Social Psychology Mid-term

Sociologists tend to study behavior at the ________ level, whereas social psychologists study behavior at the _______ level.

group, individual

Although related to other fields, social psychology is distinct in that its emphasis is on

understanding the immediate situational factors that influence human behavior.

Social psychology differs from common sense in that

it relies on scientific method to test theories.

Ringelmann and Triplett are best labeled as

the founders of social psychology

Which historical event sparked great interest in and gave shape to the field of social psychology

The Nazi Holocaust during WWII

Floyd Allport’s social psychology text, published in 1924, is credited with

establishing the field’s emphasis on the scientific method.

By stressing both internal differences around individuals and differences among external situations, the interactionist perspective is an approach combining

personality psychology with social psychology

Much of the debate in social psychology during the period of "confidence and crisis" occurred in reaction to

the use of laboratory experiments

Social neuroscience is best described as the study of

the interaction of social and neural processes

Social psychologists use the scientific method when they study human behavior in order to

allow other social psychologists to attempt to replicate the findings

A hypothesis provides a means to ________ a theory

testing

An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena is called a

theory

Construct validity is best defined as the extent to which

the operational definitions reflect the conceptual variables of interest

Self-report measures and observational measures are similar in that both

can be influenced by desirability concerns.

Social psychologists use descriptive research in order to describe

general patterns and trends in the variables of interest

A study that examines existing records or databases is referred to as an

archival study

In principle, the purpose of random sampling is to make sure that research participants

constitute a representative sample from the population of interest

The primary goal of using correlational research is to

determine the nature and strength of the association between two measured variables.

In an experiment, the independent variable is _____ while the dependent variable is _______

manipulated, measured

A factor other than the independent variable that varies between conditions of an experiment is a

confound

A confound is a threat to _________ validity

internal

The "ABC’s of the self" refer to affect, behavior, and cognition. Which of these three concepts is the most relevant to the idea of self-esteem?

Affect

The term self-concept refers to

the sum total of a person’s beliefs concerning his or her own personal characteristics.

Beliefs about the self that guide the processing of self-relevant information are called

self-schemas

The process of reflecting on your own inner thoughts and feelings in order to gain self-knowledge is called

introspection

According to research by Nisbett and Wilson (1977)

people are often unable to give accurate explanations for the causes of their own behavior`

The process of predicting how one will feel in response to future events is called

affective forecasting

The tendency for extrinsic rewards to undermine intrinsic motivations is called

the overjustification effect

in terms of autobiographical memory, to what does the phrase "reminiscence peak" refer?

Older adults tend to retrieve a large number of memories from adolescence and early adulthood than other periods of life.

The theory that humans cope with the fear of their own deaths by constructing worldviews that help preserve their self-esteem is called

terror management theory

According to self-discrepancy theory, experiencing negative emotions. such as anxiety or depression, is often caused by the

degree of incongruity among the actual, ought, and ideal selves.

The process by which we seek to control or alter our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and urges is called

self-regulation

As social perceivers, people’s impressions of others are

influenced by the physical appearance of a person

Scripts are often culture-specific. This means that

the same behaviors may be perceived very differently in different cultures

The process by which people attribute humanlike mental states to various animate and inanimate objects is called

mind perception

Behavior that communicates a person’s feelings without words is called

nonverbal behavior

A group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behavior is known as

attribution theory

Research on motivational biases suggests that if you are a people person, you will

value social skills more in leaders than if you are task oriented

Which of the following psychological process best explains why it is that people sometimes react to news of a natural disaster or violent crime with something less than full sympathy on behalf of the victims?

belief in a just world

_______ __________ theory combines the personal dispositions of the perceiver with a weighted average of the target person’s characteristics.

information integration

The idea that impressions are based on a perceiver’s disposition to form certain impressions and a weighted average of the target person’s characteristics is most consistent with

information integration theory

The trait negativity bias refers to the tendency for

negative trait information to have a greater impact on impression

Prejudice and discrimination based on a person’s racial background, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one racial group over another, is known as

racism

Prejudice and discrimination based on a persons gender, or institutional and cultural practices that promote the domination of one gender over another, are known as

sexism

Negative feelings directed at others strictly because of their membership in a particular social category is called

prejudice

Being persistently stereotyped. perceived as deviant, or devalued in society because of a membership in a particular social group or because of a particular characteristic is the definition of being

stigmatized

According to research by Crocker and colleagues (1991), African-American students who positive interpersonal feedback from Caucasian student experienced

a reduction in self-esteem

Which of the following is a risk for stigmatized targets?

Increased risk for long-term physical and mental health problems

A stereotype exists in many cultures that men are better than women at math. Ramya is about to take a diagnostic achievement test in math. According to research on stereotype threat, under which of the following conditions is Ramya most likely to preform poorly on the test?

Ramya is asked to indicate her gender at the beginning of the test

Research on stereotype threat suggests that under-performance by African-Americans in academic settings may be due to

a fear of confirming negative stereotypes of African-Americans.

Which of the following experimental procedures would a researcher investigating stereotype threat be least likely to use?

Having women complete a math test

Which of the following is an essential requirement for stereotype threat to occur?

the individual in question must be aware of negative stereotypes about his or her group

Social categorization is advantageous because it

frees up cognitive resources

Social categorization leads people to

overestimate differences between groups

All of the following result from social categorization expect

increased tendency to notice behaviors inconsistent with group stereotype

Groups to which the self belongs are called _____, and groups to which the self does not belong are called the

ingroups, outgroups

The tendency to perceive members of an outgroup as less variable, or more similar to one another, then members of the ingroup is called

outgroup homogeneity effect

Realistic conflict theory proposes that

intergroup hostility arises from competition among groups for scarce but valued resources

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which members of stereotyped groups posess

illusory correlations

The feeling of ambivalence can be described as an attitude that is both _____ and

strong, mixed in terms of positive versus negative valence

Attitudes are useful because they

allow us to judge whether something we encounter is good or bad

The most direct and straightforward way to assess an attitude is through the use of

self-report measures

Saniqua plans to use a self report measure in which people indicate their agreement or disagreement with a list of statements. She is suing

a likert scale

One potential problem with self-report measure is that

respondents might not respond truthfully

Implicit Association Tests (IATs) can detect implicit attitudes by measuring

the speed at which participants associate stimuli with a positive or negative word.

The process by which we form an attitude toward a neutral stimulus because of its association with a positive or negative person, place, or thing is called

evaluative conditioning

According to the theory of planned behavior, one reason that a person’s behavior might not be consistent with that person’s attitudes in that the behavior

is determined by norms that are counter to the person’s attitudes.

The process by which attitudes are changed is called

persuasion

The process by which a person is persuaded by cues is the persuasion context rather than thinking critically about the content of a persuasive message is called

the peripheral route to persuasion

While watching the presidential debate on television, Matilda critically evaluated the arguments made by each candidate and was persuaded to support a particular candidate because of the quality of her arguments. Matilda exhibited

central route persuasion

The main factor influencing sources likability are

similarity and physical attractiveness

A sleeper effect occurs when a

persuasive message from a non-credible source becomes more persuasive over time

A negative reaction to the feeling that one’s freedom is being threatened is called

psychological reactance

A major difference between cognitive dissonance theory and self-perception theory involves the extent to which __________ ___________ is necessary to lead to self-persuasion and attitude change.

physiological arousal

The basic prediction of ________ theory is that attitude change occurs when people infer how they feel by observing their own behavior.

self-perception

The ways in which people are affected by the real or imagined presence of others is called ____________

social influence

The tendency to unconsciously mimic the nonverbal behavior of others is called

the chameleon effect

The tendency to alter perceptions, opinions, and behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms is called

conformity

The "minority slowness effect" refers to the finding that

people with minority opinions are slower to respond to questions about the topic than people with the majority opinions

Interpersonal credits a person earns by following group norms are called

idiosyncrasy credits

According to the dual-process approach to understanding minority influence

group majorities and minorities exert their influence in very different ways.

Psychologists tend to refer to a culture that values the virtues of interdependence and social harmony as

collectivist

The original Milgram obedience study

has been followed up by a number of additional studies that have varied specific aspects of the research situations