countries from 1900 on show that compared with a nation that remained at peace, homicide rates rose substantially in nations that have recently fought a war. |
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Term
| What is prejudice? What is a stereotype? What is discrimination? |
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Definition
-Prejudice is ubiquitous: in one form or another, it affects us all.
-Any group can be a target of prejudice
-Against nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc.
-Simple dislike of a group can be relentless and escalate to extreme hatred.
-Stereotype – “The little pictures we carry around inside our heads”
-Based on schemas, conscious and non-conscious.
-Cognitive process, does not necessarily lead to intentional acts of abuse.
-When we fail to recognize individual differences, people treated differently as a result
-Discimination – An unjustified negative or harmful action toward the members of a group simply because of their membership in that group.
-Many forms of discrimination are banned in the workplace, however homosexuality is not one of them.
-Our tendency to categorize and group information causes prejudice |
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Term
| Understand in-group and out-group bias. How does the Blue-eye Brown-eye exercise reflect this phenomenon? What were the results of this classroom exercise? |
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Definition
-In-group bias- positive feelings and special treatment for people we have defined as being part of our in-group and negative feelings and unfair treatment for others simply because we have defined thema s being in the out-group
-Major underlying motive is self-esteem, individuals seek to enhance it when identifying with specific social groups
-Out-group homogeneity – The belief that “they” (out group) are all alike.
-Third graders grouped in blue/brown eyes. Blue eyed children are told they are better
-Blue eyed children then stick together, and actively promote and use their higher status
-Saw brown-eyed children as the out group, different and inferior. |
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Term
| Be able to explain Stereotype Threat. |
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Definition
-Fear of confirming a negative stereotype about a group which one is a member of.
-Threat decreases performance depending on the strength of identification with the group.
-By reminding students they were at a “selective northeastern liberal arts college” the gender gap was eliminated on a spatial ability test. |
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Term
| What is a scapegoat? When does scapegoating occur? To whom is it most likely to happen? |
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Definition
Individuals, when frustrated or unhappy, tend to displace aggression on to groups that are:
1) Disliked
2) Visible
3) Relatively powerless |
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Term
| How do we decrease prejudice? Is it just a matter of putting “different” people together? Or do we need to do something else? |
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Definition
-Prejudice will decrease when two conditions are met:
1) Both groups are of equal status
2) Both share a common goal. |
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Term
| What did Sherif do in his experiments to both induce prejudice and then decrease it? |
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Definition
-Once hostility and distrust were established, simply removing a conflict and the competition did not restore harmony
-Bringing two competing groups together in neutral situations actually increased hostility and distrust.
-When contact reduces prejudice: Six conditions:
1) Mutual interdependence
2) Common goal
3) Equal Status
4) Friendly, informal setting
5) Knowing multiple out group members
6) Social norms of equality are present. |
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Term
| Read up on the “jigsaw classrooms” – why were they so successful at decreasing prejudice and discrimination? |
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Definition
-Sucessfully used to decrease prejudice and increase empathy:
-Eliminate competition and foster cooperation
-Interdependent learning tasks
-Interpersonal learning
-Empathy
-Increased empathy, rating of school, and academic performance |
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Term
| What is resilience? What does the research basically conclude about resilience in humans? |
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Definition
-Resilience – Mild, transient reactions to stressful events, followed by a quick return to normal, healthy function.
-Surprisingly few people show prolonged negative reactions to tragic events |
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Term
| What is the idea behind the College Life Stress Inventory – what is the main weakness of drawing correlations between health and stressful events? |
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Definition
-To catalog stress between different college events, then total them and reflect upon an average score.
-Problems: Subjective situations have more impact on people than objective ones
-individuals vary in response to different situations
-Most studies on stress effects use correlational findings, not experimental. |
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Term
| Review the findings of the Cohen, Tyrell and Smith 1991 experiment that studied the relationship between health and stress in college students |
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Definition
-When researchers exposed participants to a cold virus, self-reported stressed tended to predict who would come down with the cold.
-It could be inferred that stress lowers immune response. |
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Term
| Internal vs. External Locus of Control – what are the findings related to health? |
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Definition
-Internal locus of control – The tendency to believe that things happen because we control them
-External locus of control – Believing that good and bad outcomes are out of our control.
-Perceived Control – the belief that we can influence our environment in ways that determine whether we experience positive or negative outcomes.
-Feelings of helplessness are reported to cause poor psychological health, which can lead to depression. |
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Term
| What do the experiments tell us about perceived control and nursing homes? |
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Definition
-In nursing homes, a small boost in feelings of control can prolong life
-Given simple control over movie night/plant watering over 18 months:
-patients happier than controls
-more active than controls
-15% had died compared to 30% not given choices. |
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Term
| What is the definition of self efficacy? |
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Definition
-Self-efficacy – The belief in one’s ability to carry out specific actions that produce desired outcomes.
-Believing that we can execute specific behaviors to get what we want. |
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Term
| Learned helplessness: What kind of attributional style defines this? |
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Definition
Learned Helplessness – the state of pessimism that results from attributing a negative event to stable, internal, and global factors.
Stable attribution – The belief that an event is caused by factors that will not change over time (e.g. your intelligence), as opposed to factors that will change over time (e.g. your effort)
Internal attribution – the belief that an event is caused by things about you, as opposed to external factors out of your control.
Global Attribution – The belief that an event is caused by factors that apply in many situations (such as intelligence), rather than specific factors that only apply in a limited number of situations (musical ability) |
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Term
| What role does social support play in health and illness-recovery? What are some research findings that reflect this? |
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Definition
-Social Support – The perception that others are responsive and receptive to one’s needs
-people who have someone to lean on deal better with life’s problems and show improved health.
-Women with breast cancer randomly assigned social support or control.
-Control group did not have access to support system
-Not only did support system improve moods and reduce fears, but it also lengthened lives by about 18 months.
-People who live in cultures that stress interdependence and collectivism suffer fewer stress-related diseases than individualistic cultures. This may be because it is easier to obtain social support.
-recent study of people over 65 found that those who gave support to others live longer than those who did not |
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Term
| What is a type A personality and why is it so dangerous? |
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Definition
Type A Personality – The type of person who is typically competitive, impatient, hostile, and control-oriented, when confronting a challenge.
Type B personality – The type of person who is typically patient, relaxed, and noncompetitive when confronting a challenge.
-Type A’s competitive approach to life pays off in some respects:
1) They tend to get good grades in college and be successful in their careers
-However, this comes at some costs
2) Type A individuals have more trouble balancing work and family life
3) Type A individuals are more prone than type B to developing coronary heart disease
-The most likely culprit according to studies is hostility |
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Term
| What does Pennebaker’s research say about disclosure of trauma, in terms of psychological and physical health? |
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Definition
-Opening up about traumatic events can create more stress in the short term
-However, it can alleviate stress in the long run.
-College students journal about traumatic events for 15 minutes each night for 4 nights, while control group journals about trivial matters
-Trying to suppress the negative thoughts can make us think about them more
-Writing about or confiding in others about a traumatic event may help people gain a better understanding of the event and thus move forward in life. |
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