Social Psychology Test #2 PDF

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This is a study guide for Professor Weyant's social psychology course. This reviews information on exam 2....

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Social Psychology Test #2

Chapter 6 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Attitude: positive, negative or mixed reaction to a person, object or idea Attitude scale: multiple-item questionnaire designed to measure a person’s attitude toward some object Bogus pipeline: phony lie-detector device that is sometimes used to get respondents to give truthful answers to sensitive questions Facial electromyograph (EMG): electronic instrument that records facial muscle activity associated with emotions and attitudes Implicit attitude: attitude, such as prejudice, that one is not aware of having Implicit association test (IAT): covert measure of unconscious attitudes derived from speed at which people respond to pairings of concepts--such as black or white with good or bad Evaluative conditioning: process by which we form an attitude toward a neutral stimulus because of its association with a positive or negative person, place, or thing Theory of planned behavior: theory that attitudes toward a specific behavior combine with subjective norms and perceived control to influence a person’s actions Persuasion: process by which attitudes are changed Central route to persuasion: process by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its arguments Peripheral route to persuasion: process by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cues Elaboration: process of thinking about and scrutinizing the arguments contained in a persuasive communication Sleeper effect: delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source (you forget the source and just remember the information) Need for cognition (NC): personality variable that distinguishes people on the basis of how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities Inoculation hypothesis: the idea that exposure to weak versions of a persuasive argument increases later resistance to that argument Psychological reactance: theory that people react against threats to their freedom by asserting themselves and perceiving the threatened freedom as more attractive Cognitive dissonance theory: theory holding that inconsistent cognitions arouses psychological tension that people become motivated to reduce Insufficient justification: condition in which people freely perform an attitude-discrepant behavior without receiving a large reward Insufficient deterrence: condition in which people refrain from engaging in a desirable activity, even when only mild punishment is threatened

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Prosocial behaviors: actions intended to benefit others Kin selection: preferential helping of genetic relatives, which results in the greater likelihood that genes held in common will survive Reciprocal altruism: altruism that involves an individual helping another (despite some immediate risk or cost) and becoming more likely to receive help from the other in return Indirect reciprocity: a kind of reciprocal altruism in which an individual who helps someone becomes more likely to receive help from someone else

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Empathy: understanding of vicariously experiencing another individual’s perspective and feeling sympathy and compassion for that individual Egoistic: motivated by the desire to improve one’s own welfare Altruistic: motivated by the desire to improve another’s welfare Empathy-altruism hypothesis: proposition that empathic concern for a person in need produces an altruistic motive for helping Pluralistic ignorance: state in which people in a group mistakenly think that their own individual thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are different from those of the others in the group Diffusion of responsibility: belief that others will or should take the responsibility for providing assistance to a person in need Audience inhibition: reluctance to help for fear of making a bad impression on observers Reluctant altruism: altruistic kinds of behavior that result from pressure from peers or other sources of direct social influence Identity fusion: strong sense of “oneness” and shared identity with a group and its individual members Social norm: a general rule of conduct reflecting standards of social approval and disapproval

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Aggression: behavior intended to harm another individual Proactive aggression: aggressive behavior whereby harm is inflicted as a means to a desired end Reactive aggression: aggressive behavior where the means and the end coincide; harm is inflicted for its own sake Dark triad: set of 3 traits that are associated with higher levels of aggressiveness: machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism Executive functioning: cognitive abilities and processes that allow humans to plan or inhibit their actions Corporal punishment: physical force intended to cause a child pain, but not injury, for the purpose of controlling or correcting the child’s behavior Social learning theory: behavior is learned through the observation of others as well as through the direct experience of rewards and punishments Cycle of violence: transmission of domestic violence across generations Culture of honor: culture that emphasizes honor and social status, particularly for males, and the role of aggression in protecting that honor Frustration-aggression hypothesis: idea that (1) frustration always elicits motive to aggress and (2) all aggression is caused by frustration Displacement: aggressing against a substitute target because aggressive acts against the source of the frustration are inhibited by fear or lack of access Catharsis: reduction of the motive to aggress that is said to result from any imagined, observed, or actual act of aggression Weapons effect: tendency that the likelihood of aggression will increase by the mere presence of weapons Hostile attribution bias: tendency to perceive hostile intent in others Rumination: context of aggression, rumination involves repeatedly thinking about and reliving an anger-inducing event, focusing on angry thoughts and feelings, and perhaps even planning or imagining revenge Desensitization: reduction in emotion-related physiological reactivity in response to a stimulus Cultivation: process by which mass media (television) construct a version of social reality for the public

Lesko Readings

Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance (68-74) ● Past research ○ Large reward produced less subsequent opinion change than did a smaller reward OR as the promised rewards or threatened punishment become larger, the magnitude of dissonance becomes smaller ● Procedure ○ Needed to put 12 spools onto a tray, empty the tray, and refill it with spools, etc. ○ Then needed to turn each of the 48 pegs clockwise and another turn, etc. ■ Experimenter took notes the entire time so it seemed authentic ○ Variations ■ Control ● Not told to tell the girl it was fun and weren’t paid ■ $1 & $20: DIFFERENCE ● They had to tell the next person that the experiment was enjoyable and they also had to agree to be on call for the future ● The girl would say that her friend hadn’t liked it and the person would reassure her that it was fun ○ As they walk to the interviewer, someone says that most of the subjects like the experiment ○ Interview ■ 1. Were the tasks interesting? Scale of -5 to +5 ■ 2. Did the experiment teach you anything? Scale of 0 to10 ■ 3. Was it measuring anything important? Useful results? Scale of 0 to 10 ■ 4. Would you want to participate in another similar experiment? Scale of -5 to +5 ■ At the close, they were asked if they found anything suspicious ■ Debrief, return money ○ Data from 11 subjects was discarded because ■ 1. Some said they were suspicious about being paid and told to tell that girl it was fun ■ 2. Some told the girl that they had been hired, that the experiment was really boring but they were supposed to say it was fun ■ 3. Some refused to take the money and refused to be hired ■ 4. Some demanded the girl’s phone number and said they would explain things ● Summary ○ 1. (how enjoyable was the task) Hardly a difference between control and $20 condition, but huge difference between $20 and $1 ○ 4. (desire to participate in similar) difference between $1 and control is significant, but $1 and $20 isn’t as significant ○ 3. (scientific importance) not in line with expectations; $1 higher than others, $20 is lower than control--seems to be of chance ○ 2. (how much they learned) nothing to do with dissonance, no differences at all among conditions expected, not a significant difference between groups here ● Discussion of alternative explanation ○ $1 might have rehearsed it more mentally, thought up more ways of saying it, may have said it more convingly, etc. Even though you might expect $20 to do it better because they were paid more for it ○ Rated content of what was said to the girl: $20 is slightly higher ● Cognitive dissonance:

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1. If a person is induced to do/say something which is contrary to his private opinion, there will be a tendency for him to change his opinion so as to bring it into correspondence with what he has done or said ○ 2. The larger the pressure used to elicit the overt behavior, the weaker will be the above-mentioned tendency “From Jerusalem to Jericho”: a study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior (187-195) ● Used good Samaritan parable from the Bible as a basis for their study ● Hypothesis 1: people responding while thinking religious and ethical thoughts will be no more likely to offer aid than persons thinking about something else ● Hypothesis 2: less likely if in a hurry ● Hypothesis 3: people who are religious in a Samaritan-type way will help more frequently than the priest or Levite (use religion for the honor and power) ● Method ○ Subjects: 67 princeton theological seminary students ○ Personality measures: 3-D scale, doctrinal orthodoxy scale (agreement with classic doctrines of Protestant theology), extrinsic scale (use of religion as means to an end rather than end in itself), intrinsic scale (use of religion as end in itself), extrinsic external scale (influence of significant others and situations in generating one’s religiosity), extrinsic internal (degree of driveness in one’s religiosity), and intrinsic scale of Religious Life Inventory (degree to which one’s religiosity involves a questioning of meaning of life) ● Procedure ○ Variables ■ Some talked about possible jobs after seminary school ■ Message: given the parable of the good samaritan and then told to go to the other room (told where it is) ■ Hurry: tells them that they are late ○ Incident: saw victim slumped in alley ○ Helping ratings from not noticing, not offering to help, did not stop but helped indirectly (told assistant), stopped and asked if victim needed helped, and insisted on taking them inside, and then refusing to leave victim ○ Speech: gave speech ○ Completed questionnaire, included situation in alley ○ Debrief ● Results and Discussion ○ Subjects in a hurry were less likely to help, but whether they were giving a speech on the parable or not did not have a significant difference ○ Religiosity wasn’t a predictor for helping ■ Subjects high on the religion as quest dimension appear likely, when they stop for the victim, to offer help of a more tentative or incomplete nature than are subjects scoring low on this dimension--LESS HELP ● Conclusion ○ Ironically, those in a hurry to speak on parable of the Good Samaritan are still less likely to help ○ Salience of helping norms is a less strong determinant of helping behavior in the present situation than many, including the present authors, would expect ○ Thinking about the good Samaritan did nothing

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Perhaps those in a hurry didn’t even understand it as an ethical dilemma--didn’t even have time to think about it--whereas others who didn’t stop did make a decision to not help because someone was depending on them to be a certain place ■ Conflict between stopping to help victim and continuing onto experiment ● Conflict rather than callousness ○ Personality variables weren’t useful but there were variations in the help given, specifically the religiosity of the quest sort School Violence and the Culture of Honor (217-224) ● Culture-of-honor values are related to school violence (higher probability of bringing a weapon to school--x2 as many shootings)--risk factor for school violence ● Culture of honor ○ High regard to strength and social regard in connection with person, family, reputation and property ○ More favorable to death penalty and violent responses as defense ● Study 1: index of school-violence potential--percentage of high school students who reported having brought a weapon to school at least once in the month ○ Higher % of students in COH states reported having brought a weapon to school--still statistically significant with variables applied ● Study 2: (want an accurate assessment of who is bringing weapons) looked at past school shootings ○ Most shooters were white males about 18 years old--usually a highschool ○ 3 times as many shootings happened in culture of honor states than in non-culture of honor states. Remained statistically significant even with other factors applied ○ Only other variable that predicts is economic insecurity ○ Show that COH predicted another measure of school violence--this study does not build on self-report and not influenced by willingness ● COH states are usually hotter, more rural and poorer than non COH states ○ But these variables were examined on their own and were less able to predict school-violence ● School violence is a somewhat distinct form of aggression that shouldn’t be viewed through standard lenses ● But they didn’t really look at the rural factor--could have a role in school violence Quiz Chapter 6 ● ●

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 Lola is high in need for evaluation, and Barry is low in need for evaluation. Which of the following is probably true ? ○ Lola is more opinionated than is Barry. According to Fazio et al. (1977), when someone behaves in a way that is only mildly discrepant with his or her attitude, any subsequent change is best a  ttributed to: ○ Self-perception Which of the following is unlikely t o increase source credibility? ○ Arguing strongly for one's own interests. Owen behaved until the new babysitter ordered him to go to bed. Even though he was exhausted, he ran around the house screaming that his parents let him stay up for as long as he wants. With his refusal to give up his usual freedom, Owen is displaying: ○ psychological reactance. Ira is hired to market a product that he considers inferior. Unable to stand feeling like a hypocrite, he repairs his damaged self-concept by convincing himself that the product is good. Ira's attitude change is explained by: ○ self-affirmation theory. A computer company wants people to buy its new word processor. For the central route to persuasion, what length and degree of discrepancy should the ads have?

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○ Long, but without repetition and with moderate discrepancy. Gloria has to decide between two equally attractive apartments immediately. Brehm's classic (1956) study predicts that right after she picks one of the apartments, she will: ○ proceed to convince herself that she picked the better of the two. According to Cooper and Fazio's (1984) "new look" at cognitive dissonance, the first step in the process by which cognitive dissonance is aroused and reduced requires that a person's attitude-discrepant behavior have: ○ desired negative consequences. Research on subliminal messages show that they: ○ do not work at all.

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The rule of conduct that dictates that people who feel over-benefited should help those who are perceived as under-benefited is called the norm of: ○ equity Several explanations have been offered to explain why perceived similarity between a potential help giver and a help recipient can increase helping behavior. All of the following are explanations except that: ○ similarity may increase adherence to social norms. Alice is pleasantly surprised to find change in the coin return slot after making her phone call. Later, when her friend drops some book, Alice gladly helps her pick them up. Alice's behavior is an example of: ○ the good mood effect. According to research by Schneider et al. (1996), assumptive help can: ○ decrease the self-esteem of a stigmatized recipient. The fire alarm goes off. Nina doesn't get up because she's uncertain about what's going on. She assumes that other people aren't moving because they know the alarm is actually a false alarm. Nina's thoughts illustrate: ○ pluralistic ignorance. Publicly helping someone who is deemed extremely competent in the area in which the help is being received can: ○ raise suspicions in perceivers about the successful performance of the help recipient. Stimulus overload is one reason why people do not ________ when there is a problem. ○ Notice

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Violent crime in America has fallen. One explanation for this drop is: ○ aging of the population. Which of the following typifies what Gerner calls "cultivation"? ○ A television police drama that depicts four homicides in one precinct within one hour. ________ are more likely to physically abuse their children, and the victims of physical abuse are more often ________. ○ Mothers; sons According to Dollard's frustration-aggression hypothesis: ○ frustration always elicits the motive to aggress. The higher levels, in recent times, of wife-to-husband abuse as compared with husband-to-wife abuse, can be explained in terms of: ○ women acting in self-defense. One reason alcohol increases aggression is that it: ○ induces alcohol myopia....