Social Psychology Concepts and Theories

The video explores social psychology, focusing on why people commit atrocities and act heroically. It introduces Attribution Theory, explaining behavior through dispositional and situational factors, and highlights the Fundamental Attribution Error. The video discusses persuasion's impact on attitudes and actions, using Central and Peripheral Route Persuasion. It explains the Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon, where small actions lead to larger behavior changes. The Stanford Prison Experiment illustrates situational power over personality. Cognitive Dissonance Theory is introduced, explaining how people resolve conflicting beliefs and actions.

What field of psychology focuses on how we think about, influence, and relate to one another?

• Cognitive Psychology

• Personality Psychology

• Clinical Psychology

• Social Psychology

What does Attribution Theory suggest about explaining someone's behavior?

• It can be due to either their personality traits or the situation.

• It is impossible to explain someone's behavior.

• It is always due to their personality traits.

• It is always due to the situation they are in.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

• Overestimating situational factors while underestimating personality traits.

• Ignoring both personality traits and situational factors.

• Overestimating personality traits while underestimating situational factors.

• Accurately estimating both personality traits and situational factors.

What is Central Route Persuasion?

• Persuasion through incidental cues like attractiveness.

• Persuasion through basic thinking and reasoning.

• Persuasion through repeated exposure.

• Persuasion through emotional manipulation.

What phenomenon explains why people comply with larger requests after agreeing to smaller ones?

• Central Route Persuasion

• Cognitive Dissonance

• Peripheral Route Persuasion

• Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

What was the main finding of the Stanford Prison Experiment?

• Personality traits are more powerful than situational factors.

• People are inherently good or bad.

• Situational factors can easily override individual personality traits.

• Ethical standards in experiments are unnecessary.

What role did the guards play in the Stanford Prison Experiment?

• They were instructed to release prisoners after one day.

• They were told to physically harm the prisoners.

• They were given no specific instructions on how to behave.

• They were instructed to be kind and supportive.

What is cognitive dissonance?

• A state of indifference towards one's actions.

• A state of discomfort due to conflicting thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors.

• A state of harmony between thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.

• A state of confusion about one's identity.

How might someone resolve cognitive dissonance?

• By changing their beliefs to match their actions.

• By avoiding any action.

• By ignoring the conflict.

• By seeking external validation.

What did Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance help explain?

• Why people always act rationally.

• Why people experience tension between conflicting thoughts and actions.

• Why people are always consistent in their behavior.

• Why people never change their beliefs.