Social Psychology Final Exam Study Guide – Exam 1
Material with Key Terms, Theories, and Practice
Questions (2025/2026 Edition)
• Social Psychology
Ans: The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to
others.
✓ Quiz Social Learning Theory
Ans: A modern offshoot of behaviorism that places primary emphasis on how
people learn social behaviors from one another, especially through social
reinforcement and modeling.
Quiz Frustration-aggression Hypothesis
,Ans: In its most absolute form, this hypothesis asserts that frustration always
creates feelings of aggression and that aggression is always caused by frustration.
✓ Quiz Decision Making Theory
Ans: People calculate the costs and benefits of various actions and select the best
alternative in a fairly logical way.
Quiz Interdependence Theory
Ans: The theory that because members of a couple or group are interdependent
(i.e., the outcomes one person experiences depend on what others do and vice
versa), individuals must coordinate their behavior to maximize their joint benefits.
This is the most important social exchange perspective in social psychology.
✓ Quiz Social Exchange Theory
Ans: A Theory that analyzes the interaction between people in terms of the
outcomes (rewards minus costs) that the individuals exchange with each other.
Quiz Operational Definition
Ans: The specific procedure or operation that is used to measure or manipulate a
variable in a research study.
, Quiz Independent Variable
Ans: The variable in a study that is interpreted as the cause of changes in the
dependent variable. This variable may be systematically manipulated by the
researcher in an experiment or passively measured in a correlational study.
Quiz Dependent Variable
Ans: In an experiment, the responses to the independent variable being
manipulated or measured.
Quiz Person Perception
Ans: The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about
the characteristics and motives of other people; the process of forming
impressions of others.
Quiz Implicit Personality Theory
Ans: The ordinary person's theory about which personality traits go with other
traits, such as "weak" going with "cowardly" and "calm" going with "decisive."
Quiz Social Categories
Material with Key Terms, Theories, and Practice
Questions (2025/2026 Edition)
• Social Psychology
Ans: The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to
others.
✓ Quiz Social Learning Theory
Ans: A modern offshoot of behaviorism that places primary emphasis on how
people learn social behaviors from one another, especially through social
reinforcement and modeling.
Quiz Frustration-aggression Hypothesis
,Ans: In its most absolute form, this hypothesis asserts that frustration always
creates feelings of aggression and that aggression is always caused by frustration.
✓ Quiz Decision Making Theory
Ans: People calculate the costs and benefits of various actions and select the best
alternative in a fairly logical way.
Quiz Interdependence Theory
Ans: The theory that because members of a couple or group are interdependent
(i.e., the outcomes one person experiences depend on what others do and vice
versa), individuals must coordinate their behavior to maximize their joint benefits.
This is the most important social exchange perspective in social psychology.
✓ Quiz Social Exchange Theory
Ans: A Theory that analyzes the interaction between people in terms of the
outcomes (rewards minus costs) that the individuals exchange with each other.
Quiz Operational Definition
Ans: The specific procedure or operation that is used to measure or manipulate a
variable in a research study.
, Quiz Independent Variable
Ans: The variable in a study that is interpreted as the cause of changes in the
dependent variable. This variable may be systematically manipulated by the
researcher in an experiment or passively measured in a correlational study.
Quiz Dependent Variable
Ans: In an experiment, the responses to the independent variable being
manipulated or measured.
Quiz Person Perception
Ans: The mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about
the characteristics and motives of other people; the process of forming
impressions of others.
Quiz Implicit Personality Theory
Ans: The ordinary person's theory about which personality traits go with other
traits, such as "weak" going with "cowardly" and "calm" going with "decisive."
Quiz Social Categories
