PSYC 2700 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS
What is social psychology (and examples of social psychological phenomena)? -
Answers - Psychology which deals with social interactions, including their origins and
their effects on the individual.
What is the fundamental attribution error and when/where is it most likely to occur? -
Answers - The tendency for people to place an undue emphasis on internal
characteristics (personality) to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation
rather than considering the situation's external factors.
Gives feeling of false security.
Ex: People think that suicide bombers are simply flawed humans just to make the
situation better.
What are the two primary motives for social behavior and what roles do construals play
in these motives? - Answers - 1.) A need to be accurate about the world (Social
Cognitive Motive)
2.)A need to feel good about oneself--self esteem--people like to believe good things
about each other
Observational Research - Answers - Description-involves systematic observation and
measurement of behavior
Ethnology - Answers - techniques used by anthropologists and social psychologists to
study and understand a group/culture by observing from the inside without imposing
Participant Observation - Answers - observation in which the observer interacts directly
with the people being observed but tries not to change the situation
Archival Analysis - Answers - observations where the researcher examines the
accumulated documents of a culture (diaries, books, novels)
Correlational Research - Answers - Explanation/Prediction- involves systematically
measuring the relationship between 2 or more variables
1.) Surveys- used in correlational method when the variable of interest is not easily
observed or measured
Experimental Research - Answers - Control/Causal Prediction- given two variables and
one is manipulated (independent variable) and the other is measured (dependent
variable) by a researcher to see if changes
, What is correlational coefficient? How do we identify what it means? - Answers - A
metric to calculate/represent the degree and direction of association between 2
variables (-1 to 1)
a.) Positive Correlations= indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an
increase in the other
b.) Negative Correlations= indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a
decrease in the other
Internal Validity (when, why, how) - Answers - Having to ensure the IV is the only thing
that can affect the DV--increased by: gaining control over all extraneous variables and
using random assignment
External Validity (when, why, how) - Answers - Results can be generalized to other
situations and to other people--the representative sample allows: generalization across
situations & people, cross cultural research, and replication (meta-analysis)
Laboratory Experiments - Answers - Control, always random assignment, convenient,
suspicion of bias is higher
Field Experiments - Answers - Realism is high, high impact of independent variables,
low suspicion of bias, high external validity
Automatic Social Cognition - Answers - non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary,
effortless---people often make automatic inferences based on some sense of how the
world works (schemas)
Self- Fulfilling Prophecy - Answers - The case wherein people have an expectation
about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person,
which in return causes the person to behave consistently with people's original
expectation, making the expectation come true
Controlled Thinking - Answers - conscious, intentional, voluntary, effortful, checks and
balances for auto thinking, requires motivation & time & resources
Emotion as an adaptive communication - Answers - Happiness, surprise, sadness,
disgust, fear, and anger--in life we don't only see one, we see an "Affect Blend" because
things happen in multiples
Internal Attributions - Answers - "This person did this because of something about them"
e.g. traits, attitudes, personality---more likely to happen in the US
External Attributions - Answers - Attribute behavior to situation e.g. school, church,
social rules
Biases in Attributions - Answers - We tend to believe that a person's behavior matches
his/her personality
ANSWERS
What is social psychology (and examples of social psychological phenomena)? -
Answers - Psychology which deals with social interactions, including their origins and
their effects on the individual.
What is the fundamental attribution error and when/where is it most likely to occur? -
Answers - The tendency for people to place an undue emphasis on internal
characteristics (personality) to explain someone else's behavior in a given situation
rather than considering the situation's external factors.
Gives feeling of false security.
Ex: People think that suicide bombers are simply flawed humans just to make the
situation better.
What are the two primary motives for social behavior and what roles do construals play
in these motives? - Answers - 1.) A need to be accurate about the world (Social
Cognitive Motive)
2.)A need to feel good about oneself--self esteem--people like to believe good things
about each other
Observational Research - Answers - Description-involves systematic observation and
measurement of behavior
Ethnology - Answers - techniques used by anthropologists and social psychologists to
study and understand a group/culture by observing from the inside without imposing
Participant Observation - Answers - observation in which the observer interacts directly
with the people being observed but tries not to change the situation
Archival Analysis - Answers - observations where the researcher examines the
accumulated documents of a culture (diaries, books, novels)
Correlational Research - Answers - Explanation/Prediction- involves systematically
measuring the relationship between 2 or more variables
1.) Surveys- used in correlational method when the variable of interest is not easily
observed or measured
Experimental Research - Answers - Control/Causal Prediction- given two variables and
one is manipulated (independent variable) and the other is measured (dependent
variable) by a researcher to see if changes
, What is correlational coefficient? How do we identify what it means? - Answers - A
metric to calculate/represent the degree and direction of association between 2
variables (-1 to 1)
a.) Positive Correlations= indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an
increase in the other
b.) Negative Correlations= indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a
decrease in the other
Internal Validity (when, why, how) - Answers - Having to ensure the IV is the only thing
that can affect the DV--increased by: gaining control over all extraneous variables and
using random assignment
External Validity (when, why, how) - Answers - Results can be generalized to other
situations and to other people--the representative sample allows: generalization across
situations & people, cross cultural research, and replication (meta-analysis)
Laboratory Experiments - Answers - Control, always random assignment, convenient,
suspicion of bias is higher
Field Experiments - Answers - Realism is high, high impact of independent variables,
low suspicion of bias, high external validity
Automatic Social Cognition - Answers - non-conscious, unintentional, involuntary,
effortless---people often make automatic inferences based on some sense of how the
world works (schemas)
Self- Fulfilling Prophecy - Answers - The case wherein people have an expectation
about what another person is like, which influences how they act toward that person,
which in return causes the person to behave consistently with people's original
expectation, making the expectation come true
Controlled Thinking - Answers - conscious, intentional, voluntary, effortful, checks and
balances for auto thinking, requires motivation & time & resources
Emotion as an adaptive communication - Answers - Happiness, surprise, sadness,
disgust, fear, and anger--in life we don't only see one, we see an "Affect Blend" because
things happen in multiples
Internal Attributions - Answers - "This person did this because of something about them"
e.g. traits, attitudes, personality---more likely to happen in the US
External Attributions - Answers - Attribute behavior to situation e.g. school, church,
social rules
Biases in Attributions - Answers - We tend to believe that a person's behavior matches
his/her personality
