Psychology 360: Introduction to Social Psychology

Study Guide for Midterm 3--Fall 2007

Note: Topics marked with a * are primarily or exclusively from lecture

Aggression (Chpt 11)

1. What is aggression? What is instrumental aggression? What is emotional aggression? Give examples of each.

2. In what 2 ways do cultures differ in aggression? What are the differences between cultures? What are some differences within cultures? How do men and women differ in aggression? In what way are girls more aggressive than boys?

3. Is aggression instinctive in humans? How are evolutionary theories similar and different from the instinct account? What role do testosterone and serotonin play in aggression? *How do cultural differences in aggression challenge the biological/genetic perspectives?

4. What evidence supports the theory that aggression is learned? What is the social learning theory of aggression? How does the research by Bandura support this theory? How does socialization contribute to gender differences in aggression? *What is the culture of honor in the United States and how does it relate to aggressive behavior?

5. Describe the frustration-aggression hypothesis. What conditions lead to frustration? What is displacement? What is catharsis? Does it reduce aggression? How does negative affect influence aggression? In what way does arousal play a role in aggression? How does the arousal-affect model attempt to integrate the findings on negative affect and arousal?

6. How does the cognitive neoassociation analysis explain aggression? *When Berkowitz revised the frustration-aggression theory, he proposed what two factors as generally necessary for frustration to induce aggression? What does research on guns show and what do the findings suggest about gun control laws? How do higher-order cognitions and hostile attributions influence an aggressive response? Does alcohol increase aggression? Why or why not?

7.* How does social exclusion influence aggression? What can this teach us about the shootings at Columbine high school and the U of A School of Nursing?

8. What evidence indicates that watching violent media like TV and movies affect aggression? What are the short and long-term effects? *How do scripts and modeling relate to the effects of the media on aggression? Based on the evidence, do video games cause aggressive behavior?

9. Is there a relationship between watching pornography and violence toward women? What is the difference between violent and nonviolent pornography? How does viewing sexual violence create the "rape myth"? What does the study depicted in Figure 11.11 tell us about the types of films or television programs that contribute most to the "rape myth" and violence toward women? What is the "rapist's profile and how does it predict who will be aggressive toward women?

10. What is acquaintance rape? What 3 factors contribute to it? Among heterosexual partners, which has shown the greatest increase in aggression toward their partner in the last 30 years? Which partner suffers the most violent forms of aggression? What factors predict the likelihood that someone will abuse a child?

11. In what ways can aggressive behavior be reduced? What, if any, are the limits to these approaches?

Prejudice and Stereotypes (Chpt 5)

1. What is prejudice? What are stereotypes? What is discrimination? What are racism and sexism? According to the paper by Fiske (2002), what are the two general forms of racial bias? Can either form be controlled? What is an ambivalent racist? What is an ill-intentioned extremist and why might they be dangerous? Can these biases be changed?

2. What role does social categorization play in stereotyping? What is the out-group homogeneity effect? What causes it? How does culture and motivation impact the development of stereotypes? What is the difference between an entity and incremental "theorist," and how does holding either theory influence the development of stereotypes?

3. To what extent are stereotypes based on a "kernel of truth?" *In what 2 ways are stereotypes inaccurate? *What is a perceptual confirmation effect and how did the Stone et al. (1997) study demonstrate one? *What were the findings about athletes? *Under what conditions are stereotypes likely to be used in person perception?

4. What is an illusory correlation and how does it relate to stereotyping? What role does distinctiveness and vividness play in stereotyping? How do attributions for behavior influence stereotyping? What is subtyping and how do contrast effects impact stereotyping?

5. Is stereotyping inevitable? How did Devine's research redefine our understanding of the relationship between automaticity, prejudice and stereotyping? What 3 factors determine the automaticity of stereotypes? What role does motivation play in the expression of stereotyping? What three factors help reduce the use of stereotyping in person perception?

6. How does competition and unequal status create prejudice? In Sherif's (1966) classic experiment at Robber's Cave State Park, what created the conflict between the Eagles and the Rattlers? What is realistic group conflict theory? How does relative deprivation relate to prejudice?

7. What is social identity theory? What is "ingroup favoritism"? Describe the research that supports it. *How do self-esteem and terror management concerns impact prejudice? According to the text, how does culture impact prejudice? *What evidence is there to suggest that personality differences like social dominance orientation and authoritarianism play a role in prejudice? *What are the problems with these approaches to understanding prejudice? How does system justification impact prejudice?

8. What are gender stereotypes and how are they developed? In what way are they different than other stereotypes? Are there positive stereotypes associated with each gender? What evidence suggests that stereotypes about women influence perceptions toward them? What is the evidence for sex discrimination? What is ambivalent sexism how is it different than other forms of sexism?

9. How has racism changed? What is modern racism and what evidence supports it? What is implicit racism? What is the implicit Associations Test (IAT)? What does it tell us about who is likely to be prejudice?

10. How do confirmation biases impact stereotyping? What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? *What are the steps involved in it? In what domains have self-fulfilling prophecies been demonstrated? (see also Chpt 4, pp 124-127). *Describe the research performed by Word, Zanna, & Cooper. *What does this research suggest about the role of nonverbal communication in prejudice and discrimination? According to the text, in what other ways do people express bias during interracial interactions?

11. What is stigma? What psychological processes play a role in how discrimination is perceived by a stigmatized target? Describe the theory of stereotype threat. How does being the target of a negative stereotype influence behavior? Give some research examples. What factors play a role in the experience of stereotype threat? *How did the Johns et al. (2005) study show that stereotype threat could be reduced?

12. Can prejudice and discrimination be reduced? *How effective was desegregation for promoting inter-group harmony? What is the contact hypothesis? *What are equal-status-contact, cooperation, personal contact, and superordinate goals, and how does each reduce conflict between groups? How did Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, use social psychology to integrate baseball when he signed Jackie Robinson in 1947?

13* How does the jigsaw classroom work? What evidence suggests that cooperative learning is an effective way to reduce intergroup conflict?

14* Can people just suppress their use of stereotypes? Does teaching people to be tolerant of multiculturalism or to be “color-blind” reduce prejudice? How does perspective taking influence the use of stereotypes? Can education work? What is the effect of realizing you have stereotyped an individual on subsequent responses toward individuals from that group? How do egalitarian goals reduce prejudice and stereotyping?