Social and Behavioral Psychology Flashcards

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'cognitive dissonance' as proposed by Leon Festinger?

Answer: Psychological discomfort arising from holding contradictory beliefs or behaving contrary to one's beliefs

Cognitive dissonance motivates attitude change or rationalization to restore psychological consistency between beliefs and behaviors.

Tajfel and Turner's Social Identity Theory argues that in-group favoritism primarily stems from:

Answer: The need for a positive social identity through group membership

People favor in-groups because group membership contributes to self-esteem; elevating the in-group elevates one's own social identity.

Which research method involves systematically manipulating one variable while keeping all others constant to establish causality?

Answer: Controlled experiment

Only controlled experiments with random assignment allow researchers to infer that the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable.

The 'contact hypothesis' suggests that prejudice between groups can be reduced when contact occurs under which conditions?

Answer: Equal status, common goals, institutional support, and cooperative interaction

Gordon Allport specified that mere contact is insufficient; prejudice reduction requires equal-status cooperation toward shared goals with institutional backing.

Which phenomenon occurs when the presence of others improves performance on well-learned tasks but impairs performance on complex or novel tasks?

Answer: Social facilitation

Zajonc explained social facilitation through arousal: arousal enhances the dominant (most practiced) response, helping on easy tasks but hurting on hard ones.

In Sherif's Robbers Cave experiment, intergroup conflict was most effectively reduced through:

Answer: Superordinate goals requiring cooperation between the rival groups

Only tasks that required both groups to work together — such as repairing the water supply — successfully reduced hostility.

Which term refers to the tendency for attitudes formed through direct experience to be stronger predictors of behavior than attitudes formed indirectly?

Answer: Direct experience effect

Attitudes based on direct experience are more accessible, held with greater certainty, and thus more strongly linked to actual behavior.