Term
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Definition
| A favorable or unfavorable evaluative reaction towards something or someone (often rooted in one's beliefs and exhibited in one's feelings and intended behavior) |
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Term
| What is the Bogus pipeline |
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Definition
| A study conducted where subjects who believed their true attitudes could be detected by a “lie detector” reported more negative attitudes toward African Americans |
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Term
| What is the Implicit association test |
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Definition
| A computer driven assessment of implicit attitudes, using reaction times to measure people's automatic associations between attitude objects and evaluative words. Easier pairings and faster responses indicate stronger associations |
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Term
| Theory of planned behavior is... |
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Definition
| The idea that one's attitudes, perceived social norms, and feelings of control together determine one's intentions, which guide behavior |
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Term
| What is intrinsic motivation? |
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Definition
| Motivation that comes from within; because we want to do it |
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Term
| What is the foot in the door phenomenon? |
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Definition
| The tendency for people who have first agreed to a smaller request to later agree to a larger request |
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Term
| Describe cognitive dissonance theory |
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Definition
| Tension that arises when one is simultaneously aware of two inconsistent cognitions. Ex.: acting contrary to our attitudes or made a decision favoring one alternative despite reasons favoring another |
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Term
| What is the insufficient justification effect? |
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Definition
| Reduction of dissonance by internally justifying one's behavior when external justification is "insufficient" |
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Term
| What is Post-decision dissonance? |
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Definition
| Dissonance aroused after making an irrevocable decision that is reduced by increasing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluing the attractiveness of the rejected alternative |
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Term
| What is Extrinsic motivation? |
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Definition
| Motivation that is the result of external influences, like getting paid |
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Term
| Describe the Self-perception theory |
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Definition
| When we are unsure of our attitudes, we infer them much as we would someone observing us, by looking at our behavior and the circumstances under which it occurs |
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Term
| What is the Overjustification effect |
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Definition
| The result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their actions as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing |
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Term
| Describe the Self-affirmation theory |
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Definition
| People often experience a self-image threat, after engaging in an undesirable behavior and that they can compensate by affirming another aspect of the self. In other words, if you threaten people's self-concept in one domain, they will compensate either by refocusing or by doing good deeds in some other domain |
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Term
| What is Counterattitudinal advocacy |
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Definition
| Stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one’s privately held attitude or belief |
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Term
| Describe the research on a possible genetic influence on attitude acquisition. Specifically, how do strong vs. weak attitudes compare between identical and fraternal twins? |
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Definition
Genetic factors may influence general dispositions and conditionability that may influence formation of more specific attitudes.
Controlled twin studies in US and Sweden reveal that identical twins share more similar attitudes than fraternal twins. |
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Term
| What are the ABCs of attitudes? |
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Definition
Affective component: based on emotions and values
Behavioral component: how you behave toward object in question
Cognitive component: Attitudes based on the perusal of facts, whose primary function is object appraisal, i.e., assessments based on rewards vs. punishments |
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Term
| Describe how attitudes can be learned by way of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Provide an example of each to support your answer. |
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Definition
Classical: below conscious awareness; we are exposed to a stimulus with either a positive or neutral pairing until we associate the two (i.e. advertising)
Operant: Changes in behavior that result from the consequences that follow the behavior (i.e. gender roles) |
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Term
| Describe the study presented in lecture by LaPierre conducted in 1934. What were the results reported by LaPierre and why did his findings pose a “crisis” in the study of attitudes and behaviors? |
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Definition
Traveled with young Asian couple across United States for three months. They were refused service only once, even though 90% of service providers said they would have refused service to an Asian couple.
Showed that attitude did not predict behavior |
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Term
| What did the review of literature conducted by Alan Wicker (1969) reveal about the relationship between attitudes and behavior? |
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Definition
| Revealed a weak correspondence between attitudes and behavior: Attitudes toward cheating didn’t predict cheating, etc. |
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Term
| What did Festinger’s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1964) have to say about the relationship between attitudes and behavior? |
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Definition
| Attitudes change as the result of behavior and not the other way around |
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Term
| When do attitudes predict behavior? |
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Definition
When social influences on what we say are minimal
When other influences on behavior are minimal
When the attitude is strong
When attitudes specific to the behavior are measured |
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Term
| Discuss the effects that attitude strength and attitude specificity have in predicting behavior. |
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Definition
| Stronger attitudes better predict behavior (especially when forged through experience), as do more specific attitudes to more specific behaviors (view on healthy fitness vs. view on jogging in predicting jogging behavior) |
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Term
| How can social influences affect whether an attitude is verbally and behaviorally expressed? |
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Definition
| People may not express their true attitudes when social pressures are strong, e.g., issues related to race |
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Term
| What is the principle of aggregation? Provide an example to support your answer. |
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Definition
| Attitudes better predict behavior when we have an aggregate or “average” of the behavior over time. Ex: If you have shown up to class everyday thus far, chances are you'll show up for the next class |
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Term
| Describe the way in which the bogus pipeline, the implicit association test and the measurement of facial muscles have been used to improve the veracity of responses in attitude assessment. |
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Definition
Bogus pipeline: People more honest on racist beliefs if they believed they were attached to a lie detector
Implicit association: Stronger associations have faster response times
Facial muscles: can express attitude better than behavior |
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Term
| What are the three conditions that are associated with strong attitudes? Provide examples to support your answer. |
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Definition
Direct experience: When attitudes are forged by experience, they are more accessible, more enduring, and more likely to guide actions (living in a homeless shelter, donating to support one)
Self-Interest: When it directly affects us (being gay, supporting gay rights)
Political, moral, and religious factors: When it is part of who we are (being opposed to violence, protesting Iraq war) |
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Term
| How do attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms and perceived control affect behavioral intentions? |
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Definition
Attitude: I'm for physical fitness
Subjective Norm: "my neighbors seem to be jogging and going to the gym"
Perceived control: "I could easily do this"
When combined, they form the behavior intention of jogging, which is later fulfilled |
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Term
| Describe the experiment by Diener and Wallbom (1976) presented in your book. Compared to the participants in the self-aware condition, what percent of subjects in the control condition continued to work after the bell sounded? |
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Definition
| Students asked to work on a test that was to judge IQ. They were to stop when the bell rang. 71% of control group kept going after bell, but only 7% of experimental group continued after bell (experimental group had a mirror in front of them, making them self-aware) |
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Term
| Describe the experiment conducted by Freedman and Frasier (1966) on the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. What percent of subjects agree to put an ugly yard on their property after previously agreeing to a smaller request? |
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Definition
| People were asked to either put a giant, ugly sign in their yard or to first put a smaller sign in the window, followed by asking for them to put up the bigger sign. The cold approach had a 17% success rate, while first asking to put up the small sign yielded a 76% success rate |
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Term
| In the experiment by Freedman and Frasier (1966) on the foot-in-the-door phenomenon, what percent of the people agreed to allow a four hour product inventory in their home and why? |
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Definition
| If they had not previously answered a survey about it before, 22%. If they had, it went up to 52%. The smaller request they granted made it more likely they would agree to a larger one |
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Term
| According to cognitive dissonance theory, under what conditions are attitudes most likely to change following a behavior? |
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Definition
| When people feel some choice and when their actions have foreseeable consequences |
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Term
| Describe the experiment by Festinger & Carlsmith (1959). Discuss the psychology of insufficient justification to explain these findings. |
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Definition
Participants who spent an hour performing a dull, monotonous task were paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next subject that the task was interesting.
Results: Participants paid $1 reported that they enjoyed the task more than participants paid $20.
The $1 group, having insufficient justification for their actions, would experience more dissonance and be more motivated to believe that what they said was true in order to match their behavior and attitude |
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Term
| Describe the experiment by Leippe & Eisenstadt (1998) presented in lecture. Under what conditions were attitudes toward funding for scholarships and African Americans most likely to become more favorable? |
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Definition
| Students asked to write a counter-attitudinal essay in favor of doubling scholarship funding for African American students and decreasing by half funding for white scholarships. Attitudes more likely to be favorable towards this if it involved high choice and high publicity |
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Term
| What is self-perception theory’s explanation of why behaviors changes attitudes? |
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Definition
Initial attitude has to be weak
We infer attitudes from behavior only when there are no other plausible explanations |
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Term
| Describe the study by Fritz Stack presented in lecture. Explain the results. |
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Definition
People find cartoons funnier when holding pencil between teeth than when holding pencil with their lips.
Between the teeth contracted the same muscles as a smile, which we infer to mean something is funny |
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Term
| Describe the experiment by Lepper et al. (1974). Under which conditions did participants show less interest in an activity they had previously enjoyed? What theory is credited with explaining the overjustification effect? |
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Definition
Children randomly assigned to experimental condition were told they would get a reward for every picture they drew
When unobtrusively observed two weeks later, children in the experimental condition spent less time drawing than children in the control condition.
Cognitive dissonance |
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Term
| According to the “just world hypothesis” how are people likely to reduce dissonance when an innocent person has been harmed? |
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Definition
| "They must have done something to deserve it;" blaming the victim |
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Term
| What is the relationship between facial and body expressions and attitude? Specifically, how can imitating another’s expression affect us emotionally? Describe the study by Vaughan & Lanzetta (1981) presented in lecture and in your textbook. |
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Definition
Facial and body expressions can help us empathize with others, as when we make these expressions, we feel the emotion they show.
Study conducted on students who were asked to make pained expressions when seeing someone else being shocked. Those that did perspired more and had higher heart rates. |
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Term
| How do facial expressions and body movement influence our attitudes? Describe the study by Wells and Petty (1980) presented in lecture and in your textbook. What group of participants were more likely to agree with the editorial to which they had listened? |
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Definition
| Researchers asked volunteers to "test headphones" and either nod or shake their head while listening to an editorial. Those that nodded were more likely to agree with it. |
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Term
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Definition
| The evolutionary process by which nature selects traits that best enable organisms to survive and pass on those traits to offspring |
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Term
| What is evolutionary psychology? |
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Definition
| The study of the evolution of behavior using principles of natural selection |
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Term
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Definition
| The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes and traditions shared by a group of people translated from one generation to the next |
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Term
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Definition
Unwritten rules and expectations that dictate behavior
"Norms grease the cultural machinery" |
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Term
| What is someone's "personal space"? |
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Definition
| The buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies. Its size depends on our familiarity with whoever is near us |
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Term
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Definition
| Psychologically speaking, the characteristics, whether biological or socially influenced, by which people define male and female |
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Term
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Definition
| The vicarious experience of another's feelings |
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Term
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Definition
| Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. |
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Term
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Definition
| A set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females |
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Term
| What is psychological androgyny? |
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Definition
| Having the social and psychological and social traits typically associated with both males and females: Men being nurturing if the situation calls for it or women being assertive if the situation calls for it |
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Term
| Briefly describe Darwin’s theory of evolution. What role does natural selection play in the evolution of a species? |
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Definition
Organisms with traits that better enable them to survive are more likely to pass said traits on to next generation.
Species becomes better adapted to environment, more able to survive |
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Term
| According to modern anthropology from what continent did all humans originally evolve? |
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Definition
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Term
| According to your textbook, compared to other species are humans more or less restricted to their genes? |
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Definition
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Term
| According to Brown (1987) what functions do formal and informal forms of “you” found in some languages serve? |
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Definition
| They communicate not only social distance but also social status |
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Term
| According to your textbook, how does social status predict who is more likely to initiate intimacy? |
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Definition
| Because it would be forward and insubordinate for the lower status person to do so, the superior usually initiates |
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Term
| What are the five universal dimensions of social beliefs reported by Leung and Harris Bond (2004)? |
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Definition
-Cynicism
-Social complexity
-Reward for application
-Spirituality
-Fate control |
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Term
| How does verbal and nonverbal behavior differ between men and women during conversation? What has research by Smoreda and Licoppe (2000) revealed about differences in phone conversational styles between men and women? |
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Definition
Men focus more on tasks and connections with large groups, where women focus on more personal relationships.
Women's conversations with friends last longer. |
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Term
| How do the conversational styles of men and women differ with regard to staring, smiling, interrupting and talking assertively? |
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Definition
| Men tend to stare, interrupt, touch, and talk more assertively while women smile more |
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Term
| As a general rule, are men or women better at accurately decoding others’ emotional messages? |
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Definition
| Women tend to be much better |
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Term
| What are the four “caveats” that need to be considered when trying to understand documented gender differences? |
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Definition
-There is greater variation within groups than between groups
-The differences are small
-The differences change as a function of age
-Differences do not denote superior vs. inferior status |
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Term
| What are the biological differences between males and females presented in lecture and in your textbook? |
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Definition
| Sex hormones, chromosomes, sex organs |
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Term
| According to lecture, how do males and females differ in verbal, math and visual-spatial abilities? |
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Definition
Verbal: women talk earlier, have bigger vocabulary
Math: men tend to have higher scores as they get older
Visual-spatial abilities: men better |
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Term
| How do males and females differ in their reactions to stress? |
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Definition
Males more likely to exhibit the fight-or-flight response
Females more likely to exhibit “tend-and-befriend” response |
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Term
| According to evolutionary psychologists, why are males more sexually assertive and females more sexually selective? |
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Definition
| Men are more assertive as they have a greater desire to spread their genes, woman are selective so that they will have someone to provide for them and the child |
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Term
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Definition
| A change in belief or behavior as a result of real or imagined group pressure |
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Term
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Definition
| Conformity occurs when a response is given one would not give alone |
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Term
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Definition
| Acting in accord with a direct order |
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Term
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Definition
| When one truly comes to believe what the group believes |
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Term
| What are informational influences |
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Definition
| Conformity that occurs when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people |
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Term
| What is the autokenetic effect? |
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Definition
| An optical illusion whereby a pinpoint of light shown in a dark room appears to move |
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Term
| What is the chameleon effect? |
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Definition
| The tendency to mimic the mannerisms of others |
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Term
| What is social contagion? |
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Definition
| Actions we involuntary mimic (like yawning or laughing) |
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Term
| What are normative influences? |
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Definition
| Conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations or gain acceptance |
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Term
| Describe the study by Sherif using the autokenetic effect. Did group norms emerge cause of normative influences or because of informational influences? |
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Definition
Participants tested alone were asked to estimate how many inches a still light in a dark room moved, and again the next three days with two others who had been previously tested. It was found that people changed their answers according to how the group responded, and that this lasted several generations of tests later.
Informational influences. |
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Term
| Describe the original study on conformity conducted by Solomon Asch. What percent of participants conformed on at least one critical trial? What percent of answers on critical trials were conforming answers? |
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Definition
Participants shown a standard line and asked to determine which of the three comparison lines was the same length.
75% conformed at least once; 37% were conforming answers |
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Term
| What is the minimum and maximum number of people needed to produce conformity effects? |
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Definition
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Term
| Was conformity in the Asch study due to normative or informational influences and why? |
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Definition
| Normative; when asked privately, only 25% conformed, showing that they were only conforming due to group pressure |
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Term
| In what way do men and women differ on measures of conformity? |
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Definition
-Type of conformity
-Small differences on face-to-face encounters |
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Term
| According to research by Berry (1998) presented in lecture, how do the Eskimo of Canada and the Temne of Sierra Leon differ in their tendency to conform and why? |
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Definition
| The Temne conformed much more than the Eskimos, probably because of their collectivist culture and greater interactions with their group |
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Term
| Are Japanese students more or less likely to conform than American students and why? |
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Definition
| The Japanese were less likely to conform, as the group they were being tested with were strangers, not their own group members |
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Term
| Did the results of Asch’s conformity study merely reflect a historically conservative era? Would contemporary Americans still be as inclined to conform as did the participants in Ashe’s original study? Describe the replication of Ashe’s conformity study conducted by Pratkanis presented in lecture. What were the results? |
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Definition
| Pratkanis proved that the results were still valid today, with almost the exact same number of conformists as Asch |
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Term
| How does unanimity, group cohesiveness, status of the group and a deviant participant affect conformity rates? |
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Definition
Unanimity: When a single confederate deviated from the group’s answer participants conformed only one-fourth as often
Group cohesiveness: The more cohesive a group, the more power it gains over its members
Status of group: Higher status groups have a greater impact than lower status groups
Deviant participant: Helps you voice your dissenting opinion as well |
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Term
| Describe Milgram’s original study on obedience. What percent of participants delivered shock all the way to 450 volts? |
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Definition
| Volunteers were to shock "learners" every time they got a question wrong. 63% went all the way to 450 v. |
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Term
| How did obedience change when the participants were placed in the same room as the learner? How did obedience change when the participants were instructed to place the learner’s hand on a shock plate? |
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Definition
| Only 40% of people obeyed to 450v; dropped to 30% with shock plate |
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Term
| According to Milgram's follow-up studies, how did obedience to authority vary as a function of the experimenter’s presence? How did obedience change when the study was conducted in downtown Bridgeport? How did obedience change when another participant/confederate began given orders? |
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Definition
| The further away the authority figure, the less obedience (dropping to 21% when scientist was on the phone); Dropped when moved to less prestigious Bridgeport (to 48%); when confederate gave orders, only 20% obeyed |
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Term
| Describe Burger’s (2006) replication of the Milgram study. What were the results and how did they compare to the results reported by Milgram? |
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Definition
| Burger had the same experiment, but only had the shock go to 150v. 70% of people obeyed, a slight reduction from Milgram's 95% at the 150v. |
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Term
| According to Burger's research findings, what are the two traits of people who resisted and refused to obey authority? |
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Definition
| Empathy and a need for control |
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