SUNY College at Buffalo
Sociology 330: Social Psychology
Study Guide for Exam #1
Instructor: Dr. Zhang Jie
Chapter One: Introduction
Definition of social psychology: Aronson's definition of social psychology
Social psychology vs. common senses
Social psychology vs. philosophy
Social psychology vs. personality psychology
Behaviorism
Watson and Skinner
reinforcements vs. cognition
Gestalt psychology
reflection in the mind vs. appearance
the whole being different from the sum of its parts
Hitler's persecution of German gestalt psychologists
social psychology and gestalt psychology
Construal and gestalt psychology
Basic human motives
eating, sex, self protection, control,
the need to feel good (self-esteem), and
the need to be accurate (less important than feeling good)
Chapter Two: Methodology
Basic concepts
theory and research and their reciprocal relationship
variable (independent and dependent) and constant
hypothesis and origins of hypothesis
Methods of research
observation: description of the nature
detached
participant
correlation: prediction of the relations
positive, negative, zero, curvilinear
x axis and y axis
survey: questionnaire and interview
random selection of the sample
spurious correlation vs. causal relation
experiment: causality
rights violation, lack of generalizability, reactivity
Darley and Latane, Milgram, Hawthorne
Ethical problems in deception
dilemma: free inquiry vs. human rights
scientific study of the effects of deception
Chapter Six: Cognitive dissonance theory
Cognitive dissonance
Reduction of dissonance to maintain self-esteem as powerful force
Leon Festinger (1957)
Examples of cognitive dissonance
smoking
having bought an expensive car
cheating and not cheating
dehumanizing the victims
Three ways to reduce dissonance
change behavior
change cognition
add new cognition
External justification and internal justification
experiments: paying $20 and $1 to lie
Applications of cognitive dissonance theory
lowballing techniques
irrevocability
justification of efforts
saying is believing (counterattitudinal advocacy)
Ben Franklin's manipulation (inducing a favor to win)
Self-evaluation maintenance theory (Abraham Tesser, 1988)
three conditions to cause dissonance: best friend,
outperforms, the same task
three ways to reduce the dissonance: distance the friend, work
hard to improve self, quit the task
to help a stranger rather than a friend to reduce dissonance
Chapter Four: Attribution theories
Social attribution (forming impressions)
Social perception (how the impressions are formed)
Nonverbal behavior (facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures)
functions of nonverbal cues
complement
contradict
substitute for
facial expression: the six species-specific expressions
Display rules (culture-specific rules)
emblems for Japanese, French, and Chinese
Detection of deception: gender difference
Implicit personality theories
Attribution theories
behavior explanation theories
Fritz Heider (1958) as the founder
internal attribution vs. external attribution
Fundamental attribution error
reasons: salience, American culture
people in Eastern cultures
The actor/observer differences
internal explanations for others
external explanations for self
reasons: perceptual salience, information availability
Self-serving attribution
success--internal, failure--external
reasons: maintain self-esteem, different information
Unrealistic optimism
Belief in a just world