Psychology Chapter on Attribution and Deception

Quiz 4

• Deception detection: Behavioral cues like fidgeting and eye contact are unreliable indicators of deception.
• Kelly's Covariation Theory: For something to be considered a cause of behavior, it must be present when the behavior occurs and absent when it does not.
• Prediction accuracy: People overestimate how accurate their predictions about others are, regardless of familiarity.
• Base-rate fallacy: Overestimation of dramatic events' risks and underestimation of mundane risks.

Quiz 4 - Attribution Error

• Fundamental Attribution Error (Western Cultures): Western individualistic cultures emphasize individual attributes when explaining behaviors.
• Olympic Medal Winners' Happiness: Silver medalists appear less happy than bronze or gold medalists, likely due to counterfactual thinking.
• Attribution Error Example: Jonathan's behavior is attributed to his personal issues and academic difficulties rather than outside factors (e.g., travel).

Quiz 4 - Just World Phenomenon

• Just-World Hypothesis: People tend to blame victims of a crime for their negative outcomes, assuming the world is fair. This is due to a need for self-esteem and a belief in a just world.
• Bias & Political Ideology: The tendency towards placing blame stems from focusing personal attributes or specific political ideologies, not simply from bias.
• Perception of Incompetence: Alex's boss' perception of Alex as unproductive can create a self-fulfilling prophecy where Alex develops a belief in their own incompetence.

Quiz 4 - Social Psychology Concepts

• Base Rate Fallacy: A miscalculation of risk by focusing on specific events while ignoring overall statistics.

Quiz 4 - Confirmation Bias

• Confirmation Bias: Alice holding firm beliefs and rejecting contradicting information despite evidence of error.

Quiz 2 - Social Psychology

• Social Isolation: Negative effects on mental and physical health.
• Social Cognition: Emotional processes in social behaviors.
• **Collectivistic Cultures:**Emphasize interdependence and group goals.
• Fast Thinking: Automatic, intuitive cognitive processes.
• Slow Thinking: Deliberate, effortful cognitive processes.
• Social Psychology Focus: Individuals in social situations.
• Open Science Movement: More transparent and accessible research materials and data.
• Social Brain Hypothesis: Suggesting larger brains are linked to complex social interactions.

Quiz 5

• High Need-for-Cognition: Persuaded by message's content, not peripheral cues.
• Inoculation Hypothesis: Exposure to weak challenges strengthens attitude resistance to future persuasion.
• Implicit Attitudes: Attitudes a person is unaware of holding.
• Cross-Cultural Ad Comparison: Korean ads emphasized competition and self-improvement, contrasted to American ads.
• Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger & Carlsmith): Participants who lied for a small reward experienced more cognitive dissonance—enjoyed boring task more.

Quiz 5 - Persuasion

• Fear Appeal: Persuasion technique using graphic images of negative consequences to motivate change.
• Central Route: Effective persuasion by logic and reasoning.
• Peripheral Route: Persuasion by factors outside the message (e.g., attractiveness).
• Likeability Factors: Competence and physical attractiveness increase likeability.
• Dissonance Theory: After difficult decisions, people tend to exaggerate the chosen option's good points and the discarded option's negative points.
• Confirmation Bias: Rejecting information that conflicts with beliefs.

Quiz 2 (PSYC 2660 - Social Psych)

• Correlation vs. Causation: Correlation does not imply causation.
• Inter-rater Reliability: The degree of agreement among observers.
• New Research Practices: Pre-registration protects research integrity.
• Research Hypothesis: An explicit, testable prediction about when an event will occur.

Quiz 1 (Social Psychology)

• Social Isolation: Negative effects (mental/physical health).
• Social Cognition: Emotional processes in social situations.
• **Collectivistic Cultures:**Emphasize interdependence.
• Fast Thinking: Automatic, intuitive.

General Additional Notes (various questions and topics)

• Confirmation Bias: Accepting confirming info, ignoring contradictory info.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A belief about someone leads them to act in ways that confirm the belief.
• Stereotype Threat: Apprehension about confirming negative stereotypes.
• Bystander Effect: Less likely to help with more bystanders.
• Cognitive Dissonance: Trying to reduce inconsistencies between beliefs and behavior.
• Social Loafing: Reduced effort on a collective task.
• Just-World Hypothesis: Believing the world is fair; victims are blamed for misfortunes.
• Impression Formation: Forming initial opinions about people.
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Overemphasizing personal characteristics versus situational factors in explaining behaviors.
• Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Individuals seek consistency and reduce discomfort when faced with contradictory information.
• Confirmation Bias: Selective attention to information that confirms existing beliefs.
• Central/Peripheral Route to Persuasion: Central route relies on logic and evidence, peripheral on cues.
• Bystander Intervention: Deciding whether to help someone in an emergency is affected by factors like the number of others present.
• Diffusion of Responsibility: Assuming others will take action.
• Mere Exposure Effect: Repeated exposure to something increases liking for it.
• Mere Presence Effect: Presence of others can affect performance, but the nature of the effect depends on whether the task is easy or difficult.
• Social Proof: Conforming to perceived norms, behavior of others.
• Reciprocity: Helping others who have helped you.
• Inoculation Hypothesis: Resistance to persuasion grows stronger with exposure to weak counterarguments.

This quiz explores key concepts from psychology regarding attribution, deception, and social perception. It examines theories like Kelly's Covariation Theory and the belief in a just world. Challenge your understanding of how psychological principles apply to real-world behaviors and attitudes.