Social Psychology – Exam #1 – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Unlock answers
question
What is social psychology?
answer
The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another
question
What are some re-occurring themes in social psychology?
answer
The need to belong, power of the situation, role of construal, and dual mind (system 1 vs. system 2)
question
What is the hindsight bias and what is another name for it?
answer
The tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are; I knew-it-all-along phenomenon
question
How does the hindsight bias relate to social psychology research?
answer
Social psychology often reveals how the hindsight bias works; social psychology is often criticized for being trivial because it documents things that seem obvious, however, experiments reveal outcomes that are more "obvious" after the facts are known
question
What are the key elements of correlational research and what can be learned from this kind of research?
answer
Measures predictor variables in order to forecast one or more dependent variables of interest, determines if two variables have a relationship, provides a correlation which determines the extent to which the variables are related
question
What are the key elements of experimental research and what can be learned from this kind of research?
answer
Uncovers causal relationships between two variables, there is a control and experimental group, independent variables are manipulated and dependent variables are the result
question
Why would you choose to conduct correlational research rather than experimental research?
answer
If it would be unethical to perform experimental research, if you only want to find the relationship between two variables, if you have a limited amount of time
question
Why would you choose to conduct experimental research rather than correlational research?
answer
If you want to establish a causal relationship, can rule out 3rd variables
question
What is a predictor variable?
answer
Used in correlational research; A variable that tries to predict a dependent variable
question
What is a correlation coefficient and what information does it provide?
answer
Denoted by Pearson's r is a measure of correlational strength that can range from -1 to +1
question
What are three possible reasons why two variables might be correlated?
answer
Positive correlation, negative correlation, no correlation
question
What is a main effect?
answer
The effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable, ignoring the effects of all other independent variables
question
What is an interaction?
answer
The effect of one independent variable on the dependent variable changes depending on the level of another independent variable
question
What is meant by a moderator(contingency) variable?
answer
When one variable relies on the other variable
question
What does external validity concern?
answer
If we can generalize findings (other people and other settings)
question
What is the best way to achieve external validity?
answer
Test experiments with multiple people in multiple settings
question
What is mundane realism?
answer
The extent to which an activity or the entire study itself is similar to an activity or process one would complete in day to day life
question
What is experimental realism?
answer
To what extent do the findings in the lab carry over to the real world?
question
What is meant by the fact that participants of psychology research are WEIRD?
answer
Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic
question
What is the potential consequence of this fact for social psychological research findings? (that psychology participants are WEIRD)
answer
Low external validity, these people are more "average", don't get a lot of diversity
question
What is self-concept?
answer
How we come to know ourselves
question
What factors influence the development of a person's self-concept?
answer
The roles we play, social comparisons, and other people's judgements
question
What is the self-reference effect?
answer
The tendency for individuals to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal revelance
question
What is the spotlight effect?
answer
The belief that others are paying more attention to one's appearance and behavior than they really are
question
What are some differences between independent and interdependent cultures?
answer
The in-groups of interdependent cultures are further away from the out-groups in comparison to independent cultures; people are more self-critical and have less need for positive self-regard in interdependent cultures; independent cultures focus on believing in your power of personal control
question
What are the implications for social interactions of independent and interdependent cultures?
answer
Independent cultures tend to be republican and interdependent cultures seem to be democratic; people in interdependent cultures usually give more reasoning for their actions
question
What is a common finding when people are asked to recall the past?
answer
The recall is based on priming; sometimes we make up things or fluff things up
question
What are some common findings when people are asked to explain their behavior?
answer
People usually try to back up their behavior; people make excuses for themselves; for past behavior, people seem to think they have improved
question
What is the impact bias?
answer
The tendency to overestimate the impact of future events
question
What are three reasons why the impact bias occurs?
answer
Underestimate our resilience, forget all the other things that relate to our happiness, and use currently held feelings to fill in the gaps
question
What is self-esteem?
answer
Reflects a person's overall subjective emotional evaluation of his or her own worth
question
What are the five self-serving biases?
answer
Explanation of negative events, better than average, unrealistic optimism, false uniqueness, and false consensus
question
What is an example of fake consensus?
answer
Saying you cheat on income taxes just because everyone else does
question
List the strategies that are used by people to enhance or maintain self-esteem
answer
Self-handicapping, downward social comparison, and BIRGing (basking in reflective glory)
question
What is self-handicapping?
answer
Putting obstacles in the way of succeeding so you have an excuse for failure
question
What is CORFing?
answer
Cutting off reflective failure
question
What is self-awareness?
answer
A self conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself; it makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions
question
What leads to self-awareness?
answer
Looking in the mirror, having a picture taken, or being on-stage
question
How does self-awareness influence behavior?
answer
Increases self-control and actions more clearly reflect attitudes
question
What is meant by self-regulation?
answer
The process by which we seek to control or alter our thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and urges
question
How can self-regulation be increased?
answer
Eating or drinking (glucose), rest
question
External locus of control
answer
The extent to which people perceive outcomes as externally controlled by chance or outside forces
question
Internal locus of control
answer
The extent to which people perceive outcomes as internally controllable by their own efforts
question
What is bounded rationality?
answer
More realistic way of making decisions; incomplete information (limited list) and flawed processing
question
What is rational decision making?
answer
This is a non-realistic, although ideal, way of making decisions; When you have complete information (all alternatives), you are unbiased, and pick the optimal choice
question
What concept does the copy machine study represent?
answer
Irrational decisions shaped by factors outside of conscious awareness
question
What concept does the Dartmouth-Princeton game represent?
answer
Motivated Decision-Making
question
What is a heuristic?
answer
A cognitive shortcut or mental "rule of thumb"
question
What are two kinds of heuristics?
answer
Framing heuristic and availability heuristic
question
What are availability heuristics?
answer
Ease of recall used as cue for likelihood or value; things that come to mind seem to be commonplace
question
How can the availability heuristic be overcome?
answer
Make judgements based on facts and figures, make sure to think about all the possibilities and not what automatically comes to your mind
question
What are two examples of framing heuristic?
answer
Gain or loss frame
question
What is a gain frame and are we risk averse or risk seeking?
answer
Talks about what will be gained; risk averse
question
What is a loss frame and are we risk averse or risk seeking?
answer
Talks about things that will be lost; risk seeking
question
What are two solutions to the framing heuristic?
answer
Be mindful that decisions can be framed, bring in a third party
question
Describe the decoy effect
answer
Middle option that tries to make you pick one option instead of the other
question
What is the representativeness heuristic?
answer
Used when making judgements about the probability of something under uncertainty
question
What is meant by the anchoring bias?
answer
People anchor their judgement on the first number that is put out
question
What is another example of anchoring besides salaries?
answer
Sentences that lawyers and judges give
question
What is the overconfidence phenomenon? Who is the most susceptible to this?
answer
When a person's subjective confidence in his or her judgements is reliably greater than the objective accuracy of those judgements; People who are the more confident and educated
question
What is confirmation bias? Example?
answer
We seek out information that confirms what we already believe, we ignore information that might disconfirm what we believe; Person that is researching for a paper may only use articles that agree with his/her stance
question
What is belief perseverance and how can it be overcome?
answer
Persistence of one's initial conceptions, such as when the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true still survives; It can be overcome by explaining the opposite
question
What is an illusory correlation?
answer
Perception of a relationship where none exists, or perception of a stronger relationship than actually exists
question
Explain illusion of control
answer
Perception of uncontrollable events as subject to one's control or as more controllable than they are
question
What is counterfactual thinking?
answer
Imagining alternative scenarios and outcomes that might have happened, but didn't (what might have been, if I only had...)
question
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy? Give an example.
answer
A belief that leads to its own fulfillment; Teacher thinking a kid is better at school and they end up doing better
question
What is the halo effect?
answer
When we learn that one person has a good quality, we assume that they have many other good qualities
question
What is the negativity bias? In what area is this very popular?
answer
Negative ads influence our thoughts and perceptions more than positive ads
question
What conclusion can be drawn from research using "thin slices" of people's behaviors
answer
Only a short amount of time is enough to form a decent judgement about other people's behaviors
question
What is an attribution?
answer
Explanation of why someone behaved as they did
question
What is a dispositional/internal attribution?
answer
Something going on within the person
question
What is a situational/external attribution?
answer
Something happening outwardly or in the environment
question
Explain the covariation principle
answer
It is used to figure out whether something is internal or external; behavior is present when cause is present and behavior is absent when cause is absent
question
What 3 things are needed to have to make an internal attribution?
answer
High consistency, low consensus and distinctiveness
question
What 3 things are needed when making an external attribution?
answer
High consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness
question
What is the fundamental attribution error? What are the differences in culture with this error?
answer
The tendency for observers to underestimate situational influences and overestimate dispositional influences upon others' behavior; People in Eastern Asian cultures are less susceptible to the fundamental attribution error than people in Western cultures
question
What is an attitude?
answer
A positive, negative, or mixed emotion of a person, object, or idea expressed at some level of intensity
question
What is an attitude object?
answer
A person, object, or an idea that a positive, negative, or mixed emotion is being projected on
question
According to the self-perception theory, how does behavior influence attitudes?
answer
When we are unsure of our attitudes, we look at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs
question
How does role playing relate to attitudes and behavior?
answer
Your behavior changes to fit the role you play, and thus, your attitude changes to justify your behavior
question
What is cognitive dissonance? How can it shape attitudes?
answer
Psychological tension experienced by an individual who holds contradictory thoughts, beliefs, and actions; It causes a change in attitude because humans like internal consistency
question
What situations can induce cognitive dissonance?
answer
When we realize we have, with little justification, acted contrary to our attitudes, making a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another
question
How are self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory similar?
answer
They both involve a change in attitude
question
How are self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory different?
answer
The attitudes that they start at (indifference vs. pos or neg), and only cognitive dissonance involves psychological tension
question
What factors increase the relationship between attitude and behaviors?
answer
Justifying effort and difficult decisions
question
When do attitudes predict behaviors?
answer
When other influences are minimized, when the specificity of attitude/behavior match, and when the attitude is strong/important
question
When is an attitude strong/important?
answer
When someone has knowledge and direct experience
question
What are the basics of the theory of planned behavior?
answer
It starts with attitude toward a behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control; it moves from intention to behavior
question
How does the theory of planned behavior contribute to our knowledge of attitudes and behavior?
answer
Attitudes are not the only thing that contribute to behavior, sometimes we have intentions but do not act on them
question
What is the principle of aggregation?
answer
The effects of an attitude become more apparent when we look at a person's aggregate or average behavior than when we consider isolated acts
Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New