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TASPsychologyQuick questions
Unit 4: Social and Developmental Psychology
Quick questions on Social Psychology - TCE Psychology (Tasmania)
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is conformity?Show answer
Conformity is changing behaviour or beliefs to match a group. Solomon Asch (1951) showed participants lines and asked which matched a standard line. When confederates gave obviously wrong answers, about 37 percent of responses conformed, and 75 percent conformed at least once. Conformity rose with group size up to about three or four people and fell when one ally also disagreed.
What is obedience?Show answer
Obedience is following the direct orders of an authority figure. Stanley Milgram (1963) asked participants to give what they believed were increasing electric shocks to a "learner" when ordered by an experimenter. About 65 percent continued to the maximum 450 volts despite distress. Obedience increased with a legitimate authority and a prestigious setting, and decreased when the experimenter was distant or the victim was close.
What is group behaviour?Show answer
Groups change individual behaviour in several ways:
What is attribution?Show answer
Attribution theory explains how we interpret the causes of behaviour. We make internal (dispositional) attributions, blaming the person, or external (situational) attributions, blaming the circumstances. The fundamental attribution error is the tendency to over-emphasise personality and under-emphasise the situation when judging others, while excusing our own behaviour with the situation (self-serving bias).
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