Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 1
Introducing Social Psychology (Myers, 10th Ed.)
Define Social psychology and describe what social psychologists study; compare to related
disciplines.
Explain the hindsight bias.
Distinguish hypothesis and theory.
Contrast correlational and experimental (controlled laboratory vs. field) designs and their
advantages and limits.
Describe the survey method of data collection and discuss the limits and advantages.
Define the following:
independent and dependent variables
extraneous (third) variables
experimental and control groups
Discuss the threats to the value of research results of:
unrepresentative samples--problems with generalizing results
demand characteristics
wording of questions (framing), response options, order of questions
subject and experimenter bias
Describe some remedies for the above:
random and representative sampling
random assignment
mundane or experimental realism
deception
Discuss the ethical issues involved in social psychological research:
the need for informed consent
the need to know of when to use deception,
the need to maintain confidentiality,
the need to protect subjects from harm and discomfort,
the need to fully debrief the participant,
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 2
The Self in a Social World (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Distinguish the spotlight effect and illusion of transparency
Describe the nature of self-concept and elements of self-concept:
 self-schema
 possible self or ideal self
 self-esteem
 social identity and social comparison
Discuss cultural effect on self-concepts-- individual or independent self vs. collective or
interdependent self.
Discuss how well and how accurately we predict, explain, and control our behavior.
 Explain how the planning fallacy affects our ability to predict our behavior.
Discuss self-esteem motives and maintenance
 Contrast low SE and when high SE is threatened
 What is the dark side of self-esteem?
Define self-efficacy (Bandura) and its correlates:
 locus of control (Rotter)
 learned helplessness vs. self-determination
Discuss what the costs are of excess choice
Define and give examples of the self-serving bias or self-enhancement.
 explanations for success or positive events vs. failures or negative events
 better than average
 unrealistic optimism
 false consensus and false uniqueness
Explain how the self-serving bias can be adaptive or maladaptive
Discuss self-presentations or impression management as an explanation of self-enhancement:
 false modesty
 self-handicapping
 self-presentation
 self-monitoring
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 3
Social Beliefs and Judgments (Myers, 10th Ed.)
Define priming and discuss it's function in memory construction
Describe memory construction and reconstruction and show how our preconceptions and belief
perseverance control our interpretations and memories.
Explain reconstruction of memories and the misinformation effect, production of false memories.
Consider thinking without awareness, intuition, automatic processing vs. self-awareness or
controlled processing.
Illustrate and explain the overconfidence phenomenon, confirmation bias, remedies.
Discuss the effects on our judgment of the representativeness heuristic, the availability heuristic,
counterfactual thinking.
Illustrate the illusions of correlation and personal control; regression toward the average.
Describe how moods affect our judgments.
Identify the assumptions, questions, and general findings of attribution theory.
Discuss dispositional versus situational attributions of causality.
Define and give examples of the fundamental attribution error.
Explain why we make the fundamental attribution error.
 perspective and awareness-- situation vs. self
 actor-observer hypothesis
 self-awareness
Consider cultural and language influences of the fundamental attribution error.
Describe how our erroneous beliefs may generate their own reality:
 self-fulfilling prophecy and behavioral confirmation.
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 4
Behavior and Attitudes (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Define attitude and differentiate the components of attitudes: thoughts, feelings and behavioral
intent.
Differentiate implicit and explicit attitudes and how implicit attitidues are measured using IAT
List and discuss the reasons for the gap between attitudes and behavior.
Identify conditions under which our attitudes do predict our behaviors:
 social and other influences
 attitude/behavior specificity
 attitude potency
Provide evidence that behaviors determine or change our attitudes:
 Role playing (Compare Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison simulation to the prisoner abuse
scandal at Abu Ghraib)
 When does saying becomes believing?
 Contrast the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and the low-ball technique
 Evil acts and attitudes
 Interracial behavior and racial attitudes
 Social movements
Compare three theories that explain the causal relationship between behavior and attitudes and
discuss support for them:

self-presentation theory--impression management, role playing, saying becomes
believing

cognitive dissonance theory--self-justification (insufficient justification, post decision
dissonance), foot-in-the-door, evil acts, interracial behavior and racial attitudes, social
movements

self-perception theory--overjustification effect
Describe the overjustification effect in how rewards influence attitudes.
Discuss conditions under which dissonance theory and self-perception theory seem most
applicable.
Social Psychology--Learning objectives Chapter 6
Conformity and Obedience (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Explain the difference between conformity, compliance, compliance, obedience, and acceptance.
Describe the findings of three classic studies on conformity:

Describe Sherif's work on the autokinetic effect and follow up work on norm formation.

Describe Asch's study of judgment of line lengths which involved conformity in the face
of physical reality.

Describe Milgram's research on obedience using the teacher-learner paradigm.
Discuss the reasons Milgram believed he found such a high level of obedience and identify and
explain the effects on obedience of varying the situation before or during the study.
 The victim’s distance
 Closenesss and legitimacy of the authority figure
 Institutional Authority
 Group Influence and it’s liberating effects
Explain when and why people conform. Identify and explain the effects on conformity of
individual, task, and group variables in Asch's and others' variations on the original study.
 Group Size
 Unanimity
 Cohesion
 Status
 Public Response
 No Prior Commitment
How do informational social influence and normative social influence explain why people will
conform to others? Define and explain each.
Explain how gender, personality, and cultural background are related to conformity and
obedience.
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 7
Persuasion (Myers, 10th Ed.)
Define persuasion.
Distinguish what two routes lead to persuasion--central vs. peripheral route.
What are the elements of persuasion?
Describe communicator or source characteristics that contribute to effective communication:
 Credibility (perceived expertise and trustworthiness)
 Attractiveness and liking
Identify and explain the six principle of persuasion (Table 7.1, p. 236)
Explain how the content of the message influences its effectiveness:
 Reason Versus Emotion
o The effect of good feelings
o The effect of arousing fear (When are fear-producing messages most effective?)
 Discrepancy
 One-Sided Versus Two-Sided Appeals
 Primacy Versus Recency effects
Describe the effects of different channels of communication:
 Active Experience or Passive Reception
 Personal Versus Media Experience
o Media Influence: Two-Step flow of communication
 Video, audio, written
Define need for cognition and discuss how to stimulate thinking of uninvolved audiences who
are used to being persuaded by peripheral cues.
Identify characteristics of the target audience which influence susceptibility to persuasion.
 Age
 Prior attitudes
 Intelligence
Define cult and discuss the persuasion principles utilized in cult indoctrination.
Attitudes Follow Behavior
 Compliance Breeds Acceptance
 The Foot-In-The-Door Phenomenon
Persuasive Elements (The Communicator, the Message, and the Audience
Group Effects
Social Psychology--Objectives Chapter 8
Group Influence (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Define group and list the features of a group.
Discuss the effects of others, particularly in groups, on the behavior of the individual.
Discuss the phenomena of social facilitation and social interference: effects of presence of
others, evaluation apprehension, distraction, and the mere presence of others.
Identify conditions under which social loafing is more likely to occur and the conditions which
discourage it.
Explain how evaluation apprehension plays a role in both social facilitation and social loafing.
Describe the psychological state of deindividuation and behaviors we might not do alone;
impact of group size, physical anonymity, arousing and distracting activities, and diminished
self-awareness
Discuss group polarization or intensification of opinions in a variety of situations and explain the
risky shift.
Explain group polarization
 informational influence
 normative influence
o Discuss how social comparision theory and pluralistic ignorance play a role.
Define group think
Identify and discuss the causes, symptoms, and prevention of groupthink
Discuss the nature of group problem-solving and how to improve group-problem solving.
Discuss dissent in a group and the factors that strengthen minority influence.
 Consistency
 Self-Confidence
 Defections from the Majority
Is Leadership Minority Influence?
 Define leadership
 Contrast task, social and transformation leadership
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 9
Prejudice: Disliking Others (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Distinguish between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
Define racism and sexism
Trace recent trends in racial prejudice in the United States:
 Is Racial Prejudice Disappearing?
 Subtle Forms of Prejudice
 Automatic Prejudice
Trace recent trends in gender prejudice in the United States:
 gender stereotypes
 sexism: benevolent vs. hostile sexism
 gender discrimination
Discus Social sources of prejudice:
 unequal status
 socialization: authoritarian personality, religion, conformity
 institutional supports
Discuss Motivational sources of prejudice:
 frustration and aggression--scapegoat theory of prejudice
 ingroup bias and social identity
 need for status, self-regard, and belonging
Discuss Cognitive sources of prejudice: Show how stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes can be a
byproduct of our normal thinking processes.
 categorizing people into groups
 perceived similarities and differences
o outgroup homogeneity effect
o own-race bias
 distinctive people, vivid cases, and distinctive events
o stigma consciousness
 attributions--just world phenomenon
 attributions
o group serving bias and the just-world phenomenon
Discuss the consequences of prejudice:
 stereotypes tend to perpetuate themselves and resist change
o subtyping and subgrouping
 self-fulfilling prophecy
 stereotype threat (define and discuss how it undermines performance)
 explain how stereotypes bias the judgments of individuals
 biased interpretations and memories
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 10
Aggression: Hurting Others (Myers, 10th Ed.)
Define aggression
Distinguish hostile and instrumental aggression.
Describe the instinct or biological view if aggression and describe the role that biological
factors play in the aggressive behavior of humans:
 Instinct theory and evolutionary psychology
 Neural influences
 Genetic influences
 Biochemical influences
Explain the frustration-aggression theory and identify the causes and consequences of
frustration:
 Displacement
 Frustration-Aggression Theory revised
 Relative deprivation
Discuss the social learning view of aggression:
 The Rewards of Aggression
 Observational Learning
o Social learning theory (Bandura’s bobo-doll experiement)
o Family and Culture
Describe some influences on aggression:
 Aversive Incidents
o Pain
o Heat
o Attacks



Arousal from any source, e.g. exercise, drugs
Aggression cues, e.g.weapons
Media influences: Pornography and sexual violence
o Distorted perceptions of sexual reality
o Aggression against women
o Media awareness education

Media influences: Television—the effects on behavior and thinking
o Define catharsis
Media influences: Video games—the negative effects of playing violent video games
Group Influences: e.g. anonymity


Discuss the effects of catharsis
Discuss how the Social learning approach can reduce aggression.
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 11
Attraction and Intimacy (Myers, 10th Ed.)
Define need to belong
Identify and discuss the variables associated with interpersonal attraction and friendship:
 Proximity
o Interaction
o Anticipation of interaction
o What is the mere exposure effect?
 Physical attractiveness
o Attractiveness and dating
o Matching phenomenon
o Physical-attractiveness stereotype and first impressions
 Who is attractive?
 Similarity versus Complementarity
o Do birds of a feather flock together?
o Do opposites attract?
 Liking those who like us
o Attribution
o Self-esteem and attraction
o Gaining another’s esteem
 Relationship rewards
o Reward theory of attraction
Distinguish passionate, two-factor theory of emotion, and companionate love.
Distinguish Sternberg’s Conception of Kinds of Loving (Figure 11.7, page 421)
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 12
Helping (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Define altruism.
Discuss how a social exchange or a cost-benefit analysis affects the decision to help.
 Gaining Rewards
 Avoiding Punishment
 Social Exchange
Distinguish egosim (the self-interested) and the altruistic (other-interested) views of helping
behavior.
 Internal Rewards (Reducing distress, guilt, and the feel-good phemonomen)
 Social Norms, e.g. the golden rule, the norm of reciprocity, the norm of social
responsibility, gender and receiving help.
Describe how evolutionary psychology accounts for helping.
 Kin Protection
 Reciprocity
Discuss evidence for genuine altruism vs. egoism.
Discuss the effects of sympathy and empathy on helping behavior.
Explain when we will help
Summarize the perceptions necessary for bystanders encountering an emergency to
intervene.
 Number of bystanders
o Noticing
o Interpreting (bystander effect)
o Assuming responsibility (Describe when diffusion of responsibility occurs)
o Revisiting research ethics
 Helping when someone else does
o Time pressures
 Similarity
Discuss any internal or dispositional factors that have been found to affect the likelihood of
helping.
 Personality Traits
 Gender
 Religious faith
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 13
Conflict and Peace Making (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Define conflict and peace
Describe what creates conflict:
 Social Dilemmas
o Social trap
o The Prisoners’ Dilemma
o The Tragedy of the Commons
o Non-Zero Sum games
 Resolving social dilemmas
o Regulation
o Small is beautiful
o Communication
o Changing the payoffs
o Appeals to altruistic norms
 Competition
 Perceived Injustice
 Misperception
o Mirror-Image Perceptions
 Simplistic Thinking
 Shifting Perceptions
Describe methods of potential peacemaking:
 Contact
o Does Desegregation Improve Racial Attitudes?
o When Does Desegregation Improve Racial Attitudes?
 Cooperation
o Common External Threats Build Cohesiveness
o Superordinate Goals Foster Cooperation
o Cooperative Learning Improves Racial Attitudes
o Group and Superordinate Identities
 Communication (Bargaining, Negotiation, Arbitration)
 Conciliation
o GRIT and real-world applications
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 14
Social Psychology in the Clinic (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Define clinical psychology
Explain what influences the accuracy of clinical judgments
Discuss the implications for better clinical practice
Describe what cognitive processes accompany the following behavior problems:
Depression (depressive realism, explanatory style, relationship between thinking and
mood)
Loneliness (Feeling lonely and excluded and perceiving others negatively)
Social anxiety and shyness (self-presentation theory and overpersonalizing situations)
Health, illness, and death
Distinguish health psychology and behavioral medicine
Discuss how people react to illness
Identify and describe the following social-psychological approaches to treatment:
Including internal change through external behavior
Breaking vicious circles (explain social-skills training and explanatory style therapy)
Maintaining change through internal attributions for success
Using therapy as social influence
Explain how social relationships support health and well-being:
Close relationships and health
Confiding and health
Poverty, Inequality, and health
Discuss how close relationships influence happiness:
Friendships and marital attachment
Social Psychology--Learning Objectives Chapter 15
Social Psychology in the Court (Myers, 10h Ed.)
Explain the power of persuasive eyewitnesses
Discuss when the eyes deceive (when eyewitness testimony is inaccurate)
Define the misinformation effect and discuss its role on memory recollection
Discuss how the inaccurate eyewitness testimony by Jennifer Thompson led to the wrongful
incarceration of Ronald Cotton (Focus On, p. 565)
Explain how retelling events effects recollection
Discuss the ways of how to reduce error in eyewitness testimony
 Train police interviewers
 Minimizing False Lineup Identifications
 Educating Jurors