NaimExplain

What are rationalism and empiricism? originated from epistemology (study of origin, nature, and limits of knowledge) - empiricism: primary source of knowledge through experience - rationalism: knowledge already in us, released through the power of reasoning

What are determinism and indeterminism? - indeterminism: a theory that humans have free-will, they can make judgements independent of the influences around them - determinism: a theory that humans have no free-will, individuals make judgements strictly in response to influences beyond the individual

What constitutes "science"? paradigms determine research problems and how they are solved, guiding researchers' activities assumption of determinism empirical observation theory formulation, testing, and revision prediction and control lawful relationships - people are still questioning psychology's stance as a scientific discipline, even Galileo and Kant believed psychology cannot be a science due to its study of subjective experience - however, psychology has grown to be accepted in the scientific community

For what is Rudolph Goclenius known? Rudolph Goclenius is credited with inventing the term "Psychology"

According to Schultz and Schultz, why is it important to study the history of psychology? History has much to tell us about the world today, and early developments in psychology help us understand the nature of the field in the 21st century Study of the past is relevant for the present History of the disciplines within psychology are important and vital for students' development Studying history of psychology is the most systematic way to integrate the areas and issues of modern psychology

Who is Thomas Kuhn? For what is he known? He is a historian of science who wrote the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions He is known for advancing the notion of paradigms in scientific evolution Says that paradigms get replaced during a revolutionary phase as anomalies increase

What is preparadigmatic? the stage in the development of science when it is still divided into schools of thought - many see psychology with several paradigms at the same time. others see natural selection where some ideas survive and others do not - may imply the use of prescriptions that act to prescribe, direct, or dictate with an additional overtone of implying long usage hallowed by custom, or extending over time

What is a school of thought? refers to a group of psychologists who become associated ideologically, and sometimes geographically, with the leader of the movement - members share a theoretical or systematic orientation and investigate similar problems - more than one can occur simultaneously - usually led by charismatic leader (e.g. Wilhelm Wundt) - cyclical nature: mind-body & nature-nurture early schools of thought were protest movements against a prevailing systematic position, criticizing the older system

What is naturalistic theory? the view that progress and change in scientific history are attributable to the Zeitgeist, which makes culture receptive to some ideas but not to others - an example are simultaneous discovers, such as Darwin's evolutionary theory was been done around the same time another scientist was developing the idea - another example is how established theories can make it difficult for scientists to disprove them - zeitgeist can inhibit a discipline's focus, as such was shown in psychology where consciousness was ruled out since it was subjective, only later to be studied - science exists in the context of an environment, for example, method of psychology moved in the direction of the zeitgeist that favored observational, experimental and scientific approach to the truth

What is personalistic theory? the view that progress and change in scientific history are attributable to the ideas of unique individuals - the person makes the times however, not sufficient enough to explain the development of a science or society - the contributions of people were usually ignored or supressed during their lifetimes, and not recognized until later on

What role did prejudice play in the history of psychology? influenced basic issues such as who could become a psychologist and where he or she could find employment 1. discrimination against women - women denied admission or excluded from faculty positions - low salaries and no promotion/tenure - Eleanor Gibson was told that the director of the primate lab at Yale would not permit women and that she wasn't allowed to use the graduate student's library or cafeteria - now more female psychologists are in the field - APA division of feminism 2. discrimination based on ethnic origin - jews faced admission discrimination. many schools had a maximum amount of available positions for jews - this happened for blacks as well - many psychologists faced discrimination after being accepted, such as lack of job opportunities - Francis Sumner experienced segregation in school - Abraham Maslow was urged to change his name into something less Jewish - more efforts now for diversity - APA divis

What is Zeitgeist? Why is it important in studying history? What are examples of it? the intellectual and cultural climate or spirit of the times (naturalistic conception) these contextual forces influenced psychology's past and continue to shape its present and future examples: 1. jobs: - psychologists had opportunities to apply their skills. psychologists early one had small financial contributions at universities because they were the newest science. 2. wars - world war 2 altered the face and fate of European psychology, as many researchers fled the Nazi's and settled in the United States. wars also have personal impact on theories, such as Freud idea of aggression after witnessing world war 1 3. prejudice and discrimination

What does the German word Einfall really mean? Einfall does not mean association. It literally means an intrusion or an invasion Freud idea was to denote something from the unconscious mind that is uncontrollably intruding into or invading conscious thought

What is the correct translation from German to English for Es, Ich, and Uber-Ich? Es = "it" Ich = "I" Uber-Ich = "above-I" Freud wanted to describe something intimate and personal with his use of Ich and to distinguish it from Es

What are four examples where materials/data were consciously destroyed or omitted (hint: Watson, Freud, Jung, Kohler)? Watson - At the age of 80, he systematically burned his letters, manuscripts, and research notes, destroying everything unpublished Freud - made his biographer omit/minimize his use of cocaine - he depicted himself has a martyr to his psychoanalytical cause Jung - letters were selected and edited in such a way as to present a favorable impression of Jung, leaving out unflattering material Kohler - a scholar who catalogues his papers was too much of an admirer, and he restricted selected information to enhance Kohler's image What are instances of materials/data that surfaced much later than the actual events (hint: Hooke, Ebbinghaus, Fechner, Darwin, Sabina Spielrein)? Hooke - official papers from the Royal Society meetings recorded by Hooke in 1661 to 1682 were found in 2006 Ebbinghaus - papers of Ebbinghaus were found 75 years after his death Fechner - 10 boxes th

From what sources do historians get their data? descriptions written by participants or witnesses, letters and diaries, photographs and pieces of old lab equipment, interviews, and other official accounts

How is the data of history different from the data of psychology? The data of history is different than data of science - cannot be reconstructed or replicated - data fragments are used to try to recreate the events and experiences of the past - data can be lost or stolen, but possibly found later - data can be hidden deliberately or altered - data can be influenced by contextual forces or "zeitgeist" - data can be impacted by gender and ethnic prejudices - data could not be translated properly

What is historiography? The principles, methods, and philosophical issues of historical research

How do we distinguish modern psychology from its roots (its prior centuries of intellectual forerunners)? What is the main difference? Modern psychology is distinguished from philosophy due to its methods, uses techniques of physical sciences, and increased precision and objectivity The main difference between psychology and philosophy is psychology's use of the scientific method. Philosophy answered the same questions but merely through speculation and thought philosophy + physiology = psychology

What binds together the diverse areas of psychology and what does this bring to psychology today? The only framework that binds the diverse areas of psychology is their history, the evolution over time of psychology as an independent discipline Knowledge of history brings order to disorder and imposes meaning on what may appear to be chaos, putting the past into perspective to explain the present Valuable ideas are gleaned from past efforts, and allows the current field to grow even more

What were Wundt's physiological methods? Answer: Interesting in function rather than structure. Exposed patients to stimuli and then observed their responses

What were Wundt's objectives of study? Answer: Consciousness of individuals and wanted to bring human beings into the lab

Why is it hard to study practices and norms? Answer: A lot are tacit and people do not realize they are doing it. It is hard to do historical research on it and you cannot pick up a textbook and see norms and practices. But, can look at the research report methods

How do scientists persuade that their program is worth funding? Answer: Need to address interests of institutional power groups (suck up to them). Need to solve the problem - can't justify giving funding to research something we already claim to know about

Why must we ignore the truth value of different approaches? Answer: What counts as the truth depends on what approach you take. Part of what is being disputed is proof that one is right or wrong, and it is fruitless to try and decide what is right

What are the problems with these categories of history? Answer: Neglects a variety of social aspects. Internal: communicating within the field leads to consensus building and political aspects are important. External: vested interests, forming alliances and fighting for funding

What are the two different categories that history of science was divided into? Answer: finding oriented and psychologist oriented

What is the distinction between context of discover versus justification? Answer: discovery: idiosyncratic, came to one in a dream. justification: logical criteria

Discuss Kuhn's historical comparison of science to natural science. Answer: Says that can think of the history of science as the same way as natural science. Long periods of gradual development followed by sudden revolution, which does not equal progress. Natural science is the local optimization, adapted in part to the environment not progression in the cosmic sense

Why are the young converted? Answer: Anomalies explained, better quantitative predictions made, startling new predictions confirmed. Often none of these - the new paradigm could be poorly articulated (attracted to develop it)

How do we convert people to new paradigms? Answer: Older scientists will not convert, their entire self-worth was based on the old paradigms. So, we pitch new paradigms to the young people (anxious about new findings) and wait for the older scientists to die off. :)

Who do new paradigms win over? Answer: young people, older people are more reluctant because their whole life existed with the old paradigm

How are revolutions invisible? Answer: No one notices due to presentism, if it is not important to today, we discard the information

How do revolutions change world views? Answer: Change in a theory doesn't only change the interpretation of facts, it changes facts themselves. Facts are records of observations and how you record observations depends on the theory. A paradigm is not a theory, it is an entire world view

When do new theories cause revolutions? Answer: When they are logically incompatible and when there is ambiguity of improvement

What makes a major revolution occur? Answer: Need a crisis (persistent failures in the old paradigm). Then intensification of problem-solving. The response to this crisis is distressed scientists who then blur the paradigm boundaries. If a major new theory that explains most facts in a radically new way a revolution should occur.

What are minor revolutions? Answer: Anomalies - don't by themselves provoke revolutions. People have expectations of what results will occur and failure of this to happen does not result in a revolution. Must consistently and relentlessly fail and then maybe there might be minor changes in the paradigm, but not a major one.

What are the rules for conducting normal science? Answer: Rules for conducting science are unwritten and implicit. The only way you can learn by conducting experiments (practice)

How does normal science suceed at problem solving? Answer: Not finding new, radical knowledge. Research expects a clear pattern of results, which make very tight predictions. Not going into the experiment saying "anything could happen"

What are the problems for normal science? Answer: Determining significant facts related to paradigm, matching facts with the theory and articulating the paradigm

What is the preparadigmatic paradigm of normal science? Answer: Preparadigmatic is what scientists typically start out with, no opportunity for sciences to be cumulative because everyone wants to be bigger and better

What is the exemplary paradigm of normal science? Answer: Exemplary is when the theory is great, everyone agrees and bases their work off of, which allows accumulation.

What is normal science (Kuhn)? Answer: Periods in which science is cumulative, marked by two paradigms: exemplary and preparadigmatic.

Who is Thomas Kuhn? Answer: Naturalistic approach. Wrote the book on the structure of scientific revolutions. Basic premise: science does not proceed gradually by amassing knowledge, does not proceed in gradual accumulative way.

What is the regressive problem shift? Answer: Not answering new questions/maxing out new predictions. When a theory does not work, go back and fix it by filling in the cracks

What is a progressive problem shift? Answer: continuously opening up new areas of exploration

What is problem-solving success? Answer: Judge theories based on productivity that stimulates a lot of quality research.

Describe Lakatos and Laudan's problem solving success theory. Answer: Why don't people discard theories when proven wrong as Popper says? Because they think it is a failing of the computations, instrumentations, and computer errors, instead of the theory itself. Proposed that falsificationism is not the best criteria we should be using for science, perhaps problem-solving success instead.

Describe Karl Popper's falsification theory. Answer: Cannot prove universal generalizations to be true, therefore attempt to prove theories wrong. So, when forming theories, specify conditions under which it will be disproven. If you can't, then the theory is unfalsifiable (the theory is so vague that you cannot know if it is true or false)

What is the normative approach? Answer: How science ought to change. Science is the accumulation of theories. If they are proven correct, they become part of science. If they are failed to be proven correct then they are discarded.

What is the psychology view from nowhere? Answer: Science is general knowledge about behaviours no matter where it is in the universe. It is not about particulars. Previously - knowledge was personalized (culture, family, etc.)

What are the three kinds of sentences that logical positivists thought were the only sentences we should be using? 1. Protocol sentences: pure statements of observations.  2. Axioms: theorectical and mathematical terms.  3. Operational definitions: mixed sentences containing a theorectical term and an observational term to which it was linked

What is the logical positivism view on role of theory? Answer: People believe in things that they can't see and then talk about those things. They wanted to clean up language, so that people weren't saying meaningless words. Sentences needed to be about the real-world. They felt that 'morality' should not be used because it's not observable

What are the two views on the role of a theory? Answer: Logical positivism approach (syntactic) and semantic approach

How would logical positivists and scientific realism differ in their explanation of extroversion? Answer: Logical positivism: chatty, sociable, it is a summary of behaviours. Scientific realism: something inside someone is causing them to behave in certain ways

What is scientific realism? Answer: Postulates that explanation is MORE than just describing regularities in how the universe works. There are hidden entities in the world that behave in ways that causes the world to behave in ways (i.e. gravity)

Who are Hempel and Oppenheim? Answer: Logical positivists. They proposed explanatory function of science, covering laws

How does the flagpole example explain the limits of the covering law model? Answer: Flagpole and sun, can predict the direction and length of shadow using the covering law model. Critique: using same laws of optics, can also take the position of the sun and the shadow and predict the height of the flagpole. Because the flagpole causes the shadow, we can't use the shadow to predict the flagpole because the two are not symmetrical.

What are the problems of the covering law model? Answer: Most people when wanting explanations want to know WHY things occur, and these laws do not explain causality or why things occur

What is the covering law? Answer: The covering law model says that explanations are deductions from scientific laws. Using this law we can predict this. i.e. with Newton's law of gravity we can predict that Earth will orbit around the sun. It is the physical or psychological law

What is logical positivism? Answer: Logical positivists try to incorporate an explanatory function of science into a positivist framework.

Who is Comte? Answer: Him along with his followers were the first positivists.

What is positivism? Answer: You cannot explain why the universe behaves the way it does. You can only describe regularities in the universe the way it behaves and you can describe observable characteristics. Things you can't see don't exist. The role of science is to make observations to look for regularities and correlations between your observations. Laws are just mathematical summaries of your past observations. Would say that gravity does not exist because we can't see it

What is Newton's denial of explanation? Answer: Law of gravity explained how objects act upon each other by a distance (force). Said that he could not explain how that they do, only describe the regularities

How does Leahey (textbook author) do history? Answer: Leahey is a trained psychologist, but adopts externalist perspective. Knows about internal context and wider historical context

What is the externalist approach? Answer: Written by science historians. Also looking at how external forces play a role

What is the internalist approach? Answer: Written by scientists. Looking at science from inside oblivious to social forces shaping science from outside

What are the two ways to approach history of science? Answer: Internalist and externalist

What are the pros and cons of Zeitgeist? Answer: Pro: Certain eras a more responsive to certain ideas. Con: boring and ignores that actions of human beings

What are the pros and cons of Great Men? Answer: Pro: sometimes do change history and exert pressure on the course of history. Con: whiggish and internalist, stresses rationality and success. Downplays cultural and social causes of human thought and action.

What is Zeitgeist? Answer: "Great men" not so influential, if they had not discovered it, someone else would have. Something about the intellectual climate makes it ripe to discover the phenomenon. Should not write history as a series of great men, but as a narrative of how the spirit of time changes

What is Great Men? Answer: Great men changed flow of history by describing lives and works

How does the scientific revolution relate to presentism? Answer: The scientific revolution only happened in Europe. It did not effect the illiterate and poor. It was not a revolution of how the entire society saw the world as we view it today. Majority were not effected

What is presentism? Answer: History is only interesting to the extent that it talks about how we got to now. Only focusing on things that are important in the present day, ignoring what did not lead to today. Falsifies the historical record. A lot of things happened that did not have consequences for the present day, which doesn't mean that it didn't happen or was not important

Has psychology made progress? Answer: It is less clear. Making progress in treatment of depression, but depression is a lot more common. There are many possible conclusions we can draw from this. Psychology could be all wrong, could just be more easily diagnosed, or focus on pharmacotherapy versus psychotherapy?

What is whig history? Answer: Idea that history is a tale of progress. It assumes that progress has taken place whether or not there are facts to support that it has. It is a common failing among historians of science

What are the three failings of history? Answer: Whig history, presentism, and great men vs. zeitgeist

Who is Leopold von Ranke? Answer: Historicism guy. 19th century German historian. His whole point was critical thinking, telling facts the way they are getting facts straight

What is historicism? Answer: Meaning of events are subject to interpretation specific to a time and place. Interpretations of facts change over time and it's job is to explore those meanings. So, be familiar with system of meanings in that era and reinterpret in terms of modern day meaning of interpretation (translating)

Can we teach Psychology as an aid to nation building? Answer: We could tell tales of how heroic and great psychology is. It has done amazing things like treating psychology problems, but it is a splintered, fragmented field that has a lot of error

Who is Heinrich Gotthar von Treitschke? Answer: A 19th century German historian writing in the era where there was no unified german state (only small german political units). More and more were aspiring to have a unified nation. He said history should inspire people to created a unified state

What is history as an aid to nation building? Answer: History should inspire people to create a unified nation state, to tell stories that make people want to be apart of that nation tales of heroism

What is history, if it is not facts? Answer: It is a selection of facts strung together in a convenient narrative so that it makes sense. It has emotional resonance, is information. The price is that a lot is left out and a spin is put on what is included

What is the best way to understand history according to historians versus high school students? Answer: High school found history text most useful in understanding history. Prohistorians ranked texts at the very bottom

What is the naive view of history? Answer: Views history as facts, ignores the fact that history is constructed

What are the three view on history? Answer: Naive, as an aid to nation building, and historicism

Describe the role of social comparison processes in influencing subjective well-being. Our happiness is relative to the happiness of others around us. For example, we may feel dumb if we are comparing ourselves with those who are highly intellectual and vice versa When comparing ourselves to those who seemingly have their life together, we may feel like we are doing terribly We have the tendency to compare upward

What constructive steps can be taken to increase the accuracy and objectivity of jury members? Educating the jury about statistical information Give jurors access to transcripts Clearer, more effective ways of presenting information Reducing legal terminology into lay knowledge/terminology Checking for misunderstanding with the jury

What is the relationship between eyewitness confidence and accuracy? Discuss relevant research and the implications of these factors. Eyewitness testimony is not that accurate. When shown photographs and asked to identify the perpetrator, 60% of students chose an innocent person (Buckhout, 1974) They are more confident than correct. Confident witnesses seem more credible. 57% of the exoneration cases which included eyewitness testimony, were initially uncertain testimonies (Garrett, 2011) Implications of using eyewitness testimonies is that innocent people are prosecuted for crimes they did not commit When a judge tells the jury to ignore an inadmissible testimony, it still impacts the jurors decisions

Discuss how the hindsight bias and the confirmation bias can lead clinicians to be overconfident in their clinical judgments. Clinicians search for symptoms and signs that confirm their diagnosis of the patient. They diagnosed people with schizophrenia and they after the fact searched for things that demonstrated the diagnoses. They may become overconfident in their after-the-fact analyses which perpetuates their confidence in the future and they may end up missing something.

Pretend you are a marriage counsellor that is giving advice to a couple that has a great deal of destructive quarrels. You instruct them that if managed constructively, conflict can provide opportunities for reconciliation and more genuine harmony. Based on the work of Gotlib and Colby (1988), you give the couple a list of "Do's" and "Do Not's." Identify 5 of the 8 recommendations for each column (i.e., 5 things to do, 5 things to avoid). Do not: apologize prematurely, bring in unrelated issues, feign agreement while harbouring resentment, tell the other party how they are feeling, use your intimate knowledge of the other person to hit below the belt and humiliate Do: fight privately away from kids, divulge your positive and negative feelings, welcome feedback about your behaviour, offer positive suggestions for mutual improvement, wait for spontaneous explosions to subside, without retaliating

Define equity and equality and discuss how both are related to perceptions of justice. Equity: a condition in which the outcomes people receive from a relationship are proportional to what they contribute to it When people perceive inequity, they feel ripped off When someone exploits another, collective guilt may occur Equality: the equal distribution of rewards to all individuals People in collectivist cultures perceive equality as more just than equity

Describe three ways that individuals can be induced to cooperate and resolve social dilemmas. Regulation: used to keep things equal, regulating government policies such as enforcing paying taxes, this regulates self-serving behaviours in order to benefit the society Small groups: big groups increase deindividuation, small groups increase social responsibility and decreases anonymity Appeals to altruistic norms: People typically adhere to norms of social responsibility, reciprocity, equity and keeping commitments

Discuss how stereotypes can be self-perpetuating. When a member of a group behaves as expected, we note this occurrence because our prior belief is confirmed (confirmation bias) If they act in opposition to our prejudgments, we'll explain it away by saying that it's due to special circumstances

Distinguish between benevolent and hostile sexism. Provide an example of each. Benevolent sexism: a favourable view, but still a stereotype (e.g. women are better at nurturing) Hostile sexism: a mean stereotype (e.g.. men are clueless when it comes to parenting)

Explain the three ways in which distinctiveness can influence stereotypes and distort our judgments. Distinctive people: people pay more attention to those who stand out, thus pick out characteristics that they may not have if they person was not distinctive Distinctive cases: vivid instances are more available in memory, it makes it easier for our minds to use these shortcuts to make assumptions Distinctive events: Our attentiveness to distinctive events can create illusory correlations

Research on the relation between religion and prejudice is nicely summarized by Gordon Allport (1958). "The role of religion is paradoxical. It makes prejudice and it unmakes prejudice." In your own opinion, why might this be true? From the textbook: prejudice causes religion by leading people to create religious ideas to support their prejudices; religion causes prejudice by leading people to believe that because all individuals possess free will, impoverished minorities have themselves to blame for their status Religious people are supposed to love all, but exclude those individuals who are not religious. This creates group polarization between those who are religious and those who are not.

Explain the role of self-disclosure in maintaining a close relationship. Self-disclosure: revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others Deep companionate relationships are intimate and allow us to be known as we really are and feel accepted Research demonstrates that we like intimacy and it feels good when others disclose to us (sharing confidential information) After we disclose to someone, we like them more Disclosure reciprocity: the tendency for one person's intimacy of self-disclosure to match that of a conversational partner

Describe the influences of long-term and perceived equity on enabling close relationships. Equity: a condition in which the outcomes people receive from a relationship are proportional to what they contribute to it Long-term equity: people expect reciprocation but not immediately, otherwise we attribute their motives to just doing it because they are supposed to. A positive voluntary behaviour is attributed to love Perceived equity: If an individual perceives that they are getting the shitty side of the deal then it increases negative moods like distress and depression

Explain why minority influence often leads to genuine acceptance rather than simply public compliance. 1. Consistency - people with minority views tend to express themselves less quickly than people in the majority. A persistent minority is influential, even if not popular, partly because it soon becomes the focus of debate. Being the centre of conversation allows for more arguments 2. Self-confidence - consistency and persistence convey self-confidence, this can raise self-doubts among the majority 3. Defections from the majority - when a minority consistently doubts the majority wisdom, majority members become freer to express their own doubts and may even switch to the minority position.

Describe how the symptoms of groupthink illustrate self-justification, self-serving bias, and conformity. groupthink systems include illusion of invulnerability, unquested belief in the group's morality, rationalization, stereotyped view of the opponent, conformity pressure, self-censoring, illusion of unanimity and mindguard. These symptoms foster connection and cohesiveness between other individuals. This cohesiveness also promotes a self-serving bias as groups can blame poor decisions on other members, less individual responsibility needs to be taken

Describe how normative and informational influence processes help us understand group polarization. Group polarization - group produced enhancement of members' pre-existing tendencies; a strengthening of the members' average tendency, not a split within the group Normative influence - We are most persuaded by group that we can identify with (reference groups), we may express stronger opinions after discovering that others share our views Comparison with others - explains why people don't speak up in class unless others do Pluralistic ignorance - a false impression of how other people are thinking, feeling or responding Informational influence - ideas that were common knowledge to group members with often be brought up in discussion or, even if unmerited, will jointly influence the discussion Active participation in discussion produces more attitude change than does passive listening The more group members repeat one another's ideas, the more they rehearse and validate t

Explain the role of evaluation apprehension in both social facilitation and social loafing. Evaluation apprehension - concern for how others are evaluating us Social facilitation - the strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses owing to the presence of others Social facilitation increases evaluation apprehension - when we are the centre of attention we consciously monitor our behaviour Social loafing - the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable Group situations decrease evaluation apprehension, so we are less concerned about being evaluated, responsibility is diffused across members

Why do people conform? Explain your answer. Basically, we want to be liked and we want to be right. Normative influence - conformity based on a person's desire to fulfill other's expectations, often to gain acceptance (desire to be liked). Brain scans show that group judgments differing from one's own activate a brain area that also is active when one feels that pain of bad betting decisions Informational influence - conformity that results from accepting evidence about reality provided by other people (desire to be right)

What are the four determining factors that Milgram examined to determine the conditions that breed obedience. Briefly discuss each. 1. The victim's distance: when the "learners" could not be seen, the acted with greatest obedience and least compassion. This explains why people are so easily vicious and cruel over the internet, and why executioners covered the faces of those being executed 2. Closeness and legitimacy of the authority: when the authority is close, compliance is much higher. Participants must view the authority as legitimate, when replacing the authority with a confederate briefly, compliance rates decrease 3. Institutional authority: obedience rates higher in prestige universities. So compliance would probably be higher at Harvard or Yale Uni as opposed to UFV. 4. The liberating effects of group influence: If other people object (in the case of the studies, confederates), the individual will usually follow suite

Conformity has several varieties, including compliance, obedience, and acceptance. Define each and describe how they are different using examples. 1. Compliance - conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with social pressure while privately disagreeing (i.e. A boy wearing blue even though he wants to wear pink) 2. Obedience - acting in accord with a direct order (i.e. A child cleaning their room before getting to go to their friends) 3. Acceptance - conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure (i.e. Drinking protein shakes because everyone in the fitness world is)

Discuss the major tactics that are used to resist persuasion. Make a public commitment for your position: we can make others commit themselves by mildly attacking their position Attitude inoculation: exposing people to weak attacks on their attitudes, so that when stronger attacks come they will have refutations available

Explain the principles and techniques you would use to become a cult leader. Compliance breeds acceptance - behavioural rituals, public recruitment and fund-raising strengthen members - it leads to a personal commitment Foot-in-the-door phenomenon - invite people to a dinner, then a weekend retreat, then longer training sessions The communicator - cult leaders are very charismatic, trustworthy and credible The message - vivid, emotional, warm, and accepting The audience - recruit young members Cut outside ties surrounding group members, ensuring that the only social links are with other group members (social implosion). Violence and intimidation are also common methods

In the central route to persuasion, what are the three factors that decrease counter-arguing? 1. preventing the audience from being forewarned that they are going to be persuaded.  2. distraction (i.e. advertisements - words say one thing, but visual image keeps us occupied).  3. produce strong arguments and other ways to stimulate people's thinking

According to self-perception theory, there can be both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for behaviour. Discuss these motivations and compare how each is related to the attributions people make about their behaviours. Intrinsic motivation - no external reward, doing something because you like it. Extrinsic motivation - external reward, doing something because you are paid to. The overjustification effect - the result of bribing people to do what they already like doing; they may then see their action as externally controlled rather than intrinsically appealing. An unanticipated reward does not diminish intrinsic motivation. If we provide just enough justification to perform a learning task and use rewards and labels to help them feel competent, we may enhance their enjoyment and their eagerness to pursue the subject on their own

Think about Batson's research on moral hypocrisy. Why are people so often moral hypocrites? Because our attitudes often do not predict our behaviour. However, they do predict our behaviour when social influences on what we say are minimal, when the attitude is specific to the behaviour, and when the attitude is potent (strong and on our mind). People need to be intrinsically motivated to be moral

What makes the Fundamental Attribution Error fundamental? We find cases where we look for them, our attributions predict our attitudes to various demographics. It colours our explanations in basic and important ways, our minds strategies for simplying complex information. It is the foundational basis of how we make judgements about others

How can we counteract the false consensus and confirmation bias? Prompt feedback - receive clear, daily feedback from others. Get people to think of one good reason why their judgments might be wrong

What is the confirmation bias and how does it work to entrench us in our beliefs? the tendency to search for information that confirms out preconceptions Similar to the false consensus effect, it causes us to be oblivious or ignore beliefs that may not match up with our.

Research has demonstrated that memories are often constructed and involve backward reasoning. Please explain this and provide examples of both reconstructing past attitudes and reconstructing past behaviours. We construct our memories based on our current feelings and expectations, we can easily (and unconsciously) revise our memories to suite our current knowledge. Reconstructing past attitudes: (i.e. newlyweds reporting being very happy and then when questioned two years later the marriages which had gone bad reported things were always bad). Reconstructing past behaviours: (i.e. being told that brushing your teeth is desirable leading to participants to recall brushing their teeth much more often than those who did not hear the message)

Give an example of false consensus and an example of false uniqueness. Clearly label which is which. False consensus effect: i.e. believing that someone agrees with your political views when that don't actually. False uniqueness effect: believing that the drink you order from Starbucks is unique

How does the false consensus work to further entrench us in our beliefs? The false consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others agree with us. It is the assumption that everyone acts as we do, we generalize from a limited sample of people, which includes ourselves. Also, we are more likely to associate with people who are similar to ourselves. So, it further entrenches us in our beliefs by falsely confirming that we are correct/accurate

Describe how the self-serving bias can be both adaptive and maladaptive. Adaptive: it allows us to savour the good things that happen in our lives. Maladaptive: when bad things happen, we may have a tendency to blame others or feel cheated out of something we have "deserved"

What kinds of events or behaviours can threaten people with high self-esteem? How do people with high self-esteem react when their self-esteem is threatened? General criticism threatens their self-esteem (i.e. telling they did poorly on an assignment). Individuals who score high on narcissim and self-esteem react aggressively when their self-esteem is threatened. They are more likely to be obnoxious, to interrupt and to talk at people rather than with them