Social Psychology Flashcards
7 cards from real ASPPB practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Social Psychology flashcards as text
According to Festinger's social comparison theory, people are most likely to compare themselves to others who are:
Answer: Similar to themselves
Social comparison theory holds that people evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to similar others.
The 'bystander effect' is BEST explained by which two social psychological processes?
Answer: Diffusion of responsibility and pluralistic ignorance
The bystander effect occurs because onlookers assume others will help (diffusion of responsibility) and look to others to define the situation as an emergency (pluralistic ignorance).
Which persuasion route in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) is used when a person has low motivation to process a message?
Answer: Peripheral route
The peripheral route involves persuasion through cues like source attractiveness or expertise rather than careful argument evaluation.
A researcher finds that participants who received a small reward for a boring task reported liking it more than those given a large reward. This best illustrates:
Answer: Cognitive dissonance
Insufficient justification (small reward) creates dissonance, leading people to change their attitude to justify their behavior.
In Tajfel's Social Identity Theory, 'in-group favoritism' occurs primarily because people:
Answer: Seek to enhance self-esteem through positive group identity
Social identity theory posits that group membership contributes to self-esteem, motivating people to view their in-group positively.
The phenomenon where individuals in a group exert less effort than when working alone is called:
Answer: Social loafing
Social loafing refers to the tendency for individuals to reduce effort on collective tasks because individual contributions are less identifiable.
Which of the following BEST describes the 'sleeper effect' in persuasion research?
Answer: Persuasion from a low-credibility source increases over time as the source is forgotten
The sleeper effect occurs when the discounting cue (low credibility) dissociates from the message over time, allowing the message to become more persuasive.