Famous Experiments
This experiment tested the limits of obedience by asking participants to "shock" another person or incorrect responses on a memory test.
What is the Milgram Experiment?
This theory posits that our social behaviors emerged during the time of our prehistoric ancestors and has largely remained the same since.
What is evolutionary psychology?
A belief that you are not consciously aware of, but can be measured through some psychological tests.
What is an implicit attitude?
One is a social unit that you belong to and identify with; the other is a social unit that you differentiate from yourselves and view as "other."
What is an in-group vs. an out-group?
What might happen when I claim to be a vegan for ethical reasons, but then I eat a Big Mac.
What is cognitive dissonance?
A teacher treated her elementary school students differently based on their eye color in order to teach them about this concept.
What is discrimination? (or: what is racism?)
According to this theory, social behavior can be explained in terms of learned responses to receiving rewards or punishments for previous behavior.
What is (operant) conditioning? (or: what is behavioral theory?)
The belief that other people may have knowledge that you lack, motivating you to follow their lead.
What is informational influence?
One is a tendency to follow your peers' behavior; one is a tendency to follow the demands of an authority figure.
What is conformity vs. obedience?
This might happen when Jessica goes on Tinder and sees a lot of attractive people, but continues swiping to see other options.
What is the paradox of choice?
This theory emphasizes the importance of conducting research across many different settings and with diverse populations in order to fully understand variation in social behavior.
What is sociocultural theory?
Having high levels of both masculine and feminine traits.
What is androgyny?
One makes positive but biased claims about women; the other makes negative and biased claims about women.
What is benevolent sexism vs. hostile sexism?
When an elementary school teacher says that her low SES students are lazy and bad students, and gives them less attention and support as a result, she might be doing this.
What is confirmatory hypothesis testing?
In Darley and Latane's classic study, this is what typically happened when participants heard a confederate cry out in pain but they knew someone else was in the waiting room.
What is diffusion of responsibility? (or: What is the bystander effect?)
Albert Bandura reportedly demonstrated this theory when he had adults model aggressive behavior with a Bobo doll and then observed that children imitated this aggression.
What is social learning theory?
The mistaken idea that if someone is disadvantaged, they must have done something to deserve their circumstances.
What is victim-blaming?
One involves stability and trust in close others; the other involves fear of rejection, jealousy and clingyness.
What is secure attachment vs. anxious attachment?
When Rita tells me she felt like her professor treated her unfairly, once I hear her story I agree that she was treated unfairly. I am providing this.
What is appraisal support?
In this experiment, Muzafer Sherif asked boys to form teams, and saw that each team rapidly developed hostility toward the out-group.
What is the Robber's Cave Experiment?
The suggestion that we make most social choices by weighing the pros and cons in our minds.
What is decision-making theory?
When a study is applicable to other people's experiences outside of the research, it is said to have this quality.
What is external validity?
One suggests that people worry about their own economic well-being when they form political opinions; the other suggests that they are more concerned with the economy at large.
What is the self-interest hypothesis vs. sociotropic hypothesis?
This might happen if I notice that Steve always gets As and he also loves skateboarding, I might think that skateboarding makes you smarter.
What is illusory correlation?