Module 42 Review

REVIEW Social Thinking

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Take a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within this section). Then click the 'show answer' button to check your answers. Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term retention (McDaniel et al., 2009).

42-1 What do social psychologists study? How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own?

Social psychologists use scientific methods to study how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. They study the social influences that explain why the same person will act differently in different situations. When explaining others’ behavior, we may—especially if we come from an individualist Western culture—commit the fundamental attribution error, by underestimating the influence of the situation and overestimating the effects of stable, enduring traits. When explaining our own behavior, we more readily attribute it to the influence of the situation.

42-2 How do attitudes and actions interact?

Attitudes are feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in certain ways. Peripheral route persuasion uses incidental cues (such as celebrity endorsement) to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes. Central route persuasion offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses. When other influences are minimal, attitudes that are stable, specific, and easily recalled can affect our actions.
     Actions can modify attitudes, as in the foot-in-the-door phenomenon (complying with a large request after having agreed to a small request) and role playing (acting a social part by following guidelines for expected behavior). When our attitudes don’t fit with our actions, cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we will reduce tension by changing our attitudes to match our actions.

TERMS AND CONCEPTS TO REMEMBER

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Match each of the terms on the left with its definition on the right. Click on the term first and then click on the matching definition. As you match them correctly they will move to the bottom of the activity.

Question

social psychology
attribution theory
fundamental attribution error
attitude
peripheral route persuasion
central route persuasion
foot-in-the-door phenomenon
role
cognitive dissonance theory
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.
occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.
occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.
the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition.
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.
the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

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