PSYC 140 UPDATED COMPREHENSIVE QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔Sherif's boys summer camp study (Sherif, 1966) - ✔✔Boys were placed into two
arbitrary teams at a summer camp, became prejudiced against each other, Contact
hypothesis didn't work because contact w/ outergroup is not enough, Staged truck
breakdown, team-building activity (mutual interdependence is what actually worked)
improved their attitudes towards each other, Worked because they had a common goal
that they could achieve
✔✔Ways to reduce prejudice - ✔✔contact hypothesis (get people to behave diff
towards the group of people they are prejudiced about), being in situations that are
mutual interdependence (assumes that you have equal status and people who are
dependent of each other to complete a common goal)
✔✔Hostile/angry aggression - ✔✔aggression for aggression's sake (being mean) just
the end
✔✔Instrumental aggression - ✔✔aggression used for another means to end/purpose
✔✔Freud's view of aggression - ✔✔Freud believed that all humans possess two basic
drives from birth that contribute to personality development and behavior - the drive for
aggression (Thanatos) and the drive for pleasure (Eros).
✔✔Relationship between aggression and frustration - ✔✔aggression is the result of
frustration; any event or stimulus that prevents an individual from attaining some goal
and its accompanying reinforcing quality.
✔✔Toy frustration study (Barker, Dembo, & Lewin, 1941) - ✔✔"Frustrated" Condition -
Children were allowed to play with attractive toys only after a painfully long wait. "Non-
Frustrated" Condition - Children were allowed to play with attractive toys without having
to wait. Results - Non-frustrated children played joyfully with the toys, while Frustrated
children were destructive toward the toys.
✔✔Moderators of the aggression-frustration relationship - ✔✔Frustration is increased
when a goal is near and your progress toward it is interrupted. Frustration is increased
when the interruption is unexpected or when it seems illegitimate.
✔✔Relative deprivation - ✔✔the belief that a person will feel deprived or entitled to
something based on the comparison to someone else.
✔✔Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment - ✔✔Zimbardo (1973) was interested in
finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to
the sadistic personalities of the guards (i.e., dispositional) or had more to do with the
prison environment (i.e., situational). Found that people will readily conform to the social
, roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as
those of the prison guards.
✔✔Effects of media violence on children and adults - ✔✔[Untouchables Study] IV -
sports show or violent show; DV - kids who watched violent show (the untouchables)
were more verbally and physically violent. [Ross Parke's Study] Even kids low in
aggression show violent tendencies when watching violent shows
[Desensitization/Numbing] seeing violence in the media can desensitize violence, cause
less emotional reaction to violence. [Copy-cat Violence] people copy violence they see
on TV.
✔✔Effects of pornography on attitudes and on aggression towards women Aggressive-
erotic film study (Donnerstein, 1980) - ✔✔Men and women were shown films depicting
either (a) sexual aggression against a male; (b) sexual aggression against a female; (c)
physical aggression; or (d) neutral. Overall, when compared to women, men were more
accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to sexual
aggression, less sympathetic toward the rape trial victim, less likely to judge the
defendant as guilty, and generally less empathic.
✔✔Bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961) - ✔✔groundbreaking study on aggression led
by psychologist Albert Bandura that demonstrated that children are able to learn
through the observation of adult behaviour.
✔✔Social learning theory vs. catharsis theory on reducing aggression - ✔✔Social
Learning theory: we learn social behavior by observing and imitating, and by being
rewarded and punished. Catharsis theory: aggression is reduced when one releases
aggressive energy, either by acting aggressively or by fantasizing about it.
✔✔Effects of proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness, complementarity,
barriers/obstacles, and arousal on liking and attraction - ✔✔the closer in proximity, the
more similar. The more physically attractive a person is to you, the more likely you are
to date/like them. Complementarity is rare, but described by "opposites attract."
Barriers/obstacles in a relationship create a tighter bond. Arousal increases liking
behavior.
✔✔Effects of mere exposure - ✔✔Even mere exposure to a person will increase your
liking of them [hand in hand with proximity].
✔✔The physical attractiveness stereotype - ✔✔tendency to assume that people who
are physically attractive also possess other socially desirable personality traits.
✔✔Misattribution (mislabeling) of arousal - ✔✔describes the process whereby people
make a mistake in assuming what is causing them to feel aroused. For example, when
actually experiencing physiological responses related to fear, people mislabel those
responses as romantic arousal.
SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE A+
✔✔Sherif's boys summer camp study (Sherif, 1966) - ✔✔Boys were placed into two
arbitrary teams at a summer camp, became prejudiced against each other, Contact
hypothesis didn't work because contact w/ outergroup is not enough, Staged truck
breakdown, team-building activity (mutual interdependence is what actually worked)
improved their attitudes towards each other, Worked because they had a common goal
that they could achieve
✔✔Ways to reduce prejudice - ✔✔contact hypothesis (get people to behave diff
towards the group of people they are prejudiced about), being in situations that are
mutual interdependence (assumes that you have equal status and people who are
dependent of each other to complete a common goal)
✔✔Hostile/angry aggression - ✔✔aggression for aggression's sake (being mean) just
the end
✔✔Instrumental aggression - ✔✔aggression used for another means to end/purpose
✔✔Freud's view of aggression - ✔✔Freud believed that all humans possess two basic
drives from birth that contribute to personality development and behavior - the drive for
aggression (Thanatos) and the drive for pleasure (Eros).
✔✔Relationship between aggression and frustration - ✔✔aggression is the result of
frustration; any event or stimulus that prevents an individual from attaining some goal
and its accompanying reinforcing quality.
✔✔Toy frustration study (Barker, Dembo, & Lewin, 1941) - ✔✔"Frustrated" Condition -
Children were allowed to play with attractive toys only after a painfully long wait. "Non-
Frustrated" Condition - Children were allowed to play with attractive toys without having
to wait. Results - Non-frustrated children played joyfully with the toys, while Frustrated
children were destructive toward the toys.
✔✔Moderators of the aggression-frustration relationship - ✔✔Frustration is increased
when a goal is near and your progress toward it is interrupted. Frustration is increased
when the interruption is unexpected or when it seems illegitimate.
✔✔Relative deprivation - ✔✔the belief that a person will feel deprived or entitled to
something based on the comparison to someone else.
✔✔Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment - ✔✔Zimbardo (1973) was interested in
finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to
the sadistic personalities of the guards (i.e., dispositional) or had more to do with the
prison environment (i.e., situational). Found that people will readily conform to the social
, roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as
those of the prison guards.
✔✔Effects of media violence on children and adults - ✔✔[Untouchables Study] IV -
sports show or violent show; DV - kids who watched violent show (the untouchables)
were more verbally and physically violent. [Ross Parke's Study] Even kids low in
aggression show violent tendencies when watching violent shows
[Desensitization/Numbing] seeing violence in the media can desensitize violence, cause
less emotional reaction to violence. [Copy-cat Violence] people copy violence they see
on TV.
✔✔Effects of pornography on attitudes and on aggression towards women Aggressive-
erotic film study (Donnerstein, 1980) - ✔✔Men and women were shown films depicting
either (a) sexual aggression against a male; (b) sexual aggression against a female; (c)
physical aggression; or (d) neutral. Overall, when compared to women, men were more
accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to sexual
aggression, less sympathetic toward the rape trial victim, less likely to judge the
defendant as guilty, and generally less empathic.
✔✔Bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961) - ✔✔groundbreaking study on aggression led
by psychologist Albert Bandura that demonstrated that children are able to learn
through the observation of adult behaviour.
✔✔Social learning theory vs. catharsis theory on reducing aggression - ✔✔Social
Learning theory: we learn social behavior by observing and imitating, and by being
rewarded and punished. Catharsis theory: aggression is reduced when one releases
aggressive energy, either by acting aggressively or by fantasizing about it.
✔✔Effects of proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness, complementarity,
barriers/obstacles, and arousal on liking and attraction - ✔✔the closer in proximity, the
more similar. The more physically attractive a person is to you, the more likely you are
to date/like them. Complementarity is rare, but described by "opposites attract."
Barriers/obstacles in a relationship create a tighter bond. Arousal increases liking
behavior.
✔✔Effects of mere exposure - ✔✔Even mere exposure to a person will increase your
liking of them [hand in hand with proximity].
✔✔The physical attractiveness stereotype - ✔✔tendency to assume that people who
are physically attractive also possess other socially desirable personality traits.
✔✔Misattribution (mislabeling) of arousal - ✔✔describes the process whereby people
make a mistake in assuming what is causing them to feel aroused. For example, when
actually experiencing physiological responses related to fear, people mislabel those
responses as romantic arousal.
