Chapter 5 QUESTION 1 . If our sensory system receives information from the environment, this is called: . absolute threshold difference threshold Perception Sensation . 10 points    QUESTION 2 . When our brain organizes and interprets sensory information that is called: . difference threshold Perception Sensation absolute threshold . 10 points    QUESTION 3 . If we want to define a stimulus as subliminal, what is the percent of time we would perceive it? . less than 50% 100% more than 50% Never . 10 points    QUESTION 4 . Which receptor in the eye is responsible for perceiving color? . optic nerve rods cones . 10 points    QUESTION 5 . If it is dark out, our eyes make use of what receptors to help us to see - especially in our periphery. . optic nerve cones rods . 10 points    QUESTION 6 . Which of the following would not be a good example of sensory adaptation? . Bill puts on more cologne even though he already did because he can't smell it Pat gets into the hot tub slowly because it is hot, but the water quickly cools. Pat is surprised when Alex, who is just getting in, comments on how hot the water is.  Stacy does not notice the airplanes that fly over her apartment regularly People with anosmia do not perceive the smells in their environment . 10 points    QUESTION 7 . When we look at the world around us, we process color, movement, form and depth. This processing is called: . dual processing Gestalt processing parallel processing visual processing . 10 points    QUESTION 8 . Dylan looks out his dad's fourth floor office window and wonders why there are a bunch of matchbox cars outside. He asks if he can go play with them. We can conclude that Dylan is missing which perceptual ablity: . size constancy shape constancy monocular cues binocular cues . 10 points    QUESTION 9 . What effect does experience have on how we perceive the world? . None, we all perceive the world similarly It guides our perceptual interpreations It allows us to see depth and movement . 10 points    QUESTION 10 . Which of the following is NOT a touch sensation? . wetness pain pressure temperature . 10 points    QUESTION 11 . Researchers have been able to replicate ESP effects under controlled conditions. .  True .  False Chapter 8 QUESTION 1 . What is the term for how we simplify and order the world around us using mental groupings of similar objects, events or ideas? . prototypes framing concepts cognition . 10 points    QUESTION 2 . When I am struggling to come up with a solution to a problem, occasionally I have a a sudden inspiration that allows me to solve my problem. This is referred to as: . heuristic framing insight algorithm . 10 points    QUESTION 3 . Fast, automatic, unreasoned thinking refers to which of the following? . framing intuition algorithm insight . 10 points    QUESTION 4 . When I am.

1. Chapter 5
QUESTION 1
.
If our sensory system receives information from the
environment, this is called:
.
absolute threshold
difference threshold
Perception
Sensation
.
10 points
QUESTION 2
.
When our brain organizes and interprets sensory information
that is called:
.
difference threshold

2. Perception
Sensation
absolute threshold
.
10 points
QUESTION 3
.
If we want to define a stimulus as subliminal, what is the
percent of time we would perceive it?
.
less than 50%
100%
more than 50%
Never
.
10 points
QUESTION 4
.
Which receptor in the eye is responsible for perceiving color?
.

3. optic nerve
rods
cones
.
10 points
QUESTION 5
.
If it is dark out, our eyes make use of what receptors to help us
to see - especially in our periphery.
.
optic nerve
cones
rods
.
10 points
QUESTION 6
.
Which of the following would not be a good example of sensory
adaptation?
.
Bill puts on more cologne even though he already did because
he can't smell it

4. Pat gets into the hot tub slowly because it is hot, but the water
quickly cools. Pat is surprised when Alex, who is just getting
in, comments on how hot the water is.
Stacy does not notice the airplanes that fly over her apartment
regularly
People with anosmia do not perceive the smells in their
environment
.
10 points
QUESTION 7
.
When we look at the world around us, we process color,
movement, form and depth. This processing is called:
.
dual processing
Gestalt processing
parallel processing
visual processing
.
10 points

5. QUESTION 8
.
Dylan looks out his dad's fourth floor office window and
wonders why there are a bunch of matchbox cars outside. He
asks if he can go play with them. We can conclude that Dylan is
missing which perceptual ablity:
.
size constancy
shape constancy
monocular cues
binocular cues
.
10 points
QUESTION 9
.
What effect does experience have on how we perceive the
world?
.
None, we all perceive the world similarly
It guides our perceptual interpreations
It allows us to see depth and movement

6. .
10 points
QUESTION 10
.
Which of the following is NOT a touch sensation?
.
wetness
pain
pressure
temperature
.
10 points
QUESTION 11
.
Researchers have been able to replicate ESP effects under
controlled conditions.
.
True
.
False

7. Chapter 8
QUESTION 1
.
What is the term for how we simplify and order the world
around us using mental groupings of similar objects, events or
ideas?
.
prototypes
framing
concepts
cognition
.
10 points
QUESTION 2
.
When I am struggling to come up with a solution to
a problem, occasionally I have a a sudden inspiration that
allows me to solve my problem. This is referred to as:
.
heuristic
framing

8. insight
algorithm
.
10 points
QUESTION 3
.
Fast, automatic, unreasoned thinking refers to which of the
following?
.
framing
intuition
algorithm
insight
.
10 points
QUESTION 4
.
When I am in class and giving a lecture, I am most frequently
using which area of the brain to produce language?
.

9. Wernicke's area
Broca's area
hypothalamus
corpus callosum
.
10 points
QUESTION 5
.
When someone in class asks me a question and I have to
understand what they are saying to me, I am most using which
area of the brain?
.
Wernicke's area
basal ganglia
Broca's area
corpus callosum
.
10 points
QUESTION 6
.

10. If I believe that people have innate abilities that can be fostered
in particular areas of intelligence, such as math or music, then I
would most agree with which theorist?
.
Sternberg
Gardner
Freud
Dr. Abraham
.
10 points
QUESTION 7
.
Animals have language skills that are similar to and can exceed
humans.
.
True
.
False
.
10 points
QUESTION 8
.
Intelligence is heritable.
.
True
.

11. False
.
10 points
QUESTION 9
.
In what areas do we see differences in intellectual ability
between males and females (choose all that apply).
.
overall intelligence
spatial reasoning
overall math
.
10 points
QUESTION 10
.
To what do we attribute the observable differences between
males and females in intelligence (e.g. language, emotion
detection)? Choose all that apply.
.
evolution
culture
biology

12. test bias
Chapter 3
QUESTION 1
.
Developmental psychologists study:
.
physical changes
cognitive changes
social changes
all of the above
.
10 points
QUESTION 2
.
Nature is our __________ and nurture is our __________.
.
genetic inheritance; our experiences

13. stages; continuity
our experiences; our genetic inheritance
continuity; stages
.
10 points
QUESTION 3
.
Which of the following would not be a teratogen:
.
diabetes
Nicotine
rubella virus
Cocaine
.
10 points
QUESTION 4
.
Our emotional reactivity and the intensity of that emotional
response is called:
.

14. temperament
Personality
Maturation
conception
.
10 points
QUESTION 5
.
Stranger anxiety develops shortly after infants develop what
cognitive skill?
.
accommodation
object permanence
Attachment
assimilation
.
10 points
QUESTION 6
.

15. What is the transition period from childhood to adulthood?
.
Adolescence
Puberty
Attachment
assimiloation
.
10 points
QUESTION 7
.
What is the marker for the beginning of adolescence?
.
Puberty
formal reasoning
maturation of the frontal lobe
age 13
.
10 points

16. QUESTION 8
.
Who proposed the eight stages of psychosocial tasks we must
achieve for healthy psychological development?
.
Freud
Vygotsky
Erikson
Piaget
.
10 points
QUESTION 9
.
What do we call the period of development between the age of
18 to the mid-twenties?
.
young adulthood
Adolescence
emerging adulthood

17. Puberty
.
10 points
QUESTION 10
.
People over the age of 65 report as much happiness and
satisfaction with life as younger people do.
.
True
.
False
.
Chapter 4
QUESTION 1
.
Which of the following terms is defined as the socially
influenced characteristics by which people define men and
women?
.
Gender

18. Sex
social norms
puberty
.
10 points
QUESTION 2
.
Which of the following terms is defined as the biologically
influenced characteristics by which people define male and
female?
.
sex
puberty
maturation
gender
.
10 points
QUESTION 3
.
Which of the following influence development?

19. .
sex chromosomes
sex hormones
both of the above
.
10 points
QUESTION 4
.
Which of the following terms is defined as how others expect us
to act based on being male or female?
.
gender typing
gender role
gender identity
.
10 points
QUESTION 5
.
Which of the following terms is defined as our own sense of
being male or female or some combination of the two?
.

20. gender identity
gender role
gender typing
.
10 points
QUESTION 6
.
Which hormone drives men's sexuality?
.
estrogen
testosterone
papilloma
petocin
.
10 points
QUESTION 7
.
Which of the following is most associated with women's
sexuality?
.

21. estrogen
papilloma
testosterone
petocin
.
10 points
QUESTION 8
.
Erotic material can trigger sexual arousal in:
.
Men
Women
both men and women
neither men nor women
.
10 points
QUESTION 9
.
Sexual orientation is associated with mental health.

22. .
True
.
False
.
10 points
QUESTION 10
.
Rates of teen intercourse vary between cultures and eras.
.
True
.
False
Social Psychology
Chapter 1: Introducing Social Psychology
Social Psychology
How we feel about, think about, and behave toward the people
around us.
How our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by
those around us.
History of Social Psychology
Earliest experiments were before 1900, first textbooks
published in 1908.
Kurt Lewin
Father of social psychology because he developed many of the
important ideas of the discipline (focus on the interactions
among people).

23. Leon Festinger
Edited Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences, in which
he stressed the need to measure variables and use experiments
to study social behavior.
History of Social Psychology
Muzafir Sherif
Robbers Cave Experiment
Solomon Asch
Stanley Milgram
Philip Zimbardo
Prison Experiment
History of Social Psychology
Group behavior
Helping
Intergroup relations
Stereotyping
Prejudice and discrimination
Attitudes
Persuasion (advertising)
Social cognition
The influence of our knowledge structures on memory,
information processing, attitudes, judgments.
Flaws in our decision-making
The Social Situation
Behavior is determined by both a person’s characteristics and
the social situation
Situation is often stronger than our characteristics!

24. Social Influence
Process by which others change our thoughts, feelings, and
behavior.
Lewin’s Equation
Behavior = f (person, social situation)
The behavior of a given person at any time depends on the
characteristics of the person and the influence of the social
situation.
Evolutionary Adaptation
Newborns
Recognize faces, respond to voices
Infants
Language development, friendships
Adolescence
Interest in sex, fall in love
Our genetic code has provided us with social skills that are
important to survival through evolution.
Making judgments about others, helping others, working
together
Helped our ancestors adapt, survive, pass on genes
Evolutionary Adaptation
Fitness
The extent to which a given characteristic helps an organism
survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other members of a
species who do not have that characteristic.
Jealousy endures
Protect mates, guard against rivals, reproductive success
Our genes do not determine who we are
Self Concern
First human motivation

25. Protect and enhance one’s own life and the lives of the people
who are close to us
Kin selection
Strategies that favor the reproductive success of one’s relatives
(sometimes at a cost to one’s own survival)
Increase the survivial of the group as a whole
Ingroup
We desire to protect those whom we view as being similar and
important to us, and with whom we share social connections
Other-Concern
We desire to connect with and be accepted by other people
We live in communities, we work together in groups, etc…
Helps us find a mate
Provides us with resources (providing goods/services for one
another)
We enjoy it
We do not always put ourselves first
Our genes are “selfish”, we engage in altruistic behaviors
We generally behave MORALLY towards others
Negative behaviors are socially disapproved of
Hostility and violence are not the rule of human behavior
Social Influence
Stop sign on a deserted road
Internalized behavior
Others are still influencing you
Social situations are often stronger determinants of behavior
than personality
Hitler
Heaven’s Gate

26. Social Norms
Social support exerts an enormous influence on our behavior
Creates “social norms”
Adopting the beliefs and behaviors of our parents
Customs, traditions, standards, rules, values of the group
Culture and Social Norms
Individualism vs collectivism
Self-concern vs other-concern
Arriving and departing on time
Pace of life
Walking speed in different locations
The ABC’s of Behavior
(Create Successful Social Interactions)
Affect
Feelings
Behavior
Interactions
Cognition
Thought
Social Cognition
100 billion neurons
Cerebral cortex
Sets us apart from animals
Involved in thinking
Cognition: Mental activity of processing information and using

27. it in judgment
Social Cognition: Helps us understand and predict the behavior
of ourselves and others
Social Knowledge
We each develop a set that contains information about
ourselves, others, relationships & social groups
Two that are highly important:
Schemas: Knowledge representation that includes information
about a person or group
“Bob is a friendly guy”, “Italians are romantic”
Attitudes: Knowledge representation that includes (primarily)
our liking/disliking of a person, thing or group
These allow us to judge quickly
Influence our social information processing and social behavior
Everyone’s knowledge is different, so we often draw different
conclusions about the same events
Social Affect
Feelings we experience as part of our everyday lives
Vary throughout the day, but they help us function efficiently
and in ways that increase our chances of survival
Affect signals that things are “OK” (good mood) or not (angry,
anxious)
We experience affect in two ways
Mood: Positive or negative feelings in the background of our
day
Good = more social, seeking interactions, efficient, helpful
Emotions: Brief (but often intense) mental and physiological
feeling states
Shorter lived, stronger, more specific, caused by specific events
Only experienced when things are out of the ordinary/unusual

28. Social Behavior
We cooperate with others to gain outcomes we couldn’t gain on
our own
Social exchange
The sharing of goods, services, emotions, etc…
Social rewards
Attention, praise, affection, love, $$ support
Social costs
Frustration, guilt, effort involved in maintaining relationships
Generally, people prefer: social rewards and social costs
Protects and enhances the self
Social Behavior
Social exchange is generally fair and equitable (in the long run)
Self-concern is normal, usually tempered by other-concerns
Balance!
We have learned over thousands of years that we can cooperate
by giving to those in need, and we generally expect a return of
those benefits over time
Called reciprocal altruism (I scratch your back, you scratch
mine)
Those who don’t live up to this social contract are judged
extremely negatively
Social Psychology and Common SenseAnswer each question
using your own intuition (True or False)Opposites attract.An
athlete who wins a bronze medal in an event is happier about
his performance than the athlete who wins the silver medal.
Having good friends can keep you from catching colds.
Subliminal advertising is very effective in getting us to by
products. The greater the reward for an activity, the more one

29. will enjoy engaging in that activity. Physically attractive people
are seen as less intelligent than less attractive people. Punching
a pillow or screaming out loud is a good way to reduce
frustration and aggressive tendencies.People pull harder in a
tug-of-war when they’re pulling alone than when pulling in a
group.
Is Social Psychology Common Sense?
Hindsight bias
We believe we know why we engage in the behaviors that we do
Hint: We usually don’t
Human behavior is extremely complex!
Psychological Research
Operational definitions
How do we measure:
Liking
Love
Altruism
Measuring
Self-reports (agree/disagree, 1-10)
“I enjoy being around Robert”
“I get along with Robert”
“I like Robert”
OD = Average of all three (assesses the attitude differently)
Issues with self-reports?
Social Neuroscience
Brain activity
Electroencephalography (EEG)

30. Brain wave patterns during different activities
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
Images of brain structure and function (oxygen = blood flow)
Most commonly used method of learning about the brain
Cognition, attitudes, morality, emotions, rejection, prejudice
Research
DesignGoalAdvantagesDisadvantagesObservationalSnapshot of
current state of affairsComplete picture, development of
questions for further studyNo relationship between variablesNo
creation of unique situations
--Disasters
CorrelationalRelationship between 2+ variablesTesting of
relationships, predictions, can test in everyday lifeNo causal
relationships between variablesPositive/negative
--Which way?
Common-causal variables
ExperimentalCausal impact of 1+ manipulations on a DVWe can
draw conclusions about causal relationshipsCannot manipulate
many important variables, expensiveEquivalence between
conditions
Factorial Research Designs: More than one IV!
Research Methods
Internal validity
Confidence with which we can draw conclusions about the
causal relationships between variables
Was your research measuring what you manipulated?
External Validity

31. Can your research be applied to individuals outside of your
experiment?
Will they hold up in everyday life?
Research Methods
Ethics in research
Deception
Harm
Debriefing
Transparency in research
Interpretations
Limitations
Errors
Validity/reliability
Conclusion
Scientists generate research hypotheses, which are tested using
an observational, correlational, or experimental research design.
The variables of interest are measured using self-report or
behavioral measures.
Data is interpreted according to its validity (both internal and
external), and the hypothesis is shown to be supported, not
supported, or partially supported.
The results of many studies may be combined and summarized
using meta-analysis.
Social Psychology
Chapter 1: Introducing Social Psychology

32. Social Psychology
How we feel about, think about, and behave toward the people
around us.
How our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by
those around us.
History of Social Psychology
Earliest experiments were before 1900, first textbooks
published in 1908.
Kurt Lewin
Father of social psychology because he developed many of the
important ideas of the discipline (focus on the interactions
among people).
Leon Festinger
Edited Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences, in which
he stressed the need to measure variables and use experiments
to study social behavior.
History of Social Psychology
Muzafir Sherif
Robbers Cave Experiment
Solomon Asch
Stanley Milgram
Philip Zimbardo
Prison Experiment
History of Social Psychology
Group behavior
Helping
Intergroup relations

33. Stereotyping
Prejudice and discrimination
Attitudes
Persuasion (advertising)
Social cognition
The influence of our knowledge structures on memory,
information processing, attitudes, judgments.
Flaws in our decision-making
The Social Situation
Behavior is determined by both a person’s characteristics and
the social situation
Situation is often stronger than our characteristics!
Social Influence
Process by which others change our thoughts, feelings, and
behavior.
Lewin’s Equation
Behavior = f (person, social situation)
The behavior of a given person at any time depends on the
characteristics of the person and the influence of the social
situation.
Evolutionary Adaptation
Newborns
Recognize faces, respond to voices
Infants
Language development, friendships
Adolescence
Interest in sex, fall in love
Our genetic code has provided us with social skills that are
important to survival through evolution.
Making judgments about others, helping others, working

34. together
Helped our ancestors adapt, survive, pass on genes
Evolutionary Adaptation
Fitness
The extent to which a given characteristic helps an organism
survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other members of a
species who do not have that characteristic.
Jealousy endures
Protect mates, guard against rivals, reproductive success
Our genes do not determine who we are
Self Concern
First human motivation
Protect and enhance one’s own life and the lives of the people
who are close to us
Kin selection
Strategies that favor the reproductive success of one’s relatives
(sometimes at a cost to one’s own survival)
Increase the survivial of the group as a whole
Ingroup
We desire to protect those whom we view as being similar and
important to us, and with whom we share social connections
Other-Concern
We desire to connect with and be accepted by other people
We live in communities, we work together in groups, etc…
Helps us find a mate
Provides us with resources (providing goods/services for one
another)
We enjoy it
We do not always put ourselves first
Our genes are “selfish”, we engage in altruistic behaviors

35. We generally behave MORALLY towards others
Negative behaviors are socially disapproved of
Hostility and violence are not the rule of human behavior
Social Influence
Stop sign on a deserted road
Internalized behavior
Others are still influencing you
Social situations are often stronger determinants of behavior
than personality
Hitler
Heaven’s Gate
Social Norms
Social support exerts an enormous influence on our behavior
Creates “social norms”
Adopting the beliefs and behaviors of our parents
Customs, traditions, standards, rules, values of the group
Culture and Social Norms
Individualism vs collectivism
Self-concern vs other-concern
Arriving and departing on time
Pace of life
Walking speed in different locations
The ABC’s of Behavior

36. (Create Successful Social Interactions)
Affect
Feelings
Behavior
Interactions
Cognition
Thought
Social Cognition
100 billion neurons
Cerebral cortex
Sets us apart from animals
Involved in thinking
Cognition: Mental activity of processing information and using
it in judgment
Social Cognition: Helps us understand and predict the behavior
of ourselves and others
Social Knowledge
We each develop a set that contains information about
ourselves, others, relationships & social groups
Two that are highly important:
Schemas: Knowledge representation that includes information
about a person or group
“Bob is a friendly guy”, “Italians are romantic”
Attitudes: Knowledge representation that includes (primarily)
our liking/disliking of a person, thing or group
These allow us to judge quickly
Influence our social information processing and social behavior
Everyone’s knowledge is different, so we often draw different
conclusions about the same events

37. Social Affect
Feelings we experience as part of our everyday lives
Vary throughout the day, but they help us function efficiently
and in ways that increase our chances of survival
Affect signals that things are “OK” (good mood) or not (angry,
anxious)
We experience affect in two ways
Mood: Positive or negative feelings in the background of our
day
Good = more social, seeking interactions, efficient, helpful
Emotions: Brief (but often intense) mental and physiological
feeling states
Shorter lived, stronger, more specific, caused by specific events
Only experienced when things are out of the ordinary/unusual
Social Behavior
We cooperate with others to gain outcomes we couldn’t gain on
our own
Social exchange
The sharing of goods, services, emotions, etc…
Social rewards
Attention, praise, affection, love, $$ support
Social costs
Frustration, guilt, effort involved in maintaining relationships
Generally, people prefer: social rewards and social costs
Protects and enhances the self
Social Behavior
Social exchange is generally fair and equitable (in the long run)
Self-concern is normal, usually tempered by other-concerns
Balance!
We have learned over thousands of years that we can cooperate

38. by giving to those in need, and we generally expect a return of
those benefits over time
Called reciprocal altruism (I scratch your back, you scratch
mine)
Those who don’t live up to this social contract are judged
extremely negatively
Social Psychology and Common SenseAnswer each question
using your own intuition (True or False)Opposites attract.An
athlete who wins a bronze medal in an event is happier about
his performance than the athlete who wins the silver medal.
Having good friends can keep you from catching colds.
Subliminal advertising is very effective in getting us to by
products. The greater the reward for an activity, the more one
will enjoy engaging in that activity. Physically attractive people
are seen as less intelligent than less attractive people. Punching
a pillow or screaming out loud is a good way to reduce
frustration and aggressive tendencies.People pull harder in a
tug-of-war when they’re pulling alone than when pulling in a
group.
Is Social Psychology Common Sense?
Hindsight bias
We believe we know why we engage in the behaviors that we do
Hint: We usually don’t
Human behavior is extremely complex!
Psychological Research
Operational definitions
How do we measure:

39. Liking
Love
Altruism
Measuring
Self-reports (agree/disagree, 1-10)
“I enjoy being around Robert”
“I get along with Robert”
“I like Robert”
OD = Average of all three (assesses the attitude differently)
Issues with self-reports?
Social Neuroscience
Brain activity
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Brain wave patterns during different activities
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
Images of brain structure and function (oxygen = blood flow)
Most commonly used method of learning about the brain
Cognition, attitudes, morality, emotions, rejection, prejudice
Research
DesignGoalAdvantagesDisadvantagesObservationalSnapshot of
current state of affairsComplete picture, development of
questions for further studyNo relationship between variablesNo
creation of unique situations
--Disasters
CorrelationalRelationship between 2+ variablesTesting of
relationships, predictions, can test in everyday lifeNo causal
relationships between variablesPositive/negative
--Which way?
Common-causal variables

40. ExperimentalCausal impact of 1+ manipulations on a DVWe can
draw conclusions about causal relationshipsCannot manipulate
many important variables, expensiveEquivalence between
conditions
Factorial Research Designs: More than one IV!
Research Methods
Internal validity
Confidence with which we can draw conclusions about the
causal relationships between variables
Was your research measuring what you manipulated?
External Validity
Can your research be applied to individuals outside of your
experiment?
Will they hold up in everyday life?
Research Methods
Ethics in research
Deception
Harm
Debriefing
Transparency in research
Interpretations
Limitations
Errors
Validity/reliability
Conclusion
Scientists generate research hypotheses, which are tested using
an observational, correlational, or experimental research design.

41. The variables of interest are measured using self-report or
behavioral measures.
Data is interpreted according to its validity (both internal and
external), and the hypothesis is shown to be supported, not
supported, or partially supported.
The results of many studies may be combined and summarized
using meta-analysis.
Attitudes, Behavior, Persuasion
Social Psychology Chapter 5
Attitudes = Evaluations
Your attitudes express the relationship between you and an
object/person
We hold thousands
Attitudes
Made up on cognitive, affective, and behavioral components
“I love mint chocolate chip ice cream” (Affect)
“I frequently eat mint chocolate chip ice cream” (Behavior)
“Mint chocolate chip ice cream is refreshing and has a great
flavor” (Cognition)
Not all equal! My attitudes toward my dishwasher are more
cognitive than my attitudes towards my high heels which are
more affective.

42. Affective is generally the strongest determinant of attitude
Attitudes
Purpose
They are useful!
Allow us to determine (quickly and without effort) which
behaviors to engage in
SNAKE = BAD RUN AWAY
ICE CREAM = GOOD EAT
Evolutionarily this is VERY important
Attitudes
Our strongest ones are the ones that are more accessible to us
How quick are our attitudes activated when exposed to
something
Passion, fear, etc..
Ex: Bicycle vs. War with Iran
If we can states our attitude quickly, without much thought, it’s
a strong one.
Strongest attitudes are when all three of the ABC’s line up
Ice Cream vs RIE parenting
Attitudes and Behavior
Social psychology = interested in human behaviors related to
attitude
Advertising, marketing, politicians
When ABC’s align, guides behavior
When attitudes are strong
Strong intention to perform the behavior

43. Attitude and behavior happen in similar social situations
Low self-monitors
Only predict behaviors well under certain conditions and for
some people
When the behavior is specific
Attitude Question Attitude towards birth control Attitidue
toward birth control pills Attitude towards using birth control
pills Attitude toward using birth control pills during the next 2
years 0.08 0.31 0.51 0.56999999999999995
Persuasion
Get attention + send effective message + ensure they process it
the way we want
Have to take into consideration the ABC’s
How does this relate to a person’s motivations, desires, goals
Appealing to self-concern (feeling good about themselves)
Attractive communicators (we like them, so we trust them)
Gifts (free merchandise)
People who are similar to us
Expertise
Confident communicators (quick, straightforward)
Fast speech = no time for listener to come up with
counterarguments
Lack of Persuasion
When influenced by external causes

44. Paid spokesperson
Arguing in their own self-interest
Witness paid by a lawyer
Only presenting one side of an argument
Sleeper Effect (attitude change over time)
When info is presented by someone we feel is untrustworthy, we
discount it. Over time though, there is a tendency to remember
the content but not the person who delivered it. In time, we
may forget to discount the message.
The Self
Social Psychology
Chapter 4
The Self-Concept
Nonhuman animals and self-concept
Primates (chimpanzees, orangutans)
Dolphins
Human children
Dots at 18 months
Gender by 2 years old
Self-descriptions based on physical features around age 4
Understanding of basic emotions, concepts of traits by age 6
Understanding of being a unique individual by grade school
Development of Self-Concept
Throughout childhood
Over time, it becomes more abstract and complex
Self-schemas (progress in school, appearance, skills, etc…)
By adulthood we can analyze our thoughts, feelings, behaviors,
and recognize that other people have different thoughts than we

45. do.
Ability to analyze our behavior and self-concept can be
unpleasant at times (failures, our mortality), but it allows us to
modify our behaviors and plan for the future.
Learning About Others’ Self-Concept
Self-report measures
Twenty Statements Test
Designed to measure the most accessible (and thus most
important) parts of a person’s self-concept
Everyone’s is different but there are common themes
Physical characteristics (I am pretty, I am tall)
Important because others judge us by our physical
characteristics
Social groups (I am a therapist, I am Jewish)
Provide us with our social identity, sense of self involving
membership in social groups
Personality traits (I am friendly, I am shy)
Self-Complexity as a Buffer
Self-concept includes who we are right now, but also:
Our past
Our future
Hopes
Goals
Plans
Thoughts about our relationships with others
Self-complexity: The extent to which we have many different
and independent ways of thinking about ourselves
Ex: I am a teacher, a wife, a daughter, an employee, a mother,
etc…
Positive and negative thoughts about one self-aspect do not spill
over into thoughts about the other aspects.
More complex = more resilient (BUFFERS)

46. Caveats
Studying Self-Concept
Neuroimaging
Self stored in same place information about other people is
stored (PFC)
How we attend to and remember information about the self
Value = accessibility
Self Reference Effect
Information processed in relationship to the self is more well-
remembered
Self-Awareness
How much we are currently fixing our attention on our self-
concept.
Self-consciousness
When our self-concept becomes highly accessible because of
our concerns about being observed/judged by others
What are the most accessible aspects of your self-concept?
More accessible aspects = more self aware of these aspects
More long-term accessibility = more important to you!
Priming
More self aware when in front of a mirror, speaking in front of
a group, etc…
Why Do We Care About Self-Awareness?
Very important impact on our behavior
More likely to violate social norms when we lose self-awareness
Masks at Halloween
Activities that hide our identities (Ex: KKK)

47. Loss of individual accountability in groups
Self-Consciousness
We don’t focus on our self-concept any more than we do on the
other things and people around us
We vastly overestimate how much attention others are paying us
Teenagers even more so
Self-Esteem
Positive or negative feelings we have about ourselves
We are also a product of our emotions
Comprised of how we view:
Our own performance
Our appearance
Our satisfaction with our relationships
Stable over time
But varies daily, hourly
People TEND to view themselves positively
But we also try to make ourselves look like we have high self-
esteem
Social Status
Extent to which we are viewed positively and are esteemed by
others
We want to be seen as competent and productive
We try to present ourselves as positively as possible
We try to convince others that we are good & worthy
Appearing attractive, strong, intelligent, likable
As a whole, we spend a lot of money on our presentation to
others
Hair dye, makeup, clothing, shoes, teeth whiteners, accessories,
cars

48. Collecting possessions to identify with high-status others
We gain social status by attempting to dominate/intimidate
others in a social setting
Handshakes, talking louder/more than others,
Self Presentation: Gender Differences
Men
More likely to present themselves as assertive
Speaking and interrupting others
Visually focusing on the other person
Leaning body into the conversation
Women
More likely to be modest
Tend to create status by smiling and laughing
React more positively to others’ statements
StrategiesIngratiationCreate liking by using flattery,
charm.IntimidationCreate fear by showing
aggressiveness.ExemplificationCreate guilt by showing you are
a better person than the other.SupplicationCreate pity by
indicating that you are helpless and needy. Self-
promotionCreate respect by persuading others that you are
competent.
Over-do any of these, they backfire!
Bring it Together
We use self-presentation to try to convince others that we are
good and worthy people.
When we are successful in self-presentation and others view us
positively, we have high social status.

49. When we perceive that we have high social status, we
experience high self-esteem.
Separate variables with different meanings, but they are all
related
Self-Presentation
Presenting ourselves favorably is natural!
Extent = Depends on the individual and the situation
Ex: Job interview
Self-monitoring has a major impact on our self-presentation
Regulating our behavior to meet the demands of a social
situation
High = Good at reading emotions of others, able to fit in more
Behaving in ways that others find desirable.
Issues With Self-Esteem
Narcissism
“I know I am good because everyone always tells me in am”
“I can talk my way out of anything”
“I like to be the center of attention”
“I’m good at influencing people”
Likely to be arrogant, bullying, unfaithful in relationships
Social Comparison and the Self-Concept
We consistently evaluate ourselves in comparison to others, but
more likely in dimensions where there is no objectively correct
answer
“Should I wear that dress?”
“How good am I at bowling?”
Upward comparisons
Lowers our self-esteem
Provides us with information as to how to improve ourselves

50. (HOPE!)
Downward comparisons
Make us feel better about ourselves
Increases our self-esteem
Groups and Social Identity
We use group memberships to create positive self-identity
Texans!
Fraternities/sororities
Veterans
Social Psychology
Chapter 3: Social Affect
Affect
Help us function efficiently and in a way that helps our chances
of survival
Disgust: Keeps us healthy by helping avoid situations likely to
carry disease
Embarrassment: Helps us respond to situations in which we
have violated social norms
Signals us that things are “OK” or not going so well
Help us determine if our actions are appropriate, predict others’
behavior or responses to us, and to regulate our own behavior
towards others.
Physiology of Affect

51. Physiology of Affect
Sympathetic Nervous System
Part of the autonomic nervous system that is involved in the
body’s response to threats by activating the organs & glands in
the endocrine system
In part determines our emotions
Increased blood pressure, heart rate, perspiration, respiration
Provides energy to respond to our environment (when activated)
Releases hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Involved in resting, digesting, relaxing, recovering
Counters the SNS
Physiology of Affect
Limbic system
One of the oldest parts of our brain (evolutionarily)
Amygdala: Primarily for regulating our perception of and
response to aggression and fear.
Connected to facial muscles (perceive and express emotion)
Regulates release of neurotransmitters related to stress and
aggression
Basic and Secondary Emotions
Basic:
Anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise.
Based on SNS arousal, not much cognitive processing
Happen quickly, not much thought or interpretation
Are cross-cultural in that they are expressed and experienced
consistently across many cutlures
Secondary:
Guilt, shame, embarrassment, amusement, satisfied
Lower levels of arousal
Higher levels of cognitive activity

52. Culture and Gender Differences
Individualism vs collectivism
Self-enhancing vs other-oriented
Women more open to feelings, more likely to express emotion
publicly
Especially in social relationships
Biology or culture?
Moods
Determine now to evaluate our current situation
Positive = continue, negative = change
Fritz Strack and the cartoon study (smiles)
Weather influences our judgment about our well-being (only
when we’re not aware that it might be doing so)
Our body positions (esp. facial expressions) influence our affect
Misattributing Affect
Emotion = arousal + cognition
Arousal only becomes emotion when paired with a label or an
explanation for the arousal.
Sometimes with high arousal its difficult to accurately
determine why or what emotion they’re experiencing
**Misattribution of arousal**
Love/hate relationships
Schachter & Singer study
When an individual experiences arousal with no explanation,
they will “label” this state in terms of the cognitions available
to them in their environment.

53. Stress and Well-Being
Stress is the most powerful emotional influence on us.
Physical and psychological reactions when we believe the
demands of a situation threaten our ability to respond to the
stress.
Happens when we don’t know how to respond or don’t know if
we can cope.
Extreme stress can = PTSD
Evolutionarily stress is a positive thing, stress responses
prepare us to act.
Stress over time can create negative mental physical effects.
General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm
Body releases hormones, including cortisol
Resistance
Adaptation and body tries to return to normal
Glucose levels increase and BP increases
Exhaustion
Body runs out of reserves of energy and immunity
Can lead to death
HPA Axis
Cortisol is the “stress hormone”
Releases sugars into the blood to help prepare the body to
respond to a threat
Cortisol testing
Saliva
Service dogs
Stress increases activity in the SNS and suppresses activity in
the PNS

54. Long-term stress (activation of the HPA) = fatigue, depression,
more colds, heart disese, weakened immune system.
Stress damages our DNA
Less repair of wounds, genetic mutations
Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale
Responses to Stress
Everyone responds differently to stress
Strong negative emotions from daily hassles + hostility
reactions = more negative health outcomes
Men more likely to respond to stress by activating fight-flight
response
Go on the attack (aggressive/revenging) or retreat ASAP
Activated by the HPA axis
Women more likely to tend-and-befriend
Behavioral reaction involving creating social networks that
provide protection from threats
Activated by oxytocin (promotes affiliation)
Healthier response to HPA
Depression and Anxiety
Genetic predisposition
Hormones and neurotransmitters
Largely socially determined, thus can be treated –in part- in a
social sense
Lack of adequate social interactions
Loneliness
Studies show that “shy” individuals have higher rates of anxiety
and depression
Likely due to avoidance of social interactions
Determined by how we feel about ourselves, our performance

55. (incl. goals), and social interactions
Social Factors in Research
Emotional distress from not meeting the standards and goals we
set for ourselves, as well as how we think other people see us
Negative emotions related to discrepancies between:
Actual elf-concept
Ideal self-concept
Ought self-concept
Other important peoples’ expectations
OVERALL: The social situation creates our emotional
experience
Coping with Negative Emotions
We can’t prevent negative emotions
They are adaptive in nature, so we wouldn’t want to
Goal: Learn to respond and cope in the most productive ways
possible
Distorting and Suppressing
Suppress, avoid, deny
NO
Don’t think about pink elephants
Distraction works in the short-term
Self-medicating (adrenaline, drugs, alcohol, sex, spirituality,
food)
Damaging in the long-term
Opening up
Gain information from others
Social support

56. Make sense of the events (even if just writing it down)
Self-Regulation
Learning how to control our emotions and to prevent them from
letting our behavior get out of control.
Setting goals and using our affective and cognitive capacities to
reach them.
Impulse control
Avoiding immediate gratification in order to obtain a greater
reward at a later time.
Lack of Self-Regulation
Lower levels of serotonin
Preferences for small immediate rewards over large later
rewards.
Tied to violence, impulsiveness, suicide.
Positive Emotions
Optimism
General tendency to expect positive outcomes
Self-efficacy
Belief in our ability to carry out actions that produce desired
outcomes
Combine them:
HARDINESS
What Makes us Happy?
Money
No

57. Having children
Childless couples are happier
Ability to predict/determine our own future or happiness
No
Reaction to positive events doesn’t last all that long
Habituation to positive (and negative) events
Social comparisons change as our circumstances change
What Makes Us Happy?
Our Connections With Others
Well-being
Determined through genetic factors and by the situations that
we create for ourselves.
Positive social relationships with others
By far the most important variable that affects happiness
Social support
Social Psychology
Chapter 2: Learning and Cognition
Introduction
We need to be able to accurately learn about and categorize the
people that we interact with every day.
Social cognition
Mental activity that relates to social activities and helps us meet
the goal of understanding and predicting the behavior of
ourselves and others.
Learning: A relatively permanent change in knowledge that is
acquired through experience.
How we make decisions, inform our behaviors (in a useful and
accurate way), mistakes and biases in judgment.

58. Social Knowledge
Gained through learning
Watson and Skinner
Conditioning
Operant learning vs classical learning
OL tends to be the most important form of human learning
Even criminality!
Associational Learning
Behaviors associated with pleasant experiences are reinforced
Examples:
Advertising
Attraction
Team sponsors
Behaviors associated with negative experiences are weakened
Examples:
Smoking warnings
Cell phones while driving
Observational Learning
Allows us to learn without having to actually engage in what
might be a risky behavior.
But can have negative outcomes as well:
Bobo Doll Experiment
Schemas as Social Knowledge

59. Learning = knowledge
Knowledge stored as schemas
Stored in the prefrontal cortex
PFC: Helps us remember characteristics and actions of other
people, plan complex social behaviors, and coordinate our
behaviors with those of others
“Social” part of the brain
Damage: Changes in social behavior (memory, personality,
planning, morality)
Newest part of the brain, evolutionarily speaking
How Schemas Develop
Schemas serve as expectations about future events
They represent our past experiences (Ex: Italians and
expectations)
No schemas: Have to start over with each experience
They allow us to “fill in the blanks” by making guesses about
what others are like or are going to do
Especially when presented with ambiguous information
Everyone’s schemas and attitudes are different
They influence our subsequent learning
New people/situations are interpreted within the schema of
existing knowledge
Assimilation
Accommodation: Changing our beliefs based on new
information
Part of the learning process
In most cases, once a schema is developed, it will be difficult to
change it
Our expectation makes us process information in ways that

60. support/strengthen our schemas
Confirmation bias: Our tendency to favor information that
confirms our expectations, regardless of whether or not it’s true.
Assimilation
Our existing knowledge makes us direct our attention toward
information that matches our expectations.
Difficult to attend to or acknowledge conflicting information.
Schemas also influence what we remember
We remember what fits our schemas rather than what
disconfirms our expectations.
Ex: “Saudis are bad drivers” We tend not to remember the good
drivers
“ Hannah” study (p.15)
Information that is very extreme or very conflicting, we attend
to and remember it.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Our expectations of others lead us to behave towards them in
ways that make them come true. Their reactions to our behavior
reinforce our expectations.
Cognitive ProcessDescription ExampleCognitive
accessibilitySome schemas and attitudes are more accessible
than others.Self-relevant & goal related information more
readily accessible.SalienceStimuli that are unusual, colorful, or
moving, tend to grab our attention.Basing judgments on a single
unusual event and ignore hundreds of others that are more
usual.Representativeness heuristicWe make judgments based on
how well the event matches our expectations.Juror members and
the appearance of the defendant
(Ted Bundy)Availability heuristicThings that come to mind
easily tend to be seen as more common. What is more likely to
kill you: A dog or a couch?

61. Cognitive ProcessDescriptionExampleAnchoring and
adjustmentOur decisions are overly based on the things most
readily available in memory, although we may adjust our
judgments away from them. Multiplication exercise (p.35)
Buying in bulkCounterfactual thinkingWe may “replay” events
such that they turn out differently (Esp: Minor changes)“If only
I had swerved sooner, I could have avoided the accident”.
3rd place False consensus biasWe tend to see other people as
similar to us.We are surprised when others have different
political opinions or values. Overconfidence (mother of all
biases)We tend to have more confidence in our skills, abilities,
and judgments than is warranted. 93 percent of American
drivers claim to be better than the median (which is statistically
impossible).
Automatic Cognition
Occurs out of our awareness, quickly, without much effort.
Things that we do most frequently.
Ride a bike, use a TV remove, drive.
Socially, it influences our judgments and behaviors.
Snap judgments of others.
Controlled Cognition
When we deliberately size up and think about something, such
as another person.
Thinking takes effort and time, so we rely on automatic
cognition more often than controlled cognition.
So What, For What?
Small errors can have profound consequences for people
Lottery tickets, gambling, astrology
Large errors can have profound consequences for people
Eyewitness testimony

62. Doomsday preppers
Unlikely events are more salient or accessible (terrorism etc…)
More likely to die from health problems
Salience and accessibility color how we perceive our social
worlds, which influences our behavior.
Viewing violent TV = tend to view the world as more
dangerous.
Our judgments are based on the accessibility of relevant
constructs.
So What, For What?
We overestimate our contributions to group projects.
Ours are more obvious and salient.
Global warming & cognitive heuristic
Asking on a cold day vs a hot day
Priming with heat words vs cold words
We CAN make better decisions!