Psyc 3402 Exam 1 Questions With
Complete Solutions
/. What is social psychology - Answer-The scientific study of how people influence each
other's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Provides empirical support for social influence
/.3 main areas of social psychology - Answer-social thinking, social influence, social
behavior; these blend together to form concepts that apply to thoughts and decisions
people make
/.social thinking - Answer-How we define the self and how we think about other people
and the world around us
(Example: as a student in this class, i think prof perceives me as a student who will
always go above and beyond)
/.social influence - Answer-Revolves around things like conformity, prejudice,
persuasion; things that influence our behaviors
(Example: as a result of example above, i exhibit course performance above and
beyond what is expected)
/.social behavior - Answer-Helping, aggression, romantic relationships;
(Example: as a result of examples above, this presents a challenge for me in terms of
completing the course; this can be bad or good;)
/.sociology - Answer-emphasis on the group level not the individual; might look at how a
particular subculture is geared toward cooperation or aggression, or how cultures
evolve
/.anthropology - Answer-Emphasis on one culture at a time, which is why research
methods tend to be observation
/.Mary Calkins - Answer-born during civil war, fought to study at harvard during sexist
poliicies blocking women from enrolling; first female president of APA
/.Mamie and Kenneth Clark - Answer-Married african american couple, became
nationally known when their research led to them being expert witnesses in Brown v.
Board of Education
That research was "The Doll Studies"; showed young children white doll and black doll,
children of all races would prefer the white doll, say white doll was prettier, more
attractive, "better" than the black doll;
Highlighted the issue of internalized racism and negative self esteem of children during
that time
, Kenneth Clark was first African American president of APA
/.Muzafer Sherif - Answer-did research revolving reducing prejudice/racism
Brought group of 11/12 year old boys to a camp w/ no behavioral problems; led to form
prejudices against each other (unethical nowadays); began behaving like juvenile
delinquents, began attacking each other, had to call off the experiment
Only way they could get the little boys to stop acting horribly was to get them to work
together on activities
/.Alice Eagly - Answer-Research on prejudice and sexism, studied how to understand
and reduce sexism
Her model continues to inspire research today, referred to as "social role theory"
/.Shelly Taylor and Susan Fiske - Answer-Book on Social Cognition
work inspired idea that most people are "Cognitive Misers"
This means we only think as hard as we have to
/.Claude Steele and Mahzarin Banaji - Answer-Culture and stereotypes affect on people
of color
Steele introduced the idea of stereo threats
Put out impressive research on why students of color were performing worse on some
college level tests because of stereotypes
Banaji introduced idea of how stereotypes and prejudices might affect us unknowingly;
affects us all often without us realizing
Developed one of the most controversial tests to measure prejudice
/.psychological literacy - Answer-our mission as teachers and researchers!! better
citizenship (patterns of how a person should behave). Everyone benefits from it!
/.self correcting nature of science - Answer-flaws lead to misleading results, failiure to
report accurately; replication of studies can correct flaws, and new work builds on older
work
/.No (Proof comes from replication study with other groups that they do not differ greatly
from other populations) - Answer-Do college students differ drastically (or significantly)
from other groups...yes or no?
/.Little evidence suggesting that people outside of the US in similar western cultures fail
to conform to those findings - Answer-Most social psychology studies are conducted in
the USA and a few other very similar Western cultures. Therefore, how generalizable or
applicable are those results to dissimilar cultures?
/.biological and evolutionary perspective - Answer-Revolves around the dynamics of
how our brains and bodies influence, and are influenced by, our social experiences
Ex: how testosterone affects our level of aggression; interaction between physical and
social
Complete Solutions
/. What is social psychology - Answer-The scientific study of how people influence each
other's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Provides empirical support for social influence
/.3 main areas of social psychology - Answer-social thinking, social influence, social
behavior; these blend together to form concepts that apply to thoughts and decisions
people make
/.social thinking - Answer-How we define the self and how we think about other people
and the world around us
(Example: as a student in this class, i think prof perceives me as a student who will
always go above and beyond)
/.social influence - Answer-Revolves around things like conformity, prejudice,
persuasion; things that influence our behaviors
(Example: as a result of example above, i exhibit course performance above and
beyond what is expected)
/.social behavior - Answer-Helping, aggression, romantic relationships;
(Example: as a result of examples above, this presents a challenge for me in terms of
completing the course; this can be bad or good;)
/.sociology - Answer-emphasis on the group level not the individual; might look at how a
particular subculture is geared toward cooperation or aggression, or how cultures
evolve
/.anthropology - Answer-Emphasis on one culture at a time, which is why research
methods tend to be observation
/.Mary Calkins - Answer-born during civil war, fought to study at harvard during sexist
poliicies blocking women from enrolling; first female president of APA
/.Mamie and Kenneth Clark - Answer-Married african american couple, became
nationally known when their research led to them being expert witnesses in Brown v.
Board of Education
That research was "The Doll Studies"; showed young children white doll and black doll,
children of all races would prefer the white doll, say white doll was prettier, more
attractive, "better" than the black doll;
Highlighted the issue of internalized racism and negative self esteem of children during
that time
, Kenneth Clark was first African American president of APA
/.Muzafer Sherif - Answer-did research revolving reducing prejudice/racism
Brought group of 11/12 year old boys to a camp w/ no behavioral problems; led to form
prejudices against each other (unethical nowadays); began behaving like juvenile
delinquents, began attacking each other, had to call off the experiment
Only way they could get the little boys to stop acting horribly was to get them to work
together on activities
/.Alice Eagly - Answer-Research on prejudice and sexism, studied how to understand
and reduce sexism
Her model continues to inspire research today, referred to as "social role theory"
/.Shelly Taylor and Susan Fiske - Answer-Book on Social Cognition
work inspired idea that most people are "Cognitive Misers"
This means we only think as hard as we have to
/.Claude Steele and Mahzarin Banaji - Answer-Culture and stereotypes affect on people
of color
Steele introduced the idea of stereo threats
Put out impressive research on why students of color were performing worse on some
college level tests because of stereotypes
Banaji introduced idea of how stereotypes and prejudices might affect us unknowingly;
affects us all often without us realizing
Developed one of the most controversial tests to measure prejudice
/.psychological literacy - Answer-our mission as teachers and researchers!! better
citizenship (patterns of how a person should behave). Everyone benefits from it!
/.self correcting nature of science - Answer-flaws lead to misleading results, failiure to
report accurately; replication of studies can correct flaws, and new work builds on older
work
/.No (Proof comes from replication study with other groups that they do not differ greatly
from other populations) - Answer-Do college students differ drastically (or significantly)
from other groups...yes or no?
/.Little evidence suggesting that people outside of the US in similar western cultures fail
to conform to those findings - Answer-Most social psychology studies are conducted in
the USA and a few other very similar Western cultures. Therefore, how generalizable or
applicable are those results to dissimilar cultures?
/.biological and evolutionary perspective - Answer-Revolves around the dynamics of
how our brains and bodies influence, and are influenced by, our social experiences
Ex: how testosterone affects our level of aggression; interaction between physical and
social
