SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY STANDARD EXAM SHEET
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2025/2026 ALL RATED A+
✔✔Personal Space - ✔✔The buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies.
✔✔Prejudice - ✔✔An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its
members. It generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a
predisposition to discriminatory action.
✔✔Stereotype - ✔✔A generalized (sometimes accurate, but often overgeneralized)
belief about a group of people.
✔✔Discrimination - ✔✔(Social) unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its
members.
✔✔Ingroup - ✔✔"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity.
✔✔Outgroup - ✔✔"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.
✔✔Ingroup Bias - ✔✔The tendency to favor our own group.
✔✔Scapegoat Theory - ✔✔The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by
providing someone to blame.
✔✔Other-Race Effect - ✔✔The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more
accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race
bias
✔✔Just-World Phenomenon - ✔✔The tendency for people to believe the world is just
and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get. (Blame the
Victim)
✔✔Aggression - ✔✔Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.
✔✔Frustration-Aggression Principle - ✔✔The principle that frustration—the blocking of
an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.
✔✔Mere Exposure Effect - ✔✔The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel
stimuli increases liking of them.
✔✔Passionate Love - ✔✔An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another,
usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.
, ✔✔Companionate Love - ✔✔The deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with
whom our lives are intertwined.
✔✔Equity - ✔✔A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to
what they give to it.
✔✔Self-Disclosure - ✔✔Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.
✔✔Altruism - ✔✔Unselfish regard for the welfare of others.
✔✔Bystander Effect - ✔✔The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give
aid if other bystanders are present.
✔✔Social Exchange Theory - ✔✔The theory that our social behavior is an exchange
process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
✔✔Reciprocity Norm - ✔✔An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have
helped them.
✔✔Social-Responsibility Norm - ✔✔An expectation that people will help those
dependent upon them.
✔✔Conflict - ✔✔A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.
✔✔Social Trap - ✔✔A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally
pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.
✔✔Mirror-Image Perceptions - ✔✔Mutual views often held by conflicting people, as
when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and
aggressive.
✔✔Self Fulfilling Prophecy - ✔✔A belief that leads to its own fulfillment.
✔✔Superordinate Goals - ✔✔Shared goals that override differences among people and
require their cooperation.
✔✔Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction (GRIT) -
✔✔Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction—a strategy designed
to decrease international tensions.
✔✔Diffusion of Responsibility - ✔✔Reduction in feelings of personal burden in the
presence of others.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2025/2026 ALL RATED A+
✔✔Personal Space - ✔✔The buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies.
✔✔Prejudice - ✔✔An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its
members. It generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a
predisposition to discriminatory action.
✔✔Stereotype - ✔✔A generalized (sometimes accurate, but often overgeneralized)
belief about a group of people.
✔✔Discrimination - ✔✔(Social) unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its
members.
✔✔Ingroup - ✔✔"Us"—people with whom we share a common identity.
✔✔Outgroup - ✔✔"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.
✔✔Ingroup Bias - ✔✔The tendency to favor our own group.
✔✔Scapegoat Theory - ✔✔The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by
providing someone to blame.
✔✔Other-Race Effect - ✔✔The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more
accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race
bias
✔✔Just-World Phenomenon - ✔✔The tendency for people to believe the world is just
and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get. (Blame the
Victim)
✔✔Aggression - ✔✔Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone.
✔✔Frustration-Aggression Principle - ✔✔The principle that frustration—the blocking of
an attempt to achieve some goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.
✔✔Mere Exposure Effect - ✔✔The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel
stimuli increases liking of them.
✔✔Passionate Love - ✔✔An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another,
usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.
, ✔✔Companionate Love - ✔✔The deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with
whom our lives are intertwined.
✔✔Equity - ✔✔A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to
what they give to it.
✔✔Self-Disclosure - ✔✔Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.
✔✔Altruism - ✔✔Unselfish regard for the welfare of others.
✔✔Bystander Effect - ✔✔The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give
aid if other bystanders are present.
✔✔Social Exchange Theory - ✔✔The theory that our social behavior is an exchange
process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.
✔✔Reciprocity Norm - ✔✔An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have
helped them.
✔✔Social-Responsibility Norm - ✔✔An expectation that people will help those
dependent upon them.
✔✔Conflict - ✔✔A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.
✔✔Social Trap - ✔✔A situation in which the conflicting parties, by each rationally
pursuing their self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.
✔✔Mirror-Image Perceptions - ✔✔Mutual views often held by conflicting people, as
when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and
aggressive.
✔✔Self Fulfilling Prophecy - ✔✔A belief that leads to its own fulfillment.
✔✔Superordinate Goals - ✔✔Shared goals that override differences among people and
require their cooperation.
✔✔Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction (GRIT) -
✔✔Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction—a strategy designed
to decrease international tensions.
✔✔Diffusion of Responsibility - ✔✔Reduction in feelings of personal burden in the
presence of others.
